US Navy sailors sue Fukushima operators for £600m

Nearly 80 US Navy sailors who supported Japan after the Fukushima disaster demanded £612 million (US$1bn) from Tokyo Electric Power Plant (Tepco), operators of Fukushima. According to plaintiffs, over the last three years they have suffered from different diseases as a result of radiation exposure.

An earthquake that was followed by tsunami and nuclear disaster took place March 11,2011. The USS Ronald Reagan super-carrier was sent to the northeast coast of Japan to assist the country.

The vessel crew that includes sailors and support personnel claims that during the operation, called Operation Tomodachi, they were exposed to radioactive plumes. According to them, since the accident they have suffered from different health issues, ranging from cancer to fertility problems.

Their claims were submitted to San Diego District Court in California. Paul C Garner, a lawyer representing the Nevy sailors, says that "they are suing Tepco for negligence in permitting escape of radiation from Fukushima nuclear power plant, strict liability, fraudulent concealment of true facts and a $1 billion medical fund plus compensation."

This is an amended claim, as an earlier version was dismissed by the judge in San Diego last year.

The US government assured that the levels of radiation were too low and the sailors couldn't get their health damaged. The government also published a list of exposure details.

The US Navy spokesman told The Telegraph that after the operation all crew was monitored and the levels of radiation exposure were very low.

Vessels' personnel deny Government's proofs and continue to stand their ground.

Lt Steven Simmons, a 36-year-old administration officer, told that he had fallen ill within months of returning to the US from his deployment on the USS Reagan. He said that doctors didn't do internal and external monitoring of people. He also said that though he heard via intercom that "contaminants" got into water, he had already had his breakfast and had drunk several glasses of water. Mr. Simmons used to be a very healthy man. He used to doing the P90-X work out and claimed the "Stairway to Heaven" in Hawaii. After his return, his health began to decline. Today he is wheelchair bound father of three children. Doctors say that it can't be a radiation poisoning. Otherwise, Lt Simmons would have been affected earlier.

Tepco that is now facing a large number of lawsuits from Fukushima residents doesn't comment on the issue. The company's representative thanks the US for all its help and assures that the company would appropriate all measures, assigned by the Court in US.

Today, three years after the Fukushima disaster, concerns in the region are growing. Local city governments are adopting resolutions that stipulate more intensive testing of coastal seafood. Some scientists think that seaborne radiation from Fukushima will wash up on the US West Coast. Nevertheless, the most of scientists assure that radiation will decay or lessen to the concentrations that don't have any effect on people's health.

Voice of Russia, Telegraph
 http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_02_09/US-Navy-sailors-sue-Fukushima-operators-for-600m-3939/
9/2/14
--
-
Related:

• US West Coast on high alert against tsunami-washed Japanese invasive species

• Fukushima debris island the size of Texas floating to the US.

• Έως 44 δισ. ευρώ η απορρύπανση της Φουκουσίμα

US West Coast on high alert against tsunami-washed Japanese invasive species

While winter storms have plunged temperatures across various parts of the United States, the West Coast is bracing itself for an altogether different – yet still very unwelcome – set of seasonal hazards: invading marine life from Japan.
Almost three years after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan’s east coast and set off the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, dislodged debris from the site is still washing up onto American shores. Yet while scientists have downplayed the possibility that the wreckage is contaminated with radiation, they are keeping their eyes peeled for hostile sea creatures hitching rides from across the Pacific. 


The answer is ‘yes,’ there is a real threat,” John Chapman of the Oregon State University’s Marine Bioinvasion Lab told RT in an interview, noting that well over 150 marine species have arrived on the coast over the last year. “These [creatures] have the potential to invade local habitats.”
Currently, government agencies across California, Oregon, and Washington are drafting comprehensive surveys of their coasts in an attempt to determine exactly what species have reached their shores and which, if any, have been able to successfully establish themselves in local habitats.
“We’re still in the discovery phase,” Chapman said. “We’re still getting lots of debris” and even more is expected to arrive during the winter season, which is typically when the majority of the rubble washes ashore. Scientists previously believed that native Japanese marine life could not survive the voyage across the Pacific Ocean, but the results have proven quite the opposite.
“We’ve been wrong on all our predictions so far,” Chapman said.
Over the last two years, entire docks have made their way to the shores of Oregon and Washington, housing dozens of non-native marine life. Meanwhile, other instances have seen fishing vessels surface with entirely different communities of life onboard. Already, scientists and researchers have pinpointed a number of potentially hazardous arrivals.
According to marine biologist Steve Rumrill, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), two species discovered in the state were on the Global Invasive Species Database’s list of the world’s 100 worst invaders: Wakame, a seaweed native to Japan that began reproducing as soon as it arrived in America, and the Northern Pacific seastar, which he described as a voracious predator that could decimate local shellfish populations.............................http://rt.com/usa/japan-invasive-species-west-coast-587/
3/2/14
--
-
Related:

• Fukushima debris island the size of Texas floating to the US.

