#Radioactive Japan: "Peach Project Junior - Let's Get Cheer From Children!" and Save Fukushima!

That this sort of events still goes on 16 months after the start of the worst nuclear accident in the country is surprising. Or not surprising. I don't know any more. Do you?

It is a leaflet for an event called "Let's Get Cheer (or Energy, Vitality, 'Genki" in Japanese) from Children!". The event is sponsored by an NPO called "Fukushima Stakeholders Coordinating Council" (I don't know if there's an official English name, so it is my translation of the name) set up in May this year. This is the same entity that will be holding a seminar in August on how to "decontaminate" your "soul" (heart, thinking).

It is supported by the Fukushima prefectural government (decontamination countermeasures department), the Board of Education in Date City, and JA Date Mirai (ag producers co-op), and co-sponsored by the Liberal Democratic Party-Kizuna Faction of the Ibaraki City Assembly in Osaka Prefecture.

They are looking for twenty 5th and 6th graders from Ibaraki City to go on a two-day trip (August 16, 17) to Date City in Fukushima Prefecture at a cost of 4,000 yen each. 4,000 yen will cover the lodging and insurance. Transportation costs will be paid by the organizers.

What they are going to do in Fukushima?

August 16:
Soon after arriving at Fukushima after spending 5 hours on the train, go visit Decontamination Information Plaza in Fukushima City set up by the Ministry of the Environment. Then, move to Date City, and enjoy all the peaches they can eat. They stay in Date City overnight.

August 17:
Socialize with school children in Fukushima, take a group photograph at the Decon Information Plaza, and go home to Osaka.

The place they will spend the night in Date City is a public hostel located in Tsukidate-machi, where 1,050 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from the rice harvested last year. Date City is famous for its peaches, but they were found with high levels of radioactive cesium last year. Fruit tree "decontamination" of stripping the tree barks must have worked this year.

The organizers are nice enough to hold a informational session on August 11 to explain to the potential participants (and parents I assume) the current condition in Fukushima and the effect of radioactivity.

What is the point of this? How would this make people in Fukushima or in Date City feel uplifted? If I were the receiving end of this "goodwill", I would be nauseated. It is bad enough that the city and the prefecture have been badly contaminated from the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. And here come well-meaning (I hope) organizations and politicians with the support of their city and the prefecture, sending children from far-away Osaka so that people in Date City feel better.

The country is sick.

By the way, the decontamination adviser for Date City, Shunichi Tanaka, is set to become the first chairman of the soon-to-be-created Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Japan. He was also the former acting chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan.

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#Radioactive Japan: Small Children Polish Mailboxes in High Radiation Area of Date City, #Fukushima

Horror never ends.

I posted the photo of a peach juice can from JA Date City in Fukushima the other day. The juice had 34 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium.

Here's the photo of kindergarten children in the same Date City cleaning the mailbox in appreciation for the hard work by mailmen every day. This particular district of Date City, Ryozen-machi, is 50 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The district is dotted with known "hot spots" with elevated radiation. Many locations measured by the city exceeded 1 microsievert/hour at 1 meter off the ground, some exceeding 3 microsieverts/hour (parks) last year. Even at the end of March this year, the highest is 1.28 microsievert/hour in a park at 1 meter off the ground.

That didn't stop this particular kindergarten from going through with the routine of thanking the mailmen. I wonder if they did it last year also.

From Fukushima's local paper Fukushima Minyu (4/21/2012; link added):

園児が感謝のポスト清掃　「郵政記念日」で活動

Kindergarteners clean mailboxes to show appreciation, as activity for "Memorial Day for Postal Services"

２０日の「郵政記念日」に合わせ、伊達市霊山町の神愛幼稚園（本田十和子園長）の園児たちは同日、同市の掛田郵便局と霊山総合支所のポストの清掃活動に取り組んだ。

For the "Memorial Day for Postal Services" on April 20, kindergarteners from Shin-ai Kindergarten in Ryozan-machi in Date City cleaned the mailboxes at Kakeda Post Office and Ryozen General Branch Office.

このうち、同郵便局には年長組の園児８人が訪れ、同郵便局の高木利己担当課長に「いつも手紙を届けてくれてありがとうございます」と書いた感謝状を手渡した。園児たちは雑巾を手に一生懸命にポストを磨いた後、思い思いにポストを飾り付けた。

8 kindergarteners visited Kakeda Post Office and handed the letter of appreciation to the manager of the post office that said "Thank you for delivering mail every day". The children polished the mailbox with the cleaning cloth, and decorated the mailbox.

清掃後、高木担当課長からお礼のプレゼントが贈られた。

After the cleaning, they were given presents by Manager Takagi at the postal office.

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34 Bq/kg of Radioactive Cesium from Peach Juice from Date City, #Fukushima

(From @tomynyo on Twitter)

34 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium found from a can of peach juice from last year's crop that was on sale recently. Not to worry, it is under the new and stricter safety standard of 100 becquerels/kg set by the national government of Japan, so much safer than the international standard, says the Minister of Agriculture.

