#Radiation in Tokyo: Over 2.7 Microsievert/Hr in Setagaya-ku on a School Route

That is the air radiation. NHK News says the number happens to be much higher than the current air radiation in Iitate-mura (2.1 microsieverts/hour at the village office) in Fukushima Prefecture, where all the villagers have had to evacuate.

Just like in Yokohama City, a citizen measured the air radiation, and alerted the municipal government who then went and measured. At least the municipal governments have started to at least respond.

The result was 2.8 microsieverts/hour. The Setagaya-ku government power-washed the 10-meter stretch of the side walk, and the radiation came down to ... (hold your breath)... 2.71 microsieverts/hour.

Setagaya-ku is one of the special wards of Tokyo that located at the western end of the 23 special wards on the east Tokyo. It borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the south. (Setagaya-ku is marked in deep purple in the map, where the special wards are marked in light purple.)

From NHK News Japanese (10:58PM JST 10/12/2011):

今月初め、東京・世田谷区の区道で１時間当たり最大で２．７マイクロシーベルトという高い放射線量が検出され、世田谷区は、この場所に立ち入らないよう呼びかけるとともに今後の除染を検討しています。

2.7 microsieverts/hour radiation was detected on a municipal road in Setagaya-ku (special ward) in Tokyo earlier this month, and the Setagaya-ku government is asking people to avoid the location while it considers the decontamination plan.

高い放射線量が検出されたのは、世田谷区弦巻の区道の歩道の長さおよそ１０メートル、幅およそ１メートルの部分です。世田谷区によりますと、今月３日、区民から「放射線量が高い場所がある」という情報が寄せられたため、区が測定したところ、１時間当たり最大でおよそ２．８マイクロシーベルトと周辺に比べて特に高い放射線が検出されたということです。

The high radiation was detected in the 10-meter long, 1-meter wide stretch of the side walk in Tsurumaki in Setagaya-ku. According to the Setagaya-ku government, a resident informed the government on October 3 that there was a location with high radiation. When the Setagaya-ku government measured, the radiation was 2.8 microsieverts/hour maximum, much higher than the surrounding area.

このため高圧の洗浄器を使って歩道部分の洗浄を行いましたが、放射線量はあまり下がらず、１時間当たり最大で２．７０７マイクロシーベルトが検出されたということです。原因について世田谷区が専門家に聞いたところ、問題の場所は雨水が集まって放射線量が高くなったことが考えられるということです。

The Setagaya-ku government used the pressure washer to wash the stretch of the side walk, but the radiation level only came down to 2.707 microsieverts/hour. The expert whom the government consulted with said the radiation level there may have become elevated because of the rainwater collecting there.

ただ、今回の測定では地表より高い場所でより高い数値が出るなど、通常あまり見られない結果が出ていることから、世田谷区では原因を詳しく調べることにしています。

However, the measurement revealed that the air radiation was higher off the ground than on the ground, and the Setagaya-ku government is planning to investigate further to identify the cause of this unusual result.

この区道は小学校の通学路にもなっていることから、区は、１２日朝からこの場所をコーンで囲って立ち入らないよう呼びかけるとともに今後の除染を検討しています。世田谷区は、ことし７月から８月にかけて区内の小中学校や保育園、それに幼稚園で放射線量を測定しており、その際、高い放射線量は検出されていませんでした。世田谷区は、子どもへの影響を重視し、今月下旬から区内の砂場がある２５８か所の公園について調査することにしています。

This municipal road is a designated school route to an elementary school. Setagaya-ku has put up the road cones to alert people not to enter the area, and is considering decontamination. Setagaya-ku measured the radiation in elementary schools, middle schools, kindergartens and nursery schools in July and August, but there was no high radiation detected at that time. It plans to measure the radiation of 258 parks later this month to ensure safety for small children.

世田谷区環境総合対策室の斉藤洋子室長は「現場は小学校の通学路で、近くには幼稚園や保育園もある。心配する保護者の方がいると思うので、専門家とも相談してできるだけ速やかに除染などの対応をとりたい」と話していました。

Yoko Saito, head of the Setagaya-ku environmental office said, "This is a school route to an elementary school, and there are a kindergarten and a nursery school nearby. I think there are parents who may worry. We will respond as quickly as possible, such as decontamination, after we consult with experts."

Who wouldn't be worried? From what I have heard from an acquaintance, the majority of the parents. They are more worried if their toddlers can get into a prestigious kindergarten. (She is considering moving to Australia with her children.)

How is Setagaya-ku going to "decontaminate", anyway? Power-washing failed. They may have to remove the side walk altogether, and take down part of the yard that borders the sidewalk. I wonder if they are testing the soil or sediment on the side walk. There is no news or announcement at the Setagaya-ku government website.

Looking at the NHK video clip that accompanies the article, the particular stretch looks no different from any other stretch. It is bordering somebody's yard with plants. According to the Ministry of Education and Science aerial survey map of contamination for Tokyo, there should be hardly any contamination for Setagaya-ku.

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Test Result on Strontium-90 Detection in Yokohama

Here's the image of the test report by Isotope Research Institute in Yokohama City:

Strontium-90: 195 becquerels/kg

From the same sample, cesium-134 and cesium-137 were also detected earlier.

Cesium-134: 29,775 becquerels/kg
Cesium-137: 33,659 becquerels/kg
Total cesium: 63,434 becquerels/kg

Isotope Research Institute didn't start testing for radioactive strontium until August 20, according to the Institute's website. Thus the time lag.

At the Institute, it costs 65,000 yen (US$847) (pre-tax) to test one sample for strontium-90 (no separate testing for strontium-89), and it takes one week. No volume discount, the webpage says.

The ratio of strontium-90 to cesium-137 in this case is about 0.58%. In comparison, the same ratio from the samples taken in Fukushima Prefecture was between slightly less than 0.1% to 8.2%. In other words, the ratio varies too much to discern any pattern.

Yokohama City has said it is testing for strontium in the sample taken from the same apartment rooftop but with much higher cesium density (105,600Bq/kg total cesium). But remember there was no official announcement about this high cesium detection because "the apartment building is a private property", according to the city. We'll see if Yokohama will announce anything about strontium-90.