• Los Angeles prepares to fight Fukushima debris

 -----

• Έως 44 δισ. ευρώ η απορρύπανση της Φουκουσίμα

• Fukushima: Verstrahltes Wasser bedroht den Pazifik 

• Inside Fukushima: TEPCO releases pics from inside nuclear plant after tsunami (PHOTOS)

• H ιστορία στο Τόκιο:Συνομιλίες υπουργών και εμπειρογνωμόνων στη Φουκουσίμα για την πυρηνική ασφάλεια (Nuclear Safety)

TEPCO detects record radiation at Fukushima’s reactor 2, new leak suspected

TEPCO has found a record 1.9 million becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances at its No.2 reactor. Also radioactive cesium was detected in deeper groundwater at No.4 unit’s well, as fears grow of a new leak into the ocean.
The level of beta ray-emitting radioactivity in groundwater around the crippled Fukushima reactor No. 2 reactor has been rising since November, NHK reported.

Previous the highest level – 1.8 million becquerels (bq/liter), of beta-ray sources per liter - was registered at reactor No.1 on December 13.

Meanwhile, TEPCO’s latest examination of deeper groundwater beneath the #4 reactor's well has raised new concerns that there might be another source of radioactive substances leakage into the ocean.

For the first time, the analysis of water samples taken from a layer 25 meters beneath the No. 4 reactor's well that is facing the ocean has revealed radioactivity in groundwater.

TEPCO investigators detected 6.7 bq/liter of Cesium 137 and 89 bq/liter of strontium as well as other beta ray-emitting radioactive substances.

However, the company’s officials said that it is early to talk about a hotspot of radiation leak and more examinations are needed to prove that. TEPCO suggested that current numbers could be wrong because radioactive substances may have been mistakenly mixed during the process of getting the sample.

Leakage of radiation-contaminated water has been the major threat to Japan’s population and environment from the very beginning of the Fukushima disaster in March 2011.

Only in late July 2013 did TEPCO acknowledge the fact that contaminated water is escaping from basements and trenches of the Fukushima plant into the ocean.

Since then, TEPCO reported about two major leaks of highly radioactive water into the ocean from storage tanks – a 300-ton leak in August and 430 liters in October. 
rt.com
21/12/13
--
-

• Fukushima: Verstrahltes Wasser bedroht den Pazifik 

• Fukushima: le typhon a fait couler de l'eau radioactive dans un fossé...

TEPCO moves 22 fuel rods from the 4th unit of NPP “Fukushima-1” to a special pool...

Specialists from the Japanese energy company TEPCO, operator of the accident-struck nuclear power plant, “Fukushima -1” have successfully moved 22 fuel elements (rods) from the container to a special pool just 100 meters away from the fourth unit, is being reported in a press release.
Work on extraction of the fuel rods at the fourth power plant, “Fukushima -1” began on Monday, the 18th of November. In the fourth power unit, 1.533 fuel elements are stored, most of them consisting of spent nuclear fuel.


 Last year, TEPCO, in test mode, removed two of them and made sure that the elements have not been corroded, allowing the beginning of their safe removal. 

The Company expects that work on extraction of the fuel elements at the fourth power plant, “Fukushima -1” will be completed by the end of next year.

Read more: http://indian.ruvr.ru/news/2013_11_23/TEPCO-moves-fuel-rods-from-Fukushima/
23/11/13
---
-
Related:

• Fukushima operator to start fuel-rod removal. -Japan's engineers prepare to move uranium and plutonium fuel rods as part of plant's decades-long decommissioning plan.

Ρομπότ εντοπίζει διαρροές στη Φουκουσίμα.

Για πρώτη φορά ένα τηλεκατευθυνόμενο ρομπότ εντόπισε το ακριβές σημείο διαρροής ραδιενεργού ύδατος από τον αντιδραστήρα 1 της πυρηνικής μονάδας της Φουκουσίμα στην Ιαπωνία.

Χθες, 14 Νοεμβρίου, το ρομπότ που φέρει ειδική κάμερα εντόπισε δύο ρωγμές σε δεξαμενή μέσα στο “τείχος” που περικλείει τον αντιδραστήρα.

Εντωμεταξύ, σήμερα η διαχειρίστρια εταιρεία, Tepco, ανακοίνωσε ότι εντοπίστηκε νέα διαρροή από δεξαμενή ραδιενεργού ύδατος στον πυρηνικό σταθμό της Φουκουσίμα, αντίστοιχη με τη διαρροή που είχε σημειωθεί προ μερικών μηνών.

«Τεχνικός μιας συνεργαζόμενης εταιρείας εντόπισε τη διαρροή σήμερα στις 08:50», αναφέρει στην ανακοίνωσή της η Tepco.


