Two prefectures have held major preparedness drills that assume an accident at the Genkai nuclear power plant in western Japan. Sunday's exercises were the first comprehensive nuclear disaster drills held by prefectural governments since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March.
In Saga Prefecture, the drill was based on the scenario that an earthquake caused an automatic shutdown of 2 reactors, triggering a total loss of power at the plant and possible leakage of radioactive substances.
Workers at the nuclear plant practiced restoring the supply of electricity using generator vehicles acquired after the Fukushima accident. A record-high number of people -- about 25,000 -- took part in the drill.
The other drill in the adjacent prefecture of Nagasaki simulated a scenario in which a quake caused a leakage of nuclear materials.
The prefecture expanded the evacuation zone to areas within 30 kilometers of the plant from 10 kilometers in previous drills.
On the small island of Takashima, which lies entirely within 30 kilometers of the plant, all of the more than 2,300 residents evacuated by bus, going over a bridge to the mainland, or by ship.
But the bridge could be blocked if evacuation orders are issued to areas within 10 kilometers of the plant. In such an event, the authorities would have to prepare many ships for the evacuation effort.
The chairman of the Tokyo Electric Power Company has apologized for trouble and anxiety caused by radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Tsunehisa Katsumata on Wednesday was speaking to reporters in Tokyo for the first time since problems at the plant surfaced. The firm's president, Masataka Shimizu, was hospitalized for hypertension and dizziness on Tuesday night. Katsumata said he feels particularly sorry for local residents who've had to evacuate or refrain from going outside while coping with the impact of the quake and aftershocks.
Katsumata admitted that the company has not been able to cool the reactors, and pledged maximum efforts to stabilize them. He added that the No.1 through 4 reactors would eventually have to be shut down for good. Katsumata also said his company is preparing to compensate in accordance with the law for damage caused by the radiation leaks. The chairman apologized for the inconvenience caused by the company's rolling blackouts to cope with chronic power shortages since the March 11th quake and tsunami.He said the company will do its best and work closely with the government to minimize or even avoid rolling blackouts this summer. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 16:37 +0900 (JST)
Myanmar launches new civilian government
Myanmar's military government has made way for a new civilian administration after 23 years in power. The international community remains skeptical. The military government's prime minister Thein Sein was sworn in as the country's president on Wednesday.The new president then appointed members of his Cabinet. The international community sees the reversion to civilian rule as a sham, as most of the key administrative posts are held by senior officials from the military government.
It's also wary of the fact that the move is based on the results of last November's general elections, which excluded pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Japan has given limited praise to the fact that Myanmar held the vote as scheduled and released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest after 7 and a half years. Wednesday, March 30, 2011 20:32 +0900 (JST)
Japanese electric power companies that operate nuclear power plants are facing difficulty in either restarting nuclear reactors in their checkups or transporting nuclear fuel to the power plants. Municipal governments that host nuclear power plants are urging plant operators to freeze expansion projects and to review safety measures.
Hokuriku Electric Power Company has indicated that the firm has difficulty in rebooting two reactors at its Shika plant in Ishikawa Prefecture without the understanding of the prefectural government and residents. The reactors were taken out of operation for either mechanical trouble or regular inspection. In western Japan, Kansai Electric Power Company has decided to postpone transporting nuclear fuel to one reactor at its Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture from France. The company cites difficulty in ensuring the fuel's safe delivery because the government is busy handling the aftermath of the March 11th disasters and can't provide the necessary safeguards for transport.
Kyushu Electric Power Company has delayed restarting its two reactors at the Genkai plant in Saga Prefecture.
Ichiki-Kushikino City in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, says it will ask Kyushu Electric to freeze planned construction of a new reactor at its Sendai plant until the safety of the plant is guaranteed.
Most of the city is within 20 kilometers of the nuclear power plant in neighboring Sendai City. Fukui Prefecture in central Japan has urged Japan Atomic Power Company, which runs Tsuruga Power Station, to do all it can to ensure safety of its plant. The plant operator replied that it has just installed portable emergency power generators for its two reactors.
The company has also revealed new safety measures costing nearly 250 million dollars, including a plan to add pipes that supply water directly from a fire truck to one of its reactors and its spent fuel pool. The reactor is a boiling-water type, the same as those at Tokyo Electric's troubled Fukushima plant. Saturday, March 26, 2011 19:12 +0900 (JST)
Radioactive iodine has been detected in Tokyo tap water in levels above the safe limit for infants. The Tokyo Metropolitan government says 210 becquerels of iodine-131 were detected on Tuesday in one liter of water at one of its purification plants in northern Tokyo. A sampling on Wednesday also showed roughly 190 becquerels per liter. These levels are below the 300-becquerel per liter safe limit for adults, but far above the 100-becquerel limit for infants. Tokyo says infants in the central 23 wards, plus 5 adjacent cities, should refrain from drinking tap water.
