Tag Archives: employment

Fukushima

Radiation levels higher than expected, Cesium everywhere!

Several cities and towns in the Fukushima Prefecture have shown higher levels of contamination that first thought.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has been taking radiation readings around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  Since 26 March the radiation readings went up to dangerous levels, and stayed up.

This was part of the government’s decision to expand the evacuation zone.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends 1,000 microsieverts as the long-term yearly limit to radiation exposure.  In Namie Town, 30km (18.6 miles) northwest of the plant, the Ministry of Science found 14,480 microsieverts of radiation had accumulated over 17-days!  They found many more areas with similar radiation levels.

Hiroshima University Professor Shizuma Kiyoshi, says most of the radiation observed in Fukushima Prefecture is probably radioactive cesium.

Shizuma advises residents to wear masks to avoid inhaling radioactive substances mixed with dust.

 

Fukushima

Japanese government expands Nuclear Evacuation Zone!

Almost as if they intentionally timed their decision with the latest ‘big’ aftershock (two in 4 days now), the Japanese government announced that they will expand the evacuation zone.

The zone will now be 30 kilometers instead of 20km.  The expansion applies only to areas within the 30km (18.6 miles) radius that show high levels of radiation.  People living in areas that have readings that are the equivalent of 20 millisieverts per year, will be asked to leave.  The current yearly exposure standard, to naturally occuring radiation, is 2.4 millisieverts.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio, said they will work with the local governments, and residents will have one month to get out.  Edano also said that people living in the 30km area, but not currently experiencing high levels of radiation, must be prepared to leave at any time.

Fukushima

Another major Aftershock in Japan, more setbacks for Fukushima Daiichi

”…not yet a situation to be optimistic about…”-Nishiyama Hidehiko, Nuclear Safety Agency

The Japanese media reports a magnitude 7.0 quake (US Geological Survey calling 6.6), it’s the second ‘big’ aftershock in the past 4 days.

The latest aftershock halted work on the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture.  TEPCo is not sure how soon they can restart the work.

The two big aftershocks may have caused a new problem at the nuclear plant: ”Now we are in a dilemma because we are seeing water which is pumped in to cool down the reactors showing up as pools of [contaminated] water in other places of the plant.”-Nishiyama Hidehiko, Nuclear Safety Agency

Fukushima

TEPCo using remote controled, and lead lined heavy equipment

Tokyo Electric Power Company is using remote controlled heavy equipment to remove large radioactive debris from the compound of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

For areas that radio signals can’t work, they are using heavy equipment that has lead lined cabs on the vehicles.

The debris is so radioactive that it will be sealed in containers, and stored on site as nuclear waste.

Fukushima

Fukushima Governor Disses TEPCo President, again!

For the second time Fukushima Governor Sato Yuhei refused to meet with Tokyo Electric Power Company’s President Shimizu Masataka.

Shimizu went to the governor’s office to apologize for the nuclear disaster that’s contaminating the land. He did the same last month, and just like today, Governor Sato refused to meet Shimizu.

TEPCo President Shimizu is set to make a public appearance, for the first time since 13 March.

Fukushima

Report shows that TEPCo pays contracted employees the same wage as McDonald’s!

A Bloomberg article shows that some contracted employees, at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, were paid the same as part time workers in Tokyo’s McDonald’s restaurants; about U.S.$11.00 per hour.

The article suggests that the reason the Fukushima Daiichi was built in that area, was to improve the local economy.  Now, the nuclear disaster has destroyed more than just the local economy.  Estimates, in U.S. dollars, to rebuild the area is at least $295 billion.  More than what was invested before the nuclear disaster.

 

Fukushima

Employees say No Way to government’s, and TEPCo’s, request to work in higher radiation conditions

A Kyodo News/Associated Press report, says contracted employees are refusing to work in the higher radiation limits recently set by the government.  This is another reason work is going slow.

Prior to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, the legal limits for employee safety at nuclear plants was set at 100 millisieverts per hour. After the disaster, the Japanese government raised the limit to 250 millisieverts.

Many contracted employees have revealed how bad their working conditions are at nuclear plants, and that’s before the disaster.

In an article in The New York Times, contracted employees said the lowest paid workers are not even given protective gear.  They simply rotate workers in and out of radioactive areas by timing them.  Some contracted employees say this is standard practice, and not because of the disaster.

The article pointed out that it is the business culture of Japan to contract out as much work as possible.  The contractors at the bottom of the ladder are treated the worst.  The article said that at least 89% of employees at Fukushima Daiichi are contracted workers.  Many workers are simply temp workers, getting low pay and no benefits.

When contracted workers tried to leave the Fukushima Daiichi plant, because they could see the tsunami coming, the guards refused to let them out.  The guards wanted to see ID, and get the OK from the workers’ supervisors.

So this is the secret world of corporate controlled nuclear power plants!  At this point all I can say is that they (corporate officials) deserve what they get.