“Μια σταγόνα έπεφτε κάθε 4 δευτερόλεπτα», εξήγησε η εταιρεία.

Μέτρηση που έγινε 50 εκατοστά από το σημείο διαρροής του ύδατος αποκάλυψε την παρουσία ραδιενέργειας 30 μιλισιβέρτ την ώρα, ένα μάλλον υψηλό επίπεδο, το οποίο οφείλεται κυρίως στις ακτίνες βήτα από τις οποίες οι εργάτες μπορούν εύκολα να προστατευτούν.

Η Tepco ανακοίνωσε αργότερα ότι έσφιξε τα μπουλόνια κοντά στο σημείο της διαρροής, η οποία σταμάτησε.

Σύμφωνα με την εταιρεία, το επίπεδο του ύδατος που μετρήθηκε στο εσωτερικό της δεξαμενής είναι ανάλογο με εκείνο στη διπλανή δεξαμενή, πράγμα που σημαίνει ότι η ποσότητα του ραδιενεργού ύδατος που διέρρευσε είναι πολύ μικρή.

Η Tepco διατηρεί τεράστιες ποσότητες ραδιενεργού ύδατος στη μονάδα της Φουκουσίμα ώστε να μπορέσει να ψύξει τις λιωμένες ράβδους καυσίμου ουρανίου των τριών κατεστραμμένων αντιδραστήρων.

Ωστόσο, οι τεχνικοί της παραδέχτηκαν ότι δεν γνωρίζουν τον όγκο ραδιενεργού ύδατος που διαρρέει καθημερινά και ότι αντίστοιχα προβλήματα με τον αντιδραστήρα 1 αντιμετωπίζουν οι αντιδραστήρες 2 και 3.

Η διαχειρίστρια εταιρεία θα συνεχίσει να χρησιμοποιεί ρομπότ όχι μόνο για το έργο του εντοπισμού ραδιενεργών υδάτων αλλά και για την τιτάνια επιχείρηση αποξήλωσης των αντιδραστήρων.
econews, sigmalive,mme, RT
18/11/13
--
-

• Robot detects locations of radioactive leaks at crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Fukushima operator to start fuel-rod removal. -Japan's engineers prepare to move uranium and plutonium fuel rods as part of plant's decades-long decommissioning plan.

 -

The operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has taken the first step in the long and hazardous process of decommissioning the facility, extracting four fuel-rods from their container for later removal.
Tokyo Electric Power Co, known as Tepco, said it transferred the uranium and plutonium rods to a steel cask within the same cooling pool in a badly damaged reactor building, beginning on Monday the delicate and unprecedented task of removing 400 tons of highly irradiated spent fuel from that reactor.

"We will continue with the work from tomorrow and proceed, paying close attention to safety," Tepco said in a statement.
The removal of the rods was the most difficult and dangerous task undertaken since runaway reactors were brought under control two years ago.
It follows months of setbacks and glitches that have stoked widespread criticism of the utility's handling of the crisis, the worst nuclear accident in a generation.
The work pales in comparison with the much more complex task that awaits engineers, who will have to remove the misshapen cores of three reactors that went into meltdown.
More than 1,500 rods must be pulled out of the storage pool where they were being kept when a tsunami smashed into Fukushima in March 2011.
Over the course of two days, the company said it expects to remove 22 rods, with the entire operation scheduled to run for more than a year.
A huge crane with a remotely controlled grabber will be lowered into the pool and hook onto the rods, placing them inside a fully immersed cask.

Complicated decommissioning
The 91-ton cask will then be hauled from the pool - to be loaded onto a trailer and taken to a different storage pool about 100 metres away.
Experts have warned that slip-ups could quickly cause the situation to deteriorate. Even minor mishaps will create considerable delays to the already long and complicated decommissioning.
While such operations are routine at other nuclear plants, the disaster has made conditions far more complex, TEPCO has said.
Months of setbacks at the plant have included multiple leaks from tanks storing radioactive water, and a power outage caused when a rat electrocuted itself on a circuit board.
Tepco's management of the problems has been criticised as haphazard and uncoordinated, with one government minister saying it was like watching someone playing "whack-a-mole".
The full decommissioning of Fukushima is likely to take decades and include tasks that have never been attempted anywhere in the world.
Villages and towns nearby remain largely empty. Fear of radiation makes residents unable or unwilling to return to live in the shadow of the leaking plant.
aljazeera.com
18/11/13
--
-
Related:
 

• Robot detects locations of radioactive leaks at crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

-----

• Fukushima: Verstrahltes Wasser bedroht den Pazifik 

• Φουκουσίμα: «Δεν είναι ανησυχητική» για το περιβάλλον η διαρροή ραδιενεργού ύδατος.