It is also urging beverage makers in these areas not to use tap water in infants' drinks.Tokyo says the safety level assumes long-term consumption, and that there is no risk to health if tap water is consumed over a short period. Wednesday, March 23, 2011 15:13 +0900 (JST)
Health ministry comments on water radiation
The health ministry adds that the radiation levels measured in the tap water do not pose an immediate health risk to babies younger than one year old even if they drink it. However the ministry has urged consumers not to use the water to prepare baby formulas as a precaution.
Above normal radiation figures
Radiation levels in many areas of eastern and northern Japan continue to be higher than normal. Municipalities and other institutions are measuring their radiation levels. According to measurements taken by 9 AM Wednesday, 6.09 microsieverts per hour were observed in the city of Fukushima, 65 kilometers northwest of the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant. In the town of Onagawa, about 160 kilometers northeast of the plant, the figure was 1.3 microsieverts. In Kitaibaraki City, located south of the Fukushima plant, the radiation level was 1.45 microsieverts. In Mito City, further south, the figure was 0.33 microsieverts. Radiation levels were also higher than usual in other cities, including the prefectural capitals of Yamagata, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, and Tokyo.Health authorities say one hour of exposure to the radiation at Fukushima city, which showed the highest reading, would equal one-100th of the amount of radiation received in a single stomach X-ray.
Foreign embassies are asking their nationals to evacuate Japan temporarily to avoid problems caused by the leaking nuclear power plant.
On Wednesday, the British government asked Britons staying in Tokyo and the city's northern areas to consider leaving.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also announced on Wednesday that family members of its officials will leave Japan this week. The officials are working at the embassy, the trade representation in Tokyo and 3 consulates in Niigata, Sapporo and Osaka. The ministry has no plan to allow the officials to leave Japan. The ministry calls on Russian nationals staying in Japan to act calmly and not depend on unreliable information. On the same day, the German foreign ministry advised its nationals, who live in northern Japan and Tokyo metropolitan areas, to move toward Osaka or return home via Osaka. The ministry said the embassy will send its officials to its consulate general in Osaka to help Germans who want to evacuate Japan. The French government has urged its citizens in Tokyo to move to western Japan or leave for their country. The Croatian foreign ministry said it will temporarily move its embassy function from Tokyo to Osaka on Thursday.
US military restricts activity within 90km from the Power Plant
The US Defense Department says it has provisionally suspended activities of US forces engaging in rescue operations in northeast Japan within 90-kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Pentagon spokesman David Lapan announced the decision on Wednesday. The US military has dispatched 15 ships including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan to aid Japan's disaster response efforts. The spokesman says the measures are meant to prevent troops from being exposed to nuclear radiation.
Lapan also says in an exceptional case if troops were to operate within 90 kilometers of the stricken power plant, they would be given potassium iodine tablets to guard against possible acute radiation symptoms. US military has so far dispatched 2 fire engines to help Japan cope with a series of troubles at the plant, and it also says preparations are under way to send other equipment such as hoses and pumps to the plant.
30,000 people to be moved out of Fukushima Pref.
A city near Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is preparing to move about 30,000 people out of the prefecture. A part of Minami Soma falls within the plant's 20-kilometer zone, where residents have been told to evacuate. Another part of the city is in the 20 to 30 kilometer zone, where people are being urged to stay indoors. The city says many of the estimated 50,000 people in the zone have moved out, but about 30,000 remain. The city is preparing to shift those people out of Fukushima Prefecture, as shelters within the prefecture are already full.
SDF gives up on dousing No.3 reactor
Japan's Self-Defense Forces have postponed a mission to dump water by helicopter on the No.3 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, because radiation above the facility has climbed too high for such work. White plumes started rising from the reactor on Wednesday morning. Tokyo Electric Power Company says the vapor was steam caused by water evaporating from the reactor's storage pool for spent fuel rods, which is heating up. In an effort to avert the fuel rods' exposure, a Self Defense Force CH47 helicopter took off from the Sendai base hauling a large container of water on Wednesday afternoon. But the plan was aborted after radiation levels above the plant were found to have largely exceeded 50 millisieverts -- the maximum permissible for SDF personnel on a mission.
The Self-Defense Forces say it is ready to recommence work when radiation levels and other conditions allow.
14 hospital patients die at emergency shelter
Fukushima Prefecture is looking into the deaths of 14 hospital patients at an emergency shelter where they had evacuated. Prefectural officials say 128 hospital patients evacuated on Monday to a high school in Iwaki city. Two of them reportedly died en route on a bus, and 12 others died shortly after arriving at the shelter. Most of the patients were elderly, and some bedridden. They were asked to stay at the shelter before being moved to another hospital. The high school principal says there were 4 medical staffers at the shelter, but medical equipment has been in short supply. The patients were laid on a blanket on a tatami mat, with heaters placed nearby.
