#Fukushima I NPP: TEPCO Now Admits Underestimation of Beta Nuclides in 167 Samples Since March 2011

The total number of samples for beta nuclide analyses from March 2011 to January 2014 is 20,866. It turns out that if the sample contains more than 200,000 Bq/Liter of beta nuclides, the instrument cannot accurately measure the radioactivity.

From Fukushima Minyu (2/15/2014):

167体で誤測定の可能性　ベータ線を出す放射性物質

Possibility of mistakes in measuring beta nuclides in 167 samples

東京電力が福島第１原発の汚染水測定でストロンチウム９０などベータ線を出す放射性物質の濃度を過小に推計していた問題で、東電は１４日、事故直後の２０１１（平成２３）年３月から今年１月末までに測定した試料１６７体について、正確な測定できず、測定値を過小に推計した可能性があるとする調査結果を発表した。いずれも実際の値はさらに上昇する見通し。

TEPCO underestimated the densities of beta nuclides including strontium-90 in the analyses of contaminated water at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. On February 14, TEPCO announced the result of the investigation that says TEPCO underestimated [the densities of beta nuclides] in 167 samples taken and analyzed between March 2011 and the end of January 2014. The actual densities are expected to be much higher.

東電によると、１６７体は、海水や観測用井戸から採取した地下水や、敷地内の土壌など。

According to TEPCO, these 167 samples were taken from the seawater, groundwater from the observation wells, and soil inside the plant compound.

東電が原発事故直後から今年１月末までに測定したベータ線を出す放射性物質の件数は計２万８６６体。これまでの調査で、測定機器では１リットル当たり２０万ベクレルを超える試料は正確な値が測定されないことが判明しており、検体数を確認したところ１６７体に上った。東電は今後、これらの検体を測定し直し、正確な測定値を公表するとしている。

The total number of samples for beta nuclide analyses from immediately after the start of the nuclear accident and the end of January this year is 20,866. The investigation so far has revealed that the instrument [used by TEPCO] cannot accurately measure the samples with beta nuclides exceeding 200,000 Bq/Liter, and there are 167 such samples. TEPCO says the company will analyze these samples again, and publish the accurate results.

Only now TEPCO is allowed to admit to the mistake. Now that the 2020 Olympics will be held in Tokyo, and now that the Tokyo gubernatorial election is safely over, with the win by a pro-nuclear candidate with whom TEPCO is very comfortable working.

TEPCO correctly measured the sample with 5 million Bq/L of strontium-90, but they did not disclose the number because their measurement of all-beta including strontium-90 in the same sample was 0.9 million Bq/L, which was an impossibility. They sat on it, and sat on it until February 7, 2014.

According to tweets by nuclear experts, TEPCO has the analysis lab at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant with 30 staff members. According to these experts, it is barely adequate for the amount of work they have to do.

And where is the promise of "the national government at the forefront" by the Abe administration?

Now that the 2020 Olympics is in the bag and the governor of Tokyo is the highly blackmailable Masuzoe, Abe has moved on to his pet project - Constitutional amendment, which will be determined solely by him as the "CEO" of the nation.

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(UPDATED) (OT) Tokyo and Wider Kanto Area Are Snowed Under, New Tokyo Governor Says "What's the Big Deal? It Will Be Over in One Day."

(UPDATE) The national government finally had a teleconference with the Yamanashi prefectural government, in which the governor of Yamanashi asked for the national disaster response assistance, including sending personnel from Ministry of Land and Infrastructure who have expertise in dealing with heavy snow, according to a local Yamanashi newspaper.

Minister Furuya in charge of disaster prevention in the Abe administration instructed the ministries/agencies involved to collect detailed information using social networking websites.

...... (Who needs a national government for that?)

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The snow storm on February 14 and 15 seems to have been even more severe than the one the week earlier in Kanto. For a while, residents in prefectures that regularly have heavy snow falls were smiling and bemused at residents in Kanto, particularly in Tokyo, for making a huge fuss about the snow fall that was about 30 centimeters in Tokyo, until everyone started to realize that these large and small cities in Tokyo and wider Kanto area are not designed to expect a snow fall more than 20 centimeters at most.

Particularly hard-hit seems to be Yamanashi Prefecture, located west of Tokyo. Judging from tweets from residents there, the prefectural and municipal governments in Yamanashi are taking the weekend off.

A tweet below by a high school teacher tweeting information he gets from his student says "The road in front of my house [student's house] hasn't been snowplowed. Can't even walk."

【生徒宅より情報】我が家の道は 除雪車が はいってないので 歩けません。#山梨　#大雪 pic.twitter.com/kRnfqoW2jo

— 山口隆之 (@FujizoushiBot) February 16, 2014

The high school teacher also tweets, "There is no emergency response headquarters in the village, no information as to the plans by the government. Here's our situation and we need help."

Yoichi Masuzoe, the newly elected governor of Tokyo thanks to the organized votes from LDP/Komei/Soka Gakkai and hardly anything else, seems to be taking the weekend off also. His last twitter is on February 13. And if this screenshot is true...

お前が1日で終わってくれ！ RT @sa________ku: コレが本当なら、都内の雪災害に対して、都民自らが対処するしかないね。 pic.twitter.com/gMche06DH8

— マリィさんとべぇちゃん (@marieYK) February 16, 2014

Announcer (Seiji Miyane): "Speaking of disaster preparedness, this heavy snow [probably about the one a week ago] can be considered a disaster, don't you think?"
Masuzoe: "This is not a big deal at all. It will be over in a day."

"You should be over in a day" is the comment on the tweet.

If you recall, disaster preparedness was one of the supposedly main issues (unlike nuclear power policies) of the gubernatorial election held on February 9. Modus operandi of Masuzoe seems to be the same as the Kan administration in March 2011, particularly that of then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio "There is no immediate effect" Edano.

Close your eyes, and it doesn't exist any more.

And the national government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe? The twitter account of Prime Minister's Official Residence Emergency Response Information, which has nearly one million followers, made the last update on February 15, announcing the "Disaster Response Volunteer Week" event.

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(UPDATED) (Now They Tell Us) Highly Radioactive Pieces Found in Naraha-Machi in June/July 2013 Came from #Fukushima I NPP, TEPCO Now Says

(UPDATE-2) Of all news outlets, it was Yomiuri who reported the news (two days late) and mentioned the last remaining potential route for the debris pieces - Reactor 3 explosion. From Yomiuri Shinbun (2/24/2014):

原子炉建屋の水素爆発で飛び散ったのか、海から流されてきたのかなど、理由は不明という。

The reason [why the debris pieces were there] is unknown; they could have been scattered by the hydrogen explosion in the reactor building, or they could have come from the ocean.

This news continues to be mostly ignored by both the mainstream media and the alternative net media. Very strange.

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(UPDATE 2/13/2014) The only news I've found so far about these debris pieces in Naraha-machi is from FNN local Fukushima news. Even that news hides the fact that the radioactivity of maximum 2.92 million becquerels of radioactive cesium IS PER 0.4 GRAM SAMPLE.

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

Specifically, four small pieces of debris found at the river mouth in Naraha-machi 15 kilometers from the plant may have come from Reactor 3.

The first piece of debris were found in June 2013, but TEPCO didn't mention the discovery until July after three more such high-radiation pieces were found. Even then, they published a half-baked result of the analysis, which was nothing more than the measurement of gamma radiation and beta radiation in microsieverts per hour. (See my post on July 2, 2013 for the first discovery.)

TEPCO disclosed the result of the analysis of the debris done by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (of Monju fame) during the regular February 12, 2014 press conference, and no major news outlet has reported the news so far. Only bloggers took note. (I suppose the mainstream media is busy educating themselves on the intricacies of the State Secrecy Protection Law, even though it hasn't gone into effect yet.)

According to TEPCO, the pieces of debris were not only highly contaminated with radioactive materials released from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant but they actually, most likely came from the plant. The degree of contamination from radioactive materials found on the small pieces of debris is similar to that on the debris found around the Reactor 3 building.