 

Robot detects locations of radioactive leaks at crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

This handout picture taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on November 13, 2013 shows US nuclear expert Lake Barrett (R) inspecting the unit four reactor building of the crippled TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture. (AFP Photo/TEPCO)

 -

For the first time, a remote-controlled robot has detected the exact spot of radioactive water leaks from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant’s Reactor 1, local media reported.

The robot was sent close to the lower part of the Reactor 1 containment vessel at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi on Wednesday. Its camera captured images of radioactive water leaking from two holes of the vessel into the building housing the reactor, NHK television reported. 
The lower section of the vessel contains water that cools the molten nuclear fuel rods, damaged after the March 2011 earthquake that triggered a tsunami which hit the Fukushima nuclear facility.
The radiation levels in the inspected area were reported at 0.9 to 1.8 sieverts an hour, while a typical release of radiation is generally accepted to be 1 millisievert a year.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the nuclear plant’s operator responsible for the cleanup, has to keep the melted uranium fuel rods of the three damaged reactors cool for them to be relatively stable. Thus, the operator is storing huge amounts of radioactive water at Fukushima nuclear facility.
However, TEPCO engineers said that they cannot estimate the amount of water that leaked through the holes, NHK reported. They also admitted that Reactors 2 and 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi have similar problems.
TEPCO is now planning to use robots to locate other leaks which have been causing concern, as it is important not only in solving water contamination problems but also in carrying out decommissioning of the reactors.

This handout picture taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on November 13, 2013 shows US nuclear expert Lake Barrett and TEPCO workers inspecting the spent fuel pool at the unit four reactor building of the crippled TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture. (AFP Photo/TEPCO)

Earlier in November, TEPCO announced that by the end of the month the company will start extracting more than 1,500 fuel rods from the No 4 reactor of the crippled nuclear plant, which contains 10 times more Cesium-137 than Chernobyl did.
The rods are expected to be placed in the outdoor pool at the station by the end of next year.
However, scientists have urged caution as such an operation has never been undertaken, while a mishap could release a huge amount of radiation into the atmosphere or cause an explosion many times worse than the original disaster.
“If something goes wrong this could be a global catastrophe that dwarfs what has happened in Fukushima Daiichi thus far,” Kevin Kamps, a nuclear waste specialist from the organization Beyond Nuclear told RT.
According to experts, complete elimination of the consequences of the nuclear catastrophe will take from 30 to 40 years.
The crippled reactors of the nuclear facility are located near the coast of the Pacific Ocean. After the tsunami that hit Fukushima, the cores of the three reactors melted and burnt through the concrete basement of the reactor zone. The water used to cool them has been leaking into the soil and contaminating the ground water on the premises of the nuclear facility. This water eventually started seeping into the Pacific. According to estimations from Japan’s Ministry of Industry, around 300 tons of contaminated groundwater has leaked into the ocean daily since the nuclear disaster occurred in 2011.
rt.com
14/11/13
--
-
Related:

• Fukushima: Verstrahltes Wasser bedroht den Pazifik 

• Radiation levels in Fukushima bay highest since measurements began - reports...

• Φουκουσίμα: «Δεν είναι ανησυχητική» για το περιβάλλον η διαρροή ραδιενεργού ύδατος.

• Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant leaking contaminated water....

• Japan Reports Soaring Fukushima Groundwater Radiation...

• Έως 44 δισ. ευρώ η απορρύπανση της Φουκουσίμα

  -------

  • TEPCO admits Fukushima-1 reactors leak radioactive water to Pacific Ocean

  • Φόβοι για εκροή ραδιενεργού ύδατος από το εργοστάσιο της Φουκουσίμα στη θάλασσα 

• Radioactive cesium level soars 90-fold at Fukushima in just 3 days...

First wind turbine starts to spin near Fukushima. (video)

Japan has switched on the first wind turbine at a proposed wind farm 20 kilometres off the coast of Fukushima. The 143 turbines at the planned wind farm near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will have a capacity to generate one gigawatt of power. 

By comparison the nuclear plant had a capcity of four-and-a-half gigawatts. 

The turbines will help restore energy supplies to a region decimated by the multiple meltdowns of the nuclear plan following a tsunami in March 2011.

• >>>>>Japan to start building world's biggest offshore wind farm this summer<<<<<

  • Fukushima gets wind farm two years after nuclear disaster - video

  • Japan to start building world's biggest offshore wind farm this summer 

  • Με Ανεμογεννήτριες Siemens, Εγκαινιάστηκε το Μεγαλύτερο Υπεράκτιο Αιολικό Πάρκο του Κόσμου (2 VIDEO YT)

   

The two megawatt floating turbine that began operation on Monday was built at a dry dock near Tokyo and towed to its location off the northeastern coast.