On the can, it says:

Straight (meaning the juice is not the blend)

Fukushima

Blessings of Peach (桃の恵み）

100% Juice

JA Date Mirai (name of the agriculture producer co-op in Date City, Fukushima; "mirai" is "future" in Japanese)

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#Fukushima Fruit Growers: To Grow or Not to Grow This Year (With Tree Barks with 40K Bq/Kg of Cesium)

Is it even a question after what happened in last year? Well, clearly it is, for many farmers who grow fruits in Date City in the middle third of Fukushima with elevated radiation levels.

40,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected on the surface of peach trees in the city's orchard in the mountain. One grower is determined to grow this year again, the other has given up.

From Sankei Shinbun (4/1/2012):

「それでも作るしか」「もう無理」…果樹農家悲鳴　死活問題に

"Still no choice but grow", "Can't grow any more..." Matter of life and death for fruit growers

生産者にとって死活問題になりかねない放射性セシウムの基準値超え。特に年１回の収穫に懸け、日々の作業を続ける果樹農家は大きな不安を抱えている。

Radioactive cesium exceeding the safety standard can be a matter of life and death for the producers. Particularly, fruit growers who have only one harvest per year have big worries.

　３月下旬、特定避難勧奨地点が点在する福島県伊達市。山間部の畑に立つカキの木の幹は、真っ白な木肌が目立つ。四方に枝を張るブドウの木も痛々しい赤茶色。いずれも高圧水による除染で樹皮が剥がれた結果という。

Late March in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture, where "specific evacuation recommendation spots" are scattered throughout the city. In an orchard in the mountain, the trunk of a persimmon tree is white. Grapevines are reddish brown. Both are the result of high-pressure washing that blasted off the barks.

　「基準がどうあれ、木がある以上、とにかく作るしかない」。１ヘクタールの畑でブドウ、モモ、カキを育てる男性（５０）はつぶやく。昨季、周辺で収穫されたモモから１キロ当たり８０～９０ベクレルの放射性セシウムを検出。同５００ベクレルの暫定基準値は下回るが、同１００ベクレルの新基準値ならギリギリの数値だ。「除染すれば大丈夫なはずだが、ゼロでないと消費者も手にしてくれない」

"No matter what the standard is, as long as there are fruit tries, I have no choice but grow fruits", says a man (age 50) who grows grapes, peaches and persimmons in his 1 hectare orchard. In the last growing season, 80 to 90 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found from peaches harvested nearby. It was below the 500 becquerels/kg provisional safety limit, but with the new 100 becquerels/kg standard, it would be close to the limit. "Once [the trees are] decontaminated, it should be OK. But the consumers won't buy it unless there is zero cesium."

　東電の補償は出たが「補償のためじゃない。おいしかったと言ってもらうため作っている」という。

He was compensated by TEPCO, but he says, "I'm not growing for compensation. I'm growing so that people would say it is tasty."

　あきらめた農家もある。同じ山沿いで長年モモを育ててきた菅野重治さん（６５）は昨年、除染で出る廃棄物の仮置き用スペースを作るため、木の半分を引き抜いた。しかし残り半分の木の表面から１キロ当たり４万ベクレルを検出。「もう無理だ」と観念した。

There are farmers who has given up. Shigeharu Sugano [could be Kanno] (age 65), who has grown peaches for a long time in the same area, pulled out half his trees last year in order to make room for temporary storage for the decontamination wastes. However, from the surface of the rest of his trees, 40,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected. He gave up. "I can't do it any more."

　値下がりを受け周辺農家が養蚕から果樹に転換したのは半世紀前。「また新しい何かを見つけないと若い人は戻ってこない」と菅野さん。その「何か」は見つかっていない。

It was a half century ago that the local farmers switched from sericulture to fruit growing because of the drop in price in sericulture. "Unless we find something new, younger people won't come back", says Sugano. That "something new" hasn't been found.

With due respect to Mr. Sugano (at least he has given up growing peaches on his highly contaminated orchard), I don't think it's a matter of finding something new to grow.

Last year, Fukushima Prefecture even used school children to push Fukushima peaches, and they were widely sold all over Japan, even to customers who had never seen peaches from Fukushima in their local supermarkets.

Why not do that again this year? It worked last year. Just keep smiling.

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Date City in #Fukushima to Allow Rice Growing Everywhere, Even Where 500 Bq/kg Safety Limit Was Exceeded Last Year

The mayor of the city says "It's for the research purpose, and won't be sold". Sure.

If Fukushima City and Nihonmatsu City follow suit, the only municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture where rice won't be grown this year are the same as last year, inside the no-entry zone and in the planned evacuation zone.

Everywhere else, whether it produced rice with 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium or not, farmers will grow rice.

Officials in Nihonmatsu City have already said as long as it is the national government's responsibility to test the harvested rice, they don't see any problem growing rice.

