Olympic Bound: Japan’s World Cup Women Fly Economy; Men Relax in Business

I'm aghast. Japan's women's team won the World Cup Soccer in 2011, and all they got for that was a bump up from the economy class to the economy "premium" class, while the men's team was in the business class, on the same plane.

How that for the insult?

And the reason? The Japan Football Association says "Well, it's been always like this..." The country of Japan is a place for routines, no matter what. All through last year, people went through annual routines - children digging up bamboo shoots in the dirt, planted rice seedlings in the mud with bare feet, people having outdoor parties under the cherry blossoms, having school children clean out the swimming pools before the swimming season, on and on. So what the women's soccer team won the World Cup? They've always flown economy, why change now?

From Wall Street Journal (7/19/2012; emphasis is mine):

Sexist Soccer? Japan’s World Cup Women Fly Economy; Men Relax in Business

A whole nation celebrated when the Japanese women’s soccer squad won the World Cup last year. But hopes that the surprise victory would change attitudes toward women playing the beautiful game in Japan appear to have been premature.

World champions they may be, but when it comes to the pecking order against their male counterparts, Japan’s female football players are relegated to backseat status — literally.

The Japanese women, considered strong contenders for Olympic gold in London, had to squeeze into economy seats on a 12-hour flight to Europe this week, while members of the less successful men’s soccer team, enjoyed the plush amenities of business class further up the cabin.

“It should have been the other way around,” team captain Homare Sawa, the belle of Japanese soccer, told reporters after arriving in Paris. “Even just in terms of age, we are senior,” joked FIFA’s women’s soccer player of the year.

The Japan Football Association lies behind the class separation. While the Japan Olympic Committee gives all Olympic-bound athletes economy class tickets, it is up to the respective associations of each sport to upgrade athletes’ seats as necessary, a JOC spokesman said.

Economy seats to Europe cost as much as ¥160,000 a pop, or about $2,000, but that is considerably less than the ¥400,000 or so a business class seat on a Japan Airlines flight from Tokyo to Paris cost as of Thursday.

To be fair, the Japanese women did get a bump of sorts. They were upgraded to economy premium, which offers 20% extra leg room.

The JFA was not immediately available for comment. But the association has previously said the ticket class distinction has been this way for a long time. The men have been flying business since the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, a couple of years after the men’s league went professional, while the women have remained in coach.

...

The president of the JFA said on Wednesday that for him to consider upgrading the women to business class on the return flight, the women would have to win gold. The men, who are not tipped for a medal, will be there regardless.

(Full article at the link)

I wonder how the men's team felt. I hope they were uncomfortable, but "hope" is a dirty word these days.

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Photos and Videos of Workers Removing Two Unused Fuel Assemblies from Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant, 7/18,19/2012

TEPCO released still photographs of the July 18 and 19 operations to remove two new (unused) fuel assemblies from the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool.

The company also released 4 short videos of the July 19 operation. They look like videos taken from someone's mobile phone (i.e. bad). TEPCO had to blur the names on the backs of the workers to hide their identities, making poor-quality videos even worse. From the still photographs, the operations on July 18 and 19 were identical.

In the photographs, you can see that the workers on the platform were from Hitachi. They are seen hosing down and wiping off a tall, black fuel assembly as the assembly is being pulled out by the crane. The assembly looks clean and intact.

From TEPCO's Photos and Videos Library, 7/19/2012, photographs from the 7/19/2012 operation (click to enlarge; there are more photos at the link):

I'll upload the videos later.

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Sweden's Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant Reactor 2 Shut Down 9 Hours After the Restart, Cause Unknown

From Reuters (7/19/2012):

Sweden's Ringhals-2 nuclear reactor fails after restart

OSLO, July 19 | Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:45am EDT

(Reuters) - Sweden's Ringhals-2 nuclear reactor was shut down on Thursday morning, less than nine hours after being restarted, due to a technical glitch, the Nordic power exchange said in a market message.

The 865-megawatt (MW) pressurized water reactor's trip was caused by an elevated high-steam generator level after it was restarted at 1930 GMT on Wednesday, it added.

The reactor was previously shut a month ago due to oil leakage from a transformer, and was expected to be back in full operation after maintenance by Thursday evening.

Ringhals-2 is one of the four reactors at the plant south of Gothenburg, 70 percent owned by Swedish state energy group Vattenfall and 30 percent held by German E.ON .

Nuclear generators supply 40 percent of Sweden's power needs.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Keiron Henderson)

I wonder whose steam generator is used.

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UK's Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station in Automatic Shutdown, Cause Unknown

From UBAlert (7/19/2012):

Sizewell B nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast has had its second automatic shutdown in four months. Owner EDF Energy said electricity production had ceased at 17:11 BST on Wednesday and it was investigating the cause of the stoppage. A spokesman said: "The reactor was safely shut down, with the plant responding as expected and at no time was anyone's safety at risk." The plant had an 11-day automatic stoppage in March. EDF said it was not predicting when the plant would begin generating again. The company said the March shutdown had been the first automatic one in three years and was for an electrical fault in the non-nuclear side of the plant. There was a controlled stoppage in May to fix a lubrication problem. EDF Energy said Sizewell B produced enough electricity for two million homes, or about 3% the UK's electricity needs.

Is this kind of "automatic shutdown" with cause unknown a common event occurring at nuclear power plants all over the world, but people and the media (like Reuters) have started to pay more attention because of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident?

(H/T anon reader)

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"Unusual Event" at Limerick Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania, US, Unit 1 Reactor Manually Scrammed

The Limerick Generating Station is operated by Exelon.