"Many people were victimized and hurt by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, so it is very meaningful to have a new source of energy - renewable energy - based here at Fukushima. It is the government’s mission to ensure this project is a success," said State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Kazuyoshi Akaba. 
cntv.cn
11/11/13

Fukushima debris island the size of Texas floating to the US.

A massive island of debris is slowly making its way to the United States after forming in the wake of the tsunami that rocked Japan back in 2011. The tsunami killed almost 16,000 people in Japan, caused numerous problems at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, and dislodged more than 1.5 million floating objects into the Pacific Ocean. Now, a collection of debris the size of Texas is roughly 1,700 miles off the coast of California. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the debris scattered by the tsunami has been spread around an area of the ocean that’s three times the size of the continental United States. It also said to expect trash to continue arriving on American shores for the next few years. Already, objects such as boats, rooftops, soccer balls, and docks have hit various parts of the West Coast. Even more will arrive with the Texas-sized island, but, more than the trash, scientists are interested in the organisms that could be living on them........http://rt.com/usa/fukushima-debris-island-texas-266/5/11/13--

-
Related:

• Los Angeles prepares to fight Fukushima debris

 -----

• Έως 44 δισ. ευρώ η απορρύπανση της Φουκουσίμα

• Fukushima: Verstrahltes Wasser bedroht den Pazifik 

• Inside Fukushima: TEPCO releases pics from inside nuclear plant after tsunami (PHOTOS)

• H ιστορία στο Τόκιο:Συνομιλίες υπουργών και εμπειρογνωμόνων στη Φουκουσίμα για την πυρηνική ασφάλεια (Nuclear Safety)

 

Fukushima: Verstrahltes Wasser bedroht den Pazifik

Die Reaktorblöcke 1 (rechts) und 2 des havarierten Atomkraftwerks Fukushima (Foto: Zeit.de)

 -

In Fukushima droht die nächste Katastrophe: Das verstrahlte Wasser könnte bald in den Pazifik fließen. Eine chemische Barriere hat sich als unwirksam erwiesen.

Das radioaktiv verstrahlte Grundwasser auf dem Gelände des havarierten Atomkraftwerks Fukushima steigt in dramatischem Maße und bedroht den nahegelegenen Pazifischen Ozean. Das Wasser könne innerhalb der nächsten drei Wochen an die Oberfläche treten, meldete die japanische Tageszeitung Asahi unter Berufung auf ein Krisentreffen.

Eine von der Betreibergesellschaft Tepco in den Boden injizierte Chemikalie, die eine Barriere bilden soll, habe sich als unwirksam erwiesen. Das Grundwasser hat die Sperre dem Bericht zufolge bereits überwunden. Bei einem weiteren Anstieg des Grundwassers besteht die Gefahr, dass sich das verstrahlte Wasser ins Meer ergießt.

• Tepco muss jeden Tag 100 Tonnen Wasser abpumpen, um dessen Abfluss in den Ozean zu verhindern. Das Unternehmen weiß aber nicht, wohin diese große Menge geschafft werden soll: Die Speicher, die 380.000 Tonnen Wasser aufnehmen können, sind zu 85 Prozent gefüllt.

Ende Juli gab Tepco bekannt, dass im Grundwasser bei der Atomruine stark erhöhte Belastungen gemessen wurden. Werte der radioaktiven Substanz Cäsium-134 seien um das 90-fache angestiegen. 
http://www.zeit.de
3/8/13
-
-
 Mehr auf Fukushima:

• Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant leaking contaminated water....

• Japan Reports Soaring Fukushima Groundwater Radiation...

• Έως 44 δισ. ευρώ η απορρύπανση της Φουκουσίμα

  -------

  • TEPCO admits Fukushima-1 reactors leak radioactive water to Pacific Ocean

  • Φόβοι για εκροή ραδιενεργού ύδατος από το εργοστάσιο της Φουκουσίμα στη θάλασσα 

• Radioactive cesium level soars 90-fold at Fukushima in just 3 days...

 

Έως 44 δισ. ευρώ η απορρύπανση της Φουκουσίμα

Η απορρύπανση και ο καθαρισμός της περιοχής γύρω από τον πυρηνικό σταθμό της Φουκουσίμα μπορεί να κοστίσει ως και 44 δισ. ευρώ, σύμφωνα με επίσημη έκθεση, ενώ για τρίτη φορά σήμερα ατμός έγινε ορατός πάνω από το κτίριο που στεγάζει τον αντιδραστήρα Νο3. 

Σύμφωνα με το εθνικό Ινστιτούτο Επιστήμης και Βιομηχανικής Τεχνολογίας, το κόστος των επιχειρήσεων καθαρισμού και απορρύπανσης θα είναι πενταπλάσιο απ' αυτό που είχε αρχικά υπολογίσει η κυβέρνηση. 
 