The Yokohama Mayor is having her regular Wednesday press conference, but she has refused to let independent journalists including Yasumi Iwakami, who broke the news, attend the press conference. She only wants to deal with the "press club" members.

For my recent posts on strontium-90 in Yokohama City, go here and here.

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#Radiation in Japan: A Shizuoka Tea Plantation Declares "Our Green Tea Is SAFE!" with 175 Bq/kg of Radioactive Cesium

Totally in line with the radioactive chestnut story from the yesterday's post, where a grocer uses a certificate of 44 becquerels/kg of cesium from the chestnuts as a sales promotional tool.

A tea plantation in Shizuoka proudly displays the certificate that says the tea from the plantation contains 175 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium, as the proof of safety.

Why safe? Because it is below the provisional "safety" limit set by the national government, of course. The tea plantation says their tea is also exported.

From the website of Ohkuraen tea plantation, which declares "Our green tea is SAFE!":


(H/T William Milberry)

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"I Knew That" Was the Reaction From a Yokohama City Assemblyman to Strontium Discovery in Yokohama

Concerned residents of Yokohama City tweeted their City Assemblymen about the discovery of radioactive strontium in Yokohama, the news broken by independent journalist Yasumi Iwakami. (Read my posts here and here for more.)

One assemblyman, Yutaro Yokoyama, gave an interesting answer to the strontium question. He said on his tweets:

(1st tweet)

『9月初旬から事実として扱っています。私たちの会派にとってSrは過去の事です。9/13常任委員会でも私自身が触れています。Srは水溶性が高いという特性がありますので。但し、降り注いだのか、ボランティア等（人・車）が媒体になったのかは不明。』

I knew that [discovery of radioactive strontium in Yokohama] since early September. For our political faction, strontium is a thing of the past. I myself touched on the [subject, I hope, not strontium] on the standing committee on September 13, as strontium is highly water-soluble. However, it's not known whether it fell from the sky or was carried by a volunteer (in person or by car).

(2nd)

『放射性物質、、福島に行けばどこでも手にいる物です。人為的に持ち込む事も可能です。人為的に持ち込まれたとしたら、市会議員はそれを追及する事は仕事ではないと思っていますので、私はしません。』

Radioactive materials can be easily obtained anywhere in Fukushima. It is possible to carry them by artificial means [as opposed to naturally falling from the sky, I guess]. If radioactive strontium came by artificial means, I don't think it is a job of a City Assemblyman to pursue how it got here, so I won't.

He is insinuating that water-soluble radioactive strontium was carried intentionally by a volunteer or by a car driven by a volunteer and released on top of an apartment building, as any radioactive material is readily available anywhere in Fukushima Prefecture. And it's none of his business as a City Assemblyman to figure out how it got there.

Best of luck, citizens of Yokohama.

In the meantime, one major MSM newspaper carried the story, and more to follow I hear.

Here's from Asahi Shinbun (3:32AM JST 10/12/2011):

横浜市港北区のマンション屋上の堆積（たいせき）物から、１９５ベクレル（１キロあたり）のストロンチウムを、民間の分析機関が検出した。東京電力福島第一原発事故で放出されたとみられ、結果の報告を受けた横浜市は、再検査を始めた。

195 becquerels/kg of radioactive strontium has been detected from the sediment on the rooftop of an apartment building in Kohoku-ku in Yokohama City. A private laboratory did the testing. It is considered to have been released from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant after the accident. On receiving the result, Yokohama City has doing its own testing.

　検出されたのはストロンチウム９０（半減期約３０年）。文部科学省の調査では福島県内や宮城県南部など福島第一原発から１００キロ圏内で検出されているが、約２５０キロ離れた横浜市内では初めて。

It was strontium-90 (half life of about 30 years) that was detected. The nuclide has been detected within 100 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuke Plant in Fukushima Prefecture and the southern Miyagi Prefecture according to the survey by the Ministry of Education and Science. However, this is the first detection in Yokohama City, about 250 kilometers from the plant.

　場所は築７年の５階建てマンション屋上。７月、溝にたまった堆積物を住民が採取し、横浜市鶴見区の分析機関「同位体研究所」で測定した。放射性物質が蓄積しやすい条件とみられるため単純に比較できないが、４～５月に福島市内の土壌から検出された７７ベクレルと比べても高い値だ。

Strontium-90 was detected on the rooftop of a 5-story apartment building which was built 7 years ago. A resident of the apartment building took the sediment in the drain and had it tested at Isotope Research Institute in Tsurumi-ku in Yokohama City. The result may not be easily comparable to the results in Fukushima, as radioactive materials may be concentrated in locations like this one. Nonetheless, it is higher than 77 becquerels/kg of radioactive strontium detected in Fukushima City in April and May.

　同じ堆積物からは６万３４３４ベクレル（１キロあたり）のセシウムも検出。私有地であることを理由に公表していないが、市衛生研究所でのセシウムの再検査でも、同じ堆積物から１０万５６００ベクレルが検出された。

From the same sediment, 63,434 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium has been detected. The city hasn't publicly released the data as the building is a private property, but when the city did its own testing of the same sediment at Yokohama City Institute of Health, 105,600 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected.

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Germany's ZDF's Latest on Fukushima: Interviews with Workers at Fukushima I Nuke Plant

German TV ZDF's "Frontal 21" features Japan's nuclear disaster on a regular basis, and here's the latest from October 4, 2011. The reporters interviewed Fukushima plant workers, whose remarks coincide with what the Fuku-1 Livecam finger-pointing worker has said - that they are kept ignorant of the radiation danger.

They also interviewed Dr. Eisuke Matsui of Gifu Environmental Medicine Research Institute, who talked about potential damage from radiation on the workers at the plant.

They also went to the TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo to ask about the unfair contract that the workers receive (if at all) for their work at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. A junior manager (if that) met them, only to tell them it was none of the TEPCO's problem. It's subcontractors' problem, of course.

The program concludes with these words:

Workers, who for a pittance do the dangerous dirty work at the atomic ruins,
An employer who steals away from his responsibility,
Doctors who recommend smiling as protection against radiation damage.