From TEPCO's handout for the press, 2/12/2014 (in Japanese):

Very high contamination from cesium-134, cesium-137, and presence of cobalt-60 (in blue rectangle, added by me). Note the unit is Bq per sample, not kilogram. For example, Sample No.3 (0.4 gram) has 2.0 x 10^6 Bq, or 2 million becquerels of cesium-137:

Very high all-beta:

But the composition of radioactive materials (ratio) on the debris pieces shows almost all radioactivity comes from cesium-134 and cesium-137:

Radioactivity of the debris pieces, compared to those of the debris around the Reactor 3 building and of the soil in Naraha-machi and neighboring Hirono-machi. The debris pieces have about the same order of magnitude of contamination as the debris around Reactor 3 for cesium-137, and one to three orders of magnitude higher contamination for cobalt-60. Unit is Bq per gram:

What are the debris pieces made of? Polyethylene, polyolefine, wood:

TEPCO and JAEA's conclusion:

1. These small pieces of debris came from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, most likely from the Reactor 3 building.

2. The high-beta radiation found on the pieces are not from beta-nuclides but from beta radiation from cesium-134 and cesium-137, judging by the composition of the radioactivity.

3. How they got to the river mouth is unknown. It could be by the ocean, or by land. The analysis is inconclusive on that point.

As far as incurious TEPCO goes, this is the end of the analysis. There will be no further analysis whether there is any contribution from MOX fuel that was in the Reactor 3's Pressure Vessel.

During the press conference, TEPCO's PR people could barely answer the questions on this issue, other than to say this was done by JAEA.

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(OT) Tokyo Gubernatorial Election in One Chart

People have made a great deal out of the "high" percentage of votes among voters between 20 and 30 years old that went to Mr. Toshio Tamogami, ex-Chief of Staff of Self Defense Air Force. But if you look at the absolute number of votes cast by this age group, they were insignificant.

Much more solid showing of Mr. Tamogami in the 30-40 years old and 40-50 years old brackets is more interesting. There, Tamogami almost equally split votes cast with both Utsunomiya and Hosokawa.

Anyway, people in 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s who live in Tokyo (particularly those in their 20s) couldn't be bothered to go to vote on a snowy day in the middle of potentially an extended weekend (if they took Monday off), and we got Mr. Masuzoke, a puppet for the Abe administration whose agendas turned out to have been hinged on this election.

Another way to look at this chart is to eyeball and lump Masuzue and Utsunomiya votes together as "organized votes": Masuzoe - LDP, Komei, Soka Gakkai and Labor Union, and Utsunomiya - Communist Party, Social Democrats, Labor Union. Both Masuzoe and Utsunomiya pretty much maxed out on the votes they could get through the organizations that backed them. Utsunomiya's votes this time were hardly different from what he had gotten in December 2012 gubernatorial election where Inose had won with more than 4.6 million votes.

Hosokawa and Tamogami, over 1.5 million votes between them, got their votes from people with no party affiliation. If the voting rate had been much higher, I suspect they both would have easily gotten double of what they got.

Chart created by @joe0212t, English labels are mine:

Meanwhile, Governor Masuzoe tried his chair in his governor's office, and said "It's just an ordinary chair."

Mr. Hosokawa issued his message to his supporters apologizing that he couldn't beat Mr. Masuzoe.

Mr. Utsunomiya visited the Communist Party headquarters, and together with the party chairman, celebrated his "win" over the two former prime ministers. "Sense of accomplishment," said Mr. Utsunomiya.

Governor Masuzoe is also busy peddling his new book on his Twitter. The topic of the book? Constitutional amendment.

(Are you starting to freak out yet?)

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#Nuclear Japan: Nuclear Regulation Authority Agrees That Ooi Nuclear Power Plant Does Not Have Active Faults

It's Nuclear Regulation Authority's turn to be bullish on nuclear power plants in Japan awaiting NRA's approval to restart, now that the Tokyo gubernatorial election ended with the result interpreted as great endorsement of Prime Minister Abe's policies across the board.

NRA accepted the conclusion of the experts that the fractured zones inside the Ooi Nuclear Power Plant compound are not active faults.

All set to restart, then.

From Jiji Tsushin (2/12/2014):

「活動せず」報告書を了承＝大飯原発の敷地内断層－規制委

NRA accepted the report that fractured zones at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant are not "active faults"

　関西電力大飯原発（福井県おおい町）敷地内の破砕帯（断層）が活断層である疑いを指摘されていた問題で、原子力規制委員会は１２日、「将来活動する可能性のある断層などには該当しない」とする専門家調査団の報告書を了承した。

Fractured zones inside KEPCO's Ooi Nuclear Power Plant (Ooi-cho, Fukui Prefecture) compound have been suspected to be active faults. However, on February 12, 2014, Nuclear Regulation Authority accepted the report by a group of experts whose conclusion is that "they are not faults that may become active in the future".

Ooi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture is accessible through a tunnel. In a severe accident after a big earthquake and tsunami, the only way to access the plant is by boat, if the tunnel collapses. Even then, if the plant harbor is destroyed by tsunami, oh well. It is not supposed to happen, and therefore it won't happen.

The experts investigating on behalf of NRA did two surveys of the site to determine whether the fractured zones were active faults. The first survey was inconclusive, with most experts saying they were active faults. Clearly that changed in the second survey.

In case of a severe accident, the emergency response headquarters at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant will be a small spare room next to the central control room. There was no objection at all from NRA to this arrangement.

Again, the Tokyo gubernatorial election was supposed to be a mere provincial election (which was not, as revealed after the election by the compliant media), and the nuclear issues were supposed to be of little significance (which were total opposite, as revealed after the election by the compliant media).

There's no stopping the Abe administration now.

(... unless another swarm of jellyfish clogs water intakes...)

Ooi Nuclear Power Plant and the access tunnel:

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#Nuclear Japan: Nuclear Plant Operators Breathe a Sigh of Relief on Masuzoe's Win, "He Is Someone We Can Work With"

It's not just TEPCO, which provides electricity in Tokyo, but also other nuclear power plant operators, as Sankei Shinbun hints.

Again, so much for the Tokyo governor race being just a provincial, local race where jobs and social welfare should be the top issues.

The election to choose the head of a prefecture with over 10,000,000 electoral votes may be on par with a national election to choose the head of the state in mid- to small-size European countries.

It is really funny and sad at the same time (or schadenfreude) that all of Japan's mainstream media, including Sankei, started covering the nuclear issues as presented during the Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign, as soon as the election was over at 8PM on February 9, and continues to do so now.

During the election, they made sure they didn't cover the issue, and were very busy downgrading the issue, ridiculing the one candidate who put an enormous emphasis on the issue, and ridiculing his extremely vocal supporter. They didn't even show their faces in the video clips.

During the election, they completely buried the coverage of Hosokawa/Koizumi in their reporting. Now, almost all of them now say it was Hosokawa, with the strong support from Koizumi, that the Abe administration feared.

From the unabashedly pro-nuclear and pro-Abe Sankei Shinbun (2/10/2014; part) on the reaction to the election result from electric power companies:

「建設的な議論ができる人という印象だ」。東京電力幹部は舛添氏をこう評す。舛添氏の勝利に電力業界にも安堵の空気が広がる。「原発ゼロ」を唱える細川元首相が当選すれば、各社が待ち望む原発再稼働が遠のく恐れがあったからだ。

"Our impression is that he is someone whom we can hold a constructive talk," executives at TEPCO commented on Mr. Masuzoe. The electric utility industry breathes a collective sigh of relief on Mr. Masuzoe's victory. It is because there was a chance that the restart of nuclear power plants that all [nuclear power plant] operators have been waiting for might have been further delayed if former Prime Minister Hosokawa, who was calling for "Zero Nuke Plant", had won.

Still, the supporters of the "socialist attorney" who came in the victorious (to him) second in the election are still busy dissing the Hosokawa supporters, or in rare cases telling them, "Let's work together again, let bygones be bygones."

Work, like carrying a banner in one of those festive demonstrations with chants and songs and dances, probably.