"Ελπίζουμε ότι η μελέτη αυτή θα βοηθήσει στην κατάρτιση σχεδίων για την απορρύπανση των δασών και των αγροτικών περιοχών κι ότι θα ευνοήσει την επιστροφή των κατοίκων στις περιοχές αυτές", τονίζει το Ινστιτούτο στην έκθεσή του την οποία έδωσε χθες στη δημοσιότητα.

Εν τω μεταξύ σχεδόν καθημερινά μια κακή είδηση φθάνει από τον πυρηνικό σταθμό της Φουκουσίμα και η διαχειρίστρια εταιρεία αποτελεί όλο και περισσότερο στόχο επικρίσεων από τις αρχές.
Την Παρασκευή, η Tepco παραδέχθηκε ότι περίπου 2.000 εργάτες του σταθμού της Φουκουσίμα αντιμετωπίζουν αυξημένο κίνδυνο να προσβληθούν από καρκίνο του θυρεοειδούς. Ο αριθμός αυτός αντιπροσωπεύει το 10% του συνόλου των ανθρώπων που εργάζονταν στη Φουκουσίμα και εξετέθησαν σε επίπεδα ραδιενέργειας άνω των 100 μιλισιβέρτ.
(Πληροφορίες ΑΜΠΕ) 
 http://www.enet.gr
24/7/13
--
-
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ:

• Fukushima : décontamination et nettoyage coûteront cinq fois plus cher que prévu...

• TEPCO admits Fukushima-1 reactors leak radioactive water to Pacific Ocean...

• H Tepco παραδέχτηκε τη διαρροή ραδιενεργού υλικού από τη Φουκουσίμα

• Αγωγή από εκατοντάδες θύματα της Φουκουσίμα

Fukushima gets wind farm two years after nuclear disaster - video

A wind turbine is transported from Tokyo to the coast of Fukushima to become part of a floating wind farm which will generate power from October. 

The Japanese government hopes the wind farm will help the region recover from the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown.
----
Related:

 

• Japan to start building world's biggest offshore wind farm this summer 

• Με Ανεμογεννήτριες Siemens, Εγκαινιάστηκε το Μεγαλύτερο Υπεράκτιο Αιολικό Πάρκο του Κόσμου (2 VIDEO YT)

• Γιγαντιαίο «ντόνατ» για την αποθήκευση ενέργειας

 

Άγνωστο ρήγμα προκάλεσε σεισμό 6,3 Ρίχτερ στην Ιαπωνία

Από ένα άγνωστο μέχρι σήμερα ενεργό ρήγμα ενδεχομένως να προκλήθηκε ο σεισμός των 6,3 βαθμών που έπληξε το Σαββατοκύριακο την δυτική Ιαπωνία, ανακοίνωσε σήμερα κυβερνητική επιτροπή.

Είκοσι τέσσερις άνθρωποι τραυματίστηκαν και περίπου 1.930 σπίτια καταστράφηκαν από τον σεισμό που σημειώθηκε το  Σάββατο στις 5:33 μμ τοπική ώρα και είχε επίκεντρο την θαλάσσια περιοχή γύρω από τη νήσο Αουάτζι και εστιακό βάθος 15 χιλιομέτρων, ανακοίνωσε η Ιαπωνική Μετεωρολογική Υπηρεσία.

Το ενεργό ρήγμα πιστεύεται ότι εκτείνεται σε ακτίνα περίπου 10 χιλιομέτρων από τα βόρεια προς τα νότια στη συγκεκριμένη περιοχή, ανακοίνωσε η κυβερνητική επιτροπή έρευνας για τους σεισμούς σε συνέντευξη Τύπου, μετέδωσε το πρακτορείο ειδήσεων Kyodo.


"Υπάρχουν πολλά ενεργά ρήγματα που ακόμη δεν γνωρίζουμε", είπε ο επικεφαλής της επιτροπής Γιοσιμόρι Χονκούρα, σύμφωνα με το πρακτορείο.

Η επιτροπή ανακοίνωσε ακόμη ότι 390 μετασεισμοί καταγράφηκαν τις 25 επόμενες ώρες από τον μεγάλο σεισμό κι ότι ο μεγαλύτερος είχε μέγεθος 3,8 βαθμούς κι έπληξε την περιοχή το Σάββατο στις 5:41 μμ.

