#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Video Inside the Buffer Tank Shows White Particles Floating in the Treated Water, Rust on the Bottom

TEPCO still hasn't identified the cause for the decreased water flow into the reactors (1, 2, and 3), but the company suspects some rust or foreign particles clogging the system somewhere. On September 5, a video camera was submerged into one of the buffer tanks that store the treated water before the water is fed back into the reactors.

White particles floating around, like near the bottom of the ocean. I wonder what they are. TEPCO explains the bubbling seen in the video as "nitrogen".

Here's a photo of the strainer of one of the 5 "chiller" machines (to cool water), from TEPCO's 9/5/2012 Photos and Videos page. Rust flakes and curled-up white bits. (It looks like bits of jellyfish...) Click to enlarge.

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Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara: "Decommission Monju? Not a Chance!"

as if he has any say in it. Or maybe he thinks he will shortly. He must be counting on the Liberal Democratic Party becoming the ruling party again, with one of his sons at the helm. (That son was the one who diagnosed people against nuclear power as suffering from hysteria, in July last year.)

As Jiji Tsushin reports, he spoke like the de facto leader of LDP anyway.

From Jiji Tsushin (9/6/2012):

福井でもんじゅ視察＝「廃炉はとんでもない」－石原都知事

Tokyo Governor Ishihara visits Monju in Fukui: "Decommissioning? Not a chance."

東京都の石原慎太郎知事は６日、日本原子力研究開発機構の高速増殖炉「もんじゅ」（福井県敦賀市）を視察した。石原知事は視察後、「もんじゅは世界に先駆けた画期的な技術。廃炉なんてとんでもない」と感想を語った。

Governor of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara visited Monju fast-breeder reactor of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) (in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture) on September 6. Governor Ishihara said after the visit, "Monju is the first-in-the-world, epoch-making technology. Not a chance of decommissioning."

　もんじゅは２０１０年に運転を再開したが、試運転の第１段階終了後、停止したままになっている。石原知事は高速増殖炉研究の必要性を主張している。

Monju restarted operation in 2010, but has stopped ever since the first step of the test run was completed. Governor Ishihara has been a strong proponent of the fast-breeder reactor research.　

一方、政府が尖閣諸島（沖縄県石垣市）の購入で地権者と合意したことについて、石原知事は「所有者が決めて売ればいい。どうせ（今の）内閣はもたず、次の選挙で変わるんだから。自民党には買う意思はある。総裁選の争点にしてもらいたい」と話した。

In the meantime, when asked about the national government having come to an agreement with the owner of the Senkaku Islands over the purchase of the island, Governor Ishihara said, "It's up to the owner to decide and sell [if he wants to]. The current administration won't last long anyway, and will be replaced in the next election. LDP has the will to purchase the islands. I want the issue [of the Senkaku Islands] as a focal point in the LDP leadership election."

Never mind that Monju is not the first fast-breeder reactor; it may be epoch-making, but not in the way Ishihara seem to think. Where else has an operator of a fast-breeder reactor that uses liquid sodium as coolant dropped a fuel transfer machine in the reactor? Only in Japan. Or maybe he meant the make-shift technology that JAEA had to devise (or I should say Toshiba and Hitachi had to devise) to fish out the fuel transfer machine without exposing the coolant to the atmosphere.

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US Department of Defense Sets Up "Operation Tomodachi" Radiation Exposure Registry

The whole-body radiation dose estimate for adults (older than 17) in Sendai, Miyagi during the 60 days from March 11 to May 11, 2011 may be as high as 1.2 millisievert, assuming being outside at all times with constant high physical activity levels.

From the US Department of Defense press release (9/5/2012; emphasis is mine):

Registry to Provide Japan Response Radiation Info

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2012 – Though no Defense Department personnel or their families were exposed to radiation causing adverse health conditions following the nuclear accident in Japan last year, the department has established a registry to provide information to those who served in the stricken country.

The March 11, 2011, earthquake and subsequent tsunami off the coast of Japan caused extensive damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and radiation leaked from the facility.

The Defense Department has established an Operation Tomodachi registry for the 70,000 U.S. service members, family members, DOD civilians and DOD contractors who were in Japan from March 12 to May 11, 2011, said Dr. Craig Postlewaite, DOD’s director for force readiness and health assurance.