From Jiji Tsushin (3/2/2012):

福島県伊達市の仁志田昇司市長は２日の定例記者会見で、２０１２年産米について国の暫定規制値（１キロ当たり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された地域でも試験的に作付けを行う方針を明らかにした。セシウムが検出された原因や除染の効果を調査するのが狙い。同市長は「出荷をしないという前提で試験する。（収穫後は）きちんと管理する」と語った。今後、この方針をめぐり国などと協議する。

Shoji Nishida, Mayor of Date City in Fukushima Prefecture, held the regular press conference on March 2 and announced the policy to allow farmers to plant rice this year even in the areas where radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) was found in rice last year. The purpose is to identify the reasons for cesium detection in rice, and to study the effect of decontamination. The mayor said, "It is an experiment, and the rice won't be sold. After the harvest, it will be properly managed." The mayor will discuss the policy with the national and prefectural governments.

This is the same city that has sent more conscientious farmers who refrained from growing rice last year a notice that their land will be considered abandoned unless they farm and grow crops this year.

In the highly contaminated district of Date City, one worker hired by the JAEA died at the decontamination site.

Why do they continue to grow rice in the most contaminated prefecture in all of Japan? you ask? As I posted before, it is to encourage farmers to continue to farm, ostensibly. And to keep rice paddies in good condition, ostensibly. And to increase the food self-sufficiency, ostensibly. None of them make any sense to me, but here's a tweet from one of the supporters of rice growing Fukushima farmers sent to Professor Yukio Hayakawa:

米作りは生態系維持や土質の維持、そして農民の生き甲斐などの観点からは毎年欠かさず作るほうがよいと言えます。経済的価値からだけの判断は一面的過ぎませんか？

In order to maintain the ecosystem and the quality of the soil, and to give farmers something to live for, it is better to grow rice every year without fail. Judging only by the economic merit is too one-sided, don't you think?

Professor Hayakawa's answer:

あなたはその考えのもとに自分の子どもの健康を差し出せますか？

Can you sacrifice the health of your own child based on your thinking?

People like this person who wrote to Hayakawa are trapped in their PC. It probably doesn't even occur to them, as it didn't for this person, "quality of soil" is damaged at least for several decades because of radioactive cesium, strontium, silver and other radionuclides that fell on the farmland in Fukushima.

I can tell you the country was not like this before. Yes, the idea of "tatemae" (facade) and "honnne" (real) was always there, but at least people knew that it was "tatemae" when they heard it.

Now, more and more Japanese truly believe in their own "tatemae" and lies.

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#Radioactive Farming: Date City's Agricultural Committee Forces Farmers to Till the Land, or Else...

Date City in Fukushima Prefecture is located in the high-radiation "Nakadori" middle third of the prefecture. The farm soil is so contaminated that if the rice farmers are to be prohibited from growing rice in the areas that produced rice that contained more than 100 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium last year, nearly 64% of the rice paddies in Date city cannot be cultivated this year (link goes to Asahi Shinbun Fukushima local version 2/8/2012).

So what does the city do? Force the farmers to till the land, or the land will be considered "abandoned". The city is threatening the farmers who didn't grow last year to till the land this year if they want to remain farmers.

Tokyo Shinbun has the story that I haven't seen anywhere else yet.

From Tokyo Shinbun (2/8/2012):

米から国の基準を上回る放射性物質が検出された福島県伊達市で、土壌汚染や被ばくへの懸念から耕作できなかっ た農家に対し、市農業委員会が田畑を耕作放棄地と扱う通知を出した。「農地として適切に利用されていない」として耕すよう指導。一月中旬に通知を受けた同 市の小野寛さん（５１）は「耕すと放射性物質が土に混ざる」と困惑している。　

Radioactive materials exceeding the national provisional standard have been found in rice harvested in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture last year. But the city's Agricultural Committee has sent notices to the farmers who didn't farm last year because of soil contamination and fear of the radiation exposure, and told them their farmland will be considered abandoned. The committee is instructing the farmers to till the farmland, because their land is "not appropriately utilized as farmland". One of the farmers, Hiroshi Ono (age 51) in Date City, is bewildered. "If I till, I'll mix up radioactive materials in the soil."

各自治体の農業委員会は農地法に基づき、年に一度、耕作放棄地を調査。最初の指導通知が届いた時点で耕作放棄地扱いとなり、所有者は原則的に新たな農地取得ができなくなる。同市農業委は今回、二百件ほどの指導通知を出した。

The Agricultural Committees in municipalities conduct the annual survey of the abandoned farmland, in accordance with the Agricultural Land Act. As soon as the farmers receive the notice, their land is considered abandoned, and the owners (farmers) are basically prohibited from acquiring new farmland. This time, Date City's Agricultural Committee has issued about 200 such notices.