Fukushima

Local government can’t trust TEPCo, will do their own Radiation Readings!

Officials of Fukushima Prefecture (where the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant is) will now carry out their own radiation readings at 2,700 locations.

Residents demanded more information, and more accurate information, than what Tokyo Electric Power Company has provided.  The Japanese central government has criticized TEPCo for faulty reports, several times now.

The radiation testing will include soil samples. The testing will be done this week, the results will be publicly announced.

 

 

Fukushima

NHK special report says Fukushima Daiichi is worse than Chernobyl, International Community Must Respond!

Japan’s public TV station, NHK, produced a special report, to try and explain how bad the Fukushima Daiichi crisis is.  Basically it is worse than Chernobyl, and must require international efforts to control.  One analyst said the situation is “unprecedented” for nuclear power plants (in other words it is worse than Chernobyl).

The report compared the Three Mile Island accident, in the U.S., the Chernobyl disaster, in Soviet Ukraine, to what has happened at Fukushima Daiichi so far.

‘So far’ is one of the determining factors.  NHK pointed out that there is no end in sight to the spewing of highly radioactive isotopes.  No true control can be gained over the Japanese nuke plant until Cold Shut Down happens.  Because of conditions at the plant, they can’t do that.

French nuke experts suspect that fuel rods in at least three reactors may be slowly melting down (Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island, involved one reactor each, as I pointed out in earlier postings).  Cooling efforts have not been enough to bring the temperatures down, they are still dangerously high after one month.  Recently surface temperatures of one reactor shot up.

Workers are flying blind.  The tsunami damaged so much equipment, and they can not get power to the control rooms, which means they don’t really know what is going on inside the reactors.  In order to get power back to the control rooms they must clear large radioactive debris, some caused by the tsunami, others caused by the hydrogen gas explosions.  Even then, radiation levels are so high that workers can not operate for more than 15 minutes in some cases. Remember, this is just to get to a stage where they can try to initiate Cold Shut Down.

Three Mile Island achieved Cold Shut Down less than one month from the time the cooling accident was discovered.  It has been one month for Fukushima Daiichi, and it is still out of control.

Three Mile Island did not emit cesium contamination.  Chernobyl is still off limits because it spewed cesium.  Fukushima Daiichi is spewing cesium, from three reactors.  Even plutonium has been found.  Also, analyst interviewed on NHK said many other radioactive isotopes are being spewed, and are not being reported to the public.  The level, and types, of radiation being emitted from Fukushima Daiichi make it worse than Chernobyl.

Analyst say they must assume that melt down is occurring.  This could be the only explanation for the level, and types, of radiation being emitted.  Also, analysts are worried that the highly contaminated water, that is spilling out of Reactor 2, might be from a breached reactor core.  Three Mile Island avoided a full melt down, mainly because the cooling accident did not physically damage the building.  Chernobyl’s reactor blew up, and full melt down occurred (it literally began melting into the ground) forcing the Soviets to make the final decision to entomb the reactor with concrete, sand, lead and boric acid.  It must still be monitored today.

Fukshima Daiichi suffered major damage to the buildings, from the tsunami, then from several hydrogen gas explosions.

Cleaning up Three Mile Island’s Reactor 2, a relatively mild accident compared to Chernobyl, ended up costing $1 billion.  Much more than what it cost to build the pant.  It also took 14 years to ‘clean up’.  Imagine how much the clean up for Fukushima Daiichi will cost.  The longer this goes on the more it will cost, and the longer the clean up will take.

Japan probably won’t be able to handle the cost, that might be why organizations that influence international economies (like the G7 and G20, IMF, etc) have said they will work to help Japan.  Not being prepared always costs you more money when the disaster happens.

Bill Nye the Science Guy recently said why don’t they “…pave it over?”  It’s now clear the Japanese truly believed something like this would never happen.  One analyst pointed out that most of the actions of Tokyo Electric Power Company are reactionary, not proactive, to the crisis.

They are now building a thick steel fence in the Pacific Ocean to try and reduce the amount of radioactive water getting into the currents.  Several of the worlds largest concrete spray trucks, from Germany, modified in the U.S., are on their way to Japan on Russian transport aircraft.  They are the same type of truck that the Soviets used on Chernobyl.  Shipments of boric acid have been sent from the U.S. and South Korea.  There were some reports, in the Japanese media, that large amounts of concrete are being stockpiled.  It sounds like they are getting ready to “pave it over”.

Business/Economics, Fukushima, International

Japan announces they need 70,000 temporary homes, for one Prefecture

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has told quake-hit Miyagi Prefecture that 70,000 temporary houses will be built ASAP.

The Prime Minister met with Miyagi officials on 10 April 2011. They expressed their concerns for how they were going to rebuild after the 11 March disasters. Kan said he’s putting together a panel to address that, and that the temporary housing was just the beginning.