US Ambassador to Japan Visits #Fukushima I NPP with Her Son, Praises Workers for Dedication and Determination

From TEPCO's Photos and Videos Library (English), 5/14/2014:

On the operating floor of Reactor 4, overlooking the Spent Fuel Pool. From the left, Chief Decommissioning Officer Masuda, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, TEPCO's CEO and President Hirose:

Ambassador Kennedy speaking with a female TEPCO employee in the Anti-Seismic Building:

So it is true that TEPCO now has female workers working at the plant...

UK's Daily Mail (5/14/2014) has a short video clip of Kennedy speaking to the press, with her son Jack:

"...very grateful for the chance to see. It is hard to visualize and understand the complexity of the challenge when you just read about it. So this was a very informative visit, and I'm very grateful to all those who are working here every day and those who showed us around."

"We stand ready to help in any way we can, going forward."

Ambassador Kennedy's statement, from the press release by the US Embassy in Tokyo:

PRESS RELEASE

米国大使館 報道室 PRESS OFFICE, U.S. EMBASSY, TOKYO
japan.usembassy.gov

14-13R May 14, 2014

Ambassador Caroline Kennedy Statement
on Visit to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Earlier today, I visited the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station. I am grateful to the Tokyo Electric
Power Company and relevant Japanese government authorities for making this visit possible.

I was struck that more than three years after the tragic events of March 11, 2011, the destructive force of the
Great East Japan Earthquake and the resulting tsunami are still visible. TEPCO and Japan face a daunting task
in the cleanup and decommissioning of Fukushima Dai-ichi. Decommissioning will take years of careful
planning and arduous work, under difficult conditions. Today, I was able to see firsthand these challenges, and
I gained new appreciation for the dedication and determination of the workers at the Fukushima site.

Immediately following the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident, the United States—through the Department of Energy,
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and other agencies—began supporting the Government of Japan and
TEPCO in response efforts, decommissioning, and cleanup activities. We are committed to providing support
as long as it is necessary. At Fukushima Dai-ichi, I saw examples of the assistance we provided, as well as the
continuing partnerships between TEPCO, U.S. Government agencies, U.S. national laboratories, and U.S.
companies. The United States Government will offer our experience and capabilities, in particular, toward the
near term resolution of ongoing water contamination issues. We welcome Japan’s steps toward ratification of
the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage which will make it easier for American
and other international firms to add their expertise to Fukushima cleanup and decommissioning efforts.

Tomorrow, I will have an opportunity to visit a wind turbine and a power substation in the Fukushima Floating
Wind Farm Demonstration Project. This project is one of the symbols of the Tohoku region’s recovery from
the Great East Japan Earthquake. It is one of many examples of how the Japanese people have realized new
opportunities, even in the midst of great tragedy. Such projects are creating new employment and industries,
as well as potential trade opportunities. The United States looks forward to continuing a strong cooperative
relationship with Japan in the energy security and clean energy arenas, in addition to our ongoing assistance in
the Fukushima region.

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#Fukushima I NPP Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool Debris Removal Update: Fuel Handling Machine Set for Removal

Just as the start of fuel assembly removal from Reactor 4's Spent Fuel Pool was anticlimactic, so is the removal of debris from Reactor 3's Spent Fuel Pool. No one reports it (not even the independent journalists these days), and TEPCO does not publicize.

According to the progress report inside the updated Roadmap (4/24/2014; from page 222 to page 233), since December 17, 2013, TEPCO has so far removed from the Reactor 3 Spent Fuel Pool:

(from Page 224)

• 322 reinforcing bars (out of 330 total)

• 55 deck plates (out of 65)

• 6 roof trusses (out of 9)

• 1 Fuel Handling Machine mast (out of 1)

Having removed debris that was in the way of removing Fuel Handling Machine, TEPCO (and the main contractor Kajima) is now removing the Fuel Handling Machine itself, which weighs about 35 tonnes.

(from Page 225)

Photo (clearly composite) of Reactor 3 SFP as of March 11, 2014, top arrow showing one of the roof trusses, bottom arrow showing the Fuel Handling Machine mast (1.6 tonne) (click to enlarge):

Removal of the roof truss on March 28, 2014:

Removal of the FHM mast on March 27, 2014:

According to TEPCO's progress report, they are removing the debris that is in the way of removing the FHM, such as the main hoist pulley (which was removed on April 16, 2014), hoist frame, trolley frame, walkway, bridge, etc.

(From Pages 228, 229):

After several hiccups (such as dropping the debris into the pool in February 2013 when they braved the heavy snow - low visibility - to do the catch-up work of debris removal, or dropping the camera into the pool in November 2013), so far so good, without major incident, since the debris removal from the Spent Fuel Pool itself started in December 2013.

There has to be the videos of the debris removal from Reactor 3's SFP, but they are not posted at TEPCO's website for public view. From the description of the work, though, the videos would be extremely boring, with the slow (probably excruciatingly so) and deliberate remote-controlled heavy equipment taking eternity to grab one piece of debris.

All my posts about Reactor 3 are here.

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Video of #Fukushima I NPP Seen from Ocean, 1.5 Kilometer Away

People at Umi-Labo ("sea laboratory") in Iwaki City, a non-profit citizens' group, went near TEPCO's Hirono Thermal Power Plant, Fukushima II (Daini) Nuclear Power Plant, and Fukushima I (Daiichi) Nuclear Power Plant for the second time on April 27, 2014 on a fishing boat that had survived the March 11, 2011 tsunami. They came as close as 1.5 kilometer from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

Apparently, there is no restriction that prohibits anyone from going near Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant by boat. So far, I only know of this group that has done that. No research institute nor nuclear expert (other than IAEA) has bothered.

According to Mainichi Shinbun (5/7/2014) reporting the trip:

• The air radiation level on the boat at 1.5 kilometer from Fukushima I NPP was 0.05 microsievert/hour, surprisingly low, due to the shielding effect of water (ocean).

• The ocean soil sample taken at Fukushima I NPP contained 417 Bq/Kg of radioactive cesium, whereas the ocean soil sample taken off Iwaki City had 287 Bq/Kg.

In the Mainichi article, the captain of the fishing boat says, "Isn't it amazing, how small Fukushima I NPP looks from the ocean? And this small plant is troubling the world." He had saved his boat by riding the tsunami waves on March 11, 2011.

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#Fukushima I NPP: 53% of Fuel Assemblies in Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Have Been Removed So Far

As of May 7, 2014, 814 fuel assemblies (22 new (unused) assemblies, 792 used fuel assemblies) out of the total 1533 in the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool have been successfully removed.

Removal of the fuel assemblies in Reactor 4's SFP started on November 18, 2013. At this pace, it will be completed sometime in November this year, as scheduled.

From TEPCO's English page on Reactor 4's SFP fuel assembly removal (which has been updated finally, to my surprise):

This job seems to be about the only one job at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant these days that is carried out without a major glitch or accident, though with a significant radiation exposure to the workers who manipulate the Fuel Handling Machine on the platform above the pool to remove the fuel assemblies. The bulk of radiation comes not from radioactive cesium but cobalt-60 in the water, according to Nuclear Regulation Authority.

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International Nuclear Cooperation: Japan's Monju Reactor to Help France's Astrid, UK's Sellafield to Help Japan's TEPCO

As Japan's Prime Minister Abe tours Europe, he is securing the cooperation from Europe's largest nuclear nations that he hopes (I think) will enhance the status of Japan as a major nuclear nation and secure the nuclear future for Japan.

With France, Mr. Abe is offering Japan's Monju fast breeder reactor to conduct tests for the Astrid.

What's the Astrid? From the wiki entry for Generation IV reactors:

The European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative is funding three Generation IV reactor systems, one of which is a sodium-cooled fast reactor, called ASTRID, Advanced Sodium Technical Reactor for Industrial Demonstration, Areva, CEA and EDF are leading the design with British collaboration.[13][14] Astrid will be rated about 600 MWe and is expected to be built in France, with construction slated to begin in 2017 near to the Phénix reactor.[9]

Mr. Abe is eager to justify Japan's fuel cycle policy, and he wants to make nuclear technology and military weaponry as two of the major exports from Japan for which his government wants to become the top salesman.

