Japan ponders using decontaminated Fukushima soil as landfill via Digital Journal

Posted on 2017/04/11 by nfield

Tokyo – An advisory panel of Japan’s Environmental Ministry proposed on Monday that decontaminated soil from Fukushima Prefecture could be used as landfill for the creation of “green areas.”

At a meeting of the advisory panel today, the ministry also called for creating a new organization to map out plans on how to get the public used to the idea of using decontaminated soil from the area around the Fukushima nuclear disaster site.

The ministry also presented a plan that would allow the decontaminated soil to only be used in areas away from residential neighborhoods. The plan is to use the soil to fill in depressions and plant vegetation on top. But it is questionable whether the plan will pass public scrutiny.

 Several news agencies noted that the ministry avoided using the word “park” in an effort to not alarm the public. However, Japanese citizens may already be aware of the fact that the government decided last year to use soil containing cesium emitting 5,000 and 8,000 becquerels per kilogram or lower in public projects, such as coastal levees and highways.

Shortage of soil in Japan

A country with a shortage of soil is rather unique but in Fukushima Prefecture, that is exactly what’s going on. This month, an April 2017 Progress on Off-site Cleanup and Interim Storage Facility in Japan report was issued, which, by the way, makes no mention of any soil used for roads and levees, but it does talk about an Interim Storage Facility (ISF) on page 23.
Decontamination efforts have included removing the top layer of soil, along with fallen leaves, brush, limbs, as well as washing roofs and walls of houses and other buildings, pressure washing roads, school yards and more. The report does talk about the storage of the contaminated soil, and this is the report the public will see, including nice diagrams showing how the ISF will be set up.

[…]
With the threat from tropical cyclones, tsunamis, and earthquakes, it would make people wonder if that soil would stay where it was placed or would it end up in their drinking water.

 

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Director killed by terrorist lives on through 3/11 victims’ film via The Asahi Shimbun

Posted on 2017/04/11 by nfield

The resilience of victims of the 2011 nuclear disaster inspired a Belgian sound engineer to direct his own film on them, but his chance to finish the documentary was stolen by a terrorist.

Gilles Laurent shot “La Terre Abandonnee” (Abandoned Land) in Fukushima Prefecture while he lived in Japan, and the film, which was completed posthumously, is now on show here. Sadly, the director is no longer with us, as he perished at age 46 in one of the terrorist attacks in Brussels on March 22, 2016.

[…]

Following the nuclear disaster, the central government issued an evacuation order to Minami-Soma’s Odaka district, where Sato lives. Sato met Laurent while she was preparing to return to her home.

“Media organizations overseas often report on areas of Fukushima Prefecture that are empty of people, but I want people to also learn about disaster survivors who are trying to be positive,” she said she told Laurent when she talked to him.

Laurent then asked to interview Sato. He went on to film her and her husband as they returned to their hometown to visit their family grave and had a gathering with friends at their home for the first time in quite a while.

[…]

 

 

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The hero who averted nuclear catastrophe via The Irish Times

Posted on 2017/04/11 by nfield
The tsunami that hit Japan six years ago almost caused another Chernobyl in Fukushima. Journalist Rob Gilhooly was there and has written a book about the aftermath

[…]

This culminated in the book Yoshida’s Dilemma: One Man’s Struggle to Avert Nuclear Catastrophe. Fukushima – March 2011, which was released by inknbeans Press last month, the sixth anniversary of the disasters.

The book is named after Masao Yoshida, the superintendent of the plant and one of the so-called “Fukushima 50” – the skeleton team of workers who stayed behind and braved multiple explosions and meltdowns in an attempt to bring the plant back under control.

Yoshida, who retired from the plant in late 2012 after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, has widely been afforded hero status for his leading role in averting a far more devastating catastrophe. Most famously, he defied official orders to stop using seawater to cool the melting reactors, one of many dilemmas he faced throughout the lengthy ordeal.

In addition to speaking with Yoshida, plant officials and workers for the book, many of them off the record or on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, I also interviewed Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister at the time, who some believe played an equally important hand when he put a stop to an alleged worker pullout from the plant as it spiralled out of control. Such a move, he believed, would trigger an even wider nuclear catastrophe that would require an evacuation zone stretching as far as Tokyo, impacting a total of 50 million people.

[…]

Indeed, confusion reigns with regards to the impact of the accident on health. Some researchers, such as Geraldine Thomas, a cancer specialist at London University, insist that the radiation levels seen at Fukushima are too low to bring about the high numbers of thyroid and other cancers that were among the more prominent illnesses to come to light in the decades after Chernobyl.

Others, such as Hisako Sakiyama, a former senor researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences, disagree, saying sufficient data has been gathered to show even lower radiation doses can cause sufficient DNA damage to bring about cancer and other illnesses.