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PM Abe Takes Tokyo Governor Race Win by Masuzoe as Endorsement of His Administration, Moves Ahead with Nuke Restart, Constitutional Change

Sure enough, on the heel of a big win by the candidate that his party supported in the Tokyo gubernatorial election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe moves full on again on restarting the nuclear power plants in Japan and crafting the new national energy policy that puts nuclear power back in the center.

Abe takes Masuzoe's win as strong endorsement of his administration's policies, particularly nuclear policies, just as The Economist and other influential foreign papers predicted (here's Wall Street Journal's take, with a not-so-kind photograph of Masuzoe).

It will be not just the restart of the nuclear power plants in Japan. To those of you who briefly had a glimmer of hope that Japan would finally ditch the fast breeder Monju, my condolences. Abe also wants to quickly pass the budget, modify the Constitution and carry out an educational reform.

All because the LDP/Komei backed Masuzoe won in the Tokyo gubernatorial election.

And who were all those people who insisted that the governorship of Tokyo was just another local, provincial matter with little bearing on the national politics? Whoever you are, my condolences, too.

From Mainichi Shinbun, published after the poll closed on February 9, 2014 (part):

都知事選:首相、主要政策に追い風　エネ計画月内決定

Tokyo gubernatorial election result will act as tailwind for Prime Minister's core policies, energy policies to be decided within this month

東京都知事選で自民、公明両党の支援する舛添要一元厚生労働相（６５）が当選し、安倍晋三首相は今年最初のハードルを越えた。原発再稼働に前向きな安倍政権の姿勢は一定の評価を得たととらえ、国の中長期的なエネルギー政策の指針となる新たな「エネルギー基本計画」を月内にも閣議決定する。さらに２０１４年度予算案を早期に成立させて「経済重視」をアピールしつつ、集団的自衛権の行使を可能にする憲法解釈の変更や教育委員会改革などを進める構えだ。

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cleared the first hurdle of this year by the win in the Tokyo gubernatorial election by Yoichi Masuzoe, former Minister of Health and Labor who was supported by both LDP and Komen Party. Masuzoe's win is considered as a certain degree of approval of the Abe administration which is in favor of the restart of nuclear power plants, and the new Basic Energy Plan will be approved by a cabinet decision within this month. The Basic Energy Plan serves as guidelines for mid- to long-term national energy policies. Further, Abe will pass the fiscal 2014 budget at the earliest opportunity to appeal his "focus on the economy" as well as modifying the interpretation of the Constitution that will enable Japan to exercise the right to collective defense and carrying out the reform of Board of Education.

首相に近い参院議員の一人は「首相は自民党を捨てた舛添氏をよく思っていないが、『勝てる候補』と割り切った」と首相の心情を代弁する。今年は大型の国政選挙が予定されていないものの、首都・東京で敗れた場合、高い内閣支持率を保ってきた政権の潮目が変わりかねなかったためだ。

One of the Councilors close to the prime minister speaks for Mr. Abe and says "Prime Minister doesn't think highly of Mr. Masuzoe who abandoned Liberal Democratic Party, but decided to see him as "someone who could win the election"." There is no large national election to be held this year, but if [the LDP-backed candidate] had lost in Tokyo, capital of Japan, the tide may have turned against the Abe administration whose approval rating has remained high.

細川護熙元首相と小泉純一郎元首相による「脱原発」の争点化が奏功しなかったことで、政府は、都知事選後に閣議決定を先送りしていたエネルギー基本計画について、原発を「ベース電源」と位置付けた政府素案から大きく修正しない方向だ。ただ、今後の核燃料サイクル政策を巡っては、高速増殖原型炉もんじゅを計画通り進めることに自公両党の批判が強い。自民党の高市早苗政調会長は９日夜、毎日新聞の取材に「相当丁寧に議論していかなければならない」と述べ、政府に慎重な対応を求めた。

Seeing that the efforts by former prime ministers Morihiro Hosokawa and Junichiro Koizumi to turn the "beyond nuclear" movement as an election issue was not successful, the Abe government is not going to vastly modify the government draft plan of the Basic Energy Plan, which defines nuclear power as "basic power supply". The government had deferred the cabinet decision on the Basic Energy Plan until after the Tokyo gubernatorial election. However, there are significant objections from within both LDP and Komen Party to operating the fast breeder Monju as planned, as part of the fuel cycle policy. Sanae Takaichi, Chairman of LDP's Policy Research Council, said in the Mainichi Shinbun interview in the evening of February 9 that [Monju and the fuel cycle policy] would have to be thoroughly discussed, and would require a cautious approach by the government.

Thorough discussion and cautious approach. Just like when they passed the State Secrecy Protection Law. So ditch that thought that Japan finally ditches Monju.

Remember that Abe wanted to run a young female candidate to win the election. When he and his administration saw the attorney who had been defeated very badly by Mr. Inose in the December 2012 election entering the race again, they decided on Mr. Masuzoe, who they were confident could easily beat him (which he did, even if he was a man).

In the National Diet Budget Committee on the next day (February 10), Prime Minister Abe moved quickly with his coalition partner Komei Party (that also supported Mr. Masuzoe) and effectively resurrected nuclear power as "basic power supply". There is no way that "basic power supply" for the nation will be terminated in the near or even the distant future.

And what are those "beyond nuclear" supporters of the "socialist lawyer" (as The Economist puts him) doing?

Gloating on the "win" over the former prime ministers who wanted to immediately ditch nuclear power.

They are promising their followers the "long" struggle toward a nuclear-free future someday. Masuzoe's win seems to have guaranteed them a life work, paid or otherwise. Congratulations for that.

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The Economist Magazine: Masuzoe's Win Means the Abe Administration Will Restart Nuclear Power Plants as Early as This Summer

The magazine says former Prime Minister Hosokawa backed by former Prime Minister Koizumi could have dealt "the biggest blow" to Prime Minister Abe and pro-nuclear LDP, but votes were drawn away by a socialist lawyer Utsunomiya (who came in the distant second). The magazine also predicts Governor Masuzoe will be known to the outside world on the single issue: his misogyny.

That's vastly different from the naïve and happy narratives that are circulating right now inside Japan, one day after the election. Some of the narratives are:

It's just a local election after all, and the governorship is not about overall energy policies but about local, "main street" issues like social welfare and taking care of the socially weak and creating jobs for the young. [As I wrote in the previous post, this view is shared by LDP, right-wing think tanks, Social Dems and Communist Party.]

Nuclear issues should not be on the forefront anyway, and it was Koizumi's gravest mistake to put them forward. Tokyo residents were smarter than Koizumi and knew what the real issues were.

Masuzoe won by a big margin because of his meticulously crafted policies that persuaded Tokyo residents to vote for him, and he will be a great governor to make Tokyo "No.1 city in the world". [Never mind that only a handful of citizens bothered to attend his speeches during the campaign.]

Mr. Utsunomiya has "won" by defeating Hosokawa/Koizumi, and that's great for the anti-nuclear movement by ordinary citizens.

Never mind that Mr. Utsunomiya hardly increased his votes this time from his disastrous previous election result in 2012. For him and Communist Party who backed him, it's a great win because together they defeated the conservative LDP prime minister (Koizumi) who had defeated Communist Party's objections in Koizumi's signature "structural reform" when Koizumi was the Prime Minister in the first half of 2000s.

Hosokawa's votes seem to have entirely come from those who had voted for Naoki Inose in 2012, who was also backed by LDP. Thus the lament from anti-nuclear people who supported Hosokawa this time despite the differences in issues outside nuclear: "If only Mr. Utsunomiya had stepped down." (And if only it hadn't snowed, of course.)

