At least 10,000+ killed; tsunamis feared as massive quake hits Japan

[MuffyBee]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Images-of-Japan-s-barren-tsunami-coast-2-years-on-4328107.php
Images of Japan's barren tsunami coast 2 years on
March 5, 2013

KESENNUMA, Japan (AP) — Japan's progress in rebuilding from the tsunami that thundered over coastal sea walls, sweeping entire communities away, is mainly measured in barren foundations and empty spaces.

Next week, Japan will observe the second anniversary of the March 11, 2011, disaster that killed more than 19,000 people.

In dozens of towns along the country's northeastern Pacific coast, from tiny Ryoishi in the north to Fukushima farther south, where some areas remain off-limits due to radiation fears, the tsunami zone remains a wasteland. Scattered along the coast are huge piles of rubble and stacks of smashed scooters and cars.
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Slide show with 24 images at link.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/11/recovery-slow-as-japan-marks-2-years-since-tsunami/1977883/
Recovery slow as Japan marks 2 years since tsunami
March 11, 2013

TOKYO (AP) — Japan marked the second anniversary on Monday of a devastating earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 19,000 people dead or missing and more than 300,000 people still displaced.

At memorial observances in Tokyo and in barren towns along the northeastern coast, those gathered bowed their heads in a moment of silence marking the moment, at 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, when the magnitude 9.0 earthquake — the strongest recorded in Japan's history — struck off the coast.
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10168633/Former-Fukushima-nuclear-plant-boss-dies-of-cancer.html
Former Fukushima nuclear plant boss dies of cancer
The former boss of the Fukushima nuclear plant, who stayed at his post to try to tame reactors after Japan's earthquake and tsunami in 2011, has died of throat cancer.
July 9, 2013

[Bearlyhere]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10168633/Former-Fukushima-nuclear-plant-boss-dies-of-cancer.html
Former Fukushima nuclear plant boss dies of cancer
The former boss of the Fukushima nuclear plant, who stayed at his post to try to tame reactors after Japan's earthquake and tsunami in 2011, has died of throat cancer.
July 9, 2013

 

[MuffyBee]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/08/130807-fukushima-radioactive-water-leak/
Fukushima's Radioactive Water Leak: What You Should Know
August 7, 2013

Tensions are rising in Japan over radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a breach that has defied the plant operator's effort to gain control.


Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday called the matter “an urgent issue” and ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up, following an admission by Tokyo Electric Power Company that water is seeping past an underground barrier it attempted to create in the soil. The head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority task force told Reuters the situation was an "emergency."
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23678723
Japanese town to scrap marooned 'tsunami boat'
August 13, 2013

[MuffyBee]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-20/toxic-puddles-discovered-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant/4899844
Toxic water leaks from storage tanks at Fukushima nuclear plant
August 20, 2013

TEPCO says an inspection of one of the tanks holding radioactive water revealed that the level inside had dropped by about a third.

The company says the water is still leaking and it has not yet pinpointed the source of it.

TEPCO says puddles with extremely high radiation levels have been found near the water tanks at the plant.

While it had been treated to reduce radioactive caesium, tests of the leaked water found it was still highly contaminated with beta-ray emitting substances including strontium, which has a half-life of about 30 years and can cause bone cancers.

TEPCO says the radiation level, measured around 50 centimetres above the toxic water surface, was about 100 millisieverts per hour.

"This means you are exposed to the level of radiation in an hour that a nuclear plant worker is allowed to be exposed to in five years," a TEPCO official told reporters.

TEPCO says it is possible the toxic water could contaminate groundwater and flow into the Pacific Ocean "in the longer term," but says it is working to avoid such a situation.

"We are transferring the contaminated water from a tank with a leakage problem to unbroken tanks, and retrieving leaked water and soil around it," the TEPCO official said.

The company has faced a growing catalogue of incidents at the plant including several leaks of radioactive water, more than two years after the worst nuclear disaster in a generation which was triggered by a huge quake and tsunami in March 2011.

The company - which faces huge clean-up and compensation costs - has struggled with a massive amount of radioactive water accumulating as a result of continuing water injections to cool reactors.

The embattled utility in July admitted for the first time that radioactive groundwater had been leaking outside the plant and this month started pumping it out to reduce leakage into the Pacific Ocean.

The problems have led the Japanese government and its nuclear regulator to say they would get more directly involved in the cleanup at Fukushima plant, which had largely been left in the hands of the company.

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[cw618]

ive been reading up on Fukushima’s radioactive discharges, all i can say is
if a solution isnt found now, life as japan and a lot of other areas, is going
to be devastatingly changed in pos a 2-5yr time frame.  JMO
some informative links to read


New radiation readings suggest more Fukushima tank leaks
 Published time: August 22, 2013 07:12
Edited time: August 22, 2013 12:04
http://rt.com/news/fukushima-radioactive-water-leaks-831/

Latest Radioactive Leak at Fukushima: How Is It Different?
Patrick J. Kiger For National Geographic
Published August 21, 2013
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/08/130821-fukushima-latest-leak-how-is-it-different/

Fukushima's Radioactive Water Leak: What You Should Know
Patrick J. Kiger National Geographic News
Published August 7, 2013
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/08/130807-fukushima-radioactive-water-leak/

Fukushima: Uncontainable
by Stephen Lendman
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/08/13/fukushima-uncontainable/

[MuffyBee]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/01/us-japan-fukushima-idUSBRE98002520130901
Japan government abandons hands-off approach to Fukushima clean-up
September 1, 2013

Reuters) - Japan's government is moving to take a more direct role in the clean-up of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, as concerns grow over the ability of embattled operator Tokyo Electric to handle the legacy of the worst atomic disaster in a quarter century.