Contempt for human beings, in Japanese.

That doctor is of course Dr. Shunichi "Damashita" (I tricked you) Yamashita.

Translation of the Frontal 21 segment into English was done by Viola, who also regularly posts comments on this blog. Thank you. Her Youtube channel has many Fukushima-related videos in English and German.

(If you do not see the subtitle, click on the "cc" button.)

In case you missed it, France 24 also had an excellent report on Fukushima workers, which I posted here.

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How to Enjoy Radioactive Autumn in Japan in Kindergartens and Elementary Schools

In Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, they all do these fun-filled activities to enjoy and celebrate autumn, just like they did last year and year before, radioactive fallout or not. A minor nuclear accident must not disturb the preset schedule, ever.

At this point, though an increasing number of parents are simply horrified, the majority are quite happily following whatever the school teachers say and accuse the concerned parents as "monster parent" (a Japlish word that they use in katakana) - a troublemaker. The majority are more worried about their children's prospect of getting into prestigious schools.

1. Radioactive school lunch with tastes of autumn, including chestnuts and mushrooms.

The most hilarious and sad is the school nutritionist in Koto-ku, Tokyo where the high radiation spots have been detected which were likely the result of radioactive fallout from the garbage incineration plant.

According to the blog "Protect children in Koto-ku" (link is in Japanese), a grocer that supplies school lunch food items came to Edagawa Elementary School with the test result of the chestnut that the grocer wanted to sell to school. The test result was: 44 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium detected.

And from the "togetter" collection of related tweets on the subject:

Apparently the grocer brought with him the printout of the test result as an "advertisement", of how "safe" his chestnuts were. Looking at the result, the school nutritionist was relieved that it was such a low number and therefore it was safe. So the school bought the radioactive chestnuts from the grocer and served them in lunch to feed 700 children.

They knew the chestnuts were radioactive, and they served them anyway. The producer, the wholesaler, the retail grocer, and the school all seemed to think that anything below the provisional safety limit was literally, genuinely safe. The school nutritionist was a recent college grad with no influence over lunch decision.

The chestnuts were grown and harvested in Ibaraki Prefecture, just south of Fukushima.

As to mushrooms which tend to concentrate radioactive materials very effectively, many schools are having some sort of "mushroom festival" lunch - using multiple varieties in a spaghetti sauce for example.

2. Radioactive school cleanup

This still goes to the now-infamous Yokohama City. Schools are still having the students do the autumn cleanup of dead leaves and branches in the school yards and rooftops. In Naka-ku, the air radiation on the school rooftop was 0.56 microsievert/hour, but the city official who came to measure left without doing anything, because it was 0.03 microsievert less than the level where the city would have to take some action (0.59 microsievert/hour).

(There are a whole lot more stories like this at the message board of Yokohama Assemblyman Ota, here.)

3. Collecting radioactive leaves and acorns dropped in the leaves

This is very, very popular among kindergartens and nursery schools in Kanto. Children like small stuff like acorns buried in the colorful, fallen leaves. The teachers let small children have fun collecting the leaves and acorns, with bare hands, no masks. One mother was horrified when her kid came back with an extra bag of acorn that the teacher gave him as souvenir. She said she tried her best to smile, and would throw away the bag when the boy was not watching.

Collecting dead leaves for composting in the school yards is also quite popular. One kindergarten in Kashiwa City was asking parents to bring dead leaves to the kindergarten so that the kindergarten could start a new pile of leaf compost in the school yard.

4. Visiting the high radiation spots in Chiba and dig up sweet potatoes

That's another popular activity. Chiba is famous for sweet potatoes in Kanto. Kindergartners and school children from Tokyo and Chiba go there to harvest sweet potatoes, collect fallen leaves to build a fire and bake the potatoes in the fire. In spring, they most likely did the planting of rice on bare feet in the radioactive rice paddies. In autumn, they get to dig the radioactive soil to get sweet potatoes.

In one kindergarten in Kashiwa City (hot spot), they make children dig sweet potatos with bare hands this year, because many children lost the digging tools that the kindergarten gave them last year. So this year after nuclear fallout, the teachers force the kindergartners to use their own tiny hands. No gloves allowed.

5. Radioactive "undokai" (school athletic meet)

Small children and pupils get to run and play in the dirt school yard for the autumnal athletic meet. Many will get to do certain activities like gymnastics on bare feet (the teachers won't allow them to wear shoes). A parent who begged his daughter's school to at least hose down the dust was totally ignored.

It is as if they were intent on killing their young. It is as if the current radiation level was not high enough to cause immediate damage so they wanted to hasten the onset of the damage by piling radiation upon radiation on the young, at every occasion.

So, if you escape Kanto, you don't need to worry anymore? Yes you do. A resigned mother who fled Yokohama with her children to Okinawa tweets that they use cabbages grown and harvested in Gunma Prefecture in school lunch. People living in Kansai report that the local supermarkets are full of vegetables and fruits from Kanto and Tohoku, a phenomenon that they do not recall ever happening in their area.

Soon, radioactive debris will follow, thanks to the tireless campaign by the Ministry of the Environment which is set to grow so fat (in terms of budget appropriation for the Ministry) from the "decontamination" bubble it is creating.

Some of my twitter followers in Japan are jokingly asking if there's any country that would accept Japanese people as "radiation refugee". To me, they should qualify as "political refugee" because if they stay in Japan, their lives are threatened daily by their own government.

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Update on Strontium-90 in Yokohama City

Additional information to what I posted on Sunday, as information is very slowly filtering through to the Internet.

195 becquerels/kg of strontium-90 was detected from the sludge on top of the apartment building in Kohoku-ku, Yokohama City, where the very high level of radioactive cesium was also detected back in mid August, though the news did not break until mid September. (See my post here.)

So in the same sludge sample, there were:

• Cesium-134: 29,775 becquerels/kg

• Cesium-137: 33,659 becquerels/kg

• Strontium-90: 195 becquerels/kg

Yokohama City is supposedly conducting its own testing of the different sample from the same rooftop using the same laboratory, and the result may be announced this week.