But I digress. Here's The Economist's view of the election (2/9/2014; emphasis is mine):

Tokyo’s gubernatorial election

Powering on


FOR a brief few weeks the millions of Japanese who do not love Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, had reason to hope. The combination of Morihiro Hosokawa and Junichiro Koizumi, two former premiers, entered the race for governor of Tokyo with a resonant campaign cry; to steer Japan rapidly towards zero nuclear power. With Mr Koizumi backing Mr Hosokawa’s candidacy, it seemed possible that he might deliver the biggest blow to Mr Abe and his pro-nuclear Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since their return to power in December 2012. But on February 9th those hopes melted away as quickly as the snow which had blanketed Tokyo on the eve of the vote. The race was won handily by Yoichi Masuzoe (pictured right, on the campaign trail with Mr Abe, left), a former health minister backed by the LDP, according to projections from NHK, the national broadcaster.

The result’s chief significance is that it clears the way for Mr Abe to press ahead with switching on some of Japan’s idled nuclear reactors, possibly as early as this summer. The crusade by the ever-popular Mr Koizumi, just under three years on from the 2011 catastrophe at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, had unnerved his former party. In the election for the upper house of parliament in July 2013, Tokyo elected two vehemently anti-nuclear MPs, showing the strength of opposition. Yet the anti-nuclear camp remained divided for the governor’s race. A socialist lawyer, Kenji Utsunomiya, who also opposed a return to nuclear, drew away votes from Mr Hosokawa. Turnout was low, owing to the snow.

Mr Koizumi will hardly give up his campaign. He is now likely to ally with figures who can pack a weightier punch than the elderly Mr Hosokawa, who is descended from a line of feudal lords. Hirohiko Izumida, the governor of Niigata prefecture, for example, is another key foe of nuclear restarts. The LDP itself now contains many more people who question the country’s former reliance on nuclear power than in the past. Yet the Tokyo election shows that the anti-nuclear vote is neither overwhelming in size nor easily mobilised, even by a political superstar.

The LDP reluctantly backed Mr Masuzoe amid a dearth of strong candidates; he had walked out of the party in 2010. During the campaign he emphasised local matters such as social welfare and the hosting of the Olympics in 2020. Yet he starts his governorship of the gleaming megalopolis with the outside world focused on one characteristic; his reputation for misogyny. When Tokyo women called on Twitter for a "sex strike" against men voting for Mr Masuzoe, the media tuned in. More than two decades ago, then a political scientist, he told a magazine that women are unfit for high political office because they menstruate.

While Mr Masuzoe’s comment, exhumed from 1989, met with radical counter-action, the rightwing ravings of Toshio Tamogami, another of the four leading candidates, attracted little censure. Mr Tamogami was sacked in 2008 as the chief of Japan’s air force for writing, among other things, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt deliberately tricked Japan into attacking Pearl Harbour. Mr Abe should go once a month to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, he declared during the campaign, until China and South Korea finally get tired of complaining. One of Mr Tamogami’s supporters, Naoki Hyakuta, a member of the board of NHK, this week declared to voters that the Nanjing massacre of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers in late 1937 “never happened”. All in all, not an election to be proud of.

Not an election to be proud of. Not indeed.

However, The Economist is wrong if it really thinks Masuzoe's 1989 comment was "met with radical counter-action". Only the tabloid newspapers carried the story, and the mainstream newspapers and TV stations didn't say a word

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(OT) Yoichi Masuzoe Is the New Governor of Tokyo, Thanks to Organized Votes from LDP and Komei/Soka Gakkai; Turnout 3rd Lowest in History

He should also be grateful for the Japan's mainstream media, from increasingly government-PR organ NHK to left-leaning Asahi Shinbun, for not reporting the various scandals that everyone in the media and the political class knew about during the election campaign and for their genuine, heart-felt effort to de-emphasize any nuclear issue to the point of not even showing the faces of the two former prime ministers as they campaigned on the anti-nuclear platform.

Looking at Asahi's site, it doesn't look like the paper will ever report Masuzoe's scandal, although suddenly the anti-nuclear movement is prominently mentioned.

From Asahi's Tokyo Gubernatorial Election page "Who is Mr. Masuzoe?", Masuzoe's prominent remarks as Asahi sees:

"LDP's draft constitution is too right-wing to receive broad support"

"Without redistribution, the gap [between the rich and the poor] will widen"

"What was Koizumi's postal reform?"

"Atomic Energy Agreement [to export nuclear power plant technologies] is OK"

"How does one spend first six years after retirement"

etc., etc., as if Masuzoe is a reasonable statesman.

Asahi, or for that matter, any Japanese mainstream media news outlet, never reported what the foreign press reported, and will never report, now that Masuzoe is installed as the governor, doing the Abe administration's bidding.

One of the most prominent remarks by Masuzoe appeared in UK's The Guardian and other foreign news outlets quoting AFP (2/7/2014):

In 1989, he told a men's magazine that it would not be proper to have women at the highest level of government because their menstrual cycle makes them irrational.

"Women are not normal when they are having a period … You can't possibly let them make critical decisions about the country [during their period] such as whether or not to go to war," he said.

For him to say so must be extremely distressful for one of his ex-wives, Ms. Satsuki Katayama, an LDP politician whose own party supported her ex-husband's candidacy. She reportedly suffered domestic violence during their short marriage, which she once described to a Japanese magazine as "simply terrifying".

Too much testosterone, or too many girlfriends, we don't know.

With the low turnout (46.14% including absentee ballots), there was not much at all that other candidates could do to counter the LDP/Komei/labor union votes, particularly those of Komei/Soka Gakkai (religious organization that founded Komei Party).

The most realistic anti-nuclear candidate was former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, but he and his supporters were bombarded with "negative" campaigns on the net (particularly social media) by the supporters of another supposedly anti-nuclear candidate, Kenji Utsunomiya, attorney who was backed by Social Democratic Party and Communist Party.

I put "negative" in quotation marks, as tweets I have seen almost always started with "positive" remarks about Hosokawa's candidacy: "It's great that he is running on the "beyond nuclear" platform, blah blah blah, BUT..."

Curiously, the words and sentences after this "BUT" were almost identical to what the Abe administration officials, right-wing think tanks supporting the administration, and mainstream media kept saying throughout the election campaign:

"BUT the governorship of Tokyo is so much more than just a "single issue" of beyond nuclear. There's public welfare, there's unemployment, there's support for working mothers and young people, there's TPP, there's Tokyo Olympic..."

The supporters of Mr. Utsunomiya say they will continue their long struggle toward a nuclear-free society, with the emphasis on "long".

What Hosokawa and Koizumi preached - immediate decision not to use nuclear energy any more - was too "soon", apparently.

As to whether Mr. Masuzoe can keep his governorship, probably. LDP holds 59 seats and Komei 23 in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. Together, they control 82 seats, or 65% of the total 127 seats in the Assembly. LDP and Komei will make sure Masuzoe's scandals remain non-issues, as long as Masuzoe does not deviate from their agendas.

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(OT) (UPDATED) 27-Centimeter Deep Snow in Tokyo on Gubernatorial Election Day

(UPDATE-4) As soon as voting ended at 8PM, February 9, 2014, "Mr. Yoichi Masuzoe has secured victory" splashed across major news outlets. The sleaze won.

(UPDATE-3) As of 4PM, the voting rate remains well below the previous election, at 24.54%, 11% lower than the previous election, according to Yomiuri Shinbun.

(UPDATE-2) NHK reports that the absentee votes were also 7% less than the last time.

(UPDATE) As of noon on February 9, 2014, the voting rate is 7.86% (men 9.03%, women 6.73%), according to the official Tokyo Metropolitan Election Commission. The same time in the last gubernatorial election, the voting rate was 17.62%.

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That's the heaviest snowfall for Tokyo in 20 years, says Asahi Shinbun (2/9/2014).

So much so that someone took out his pair of ski to coast on slushy snow in central Ginza (photo taken by Nikken Shinbun's photographer):

I hear that there is a strict set of rules in Japan's Public Election Law regarding the Internet-based campaign which was hastily complied in 2012. For example, you cannot use the candidate's name (supposedly full name) you support in your tweet on the election day to urge your followers to vote for him.