From Excelon's press release on 7/18/2012, announcing that the Unit 1 has been taken offline:

Limerick Operators Take Unit 1 Offline

Operators at Limerick Generating Station took Unit 1 offline this morning following an electrical disturbance on the non-nuclear side of the plant.

POTTSTOWN – Operators at Limerick Generating Station took Unit 1 offline this morning following an electrical disturbance on the non-nuclear side of the plant.

Unit 1 will remain offline until repairs, inspections and testing can be completed. Limerick Unit 2 continues to operate at full power.

As a result of the electrical disturbance, an Unusual Event was declared at 8:39 a.m. and terminated at 9:46 a.m. in keeping with NRC procedures. An Unusual Event is the lowest of four Nuclear Regulatory Commission emergency classifications.

Exelon Generation notified all appropriate federal, state and local government officials of the event. There is no threat to the health and safety of the public associated with this event.

Limerick Generating Station is located approximately 21 miles northwest of Philadelphia. With both units at full power, the site can produce enough carbon-free electricity for 2 million homes

An excellent example of not saying anything like "where exactly" and "what exactly".

According to reports, a transformer blew up in the turbine building. Here's from The Times Herald (7/18/2012):

‘Unusual event’ reported at Limerick power plant

(Updated at 10:55 a.m.) LIMERICK — The Nuclear Regulating Commission said it is closely monitoring events at the Limerick Generating Station after a manual scram around 8:15 a.m. shut down the reactor at the nuclear power plant.

According to NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan, an electrical fault was reported in a transformer in a turbine building that spurred the scram and that the transformer is not a main transformer.

The event was listed as an “unusual event” around 8:39 a.m., the lowest of the event ratings, Sheehan said. No one was injured in the incident and no outside help was requested, Sheehan said.

Sheehan said the transformers have been known to fail from time to time and that the reactor was safely shut down.

Sheehan said there are no complications at the power plant at this time and there is no danger to the public from the incident.

EARLIER VERSION OF THIS STORY

LIMERICK — An “unusual event” was reported Wednesday morning in Unit 1 of the Limerick Nuclear Generating Station.

According to Frank Custer, communications director with Montgomery County, the county received an email from Exelon, parent company of the nuclear power plant, stating that an explosion had occurred causing the “unusual event,” in Unit 1 but the event did not pose any threat to the public.

Custer said the notice reported the “unusual event” had been terminated.
A call placed to the Limerick Generating Station’s media relations spokesperson was not picked up or returned as of 11 a.m. Wednesday.

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Tokyo Shinbun: "Nuclear - Energy for Destroyed Future", Says Futaba-machi Resident After 25 Years

Tokyo Shinbun has an article (7/18/2012) about a 36-year-old man from Futaba-machi, Fukushima who evacuated the town after the nuclear accident and now lives in Aichi Prefecture with his wife and a small son. Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located in Futaba-machi and neighboring Okuma-machi.

When Yuji Onuma was a 6th grader in Futaba-machi in 1987, he came up with the winning slogan selected and proudly displayed at the town's entrance across the road:

"Nuclear - Energy for Bright Future"
原子力　明るい未来の　エネルギー

Onuma and his wife returned home temporarily on July 15. The reporter from Tokyo Shinbun accompanied them. At the sign, Onuma made a correction to the slogan that he created 25 years ago by holding up his handmade sign that says "Destruction" (破滅), hiding the word "Bright" (明るい) and turning the sign into:

"Nuclear - Energy for Destroyed Future"
原子力　破滅未来の　エネルギー

From Tokyo Shinbun (7/18/2012):

「原子力明るい未来のエネルギー」。福島県双葉町の中心街の入り口に掲げられた看板の標語だ。二十五年前、当時小学六年の大沼勇治さん（３６）が町のコンクールに応募し、選ばれた。大沼さんは、一年四カ月の避難生活で「脱原発」を確信した思いを伝えたいと、今月十五日、一時帰宅した際、自ら標語を「訂正」した。

"Nuclear, Energy for Bright Future". It is a slogan displayed on the entrance to the main street in Futaba-machi, Fukushima Prefecture. 25 years ago, Yuji Onuma (age 36) came up with the slogan when he was a 6th grader. It was selected in the town-wide contest. After spending a year and 4 months as an evacuee and having convinced that "going beyond nuclear" is the way to go, he "corrected" his slogan on July 15 when he returned home temporarily.

　大沼さんは東京電力福島第一原発の事故後、身重の妻せりなさん（３７）と地元を離れ、現在は愛知県安城市で避難生活を送る。町が原子力標語を公募したのは一九八七年。原発が町の未来をつくると信じた言葉が入選。第一原発から約四キロの自宅近くに鉄製の看板が電源立地交付金で建てられ、誇らしかった。

After the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, he left town with his pregnant wife Serina (age 37). They now live in Anjo City in Aichi Prefecture. Futaba-machi called for a nuclear slogan in a public contest in 1987. Onuma's slogan expressing belief in the nuclear power plant building the future for the town, won. A sign made of steel was built with the grant money for municipalities with power generation facilities near Onuma's home, which was about 4 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuke Plant. He was proud.

　大学を出て就職などし、二十九歳で帰郷。不動産会社に勤める傍ら、看板の横にある土地にオール電化のアパートを建てて、東電社員にも貸していた。ずっと町の発展が原発とともにある「安全神話」を疑わなかった。

After graduating from college and worked elsewhere, he returned home at the age of 29. While working for a real estate company he built an all-electric apartment near the sign, and rented to TEPCO employees. He never doubted the "safety myth" that the town would prosper with the nuclear power plant.