From Nikkei Asia (4/30/2014; emphasis is mine):

Japan, France to work together on next-generation reactors

TOKYO -- The Japanese and French governments are working toward an agreement to cooperate in the development of fast reactors, a technology designed to reduce nuclear waste.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Francois Hollande will likely affirm the partnership in Paris on May 5. The agreement would build on an earlier comprehensive partnership formed last June in the field of nuclear energy.

Fast neutron reactors convert spent fuel, which remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years, into materials that emit radiation for just a few hundred years, thus helping to reduce overall nuclear waste.

When put into practical operation, such a reactor would generate electricity and cut down on nuclear waste at the same time.

France is developing the Astrid (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration), which it plans to start operating around 2025, but it lacks sufficient reactors to conduct tests. Japan will offer up its Monju prototype fast breeder reactor, which has been idle due to safety concerns, for the tests.

 

Good luck France. Workers, engineers, and scientists at Monju say they are not comfortable working there, unsure about safety.

Then, TEPCO has announced that they will closely collaborate with the UK's Sellafield Ltd. whose expertise in decommissioning a troubled reactor could benefit TEPCO in decommissioning Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

The Windscale accident was an INES Level 5 accident.

From TEPCO's presentation in English (5/2/2014):

Overview

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) considers it would be beneficial to share expertise with overseas operators which have similar decommissioning experience, to decommission Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

TEPCO has agreed with Sellafield Ltd. on exchanging information relating to the management and technology of decommissioning, towards a safer and stable decontamination and decommissioning at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Sellafield Ltd. is a company in UK which has engaged in the decommissioning of a reactor and radioactive waste facilities. On ahead of the formal information exchanging agreement, the two companies signed a cooperation statement, which clarifies the objectives and significance of the agreement.

Content of the Statement (Objectives and significance of the information exchanging agreement)

Overview of the objectives

• Sharing expertise, experience and technology in radioactive waste management, clean up and decommissioning:

• Visits in both directions (Fukushima Daiichi NPS, Sellafield) by representatives from both organisations, sharing of information / reports and similar exercises

• Contributing to achieving the goals for both sites by learning from the similar challenges

• Continuously assessing the effectiveness of cooperation

Overview of the significance

• Proper visibility of the suppliers’ contribution

• Strengthening of the links between our businesses and wider, civil society

• Positive support of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) etc.

About technologies/knowledge of Sellafield Ltd.

• Sellafield is working with the decommissioning of the Windscale nuclear reactor, which suffered radiation leak (INES-5).

• It deals with the decommissioning and risk-reducing measurements fo the other facilities with high risk of radiation leakage

• It has an experience of dealing contaminated water leak to the ground

It is clear from the comment by Mr. Naohiro Masuda, Chief Decommissioning Officer of a new TEPCO company called Fukushima Daiichi D&D Engineering Company, that this deal was brokered by the Japanese government and the UK government, regardless of whether TEPCO wanted it or not.

Mr. Masuda was the plant manager of Fukushima II (Daini) Nuclear Power Plant, which came very close to core melt after the loss of power after the earthquake on March 11, 2011. What the workers did under his leadership and why the core melt did not happen at Fukushima II would be worth recalling.

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(OT) Bank of Japan's Governor Says Wages in Japan Are Rising

Uh... rising?

In this post-Lehman "New Normal" world, particularly in the so-called developed nations of the US, Japan and EU, 22 straight months of wage decline must mean wages are rising.

Governor Haruhiko Kuroda of Bank of Japan had an exclusive interview with the US's financial news channel CNBC while attending the Asian Development Bank meeting in Kazakhstan.

From the video in the CNBC article (5/4/2014):

Kuroda starts out by declaring that economists have been consistently wrong about Japan in the past twelve months because they have failed to predict the inflation that is actually happening.

Then, at about 1:23,

Susan Li, CNBC: Wages have been down for 22 straight months, and it's not keeping up with the inflation ...

Kuroda: (cutting the interviewer off) But that, that is not true. Actually, wages have started to rise. We expect uh nominal wages uh continue to rise, coupled with improving employment situation, means that employer's (sic) income would increase by about 3%.

I am sure Mr. Kuroda meant "employee". For sure, Japan's employers, particularly large multinationals, are raking in huge revenues, partly thanks to cheapened yen.

Then Kuroda prattles on about employment situation, and Ms. Li drops the topic of wages completely.

So are wages in Japan rising, or falling, in the reality-based world?

22 straight months of decline, from Zero Hedge (4/29/2014):

"monthly wages excluding overtime and bonus payments fell 0.4 percent in March from a year earlier (the biggest drop in 2014), a series of declines which has now stretched to 22 consecutive months."

Reading Japan's Nikkei Shinbun (4/30/2014), you wouldn't know that unless you pay attention to detail. Governor Kuroda wants you to focus on the positive message of "wage increase". Clearly, the "wages" Mr. Kuroda is talking about are wages including overtime pay and bonus:

３月の給与総額、３カ月ぶり増加　残業代増える

Total wages in March increased for the first time in three months, overtime pay increased

厚生労働省が30日まとめた３月の毎月勤労統計調査（速報）によると、残業代を含む給与総額の平均は27万6740円と前年同月に比べて0.7％増えた。増加は３カ月ぶりで、伸び率は２年ぶりの大きさ。消費増税前の駆け込み需要で残業代が増えたため。一方、基本給にあたる所定内給与は0.4％減の24万656円と22カ月連続で前年を下回った。

According to the monthly labor statistics (preliminary) announced by Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor on April 30, the average total wages including overtime increased by 0.7% in March compared to a year ago to 276,740 yen [US$2760] . It was the first increase in three months, and the rate of increase was the biggest in two years. The increase was due to the increase in overtime pay, to meet the last-minute demand [for goods and services] before the sales tax increase [on April 1, 2014]. On the other hand, fixed wages, or base wages dropped by 0.4% to 240,656 yen [US$2400], decline of 22 consecutive months.

As far as I know, when comparing wages over time or across different regions/countries, you don't include overtime pay, benefits, or one-time pay like bonuses. But that's not Kuroda BOJ, apparently.

Pick the data that justifies your position, conviction or belief, even if you can't objectively compare that data with anything else. That seems totally normal in post-Obokata Japan. (Maybe Ms. Obokata should have been an economist or a banker, like Mr. Kuroda. Or politician, like Mr. Shinzo "contaminated water at Fukushima I NPP totally controlled" Abe.)

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(OT) "Ultra" Mokugyo

Saw the picture on a tweet just now...

Mokugyo (木魚) is a wooden percussion instrument used in Buddhist rituals.

"Nice sound," the tweet says.

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US 1Q GDP Growth Would Have Been Negative (-1%) Without Obamacare Spending and Heating

If you listen to NPR, you wouldn't know that.

And never mind that Obamacare simply "takes money out of one person’s pocket and transfers it to another person’s, potentially crimping the spending of the person or company bearing the higher cost burden".

And never mind that it's very hard to find doctors who do take Obamacare insurance...

From Wall Street Journal (4/30/2014; emphasis is mine):

Health Care, Heating Prevent First-Quarter Contraction in U.S. GDP

The U.S. economy might have shrunk in the first quarter if not for the Affordable Care Act and spending to keep out the cold.

U.S. gross domestic product expanded a paltry 0.1% in the first three months of the year, dragged down by falling inventories and weaker exports. Spending on housing and utilities, meanwhile, contributed 0.73 percentage point to the change in GDP while spending on health care added a hefty 1.1 percentage points, the highest figure on record.

“If health-care spending had been unchanged, the headline GDP growth number would have been -1.0%,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Outlays on utilities are clearly a double-edged sword. First, the severe winter weather chilled activity in other areas of the economy. Second, households have limited budgets and might well have spent money buying other goods or services had they not been forced to boost their thermostats.

“Looking ahead, we expect consumption growth to remain stronger than in 2013, but we expect the contribution from goods consumption to rise and the temporary support from utilities and health care to gradually wane,” said Michael Gapen, an economist at Barclays Capital.

