Reuters
By Yoko Kubota and Kiyoshi Takenaka
Sun, 10 Apr, 2011 11:20 AM EDT
Japan fails to stop radioactive discharge into ocean
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese nuclear power plant operator TEPCO expects to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean on Monday, days later than planned, a step that would help ease international concern about the spread of radiation from a smashed nuclear plant.
China and South Korea have also criticized Japan's handling of the nuclear crisis, with Seoul calling it incompetent, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long atomic disaster and the spread of radiation.
Japan is struggling to regain control of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was damaged by the magnitude 9 quake and 15 meter tsunami.
The nuclear plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), has been pumping sea water into the reactors to cool the nuclear core, and then discharging the water, after it has become contaminated, back into the Pacific Ocean.
TEPCO had planned to stop the discharge on Saturday, but work was interrupted by a powerful aftershock late on Thursday. The firm then pushed the target back to Sunday, a goal it failed to meet.
"We are making checks on remaining water, and the final check is scheduled for tomorrow," a company spokesman told a press briefing late on Sunday.
TEPCO was forced to start pumping sea water into the power plant after failing to restart the reactors' cooling systems after the quake. It has been pumping in nitrogen to cool the core, but officials say they are unsure of what to do next.
"We cannot say what the outlook is for the next stage," Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said on Sunday. "As soon as possible we would like to achieve stable cooling and set a course toward controlling radiation."
In Tokyo, around 5,000 people took to the streets in two separate anti-nuclear protests on Sunday. Some carried placards reading 'No More Fukushima' and 'No Nukes'; others danced and played musical instruments.
One group of demonstrators marched to the offices of the operator of the stricken plant, which has apologized to Japan, and neighboring countries, for the crisis.
Radiation from Japan spread around the entire northern hemisphere in the first two weeks of the nuclear crisis, according to the Vienna-based Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
Japan's economy, the world's third largest, is reeling from the triple disaster and several countries have banned or restricted food imports after detecting radiation.
More critically, the nuclear crisis and power shortages have disrupted Japan's manufacturing and electronics global supply chains, hitting computer and automakers in particular.
Power blackouts and restrictions, factory shutdowns, and a sharp drop in tourists have hit the world's most indebted nation.
Efforts to regain control of six reactors hit by the tsunami, which caused partial meltdowns to some reactor cores after fuel rods were overheated, has been hindered by 60,000 tonnes of radioactive water.
NISA said efforts to restore cooling systems were not making clear progress.
TEPCO wants to start moving some of the highly contaminated water out of the reactors and into a condenser, a key step toward restoring the critical cooling system.
"We may be able to use (electric) systems that are currently functioning for cooling, and that may speed up the cooling restoration. But there is no concrete and clear option," said NISA's Nishiyama.
Bangkok Post
Published: 11/04/2011 at 05:31 PM
New 7.1 quake hits Japan as evacuation zone widens
Japan on Monday widened the evacuation zone around a stricken nuclear plant exactly a month on from a huge natural disaster as another 7.1 magnitude quake and tsunami alert strained nerves anew.
The latest aftershock caused buildings to sway in the capital Tokyo, shortly after the nation had observed a minute's silence to remember the 13,000 people killed in the March 11 disaster and the 15,000 who officially remain missing.
The US Geological Survey said the 7.1 onshore quake hit at 5:16 pm (0816 GMT) at a depth of just 13 kilometres (eight miles). Its epicentre was 81 kilometres south of Fukushima city, near the troubled nuclear plant.
Japan's meteorological agency warned that a one-metre (three foot) wave could hit Ibaraki prefecture, one of the areas pummelled by last month's massive tsunami, before cancelling the alert less than an hour later.
Another tremor of 7.1 on April 7 -- just one of thousands of aftershocks to hit the traumatised country -- killed at least two people and cut electricity across a huge area of northern Japan.
Workers battling to contain the crisis at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant were evacuated after the latest quake Monday, which briefly knocked out power to crippled reactors before electricity was restored.
Underlining the threat of long-term health damage from radiation, the government on Monday said it was to widen the evacuation area around the atomic plant to include some towns outside the current 20-kilometre exclusion zone.
Those areas were liable to receive potentially hazardous radiation levels of 20 millisieverts per year, top government spokesman Yukio Edano said, while stressing there was no deterioration at the Fukushima plant.
Tokyo's nationalistic governor, who was re-elected Sunday, said the vast city would bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics as part of efforts to boost recovery.
Shintaro Ishihara said Tokyo -- which lost out to Rio de Janeiro in the race to host the 2016 Olympics -- "can start raising our hand now" for the games.
Kan is worried that "stagnation in consumer spending caused by excessive self-restraint would be detrimental to the Japanese economy and reconstruction efforts in disaster-hit areas," Jiji reported, citing an unnamed official.