　しかし事故後、町は警戒区域となり、全町民が避難。「平穏な暮らしが町ごと奪われた現実」にさいなまれ、テレビで標語が紹介されるたびに胸を痛めた。自らを責め悔いる日々から「原発の現実を話す権利はある」と考えた。脱原発を行動で示し、その姿を長男勇誠ちゃん（１つ）に将来伝えたいと思った。

After the accident, the town was designated as no-entry zone, and all residents evacuated. Onuma was tormented by the fact that a normal life was taken away from the town, and was distressed every time the slogan was shown on TV. He blamed himself and regretted. But he thought he had the right to speak about the reality of [having] the nuclear power plant. He wanted to show to his one-year-old son that he was now anti-[or "beyond-"] nuclear.

　夫婦が一時帰宅した今月十五日、記者も同行した。防護服姿の大沼さんはまず、標語にレッドカードを突き付け「退場」と叫んだ。その後、看板の手前で持参した画用紙を高く掲げた。すると、そこに書かれた「破滅」の二文字が「明るい」に重なり新しい標語が読み取れた。「原子力破滅未来のエネルギー」。二十六年目の訂正の瞬間だった。

When he and his wife temporarily returned home on July 15, I accompanied them. Onuma, in the protective clothes, first waved a red card at the slogan, and shouted "Out!". Then, he held aloft a piece of drawing paper that he had brought in front of the sign. On the paper were two characters "破滅" (Destruction), which covered "明るい" (Bright) [on the sign], creating a new slogan: "Nuclear - Energy for Destroyed Future". Correction on the 26th year.

　大沼さんは「原発事故で故郷を奪われることが二度とあってはならない。日本に原発はいらない」と話した。 （野呂法夫、写真も）

Onuma said, "A nuclear plant accident forcing people to leave their hometown, that should never happen again. There is no need for nuclear power plants in Japan." (Report and photograph by Norio Noro)

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Stanford University Researchers: "#Fukushima Radiation May Cause 1,300 Cancer Deaths Around the World"

"The best estimates of cancer cases resulting from the Fukushima disaster is 180, and range from 24 to 2,500", according to the Bloomberg News article below.

(180 cases?)

Further, the article says:

The most likely number of cancer deaths is 130 and estimated to range from 15 to 1,300, the authors said, adding that the ranges reflect uncertainties about emissions and the methods the researchers used to calculate their impact.

(130 deaths?? Worldwide?)

The paper by the Stanford researchers further says 2 to 12 cases of cancer may happen among the plant workers.

From Bloomberg News (7/17/2012; part, emphasis is mine):

Fukushima Radiation May Cause 1,300 Cancer Deaths, Study Finds

By Jason Gale - Jul 17, 2012 3:15 PM PT

Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant may cause as many as 1,300 cancer deaths globally, according to a study that showed fallout from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (9501) crippled reactors may be deadlier than predicted.

The March 2011 nuclear disaster may cause as many as 2,500 cases of cancer, mostly in Japan, Stanford University scientists said. They incorporated emission estimates into 3-D global atmospheric modeling to predict the effects of radiation exposure, which was detected as far away as the U.S. and Europe.

Cancer cases may have been at least 10 times greater if the radiation hadn’t mostly fallen in the sea, said Mark Z. Jacobson, co-author of the first detailed analysis of the event’s global health effects. Identical emissions from a hypothetical accident at California’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant would be 25 percent deadlier because of differing weather patterns, according to the study published yesterday in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

“There was a lot of luck involved,” said Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, in a telephone interview. “The effects vary significantly with the meteorological conditions and the only reason this wasn’t a lot worse was because 81 percent of all the emissions were deposited over the ocean.”

The failure of backup power at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, located 135 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo, caused the worst atomic accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Radiation fallout forced the evacuation of about 160,000 people surrounding the plant. It also left about 132 square kilometers as a no-go zone, some of it uninhabitable for decades. Prolonged exposure to radiation in the air, ground and food can damage DNA, causing leukemia and other cancers.

The best estimates of cancer cases resulting from the Fukushima disaster is 180, and range from 24 to 2,500, yesterday’s study said.

The most likely number of cancer deaths is 130 and estimated to range from 15 to 1,300, the authors said, adding that the ranges reflect uncertainties about emissions and the methods the researchers used to calculate their impact.

“They have demonstrated there are no significant public health effects” from radiation exposure, said Evan Douple, associate chief of research at the Hiroshima Radiation Effects Research Foundation. “Their best estimate of 130 cancer deaths in Japan would be lost in the background wash of the hundreds of thousands of cancer deaths that would be occurring in the million or so people in the population exposed.”

The biggest health effects were psychological, said Douple, whose team is studying the impact from Fukushima. Stress from the earthquake, tsunami and meltdown may cause a range of health effects, including cancer, he said.

(Full article at the link.)

Excellent. Bloomberg even quotes in the last two paragraphs above the researcher at the institution whose antecedent is the infamous Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission.

Only 130 deaths worldwide (though mostly from Japan) from 3 core melts and 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials (iodine equivalent).