小野さんは二千平方メートルの田畑で米と小麦を栽培。主に自家用だが、一部を販売している。米は、秋から育てたライ麦を刈り倒して雑草などを抑える独自の有機栽培をしてきた。

Ono grows rice and wheat on his 2000 square-meter plot. The crops are mostly for own consumption, but he sells part of the crops. He grows organic rice with his own unique method of suppressing weeds by growing rye in fall and cutting it down when the rice season arrives.

昨年三月の原発事故で、田畑は毎時三マイクロシーベルトと高い線量が検出された。単純計算で年間二〇ミリシーベルトを超え、政府が避難を促す基準 を超える値だ。「作っても食べられない」と判断し田植えをやめた。土ぼこりなどを吸って被ばくする懸念があったため、ライ麦と小麦の収穫もせず、田畑はそ のままにしていた。「除染さえできれば耕作するつもりだった。放棄したわけじゃない」。小野さんは農業委員会に通知を取り消すよう求めたが、受け入れられなかった。

After the nuclear plant accident in March last year, his farmland measured high radiation, 3 microsieverts/hour. The annual cumulative radiation would exceed 20 millisieverts, the level at which the national government would prompt evacuation. "Even if I grow, the crops won't be edible." He didn't plant rice last year. Since there was a worry of internal radiation exposure from inhaling dust from the land, he didn't even harvest rye and wheat, and didn't do anything with his farmland. "If decontamination was possible, I was going to grow crops. It's not that I abandoned." Ono asked the Agricultural Committee to rescind the notice, but the committee refused.

農地法には、災害時などは耕作放棄地扱いしないとの規定がある。農林水産省の担当者は「農業委に判断は委ねられるが、一般論として原発事故があった福島なら放射線への懸念は災害にあたるだろう」と説明する。

There is a clause in the Agricultural Land Act that says the farmland is not considered abandoned in a disaster. The people in charge at the Ministry of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries say, "Ultimately it is up to each Agricultural Committee, but generally speaking, the concern for radiation in Fukushima after the nuclear plant accident should be considered a disaster."

しかし、市農業委は「高線量のホットスポット以外の地域は、放射能への懸念があっても特別扱いはしていない」との見解。一方で、伊達市では農地の除染方法を検討中としてまだ決めていない。

However, Date City's Agricultural Committee's stance is that the committee "will not make any special case for radiation concern unless it is a high-radiation hot spot". Meanwhile, Date City still hasn't come up with the plan to decontaminate the farmland.

小野さんは「耕作すれば放射性物質が混ざり、自然になくなるのを待つしかない。セシウムは半減期が三十年もあるのに、どうすればいいのか」と力なく語る。

Ono sounds helpless when he says, "If I till the land, radioactive materials will be mixed up, and all I can do is to wait for them to disappear naturally. Half life of cesium is 30 years. What am I going to do?"

＜原発事故による耕作規制＞　農林水産省は昨年、避難区域と土壌調査で１キログラム当たり５０００ベクレルを超える地域の米の作付けを制限。伊達市 は対象外だが、避難区域に近い地域では米から国の暫定規制値（１キログラム当たり５００ベクレル）を超えるセシウムが検出された。規制値は１キログラム当 たり１００ベクレルに引き下げられる見込みで、農水省は今年も作付け制限を検討。除染方法は、表土を地中深くに埋めるなど農水省がいくつか案を示している が、最終的には自治体が方法を決めることになっている。

Restriction of farming due to the nuclear plant accident: Last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries restricted the cultivation of rice in the evacuation zones and in areas that were found with 5000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium in the soil. Cultivation in Date City was not restricted, but in the areas close to the evacuation zones radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional limit (500 becquerels/kg) was found in rice. The national limit is set to be lowered to 100 becquerels/kg, and the Ministry is considering restricting the cultivation again this year. There are several methods that the Ministry is proposing to decontaminate the farmland, including burying the top soil deep in the ground. But ultimately, it will be up to the municipalities to decide on the decontamination methods.

That's just ridiculous. It is up to the bureaucrats in local governments to decide how to "decontaminate", and who will "decontaminate" (i.e. farmers themselves), and force them to grow crops, threatening the farmers that unless they till the land, their land is considered abandoned, and they cannot acquire new land in the future.

The system is set up to punish the farmers like Mr. Ono, who wisely refrained from disturbing the contaminated land last year and did not grow radioactive rice and other crops like other farmers did.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

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More on the Decon Worker Who Died on Site: "Nothing to Do with Radiation/Decon", Says Government

According to the latest in the NHK News, the worker was cleaning out the side drains at the district assembly hall in the morning. (For my report from the press conference yesterday, see my post here.)

I just hate to think how radioactive the sludge was. There is no indication that the government (this project was government-planned and funded and directed) had measured the density of the soil or sludge that it was requesting the workers to remove.

The decontamination technology for that kind of operation in Japan is hand, shovel, trowel, and sandbag.

Beyond criminal, and all the spokesman said in the yesterday's press conference was "We don't know the details, but the death is definitely not caused by the radiation, and it has nothing to do with the decontamination work".