“The concept of a registry evolved very soon after the crisis in Japan,” the doctor said in an interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service. “Initially, there was great emphasis placed on environmental monitoring, because we needed to monitor those levels to ensure that people weren’t adversely affected during the crisis.”

Commanders used the monitoring information to assess whether to evacuate personnel. The monitoring data, plus a policy that required the services to report daily precisely where every service member was, enabled the department to establish the registry, he said. “We then had the capability to provide information on estimated doses of radiation” for each person, Postlewaite said.

The Operation Tomodachi registry is being built in a secure database in which all personal information is protected. The dosage estimates cover 13 different shore-based locations, U.S. Navy ships located off the mainland of Japan and aircrews. It also incorporates about 4,000 U.S. responders who were issued radiation dosimeters. “The registry will be finished this calendar year,” Postlewaite said.

In addition to the registry, DOD is building a companion website to the registry. Individuals cannot be identified on the website, but people can click on a map to determine the exposures in a specific prefecture, base or area for those who spent most of their time on mainland Japan in the timeframe the registry covers. The website also has information on radiation doses from a medical standpoint.

The doses and other information in the registry and on the website have been peer-reviewed and agree with information provided by national and international groups – including the World health organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Dr. Paul Blake, a senior health physicist at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va. Blake also serves as the Operation Tomodachi co-chair for the dose assessment and recording working group.

The radiation release from the nuclear plant came in two types, the doctor said. “One was the shorter-lived radioactive iodines,” Blake said. “If you inhale it or ingest it, it has the tendency to collect in your thyroid in your neck. We needed to look at the health risk associated with that.”

The other health risk is radioactive cesium. “Cesium can have a half-life of 30 years, so it is still over there in Japan,” he said.

So from a health risk viewpoint, DOD officials looked at a dose to the thyroid and a dose to the whole body, and “that’s how we prepared the dose assessment for our shore facilities,” he said.

“Both the thyroid and whole body doses are significantly lower than the occupational limits that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission provides for this country,” he added.

What people were doing was as important as where they were, Blake said. “The Marines, for instance, did a lot of humanitarian efforts. When you are out there pushing hard and sweating, you are drinking a lot more water, [and] you are breathing a lot harder,” he explained. “We needed to take into account radionuclides would enter the body at a faster rate than someone doing a more sedentary [job].”

Sex and age made a difference in the assessments also. Absorption of radionuclides changes depending on a person’s gender and age.

Officials also are concerned about children. “They can be more sensitive, because they are still growing,” Blake said. “Fortunately, our children were fairly far back from the actual source. The doses they received were safe.”

At the companion site "Operation Tomodachi Registry", users can view the dose estimate in locations where the US has military bases and where the US military did the disaster relief work after March 11, 2011. (In rem, of course...)

For example, if you were an adult (older than 17) in Yokosuka Base from March 11 to May 11, 2011,

(1 rem = 10 millisieverts)

Whole-Body Radiation Dose Estimate: 0.033 rem (or 0.33 millisieverts)
Thyroid Radiation Dose Estimate: 0.40 rem (or 4 millisieverts)

On the other hand, if you were a Marine clearing up the Sendai Airport and continued to carry out the mission in the nearby areas in Miyagi, you may have gotten

Whole-Body Radiation Dose Estimate: 0.12 rem (or 1.2 millisieverts)
Thyroid Radiation Dose Estimate: 1.20 rem (12 millisieverts)

These numbers are probably higher than the actual exposures, because:

"These estimates were calculated based on you spending 24 hours outdoors, having a constantly high physical activity level (and associated reathing rates), and being exposed to the radiation measured in the air, water and soil over the entire 60-day period." (from "Operation Tomodachi Registry Location-Based Radiation Dose Estimate Report")

Well, the US Marines may have done that. I remember watching them at the Sendai Airport on a TV news program, and how they hustled to get the airport open in no time. I didn't connect at that time that radioactive plumes from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant were passing over them. The cleanup operation (prep) started on March 16, 2011.

And yet, many cynical Japanese who want to consider themselves as "sophisticated" still say, "Oh they did it as a military training exercise, nothing to do with helping the Japanese."

While the Japanese government had the government buildings and public schools cleaned after the earthquake/tsunami, the US military was clearing the ports and roads so that people in the disaster affected areas could have access to outside help. If that was nothing but their military training exercise, that was much better than what the Japanese government was doing.