The abstract from Energy & Environmental Science also says that radiation exposure to workers at the plant may result in 2 to 12 cases of cancer:

This study quantifies worldwide health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident on 11 March 2011. Effects are quantified with a 3-D global atmospheric model driven by emission estimates and evaluated against daily worldwide Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) measurements and observed deposition rates. Inhalation exposure, ground-level external exposure, and atmospheric external exposure pathways of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-137, and cesium-134 released from Fukushima are accounted for using a linear no-threshold (LNT) model of human exposure. Exposure due to ingestion of contaminated food and water is estimated by extrapolation. We estimate an additional 130 (15–1100) cancer-related mortalities and 180 (24–1800) cancer-related morbidities incorporating uncertainties associated with the exposure–dose and dose–response models used in the study. We also discuss the LNT model's uncertainty at low doses. Sensitivities to emission rates, gas to particulate I-131 partitioning, and the mandatory evacuation radius around the plant are also explored, and may increase upper bound mortalities and morbidities in the ranges above to 1300 and 2500, respectively. Radiation exposure to workers at the plant is projected to result in 2 to 12 morbidities. An additional [similar]600 mortalities have been reported due to non-radiological causes such as mandatory evacuations. Lastly, a hypothetical accident at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California, USA with identical emissions to Fukushima was studied to analyze the influence of location and seasonality on the impact of a nuclear accident. This hypothetical accident may cause [similar]25% more mortalities than Fukushima despite California having one fourth the local population density due to differing meteorological conditions.

*Definition of "morbidity": The rate of incidence of a disease.

One of the researchers, Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson, is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, California. I can see that he may be good at radioactive materials dispersion modeling. But at putting the numbers on cancer cases and deaths?

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Just In: TEPCO Has Removed One Fuel Assembly from Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant

Headline only at Kyodo News (2012/07/18 12:13):

速報:東京電力は、福島第１原発４号機の燃料プールから未使用の燃料集合体１体を試験的に取り出した。

TEPCO removed one unused fuel assembly from the Spent Fuel Pool at Reactor 4 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, as a test.

Aerial photo at NHK, with workers in white suits. It almost looks like a religious ceremony of some sort.

Kyodo (7/18/2012):

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Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan Invites TEPCO's New President Hirose and General Manager Matsumoto for Press Conference on July 19, 1:30PM

I hope there will be a foreign reporter who is also a reader of this blog, and he/she will ask TEPCO's new president why TEPCO is still banning independent journalist Ryuichi Kino from the regular press conferences because he transmitted TEPCO's shareholders meeting via audio using his smartphone on June 27, 2012.

Independent journalists attending TEPCO's regular press conferences have started asking why TEPCO has singled out Kino and banned him from the press conference, while ignoring (or pretending it doesn't know about) major TV stations broadcasting the video taken at the same shareholders' meeting. I have even seen a reporter from a major newspaper asking the question. According to TEPCO, both video and audio recording of their shareholders' meeting is prohibited (by them, not by any law or regulation).

For more about Kino's plight, see my post from July 6, 2012.

From the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan's Event Calendar, a rather dramatic announcement of the event:

P/C Naomi Hirose, President of TEPCO

Event Type :
PAC
Summary :
PRESS CONFERENCE Naomi Hirose, President, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc.(TEPCO) Junichi Matsumoto, General Manager, Nuclear Power and Plant Siting Division (Corporate Communications)
Language :
The speech and Q & A will be in English and Japanese with English interpretation

Description :

PRESS CONFERENCE

Naomi Hirose,

President, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc.(TEPCO)

Juichi Matsumoto, General Manager,

Nuclear Power and Plant Siting Devision (Corporate Communications)

13:30-14:45 Thursday, July 19, 2012

(The speech and Q & A will be in English and Japanese with English interpretation)

Who would want Naomi Hirose’s job? The newly elected president of battered utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. takes over a company that is technically bankrupt, disgraced and despised by many people around the world. Recovering from the Fukushima nuclear disaster will consume the company for years to come as it struggles with the enormously complicated task of decommissioning the stricken Daiichi plant, pay out billions in compensation and somehow rehabilitate its tattered reputation.

True to form for a company that has often seemed Teflon-coated with its own brand of confidence, Tepco has come out fighting. Hirose has announced that his top mission is restarting the Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world's largest nuclear power complex. The Niigata plant has already been rocked by a serious accident. Five years ago an earthquake struck almost underneath the seven-reactor, 8200-megawatt behemoth. Many would like it to stay permanently offline along with Japan's other mothballed reactors. However Hirose believes the restart is vital to the revival of his company, and Japan.

That only scratches the surface of Tepco's battles. The company has received a reported 1 trillion yen in bailout money from the state, effectively nationalizing it. Will that money ever be paid back, and can Tepco decouple itself from state control? Can it deal with the bitter criticism of its compensation process and end the suffering of the estimated 200,000+ people forced to evacuate from Fukushima? And amidst all that, how will it sell a 10-percent rate hike to the Japanese public?

The man with this giant burden on his shoulders is a former managing director of the firm. He spent years in sales before working his way to the top. His loyalty to the utility is not in doubt. "I personally like Tepco," he said after his appointment in May. "It is unbearable for me to abandon the company as it is." But many observers believe he is already living on borrowed time – one called him a "sacrificial lamb." Come along and hear him discuss the future of the utility.

Please reserve in advance, 3211-3161 or on the website (still & TV cameras inclusive). Reservations and cancellations are not complete without confirmation.

Who will want Hirose's job? Probably many people. I don't think the president that Hirose replaced wanted to go; he had just been installed at the top after Shimizu departed at the last year's shareholders' meeting. The company is effectively backstopped by the national government. Why worry? Living on borrowed time? So? A cushy amakudari job will wait for him.

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#Radioactive Japan: 16-Year-Old Boy Was Working at #Fukushima I Nuke Plant in May Last Year

TEPCO says the company found out about it only this month, this year.

But what's more disturbing is what Jiji Tsushin reports in the article below: that the job application was submitted by the boy's relative. The article doesn't say what relationship this relative has to the boy.