The turnout will probably be low, benefiting the candidate backed by LDP/Komei/labor union, despite his money scandal (250 million yen, as opposed to ex-Governor Inose's puny 50 million), domestic violence allegations from several of his many wives and girlfriends, non-payment of child alimony to one of his children out of wedlock, lies about taking care of his aging mother, etc., etc., and the latest scandal of bribing the voters in Tokyo with 2020 Tokyo Olympic badges (not for sale).

If he wins, I have a sense that there may be another Tokyo gubernatorial election in the not-to-distant future. Possibly in less than one year.

As for me, I liked many of the policies (120 of them in fact) by this young entrepreneur candidate, including the one about abolishing the minimum wage:

and I would have voted for the former prime minister wearing the green down jacket below, for his strong, fact-based conviction that Tokyo should move beyond nuclear as one of the largest consumers of electricity in Japan, in order to grow and prosper (but he's not the one who's running):

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(OT) Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

From photos posted on Twitter in Japan on February 8, 2014:

Yokohama, Kanagawa (by @Tomynyo)

Akihabara, Tokyo, gubernatorial candidate Toshio Tamogami:

Shibuya, Tokyo, gubernatorial candidate Kazuma Ieiri (left, with a young man from Niigata, says Ieiri):

Ginza, Tokyo, gubernatorial candidate Morihiro Hosokawa and former PM Junichiro Koizumi (one in green down jacket):

Somewhere in Japan, S/M "Snowman" (by @kakikukekocham)

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(OT) NHK Commissioner Says Emperor is "Living God" for the Japanese to Worship and Die For, and Abe Administration OK with Her Personal Opinions

NHK, a (forced) "public-supported" television/radio in Japan, has mostly toed the line of whoever at the top of the political hierarchy in Japan. Still, I thought it was over the top when the new chairman of the NHK Commission expressed his personal conviction and belief in a very public way (press conference and testimony in the National Diet) that Japan didn't commit war crimes, that any military anywhere in the world has had so-called "comfort women" (not again...).

Then I was flabbergasted when I heard about another recently appointed Commissioner who adores the Emperor of Japan as "living god" to whom the Japanese should sacrifice their very lives to preserve "the state of things where the Emperor is the ethical, spiritual, political center uniting people" (that is what 国体 kokutai is, as used in Japan before and during the World War II), and who praises a ultra-right wing yakuza who shot himself in the Asahi Shinbun building in 1993 after praying to the Emperor.

(Time Magazine has an article summarizing the way it is now at NHK under the Abe administration.)

Who's this Commissioner? Ms. Michiko Hasegawa, 67-year-old professor emeritus at Saitama University. She is a Tokyo University graduate (elite), an outspoken proponent of the way we were, so to speak, when women stayed home while their men earned the living, when the government started the war in the name of the Emperor and people went to war to kill and get killed. Ms. Hasegawa was born in March 1946, about 7 months after the imperial Japan surrendered unconditionally.

But what appalled me was not NHK Chairman nor Commissioner Hasegawa. Instead of at least cautioning the Commissioners for their views that are not widely shared by the population, Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Abe Administration said he had no comments on the private views of the Commissioners of the public broadcaster under effective control of the government.

From J-Cast News (2/5/2014), comments from Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga during the Diet session on NHK Commissioner Hasegawa:

「その（長谷川氏について報道されている）部分については承知していなかったが、我が国を代表する哲学者、評論家として活躍している。文化にも精通している。そういう中で政府として国会に提出して一部野党の同意もいただいて決定した。それ以上でもそれ以下でもない」

"I wasn't aware of the particular remarks (of Ms. Hasegawa that are being reported), but she is one of the most prominent philosophers and critics who represent Japan. She is thoroughly versed in cultures. That's why our government submitted her name [as a candidate for NHK Commissioner] to the National Diet, and it was approved with the votes from some opposition parties. Nothing more, nothing less."

「いちいち、経営委員の言動について政府がコメントすることは差し控えたい」

"I'll withhold my comment as the government official on every single word and deed of the Commissioners."

I guess Mr. Suga and his boss Prime Minister Abe have no right to comment anyway. Both of them gave three "banzai" to the bewildered and clearly annoyed emperor and empress on April 28 "Restoration of Sovereignty Day" last year. I wonder how the government celebrates that day.

And all this while NHK pressures commentators who appear on their programs not to talk about nuclear power, particularly about anti-nuclear movement after the Fukushima nuclear accident, during the Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign, which is ending on February 8.

Private broadcasters are no better, with Asahi TV blurring the faces of former prime ministers (Hosokawa and Koizumi) as they spoke to an enormous crowd in Tokyo in their campaigning for the governorship (for Hosokawa) and switching right back to the LDP/Komei candidate, showing full face.

Both the national government and national media have also been busy repeating again and again that the Tokyo governor race is not so much about anti-nuclear (or beyond-nuclear) but much more about jobs, Olympics, welfare, your (small) lives. In fact, nuclear issues shouldn't be in the gubernatorial race anyway, they say, because Tokyo does not have nuclear power plants. Supporters of Mr. Kenji Utsunomiya, left-leaning attorney who is anti-nuclear and backed by Social Democrats and Communist Party, take advantage of this government/media characterization to attack the anti-nuclear former PM duo instead of attacking the other two right-leaning candidates (Masuzoe, Tamogami).

It is snowing heavily in Tokyo on Saturday February 8. If this snow deters many voters on February 9, Mr. Yoichi Masuzoe, backed by LDP/Komei and particularly by Prime Minister Abe, will probably win handily, thanks to organized votes from Komei Party and labor unions who support Masuzoe this time instead of their usual support for left/liberal candidates.

And thanks to NHK and the rest of the media, and fragmented anti-nuclear people.

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#Fukushima I NPP: TEPCO Admits Error 7 Months Later, Says All-Beta from Observation Hole Along Embankment Was 10 Million Bq/L, Not 900K Bq/L

(UPDATE) It may not just be about groundwater samples along the embankment. All the high-density all-beta/strontium analyses done at Fukushima I NPP, including the analyses of all-beta/strontium in the RO (reverse osmosis) waste water, may be wrong. Or TEPCO says they "cannot deny the possibility that the analyses were wrong." (from a tweet by @jaikoman who tweets just about every single TEPCO and NRA press conference)

Jiji Tsushin just reported the same thing. The information is from the press conference on February 7, 2014.

For more information about the RO waste water leak of August 2013, go to this link.

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Of that, strontium-90 alone turned out to be 5 million Bq/L. The reason (excuse)? Wrong measurement method used. Or something to that extent that even people who know a lot about nuclide analysis are scratching their heads trying to figure out how that happened.

Yomiuri Shinbun has the best summary of the situation (2/7/2014):

力は６日、福島第一原子力発電所の護岸にある観測用の井戸の一つで、昨年７月５日に採取した地下水から、放射性ストロンチウムが１リットル当たり５００万ベクレル検出されたと発表した。

On February 6, TEPCO announced that 5 million Bq/Liter of radioactive strontium was detected from the groundwater sample taken on June 5 last year from one of the observation wells on the embankment of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant [the embankment is located between the turbine buildings and the plant harbor].

国の放出基準の１６万倍以上で、地下水の過去最高値（１リットル当たり５１００ベクレル）の約１０００倍に上った。東電はこの約半年間、ストロンチウム単独の濃度は「測定結果が誤っている可能性がある」として公表していなかった。

The density is 160,000 times that of the legal limit for release into the ocean, and it is about 1,000 times that of the highest density in the groundwater that had been measured so far (5,100 Bq/L). TEPCO didn't disclose the result of measurement of strontium alone, as the company believed there was a possibility that the result of measurement was wrong.

東電は今回の地下水について、採取直後の昨年７月、ストロンチウムを含む様々な放射性物質の総量（全ベータ）を同９０万ベクレルと発表していた。東電は６日、「高濃度の全ベータは測定上限を超え、軒並み過小評価していた」と説明。この地下水の実際の全ベータは同約１０００万ベクレルとの見方を示した。最近は、高濃度の場合は薄めて分析する方法に変えているという。

As to this particular sample, TEPCO had announced on July last year that the sample had contained 900,000 Bq/L of all-beta including strontium. On February 6, TEPCO explained that they had "underestimated all of the results of high-density all-beta, which [in fact] exceeded the upper limit of measurement." This particular sample may contain about 10 million Bq/L of all-beta, according to TEPCO. The company recently switched to a different method of analysis that uses diluted samples when the density of radioactive materials is high.