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Goshi Hosono To Run Against Noda in DPJ Leadership Election, "There's No Stopping Now"

(UPDATE 9/7/2012) It looks like Hosono flip-flopped. Now he says he is not running. What a surprise. His reason, according to Yomiuri, is just incredible: 2 weeks of campaigning for the DPJ leadership election will distract him from important tasks for the recovery of Fukushima. That recovery hasn't really happened after one year and 6 months, and he wants us to believe this particular 2-week period in September is too critical. (As I said, incredible.)

(H/T anon reader)

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Oh what a surprise. (Not.)

These DPJ politicians are indeed from outer space, if they think propping up this man will win them the election. But then, more than half the country's population still rely on newspapers and TV who have started touting him as "Prime Minister-in-waiting".

Goshi Hosono is the one who, as the personal assistant to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan, admitted in April last year they knew it was a core melt but just didn't feel like telling that to people.

He's also the one who whipped out a craft piece made of disaster debris in front of an angry crowd at the Kyoto JR Station in March this year and said, "Do you think this is contaminated? Do you?"

From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/6/2012):

細野氏、民主党代表選に出馬の意向

Mr. Hosono will enter the leadership election of the Democratic Party of Japan

野田首相（５５）の党代表任期満了に伴う民主党代表選（１０日告示、２１日投開票）をめぐり、これまで出馬に慎重な姿勢を取ってきた細野豪志環境・原発相（４１）が、出馬する方向となった。

Goshi Hosono (age 41), Minister of the Environment and minister in charge of the nuclear accident, has been treading cautiously so far on whether he will enter the race to elect the president of DPJ to be held (notification on September 10, voting on September 21) on the expiration of term of office of Prime Minister Noda (age 55).

複数の細野氏周辺が５日、明らかにした。党内には、次期衆院選の顔として若い細野氏の出馬を期待する声が広がっている。出馬すれば、再選を目指す首相への有力な対抗馬となるのは確実で、事実上の一騎打ちとなる。

Multiple sources close to Mr. Hosono revealed on September 5. An increasing number of people within the party are hoping for the young Hosono to enter the race, as the "face" of the DPJ in the coming Lower House election. If he enters the race, he is likely to be the single major contender against the prime minster who is seeking reelection.

これまで細野氏は、記者会見などで「代表選は考えていない」と繰り返してきた。しかし、５日夜には「民主党が生まれ変わった姿を見せるべきだ」と語り、最終的に出馬要請に応じざるを得ないとの意向を固めた模様だ。

Mr. Hosono has repeatedly said that he is not considering entering the leadership election. However, he said on the evening of September 5, "We should show that the Democratic Party of Japan has been reborn", indicating he would have no choice but eventually agree to running for the position.

細野氏は６日未明、出馬を求める若手議員らの働きかけについて「重く受け止めなければいけない。民主党を何とかしなければいけないという思いもある」と周辺に語った。細野氏周辺は「出馬の方向で止まらないだろう」と述べた。

In the early hours of September 6, Mr. Hosono told his people that the approach from the younger politicians [urging him to run] should be "considered gravely. I do think I have to do something to [save] the Democratic Party of Japan." His people said, "There's no stopping now."

It's quite remarkable to read the Japanese mainstream media reporting on this news, whether it is Yomiuri or Mainichi or someone else. They completely ignore what he has done (or rather, not done) in the past year and a half, and there's not a single mention of his handling of the wide-area disaster debris, decontamination effort, or disaster relief.

An earlier Yomiuri article (9/5/2012) captures the thinking of some of the supporters of Goshi Hosono. The anonymous politician in the article quite openly says,

「細野氏が首相になれば支持率は５０％まで上がるかもしれない。国会答弁などでボロが出ないうちに、臨時国会冒頭で解散だ」

"If Mr. Hosono becomes the prime minister, the approval rate may shoot up to 50%. Before he makes a fool of himself in the Q&A sessions in the National Diet, we will dissolve the Diet at the beginning of an extraordinary session of the Diet [and call for an election]."

Well that's about right.

Mr. Hosono has a book recently published by the way, titled "Testimony - 500 Days of Nuclear Crisis". It's not that he wrote it himself, but he was interviewed by a journalist who compiled the interview into a book. Get it while you can, the book from the Prime Minister-in-waiting.