From Jiji Tsushin (7/17/2012):

１６歳少年が作業＝福島第１原発、労基法違反－東電

16-year-old boy worked at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, against Labor Standards Law, says TEPCO

東京電力は１７日、昨年５月から６月にかけ、東京電力福島第１原発で当時１６歳の少年が作業していたと明らかにした。同原発の事故後、労働基準法違反に当たる１８歳未満の就労が判明したのは２人目。

TEPCO disclosed on July 17 that a 16-year-old boy had worked from the end of May to early July last year at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. It is against the Labor Standards Law to employ people under the age of 18 to work [this is not exactly correct; more later in the post], and it is the second such case at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant since the accident.

東電によると、鹿島建設の下請け企業に少年の親族が雇用を申し入れた際、１８歳と年齢を偽っていたという。

According to TEPCO, when the boy's relative applied for the boy to work for a subcontractor of Kajima, the relative falsified the age as 18.

少年は津波で破損した車両の解体作業に従事。６日間働き、被ばく線量は内部と外部合わせて０．４５ミリシーベルトだった。今月になって、作業員の登録解除手続きのため、親族から取り寄せた少年の健康保険証で詐称が判明した。

At the plant, the boy was engaged in dismantling the vehicles damaged by the tsunami. He worked for 6 days, and the radiation exposure was 0.45 millisievert, including both internal and external exposures. The falsification was discovered this month when TEPCO [or Kajima?] asked for the [copy of the] boy's health insurance card from the relative in order to cancel worker registration [at the plant].

In Japan, health insurance is mandatory, and the health insurance card is often used as a form of ID.

Under Japan's Labor Standards Law, companies can employ people under the age of 18, provided that:

1. The company have the applicant submit his/her census-register certificate to verify the age;

2. The applicant himself/herself enter into labor contract, not the relative(s) on behalf of the applicant;

3. The applicant's relative(s) cannot receive wages on behalf of the applicant;

4. The applicant won't be made to work overtime.

The mandatory school education in Japan ends at junior high school. Upon graduation, most students are 16 years of age, and eligible to work. So, the violation in this case may be that:

1. The relative falsified the age of the applicant so that no age verification would be required (the hiring subcontractor may have colluded in this);

2. The relative may have entered into the labor contract on behalf of the applicant, which is against the law;

3. The relative may have received the wages, which is against the law;

4. The applicant may have worked overtime at the plant, which is against the law.

There is no information about the boy's family's situation, but it must have been dire if the family had to rely on the boy working at Fukushima I Nuke Plant under false papers.

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(Humor) PM Noda as "I'm a Real Wild One..."

Someone's masterpiece in one of the July 16 demonstrations in Tokyo after the 170,000-strong gathering in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo that even NHK reported (from @RinkoWaters):

I'm a real wild one...
See how I restarted Ooi without surveying the faults...
There is no vent...
Don't tell anyone that thermal power was shut down, worth 3 nuclear reactors...

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TEPCO's Space-Age Decon Tool Can Visualize Nuclide, Direction and Intensity of Radiation

Finally there's something sort of "high-tech" about the whole "decontamination" business which has boasted screw drivers, brooms and blue tarp as effective decon tools outside Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and vacuuming and strip-painting inside the plant compound. One of the "high-tech" items is GPS used to map the contaminated areas (see my previous post), and the other is a Compton camera developed by Japan's space agency.

TEPCO has been doing the GPS survey assisting the government research institutions OUTSIDE the plant to identify the radiation contamination. Examples of the survey were announced at the press conference on June 15, 2012.

Browsing through the press handout on June 15 titled "Developing Technology on Monitoring Radioactive Materials and Decontamination", I found a very interesting picture taken by a "super-wide angle Compton Camera" developed by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).

According to TEPCO's explanation (page 5 of the handout),

The utilization of the Compton camera experimentally produced by JAXA for decontamination is currently under consideration (JAEA and TEPCO). A “super-wide angle Compton camera” allows to visualize radioactive materials such as cesium-134 and cesium-137 by identifying the nuclide, direction and intensity of radioactive materials excluding the air dose rate of the environment (See below).

It is a bit unnerving to "see" the radiation.

From JAXA's English website, the press release on March 29, 2012:

Visualization of Radioactive Substances
with JAXA's 'Ultra-wide-angle Compton Camera'

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has constructed a prototype of a new device called the "Ultra-wide-angle Compton Camera," which can visualize radioactive substances that emit gamma rays. The camera was developed by applying technology for a gamma-ray observation sensor that will be installed in the next generation X-ray astronomy satellite "ASTRO-H."

This device combines the power of a wide-angle vision covering almost 180 degrees, and a nuclide whose unique feature is identification of gamma-rays, in order to visualize the distribution of Cesium 137 (Cs-137) and 134 (Cs-134) in any plot of ground or a house lot. Hence it can be utilized to obtain images of radioactive substances accumulated on rooftops and other raised locations that are difficult to survey using conventional investigation methods by human beings with a survey meter.

On February 11, JAXA, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) conducted a demonstration of dosimetry and imaging using the Ultra-wide-angle Compton Camera in Kusano district, Iidate Village, Fukushima Prefecture, an area which is designated as a planned evacuation zone. We were able to successfully capture high precision images of radioactive Cesium distribution with a much wider view as compared to that of a conventional gamma-ray camera.

JAXA and JAEA, in cooperation with TEPCO, will carry out further studies of possible practical uses of the Ultra-wide-angle Compton Camera for decontamination of radioactive substances and other related operations. 

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Reference link: http://www.astro.isas.jaxa.jp/~takahasi/index-e.html

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New York Times: "Thousands Gather in Tokyo to Protest Nuclear Restart" (Browser Headline)

Uh... thousands?

(Battle between the editors at New York Times?)