So this is the lowdown of the case of strontium more abundant than all-beta, all thanks to the faulty measurement by TEPCO.

Browsing through the documents released by TEPCO, the particular observation hole was No.1-2, which is no longer used as the result of waterglass injection into the soil in the embankment. It is close to where the extremely contaminated water from Reactor 2 turbine building had been found leaking in April 2011 (via the underground electrical trenches).

From TEPCO's document for the press (2/6/2014; English label is by me), the location of No.1-2 observation hole:

TEPCO inserted the newly disclosed 5 million Bq/L for strontium-90 but the number for all-beta remains uncorrected, at 900,000 Bq/L (which TEPCO now says 10 million Bq/L instead):

10,000,000 Bq/L of all-beta, or 10,000 Bq/cubic centimeter of all-beta. That's the same order of magnitude of all-beta in the water that gets contaminated after circulating through the reactors (see my September 2013 post), but the levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in this sample water is too low for this water to be the contaminated water that is currently circulating the reactors.

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#Fukushima I NPP Groundwater Bypass Plan: TEPCO/METI Prepare for Release of "Uncontaminated" Groundwater into Ocean

The word "uncontaminated" in the title above is in quotation marks, because there may be radionuclides left in the groundwater to be released, particularly tritium, even though it is the water drawn from the wells placed on the west side of the reactor buildings - i.e. before the groundwater enters the reactor buildings and gets contaminated.

From Jiji Tsushin (2/3/2014), after the regular press conference by TEPCO:

地下水放出へ運用目標＝トリチウム１５００ベクレル未満－福島第１

Fukushima I NPP targets set for releasing groundwater into the ocean, tritium less than 1500 Bq/L

東京電力は３日、福島第１原発で汚染される前の地下水を海に放出する計画について、放射性物質の濃度を定めた運用目標を策定した。セシウム１３４、同１３７は１リットル当たり１ベクレル未満、ストロンチウム９０などベータ線を出す放射性物質は同５ベクレル未満、トリチウムは同１５００ベクレル未満とした。

On February 3, TEPCO announced the operating targets for densities of radioactive materials in groundwater to be relased into the ocean. The groundwater is drawn before it enters the reactor buildings and gets contaminated. The targets for cesium-134 and cesium-137 will be less than 1 Bq/L each, all-beta less than 5 Bq/L, and tritium less than 1,500 Bq/L.

放出計画は汚染水抑制策の一環。海に流せる法定の基準に比べ、運用目標は濃度を４分の１以下にした。地元漁業者に説明し、放出計画への理解を求める。

The groundwater release is part of the plan to reduce contaminated water. The densities of radioactive materials are less than 1/4 of the legal limits for release into the ocean. TEPCO will talk with the local fishermen to obtain their understanding of [consent to] the release.

基準を上回った場合は放出を中止して浄化し、基準値未満にして再開する。ベータ線を出す放射性物質は、目標よりさらに低い同１ベクレル未満になるまで浄化する方針。

If the densities are above the operating targets, the release will be suspended and the water will be purified before the release resumes. For beta nuclides, TEPCO plans to purify until the density is less than 1 Bq/L, lower than the operating target.

And here's METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)'s effort in persuading the fishermen.

From Kyodo News (2/3/2014):

地下水バイパス稼働に理解求める　経産副大臣、全漁連に

Vice Minister of Economy asks National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations for understanding of the start of groundwater bypass

経済産業省の赤羽一嘉副大臣は３日、全国漁業協同組合連合会に対し、東京電力福島第１原発の汚染水対策として、地下水をくみ上げて海に放出する地下水バイパスの稼働への理解を求めた。

Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Kazuyoshi Akaba asked National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations for understanding of the start of groundwater bypass, which is part of dealing with the contaminated water at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The groundwater bypass will draw groundwater and release the water into the ocean.

経産省側は、漁業者の懸念を取り除くため、くみ上げた地下水を放出する際、放射性物質の濃度について、現行基準より厳しい運用基準を適用する考えを明らかにした。

[Vice Minister Akaba said] METI will apply the operating standards that are stricter than the existing standards in radioactive material density in the groundwater that will be drawn, in order to mitigate concerns from fishermen.

原子炉建屋に流れ込む地下水は、汚染水増加の原因となっている。地下水バイパスは汚染される前に地下水をくみ上げるが、漁業関係者を中心に、風評被害などへの懸念が強く、運用できない状況が続いている。

The groundwater that leaks into the reactor building is one of the causes for increase in contaminated water. According to the groundwater bypass scheme, the water will be drawn before it gets contaminated. However, concerns for baseless rumors remain strong particularly among fishermen, which has prevented the scheme from being implemented.

I wonder how TEPCO is going to "purify" the water to less than 1Bq/L. My guess is dilution, particularly if it is tritium which cannot be effectively removed on a large scale.

But it probably doesn't matter, as one day later Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry says METI has already obtained "a certain level of understanding" from the fisheries co-op.

From Jiji Tsushin (2/4/2014):

全漁連から一定の理解＝福島第１原発の地下水対策－茂木経産相

Minister of Economy Motegi says a certain level of understanding from the fisheries co-op in dealing with the groundwater at Fukushima I NPP

茂木敏充経済産業相は４日の閣議後記者会見で、東京電力福島第１原発の汚染水対策である「地下水バイパス」計画について、全国漁業協同組合連合会（ＪＦ全漁連）から「必要性については一定の理解を得ている」との認識を示した。赤羽一嘉経産副大臣が３日、全漁連の岸宏会長に計画の概要を説明し、理解を求めていた。

In the press conference after the cabinet meeting on February 4, 2014, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi said [the ministry] has obtained "a certain level of understanding as to the necessity" of the groundwater bypass plan from the National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Association in dealing with the contaminated water at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Vice Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba had met with Hiroshi Kishi, Chairman of the National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Association on February 3 to explain the outline of the plan and ask for understanding.

So the National Federation of Fisheries C-op Association will bear down on the Fukushima Federation of Fisheries Co-op Association, who will then bear down on the local Fisheries Co-ops in cities like Iwaki. The local Co-Ops will bear down on individual fishermen, who will probably need little persuasion, as they are eager to resume fishing.

TEPCO/METI plan to release groundwater seems to be back on track, as if the ground contamination in the very area where the wells were dug for the groundwater drawing had never happened in August 2013.

Right near where the wells are, there are huge tanks, mostly riveted together and meant to last for no more than 5 years, that contain highly radioactive (mostly beta nuclides, not gamma) waste water after reverse osmosis (desalination) treatment. Several of the tanks in the area were found to have leaked this waste water although no one knows exactly how much waste water leaked or how it leaked, and the leak may be slowly finding its way towards the wells. The elevated levels of tritium have already been measured, although they are well below the operating target of 1500 Bq/L.

Locations of the wells for drawing groundwater for the groundwater bypass scheme, and the sample water analysis (from TEPCO, 1/30/2014): the highest contamination of tritium recorded was 1,000 Bq/L from No.12 well on 12/24/2013.

Latest measurement of contamination levels in the H4 tank area, located southeast of the wells (from TEPCO, 2/6/2014):

For more on the "RO Waste Water Leak of August 2013", click here.

Nuclear Regulation Authority is yet to approve the operating targets, so all is not yet clear for TEPCO/METI. It is muddled as ever as to who is in charge of regulating TEPCO on the Fukushima I NPP accident cleanup efforts. It is supposed to be NRA, but it is increasingly tied up with the evaluation of nuclear power plants under the new guidelines in preparation for the restart. It looks METI is there (as it has always been there) to give the plant operators like TEPCO a way out, a bypass around the regulators.