The strong increase in health-care spending reflects that Americans — some of whom are newly insured — are visiting doctors and purchasing more medical products, said Jason Furman, chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Prices for health-care services rose more slowly than overall inflation in the first quarter, compared to a year earlier. That indicates utilization — not price gains — is driving the increased spending, he said.

“People who didn’t have insurance before can now go to the hospital and the doctor,” Mr. Furman said in an interview. “That’s good for the economy.”

The spending figure includes amounts spent on purchasing insurance as well as drugs, exams and other care.

The Affordable Care Act required most Americans to carry health coverage, expanded eligibility for Medicaid and created new health-insurance exchanges offering subsidized policies for many. Enrollment for private health insurance through federal and state exchanges has swelled to about 8 million, the White House said.

So far this year, that has increased incomes and encouraged more spending on health-care services. (The Commerce Department cautions that its figures may be heavily revised. Its latest estimate is based on Medicaid benefits and ACA insurance exchange enrollments; more complete information is expected before the final first-quarter GDP release on June 25.)

Clearly, though, the vast pool of Americans with new access to health care have been visiting doctors and hospitals in rising numbers. “That pent-up/hidden demand for healthcare was huge,” Mr. Shepherdson said. “Next question: How long will it last?”

The White House’s Mr. Furman said the Affordable Care Act should provide a “tailwind” to the economy for “the next year or two,” as more Americans gain health coverage.

The deadline to enroll in exchanges was March 31. Though it’s been extended for individuals who had trouble completing applications, some economists say the economic impact of the health-care law may well fade—at least until the next enrollment period.

The law could have negative consequences as well. The Congressional Budget Office said in February the law would reduce the total number of hours Americans work by the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time jobs in 2021.

Another factor to consider: The Affordable Care Act, like all government spending, is funded either via taxes or borrowing. So it takes money out of one person’s pocket and transfers it to another person’s, potentially crimping the spending of the person or company bearing the higher cost burden.

Finally, one main goal of the law is to help contain health-care costs over the long term, allowing more resources to flow to other sectors of the economy. Much more data — and time — is needed to see if it’s successful on that front.

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Oregon State University Researchers on Albacore Tuna off Oregon: "you would have to consume more than 700,000 pounds of the fish" to match annual natural background radiation

Probably not what many people want to hear, who have been busy petitioning their local governments on the US west coast about the danger of "high levels" of Fukushima radiation.

According to the press release by Oregon State University, the researchers at Oregon State University and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tested Pacific albacore tuna caught off the coast of Oregon between 2008 and 2012 and compared radioactive cesium levels, the first study to compare "before and after". The study is also the first to compare different parts of the fish.

The study seems to be the continuation of the study they published on October 2012.

The result was that the amount of radioactive cesium in post-Fukushima fish was triple that of pre-Fukushima fish, "at the most extreme level".

From the paper's abstract, here are the numbers, in MILLIBECQUEREL/Kg (millibecquerel=1/1000 of 1 becquerel) in WET WEIGHT:

• Cesium-134: 18.2–356 mBq/kg of wet weight

• Cesium-137: 234–824 mBq/kg of wet weight

Expressed in more familiar Bq/kg,

• Cesium-134: 0.0182 - 0.356 Bq/kg

• Cesium-137: 0.234 - 0.824 Bq/kg

An unexpected side benefit of studying these fish was, according to the researchers, to better understand the albacore tuna migration, using radioactive cesium from Fukushima as a trace.

The press release by Oregon State University (4/28/2014; emphasis is mine):

Study finds only trace levels of radiation from Fukushima in albacore
04/28/2014

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Albacore tuna caught off the Oregon shore after the Fukushima Daiichi power station in Japan was destroyed in a 2011 earthquake had slightly elevated levels of radioactivity but the increase has been minute, according to a newly published study.

In fact, you would have to consume more than 700,000 pounds of the fish with the highest radioactive level – just to match the amount of radiation the average person is annually exposed to in everyday life through cosmic rays, the air, the ground, X-rays and other sources, the authors say.

Results of the study are being published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

“You can’t say there is absolutely zero risk because any radiation is assumed to carry at least some small risk,” said Delvan Neville, a graduate research assistant in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics at Oregon State University and lead author on the study. “But these trace levels are too small to be a realistic concern.

“A year of eating albacore with these cesium traces is about the same dose of radiation as you get from spending 23 seconds in a stuffy basement from radon gas, or sleeping next to your spouse for 40 nights from the natural potassium-40 in their body,” he added. “It’s just not much at all.”

In their study, the researchers examined a total of 26 Pacific albacore caught off the coast between 2008 and 2012 to give them a comparison between pre-Fuskushima and post-Fukushima radiation levels. They discovered that levels of specific radioactive isotopes did increase, but at the most extreme level, they only tripled – a measurement that is only 0.1 percent of the radiocesium level set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for concern and intervention.

The researchers tested samples of the albacore from their loins, carcass and guts and found varying levels – all barely detectable. The findings are still important, however, since this is one of the first studies to look at different parts of the fish.

“The loins, or muscle, is what people eat and the bioaccumulation was about the same there as in the carcass,” said Jason Phillips, a research associate in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and co-author on the study.

The researchers next began looking at the radionuclide levels in different aged fish and found they were somewhat higher in 4-year-old albacore than in the younger fish. This suggests that the 3-year-old albacore may have only made one trans-Pacific migration, whereas the 4-year-old fish may have migrated through the Fukushima plume twice.

The majority of the 3-year-old fish had no traces of Fukushima at all.

Although it is possible that additional exposures to the plume could further increase radiation levels in the albacore, it would still be at a low level, the researchers pointed out. Additionally, as albacore mature at around age 5, they stop migrating long distances and move south to subtropical waters in the Central and West Pacific – and do not return to the West Coast of the United States.

“The presence of these radioactive isotopes is actually helping us in an odd way – giving us information that will allow us to estimate how albacore tuna migrate between our West Coast and Japan,” Neville said.

Little is known about the migration patterns of young albacore before they enter the U.S. fishery at about three years of age, Phillips said.

“That’s kind of surprising, considering what a valuable food source they are,” Phillips said. “Fukushima provides the only known source for a specific isotope that shows up in the albacore, so it gives us an unexpected fingerprint that allows us to learn more about the migration.”

Other authors were Richard Brodeur of NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, and Kathryn Higley, of the OSU Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics. The study was supported by Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with continued support from Oregon Sea Grant.

The abstract of the paper "Trace Levels of Fukushima Disaster Radionuclides in East Pacific Albacore" (emphasis is mine):

The Fukushima Daiichi power station released several radionuclides into the Pacific following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A total of 26 Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) caught off the Pacific Northwest U.S. coast between 2008 and 2012 were analyzed for 137Cs and Fukushima-attributed 134Cs. Both 2011 (2 of 2) and several 2012 (10 of 17) edible tissue samples exhibited increased activity concentrations of 137Cs (234–824 mBq/kg of wet weight) and 134Cs (18.2–356 mBq/kg of wet weight). The remaining 2012 samples and all pre-Fukushima (2008–2009) samples possessed lower 137Cs activity concentrations (103–272 mBq/kg of wet weight) with no detectable 134Cs activity. Age, as indicated by fork length, was a strong predictor for both the presence and concentration of 134Cs (p < 0.001). Notably, many migration-aged fish did not exhibit any 134Cs, suggesting that they had not recently migrated near Japan. None of the tested samples would represent a significant change in annual radiation dose if consumed by humans.

Researchers at Stanford University and Stony Brook University published the study on Pacific bluefin tuna in June 2013, which revealed radiation exposure from natural radioactive potassium and polonium (alpha nuclide) is significantly greater than exposure from Fukushima-derived radioactive cesium.

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'Cui Bono' Over Ukraine: Monsanto Setting Up GMO Seed Corn Business in Ukraine

US President Obama sure works hard for biggest multinationals, as can be inferred from his recent sushi dinner with Japan's prime minister.