New York Times joined LA Times and others to report on the July 16 protest in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo against nuclear power generation. When I searched for the article, this title popped up as the NY Times article:

Thousands Gather in Tokyo to Protest Nuclear Restart - NYTimes.com

and that's what is displayed on the top bar of my internet browser.

The article itself is now titled:

Tokyo Rally Is Biggest Yet To Oppose Nuclear Plan

The caption of the photograph full of labor union flags says:

Tens of thousands of antinuclear protesters gathered on Monday in central Tokyo in the largest rally since last year's Fukushima disaster.

The article by Ms. Hiroko Tabuchi starts:

In Japan’s largest antinuclear rally since the disaster at Fukushima, tens of thousands of protesters gathered at a park in central Tokyo on Monday to urge the government to halt its restarting of the nation’s reactors.

and goes on to mention:

Organizers said 170,000 people filled a Tokyo square to sing songs, beat drums and cheer on a series of high-profile speakers who called for more Japanese to make their voices heard.

The entire article from New York Times (7/16/2012):

Tokyo Rally Is Biggest Yet To Oppose Nuclear Plan

By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: July 16, 2012

TOKYO — In Japan’s largest antinuclear rally since the disaster at Fukushima, tens of thousands of protesters gathered at a park in central Tokyo on Monday to urge the government to halt its restarting of the nation’s reactors.

Organizers said 170,000 people filled a Tokyo square to sing songs, beat drums and cheer on a series of high-profile speakers who called for more Japanese to make their voices heard. The police put the number at 75,000, still making it the biggest gathering of antinuclear protesters since the Fukushima accident last year.

“To stay silent in the wake of Fukushima is inhuman,” the Oscar-winning musician Ryuichi Sakamoto told the crowd, which braved soaring temperatures to gather at Yoyogi Park.

Polls suggest that public opinion is still divided over the future of nuclear power in Japan. But a unilateral decision last month by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to start putting the country’s reactors back into use has angered many Japanese and galvanized the antinuclear camp.

Antinuclear protests have gained momentum especially here in the capital, where tens of thousands of protesters now gather every week to shout slogans in front of Mr. Noda’s official residence.

After the rally, protesters marched through some of the city’s busiest shopping districts, prompting curious looks from passers-by but largely maintaining a strict discipline that has come to characterize the antinuclear rallies in recent weeks.

“It doesn’t matter, for now, if people hear us or not,” said Ayuko Higashi, an illustrator from Kamakura, southwest of Tokyo, who said this was her third antinuclear rally. “It’s just a big step forward to start raising our voices.”

Rally organizers have gone to great lengths to project a friendly image in a generally conformist country where protesters of any kind are seen by many as fringe agitators at best and terrorists at worst. This perception is left over from mass protests in the 1960s and ’70s against a security treaty with the United States, during which rioters armed with pipes and makeshift gasoline bombs clashed with the police.

At the weekly protests in front of the prime minister’s office, organizers cordon off family-only zones to urge parents with children to participate. They also ask protesters to cooperate with the local police and to go home at 8 p.m. on the dot.

Organizers have also started issuing pamphlets with advice on what to bring (drinks and hand wipes on sticky days), advice for shy or first-time participants (no need to say anything) and guidance on what to do if fellow demonstrators start getting out of hand (politely ask them to calm down).

An unlikely leader of the antinuclear movement is a fuzzy fictional character called Monju-kun, who has amassed a following on social networking sites like Twitter for his child-friendly jabs against the government’s energy policy.

Monju-kun made a brief appearance at the protest Monday with a colorful stuffed costume. “The government is restarting our nuclear reactors, and that makes me sad,” he said to squeals from fans — many of them families with small children — waving Monju-kun posters.

“If we’re not careful, we could have another nuclear accident, like a fire,” said Rion Nakajima, 5, who was clutching a balloon emblazoned with a smiling Monju-kun.

“We decided to participate because we want the Japanese government to realize that any mistake it makes now will have serious repercussions for future generations,” said Rion’s mother, Kazuki.

Nuclear power supplied nearly a third of Japan’s electricity before the Fukushima accident, but almost all reactors are now offline for checks or maintenance. Japanese leaders pledged last year not to restart any nuclear plant without local approval. But they apparently did not foresee the level of resistance that has since developed, and they have begun to push for plant reopenings, citing economic and security reasons. Last month, Mr. Noda approved the restarting of a reactor in western Japan. Others are expected to be put back into use in the coming months.

Recent polls have shown that public opinion remains divided between those who argue that Japan should abandon nuclear power and those who warn of a crippling energy shortage. A majority favor more stringent checks of reactors.

It is unclear whether the antinuclear protests can become a political force. There is still no significant Green Party in Japan, and the two largest parties say the country, for now, needs its reactors.

Mr. Noda, who initially raised the ire of protesters by calling their rallies “loud noise,” said last week that he was fully aware of public opinion both for and against nuclear power.

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Lithuania to Hold a Referendum on Nuclear Power Plant to Be Build by Hitachi-GE

From Reuters (7/16/2012; emphasis added):

Lithuania to hold a consultative vote on nuclear plant

(Reuters) - Lithuania will hold a non-binding referendum on the centre-right government's planned new nuclear power plant on the same day as a parliamentary election, in a move that could boost support for the opposition and derail the project with a big vote against.

Parliament's decision on Monday to hold the vote puts energy issues at the centre of the election, with the opposition and government split on how to reduce country's energy dependence on its former Soviet master, Russia.

Polls have showed public support for nuclear energy in Lithuania wane following the Fukushima disaster in 2011 in Japan, with opinion now roughly divided.

The government has proposed building the Visaginas plant on the site of the Ignalina plant in eastern Lithuania that was shut in 2009.