The ratio of strontium-90 to cesium-137 in the soil samples within 80-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant varies widely from less than 0.1% to over 8% - in other words, as the Ministry of Education and Science said in its report on strontium and plutonium, there is no telling if strontium is there if there is cesium.

There is an unconfirmed piece of information on a blog by a Yokohama citizen that the city knew about radioactive strontium in the sludge as early as mid September and dismissed it because the city's radiation advisor said it was impossible to find radioactive strontium of Fukushima origin in Yokohama.

The reality seems more like this, though: Since strontium was not supposed to fly far from Fukushima, so the city bureaucrats didn't know what to do or how to respond. (from communication with the person who ordered the testing)

Yasumi Iwakami, independent journalist who broke the news yesterday, asked the Minister of Education and Science in the press conference on October 11 (in Japan) and asked about strontium in Yokohama. The minister said "Thank you for your information. We may do the testing in wider area if necessary." Other people who was watching the press conference live in USTREAM said the Minister answered "There is no report to me yet."

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Hydrogen-Filled Pipe: TEPCO Cut the Pipe, TIG Welded

and everything is dandy now. The whole work took about 5.5 hours on October 9, according to Yomiuri. No information of the radiation exposure for the workers who had to work in the high-radiation Reactor 1 building.

TEPCO, which has caused the worst nuclear disaster in the world since Chernobyl (if not ever), is not at all interested in finding out WHY hydrogen gas was in the pipe.

The information that it was TIG welding came from the independent journalist Ryuichi Kino, who attends almost all TEPCO press conferences.

From TEPCO's handouts for the press on October 10:

(Pipe cutting operation)

(After the pipe was cut: the bottom part was welded shut, but I see duct tape on the top part...)

Good weld, I think. But my understanding is that TIG welding takes more time than other types of welding. I wonder what the radiation exposure for the welder was. I hope he was paid extremely well.

This bottom part of the pipe connects to the Suppression Chamber. The top part is where TEPCO will attach the "gas management" system.

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(UPDATED) Strontium-90 Discovered in Yokohama City, 245 km from Fukushima I Nuke Plant

Details in the mail magazine by the independent journalist Yasumi Iwakami (paid subscription). I'm asking if I could translate and post it here.

The number is 195 becquerels/kg, more than 150 times more than the background (1.2 becquerels/kg).

This is probably the lower of the two samples; the other sample is currently being analyzed.

As far as the Ministry of Education is concerned, the southern most detection of strontium-90 was in Shirakawa City, 79 kilometers from the plant. The Ministry doesn't have a plan to test for strontium or plutonium outside the 80 kilometer radius.

On September 30, a government radiation expert appeared on NHK News to tell the viewers that strontium had not flown to the Tokyo Metropolitan area, and the only radionuclides people had to worry about were cesium-134 and cesium-137. In the video clip, the expert looks nervous, so does the male NHK announcer trying to wrap up his remarks.

September 30 was the day when the Ministry of Education and Science released the map of plutonium and strontium in the 80-kilometer radius from the plant. It was also the day when the Japanese government abolished the "evacuation-ready zone" in the area between 20 and 30 kilometers from the plant.

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Free Trip to Japan for the Lucky 10,000 Foreigners Next Year

The Japan Tourism Agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is competing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in giving away free trips to Japan to foreigners in the hope of "favorable" coverage on the Internet social media.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (10/10/2011):

観光庁は、東日本大震災後に激減している外国人観光客の回復を狙い、２０１２年度に全世界から、旅費無料で１万人の一般観光客を日本に招待する方針を固めた。

The Japan Tourism Agency has decided to invite 10,000 tourists from all over the world in the fiscal 2012, free of charge. The purpose is to help increase the number of visitors from abroad which has plummeted after the March 11 disaster.

募集は主にインターネットを通じて行い、応募者の旅行計画などが審査に合格すれば、日本への往復航空券を提供する。

The Agency will invite foreigners to apply via the Internet. If the application and travel plan is accepted by the Agency, the applicant will be given a free round-trip ticket to Japan.

　こうして来日する旅行者には、日本滞在中にインターネットで世界へ情報発信してもらう方針だ。日本国内の滞在が安全・安心であることを口コミで世界的に広げる効果を見込んでいる。旅行者にはこのほか、震災後の日本旅行についてアンケート調査をしたり、新たな日本旅行のモデルとなるような旅行プランを提案してもらったりする。事業費として、観光庁は１２年度予算の概算要求に１１億円を盛り込んだ。

The Agency plans to have these tourists broadcast information to the world during their stay in Japan via the Internet. The Agency is hoping the message of how safe it is to stay in Japan will spread to the world by word of mouth. The tourists will be asked to participate in the opinion survey on traveling in Japan after the March 11 disaster and to submit travel plans that can be used as a new model for travel in Japan. For the project, the Japan Tourism Agency is asking 1.1 billion yen (US$14.3 million) in the budget proposal for the fiscal 2012.

The fiscal 2012 year will start on April 1, 2012 in Japan.

So my readers outside Japan, watch out for the formal announcement on the Agency's website, which should come before that date: http://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/en/index.html

I don't know if the Agency (or for that matter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) has the "Plan B" - what if these foreigners do not tweet favorable impression? (Confiscating their return tickets, maybe, or send them off to "volunteer" somewhere north of Tokyo. Just kidding.)

The Agency's catchphrase is "Japan. Endless Discovery."

No kidding.

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#Radiation in Japan: US State Dept Does Say Risk is Higher Within 80-km Radius

When Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment and Minister in charge of Fukushima nuke accident, said "It's a great endorsement by the United States government on the Japanese government effort in winding down the accident", he was talking about the supposed decision by the US government to "shrink" the area for the US citizens in Japan to avoid from the 80-kilometer radius from the stricken plant to the 20-kilometer radius.