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Steam Leak at France's Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant, 2 Workers Got Burns

(UPDATE) According to Washington Post, workers were preparing a chemical solution to treat waste water when the accident happened. (H/T reader Atomfritz)

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The cause of the accident is, according to the AFP article below, "oxygenated steam [which] had escaped after hydrogen peroxide reacted with water in a reservoir" during a maintenance operation.

(Now why are they pouring hydrogen peroxide in the reservoir? Killing the algae, perhaps?)

From AFP (9/5/2012):

Two slightly injured in accident at French nuclear plant

FESSENHEIM, France — A steam leak due to an accidental chemical reaction on Wednesday at France's oldest nuclear plant led to two people being slightly burnt and renewed calls to reduce the country's heavy reliance on atomic energy.

The accident occurred at the Fessenheim nuclear power plant in northeastern France within 1.5 kilometres (one mile) of the border with Germany and about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Switzerland.

"It was not a fire," the local prefecture said, adding that oxygenated steam had escaped after hydrogen peroxide reacted with water in a reservoir.

About 50 firefighters were deployed, an official from the service said.

French power supplier EDF said "two people were slightly burnt through their gloves."

"It was a problem that cropped up during a maintenance operation," in an "auxiliary building in the nuclear complex but not in the building housing the reactor," the electricity giant said.

France is the world's most nuclear-dependent country, operates 58 reactors and has been a leading international proponent of atomic energy.

But in a deal with the Greens before this year's parliamentary and presidential elections, President Francois Hollande's Socialist party promised to reduce reliance on nuclear energy from more than 75 percent to 50 percent by shutting 24 reactors by 2025.

France's reliance on nuclear power has been increasingly called into question since the Fukushima disaster in Japan, which prompted Germany to announce plans to shut all of its reactors by the end of 2022.

Jean-Luc Cardoso, an official with the CGT union at the Fessenheim plant, said: "There was no fire, no death and two colleagues were slightly injured."

France's ecology ministry said there was no safety threat. Ecology Minister Delphine Batho termed it a "workplace accident" and promised that "a complete report on this incident will be made public."

On stream since 1977, Fessenheim has two water reactors. It is built along a huge canal and draws water for cooling from the Rhine river.

Due to its location, it is considered vulnerable to seismic activity and flooding and is provisionally scheduled to close in 2017.

After Wednesday's scare, former Green presidential candidate Noel Mamere said: "This incident proves that we must close Fessenheim as soon as possible," adding that it would be better to spend "billions of euros" on developing renewable energy.

Greenpeace and French environmental group Sortir du Nucleaire (Phase out the Nuclear Age) also mirrored the call.

Fessenheim is France's oldest nuclear power plant, which came on line on January 1, 1978 according to Wiki.

President Francois Hollande of France was expected to announce the closure of the plant once he was elected. (Has he done that yet?)

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#Fukushima Officials and Principals of Tokyo Metropolitan High Schools Want to Send Students to Fukushima on School Trips

To help Fukushima recover, of course. Wirtschaft über alles. Above well-being of children.

(That's part of what 20-plus years of economic "malaise" does to a country.)

From NHK Tokyo Metropolitan Edition (link won't last, emphasis is mine; 9/4/2012):

福島県への修学旅行など誘致

[Fukushima officials] luring school trips to Fukushima Prefecture

震災や原発事故の影響によって、修学旅行などの目的で福島県を訪れる生徒が大幅に減っているため、福島県の担当者が４日、都立高校の校長などが集まる会議に参加して誘致活動を行いました。

On September 4, officials from the Fukushima prefectural government dropped by at the conference of the principals of metropolitan (public) high schools (in Tokyo) to promote Fukushima as the destination for the school trips. The number of students who visit Fukushima Prefecture on school trips has dropped off significantly due to the March 11, 2011 earthquake and the nuclear accident.

福島県には全国から毎年、およそ７０万人の子どもたちが修学旅行や合宿のために訪れていましたが、震災があった去年は９割がキャンセルとなり、ことしも震災前の水準に戻っていません。

About 700,000 children used to visit Fukushima Prefecture every year for school trips and training camps. However, last year after the disaster, 90% of these trips were canceled. It hasn't recovered to pre-disaster level yet this year.

