Friday, August 5, 2011

Japanese Government Plans to Allow Residents within 3 Kilometer Radius of Fukushima I Nuke Plant to Return Temporarily

This has got to be the biggest "Extend and Pretend" stunt so far by the power that be in Japan. Everything's under control. Fukushima I Nuke Plant is stable. TEPCO has submitted the plan for emergency cooling systems, which was immediately approved by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency the very next day. Everything's fine.

The Japanese government wants to have the residents within the 3-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuke Plant to return temporarily.

Which towns fall within the 3-kilometer radius? Okuma-machi and Futaba-machi where Fukushima I is located. Okuma-machi is is also where plutonium was found in the soil back in April.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (2:07PM JST 8/6/2011):

細野原発相は6日午前、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所から3キロ・メートル圏内について、住民の一時帰宅の検討に入る意向を示した。福島市で佐藤雄平福島県知事と会談後、記者団に語った。

Goshi Hosono, minister in charge of nuclear plant accident [and assistant to the prime minister], indicated that the government will start planning for a temporary return of the residents within the 3-kilometer radius from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. He spoke with the press after he met with Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato in Fukushima City.

 細野氏は、「安全が大原則だが、(3キロ・メートル圏内の一時帰宅の)可能性を本格的に検討しないといけない時期に来ている」と述べた。ただ、原発周辺はなお放射線量が高いとし、「慎重な対応が求められる。どういった手順で、どれくらいのタイミングでやれるかしっかり考えたい」とも語った。

Mr. Hosono said, "Safety is the most important, but we're now reaching the point where we need to seriously discuss the possibility (of returning the residents in the 3-kilometer radius temporarily)." However, he said the radiation level around the power plant was still high, and continued, "A cautious approach is called for. We will need to decide on the procedure and the timing."

We're now reaching the point??

Now that the radiation levels inside Fukushima I Nuke Plant are expressed in "SIEVERTS", we're reaching the point where the residents closest to the plant can return?

August 6 by the way is the day that the Little Boy was dropped in Hiroshima. As one anti-nuke site that plans a demonstration in front of TEPCO's main office in the middle of Ginza, Tokyo says:

It was awful 66 years ago. It is awful 66 years later. Goodbye nuke, goodbye TEPCO.

Aren't we reaching the point of saying "Goodbye government"?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wait, what? I seriously hope they're just going to bus the people in to retrieve the contents of their safes, then back out again and into decon ASAP.

Anything else would be criminal. As in "manslaughter", "causing grievous bodily harm", "reckless endangerment" etc.

mike in tokyo rogers said...

"Goodbye government" would be the best thing we could ever do. I am, to this day, astounded that people still insist on having the government take over TEPCO or run the crippled nuclear power plants... The same government that has run the Japanese economy into the ground with debt at 200% + of GDP? The same government that can't even repair a pot hole in the road on time and within budget and people want them to take more control?

Anonymous said...

Pfft, return to get their contents and safes?
One couple went back on their own actually, recorded that as usual the zone close to the plants were 42 msv as thought, and also discovered that EVREY ATM, BANK, DRUG STORE, LOCAL SHOP has been broken into and robbed of cash, TVs and everything valuable. I say the mafia got a hold of them, resell junk and keep the cash...

Richard said...

With radiation being found in the region you've got to imagine any return would be temporary.

Even if you were determined to stay a long time, you're very existance would be temporary.


...
On a side note - ie, the silence of MSM. A search of Obama and Exelon may provide some insight.


...
As always, thank's for you're continuing efforts.

Anonymous said...

Well, the owner / writer of this site has been remarkabky polite, cool and exact during these almost five months of day after day bad news poping up like crazy. He shows some bad temper here and in the previous post about schools.
I can understand that.
I am european, my wife is japanese, we live together in Europe, work with Europeans and Japanese, and we spend a few months in Japan every year.
I read Spinoza when I was at school, and I would never imagine to mix up with japanese politics.
But the way japanese powers handle this awful event is astounding.
At anon 12:50 AM that's also what I was told : maximum looting in the forbidden zone. But at a meeting with japanese people -in english only- they compared to Katarina hurricane in the US and prouded themselves "oh but we have no looting here".

There is something wrong here, very deep. It makes me sad.

Anonymous said...

There is something wrong in Japan, as I wrote, but I read the eco news today, and I see Europe is not that bad at making crazy headlines - although we get a lot of help from our friends US and the British.

nika said...

anonymous 2:16 - the problem is, with multinational corporations and rogue states like the US and China - there are no boundaries or national pride (which is based on manufactured ideals pumped out by the corporate owned press) - no - Things are really globalized because the people who pull and push the levers are a very few at the very top of the financial heap. They need resources (land, materials, cheap labor) and it simply does not matter where it is on the planet, they have $$ and so they will access it.