Here's what Yomiuri Shinbun quoted Hosono on October 8 as:

細野原発相は８日午前、米政府が東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故に伴う米国人向けの避難勧告の範囲縮小を発表したことについて、「米国とは（避難区域についての）考え方のすりあわせを長い間かけてやってきた。我々の取り組みが国際社会の理解を得られたという象徴的な出来事で、歓迎したい」と述べた。

Hosono, Minister in charge of the nuclear accident, commented in the morning on October 8 on the US government announcement to shrink the area that the US government recommends for the US citizens in Japan to avoid. "We have been discussing with the US government for a very long time to come to a consensus on the evacuation area. This decision by the US government is a symbolic event that we welcome. It shows the international communities consider our effort in a positive light".

(Effort? What effort? Oh that one about spreading the radioactive debris all over Japan?)

And the US government decision as reported (10/8/2011) by the same newspaper which grew to one of the largest newspapers in Japan under the leadership of a known CIA agent and Japan's first Director General of the Science and Technology Agency (Matsutaro Shoriki):

米国務省は７日の渡航情報で、福島第一原発の半径５０マイル（約８０キロ）としていた米国人向けの避難勧告の範囲を半径２０キロに縮小すると発表した。

The US State Department announced on its October 7 Travel Alert that it will shrink the area for evacuation recommendation for the US citizens from the 80-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant to 20-kilometer radius.

　この範囲外でも、日本政府が定めた「計画的避難区域」や「特定避難勧奨地点」は避けるよう求めているほか、妊婦や子供、高齢者は３０キロ圏内に居住しないよう呼びかけている。

Outside the 20-kilometer radius, the State Department asks the US citizens to avoid the "planned evacuation zone" [between 20 and 30-kilometer radius] and "specific spots recommended for evacuation" [outside 30-kilometer radius in Fukushima]. It also advises that pregnant women, children, and the elderly should avoid residing within 30 km of the plant.

　米政府は放射性物質の放出が止まらない事態を想定し、３月１６日に８０キロの避難範囲を設定した。原子炉の状態が落ち着いてきたことを受けた今回の緩和により、日本政府が設定した半径２０キロの「警戒区域」と足並みがそろった。

The US government set the evacuation recommendation zone of 80-kilometer radius from the plant on March 16, assuming that the emission of radioactive materials would continue. As the situation of the reactors at Fukushima I Nuke Plant has stabilized, this loosening of the evacuation recommendation [by the US government] is in line with the Japanese government's 20-kilometer radius "no entry zone".

Isn't it interesting that the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan invited Dr. Wade Allison right before this announcement to assure the US businesses in Japan that there's nothing to worry about the radiation contamination in Japan, by suggesting 1.2 sievert/year exposure is still totally safe.

In line with the Japanese government, that's for sure.

But what did the State Department actually say? It said more than the select reporting by the Japanese MSM, which is the part about shrinking the original 80-kilometer radius evacuation recommendation. Here's from the actual State Department "Travel Alert" on October 7, 2011:

Other Areas Within 80km of Fukushima Daiichi Plant

TEMPORARY VISITORS: Government of Japan data measurements show varying levels of radiation in land areas outside of the area described above, but within 80 kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. The U.S. government believes the health and safety risks to temporary visitors to these areas are low and exposure does not pose significant risks to U.S. citizens making visits of less than one year. We recommend U.S. citizens contemplating travel to these areas consult with Japanese authorities regarding local conditions at the proposed destination.

LONG-TERM RESIDENTS: The risks may be higher for U.S. citizens who reside for more than one year within 80 kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that U.S. citizens who choose to reside for more than one year within 80 kilometers of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant consult with local authorities to receive current guidance on expected levels of radiation and recommendations for reducing exposure to radiation. In addition, pregnant women, children, and the elderly should avoid residing within 30 km of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.

So, the US government is saying that living within the 80-kilometer radius for more than one year may increase the risks, and should the US citizens choose to do so at their own risk they should get the information about radiation from local authorities. (Good luck with the last one.)

The Japanese government is entertaining the IAEA Decontamination Mission right now within that 80-kilometer radius. It will be also inviting 10,000 foreigners to Japan, free of charge, so that they spread the word via the Internet that "Japan is safe". I'm not sure if this is different from the previously announced project of inviting the social media writers with big followers to the disaster-affected area, but judging by the number of foreigners it intends to invite, it is a separate project.

(OK, it is a separate project. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will invite social media writers, and the Japan Tourism Agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will invite 10,000 foreign tourists. Total 2.6 billion yen giveaway, courtesy of the Japanese taxpayers.)

A full-on "safety" campaign is on in Japan right now, using various media outlets (more later). The details of the US State Department's announcement are just that, details. Who cares about the details?

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France 24 Program on Fukushima Workers

It's a program from July 10, 2011 on France 24 International News in English. Unlike NHK documentaries or Germany's ZDF programs, France 24 managed to get the workers talk in front of the camera without hiding their faces and having their voices changed to avoid identification.

It is a well-made program.

One worker in late 50s says he is working at Fukushima I Nuke Plant because that's the job he was able to find. He says he has so much debt, and he is there to earn as much as he can for his family.

A local hotel owner says people praise the workers as heroes in the beginning but there are many different situations, as he shows the reporter one of the rooms that workers stay.

The anchor asked the reporter why these workers agreed to talk with him on camera, when the contact with the media was strictly prohibited by TEPCO. The reporter answered that the workers simply wanted to tell their story.

Towards the end, the reporter says Japan is now the 4th from the bottom in terms of equality (in pay, employment) among OECD countries. Japan's equality was based on full employment, and when that went (mostly thanks to former Prime Minister Koizumi) the famed equality went out the door also. Who could have known...

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Putting the Roof on Reactor 1 Building

The cover-up, literally, will be complete shortly.

From TEPCO's "Photos for the Press" page, taken on October 8. The stairs that climb up to the top of the turbine building (with blue stripe) says "Safety First".

From a different angle, from the reactor building side looking toward the ocean. You wouldn't know that there is a wreck of a reactor inside.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant Reactor 1 Hydrogen Gas Conundrum

So TEPCO tried to expel hydrogen gas inside the pipe that leads to the Containment Vessel of Reactor 1 yesterday. But the word is that the work is stopped, because the hydrogen gas in the pipe, which initially had dropped to 0.1% concentration with nitrogen gas injection, went back up again after 2 hours, indicating continuous supply from somewhere (like the CV, maybe).