And Monsanto? His food safety 'czar', of all people, is a former Monsanto Vice President. Monsanto was also the winner of 27th Annual World Food Prize by the US State Department in 2013.

Several articles on GMO corn in Ukraine below, from the time the US was showing renewed interest in the domestic affairs in Ukraine, with Republican Senator John McCain greeting the head of one of the neo-Nazi groups and US Assistant Secretary of State Nuland handing out cookies to Kiev protesters in December 2013:

From Interfax Ukraine (11/5/2013; emphasis is mine):

Large Ukrainian agricultural associations have prepared draft amendments to the law on the state biosecurity system in creating, testing, transportation and use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) regarding the legalization of genetically modified seeds.

President of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) Volodymyr Klymenko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine that the relevant appeal to the president, the head of the Verkhovna Rada and the heads of parliamentary factions was signed by six agricultural associations.

"We could mull over this issue for a long time, but we, jointly with the associations, have signed two letters to change the law on biosecurity, in which we propose the legalization of the use of GM seeds, which had been tested in the United Stated for a long time, for our producers," he said.

According to the UGA president, currently the GM seeds of corn and soybeans are used in the country in spite of the legislative ban. Talking about the use of foreign experience in this field, Klymenko said that "we will never take someone's seeds and will never be able to study them, because this requires decades. Ukraine's way forward in this issue is either to agree or not to."

According to the expert, the United States produces about 75% of corn and 95% soybeans from GM seeds. The European Union banned the cultivation of GM crops, but GM products are imported and used, in particular, in animal breeding, added Klymenko.

From Bloomberg News (1/6/2014; emphasis is mine):

China Rejecting U.S. Corn as First Shipment From Ukraine Arrives

China continued to reject corn cargoes from the U.S. that contained an unapproved genetically modified variety while accepting a first bulk-carrier shipment of the grain from Ukraine.

Genetically modified corn and corn-derived products totaling 601,000 metric tons were rejected in 2013, the official Xinhua News Agency reported today, citing the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. A Panamax-sized shipment of non-genetically modified corn from Ukraine entered the country on Dec. 6, according to a statement dated Dec. 25 on the website of state-owned China National Complete Engineering Corp.

The quarantine agency’s newest figure cited by Xinhua was 56,000 tons more than it announced on Dec. 19, showing the government’s continued screening of U.S. corn and and dried distillers’ grains, or DDGS, for the unapproved insect resistanr MIR 162 gene. Net corn sales to China from the U.S. in the seven days through Dec. 26 dropped by 116,000 tons from the previous week, according to a report on the website of U.S. Department of Agriculture.

China National Complete Engineering carries out overseas engineering projects, often funded by Chinese government, according to its website. It began to market grain from Ukraine last year under a contract that became effective December 2012, according to the Dec. 25 statement.

China’s Ministry of Agriculture said in May 2012 the country agreed to finance $3 billion worth agriculture projects in Ukraine in exchange for terms including rights to sell Ukrainian farm products.

Ukraine may export 18 million tons of corn in 2013-2014, tying it with Argentina as the third-biggest supplier behind the U.S. and Brazil, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast in December.

From CNBC (3/18/2014; part, emphasis is mine):

...Now everything from an unstable currency to tight credit threatens the spring planting season, and the uncertain outlook for the Ukrainian economy is a longer-term threat to the prediction by some of the biggest agricultural companies that a future Ukrainian corn belt will rival the U.S. market.

Ukraine and, to a wider extent, Eastern Europe, are among the most promising growth markets for farm-equipment giant Deere, as well as seed producers Monsanto and DuPont, said Michael Cox, senior analyst and research director at Piper Jaffray. Ukraine's growth is becoming even more important, as it will serve to counterbalance the South American farm markets, where overseas growth has been increasing in places like Argentina and Brazil for these companies.

..."It's the Western corporate farm operators that are pushing these new techniques,'' Cox said. "The U.S. has made this same transition. It took several decades, but that's as the technology was being developed. Since the technology and tools are readily available now, the improvement in yields could progress much faster in Eastern Europe.''

DuPont already has a corn seed production plant in Ukraine. Monsanto is building a $140 million seed plant that isn't open yet. Last week DuPont said in a regulatory filing that first-quarter earnings forecasts would be "challenged'' by the Ukraine crisis, which has caused delays in shipments of corn seed from its plant in Ukraine.

Here's Monsanto's current job openings in Kiev, Ukraine.

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Reuters Columnist on Obama's Promise to Defend Japan in Territorial Disputes: "Creating False Expectations"

Another bogus "red line", I suppose.

Reuters' columnist Anatole Kaletsky's take on Obama's promise to defend Japan militarily against China over Senkaku Islands (that's how it is understood in Japan) is that the US president created false expectation he has no intention of actually fulfilling.

I see. So indeed China is Russia, and Ukraine is Japan, as Reuters Japan's article compared the other day (see my post on April 24, 2014 for the quote from the article).

From Reuters (4/24/2014; emphasis is mine):

Abe’s disturbing lack of focus

President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia this week has focused mostly on Japan’s territorial disputes with China. On this issue, Obama seems to be repeating the same mistakes he made in Ukraine.

By creating false expectations of U.S. support for the Japanese position, the president is encouraging Japan to escalate its belligerent rhetoric. That, in turn, makes Chinese military action to seize the disputed islands more likely. Everyone knows that there is no chance of the United States going to war with China to defend Japan’s claim to four uninhabited lumps of rock.

Luckily, a military confrontation in the East China Sea remains highly unlikely because the Beijing government’s top priority is economic and financial reform. Unfortunately, this seems less true of Japan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attention seems to have shifted from economics to diplomacy and military matters — and financial markets have started to notice this disturbing change of focus. The clearest evidence can be seen in the relative performance of the Japanese stock market.

...The second reason for the Abe government’s new-found tolerance for an economic slowdown is directly connected to the rise of China. When Abe was elected in late 2012, his determination to revive the Japanese economy was significantly motivated by fears about China.

The worry was not that China had overtaken Japan as the world’s second-biggest economy and would eventually overtake the United States’ — even the most ardent Japanese nationalists see both these trends as inevitable. More troubling was growing evidence that China’s economic might was shifting the balance of interest in Washington from the traditional postwar friendship with Japan to cultivating better relations with China.

Given Japan’s dependence on U.S. military power, the shift of U.S. attention to China was alarming. Particularly to a fervent nationalist such as Abe, who has always cared passionately about winning Japan’s territorial disputes and rehabilitating its wartime reputation.

But with Obama’s words, the United States has now shown its willingness to antagonize China by promising to defend Japan unconditionally in any territorial disputes. These promises will almost certainly prove false in the event of a genuine military confrontation. But for the moment, they seem to have reassured Japanese politicians that Washington will continue to pay attention to Japan — even if it slides back into economic irrelevance.

(Full article at the link)

Japan's Nikkei Shinbun's article on April 29, 2014 by Nikkei's Washington Bureau is right on, which surprises me that they actually get it.

From Nikkei Shinbun (4/29/2014; part):

尖閣に日米安保適用　オバマ大統領の本心

Senkaku under US-Japan Security Treaty - President Obama's true intension

...環太平洋経済連携協定（ＴＰＰ）で果実を得るために、言葉だけで日本に「貸し」をつくることができるなら、お安いご用――。シリア問題の対処に象徴されるオバマ氏の軽い言葉と行動からはこんな疑問もつきまとう。

It would be an easy task, if he could do a favor to Japan with words only and receive a substantive gain in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in return. It makes one wonder, given Mr. Obama's words and deeds without gravity as symbolized (represented) by his handling of Syria.

Mr. Obama was all ready to go to war with Syria (backed by nuclear Russia) with youtube videos as evidence. Who needs gravity in this day and age?

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'Cui Bono' Over Ukraine: Toshiba/Westinghouse for One, Selling More Nuclear Fuel to Ukraine, But Russia Says It May Lead to "15 Chernobyl Disasters at a Time"

The US's Westinghouse, 100% owned by Japan's Toshiba, will be selling more nuclear fuel to nuclear power plants in Ukraine to make up for the potential supply disruption from Russia.