このため福島県は関東地方の学校を中心に子どもたちの旅行を誘致する取り組みを始めていて、４日は、担当者が東京・文京区で開かれた都立高校の校長などが集まる校長会に参加しました。

So, the Fukushima prefectural government has started an initiative to attract school trips mainly by schools in Kanto Region. On September 4, the officials in charge participated in the conference of principals from metropolitan high schools, which was held in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo.

この中で、福島県観光交流局の星春男局長は「津波や原発事故で被害を受けた被災地以外は平常に戻りつつあり、福島は安心だということを保護者の方々にも伝えてほしい」と話しました。

Mr. Haruo Hoshi, head of the Tourism and Exchange Bureau of Fukushima Prefecture, told the principals, "Except for the areas damaged by the tsunami and the nuclear accident, things are getting back to normal. I would like you to tell the parents [of your students] that Fukushima is safe."

続いて福島県の担当者が、東京から訪れる人も大学などの部活動の合宿を除いては大幅に減り、厳しい状況が続いていることや、県内の放射線量は原発に近い一部の地域を除いては健康に影響のないレベルであることを説明しました。

Then, other officials explained that visitors from Tokyo had dropped off dramatically except for training camps by college students, and the prospect was dire, but radiation levels were such that they wouldn't affect health except for part of Fukushima close to [Fukushima I] Nuclear Power Plant.

福島県観光交流局の星春男局長は「福島県には文化や歴史など魅力が多くあり、旅行のためのプログラムも充実しています。誘致活動に力をいれてなんとか震災前の数にまで戻していきたい」と話していました。

Mr. Hoshi said, "Fukushima has a lot of cultural and historical attractions, and we offer rich programs for school trips. We will do our best in attracting [the schools] and bring the number of visitors to the pre-disaster level."

Radiation levels are such that they won't affect health, meaning they are low except in the immediate neighborhood of Fukushima I Nuke Plant. Only in the minds of government officials in Fukushima.

To these officials from Fukushima City (that's where the prefectural government office is located), radiation levels in Fukushima City and in Nakadori (middle third) of Fukushima are not high. 1 microsievert/hour at 1 meter off the ground? Not a problem. Why? Because these officials live there and they say so.

What is this obsession of sending or bringing young people and children to Fukushima (of all places)? Remember the misguided attempt to send elementary school children to Date City to give cheer to the people there? The LDP city assemblyman in a city in Osaka who was going to co-sponsor the event was extremely indignant that he was roundly criticized for proposing the trip, which he eventually canceled. He clearly did not understand why people were upset with his project of good intention.

The school principals, being more of administrators than educators, will duly follow official recommendations.

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Japan's Reconstruction Agency Says Infra Will Be Ready in 2 Years in Former Evacuation Zone in Fukushima So That People Can Return, Now That the Agency Has "Grand Design"

The country is either in denial, or in delusion, or in both. Or in the same mental state when many truly believed that bamboo spears wielded by young girls could down the B29 bombers. It may have taken 26 years for the Ukrainian government to contemplate redeveloping part of the evacuation zone around Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, but the Japanese will do better than that and do it in three years since the start of the accident.

The Reconstruction Agency, modeled after the one that was set up right after the devastation of Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, says it now has a "Grand Design" (or Gurando Dezain in English that has a meaning only in Japan) for the recovery and reconstruction of the areas around Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Well, the problem is that people have already started returning, whether the infra is ready or not, or whether the national government has a "Grand Design" or not.

From Tokyo Shinbun Evening Edition (part, link won't last long; 9/4/2012):

復興庁　２年後には帰還可能に

Reconstruction Agency says evacuees can return in 2 years

復興庁は四日、東京電力福島第一原発事故に伴い避難区域などが設定された福島県十二市町村の復興の在り方を示した「グランドデザイン（取り組み方針）」を決定した。避難指示を解除した区域では二年後には帰還可能な環境を整備すると明記した。そのためのインフラ整備や長期避難者への生活支援、地域経済再生に向け、国は「長期にわたって十分な財源を確保する」とした。

On September 4, the Reconstruction Agency finalized its "Grand Design" that lays out the reconstruction of 12 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture which have been designated as "evacuation areas" of one kind or another after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The plan explicitly says the environment that will allow the residents to return will be in place in 2 years in the areas where evacuation orders have been lifted. To do so, infrastructure improvement, support for long-term evacuees and recovery of local economy will be necessary, and the report further says the national government "will secure ample, long-term funding to achieve them".

...