As the pipe is originally for the water spray system not for hydrogen gas or any type of gas, the hydrogen gas seems to permeate, even if the valves are closed off.

Ooops.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (10/8/2011):

東京電力は８日、福島第一原子力発電所１号機の格納容器につながる配管から高濃度の水素を抜く作業を行ったが、濃度が目標の「１％未満」まで下がらなかったと発表した。

TEPCO announced on October 8 that the concentration of the hydrogen gas in the pipe that leads to the Containment Vessel of Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant didn't go down to the intended level of "less than 1%".

　配管内に窒素を入れて水素を押し出す作業の結果、約６３％だった配管内の水素濃度は０・１％以下に下がった。しかし、１～２時間後に最高３・９％まで再上昇した。水素が依然、配管内に残っているとみられ、東電は９日も同様の作業を行うとしている。

Injection of nitrogen gas in the pipe to expel hydrogen gas lowered the concentration of hydrogen gas in the pipe from 63% to less than 0.1%. However, it wet back up to 3.9% in 1 to 2 hours. Hydrogen gas is considered to still remain in the pipe. TEPCO said it will do the nitrogen injection again on October 9.

　この配管には、格納容器内のガスに含まれる放射性物質をフィルターで除去する「ガス管理システム」を新設する予定。水素濃度が高いと、設置作業中に爆発する恐れがある。

The company plans to install the "gas management system" that will filter the radioactive materials in the gas inside the Containment Vessel. If the concentration of hydrogen gas is high, it may explode during the installation of the system.

Independent journalist Ryuichi Kino tweeted yesterday that TEPCO either doesn't know (or is not telling) the hydrogen gas concentration, if any, inside the Containment Vessel. The company remain curiously incurious.

The Fuku-1 worker tweeted that he suspects hydrogen gas may be coming from the "torus" (= suppression chamber). He says, as does Kino, that the valves for a water system would not stop hydrogen gas even if they are closed.

TEPCO will repeat the same procedure on October 9, hoping to lower the concentration below 1% so that the pipe can be cut safely to install the gas filtering system. And if hydrogen gas keeps coming through the pipe? TEPCO apparently don't care to know.

To recap, their optimistic diagram of the attempt:

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The Economist: Oxford Professor Says OK to Raise Annual Dose Limit by 1000 Times for the Japanese, But the Reporter Reluctant to Inhale

the air in Iitate-mura, 45 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The Economist article mentions Oxford Professor Emeritus Wade Allison in passing toward the end, and that is more interesting than the article itself, which is nonetheless copied below. (Scroll down to Professor Allison's thinking presented below the article.)

The Economist's article on October 8, 2011 titled "Hot spots and blind spots":

CREST the hill into the village of Iitate, and the reading on a radiation dosimeter surges eightfold—even with the car windows shut. “Don’t worry, I’ve been coming here for months and I’m still alive,” chuckles Chohei Sato, chief of the village council, as he rolls down the window and inhales cheerfully. He pulls off the road, gets out of the car and buries the dosimeter in the grass. The reading doubles again.

Iitate is located 45km (28 miles) from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant hit by a tsunami on March 11th this year. In the mountains above the town, the forests are turning the colour of autumn. But their beauty is deceptive. Every time a gust of wind blows, Mr Sato says it shakes invisible particles of radioactive caesium off the trees and showers them over the village. Radiation levels in the hills are so high that villagers dare not go near them. Mr Sato cannot bury his father’s bones, which he keeps in an urn in his abandoned farmhouse, because of the dangers of going up the hill to the graveyard.

Iitate had the misfortune to be caught by a wind that carried radioactive particles (including plutonium) much farther than anybody initially expected after the nuclear disaster. Almost all the 6,000 residents have been evacuated, albeit belatedly, because it took the government months to decide that some villages outside a 30km radius of the plant warranted special attention. Now it offers an extreme example of how difficult it will be to recover from the disaster.

That is mainly because of the enormous spread of radiation. Recently the government said it needed to clear about 2,419 square kilometres of contaminated soil—an area larger than greater Tokyo—that received an annual radiation dose of at least five millisieverts, or over 0.5 microsieverts an hour. That covered an area far beyond the official 30km restriction zone (see map). Besides pressure- hosing urban areas, this would involve removing about 5cm of topsoil from local farms as well as all the dead leaves in caesium-laden forests.

However, Iitate’s experience suggests the government may be underestimating the task. Villagers have removed 5cm of topsoil from one patch of land, but because radioactive particles continue to blow from the surrounding trees, the level of radiation remains high—about one microsievert an hour—even if lower than in nearby areas. Without cutting down the forests, Mr Sato reckons there will be a permanent risk of contamination. So far, nobody has any idea where any contaminated soil will be dumped.

The second problem is children’s health. On September 30th the government lifted an evacuation advisory warning to communities within a 20-30km radius of the plant. The aim was partly to show that the authorities were steadily bringing the crippled reactors under control.

But these areas are still riddled with radiation hot spots, including schools and public parks, which will need to be cleaned before public confidence is restored. Parents say they are particularly concerned about bringing their children back because the health effects of radiation on the young are so unclear. What is more, caesium particles tend to lurk in the grass, which means radiation is more of a risk at toddler height than for adults. In Iitate, Mihori Takahashi, a mother of two, “believes only half of what the doctors say” and says she never wants to bring her children back. That, in itself, may be a curse. “The revival of this town depends on the children returning,” says Mr Sato.

And even if people return, Mr Sato worries how they will make a living. These are farming villages, but it will take years to remove the stigma attached to food grown in Fukushima, he reckons. He is furious with Tokyo Electric Power, operator of the plant, for failing to acknowledge the long-term impacts of the disaster. He says it is a way of scrimping on compensation payouts.

One way to help overcome these problems would be to persuade people to accept relaxed safety standards. A government panel is due to propose lifting the advisory dose limit above one millisievert per year. This week in Tokyo, Wade Allison, a physics professor at Oxford University, argued that Japan’s dose limit could safely be raised to 100 millisieverts, based on current health statistics. Outside Mr Sato’s house, however, a reading of the equivalent of 150 millisieverts a year left your correspondent strangely reluctant to inhale.