Never mind that Russian Vice Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin warns on his Facebook (link from Huffington Post Japan article) about a danger of using the US-made nuclear fuel in the Russian-made nuclear reactors in Ukraine.

As the FT article below quotes the vice president of Westinghouse, Ukraine is now the third largest nuclear power operator in Europe after France and the UK, with 50% of electricity from nuclear power.

From Financial Times (4/11/2014; emphasis is mine):

Westinghouse extends nuclear fuel deal with Ukraine

Westinghouse Electric Company has extended a contract with Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power operator, to supply fuel to plants until 2020.

The deal struck on Friday, valued at between $100m and $200m, will see the Toshiba-owned company supply 15 annual fuel supplies for initially two reactors, easing Ukraine’s dependence on Russia for fuel supplies as disputes between the two countries rumble on.

Russia has raised natural gas prices to Ukraine by 80 per cent and threatened to cut supplies altogether. This has left the government in Kiev to seek alternatives in order to diversify fuel supplies in its energy inefficient economy, as talks on importing gas from European markets via Slovakia drag on.

Mike Kirst, Westinghouse vice-president, said the group aims to be providing “roughly 20-25 per cent of Ukrainian nuclear fuel supply through 2020”.

The first supplies will be shipped to the South Ukraine nuclear power plant. Supplies to other Ukrainian nuclear reactors currently burning fuel from Russia’s TVEL will follow.

Mr Kirst described the deal as a “milestone” for Ukraine and Westinghouse.

“This contract would represent roughly between 5-10 per cent of our European fuel business. When you talk about a fleet of reactors that are 15, it could [reach] 20-25 per cent” of our business in Europe, he said.

Citing Ukrainian officials, Mr Kirst said Westinghouse fuel had proven less expensive for Ukraine “if you factor in” price and efficiency.

For Westinghouse, Ukraine is a big market. Mr Kirst added: “Ukraine is the third largest nuclear power civilian operator in Europe. France is number one. The UK number two. Now that the Germans have shut off much of their reactors, Ukraine moves into third. It is literally one of the largest markets in Europe, and very reliant on nuclear fuel getting about 50 per cent of its electricity from nuclear power.”

Here's The Voice of Russia, warning against Westinghouse's nuclear fuel (4/11/2014; emphasis is mine):

The use of US-made fuel in Ukrainian reactors may lead to 15 Chernobyl disasters at a time

Kiev is reducing cooperation with Russia in the field of nuclear power production and is going to sign a contract with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation of the United States for nuclear fuel supplies. Flaws have been repeatedly detected in Westinghouse-made fuel assemblies. Experts believe that the use of such assemblies will make Ukrainian nuclear reactors less reliable and may pose a threat to Ukraine’s nuclear safety.

Ukraine’s new authorities have clearly decided to ratchet down Kiev’s dependence on Russian nuclear fuel supplies and sign a contract to that end with the Westinghouse Corporation. But the move may result in a manmade disaster in Ukraine, since the nuclear power plants in Ukraine have been built from Soviet design an can safely operate only on the fuel made in the Russian city Elektrostal, says Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Natural Resources, Maxim Shingarkin, and elaborates.

"Every single reactor is normally built on the assumption that it will consume the nuclear fuel with specific characteristics, such as the amount of highly enriched uranium and certain thermal response. Any deviation may result in a nuclear accident. We can get as many as 15 Chernobyl disasters at a time, with a danger of such a scale to Ukraine, Russia and Europe that the entire world’s civilization will fail to cope with them".

Ukraine already signed a contract with Westinghouse, five years ago to be exact. US-made fuel assemblies caused problems in two generating units in less than a year. The assemblies began to bend themselves due to design flaws. But Ukraine managed to avoid a nuclear disaster then. Ukraine banned the Westinghouse-made nuclear rods from loading into its reactors. But the people currently at the helm in Kiev seem to be prepared to ignore the negative experience of using US-made fuel assemblies and to have them loaded into as many as three reactors at a time. This runs counter to the international nuclear safety and security standards, says the Chairman of the International Union of Atomic Energy and Industry Veterans, Evgeniy Akimov, and elaborates.

"This kind of experiment was made several years ago when Ukraine and the Czech Republic attempted to use US-made nuclear fuel rods. The results proved negative in both cases. The rods were removed, and the plants resumed the use of Russian-made fuel".

The use of Westinghouse-made fuel in Ukraine may put out Ukrainian reactors out of operation, prompt a discharge of radioactive substances into the atmosphere, cause the whole of Ukraine’s electric power production system to collapse and trigger and environmental catastrophe in Ukraine and beyond.

The Voice of Russia may be exaggerating, for the fear (if there is fear on their part) of losing the nuclear fuel business in Ukraine. But Mr. Maxim Shingarkin's comment above rings true.

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#Fukushima Reactor 3 MSIV Room Investigation: No Leak from Feed Pipes, Says TEPCO

Now to the real, very serious problem at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant and potentially far beyond.

Remember the highly contaminated water found leaking from the MSIV (Main Steam Isolation Valve) room in Reactor 3 in January this year?

The water contained high levels of radioactive cesium (1.7 million Bq/L of cesium-137) and all-beta (24 million Bq/L) that even TEPCO admitted it was not the water being injected into the reactor (treated water) and implicitly admitted that it was the water coming out of the reactor.

Without much fanfare or publicity, TEPCO did the preliminary investigation of the Reactor 3 MSIV room to identify the location of the leak on April 23 and inserted the report on the result in the Roadmap updated and announced on April 24, 2014. There has been hardly any press coverage since.

After reading and re-reading TEPCO's investigation report, I think I have adequately figured out what they are trying to say (and not say).

TEPCO's explicit conclusion: The leak is not from the two Feed Pipes, not from the two spare (reserve) penetrations.

TEPCO's implicit conclusion: The leak is from somewhere else, below the grating.

What's there, below the grating? TEPCO lists two potential leak locations that they will look into in May:

• Main Steam Pipe; or

• Main Steam Drain Pipe

And what TEPCO doesn't explicitly list?

• Main Steam Isolation Valve (MSIV) itself.

To recap, MSIV is, according to Fukushima I NPP worker "Sunny":

MSIV (Main Steam Isolation Valve) is a huge valve attached to the main steam pipe that connects the reactor building and the turbine building. When this valve closes, it means there is some extraordinary incident happening in the reactor core. Conversely, one might say that it would be a problem if this valve did not close in such an incident.

When the reactor scrammed on March 11, 2011, the MSIV should have promptly, securely closed, without breakage, without leak. It is not supposed to fail. Implications for nuclear reactors around the world would be grave, if it did.

From TEPCO's Reactor 3 MSIV room investigation and the preliminary result of the April 23, 2014 investigation from TEPCO's Roadmap latest version (4/24/2014; PDF pages 268 to 281, English labels are by me):

Page 274:

TEPCO inserted a pan-tilt camera, an endoscope, and a dosimeter from Main Steam (MS) Process Monitors that go through the floor of the Air Conditioning Machine Room located right above the MSIV room in Reactor 3.

The diagram on the left shows the types of penetrations between the MSIV room and Primary Containment Vessel (PCV):

Above the grating (investigated on April 23),

• Two spare (reserve) penetrations, marked "X-46, 47"

• Two feed pipes, marked "A" and "B"

Below the grating (to be investigated in May),

• Four Main Steam Pipes, marked "A", "B", "C", "D"

• One Main Steam Drain Pipe, marked "X-8"

Page 275: Summary of findings

Preparation (April 21, 22): Drilled three holes for MS Process Monitors
Result of investigation (April 23):

Sound of running water: heard from the Air Conditioning Machine Room through MS Process Monitors

Survey by the pan-tilt camera:

• There was no leak from the feed pipes.
• There was no leak above the grating.
• There was water on the floor below the grating.
  

