Tokyo Electric Power Company announced it will increase monitoring of airborne radiation levels around the damaged reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi plant.

TEPCo will especially focus on reactors 1 and 4.  High levels of contamination are being found in dust and steam emitted from the reactor buildings.

Looks like it was the right move, for the Prime Minister to order standard safety stress tests of all nuke plant in Japan.  The Tokai Daini nuclear plant in Ibaraki Prefecture has failed earthquake safety tests for its electronic equipment.

The amazing thing is that the earthquake safety standards for Tokai Daini were created by the very company that runs the nuclear plant.

The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says many of the nuclear plants in eastern Japan are failing their own earthquake safety standards for their electrical equipment.  In one case it was discovered that the metal frames holding electric motors were made of such inferior metal that they could be easily broken by twisting.  The agency also says they still don’t know the true reason why the electrical systems at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant failed.

06 July 2011, Prime Minister Kan Naoto has ordered those in the government, who’re in charge of nuclear reactor safety, to create new rules.  Kan says the numerous and growing complaints from the people have made it clear a new system of rules for reactor start ups need to be created.  Many prefectures are refusing to allow reactors to be re-started.  Gee, I would’ve thought it was the fact that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is still ongoing.

Under current rules the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, and the Industry Minister, decide when it is safe to start up a reactor.

Prime Minister Kan wants the new rules to include stress tests, and be in compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Kasai Akira, of the opposition Communist Party, pointed out that it is useless to create new rules when local prefectures have the right to override those rules, as they are in not allowing reactors to re-start.

Almost four months after the world’s worst nuclear accident, is the Japanese government finally taking serious action in Fukushima Prefecture?

On 04 July 2011, the Japanese government announced they will take over all radiation monitoring in Fukushima, including the monitoring being done by Tokyo Electric Power Company.

This comes after growing complaints by residents of Fukushima Prefecture, that the government wasn’t doing enough.  Already several cities have begun their own decontamination efforts.  One city, Date, said they were going to bill the government and TEPCo.

Residents are also upset about the government’s targeted evacuations.  They’re based on radiation levels, however there are different groups taking those readings, and it’s confusing residents.

Before the government decision to take over radiation monitoring, testing was being done by local governments, independent groups, universities and Tokyo Electric.  Residents felt it was about time for some standardization.

The Japanese central government will use their monitoring data to determine future evacuations.

A group of residents of the city of Moriya say they will begin monitoring radiation levels, because the central government can not.

Moriya is 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, yet it is showing some of the highest radiation levels in the area.

Residents say when they approached the central Japanese government with their concerns, they were told their government was being overwhelmed by the nuclear crisis, and did not have the man power to conduct the radiation monitoring in their area!

The city of Date, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, will undergo intensive decontamination.  This announcement comes after the central Japanese government announced the evacuation of 113 more households.

City officials, and residents, are not happy with the central government’s targeted evacuations.  Many residents want a mass evacuation, because radiation levels are on the increase all over the city.

To try and alleviate the concerns of the people living in Date, city officials have decided to undertake decontamination efforts, on their own.  They claim they will decontaminate every building and home in the city.  They also claim they will decontaminate the surrounding mountain sides.

How are they going to pay for it?  No worries, they plan on sending Tokyo Electric Power Company, and the central Japanese government, a huge bill.