Away from the laboratory, however, about 200 thyroid cancer cases have already been detected among the Fukushima residents aged 18 and under at the time of the accident, though experts say that a stigma attached to radiation-induced cancer, which harks back to the A-bomb “hibakusha” survivors in Hiroshima and Nagashima, means the figure is almost certainly higher.

Other illnesses are also starting to come to light.

On February 2nd, a former plant worker took utility TEPCO to court after he was diagnosed with leukemia. His illness had already been recognised by Japan’s health and labour ministry as being work-related, though a TEPCO spokesman flatly denied the possibility of a connection between the cancer and radiation exposure at the plant.

[…]

 

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“Half Life in Fukushima” documents life in the red zone five years after the nuclear disaster via Asian American Press

Posted on 2017/04/11 by yukimiyamotodepaul

“Half-life in Fukushima” is a documentary feature in competition at the 60th San Francisco International Film Festival. It represents a Switzerland and France collaboration, with co-directors Mark Olexa and Francesca Scalisi at the helm. While the production represents a European origin, the subject matter had gained world-wide attention no less than Chernobyl in 1986.

[…]

The directors capture their subject with quiet sensitivity and empathy. At first devastated by the loss of everything, but now five years later Naoto is resigned to accept a solitary existence in the ghost town. There are nuclear cleanup crews still working during the day, but all in protective suits and masks. We see Naoto wearing ordinary clothes, feeding his cattle, wandering the streets alone, reminiscing by the ocean, or going into the forest just to look at the trees.

In the opening shot, we see the definition of the term “half-life”. It refers to the time it takes for one-half of the atoms of a radioactive material to disintegrate. It is also an apt metaphor describing the remnants of a life in Naoto. In many scenes, a stationary camera allows us to experience Naoto’s coming and going in real time. One of such moments is when the camera stays with Naoto from a distance as he stops his truck at an intersection when the traffic lights turn red. We stop with him, the scene motionless and silent for about a minute until the green lights come on. Such a vicarious moment into a life on hold is eerily poignant.

[…]

Showings for “Half-life in Fukushima” are on April 13, 17, and 19 at two venues in the Bay Area. More info and tickets online.

Contact Diana Cheng at dcheng@aapress.com or visit at Twitter @Arti_Ripples or her blog Ripple Effects, rippleeffects.wordpress.com.

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Survey on Fukushima-linked bullying reveals hundreds more cases via The Mainichi

Posted on 2017/04/11 by yukimiyamotodepaul

TOKYO (Kyodo) — A government survey prompted by the bullying of a boy from Fukushima Prefecture has unveiled hundreds more cases in which evacuees from areas hit by the nuclear crisis were targeted, data released Tuesday showed.

The first nationwide survey on bullying of children who evacuated Fukushima Prefecture due to meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in 2011 showed there were 129 cases in fiscal 2016 ended this March and 199 more cases in previous years.

Among the total, 13 had apparent links to the nuclear disaster or the major earthquake and tsunami that triggered it.

[…]

The latest survey targeting roughly 12,000 evacuees showed some of those who were bullied in relation to the nuclear crisis were told to go back to Fukushima or stay away, as they would contaminate others with radiation.

 

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文科省 震災・原発いじめ１３件…福島避難者計１９９件 via 毎日新聞

Posted on 2017/04/11 by yukimiyamotodepaul

（抜粋）

調査は昨年１２月、福島県から県内外に避難している小中高生ら約１万２０００人を対象に実施。２０１６年度の状況と、１５年度以前に在籍した学校での状況をそれぞれ聞き取った。その結果、今年３月までに計１９９件のいじめが判明。同省は、このうち公立小３件、公立中９件、私立高１件の計１３件について震災や原発事故に関連するいじめだったとしている。１３件のうち４件は１６年度、９件は１５年度以前のケースだった。いじめを受けた児童・生徒は現在、平常通り学校生活を送っているという。

　また、このほかに事実関係を確認中のいじめが５件あるという。

　公表された事例の中には、「福島へ帰れ」と言われた児童が転校したケースや、「放射能が付くから近づくな」と言われた例などがある。小学校時代に「放射能」とあだ名をつけられた中学生もいた。松野文科相は「背景には避難者のつらい思いへの理解不足がある」と述べた。

　昨年１１月、福島県から横浜市に避難した当時中学１年の男子生徒が「ばい菌」と呼ばれ、金銭を要求されるなどしたいじめが発覚。同様のいじめが全国で相次いで判明したため、文科省が調査していた。【伊澤拓也】

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ふるさと納税の寄付金、原発訴訟の費用に　函館市 via 朝日新聞

Posted on 2017/04/10 by nfield

[…]

大間原発は津軽海峡を挟んで函館市の対岸に建設中で、同市との距離は最短約２３キロ。東京電力福島第一原発事故で被害が及んだ３０キロ圏にあたる。市は住民の生命や財産を守るためとして２０１４年４月、事業者のＪパワー（電源開発）と国を相手に、建設差し止め訴訟を起こした。