Page 276: Feed Pipe A - no leak found

Page 278: No leak from spare penetration holes X-46 and X-47

Page 279: View through the grating - water seen flowing on the floor

Although there is no apparent leak above the grating, the pipes seen in the photos show stains and discoloration. Something did seem to have happened:

From TEPCO's photos and videos library, 4/14/2014:

Compared to the Reactor 3 MSIV Room, the Reactor 2 MSIV Room looks to be in pristine condition, both below and above the grating.

From TEPCO's photos and videos library, 4/16/2013:

I also remember anonymous workers at the plant saying they saw the first floor of the reactor building filled with steam, and that it could only be from the Main Steam Pipes. I think it was in the first or second week of the accident, but I don't remember which reactor building. It could have been Reactor 1.

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(OT) Slippery Slope of Reporting On and Reading About #Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant

"We haven't been able to sufficiently manage the plant" (Reuters Japan; see 4/21/2014 my post)

"there are certain parts of the site where we don't have full control" (Reuters English)

"out of control" (Zero Hedge, many readers around the world)

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"Fish caught in the harbor of the plant is highly contaminated" (Japanese media, my post from January 2013)

"Fish caught near Fukushima is highly contaminated" (Le Monde)

"Fish caught in Fukushima is highly contaminated" (readers of Le Monde and other foreign media)

"Fish caught in Japan is highly contaminated" (many readers around the world, Japanese readers who read translation of foreign-language media and blogs)

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"Work of removing the soil contaminated by the high-beta waste water leaked from the tank" (TEPCO's press release, 2/28/2014)

"Vast area of land around #Fukushima Daiichi w/ leaking #tank s, becoming a #radioactive marsh" (tweet):

Vast area of land around #Fukushima Daiichi w/ leaking #tank s, becoming a #radioactive marsh http://t.co/dCUBSmBuYR pic.twitter.com/FyiWbjRK66

— 朔　恵 (@azureneo) April 21, 2014

"A River Runs Through It, Not by it ☛ Reactors sinking in marshy ground." (tweet quoting the previous tweet):

@azureneo #FukushimaDaiichi A River Runs Through It, Not by it ☛ Reactors sinking in marshy ground. pic.twitter.com/WdyAeSmQdf

— MP Garza (@mpgarza2012) April 21, 2014

地盤がゆるゆるで原子炉が沈みかけています。川になってます。(tweet that kindly translates the above tweet for her Japanese followers, who in turn have retweeted her tweet more than 200 times):

地盤がゆるゆるで原子炉が沈みかけています。川になってます。RT@mpgarza2012 @azureneo #FukushimaDaiichi A River Runs Through It, Not by it pic.twitter.com/tiRyvlAnxW

— Nemesis (@zodiac0088) April 22, 2014

So for these people with these tweets and their followers, the waste water tanks are the reactors, and the dry bed of dirt and sand after the contaminated soil has been removed is either the marsh or the river.

Ditch the fact, embrace the "truth" like Ms. Obokata.

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President Obama Demanded Concessions from Prime Minister Abe on Free Trade Deal Based on Approval Ratings over $300 Sushi Dinner, Says Japanese Tabloid

Japan's tabloid daily Nikkan Gendai has an article with leaked information from Prime Minister Abe's ministers who anonymously shared their (and supposedly Prime Minister Abe's) disappointment over US President Obama, who was in Japan on a state visit.

While the US reporters accompanying the president on his Asian excursion asked tough questions like "Did you like green tea ice cream?" Nikkan Gendai's reporter wrote up an article condemning the Abe administration of complaining about Mr. Obama.

If what Nikkan Gendai reported is true, President Obama, instead of trying to foster personal ties with the Japanese prime minister on the occasion (private Sushi dinner at a sushi bar in Ginza, Tokyo where the minimum charge is $300 per person), dutifully represented the US multinational corporations who demand TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, or NAFTA on steroid, as if he were a working-level negotiator.

From Nikkan Gendai (4/26/2014; part):

...安倍首相は２５日夜、麻生財務相や菅官房長官らと東京・銀座の高級ステーキ店で会食。「（オバマとは）仕事の話ばかりだった」と愚痴をこぼした。２３日夜のすし外交の席ではこう切り出されたという。

Prime Minister Abe was joined by Finance Minister Aso and Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga on April 25 evening for a dinner at an exclusive steak restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo. Mr. Abe complained that "it was all business (with Obama)." According to Mr. Abe [as leaked by a participant to Nikkan Gendai reporter], Mr. Obama said to Mr. Abe on the sushi diplomacy on April 23 evening:

「安倍内閣の支持率は６０％台、私は４０％台だ。シンゾーは政治的に安定しているから、ＴＰＰ交渉で譲歩してくれ」

"The approval rating of the Abe administration is in 60s, mine is in 40s. Shinzo [Mr. Abe's first name] is more stable politically, so please make concessions in the TPP negotiation."

　安倍は「日本では僕よりケネディ大使の方が人気がある」とジョークでかわしたが、オバマは豚肉・牛肉などの関税率をスラスラとそらんじて、譲歩を迫り続けた。

Mr. Abe tried to deflect with a joke, saying "In Japan, Ambassador Kennedy is more popular than me." However, Mr. Obama kept pressing for concessions, citing the tariff rates for pork and beef.

「首相は『ＴＰＰのビジネスディナーだった。大統領って、冗談を言わないんだよ』と軽口を叩くと、出席者一同、『あの人はビジネスライク』『波長を合わせるのは難しい』などと言いたい放題だったようです。会食後に出席者のひとりがその様子を待機していた報道陣に漏らすものだから、瞬く間に首相の発言が広まった。米側の機嫌を損ねなければいいのですが……」（外務省関係者）

"Prime Minister jokingly said, "It was a business dinner on TPP. President Obama didn't crack a joke." The dinner participants chimed in, saying "He is business-like," and "It is difficult to be on the same wavelength with him." One of the participants leaked the words to the press waiting [outside the restaurant], who quickly spread the Prime Minister's remarks. I hope those words won't offend the United States..." (according to a source in Foreign Ministry)

The sushi dinner was reportedly $300 a person (minimum), which is not particularly expensive at all in an exclusive restaurant in Ginza. Mr. Abe and his ministers dined on $500 steaks, says Nikkan Gendai.

President Obama was in South Korea on Friday, telling the Korean president what she wants to hear on Korean "comfort women", just as he told Prime Minister Abe what he wanted to hear on Senkaku Islands.

The Abe administration is not pleased with Mr. Obama, who made the issue of "comfort women" into a political/diplomatic issue.

If China were on his itinerary, then, Mr. Obama would go on to condemn Japan over Senkaku Islands, following the pattern of saying what the host wants to hear.

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(OT) President Obama: US Is Obligated to Defend Japan Over Senkaku Islands

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has indicated as much, but it is the first official remark by the president of the United States.

So does he wants a nuclear war with China over some rocks in the ocean?

Looking at the way he was extremely willing to go to a "shock and awe" war with Syria (and Russia that supports the Syrian government) on a flimsy so-called piece of evidence (youtube video) of gas attacks (which turned out to be a false flag operation by the Turkish government, according to Seymour Hersh) and looking at the most recent "regime change" in Ukraine and unfolding mess, yes he is quite willing to risk a war with China, even if not necessarily nuclear.

Mr. Obama denies it is yet another infamous "red line"...

From Reuters (4/24/2014; part, emphasis is mine):

U.S. President Barack Obama assured ally Japan on Thursday that Washington was committed to its defendefensece [sic.], including of tiny isles at the heart of a row with China, but denied he had drawn any new "red line" and urged peaceful dialogue over the islands.

...Obama, on the start of a four-nation tour, is being treated to a display of pomp and ceremony meant to show that the U.S.-Japan alliance, the main pillar of America's security strategy in Asia, is solid at a time of rising tensions over growing Chinese assertiveness and North Korean nuclear threats.

"We don't take a position on final sovereignty determinations with respect to Senkaku, but historically they have been administered by Japan and we do not believe that they should be subject to change unilaterally and what is a consistent part of the alliance is that the treaty covers all territories administered by Japan," Obama said.

A bit convoluted way of saying it himself, but the advance statement before he arrived in Japan is much clearer and stronger.