Just to remind you that their definition of a death by the radiation for this government and TEPCO is an acute radiation poisoning which knocks out a person in an instant of the exposure to the radiation source.

Furthermore, when he said the death had nothing to do with the decon work, he had to clarify upon being further questioned by a reporter. All he meant was that the worker didn't die while he was doing the decon work.

I watched the press conference yesterday. The unease of the government spokesman was exceptional. At times, he simply couldn't even speak, trying to find appropriate words to say.

With these in mind, here's NHK Japanese (11:18PM JST 12/12/2011):

福島県伊達市で除染作業をしていた６０歳の男性が、車の中で倒れているのが見つかり、死亡が確認されました。男性の死亡原因について内閣府は「除染作業と関係はない」としています。

A 60-year-old man was found collapsed in a car and confirmed dead. He was doing the decontamination work in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture. The Cabinet Office [which planned the work] says the death "has nothing to do with the decontamination work".

内閣府と警察によりますと、１２日午後１時ごろ、福島県の伊達市下小国地区で宮城県の建設会社に勤めている６０歳の男性が車の中で倒れているのが見つかり、病院に運ばれましたが、およそ１時間後に死亡が確認されました。男性は、下小国地区にある集会場近くで午前中から国が委託して行っている除染活動に参加し、側溝の泥を集める作業をしたあと、会社の車の中で昼食をとっていたということです。内閣府は「男性の死亡原因と除染作業に関係はない」としていますが、詳しい理由は明らかにしていません。

According to the Cabinet Office and the Police, a 60-year-old man was found collapsed in a car in Shimo-Oguni District of Date City in Fukushima Prefecture at around 1PM on December 12. The man worked for a construction company in Miyagi Prefecture. He was taken to a hospital, but was confirmed dead about an hour later. The man participated in the decontamination work assigned by the national government near the district assembly hall in the morning. He scooped the sludge in the side drains, and then he was eating lunch in the company car, it was reported. The Cabinet Office says "The cause of death has nothing to do with the decontamination work", without revealing the details.

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(UPDATED) Confirmed: A Decon Worker in Date City, Fukushima Found Dead in a Company Car at the Site

(UPDATE) Information from the TEPCO/government joint press conference online right now.

A 60-year-old worker doing the decontamination experiment in Shimo-Oguni District of Date City, Fukushima Prefecture was found dead by his co-workers inside the company car at 1:00PM on December 12. An ambulance was called, but he was confirmed dead at 2PM.

The decon work was the first in Shimo-Oguni District in Date City that was planned by the Cabinet Office and was being carried out by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The government spokesman didn't know the details of the worker, or the details of the decon work being done, or how long the worker had worked before he was found dead. Citizen volunteers were not involved in this decon project, as far as the spokesman knew.

No information about where the worker was from, or whether he had a pre-existing condition. The spokesman did say the government knows the cause of the death, but is talking to the family of the deceased as to whether it is appropriate to disclose the cause.

The spokesman was extremely uncomfortable when he tried to answer the question of the cause of the death. He managed to say the death was not during the decon work.


=====================================
The information was apparently disclosed by none other than Yasuhiro Sonoda, Cabinet Office official who drank Fuku-I water.

If a person died suddenly as he/she was doing the decontamination work in the area that produced rice with cesium far exceeding the national provisional safety limit, it has to be either the psychological stress in general and/or the pre-existing illness. Right? Right.

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Official in Date City, Fukushima: "Residents Here Think They are the Victims of Accident Caused by TEPCO"

I thought they were. Apparently not to this official of a city where radioactive cesium in rice has just been found that exceeds the national provisional limit, and where blasting the fruit trees with water from a high-pressure washer and stripping the barks will decontaminate the fruits next year.

The following article appeared on the Fukushima local version of the largest national paper Yomiuri Shinbun.

From Yomiuri Shinbun Local (Fukushima) version (11/27/2011):

東京電力福島第一原発事故を受け、国際放射線防護委員会（ＩＣＲＰ）の委員らが２６日、県庁を訪れ、自治体の担当者らと意見交換した。

Commissioners from the ICRP visited the Fukushima government office on November 26 to exchange ideas with the municipal officials in Fukushima.

　放射線防護の専門家であるＩＣＲＰ委員が直接、県内の現状を聞いて除染や健康管理などの面で助言し、復興に役立てるのがねらい。

The purpose was for the ICRP commissioners to directly learn about the current situation in Fukushima Prefecture and to advise on decontamination and health care and assist in recovery and reconstruction [of Fukushima].

　ＩＣＲＰ第４委員会のジャック・ロシャール委員長や丹羽太貫・京都大名誉教授のほか、チェルノブイリ原発に近いベラルーシやフランス、ノルウェーの研究者らも出席。自治体や県立医大の担当者らが、それぞれ福島の現状について発表した。伊達市の職員は、「住民に除染方法を説明しても『東電がやるべきだ』と被害者意識が強く、なかなか協力が得られない」などと実情を説明した。

In attendance were Jacques Lochard, ICRP Committee 4 Chair, Otsura Niwa, professor emeritus at Kyoto University, and researchers from Belarus, France, and Norway. Officials from local municipalities and the prefectural medical university made the presentation on the current situation in Fukushima. An official from Date City explained the situation in the city, saying "Even when we explain how to decontaminate to the residents of the city, they have this victim mentality of "TEPCO should do it", and they don't cooperate readily."