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(OT) Strange Logic of Some "Beyond Nuclear" Supporters on Tokyo Gubernatorial Election

I have to say these must be the same people who participated in the fluffy "beyond nuclear" demonstrations (more like entertainment festivals) in Tokyo starting in the early summer of 2011, as the Fukushima I NPP nuclear accident was very, very far from being "stabilized" and reports of high levels of radiation contamination in sewer sludge and ashes from garbage incineration were beginning to pour in.

What strange logic? When some supporters of the anti-nuclear candidates start to say things like:

If the combined votes for Mr. Utsunomiya (liberal attorney) and Mr. Hosokawa (former prime minister) exceed the votes for Mr. Masuzoe (TV personality and former Minister of Health, backed by LDP/Komei), we will win!

it seems to me tantamount to either delusion or concession of defeat.

If the combined votes for the two exceed those for Masuzoe, that means it will be Masuzoe who will win, not their candidates. They must mean a "symbolic" win, not the real one.

Meanwhile, 10 or so influential "intellectuals" (文化人) - novelists, journalists - who are mostly in support of Mr. Hosokawa held a press conference yesterday urging the two anti-nuclear candidates to somehow "join efforts" to beat Mr. Masuzoe.

At this point in the election, I don't think there is any legal way for either candidates to drop out, or collaborate with the promise of a prominent position in the administration after the election.

Younger supporters of Mr. Utsunomiya have been rather busy dissing Mr. Hosokawa and Mr. Koizumi in the past few days, often bringing up the money "scandal" of Mr. Hosokawa from 20 years ago which even the very person who had instigated the "scandal" admits it was all made up.

Another "smear" point by Mr. Utsunomiya's supporters is that people in Tokyo don't care about nuclear power. All they care about is "welfare and healthcare", they say, citing the opinion polls. Their candidate does address those issues in details, they say.

What's missing in those details is how he would pay for them, but that's apparently of no concern to the supporters.

The winner of the election looks clear to me for now, unless the turnout is much, much bigger than the normal election. Even then, splitting the votes between the two supposedly anti-nuclear candidates will likely to result in the win for the LDP/Komei backed (i.e. backed by huge organized votes) candidate.

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(OT) US Stock Market Welcomes New Fed Chief Janet Yellen with Thunderous...Thud

Dow -326, Nasdaq -106, S&P500 -40.

10-year Treasury is up, gold is up, crude is down.

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Tokyo Gubernatorial Candidate and Former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa: "Polar Bears, Seals Dying Because of #Fukushima..."

He also says there was an explosion at the end of December in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant that proves there was a meltdown, citing Russian news.

I wonder whether anyone is advising Mr. Hosokawa on the Fukushima I NPP nuclear accident at all (or Mr. Hosokawa's news source is just 2ch when it comes to the nuclear accident).

Mr. Hosokawa on a net-based TV on January 22, 2014 (about 18 minutes into the video):

「数日前に私は見たんですけども、ロシアの国防軍が出した極秘資料というものが出てきてね。 それを見たんですが、福島でこないだ暮れに、１２月３１日だったかな、爆発があったという小さな記事が出ましたね。 その数日前から実は水蒸気が上がっていて『何かおかしい』という話があったのを私も確かに覚えているんですけども。 あれは完全にメルトダウンを起こしているということを、いろいろ分析をしていて。 （ロシアが。）それでアメリカはヨウ素を１５０００袋だっかな、既に２月の始めに配るという手筈を始めたということとかですね、それから、いま北極海とかいろんなところでシロクマ、アザラシ、その他の生物の大量死が続出していると、これはまさにその福島の影響であるということとか。いろんなものが出てきているわけです。これはまあ凄い話だと思いましたね。」

"I saw it a couple of days ago, but there was this confidential document issued by Russian National Defense Force. I saw it in there that in Fukushima [I NPP], on December 31 I believe, there was an explosion. I certainly remember, too, that "something was wrong" as the steam had been rising for several days prior. So the （Russian) analysis was that it suffered a complete meltdown. And so the United States arranged for 15,000 bags of potassium iodide to be distributed in early February. Also, polar bears, seals and other animals are dying in large numbers in the Arctic Ocean and other places and it is precisely due to the Fukushima accident. Many pieces of information like these. I thought they were terrible stories.

"Terrible stories" (凄い話) could also be translated as "terrific/fantastic stories". It was fantastic to watch the interviewers simply take what Hosokawa said as if they were incontrovertible "facts".

But in the reality-based world, steam has been seen rising on and off from Reactor 3 at least since July last year; it had probably been there ever since the March 14, 2011 hydrogen explosion that destroyed the operating floor and severely damaged the floors below but became visible only after enough debris had been removed. (See my post on 12/29/2013.)

As to the "explosion" on December 31, 2013, even the ex-ambassador to Switzerland who has been raising numerous alarms about the Fukushima accident, real or imagined, confirms it was just an earthquake (actually two earthquakes, he says) in Ibaraki Prefecture that day.

The "confidential Russian document" that the Ambassador links also has a mention of "radioactive snow" in several states in the US. That is so 2011/2012 winter in Japan, when people freaked out measuring naturally occurring short-life radionuclides in the snow (and rain, for that matter) - bithmus-214 and lead-214 - by using personal survey meters to get only the radiation levels or misreading the peaks of bithmus-214 for cesium-134/137 and lead-214 for iodine-131.

And "meltdown"? Mr. Hosokawa must know that meltdown (core melt) already happened in March 2011 in Reactor 1, Reactor 2 and Reactor 3.

I have no idea where Mr. Hosokawa came up with "15,000 bags" of potassium iodide pills, but it must be the "news" that the US Department of Health and Human Services solicited a bid for 1.4 million potassium iodide pills in December 2013. But the order is most likely part of the on-going program of stocking potassium iodide in preparation for nuclear emergencies. (This is an archive page of HSS announcing 1.7 million doses of liquid potassium iodide in 2005.)

As to the polar bears and seals and a host of other living things (including fish, starfish, etc.), they had been dying of mysterious diseases way before the Fukushima I NPP accident. In 2012, CNN reported that the cause of death of seal pups on the east coast of the US was "a new strain of avian flu" that jumped species. The most recent "scare" story was this one quoting the abstract of a paper presented by University of Alaska researchers, in which the researchers say they tested to see if cesium-134 and cesium-137 were present in the tissue samples. For some unknown reason, in Japan this morphed into "cesium-134 was detected, and therefore the seals were dying of Fukushima radiation!"

If Mr. Hosokawa's anti-nuclear stance is based on the fantastic stories (凄い話) like these, no wonder LDP and the Abe administration are comfortable letting the anti-nuclear ("beyond nuclear") issue be emphasized by the Hosokawa camp in the Tokyo gubernatorial race.

Quote a contrast to Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, who talks numbers and detailed facts about nuclear power and why he is against it now. Alas, he's not running for the governorship.

No matter. The Japanese media, from the NHK (increasingly government mouthpiece) on down, completely ignores the Hosokawa-Koizumi team anyway. The election is on Sunday, February 9, 2014.

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Nikkei Shinbun's Interview of Haruki Madarame (5/7): No Impression That TEPCO President Shimizu Wanted to Withdraw Workers from #Fukushima I NPP

(Continued from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 from Nikkei Shinbun: Testimony of Dr. Madarame, in the third year of the accident: "Worst case scenario was possible for Fukushima" by Junichi Taki, editorial board member)

――14日夜から東電の撤退問題が浮上する

---The issue of TEPCO withdrawing from the plant surfaced in the evening of March 14, 2011.

「撤退問題の議論は３つの段階を経たように思う。海江田経産相が伊藤哲朗・危機管理監（当時）と安井正也・保安院付（当時）と私を呼んで、東電が全員撤退を考えていると伝えた。私は免震重要棟があるのでまだ頑張れるはずだ。いったん撤退してしまうと二度と戻れなくなり、１号から６号まですべての原子炉と燃料プールが危機にさらされると、撤退に反対した」

"I believe there were three stages of discussions regarding the withdrawal. Minister of Economy Kaieda called Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management Tetsuro Ito, NISA's Masaya Yasui and me and told us that TEPCO was considering complete withdrawal [from the plant]. I told them I was against the withdrawal. They could hang on in the Anti-Seismic Building. Once they withdrew they wouldn't be able to come back, and all reactors and spent fuel pools would be in danger."