The concerns have also revived debate about the future of Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) itself, including early-stage proposals to put its toxic nuclear assets under government control and leave the rest of the company as a provider of power to the nation's biggest economic region.

"I want the government to have a responsible framework - not just for checking what Tokyo Electric is doing to deal with Fukushima - but for the government to commit to dealing with the Fukushima problem itself and conduct this as a joint operation, including the water problem and decommissioning," said Tadamori Oshima, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's taskforce on post-disaster reconstruction.

"Concerning the question of what the government will pay for and what Tepco will pay for, I think we need to debate and redraw the line," Oshima told Reuters in an interview.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/19/japan-fukushima-nuclear-plant/2835493/
Japan PM wants Fukushima plant entirely scrapped
September 19, 2013

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the operator of the country's crippled nuclear power plant Thursday to scrap all six reactors at the site instead of just four already slated for decommissioning and to concentrate on tackling pressing issues like radioactive water leaks.

After taking a firsthand look at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, however, Abe insisted that radiation-contaminated water had been contained at the complex and said he would fend off "rumors" regarding Fukushima's safety.

Following a three-hour tour of the plant, Abe instructed its operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., to decommission the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors, which survived the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The disaster caused three other reactors to melt and damaged a fuel cooling pool at another. TEPCO has been unsure about what to do with the two surviving reactors, leading some to believe that it may be still be hanging on to hopes of keeping them alive.

"I told (TEPCO) to ensure decommissioning of reactors No. 5 and 6 so that they can concentrate more on dealing with the accident," Abe told workers and reporters as he wrapped up the tour at the plant's emergency command center.

TEPCO President Naomi Hirose told Abe that a decision on the reactors would be made by the end of the year, the prime minister said.

Abe said that he urged TEPCO to ensure it has enough funding on hand to take care of urgent work needed to clear the way for the plant's decommissioning, and that Hirose promised to obtain 1 trillion yen ($10 billion).

The prime minister said he stood by the reassurance about Tokyo's safety that he gave to the International Olympic Committee before the city of 35 million was awarded the right to host the 2020 summer games earlier this month.
"One of the main purposes of this visit was to see it for myself, after I made those remarks on how the contaminated water has been handled," Abe said.

Officials have acknowledged that radiation-contaminated groundwater has been seeping into the Pacific since soon after meltdowns and explosions crippled the plant following earthquake and tsunami.

Abe said he was convinced that all of the contaminated water had been contained.

"In light of that, I will work hard to counter rumors questioning the safety of the Fukushima plant," he said.

During his tour, Abe was shown some of the 1,000 tanks containing radioactive water, water treatment equipment and a chemical dam being installed along the coast — steps meant to contain the water leakage, which experts say is a major obstacle for the decades-long cleanup process.

Abe's adamant reassurance to the IOC that the leaks are "under control" had backfired at home, as many Japanese believe he was glossing over problems at the plant.

Thursday's plant visit was Abe's second since taking office in December, when he took his first tour on a bus.

Hours before the IOC chose Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympics, Abe gave a speech declaring that radioactive contaminants from the leakage had no impact on seawater outside the bay near the plant. Tokyo was not at risk, he insisted.

Senior TEPCO official Kazuhiko Yamashita told opposition Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers last week that the water situation was "not under control," appearing to contradict Abe. DPJ leaders said they would demand that Abe explain his remarks to the IOC.

TEPCO later said Yamashita was referring to isolated incidents and had not contradicted Abe's comments.
 

[MuffyBee]

Where was truth and transparency with the Fukushima disaster?  Why was TEPCO alllowed to go on so long without Japanese officials get involved?
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10406431/New-7.3-magnitude-earthquake-hits-Fukushima.html
New 7.3 magnitude earthquake hits Fukushima
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck offshore from Japan's crippled nuclear power plant early on Saturday, triggering small tsunamis but causing no damage.
October 26, 2013

Amateur footage from the area devastated by a huge earthquake and tsunami in 2011 showed vehicles and buildings being violently shaken by the new tremor.
Keiji Doi, an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake was an aftershock of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck two years ago, killing around 19,000 people and devastating the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.
There was no damage and only one minor injury was reported, the national Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
 

Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57612748/workers-begin-removing-fuel-rods-from-japans-tsunami-battered-fukushima-nuclear-plant/
Workers begin removing fuel rods from Japan's tsunami-battered Fukushima nuclear plant
November 18, 2013

TOKYO Workers have started removing radioactive fuel rods Monday from one of four reactors at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The painstaking and risky task is a crucial first step toward a full cleanup of the earthquake and tsunami-damaged plant in northeastern Japan.

Unit 4 was offline at the time of the March 2011 disaster, and its core didn't melt down as the other three did. Two other reactors that were offline have also survived. But hydrogen explosions blew the roof and walls off the Unit 4 building and weakened the structure, leaving it vulnerable to earthquakes.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kwtx.com/weather/headlines/Four-Years-After-Tsunami-Debris-Washes-Ashore-In-US-296588011.html
Four Years After Tsunami, Debris Washes Ashore In U.S.
March 17, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. (March 17, 2015) Four years after a deadly earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, debris is still washing ashore in Oregon and southwest Washington. Scientists predict it will continue to arrive for at least the next three years.

An estimated 1 million tons of tsunami debris is still floating in the Pacific Ocean.

Beach cleanup volunteers found baskets and lots of kitchen items this past year.

They've hauled away truckloads of trash and artifacts.

The first pieces of debris to float across the Pacific Ocean included light items such as chunks of foam that could easily be carried by the wind.

Heavier items sitting lower in the water, like wood and tires, soon followed.