目標として二年後を目安とした短期は、避難指示解除準備区域の上下水道、道路を含むインフラ復旧を進める。五年後の中期は産業振興や営農支援により復興を加速。十年後以降の長期は雇用規模の回復に取り組む。

The 2-year short-term targets will include the rebuilding of the infrastructure such as water and sewer services and roads in the areas where the evacuation orders have been lifted. In the 5-year medium term, the reconstruction is to accelerate by industrial development and support for the farmers. After the 10th year, the plan will address the long-term goal of employment recovery.

除染の長期目標も示し、十二市町村のうち住民の帰還を先行して進める地域を優先し、自然放射線を除いた追加被ばく線量を年一ミリシーベルト以下に抑える。

The long-term goal of decontamination is also stated [in the Grand Design]. In the 12 municipalities, decontamination will be done in the areas where the evacuees will return, so that the additional radiation exposure above the natural background is limited to 1 millisievert per year or lower.

また、長期避難を強いられる自治体の住民が帰還まで他地域に集まって暮らす「仮の町」構想でも、国が受け入れ側の自治体に対し協力依頼や財政支援を行う。

As to the "temporary town" plan where the residents of the municipalities will live together until their return home, the national government will ask the host municipalities for cooperation and provide them with financial support.

It will be incredibly costly. What's worse, it probably will not work the way they plan.

What's even worse, in the areas where the evacuation order has been lifted, the residents are already returning to their homes without any electricity and running water. Their homes and lands haven't been decontaminated at all. When the national government started to "decontaminate" the evacuation zone last year, all they did was to send general contractors (who sent their subcons) and Self Defense Force soldiers to the towns and villages inside the evacuation zone and decontaminate the municipal government offices. What good is that for the returning residents?

The worker who has been tweeting since March last year from Fukushima I Nuke Plant was clearly distressed (I think it was either July or August this year) when he saw people who had just returned to their home in Naraha-machi (that's where J-Village, the staging area for Fukushima I Nuke Plant work, is located). He tweeted that these people were washing things in the nearby river. He told the husband and wife that they shouldn't be doing it (to which they answered they didn't have running water so they had no choice), and that they should wait till he came back with clean water.

He tweeted, "Their home is not even decontaminated! Why do the government return these people?"

So that the government/TEPCO (now one and the same, financially) does not have to pay compensation, I guess. I can't come up with any other good reason.

(Speaking of the Great Kanto Earthquake, the massacre of Korean residents after the quake was triggered by the rumor which was intentionally spread by Matsutaro Shoriki when he worked for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Shoriki became the owner of Yomiuri Shinbun immediately after he resigned from the Police the next year. He was also a known CIA asset after the war. It fits, doesn't it?)

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Japan's LDP Elders Wants to Prop Up Shintaro Ishihara's Son as the New Party Leader

If you think the Democratic Party of Japan's senior members wanting Goshi Hosono to become the next party leader (and thus prime minister of Japan) are from outer space, they now have a company. Senior members of the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which wants to wrestle the power from the DPJ in the upcoming Lower House election, want to have as the new party leader one of the sons of Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. They think the son will win them the election. Why? Because they think so.

Ishihara junior is the one who suggested last year that ordinary citizens should not be allowed to measure radiation levels themselves using personal survey meters, because these survey meters might be inaccurate.

Meanwhile, Goshi Hosono's latest is his grand plan to map out the "genomes" of Fukushima residents. You can bet he doesn't know what "genome" is.

Bright, shining future for Japan, Hosono or Ishihara.

From Nikkei Shinbun (9/3/2012; part):

自民重鎮、石原氏支持へ　総裁選で「谷垣おろし」

LDP's heavyweights to support Mr. Ishihara, "Tanigaki oust" in the Party President election

自民党総裁選（14日告示、26日投開票）で、森喜朗元首相と青木幹雄元参院議員会長（非議員）が石原伸晃幹事長を支持する方針を固めたことが３日、分かった。両氏に近い複数の議員が明らかにした。一方、森、青木両氏と古賀誠元幹事長は谷垣禎一総裁の不支持で一致。影響力のあるベテランの包囲網で谷垣氏が厳しくなったのに対し、石原氏が有力候補になる可能性が出てきた。

It was revealed on September 3 that ex-Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and ex-Chairman of the members of the House of Councilors Mikio Aoki had decided to support Nobuteru Ishihara, LDP's Secretary-General, in the upcoming leadership election of the Liberal Democratic Party (announcement on September 14, voting on September 26). This was revealed by multiple LDP members close to Messrs. Mori and Aoki. Meanwhile. Messrs. Mori and Aoki agreed with Makoto Koga, ex-Secretary-General of LDP, to not support the current President Sadakazu Tanigaki. Mr. Tanigaki now faces an uphill battle in the election as the influential veteran politicians turn away from him, while Mr. Ishihara may now become the leading candidate.