But the main opposition party in the current parliament, the Social Democrat Party, said the government should focus on renewable resources and renovating houses to save energy and rather than on a costly nuclear power plant project.

"We should stop dreaming about nuclear power, benefits of which we might see or might not see in only 30 years," Birute Vesaite, deputy chair of the party, told parliament.

Centre-left parties such as the Social Democrats lead the opinion polls before the parliamentary election.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, who opposed the referendum, said it was causing doubts about commitments made by his coalition government.

Parliament last month voted, with a narrrow margin, in favor of giving the government a go-ahead to work towards a final construction deal with U.S.-Japanese alliance Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy for the 1,350 MW ABWR reactor.

In 2011, Lithuania imported 65 percent of its electricity, mostly from Russia, making it the European Union member most dependent on power imports.

Lawmakers voted 62-39 to hold the referendum on Oct. 14, the parliament press office said. Eighteen abstained.

(Reporting via Oslo Newsroom; Editing by Alison Williams)

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July 16 Protest in Yoyogi Park "Largest Anti Nuclear Protest Ever in Tokyo", Reports NHK

What a surprise. I'm just shocked, SHOCKED! that NHK reported!

(Sarcasm off)

NHK reported on the July 16 protest in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo, for a change. It must be near impossible to ignore, because NHK is located right around the corner from the park.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police apparently told NHK that 75,000 people participated.

From NHK (7/16/2012; part):

東京で過去最大の反原発集会

Largest-Ever Anti-Nuclear Event in Tokyo

関西電力大飯原子力発電所３号機がフル稼働に達するなど、国内で原発の運転再開に向けた動きが進むなか、東京で、過去最大規模の原発に反対する集会が開かれ、参加者が運転再開の撤回や原発の廃炉を訴えました。

As Reactor 3 at KEPCO's Ooi Nuclear Power Plant is in full operation and other nuclear plants in the country may be getting ready to resume operation, an anti-nuclear event was held in Tokyo which attracted the largest crowd ever. The participants demanded the reactor at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant be stopped and that nuclear reactors be decommissioned.

１６日の集会は、ノーベル賞作家の大江健三郎さんやルポライターの鎌田慧さんなどが呼びかけ人となって、政府に抗議の声を届けようと開きました。

The July 16 gathering was organized by people including Nobel Prize winning author Kenzaburo Ooe and Satoshi Kamata, journalist and author, to let the government hear their voice of protest.

会場となった東京の代々木公園には、市民団体や労働組合のほか、ツイッターなどで呼びかけられた人たちが集まりました。
参加したのは、主催者側の発表でおよそ１７万人、警視庁によりますとおよそ７万５０００人で、東京で行われた反原発の集会やデモとしては、過去最大の規模になったということです。

Citizens' groups, labor unions, and people who had learned of the event via Twitter [and other net media] gathered in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. The number of participants was 170,000 according to the organizers, and 75,000 according to the Police. It was the largest crowd ever gathered in Tokyo for anti nuclear protest.

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French Nuclear Waste Management Agency Invents "Hard Disk" That Will Last 1 Million Years

The disk is made of sapphire, with information engraved in platinum. Materials more appropriate for Tiffany's than nuclear waste management.

The first thing I thought about when I read the headline of the Science article was, "In what language?" That's what the inventor is thinking about, according to the article.

After all, archeologists still can't read "Linear A" or letters on tablets found in Mohenjo-daro, and they are only several thousand years old...

From Science (7/12/2012; emphasis added):

A Million-Year Hard Disk
by Daniel Clery on 12 July 2012, 12:15 PM

DUBLIN—It seems these days that no data storage medium lasts long before becoming obsolete—does anyone remember Sony's Memory Stick? So have pity for the builders of nuclear waste repositories, who are trying to preserve records of what they've buried and where, not for a few years but for tens of thousands of years.

Today, Patrick Charton of the French nuclear waste management agency ANDRA presented one possible solution to the problem: a sapphire disk inside which information is engraved using platinum. The prototype shown costs €25,000 to make, but Charton says it will survive for a million years. The aim, Charton told the Euroscience Open Forum here, is to provide "information for future archaeologists." But, he concedes: "We have no idea what language to write it in."

Most countries with nuclear power stations agree that the solution for dealing with long-lived nuclear waste is to store it deep inside the earth, about 500 meters below the surface. Finland, France, and Sweden are the furthest advanced in the complicated process of finding a geologically suitable site, persuading local communities to accept it, and getting regulatory approval. Sweden's waste management company, SKB, for example, spent 30 years finding the right site and is now waiting for the government's green light to begin excavation. It plans to start loading in waste a decade from now, and will be filling its underground pits for up to 50 years.

While the designers of such repositories say they are confident that the waste will be safely incarcerated, the most uncontrollable factor is future archaeologists or others with a penchant for digging. Archaeologist Cornelius Holtorf of Linnaeus University in Sweden showed meeting participants an early attempt at warning future generations: a roughly 1-meter-wide stone block with the words "Caution - Do Not Dig" written in English with some smaller text explaining that there is nuclear waste below. But who knows what language its discoverers will understand in thousands or hundreds of thousands of years—or even if they will be human beings? Holtorf points out that a much earlier attempt to warn off future excavations, the Egyptian pyramids, were looted within a generation. "The future will be radically different from today," says archaeologist Anders Högberg, who is also from Linnaeus University. "We have no idea how humans will think."

In 2010, ANDRA began a project to address these issues, says Charton. It brings together specialists from as wide a selection of fields as possible, including materials scientists, archivists, archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists, and even artists—"to see if they have some answers to our questions." The initial goal is to identify all the approaches possible; in 2014 or 2015, the group hopes to narrow down the possibilities.