Also from Reuters (4/23/2014; part, emphasis is mine):

U.S. President Barack Obama has assured Japan that tiny islands in the East China Sea at the heart of a territorial row with China are covered by a bilateral security treaty that obligates America to come to Japan's defence.

Obama gave the assurance in remarks published by the Yomiuri newspaper on Wednesday, hours before he was due to arrive in Tokyo for a visit aimed at reaffirming strong U.S.-Japan ties in the face of rising tensions over China and North Korea.

"The policy of the United States is clear - the Senkaku islands are administered by Japan and therefore fall within the scope of ... the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security," Obama said, referring to the disputed islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

"And we oppose any unilateral attempts to undermine Japan's administration of these islands," he said.

Reuters Japan's article has an additional take on the Senkaku comments by Obama which does not appear in the English article:

背景にあるのはウクライナ問題。東シナ海で日本、南シナ海でフィリピンなどと対立する中国と、ウクライナ南部のクリミア編入に踏み切ったロシアの姿が重なる。会見でオバマ大統領と安倍首相は、国際法を順守する重要性を強調し、「力を背景とした現状変更に反対する」と述べた。

Behind [President Obama's remarks] is the situation in Ukraine. China confronting Japan in East China Sea and the Philippines and other nations in South China Sea conjures the image of Russia that has re-incorporated Crimea in southern Ukraine. In the press conference, President Obama and Prime Minister Abe emphasized the importance of observing the international law, and said they oppose the change of status quo with the threat of force.

That's a good one, Mr. President. Your puppet regime in Ukraine was installed thanks to the use of force by neo-Nazi groups supported by your State Department and USAID.

(Oh wait, does that mean Japan is Ukraine? And Senkaku Island Crimea?)

(Photo from Reuters)

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Falsification in Vogue: Niigata Prefecture Lied about Potassium Iodide Pill Purchase, Received Government Subsidy for Non-Purchase

(UPDATE) Asahi Shinbun did an interview with Mr. Izumida (in Japanese, and in English translation, 4/23/2014). He laments there is no "world-class standard" in Japanese nuclear regulation and nuclear accident preparedness. He got that right. No mention of potassium iodide pills that didn't exist but were stored in a former high school building.

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It's ironic that it happened in a prefecture whose governor, Hirohiko Izumida, has won wide followings at least among net users by presenting himself as the champion and defender of citizens against evil TEPCO over Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant.

Izumida's government did not purchase potassium iodide pills and lied about it, and received the national government subsidy for the non-existent pills.

Well, since Mr. Izumida does not want to allow TEPCO to vent even in a severe nuclear accident at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, who needs those pills? Right?

From Kyodo News (4/22/2014):

３０キロ圏内、ヨウ素剤ゼロ　柏崎刈羽、購入済み装う

No potassium iodide pills inside 30-kilometer radius of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa NPP, [Niigata prefectural government] pretended they had purchased the pills

新潟県は２２日、東京電力柏崎刈羽原発（同県）の過酷事故に備え、２０１２年度中に同原発から１０～３０キロ圏の住民向けに配備予定だった安定ヨウ素剤約１３２万錠を、購入しないまま放置していたと発表した。

Niigata prefectural government announced on April 22 that 1.32 million potassium iodide pills to be distributed to residents during the fiscal 2012 [that ended in March 31, 2013] in areas within 10 to 30 kilometer from TEPCO Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant (in Niigata Prefecture) in preparation for a severe accident hadn't been purchased.

期限の１３年３月末までに調達できるめどがたたず、担当職員が手続きを中断。書類に「購入済み」と記入したため、周囲もチェックできず、国の交付金約８００万円が支払われていた。

The government employee in charge stopped the purchasing process when there was no prospect of procuring the pills by the end of March in 2013. The employee wrote "already purchased" in the document, and no one verified it. The subsidy of about 8 million yen (US$80,000) from the national government was paid based on the document.

購入予定だったヨウ素剤は、防災用倉庫として使っている旧興農館高校（新潟市）に配備したとして、事務処理されていた。県医務薬事課は「速やかに調達したい」としている。

The [phantom] potassium iodide pills that were supposed to have been purchased were "stored" at a former high school building in Niigata City which is now used as a disaster prevention warehouse, according to the paperwork. The medical and pharmaceutical section of the prefectural government says they intend to procure as quickly as possible.

Like that 30-year-old so-called researcher, this hapless government employee should have held a press conference and declared,

"Potassium iodide pills exist! Potassium iodide pills are the truth! I have seen them 200 times!"

and all would have been forgiven.

With teary eyes of course. Water-proof mascara and eyeliner, if available.

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Telephone Game for N+1 Time: From #Fukushima I NNP "Not Sufficiently Managed" to "Out of Control" in Three Simple Steps

It hasn't happened for some time, this telephone game over the Fukushima nuclear accident mostly due to translation errors (intentional and unintentional). The last one I wrote about in the English blog was in September 2013, and that was about the world as we knew back then ending because of the "collapsed" exhaust stack at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

I wrote about the not-so-brilliant comment by Mr. Akira Ono, plant manager of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, in an April 19, 2014 post. He said he would make the switches for emergency temporary pumps "tamper-proof", which I argued would defeat the purpose of easy access in an emergency.

In that same post, I also noted that Reuters had two different stories to tell in its Japanese article and its English article on the same topic of contaminated water routed to wrong buildings.

And as I suspected, the Reuters English article got quoted by the US media (I haven't checked the UK media) and morphed. It will be soon imported back to Japan as "credible and reliable English-language source which would always tell the truth".

It started out as a solid, fact-based article in Japanese by Reuters Japan (4/17/2014). Mr. Ono's comment comes in the very first paragraph (English translation is mine):

福島第１原発、汚染水の誤移送は「管理に不備」＝小野所長

Routing contaminated water to wrong buildings at Fukushima I Nuclear Power plant is due to "insufficient management", says Plant Manager Ono

福島第１原子力発電所の小野明所長は１５日の記者団とのやりとりで、約２０３トンの汚染水が本来とは別の建屋に誤って移送されたトラブルについて「恥ずかしい話。十分に管理できていない」などと語り、態勢の不備を認めた。調査を進め対策を講じるとしている。

Mr. Akira Ono, plant manager of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, spoke with the press on April 15 and commented on the problem of about 203 tonnes of contaminated water having been routed to wrong buildings, saying "I am ashamed. We haven't been able to sufficiently manage the plant (or we haven't been able to manage the plant as sufficiently as we would like)," admitting to inadequacy of the plant management. He said [the company] will investigate and come up with countermeasures.

Then, when the article was translated into English and arranged for English-speaking readers, three things happened.

First, the article title and the opening paragraph dropped the mention of routing water to wrong buildings and associated Mr. Ono's comment with contaminated water management in general.

Second, Mr. Ono's comment was translated incorrectly - even if it is not technically wrong, that's not what Japanese would understand hearing Mr. Ono.

Third, Mr. Ono's comment was severed from the context; then the context - that Mr. Ono was speaking about the particular incidence of routing water to wrong buildings - was placed after Mr. Ono's comment.

And this is the end result, also by Reuters but in English (4/17/2014; emphasis is mine):

Manager at Japan's Fukushima plant admits radioactive water "embarrassing"

The manager of the Fukushima nuclear power plant admits to embarrassment that repeated efforts have failed to bring under control the problem of radioactive water, eight months after Japan's prime minister told the world the matter was resolved.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, the plant's operator, has been fighting a daily battle against contaminated water since Fukushima was wrecked by a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government pledged half a billion dollars last year to tackle the issue, but progress has been limited.

"It's embarrassing to admit, but there are certain parts of the site where we don't have full control," Akira Ono told reporters touring the plant this week.

He was referring to the latest blunder at the plant: channeling contaminated water to the wrong building.

This naturally invited one English-language media outlet called "nsnbc" to totally separate Mr. Ono's comment, and added some fluff on their own to create a familiar fantasy world of doom.