市は提訴の前月から訴訟費用の寄付金を募り、今年３月末までに約１３００件、約５６００万円が寄せられ、弁護士費用などに２１００万円余りを支出してきた。だが、次第に寄付が減り、昨年度は約９０万円とペースダウンしていた。

裁判はこれまでに１１回の口頭弁論が開かれたが、判決までになお数年かかるとの見通しがあることから、市は今年度から、ふるさと納税の使途として、従来のまちづくりや子育て支援などとともに訴訟費用を加えることにした。市の訴訟担当者は「ふるさと納税をきっかけに、函館市の大間原発訴訟に関心を持ってもらえれば」と話す。

[…]

 

 

もっと読む。

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900 Chicago government buildings to switch to renewable energy via Chicago Sun Times

Posted on 2017/04/10 by nfield

More than 900 government buildings in Chicago will shift their electricity use to “100 percent renewable energy” by 2025 under an ambitious mayoral plan that contrasts sharply with President Donald Trump’s retreat on environmental issues.

Together, Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges, Chicago Park District fieldhouses and buildings owned by the city and the Chicago Housing Authority consume 8 percent of all the electricity used in Chicago, according to city officials.

[…]

Now, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is promising to make the switch to all renewable energy, though he isn’t saying how much he’s prepared to spend to make that happen.

The 900 government buildings will accomplish the shift through a variety of strategies. They include: purchasing “renewable energy credits” by going out to the market to buy a megawatt of solar or wind power; buying utility-supplied renewable energy through the Illinois Renewable Portfolio Standard; and by installing solar panels or windmills on city buildings and public property.

 

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再生エネ、初の長期戦略を策定　環境省「脱炭素社会」へ via 東京新聞

Posted on 2017/04/10 by nfield

環境省は１０日、地熱や洋上風力、太陽光発電などの再生可能エネルギーを、２０３０年に大量に導入するための長期戦略を策定することを明らかにした。５０年以降の「脱炭素社会」実現に向け、パリ協定に基づく地球温暖化対策に生かす。今後予定される国のエネルギー基本計画の見直しや予算編成に反映させる。

再生可能エネルギーに絞った国レベルの長期戦略づくりは初めて。近く事務次官をトップに省内チームを立ち上げ、来年春までに「再生可能エネルギーの活用による二酸化炭素（ＣＯ２）削減戦略」の第１弾をまとめる。３０年段階の数値目標も示す方針だ。

 

原文

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Nuclear plant owners expand search for financial rescue via AP

Posted on 2017/04/09 by nfield

[…]

Perhaps nuclear power’s biggest nemesis is the cheap natural gas flooding the market from the northeast’s Marcellus Shale reservoir, the nation’s most prolific gas field. Meanwhile, electricity consumption hit a wall after the recession, while states have emphasized renewable energies and efficiency.

“You put all of this together and it’s a perfect storm,” said John Keeley, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group.

Opposition to a so-called nuclear bailout is uniting rivals and the natural gas exploration industry. The potential for a hit to utility bills is drawing pushback from the AARP and manufacturers.

Subsidizing nuclear power could chill investment in lower-cost energy sources and erode competitive markets, critics say, and, with natural gas prices expected to stay low for some time, shutting down nuclear plants may have no impact on electricity bills.

For steel companies, paper companies, food processors and pharmaceutical makers whose electric bill might be their biggest expense, “a mil of an increase in a kilowatt hour turns into a lot of money,” said David Kleppinger of the Industrial Energy Consumers of Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania, the nation’s No. 2 nuclear power state after Illinois, it could mean propping up five nuclear plants to help feed the sprawling mid-Atlantic power grid that stretches from New Jersey to Illinois.

The owners of the 11 nuclear plants in Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania are no small potatoes: Exelon, PSEG, FirstEnergy and Dominion, among them.

The plant owners’ strategy is similar to that in Illinois and New York: give nuclear power megawatts the kind of preferential treatment and premium payments that are given to renewable energies, such as wind and solar.

The industry’s pitch is part economic, part environmental. A plant shutting down would devastate a local economy, they say. And, nuclear waste and water consumption issues aside, zero-carbon nuclear plants are better suited than natural gas or coal to fight climate change, they say.

The claim to environmental credentials has drawn jeers from nuclear power’s traditional critics.

“When did highly carcinogenic toxic waste become green?” said Eric Epstein, a longtime nuclear power watchdog in Pennsylvania.

The most vulnerable nuclear plants are those with just one unit — such as Exelon’s Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, where a second unit was destroyed in a partial meltdown in 1979 — or those in need of expensive upgrades, analysts say.
FirstEnergy says it could decide next year to sell or close its three nuclear plants — Davis-Besse and Perry in Ohio and Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania — unless states make them more competitive.

[…]

 

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