　意見交換会は２７日も行われ、ＩＣＲＰの委員らが、土壌改良や住民の健康管理などチェルノブイリ原発事故で得た経験を披露し、福島第一原発事故での放射線防護について助言などを行う。

The meeting will continue on November 27. The ICRP commissioners will share the experience they have obtained from the Chernobyl accident in soil remediation and health care of the residents, and advise on the radiation protection from the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident.

The official from Date City is complaining that the residents think they are the victims of the worst nuclear accident that the country has ever had, and that they are not doing what the officials like him tell them to do, which is to clean up the mess (radioactive materials spewed out of the broken reactors and spent fuel pools in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant) themselves.

Amazing.

By the way I happen to remember seeing Dr. Niwa's name somewhere else at some other time. He was one of those "experts" who ridiculed and trashed people of Kyoto in August who were against burning the radioactive firewood (1130 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium) from Rikuzen Tataka City in Iwate Prefecture.

Dr. Niwa is now the president of his own company, Biomedics, which specializes in pharmaceuticals for cancer and auto immune diseases.

Interesting.

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Japan's Decon Bubble: This Is the Way They'll Decon Orchards in Fukushima

They will power-wash the trees and call it "decontamination".

At least in this video, they put down the tarp under the tree.

NHK News on 11/28/2011 has a clip that shows exactly the same "decon" method but without any tarp to at least shield the soil from radioactive materials being sprayed down.

This "advanced technology decontamination" as per Minister Hosono will be used by 600 fruit orchards (2200 hectares) in 3 municipalities in Fukushima (Date City, Kunimi-machi, Koori-machi) starting in the middle of December. And the fruit farmers themselves will get to do the decon job.

NHK News also has this from the head of the JA in Date City:

「農家の方には、大変な負担になると思うが、安全な果物を消費者に届けるには、早急に除染をしなければならない。一日も早く完了させたい」

"I know it will be a heavy burden on the fruit farmers, but in order to deliver safe fruits to consumers we need to do decontamination as soon as possible. We want to finish it as soon as possible."

Ummm. No thank you. And what is the point of power-washing the radioactive materials off the trees into the ground so that the roots can absorb?

Has Fukushima Prefecture done any study to show that this power-washing method is effective?

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#Radioactive Rice Keeps Coming: 1050 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Date City, Fukushima

Asahi Shinbun has a convenient map that plots locations where the rice has been found with radioactive cesium far exceeding the provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg. The white circle is Onami District in Fukushima City where up to 1270 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium has been found in the rice. The two red circles are the locations in Date City where the rice exceeding the limit has been found this time. So far.

And unlike in Onami District in Fukushima City, they are only testing one bag out of every 50. Some comfort.


From Asahi Shinbun (11/28/2011):

福島市大波地区（旧小国村）のコメから国の基準値（１キロあたり５００ベクレル）を超える放射性セシウムが検出された問題で、福島県は２８日、緊急調査の結果、大波地区に隣接する同県伊達市の旧小国村と旧月舘町の両地区の計３戸のコメでも基準を超え、一部は流通していた、と発表した。県は両地区のコメの出荷自粛を要請した。政府は、２９日にも両地区のコメの出荷停止を指示する方針だ。

After radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit was detected in rice harvested in Onami District of Fukushima City (former Oguni-mura), Fukushima Prefecture announced on November 28 that rice from 3 farms in the adjasent areas of Onami District, former Oguni-mura and former Tsukidate-machi, both of which became part of Date City, was found with radioactive cesium exceeding the limit. Part of the rice has been sold in the market. The prefectural government has requested that the shipment of rice from these two districts to be voluntarily halted. The national government is going to order the halt of the rice shipment from the districts.

　県によると、このうち、伊達市の旧小国村のもち米９キロが地元の直売所から消費者に売られていた。基準超えのコメの一般消費者への流通が分かったのは初めて。

According to the Fukushima prefectural government, 9 kilograms of "mochi" rice harvested in former Oguni-mura part of Date City had been already sold to consumers at a local farm stand. This is the first case of the rice exceeding the limit having been found to have been sold to the general public.

　県によると、伊達市の旧小国村では、１０１戸の農家の１１９サンプルのうち２戸の２サンプルで１キロあたり５８０ベクレルと７８０ベクレルを検出。同市の旧月舘町では、６戸の８サンプルのうち１戸１サンプルで同１０５０ベクレルを検出した。

According to the prefecture, in former Oguni-mura of Date City, 2 samples from 2 farms out of 119 samples from 101 farms tested 580 becquerels/kg and 780 becquerels/kg respectively. In former Tsukidate-machi of Date City, 1 samples from 1 farm out of 8 samples from 6 farms tested 1050 becquerels/kg.