Dr. Wade Allison is professor emeritus of physics (particle physics) at Oxford University. The event that the Economist's reporter refers to in the article must be the talk given at American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) on October 3, where the professor, along with another researcher, presented the strong case that the radiation exposure below 100 millisieverts per year was not a problem, if one only gets rid of the unreasonable fear of radiation. He also says the current food regulation, evacuation regulation are "unreasonable" and should be relaxed significantly.

Here's the screen capture of a page from his presentation slides he used in the ACCJ talk:

He criticizes the ICRP recommendation for radiation dose, and suggests we ditch the ICRP's "As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA)" and adopt "As High As Relatively Safe (AHARS)".

And what is his AHARS level recommendation? His recommendation seems to be based on the therapeutic, targeted doses used in cancer treatment. Here's his slide page 17:

• 100 mSv max single dose

• 100 mSv max in any month

• 5000 mSv max lifelong

100 millisieverts max in any month makes the annual limit of 1,200 millisieverts, or 1.2 sievert. Professor Allison must think that level is an emergency level, as he puts the lifelong max at 5 sieverts.

There you go, Japanese government. Just wholeheartedly embrace the professor's recommendation, and you don't need to do a thing. No decon, no health monitor, no compensation to pay. Even in Okuma-machi and Futaba-machi in Fukushima right outside the plant, everyone can live happily at least for 5 to 10 years at least till they exceed 5 sieverts max for the lifetime. Fuku-I plant workers can continue to work at the plant much, much longer. No one has reached 1.2 sievert yet.

(Why did the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan invite Professor Allison? What was the purpose? Does anyone know?)

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Reactor 1 Aerial Video

This may be your last chance to see Reactor 1 from the top, before TEPCO manages to cover the whole reactor building up.

The video was taken on October 3 when TEPCO did the dust sampling of the air above Reactor 1, and released on October 8. You can download the video for yourself at TEPCO's "Photos for Press" page, or view it here:

This diagram from TEPCO shows the camera angle in relation to the reactor, spent fuel pool, and drier separator pit:

Watching the video, I don't quite understand how TEPCO or the government can claim they watered the Spent Fuel Pool. How? Do you see the pool?

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Tokyo Metropolitan Government Measures Soil Contamination in Shinjuku

And it is higher, much higher than the Ministry of Education's aerial survey indicates.

First, to recap, according to the just released Ministry of Education's aerial survey of radioactive cesium deposition in Tokyo, most of Tokyo has less than 10,000 becquerels/square meter of radioactive cesium, with the exception of the western-most Okutama and the eastern special wards ("ku") bordering Chiba Prefecture to the east.

Now, it turns out that the Tokyo Metropolitan government, who is not so eager to measure anything radioactive since March 11, was doing its annual survey of soil contamination in Shinjuku and quietly released the data on September 20.

The soil sample was taken at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health in Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, as it has always been done. (That's where the official air radiation level is monitored every day for Tokyo.)

For the last 5 years, radioactive iodine and cesium-134 were not detected, and cesium-137 was 2 to 3 becquerels per kilogram.

Now, this year, the numbers for the soil from the surface to 5 centimeters deep were:

• Iodine-131: ND
  

• Cesium-134: 360 becquerels/kg

• Cesium-137: 430 becquerels/kg

• Total cesium: 790 becquerels/kg

To convert from "per kilogram" to "per square meter", Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission uses the factor of 65. The total cesium per square meter in Shinjuku therefore is: 51,350 becquerels per square meter.

Even if you just take cesium-137 (for comparison purpose), 430 becquerels/kg translates to 27,950 becquerels/square meter.

The Tokyo Metropolitan government also found cesium-134 and cesium-137 in the soil between 5 and 15 centimeters deep. For the past 5 years, iodine-131 and cesium-134 were ND, and cesium-137 was 2 to 3 becquerels/kg.

But this year:

• Cesium-134: 4.2 becquerels/kg

• Cesium-137: 7.1 becquerels/kg

• Total cesium: 11.3 becquerels/kg
  

However, true to form, the Tokyo Metropolitan government says it is in agreement with the Ministry of Education's survey of air radiation level. The government says the air radiation at the sample location is not that high (0.07 microgray/hr) therefore no decontamination of a wide area will be necessary. (Mr. Governor, we are talking about soil deposition here, not the air radiation level.)

The air radiation the Institute measures at 18 meters off the ground was 0.0563 microgray/hr that day, according to the announcement. The Tokyo Metropolitan government uses microgray as equivalent to microsievert.

It goes to show that the aerial survey with 300 to 600 meter radius and averaging out the numbers doesn't locate high radiation hot spots in the cities like Tokyo or Yokohama. Or anywhere else for that matter. And this Shinjuku location is not considered to be particularly hot.

Here's the screen capture of the Tokyo Metropolitan government announcement, with highlight:

(H/T savechild.net for the info and the screen capture)

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Has Started to Expel Hydrogen Gas from the Pipe Leading to Reactor 1 CV

Remember that pipe filled with 63% hydrogen gas (the rest was nitrogen gas, according to TEPCO) that leads to the Containment Vessel of Reactor 1?

TEPCO is removing the gas from the pipe right now. They started at about 2 hours ago (12 noon on October 8, 2011 Japan Standard Time), according to NHK News Japanese (12:57PM JST 10/8/2011):

東京電力福島第一原子力発電所１号機で、格納容器につながる配管に高濃度の水素がたまっている問題で、東京電力は、８日正午すぎから水素を抜き取る作業を始めました。東京電力は、作業は配管に窒素を入れて水素の濃度を下げながら行うため、爆発のおそれはないとしています。

Regarding the hydrogen gas in the pipe that leads to the Containment Vessel of Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, TEPCO started the operation to expel the gas from the pipe at noon on October 8. TEPCO says there is no danger of explosion as the nitrogen gas will be injected in the pipe to lower the concentration of the hydrogen gas.