High radiation levels detected 20 km. from plant
Japan's science ministry has observed radiation levels of up to 0.33 millisieverts per hour in areas about 20 kilometers northwest of the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Experts say exposure to such radiation for 3 hours would result in absorption of 1 millisievert, or the maximum considered safe for 1 year. The ministry gauged radiation levels for 10 minutes from 8:40 PM local time on Tuesday at 3 places in Fukushima Prefecture, whose residents are being instructed to stay indoors. The measurements produced readings as low as 0.22 millisieverts per hour. It is not known whether these levels have changed since the measurements. A former chief of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, Shigenobu Nagataki, said radiation at such levels does not immediately affect human health. But he said that if such levels continue to be observed, authorities must review ways to evacuate people. The ministry said it also observed maximum radiation levels of 0.0253 millisieverts in areas 30 to 60 kilometers from the plant on Wednesday morning. The levels are slightly higher than normal.
More people evacuating to avoid radiation
An additional 28,000 people have been forced to evacuate from their homes to other areas to avoid possible radiation from a nuclear power in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. At a shelter about 100 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 295 evacuees joined the 38 people who had already been staying there since the earthquake. Some of them say they were forced to move there because the first shelter they went to was overcrowded. They also say some of them have not yet received any radioactive screening tests. The number of Fukushima people trying to evacuate to other prefectures is increasing.
Neighboring Niigata Prefecture says it has booked another 17 hotels in Niigata City and elsewhere for evacuees from Fukushima to stay since it expects the number to rise. About 2,700 people from Fukushima have already taken shelter in Niigata. Yamagata Prefecture has started providing screening tests and health counseling services at 4 health centers for the Fukushima evacuees. At least 1,600 Fukushima residents have already moved to that prefecture. By Wednesday evening, Tochigi Prefecture had also received 320 people. They were divided among 3 shelters after getting a health check and radioactive screening test. White plumes are seen rising from the steel frames of the adjacent building housing the No.3 reactor. The vapor is believed to have been generated from evaporating water from the spent fuel rod storage pool, where the cooling system is not working. Similar plumes are also seen rising from a hole in the outer wall of the No.2 reactor building.
Yen surges to record 76-yen range against dollar
The yen skyrocketed to an all-time high against the dollar overnight in New York, briefly hitting the lower-76-yen level. The yen's rapid surge renewed the previous record reached nearly 16 yeas ago. Investors took their cue from a sell-off on US stocks on Wall Street, and mounting concerns over accidents at a nuclear power station in quake-hit northeastern Japan.
They also anticipated accelerated yen-buying from Japanese firms in a bid to repatriate their overseas assets to boost reconstruction efforts back home. On the New York Foreign Exchange, the yen reached 76.25 yen per dollar at one point, exceeding the previous high of 79.75 yen reached in April 1995. Market players say US and European investors are becoming increasingly risk averse, as Friday's massive disaster in Japan has cast a shadow over the global economic outlook. They say the yen will remain under intense selling pressure for some time.
Japan to share information with world
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has informed Prime Minister Naoto Kan of the international organization's full support for the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Ban talked with Kan by phone Wednesday evening and expressed his heartfelt sympathy to the country for last Friday's disaster. He said he was very impressed to see, under Kan's leadership, the Japanese people's efforts to overcome their difficulties.
The Secretary General then said the United Nations is deeply concerned about the critical conditions at the nuclear plant. At the same time, he said, the United Nations is ready to offer any assistance to Japan to help settle the nuclear plant problems. He said the United Nations is always ready to support the Japanese people. Prime Minister Kan thanked the United Nations for sending its disaster specialists to Japan and for offering assistance to his country. He emphasized the importance of sharing disaster information with other countries, saying his government will provide necessary information to the international community. No food to buy at Super Market in Tokyo
People stocking food for the crisis in advance. Many super markets were emptied and there are no food to buy. The worry increase and people collecting food, water, gas across the country.
The number of dead and missing from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan has exceeded 11,000. This is the first time since World War Two that Japan has recorded so many victims in a natural disaster. Police say 3,676 deaths have been confirmed so far, and 7,558 people remain unaccounted name. In Miyagi Prefecture, 1,816 deaths have been confirmed, and 2,011 people remain missing. In Minami-sanriku Town, roughly 1,000 bodies have been discovered. Around 8,000 people, or nearly half the town's population, are missing.