The sapphire disk is one product of that effort. It's made from two thin disks, about 20 centimeters across, of industrial sapphire. On one side, text or images are etched in platinum—Charton says a single disk can store 40,000 miniaturized pages—and then the two disks are molecularly fused together. All a future archaeologist would need to read them is a microscope. The disks have been immersed in acid to test their durability and to simulate ageing. Charton says they hope to demonstrate a lifetime of 10 million years.

Researchers have some time to work on the problem because the repositories will probably not be filled and sealed up until the end of this century. "Each country has its own ideas, but we need to get a common approach," says SKB's Erik Setzman. "We technical people can't solve this problem ourselves. We need help from other parts of society."

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Some Citizens Got Wiser on July 13 Protest at PM Official Residence in Tokyo, on Bikes and Cars to Take Advantage of Roads Cleared by the Police

From OurPlanetTV (7/14/2012):

I tweeted some of the suggestions from the readers of this blog about the protest, including using cars going round the Prime Minister's Official Residence. From the reaction from my Japanese followers, it simply didn't occurred to them. But it did occur to some people who took part on their bikes and cars, as you see in the video above.

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"July 16 Goodbye Nuclear Protest" in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo

(UPDATE) The organizer says 170,000 people have gathered in the park.

This is Channel 2 Main Stage:

Streaming by Ustream

Anti- (or beyond-, if you like) nuclear celebrities are giving speeches with high-sounding words, how nuclear power has been pressed on the poor regions, talking about happiness of mankind without nuclear power, etc., etc. Now, some comedienne from Osaka with mohawk hair is shouting into the microphone.

And all I can think about while listening to these people is that old mother and her daughter in the no-entry zone in Fukushima, without water, without gas, whom (ex-journalist) Takashi Uesugi visited.

===========================================

The organizer, "Sayonara Nuke", hopes to attract 100,000 people.

If I remember right, it was somewhat like this last year - several months after the March 11 nuclear accident, several organizations started to stage anti-nuclear ("beyond nuclear" 脱原発, as they phrase it) gatherings and marches. I was rather disinterested in those events, with celebrities giving emotive speeches and ordinary citizens participate and chant "Beyond nuclear".

I couldn't care less last year as I was more interested in and worried about the radiation contamination of the environment and food. I remember often wondering why these people looked content "protesting" against nuclear power in the most generalized term after one of the worst nuclear accidents in history had happened in their own country with very tangible damage, particularly in Fukushima and southern Tohoku and northern Kanto.

Well the big gathering is back in Tokyo, in Yoyogi Park. It's just started, and you can view it on IWJ's 9 USTREAM channels:

Ch2,
Ch3,
Ch4,
Ch5,
Ch6,
Ch7,
Ch8,
Ch9,
Ch10

The channels I've checked says "Recorded Live". I don't know what's the deal is, but I hope it will start netcasting live soon.

This year, I am less disinterested because of totally citizen-based demonstrations that have been cropping up all over Japan.

Here's Channel 3, at the Second Stage. Some kind of funny act by a chubby man dressed as a devil, when I saw it:

Live stream by Ustream

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Radiation Levels Inside #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Compound Exceed 300 Microsieverts/Hr in Some Locations

TEPCO did the survey of the air radiation levels within the plant compound on May 9, 2012, using the GPS system for the first time. Unbelievable as it is, that's what the company says in the June 2012 report for the Working Group for the Decommissioning of Reactors 1 through 4 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. The report is only available in Japanese, and it sometimes contains information that is not reported to the media in the regular press conferences.

The following map is on the page 66 of the report, in a section that discusses the various methods of decontamination of the plant compound.

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(Ex-Journalist) Takashi Uesugi Goes Inside #Fukushima No-Entry Zone, Measures 106.87 Microsieverts/Hr Near Fukushima I Nuke Plant

Takashi Uesugi, who says he is an ex-journalist and now a "hyper golf creator" (whatever that means), went inside the no-entry zone in Fukushima (I believe it was in May or June) with his dosimeters to ostensibly visit his favorite golf course in Fukushima.

Mr. Uesugi, former New York Times reporter, created the bilingual (Japanese/English) video below, which is on his website, as a teaser for the longer, full version to be released later.

In the early days of the Fukushima nuclear accident, he was more active, accusing the government and TEPCO for withholding the information about the accident, particularly about the "meltdown" of the reactors.

On his visit to his favorite golf course, Uesugi also dropped by near Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. His dosimeter showed 106.87 microsieverts/hour.

What's astonishing to me about the video than the radiation level (yes it is high) is that Uesugi visited a family who continues to live inside the no-entry zone because of the very old mother who is bed-ridden. The daughter, herself in her 60s or 70s, says even the doctors tell them it was a good choice to remain there, because her mother wouldn't have made it in the temporary shelter. But there is no water, no gas, no propane delivery, nothing. How do these people survive? Why should they suffer like this? Because of the arbitrary circle that the inept government marked on the map in March last year. But the daughter is reassuring the mother, "This is your house, you don't need to go anywhere."

Many who saw this video are crying "TEPCO lies!" on Twitter because one of the monitoring posts at the plant on July 12 was only 9.3 microsieverts/hour, nowhere near 106 microsieverts/hour that Uesugi measured.

That is an unjust accusation, though. TEPCO says on its webpage that summarizes the monitoring post data that the company did the thorough decontamination from February to April this year around the the monitoring posts MP2 through 8 in order to reduce the background radiation levels to better monitor the radiation fluctuations. The radiation level near the Main Building has been extremely stable around 220 microsieverts/hour.

(H/T Helios)

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