福島第一原発１号機では、先月下旬格納容器につながる配管に水素がたまっていることが分かり、東京電力が配管の水素濃度を測定したところ、６１％から６３％と全体の３分の２近くを占める高い濃度だったことが分かりました。この配管の中に酸素はないとみられ、今のところ、爆発のおそれはないとしていますが、今後の復旧作業で配管を切断する計画があるため高濃度の水素が外部に放出されると爆発するおそれがあるとして、８日正午すぎ、配管から水素を抜き取る作業を始めました。水素を抜き取る作業は、配管の中に窒素を入れて、水素の濃度を下げるとともに、発火につながる静電気が起こりにくい特殊なホースをつなぎ込んで、建屋の外に放出するということで、爆発するおそれはないとしています。東京電力は、２号機と３号機についても配管などの水素濃度を調べるよう国から指示を受けていて、今後、１号機と同じように調査を行うことにしています。

In late September it was discovered that the hydrogen gas was in the pipe that leads to the Containment Vessel of Reactor 1. When TEPCO measured the concentration of the gas, it was very high between 61 and 63%. It is considered that there is no oxygen in the pipe, and there is no danger of explosion so far, according to TEPCO. The company plans to cut the pipe later, and to eliminate the danger of explosion if the hydrogen gas in the pipe is released it started to expel the gas at noon on October 8. Nitrogen gas will be injected in the pipe to lower the concentration of the hydrogen gas there, and a special hose that suppresses static electricity which could trigger explosion will be attached to expel the gas outside the building. There will be no danger of explosion, TEPCO says. TEPCO has been ordered by the national government to check the concentration of hydrogen gas in the similar pipes in Reactors 2 and 3, which the company has said it will do in the near future.

TEPCO hasn't said anything definite about where this hydrogen gas came from, other than saying it may be the remaining gas from zirconium (in the cladding) and steam reaction when the fuel was melted down. The company doesn't seem eager to find out.

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Nagano Police to Send Juvenile Delinquents to Disaster-Affected Tohoku as "Volunteers"

so that they get to know the meaning of "life", the police says. (At least they are not sending them to Fukushima.)

The police clearly coerced them, but is calling it a "volunteer" job. (How much more Orwellian can it get?)

The police in Nagano Prefecture is sending 7 youths to the disaster-affected (radioactive on top of it) area in Miyagi Prefecture to "volunteer" cleanup jobs as part of their "rehabilitation" program.

From Kyodo News Japanese (10/7/2011):

長野県警は７日、非行歴がある少年らに社会貢献の経験を積んでもらうため、大震災の復興ボランティアとして仙台市に派遣すると発表。全国の警察で初めての試みという。

Nagano Prefectural Police announced on October 7 that it would send boys with juvenile delinquency to Sendai City as volunteers so that they would experience what it would be like to contribute to the society. The Police said the project would be the first of its kind in Japan.

　参加するのは、長野県内の１５～１８歳の少年７人。仙台市のボランティア団体「仙台津波復興支援センター」が受け入れる。１４日に仙台市で被災状況を見学し、１５日は田畑や庭の草刈り、ヘドロの除去作業などを手伝う。警察官６人らも同行。１６日には長野中央署で関係者を集めた報告会を開く。

7 boys in Nagano Prefecture aged between 15 to 18 will participate. A volunteer organization "Sendai Tsunami Recovery Support Center" in Sendai City will accept them. The boys will be taken to Sendai City on October 14 to see the devastation from the tsunami, and on October 15 they will do weeding in the farm fields and backyards and help remove sludge. 6 policemen will accompany the boys. On October 16, they will be back in Nagano Central Police Station to report on the activities.

復興に向けて困難に立ち向かう被災地を訪れることで、少年らに将来を見つめ直してもらおうと計画。県警の呼び掛けに７人が参加を希望。

The plan is to have juvenile delinquents visit the disaster-affected area where people are striving for recovery amid difficulties and give them a chance to reflect on their own future. 7 boys said they would like to participate, after the prefectural police announced the program.

Weeding and removing sludge. I see. The punishment, which is called "volunteer work", is to be exposed to concentrated radiation to compensate for the short stay.

This is an institutionalized abuse of the mionors who are in a vulnerable position, and the Nagano police is proud that it is the first one in the nation to come up with this wonderful "rehabilitation" project.

I'm afraid this is just the beginning. Already, so-called "experts" and "celebrities" that inhabit the MSM in Japan are calling for "citizen volunteer decontamination corps" to be sent to Fukushima's highly contaminated cities.

　

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#Radioactive Mushroom: 1,033 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Dried Shiitake in Shizuoka Prefecture

There's always "the first"..

From Jiji Tsushin (10/7/2011):

静岡県は７日、同県伊豆市内で生産・加工された乾燥シイタケについて販売業者が行った自主検査で、食品衛生法の暫定規制値（１キロ当たり５００ベクレル）を超える１０３３ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出されたと発表した。これを受け県は８日、生産者が保管していた同じ加工品について、放射性物質検査を実施する。

Shizuoka Prefecture announced on October 7 that 1,033 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium exceeding the provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg was found in the dried shiitake mushrooms produced and processed in Izu City in Shizuoka. It was found by a voluntary testing by a retailer. The prefectural government plans to conduct its own testing of the remaining products kept at the producer on October 8.

　県によると、乾燥シイタケは３～４月に伊豆市で収穫され、４月中旬までに同市内で加工された。生産者は県内外５カ所の業者に販売。一部は既に消費されたとみられるが、販売先の業者はいずれも自主的に撤去したという。

According to the prefectural government, the shiitake mushrooms in question were harvested in Izu City in March and April, and processed in the city by the middle of April. The producer sold to 5 retailers in and out of Shizuoka. Some are considered to have been already consumed, but the retailers have voluntarily removed the mushrooms from their stores.

If the mushrooms were harvested in that time period, radioactive cesium must be from the fallout on the surface of the mushrooms. The Ministry of Education is yet to conduct the aerial survey of Shizuoka Prefecture, and the Hayakawa radiation contour map only shows the east side of the Izu Peninsula with some radiation. Izu City is located in the center of the peninsula.

(The map showing the location of Izu City is from this blog. Thank you.)

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