From nsnbc (4/19/2014):

TEPCO’s Fukushima Manager: “Embarrassing, but we don’t have control”

TEPCO’s manager of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP), Akira Ono, has begun to come clean on contamination control at the site. Akaira Ono broke the iron discipline admitting that it is embarrassing, but TEPCO’s attempts to plug the leaks of radioactive water have failed. But have Ono and TEPCO really begun to come clean? The site is so volatile that an earthquake could force TEPCO to abandon the site and a meltdown of tons of spent fuel rods.

Making that statement, the manager of what, arguably, is the world’s most hazardous work site, the Fukushima Daiichi manager contradicted last year’s statements by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that the situation at the nuclear power plant was under control. Talking to journalists, Akira Ono said:

“It is embarrassing to admit it, but there are certain parts of the site where we don’t have full control”.

Then finally, "I am ashamed, we haven't been able to sufficiently manage the plant" turned "embarrassing...we don't have full control" turned "we don't have control" has turned into "out of control" today.

From Zero Hedge (4/21/2014; emphasis is mine):

Fukushima Manager Admits Water Woes "Out Of Control", Refutes Lies By PM Abe

...As Japan Times reports, the manager of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has embarrassingly admitted that repeated efforts have failed to bring under control the problem of radioactive water.

Zero Hedge quotes Japan Times, which is the Reuters English article.

At any moment now, I am fully expecting a tweet in Japanese proclaiming "See, the plant is totally out of control! It's all in the English language media! They must be right! We aren't told the truth!"

(The last I heard, the truth is STAP cells , which Ms. Obokata encountered more than 200 times. Maybe TEPCO needs to hire Ms. Obokata as a spokeswoman who would exclaim, with tears in her eyes with full makeup and neatly curled tresses, "The plant is under control! It's the truth! I've seen it 200 times!" Maybe male journalists would then flock to her defense...)

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"Now They Tell Us" UK Version: UK Government Admits to Mistake of Siting Nuclear Waste Dump Near Sellafield

Now they tell us, but they also tell us any nuclear waste leak due to erosion would start in a few hundred years at the earliest, when all of us will be gone.

From The Guardian (4/20/2014; emphasis is mine):

Cumbrian nuclear dump 'virtually certain' to be eroded by rising sea levels

One million cubic metres of waste near Sellafield are housed at a site that was a mistake, admits Environment Agency


Britain's nuclear dump is virtually certain to be eroded by rising sea levels and to contaminate the Cumbrian coast with large amounts of radioactive waste, according to an internal document released by the Environment Agency (EA).

The document suggests that in retrospect it was a mistake to site the Drigg Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) on the Cumbrian coast because of its vulnerability to flooding. "It is doubtful whether the location of the LLWR site would be chosen for a new facility for near-surface radioactive waste disposal if the choice were being made now," it says.

The EA document estimates that the one million cubic metres of radioactive waste disposed of over the last 55 years by the civil and military nuclear industry at the site, near the Sellafield nuclear complex in west Cumbria, is going to start leaking on to the shoreline in "a few hundred to a few thousand years from now".

The agency voices concerns about "the potential appearance on the beach and in its accessible surroundings, during the process of erosion, of discrete items carrying a significant burden of radioactivity individually". They could range from tiny particles to larger objects such as hand tools that have become contaminated during use at Britain's nuclear sites then subsequently disposed of at Drigg, the document says.

Officials at the EA are considering a plan by the companies that run Drigg to dispose of a further 800,000 cubic metres of waste there over the next 100 years. This will include radioactive debris from Britain's nuclear power stations, nuclear submarines, nuclear weapons, hospitals and universities.

Environmentalists argue that continuing to use the site is "unethical, unsustainable and highly dangerous". But this is rejected by Drigg's operators, who describe the risks as "insignificant".

The EA document, dated 9 January 2014, sets out the agency's latest assessment of the risks of coastal erosion at Drigg. It was released by the EA this month in response to a request from The Guardian.

Erosion from storms and rising sea levels caused by climate change has "emerged as the expected evolution scenario" for Drigg, it says. Experts have concluded that this is almost bound to happen.

Although Drigg was meant to be for low-level radioactive waste, there are fears that some of the disposals in the past may have included higher-level wastes. The rest of the nuclear industry's medium and high-level wastes are still awaiting an agreed disposal route, with successive UK governments failing for decades to find a deep burial site.

The site, which covers about 110 hectares, is between five and 20 metres above sea level. It is run by a consortium led by the US engineering company URS, the French state-owned nuclear company Areva, and the Swedish nuclear firm Studsvik. The consortium has already been asked by the EA to look at options for improved flood defences.

According to Ian Parker, the EA's nuclear regulation group manager in Cumbria, the agency had reached its latest conclusions after detailed technical assessments. "It's highly probable the coast will erode and the waste will be disrupted," he said.

The EA was taking "a very conservative approach" to reduce risks to future generations, he argued. Further public consultations on the proposal to keep using the site were due in the autumn, and no final decision would be taken until next year.

Drigg's operator, LLW Repository Ltd, said it had introduced new restrictions on the amounts of radioactivity that can be disposed of at the site in order to make sure that radiation doses to people will be "very small" if the wastes are exposed by coastal erosion.

The company's head of science and engineering, Dr Richard Cummings, accepted that erosion could start "in a few hundred years". But he added: "The radioactivity in the wastes will largely have decayed away by this time."

Carrying on disposing of waste at Drigg was sustainable and ethical because future generations would be given the same protection as now, Cummings said. "The stringent regulatory requirements we have to meet ensure that even if people in the future forget about the repository and the wastes disposed there, the effects will be insignificant."

But Martin Forward, from Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment, pointed out that more than 1,200 radioactive particles from Sellafield had been found on nearby beaches in recent years. "The potent threat of rising sea levels makes the future use of the site unsustainable, unethical and highly dangerous for future generations," he said.

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(OT) US President Obama to Visit Meiji Jingu Shrine as a State Guest in Japan

WTF??

A state minister in Mr. Shinzo Abe's cabinet, Mr. Keiji Furuya, visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine is at least explainable. But the president of the United States visiting the shrine that enshrines Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken as god and goddess?

What's the point?

To honor the current emperor by paying respect to his great-grandfather, I suppose.

Emperor Meiji is the great-grandfather of the current emperor of Japan, although his great-grandmother is a concubine of Emperor Meiji. (The Empress was childless.) Meiji Jingu shrine was built in 1920.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel went to Chidorigafuchi Cemetery to honor the war dead when they visited Japan in October 2013. There I thought it was the beginning of a new tradition that would help de-emphasize Yasukuni. I was wrong.

Visiting Meiji Jingu shrine seems devoid of meaning, which fits Mr. Obama's presidency rather well.

From The Japan News by Yomiuri (4/20/2014):

Obama will visit Meiji Jingu, museum during tour

WASHINGTON—The White House said Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Meiji Jingu shrine during his stay in Japan, as part of his tour to four Asian countries in late April.

Detailed schedules of Obama’s trip have also been released.

Obama will have a private dinner meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday, and on Thursday they will hold a summit meeting to demonstrate unity between Japan and the United States toward the international community.

Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit Japan as a state guest in 18 years, since a visit by then U.S. President Bill Clinton. Obama will stay in Japan from Wednesday to Friday.

After leaving Japan on Friday he will then visit South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

The private dinner will be held soon after Obama’s arrival in Japan, on Wednesday evening.

According to sources knowledgeable on Japan-U.S. relations, they will dine outside the prime minister’s official residence with the intention of deepening their relationship in a relaxed atmosphere.

On Thursday morning Obama will attend a welcome ceremony in the Imperial Palace, followed by the summit meeting and a joint press conference.

In the afternoon, the U.S. leader will visit the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation and Meiji Jingu shrine, before meeting with Japanese business leaders.

In the evening, Obama will attend a banquet at the Imperial Palace.

At a press conference Friday, National Security Advisor Susan Rice commented on Obama’s forthcoming tour of Asian countries, saying that it will be an important opportunity to clearly express the United States’ continuing focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

Despite being a "state guest", the status of which will cost the host country extra few million and require Japan's Emperor and Empress to host a lavish banquet for the guest, Mr. Obama won't be accompanied by his wife, leaving many Japanese puzzled.

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