Το 1995, σεισμός μεγέθους 7,3 βαθμών έπληξε την ίδια περιοχή, περιλαμβανομένης της πόλης Κόμπε, και στοίχισε τη ζωή σε περισσότερους από 6.400 ανθρώπους.-
.protothema.gr
14/4/13
--
-

Magnitude Mw 5.8 Region NEAR S. COAST OF WESTERN HONSHU Date time 2013-04-12 20:33:17.0 UTC Location 34.40 N ; 134.84 E Depth 10 km Distances 465 km W of Tokyo, Japan / pop: 8,336,599 / local time: 05:33:17.0 2013-04-13 35 km NW of Wakayama-shi, Japan / pop: 351,000 / local time: 05:33:17.0 2013-04-13 7 km NW of Sumoto / pop: 39,546 / local time: 05:33:00.0 2013-04-13

Source parameters reviewed by a seismologist
-----

--------
14/4/13:

5.2 quake hits near Fukushima, day after destructive 6.3 tremor

-----

Magnitude mb 5.2 Region NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN Date time 2013-04-14 13:25:02.0 UTC Location 37.53 N ; 141.23 E Depth 50 km Distances 246 km NE of Tokyo, Japan / pop: 8,336,599 / local time: 22:25:02.0 2013-04-14 71 km E of Fukushima-shi, Japan / pop: 294,237 / local time: 22:25:02.0 2013-04-14 20 km E of Namie, Japan / pop: 21,866 / local time: 22:25:02.0 2013-04-14

Source parameters reviewed by a seismologist

Inside Fukushima: TEPCO releases pics from inside nuclear plant after tsunami (PHOTOS)

Heaps of debris, power lines downed, smoke rising from demolished roof of what used to be the Fukushima reactor before the devastating tsunami hit the plant in March 2011 – TEPCO offers photos taken in the weeks after the disaster.
­Fukushima operator, Tokyo Electric Power, released 2,145 pictures it took between March 15 and April 11. Some of them were taken by the workers. TEPCO also took them from other sources after asking employees and subcontractors to submit any photos they took.
The company said it received more pictures than they published February 1, but decided to withhold 849, citing "protection of sensitive data" relating to nuclear technology.

The photographs are the evidence of the chaos workers had to deal with in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami as they struggled to prevent the world's worst nuclear disaster for a generation.
Some pictures show machines spraying water into the No. 4 reactor to cool the fuel rods.
Among the photos are images of the wreck of the No. 3 reactor building after a hydrogen explosion on March 14, 2011.
Almost two years on from the disaster the clean-up operation is far from complete.
The tsunami on March 11 in 2011 resulted in a reactor meltdown and the release of radioactive material.
Hundreds of thousands of homes and other structures were destroyed by the inundation.
The natural disaster claimed around 19,000 lives and hundreds of thousands evacuated. Some 160,000 are still not allowed to be back to their houses in the vicinity of the power plant. Scientists say it could take up to 40 years to make some parts of the area safe again while others warn it may never be habitable.
This is the largest release of images and follows the first set of 600 photos made public in September 2012.
.rt.com
4/2/13

Japan to start building world's biggest offshore wind farm this summer

Japan is to start building its ambitious wind farm project off the Fukushima coast in July. The farm is expected to become the world’s largest and produce 1GW of power once completed in 2020.
­The power-generating facility will be built 16 kilometers off the coast of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was critically damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
The 143 wind turbines, which are to be 200 meters in height, will be built on buoyant steel frames stabilized with ballast and anchored to the continental shelf.


Once completed in 2020, the project will generate 1 gigawatt of renewable electrical power. 
The project is part of Japan’s national plan to increase renewable energy resources following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. After the quake, Japan shut down its 54 nuclear reactors, but due to energy shortages it has had to restart two reactors.
“This project is important. I think it is impossible to use nuclear power in Fukushima again,” project manager Takeshi Ishihara of the University of Tokyo told New Scientist weekly magazine.
Ishihara believes the area's seismic activity won't be a problem for the turbines. His team has carried out lots of computer simulations and water tank tests in order to verify the safety of the turbines in all possible extreme events, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons.
"All extreme conditions have been taken into consideration in the design," he added.
There were some objections to the project by local people, who expressed concerns, in particular, over possible impact on the fishing industry, which was also hit by the nuclear disaster. But Ishihara is sure it’s possible to turn the farm into a ‘marine pasture’ that would attract fish.

Facility specifications of forward project. (Image from Fukushima Floating Offshore Wind Farm Demonstration Project, Takeshi Ishihara The University of Tokyo)

 

The project is also part of the prefecture’s plan to become completely energy self-sufficient by 2040, using only renewable sources.  
The Fukushima wind farm will produce double the amount of energy of the Greater Gabbard array, currently the world’s biggest, off the coast of Suffolk in the United Kingdom, which generates 504 megawatts from its 140 turbines. Although the title of biggest will soon pass to the London Array in the Thames Estuary, where 175 turbines will produce 630 megawatts of power when it becomes operational later this year.
Scientists and researchers believe Japan’s wind capacity could reach 7.6 gigawatts over the next three years.
.rt.com
19/1/13
--
-
Related post:

• Energy island must store electricity produced by wind farms

With disasters on the rise, relief is the problem

The popular perception that natural disasters are on the rise has now been confirmed. Private insurers are preparing for rough weather, and governments would do well to heed calls for more precautionary measures.