　「若い人を支持したい」。谷垣氏の出身派閥会長の古賀氏は３日、谷垣氏に通告した。

"I want to support a young person." Mr. Koga notified Mr. Tanigaki on September 3. Mr. Koga is the leader of the faction that Mr. Tanigaki belongs to.

So, how young is the young Ishihara? 55. That makes him 14 year older than Goshi Hosono (41). But the LDP seniors are in their mid 70s, so Ishihara is indeed young on the relative terms.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Plankton and Rust May Be Clogging Up the Valves in Water Injection System, Says TEPCO

While TEPCO still doesn't know exactly what is causing the decrease in the amount of water being injected into the reactors to (supposedly) cool the reactors (see my previous post), the company has come up with the possible culprits: rust and plankton.

Yes, plankton. Why? Because the water being injected into the Reactor Pressure Vessels of Reactors 1, 2 and 3 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is not just the treated water after decontamination and desalination. The treated water is mixed with the filtered river water. Clearly, plankton escapes the filter.

From Jiji Tsushin (9/3/2012):

原子炉注水用の水に不純物＝流量減少の原因か－福島第１原発

Fukushima I Nuke Plant - Foreign matters in the water for the reactor may be causing the decrease in the water flow

　東京電力福島第１原発事故で、原子炉冷却用の注水量がたびたび減少している問題について、東電は３日、注水用のポンプに入る前の水をタンクから採取してフィルターでろ過したところ、焦げ茶色の不純物が採取されたと発表した。水中のさびやプランクトンが配管を詰まらせている可能性もあるとみており、同社は不純物の分析やタンク内の清掃を進める。

Concerning the frequent problem of decreasing amount of water injected into the reactors for cooling at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, TEPCO announced on September 3 that foreign matters in dark brown color were collected after they took the water from one of the storage tanks that feed the [treated] water to the pumps for water injection and filtered it. The company thinks it is possible that rust and plankton in the water are clogging the pipes, and will conduct the analysis of the foreign matters and clean out the tanks.

I remember reading the tweets from last year by one of the workers who tweet from the plant that the water treatment system (Kurion, AREVA at that time) was being clogged up with jello-like substance because the water being treated was in part filtered river water.

By the way, TEPCO, after consulting the regulatory agency no doubt, has lowered the minimum amount of water necessary for each reactor, so that the continued operation of the plant does not constitute a deviation from the safety regulations set by NISA.

From TEPCO's handout for the press (Japanese) on September 3, 2012:

The minimum amount of water per hour to be injected into the RPV:

• Reactor 1: from 4.3 tonnes/hour to 3.8 tonnes/hour

• Reactor 2: from 6.1 tonnes/hour to 5.4 tonnes/hour

• Reactor 3: from 6.1 tonnes/hour to 5.4 tonnes/hour

There has been hardly any change in temperature at the bottom of the RPV in each reactor anyway. I'm curious to know what would happen if they completely stopped water injection.

There are two lines in the water injection system: CS (core spray) line and FDW (feedwater) line. The one with the greater fluctuation seems to be the FDW line, looking at TEPCO's data on September 3, 2012.

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Osaka City Police Forcibly Removing Citizens from Townhall Meeting on Disaster Debris Burning in Osaka City

You don't see this in any of the mainstream media.

The occasion was when the boy-wonder of Osaka City Toru Hashimoto held the one and only townhall meeting to explain things about disaster debris acceptance in Osaka City on August 30 (see my previous post).

This happened after the meeting, after the boy-wonder hastily departed, guarded by plain-clothes policemen. Many citizens remained in the hall, wanting to have the answers to their questions from the officials at the city's bureau of environment. Instead of engaging the citizens, they started to remove them out of the hall, according to this blog who had the link to the IWJ video below.

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People in Osaka City are trapped in Hashimoto's psychosis.

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