Just to remind you: If a government ask you to voluntarily do something, the government does not compensate you for your inconvenience. If the government orders you to do something, then the government is obligated to compensate.

The Fukushima prefectural government hasn't posted the press release on their website yet, but Yomiuri Shinbun (11/29/2011) reports that 4 additional farms in Onami District of Fukushima City had the rice whose radioactive cesium exceeded the provisional safety limit, bringing the total to 10 farms.

The prefecture and the media are trying their best to isolate these cases as "special", saying that these farms are located in the mountains or near the mountains.

Well, I would think that condition applies to the significant number of rice farms in Japan.

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This Is What Passes as "Decontamination" in Fukushima (for That Matter, in Japan)

Date City in Fukushima Prefecture, 60 kilometers northwest of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and with high radiation areas and spots all over the city, has started the city-wide "decontamination" effort on October 26, according to Fukushima Minyu newspaper (10/27/2011). According to the article,

　この日の除染作業では、市が委託した清掃業者が、民家の雨どいにたまった泥などを取り除いたほか、軒先を高圧洗浄機で洗い流した

In today's decontamination work, the cleaning contractor hired by the city removed the sludge in the rain gutter at a residence, and washed the frontage of the house with a power washer.

That's called "decontamination" in Japan, instead of "yard cleaning".

So I looked for any video footage of "decontamination" in Date City. I didn't find the latest effort, but I did find the ones from this summer, when the city carried out decontamination with the help of volunteers and the advice from Dr. Shunichi Tanaka, former acting commissioner of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission (under the Cabinet Office) and current decontamination advisor to Date City.

Much touted (by the Minister of the Environment Goshi Hosono) new Japanese decontamination technology amounts to hand-scraping the soil by volunteers with hardly any protection.

First, the video at Co-op Fukushima of the decontamination effort in July in the very same district in Date City:

The Co-op page says "We're looking for more decontamination volunteers."

Also from July, in a different district of Date City:

Date City is where a researcher claims to have found a large amount of neptunium-239 of Fukushima I Nuke Plant origin. In nearby Fukushima City, Greenpeace researchers found cobalt-60 in soil in a park.

They don't look too worried in the videos.

(Oh I forgot. The Oxford professor has said max 100 millisieverts per month radiation is safe...)

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Nikkan SPA Magazine: Researcher Says Large Amount of Neptunium-239 Also in Date City, Fukushima

It's the same researcher who said several thousand becquerels/kg of neptunium-239 was found in the soil in Iitate-mura, about 35 km northwest of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. It seems it's not just Iitate-mura that got doused with neptunium, which decays into plutonium. Date City, about 25 km northwest from Iitate-mura and 60 km from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, also got a large amount of neptunium.

To recap, uranium-239, whose half life is about 24 minutes, decays into neptunium-239 with a half life of about 2.5 days, which then decays into plutonium-239 whose half life is 24,200 years.

Again, the reason for withholding the information is explained in the article below as "the research paper being peer-reviewed by a foreign scientific journal" - a make-or-break event, apparently, for a young researcher at a prestigious university in Japan - and as precaution against the possible Japanese government action to squash the information. The article was written by the same husband & wife comedian couple who first wrote about neptunium in Iitate-mura on their blog magazine in early August.

I'm sure the nuclear experts who have appeared on TV to soothe the populace ever since the March 11 nuclear accident has the good explanation for neptunium-239 in these locations. They've kept saying "No way plutonium will be found outside the compound, because it is heavy and it doesn't fly". Oh I get it. It's plutonium they were talking about, not neptunium which decays into plutonium. My bad.

From Nikkan SPA September 13 issue (part on Date City only):

メールはこう始まっていた。

The email began thus:

「放射線測定を専門とする大学研究者に直接聞いたのですが、プルトニウムが核変する前のネプツニウムという核種が、少なくとも飯舘村や伊達市まで大量に飛んでいたそうです。今のγ線メインの測定方法ではどんなに頑張ってもセシウムしか検出できないため、本来の危険性が見逃されてしまう。α 線核種を無視した今のやり方を続けていたら、飯舘村はまた“見殺し”にされかねない……」

"I heard it directly from a university researcher whose specialty is radiation measurement. Neptunium, the nuclide that decays into plutonium, flew at least to Iitate-mura and Date City in large quantity. The current survey method focuses only on gamma ray, and all it detects is radioactive cesium. The real danger is alpha-nuclides, which continues to be ignored. Iitate-mura may be being betrayed again..."

The article by the comedian cum independent journalist couple continues and says this person attended a lecture given by this researcher.

It still doesn't make sense to me that the information already freely given at a public lecture has to be withheld because of the peer-review process, but oh well.