Munich Re, the world's largest re-insurer, had little good news to report in its January 3 wrap-up of disasters in 2012. Hurricane Sandy, droughts in the American Midwest, an Italian earthquake, a series of Midwest tornadoes and Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines were just five of the more than 900 events worldwide that caused $160 billion-worth of damage (122 billion euros) to the worldwide economy.
Since 2006 it has been rare for worldwide disasters to number under 900 in any given year. This is in stark contrast to the 1980s, when a terrible year might have seen a mere 500 disasters.

 

The clean-up operation at Fukushima posed unprecedented challenges

 

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake which led to the explosion at the Fukushima nuclear reactor became the most expensive disaster in history. So far it has cost $235 billion (180 billion euros). Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which left much of New Orleans under water, comes in at second at $81 billion.
Insurance companies bear a large part of these costs. But of Hurricane Sandy's estimated $60 billion price tag, only $25 billion was actually insured. And on top of their financial losses, those affected may also suffer long-lasting personal and emotional damage.
Around the world, more people than ever are requiring financial assistance - through private insurance, public insurance or government aid - to rebuild their lives. The question is, will they get it?

FEMA's responsibilities
61-year-old Betty Ann Fuller is a case in point when it comes to the complexities of reclaiming losses. Since Hurricane Sandy destroyed her home in October 2012, she has received just two payments of $1,410 dollars for living expenses. Those came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Some of the groceries she purchased then spoiled when her hotel lost power.
She is still waiting for insurance payments from her private insurer: $223,000 for the house, $31,000 for lost rent, and $1,500 for out-of-pocket expenses. "I had to tally every stinkin' thing in my house, including the toilet paper," she says. Her private insurer is based in New Jersey.

 

In New York 330,000 homes were damaged by Hurricane Sandy

 

Two weeks after evacuating and moving into a local hotel, she was picked up by a bus and taken back to her property. "The Red Cross was there with a truck to give us some meals," she says. "They were handing out meatloaf dinners. They were very visible and helpful."
As for government assistance, Betty Ann Fuller has nothing but praise. "I am very, very pleased with FEMA - their support groups with regard to insurance, mental issues, any subject related to loss," she says. "They are right there in our town, you can go to them anytime, talk to them, and they help you."

 

FEMA has been providing assistance to local communities devastated by Sandy

 

That help was recently endangered. While US Congress ultimately approved $9.7 billion in borrowing power for FEMA on Friday (04.01.2013), the congressional bickering left a sense of doubt in New Jersey as to whether the US government can be counted on to provide adequate funding in times of crisis.
"I'm disappointed in the federal government right now - with what's going on in Congress and the Senate," Fuller said.
A FEMA spokesperson told Deutsche Welle that FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program is having difficulty covering costs: "There are more claims than there are premiums coming in."

Preparing for future catastrophes
Dr. Robert P. Hartwig, president of the New-York-based Insurance Information Institute, is keen to reassure desperate homeowners, while also distancing private insurance from its public equivalent.
"It should be known that there is no 'fiscal cliff' in the property-casualty insurance or reinsurance industry," Hartwig says in an online seminar. "The industry makes sure that it has the resources in the bank before a disaster occurs. It is not something to be reckoned with afterwards, and that is a responsibility that insurers and re-insurers around the world take very seriously."

 

The IHBS is particularly interested in how high wind speeds affect the structure of a home.

 

Another important approach is to find new ways of limiting potential damage. Carl Hedde, head of risk accumulation at the Munich-based Munich Re, hopes to be able to better prepare homeowners - and homes - before events occur.
"Over the last couple of years the Institute for Business and Home Safety has built the world's largest research facility in South Carolina. We're supporting the testing of building codes, and we've also tested building materials."
Measures like these could help to save houses like Betty Ann Fuller's. After being battered by wind and rain, her home was ultimately destroyed by a fire that swept through 30 houses.
"I have no family, so I lost my whole life," she told Deutsche Welle. "When I left the house I took three days' worth of clothing, a picture of my mother and father, and my son's ashes. My son passed away in 2007 at the age of 25. All of his diaries and personal effects were still packed and I never got to put them away, and I am devastated that I lost all that."
Deutsce Welle
5/1/13
---
-
Related posts:

• 160 δισ. ευρώ το κόστος φυσικών καταστροφών παγκοσμίως, το 2012/ Natural disasters’ damage reaches $140 bln in 2012

• Καταστροφή σε όλα τα επίπεδα

• Hurricane Sandy = Global Warming

• Έκθεση: 100 εκ. άνθρωποι θα πεθάνουν έως το 2030 αν δεν αντιμετωπιστεί η κλιματική αλλαγή!

• Η Ελλάδα θα γίνει... Αφρική από το 2021 έως το 2100

 -----

• Η καθυστέρηση αυξάνει το κόστος της κλιματικής αλλαγής, λέει έκθεση