If the human condition of most of the world's people were of their concern then the world would be very different. Its not because the type of person that rises to that level (captains of industry and the bimbo wives they bring along on their arms and the pampered and nannied heirs) self-select - by the very nature of what it takes to compete in their world - self-select to be greedy & entitled and to be wholly lacking in empathy, accountability, compassion, a sense of belonging to the group of us as a whole.

Its from that self-referential miasma that flows the sort of insane situation that we have in Fukushima today but also across the world in so many other locations and situations.

The powerful (rich) will not intentionally release their power (riches).

Ask the French with pitch forks and rocks back in 1789.

Anonymous said...

"Aren't we reaching the point of saying "Goodbye government"?"

What, and go back to the LDP? The same party that's patting itself on the back for killing child-rearing allowances? Whilst happily supporting the monstrous nuclear industry built under their watch?

I notice you didn't post any articles about the cosy ties between nuclear power companies and the LDP - pretty well all of Japanese MSM mentioned it. Are you a postal LDP voter?

Anonymous said...

I don't think that returning to the old previous party will make things better. The LDP seats even closer to the industries.
But that is what Japan will get. Even more secrecy and denial. As the opposition, they are very weak claiming more protection to people. It gets more scary.
The costs of protecting the people would be lower than the costs of covering up everything.
Because the costs of denial includes very high health and legal related costs. The citizen should not allow the country to be let going banckrupt like this.

Anonymous said...

hahaha!!!! 3 kilometers away... return temporarily... oh yes!!! that is absolutely, definitely, precisely, temporary cause they are going to die in there,,, with the very high radiation?....returned within 3kilometers? can`t believed the gov`t can do that.... and who will going to return in that radiated ground ??? maybe ignorance is great but i believe that still there is a remaining common sense...what is going on with the japs. gov`t???? are they trying to show to the whole world that everything is alright? this is fucking shit!!!! people and the whole world knew that there`s nothing they can do about it... don`t buy anything from japan,,, sabotage!!!! we don`t need radiated foods, appliances, cars, people should tie together in one ,,,, against the heartless, brutal authorities. japanese people need radiation detectors, the gov`t authorities need LIE detectors... murderer!!!!!

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

I've been accused of many things in the comment section before, and me as an LDP supporter has to be pretty high up in the scale of hilarity, and that's just because I don't mention the party name in the blog. Very funny. Thanks for the laugh.

Anonymous said...

I can already imagine the world news announcing return of people within the 3km zone.
Radio Canada will say something like this:
"progress in control of the fukushima power plant makes it possible for people to go back. Radiation are said to be high, but are said to cause no short term heatlh effect", and that will be it.
Canadian Government is even worst than the japanese government in this catastrophic event. I don't think there is worst on earth today. At least in the US West coast, there are some concerns though with a lot of denial, in Canada, it is all and only denial. I am really ashamed of my Government.
This will be an international PR campain to make a strong stance to the world the Fukushima is now under control. Every governments and their associated news agency pets will give a strong push support to Japan TEPCO propaganda. World will start to think away from Fukushima, though it is slowly growing into a worstening nightmare with 3 possible unimaginable scenarios: 1- levels of radiation increasing too much for workers to work anymore and slow degradation of conditions leading to critical explosion, 2- critical explosion (risks exist still today) or another hydrogen explosion can't be excluded, 3- follow up strong earthquake leading to physical damages causing explosion(s),4- slow melt through reaching cold water source leading to explosion. As Michio Kaku is saying, TEPCO is hanging by their fingernails and noting more than that. The true normal scenario now for Fukushima is another explosion with poor hope that it can be avoided. I do have this fear that only TEPCO clowns are handling it because I don't hear about any international expert group trying to solve this. Very scary to think about this. It seems all government are puting their head in the sand.

Anonymous said...

@ laprimavera
Thanks for your answer. Laughing is good.

Anonymous said...

"Canadian Government is even worst than the japanese government in this catastrophic event. I don't think there is worst on earth today. At least in the US West coast, there are some concerns though with a lot of denial, in Canada, it is all and only denial. I am really ashamed of my Government. "

This ^^ is something we all knew was going to happen once they ramped up development of the tar sands. We all knew it was going to ravage the environment. Same type of players -- energy companies.

We're watching a highly parallel result in the U.S. with fracking. Claims of no contamination, only one 'recorded' in the '80s and the rest suppressed in sealed court decisions. see the NYTimes article

How's that for arrogating powers to themselves, with judges sealing records pertaining to the public's health!

Anonymous said...

"For decades, oil and gas industry executives as well as regulators have maintained that a drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, that is used for most natural gas wells has never contaminated underground drinking water."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04natgas.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=fracking&st=cse

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