Date City by the way has been selected by the national government to conduct "decontamination" experiments. So is Iitate-mura. They are using high-pressure spray washers to blast roofs, sidings and roads, and digging up the soil. Plutonium? What plutonium?

Unlike Iitate-mura, though, almost all residents in Date City still live within the city. Even those who are ordered to move because of high radiation level in their homes have moved to temporary housing that the city has provided, within the city.

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Radioactive Cesium from Shiitake Mushrooms Grown Indoors in Date City, Fukushima

(Update: 28 kg of Date City shiitake were sold within Fukushima. 129 kg of Motomiya City shiitake went to the fresh produce wholesale market in Tokyo, according to Asahi.)

1,770 becquerels per kilogram. That's the first since the government started the sample testing of food items. Date City is more than 50 kilometers northwest of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (10:08AM JST 7/16/2011):

厚生労働省は１５日、福島県伊達市の施設栽培シイタケで暫定規制値（１キロ当たり５００ベクレル）を上回る同１７７０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出され たと発表した。　本宮市でも５６０ベクレルを検出した。露地栽培シイタケではすでに同県内の１６市町村で出荷が制限されているが、施設栽培シイタケで規制 値を上回ったのは初めて。政府は出荷制限を検討する。

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced on July 15 that 1,770 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from shiitake mushrooms grown indoors in Date City, Fukushima Prefecture. The provisional safety limit is 500 becquerels/kg. Shiitake mushrooms grown in Motomiya City in Fukushima also tested 560 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. Already, 16 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture restrict the shipment of shiitake mushrooms grown outdoors. This is the first time that shiitake mushrooms that were grown indoors tested above the safety limit. The national government will consider the shipment restriction.

Where did this cesium come from, if the mushrooms were grown indoors? Is the indoor air just as contaminated as the outdoor air in Date City? Or was it the mushroom substrate blocks (for indoor cultivation) that were contaminated?

In the meantime, the minister in charge of the Fukushima nuke accident and the assistant of PM Kan apparently told the governor of Fukushima that the so-called "step 1" (stable cooling of the reactors, among others) of the so-called "roadmap" by TEPCO has been "successfully completed" (link is in Japanese).

July 17 is the so-called "deadline" to so-called "complete" the so-called "step 1". Upon the so-called "completion", the government is set to announce the reduction and/or elimination of the "emergency evacuation-ready zone". Never mind that is where the radioactive cows that ate the radioactive rice hay come from.

Date City was not even in the "emergency evacuation-ready zone" until June 30, even though the air radiation level had consistently measured high, the level of "planned evacuation zone".

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#Radiation in Japan: Date City in Fukushima To Fit Kindergarteners and School Kids with Dosimeter

They're going to fit 3-year-olds with dosimeter.

If the radiation is such a worry, shouldn't they evacuate small children out of the city first? Or are they planning something else?

From Nikkei Shinbun, quoting Kyodo News (6/10/2011):

福島県伊達市は９日、福島第１原発事故で子供がいる親の不安が高まっているとして、市内の小中学校と幼稚園、保育園に通う児童、生徒、園児約８千人全員に小 型線量計を配布すると発表した。７月上旬にも始める方針。福島県内では、町の一部が計画的避難区域となっている川俣町も小中学生と園児1500人全員に近 く線量計を配布する予定。

Date City in Fukushima Prefecture announced on June 9 that they will distribute portable dosimeters to all children in the city's elementary schools and middle schools, kindergartens and nursery schools to calm the fear of the parents of children in school age. There are about 8,000 such children. The program will start in early July. In Fukushima Prefecture, Kawamata-machi will also distribute dosimeters to all of their elementary/middle school children and kindergartners (1,500 children). Part of Kawamata-machi is designated as "planned evacuation zone".

　伊達市は計画的避難が進む飯舘村に隣接。市内の一部に放射線量が高い「ホットスポット」と呼ばれる地区があり、保護者から「子どもの被曝（ひばく）線量が分かるようにしてほしい」との要望が相次いでいた。

Date City is adjacent to Iitate-mura, which is designated as "planned evacuation zone". Date City has so-called "hot spots" that show elevated level of radiation, and parents have been asking the city to come up with a system to monitor the radiation exposure for their children.

　市によると、配布対象は小中学生約６千人と園児約２千人。医療関係者が使っているバッジ型の小型線量計を衣服などにつけてもらう。

According to the city, dosimeters will be distributed to 6,000 pupils in elementary schools and middle schools, and 2,000 children in kindergartens and nursery schools in the city. They will wear the small dosimeters worn by medical practitioners.

　具体的な運用方法は今後、放射線アドバイザーを委嘱する専門家と協議。購入費を含む健康対策経費約３千万円は市が負担するが、最終的には東京電力に請求したいとしている。〔共同〕

The program details will be decided in discussion with the expert that the city hires as radiation advisor. The cost, including the cost to purchase dosimeters, will be about 30 million yen (US$373,000). The city will pay for the cost, but plans to bill TEPCO later.

I wonder who this "radiation advisor" is.

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