「その後、政治家だけの相談があり、首相を起こして御前会議となった。撤退は許さないが結論で、清水正孝社長（当時）を呼ぶことになった」

"Afterwards, politicians met by themselves. Then we woke up the prime minister and held a meeting in front of him. The conclusion was that we wouldn't allow withdrawal, and that we would call TEPCO's President Masataka Shimizu [to the Prime Minister's Official Residence]."

■「清水社長がその場でごまかそうとしたとの印象はまったくなかった

"I didn't get the impression at all that President Shimizu was trying to make an evasive answer."

「清水社長は一人で総理執務室に入ってきた。清水社長が即座に『撤退は考えていない』と話したので、私は『聞いていたのと話が違う』と思った。清水社長がその場でごまかそうとしたとの印象はまったくなかった。なにか誤解があったのかもしれない。ただ経営者としてこのままでは部下が死ぬ可能性があると思ったとき、ほかに手だてはないかと考えていたとしてもおかしくはない

"President Shimizu came into the Prime Minister's Office all by himself. He immediately said he was not thinking of withdrawal. I thought, 'That's not what I was told.' I didn't get the impression at all that President Shimizu was trying to make an evasive answer on the spot. There may have been some misunderstanding. But it was possible that he was thinking of some other way when he, as the president, thought his men could die."

班目氏の行動（３月14日）
9:53 原子力災害対策本部の会合（この後、首相応接室を退去し官邸５階の小部屋などに滞在、呼び出しに応じ応接室へ）
11:01 首相応接室のテレビで３号機水素爆発を確認
11:40 官房長官記者会見に同席
13:40ころ 東電から福島第１で働く人の線量限度引き上げの要望、国際基準などを関係者に説明
16:15 吉田所長と電話で話し、２号機逃し安全弁の開放を急ぐよう助言
18:00ころ 20～30ｋｍ圏内の屋内退避を首相に助言、福山副官房長官室で米国へ提供する情報の整理
21:03 官房長官記者会見に同席

Dr. Madarame on March 14, 2011:
9:53AM Meeting of the Nuclear Disaster Response Headquarters (afterwards he stayed in a room on the 5th floor of the PM Official Residence, and went to the drawing room when called)
11:01AM Saw Reactor 3 hydrogen explosion on TV in the PM drawing room
11:40AM Accompanied Chief Cabinet Secretary in press conference
1:40PM Explained to people involved about TEPCO's request [?} to raise the dose limit for workers at Fukushima I NPP and international standards
4:15PM Spoke with Plant Manager Yoshida on the phone, advised him to open the Reactor 2's [steam] relief safety valve as soon as possible
6:00PM Advised Prime Minister to designate areas between 20 and 30 kilometers radii as sheltering indoors, compiled information to be provided to the US
9:03PM Accompanied Chief Cabinet Secretary in press conference

Two things here that I didn't know - that Mr. Kan was asleep, and that Mr. Shimizu came to the PM Official Residence alone. The latter was rather surprising, as I remember Mr. Shimizu at that time being portrayed as ineffective, weak and timid, who could never be able to stand in front of politicians - let alone the irascible PM Kan.

Mr. Naoto Kan continues to take crecit for "stopping" TEPCO from "withdrawing".

The National Diet Independent Commission's conclusion in June 2012 was different. The Commission acknowledged that TEPCO didn't consider a complete withdrawal from the plant and that PM's Office did not stop TEPCO from "withdrawing". (See my post on June 9, 2012.)

TEPCO did not intend to "withdraw" (撤退 tettai); instead it wanted to "take shelter" (退避 taihi) from extremely high radiation after the Reactor 3 explosion. But for Messrs Kan and Kaieda, who weren't trained in law and had no experience as bureaucrats at top ministries, the distinction was too subtle.

From my June 9, 2012 post:

Both Mr. Kan and Mr. Kaieda also said they thought it was an "all-out" withdrawal, because Mr. Shimizu didn't use the word "partial". Shimizu said he was surprised that the administration understood his carefully chosen word "temporary shelter" - "taihi" as "all-out withdrawal" - "tettai".

The Diet commission's conclusion was that it was a case of miscommunication. TEPCO's Shimizu thought he was telling these officials that he wanted his workers to temporarily take shelter in a less irradiated location while keeping the core people at the plant. Messrs Kan and Kaieda thought "taihi" and "tettai" were the same thing and decided Shimizu was announcing an all-out withdrawal from the plant. It seems Mr. Shimizu's mistake was he thought he was talking to high-ranking bureaucrats with whom he had dealt before the accident. Unlike many politicians neither Mr. Kan nor Mr. Kaieda had been trained in law (Kan was an applied physics major, Kaieda political science) or through elite bureaucracy. (Mr. Edano would have understood Mr. Shimizu perfectly, but Mr. Edano says he never spoke with Mr. Shimizu.)

TEPCO workers and workers from affiliate companies (Hitachi, Toshiba, Kandenko, etc. and their subcontractors) remained at the plant as the radiation levels were several hundred millisieverts/hour and at one point exceeding 1 sievert/hour (see the AP article from 3/16/2011 at the link), with only 2 meals per day and sleeping on the floor as the government refused to provide workers with better food and other provisions. And the world hailed them as heroes as "Fukushima 50".

Mr. Edano, then-Chief Cabinet Secretary, is a lawyer.

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#Fukushima I NPP: Painstakingly Slow Cleanup, One Vehicle at a Time

After almost three years since the start of the nuclear accident on March 11, 2011, cleanup efforts continue extremely slowly (and probably manually by human workers). Here are some before-and-after photos taken by TEPCO, but most of them are close-ups. You do not get much sense of how the plant has been de-cluttered overall (if at all).

The area photographed is between the ocean side of the turbine buildings and the embankment along the plant harbor. Radiation levels remain high here. Hoses and pipes that transport water run amid the debris.

From TEPCO's photos and videos library, 1/30/2014 (more photos at the link):

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

TEPCO had a chance to clear the site in March 2011, when large SDF tanks fitted with "dozer armour" (plate to push out debris) were sent to the plant. (See my March 20, 2011 post.) But the tanks were never used. Why? Because TEPCO had already had workers lay electric cables over the debris in their haste to restore the power to the plant, and they couldn't remove the debris without damaging the cables.

(Sigh.)

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(OT) Tokyo Gubernatorial Race: Guess Who's Leading the Pack

Yoichi Masuzoe (TV personality, former Minister of Health), supported by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komei Party (ruling coalition in the national government): audience in 10s.

Morihiro Hosokawa (former prime minister), supported by former Prime Minister Junichi Koizumi (LDP), Democratic Party of Japan, Social Democrats: audience in 1,000s.

Toshio Tamogami (former Chief of Staff of the Self Defense Air Force), unofficially supported by Shintaro Ishihara: audience in 100s.

Kenji Utsunomiya (attorney - labor law) supported by Japanese Communist Party: audience in 100s - 1000s.

You would think Hosokawa is leading the race, and you would be dead wrong, if so-called opinion polls by the Japanese media are to be believed.

Here's one from anti-nuclear Tokyo Shinbun:

Masuzoe: 25.8%
Hosokawa: 13.3%
Utsunomiya: 6.9%
Tamogami: 6.4%
Undecided: 50%

The Japanese media has already selected Masuzoe as the winner for reasons only known to themselves, no matter how seemingly unpopular he is with Tokyo residents.

Prime Minister Abe and Komei Party President Yamaguchi are going to join Masuzoe on Sunday February 2nd and give speeches in support of Masuzoe. The ostensible reason is to keep Masuzoe and his staff alert, not counting on the "huge lead" he already has. Sponichi (one of the tabloids) reports the likely venue will be the middle of Ginza in Tokyo, where both Masuzoe and Hosokawa with Koizumi are scheduled to speak.

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