The Telegraph
10:02AM BST 11 Apr 2011
Japan earthquake: Fukushima nuclear plant evacuated following aftershock
A magnitude 7.1 aftershock has rattled Japan a month after the magnitude 9 earthquake that spawned a deadly tsunami.
Authorities issued a warning for a three feet high tsunami after today's earthquake, which had its epicentre in Fukushima prefecture. The warning was lifted after an hour.
Workers battling to contain a crisis at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were ordered to evacuate after the powerful aftershock, operator TEPCO said.
The earthquake briefly knocked out power to crippled reactors before electricity was restored.
"The company ordered workers to withdraw and stay in a quake-proof building," a spokesman for the operator said. "We don't know many workers were involved."
The aftershock shook buildings and briefly forced Tokyo's main international airport to close both of its runways, but there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
To date, police have confirmed that 12,596 people died as a result of the earthquake and tsunami last month. A further 14,747 are listed as missing presumed dead.
Reuters
By Yoko Kubota and Yoko Nishikawa
TOKYO | Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:34am EDT
Japan expands nuclear evacuation zone as new quake hits
(Reuters) - Japan on Monday expanded the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high levels of accumulated radiation, as a strong aftershock rattled the area one month after a quake and tsunami sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
A magnitude 7.1 tremor shook buildings in Tokyo and a wide swathe of eastern Japan on Monday evening, triggering a small tsunami alert. NHK state television said it caused the off-site power supply for two damaged reactors to shut down.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which operates the plant, said workers had stopped pouring cooling water on reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 at Fukushima.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said villages and towns outside the 20 km (12 mile) evacuation zone that have had more accumulated radiation would be evacuated. Children, pregnant women, and hospitalized patients should stay out of some areas 20-30 km from the Fukushima nuclear complex, he added.
The decision to widen the evacuation band around the Fukushima plant was "based on data analysis of accumulated radiation exposure information", Edano told a news conference.
"These new evacuation plans are meant to ensure safety against risks of living there for half a year or one year," he said. There was no need to evacuate immediately, he added.
Japan had resisted extending the zone despite international concerns over radiation spreading from the six damaged reactors at Fukushima, which engineers are still struggling to bring under control after they were wrecked by the 15-meter tsunami.
Residents of one village, Iitate, which is 40 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, have been told to prepare for evacuation because of prolonged exposure to radiation, a local official told Reuters by phone. It has a population of 5,000.
TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu visited the area on Monday for the first time since the March 11 disaster. He had all but vanished from public view apart from a brief apology shortly after the crisis began and has spent some of the time since in hospital.
"I would like to deeply apologize again for causing physical and psychological hardships to people of Fukushima prefecture and near the nuclear plant," said a grim-faced Shimizu.
Dressed in a blue work jacket, he bowed his head for a moment of silence with other TEPCO officials at 2:46 p.m. (0546 GMT), exactly a month after the earthquake hit.
Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato refused to meet Shimizu during his visit, but the TEPCO boss left a business card at the government office.
Sato has criticized the evacuation policy, saying residents in a 20-30 km radius were initially told to stay indoors and then advised to evacuate voluntarily.
Engineers at the damaged Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said they were no closer to restoring the plant's cooling system which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control.
In a desperate move to cool highly radioactive fuel rods, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) has pumped water onto reactors, some of which have experienced partial meltdown.
But the strategy has hindered moves to restore the plant's internal cooling system, critical to end the crisis, as engineers have had to focus how to store 60,000 tons of contaminated water.
Engineers have been forced to pump low-level radioactive water, left by the tsunami, back into the sea in order to free up storage capacity for highly contaminated water from reactors.
China and South Korea have both criticized Japan for pumping radioactive water into the sea, with Seoul calling it incompetent, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long atomic disaster and the spread of radiation.
TEPCO hopes to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean on Monday, days later than planned.
The triple disaster is the worst to hit Japan since World War Two after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a huge tsunami battered its northeast coast, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing and rocking the world's third-largest economy.
Concern at Japan's inability contain its nuclear crisis is mounting with Prime Minister Kan's ruling party suffering embarrassing losses in local elections on Sunday.
Voters vented their anger at the government's handling of the nuclear and humanitarian crisis, with Kan's ruling Democratic Party of Japan losing nearly 70 seats in local elections.
CNN
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 11, 2011 -- Updated 1118 GMT (1918 HKT)
Magnitude 6.6-quake jolts Japan coast
(CNN) -- Fires burned in northeastern Japan Monday evening after a powerful earthquake rattled the region, triggering several landslides that trapped four people in one city.
The 6.6-magnitude quake was centered about 100 miles (164 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo and about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to the U.S. Geological Survey
It caused several landslides in the city of Iwaki, including one that buried three houses and trapped four people inside, police in Fukushima Prefecture said. Authorities were trying to rescue the four. Their condition was not immediately known, police said.
The earthquake did not cause a tsunami.
Workers at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant evacuated briefly but soon returned to resume their efforts to cool the troubled facility.
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