Police have found several hundred bodies on the beaches of the Oshika Peninsula. In Onagawa Town on the peninsula, about 5,000 people, or half the population, remain unaccounted for. I wate Prefecture has 1,296 confirmed deaths and 3,318 missing. A total of 373 deaths have been confirmed in the cities of Rikuzen-takata and Ofunato. Rikuzen-takata has 1,282 missing. Fukushima Prefecture has confirmed 509 deaths and 2,220 missing. In Namie Town, the whereabouts of around 900 residents remain unknown.
Govt asked about 500 missing foreigners
Japan's Foreign Ministry has received inquiries about 500 foreign nationals missing since Friday's earthquake. The ministry said on Wednesday it is asking municipal officials, police, and fire departments in the damaged areas for any information they may have on the whereabouts of foreign residents. The ministry also noted that some countries are urging their citizens to leave Japan or refrain from visiting due to the series of nuclear accidents in the disaster zone. The ministry said it had asked these countries to accurately relay the information provided by the Japanese government about the earthquake and nuclear accidents, and respond calmly to the situation.
Another fire at No.4 reactor
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPC) said early on Wednesday that a fire had broken out at one of the reactor buildings at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The same building was the scene of a fire the day before.
The utility says a worker spotted flames at around 5:45 AM near the northwestern corner of the building that houses the No. 4 reactor. It says, however, that the flames could not be confirmed half an hour later from several dozen meters away. The fire broke out at around the same spot in the building as Tuesday's fire, where an instrument that adjusts the speed of a pump sending water to the reactor is located.
The company says workers cannot get any closer to the spot because the radiation level is higher there. It says Tuesday's fire went out on its own, and that its cause is unclear. The No. 4 Reactor was undergoing checks at the time of the quake, and was not operating. But the utility company has been having trouble cooling down a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel rods inside the building.
S.Korea to provide boric acid to Japan
The South Korean government will provide Japan with boric acid to help avoid criticality at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Wednesday that it has decided to provide 53 tons of boric acid, following the request made by Japan.
That amount would include almost all the substance available in South Korea, excepting a quantity for domestic use. South Korea will send one kilogram of sample boric acid to Japan on Wednesday, to check if the South Korea variety can also be used at the Japanese power plant.
Toyota cuts operations in N. America
Toyota Motor will partly suspend production at its 14 factories in North America following the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan. Toyota has halted operations at all of its factories in Japan due to damage at the maker's subsidiary parts and assembly plants in disaster-hit areas. Toyota's New York office said on Tuesday that due to difficulty in securing parts from Japan, the firm will temporarily halt weekday overtime production and Saturday operations. Toyota's global output could be affected if stoppage of parts production in Japan continues for a long time.
GE to send power generators to Japan
The US-based General Electric Company (GE), will send 10 gas turbine generators to Japan to help replace power generating capacity lost when nuclear reactors were damaged in Friday's mega-quake. GE said on Tuesday it was sending the generators on request from Tokyo Electric Power Company, which is struggling with a nuclear crisis at its Daiichi plant in Fukushima Prefecture. GE manufactured 2 of the plant's 6 reactors. GE said 3 of the 10 gas turbine generators have been moved to Florida ahead of being flown to Japan. The company said it is also offering technological assistance to Japan through a joint venture set up with Japanese electronics-maker Hitachi.
World pays tribute to tsunami victims
People around the world are paying tribute to victims of Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The UN General Assembly held a moment of silence for the victims at the opening of its meeting on Tuesday. Assembly president Joseph Diess expressed profound sympathies, and said international society must unite in supporting Japan. Foreign delegates were seen offering condolences to the Japanese delegation. In Vienna, Austria, some 500 people gathered before the parliament building to pay tribute to the victims in Japan, following calls for a vigil over the internet and text messaging.Participants lit candles and prayed for the victims. A student who took part said she wanted to do something for the Japanese people. She said she hopes Japan bounces back from the disaster soon.
European airlines avoid Japan's NaritaAirport
Some European airlines are re-routing flights to Narita Airport near Tokyo to other airports in Japan, apparently out of concern about radiation leaks from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been dealing with a series of accidents since last Friday's earthquake and tsumami. On Tuesday, Germany's Lufthansa started routing its flight from Frankfurt to land at Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya. It also changed its Munich flight to Kansai International Airport in western Japan. The company plans to continue this measure until Sunday.
Air France has added a stopover at South Korea's Incheon airport to its 2 daily direct flights from Paris to Narita, calling it a "safety measure." The airline is also changing crew at Incheon apparently to avoid having them stay at Narita. The head of France's nuclear safety authority, Andre-Claude Lacoste, has said the accident at Japan's nuclear power plant could be classified as a level 6, the second highest on an international scale of one to 7. This exceeds the level of the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States.
