Covering Fukushima I (Daiichi) Nuclear Accident Since March 11, 2011
(Photo: Reactor 3 Operating Floor, January 2014)
Yasumi Iwakami's IWJ has started the USTREAM channel of the tour earlier today, ahead of Nico Nico.
A reporter from Al-Jazeera and a cameraman from Germany's ZDF are there.
Nico Nico will start shortly, at this link:
http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv94083294?ref=nicotop
Nico Nico and IWJ are representing the independent media (i.e. not members of the Japan Press Club or the Foreign Press Club), and two additional independent journalists including Ryuichi Kino (who won the lottery at TEPCO headquarters) are there also.
The two independent journalists were not allowed to take their own cameras, but I don't think the Press Club member journalists were allowed individual cameras either.
They are supposed to get off the bus at the Reactor 4 building. I don't know if any of them go up to the operation floor of the building.
Nico Nico will netcast the uncut footage of the tour at this link (you need to have an account with them; if your account is a free account, you may get bumped when too many premium customers show up to view it):
http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv94083294?ref=nicotop
Asahi Shinbun online has 4 lines and one small picture.
Yomiuri online has a decent length article but hardly any new insight or information other than "1,500 microsieverts/hour" radiation near the reactors and that the reporter's cumulative radiation exposure from 4 hour-plus spent on the plant was 79 microsieverts.
Well, they saw the plant last November and the situation has hardly changed, "cold shutdown state" or not.
But many people in Japan saw the plant and the surrounding areas like Tomioka-machi, Ookuma-machi for the first time in the video at Nico Nico News. Nearly 100,000 people checked in to view the unedited video yesterday, while many registered users couldn't check in because the priority was given to the paying "premium" members when the place got crowded.
It was good that the independent journalists demanded access, and TEPCO relented.
For the links to the video, see my previous post.
The video is over 5 hours. I think I watched yesterday up to 4 hours. (You may need to register to view.)
http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv81820555?ref=nicotop
Edited version (still over 3 hours) is here:
http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv81845964
The net media (Yasumi Iwakami's IWJ and Nico Nico News) was in the Group B, along with the reporters and cameramen from the local Fukushima newspapers and TV stations.
Iwakami, and Nico Nico's Nanao (he's a cameraman) asked most questions to TEPCO people on the plant. The rest were pretty much content to just listen.
The moment I thought "Oh this is so stereotypically TEPCO" was when they were on the bus passing Reactor 3 turbine building. Someone was reading out the number off his geiger counter, "200 microsieverts/hour!" Then, TEPCO's PR person on board the bus as the guide said, "Oh, back there, it must have been 1,500 microsieverts/hour", or 1.5 millisievert/hour. So TEPCO tells the reporters after the fact, past the spot, to tell them the radiation level that high.
130 Microsieverts/Hr Near the Pump for Reactor Water Injection
Someone's survey meter keeps beeping as soon as they step outside to tour the plant on the bus.
Near turbine buildings. Near Reactor 3 turbine building, the radiation is 200 microsieverts/hour. TEPCO's PR person says there are locations nearby that measure 1500 microsieverts/hour. I think he means inside the bus. 
Workers on the Reactor 4 building upper floor.
Can be viewed at Nico Nico's site right now:
http://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv81820555?ref=nicotop
You would need to register (free) to view.
They are boarding the bus from J-Village to the plant.
Iwakami is saying it was 30 microsieverts/hour momentarily in the parking lot. TEPCO's Terasawa explains to Iwakami once inside the building that part of the parking lot's asphalt is too contaminated, so TEPCO has put metal sheets to shield the radiation somewhat, and that's where they guided the journalists. They were telling the journalists to stay on the metal plates.
I just saw a female journalist. 1:35:00 or so into the video.
Iwakami says his Inspector measures lower than the "official" TEPCO's measurement.
This building feels unreal. Strange hum in the hallway.
NISA's safety inspection meeting. As if no accident happened.
Emergency Response Room: 500 to 700 people are in this room. Nico Nico's cameraman asks, "Were the teleconferences recorded in any way? Audiovisual, or audio?" TEPCO's PR person answers, "No."
Plant Manager Takahashi. He doesn't look too good, looks sleepy. He says he's fine.
Questions to Takahashi are no different from what these reporters ask TEPCO's Matsumoto in the daily press conference in Tokyo. What a disappointment. What's the point of asking these mundane, work-related trivial questions after having come all the way to the plant??!!
There are many young TEPCO employees in blue uniform.
The strange hum was not my imagination. There are air filtering systems inside the building like this:
Journalists getting ready to go to Fukushima I Nuke Plant. It looks cold just outside the JR train station of Hirono-machi.
Nico Nico Live requires registration (free for regular members).
Nico Nico's cameraman is saying he will act as "your eyes" going into the 20 kilometer zone.
Nico Nico's reporter says "I'll do my best to report the truth from Fukushima I Nuke Plant".
Hirono-machi JR station is 3-kilometer south of J-Village (20 kilometers from the plant), and from there they will go to Fuku I by bus. Most of the tour at the plant will be from inside the bus, but they will get to go outside at a location south of Reactor 4.
They are fitted with:
Geiger counter made by France's Million, showing 0.43 microsievert/hour at Hirono-machi train station
Personal survey meter that can record cumulative radiation exposure
Video camera
The Nico Nico reporter just said there were female journalists boarding the shuttle bus to J-Village, whom he said were from AP.
Total 39 journalists (including cameramen) in two groups.
Group A (20) including Reuters, Mainichi (still camera), Nippon TV, US's NBC (video) Nippon TV, AP (voice), Asahi, Nikkei Mainichi, Yomiuri, AP, NHK, TBS, Tokyo TV, The Independent, Chogoku Shinbun (reporters)
Group B (19) including Fukushima Minpo (still camera), TV Fukushima, Nico Nico (video), Sankei, Tokyo, Fukushima Minpo, Minyu, Kahoku, Hiigata Nippo, Fukushima TV, IWJ, Nico Nico (reporters)
The video will be uploaded after 3PM on February 20, unedited. More detailed reporting in the evening.
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