#Nuclear Japan: Fukui Prefecture Handed the Blacked-Out SPEEDI Simulation Map to Green Peace Japan to "Show" the Effect of Release of Radioactive Iodine in a Severe Accident at Ooi Nuke Plant

(If you can see it, that is.)

If you think TEPCO was hiding something when the company first produced the document that was almost completely blacked out to the Diet Independent Investigation Commission back in September last year, wait till you see this map.

It's a SPEEDI simulation map, done at the request from Shiga Prefecture to assess the risk of a severe accident at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant and shared with Fukui Prefecture, where Ooi Nuclear Power Plant is located. Shiga Prefecture is downwind from Ooi Nuclear Power Plant. Green Peace Japan requested the map from Fukui Prefecture under the freedom of information request, and this is what the Fukui prefectural government gave to Green Peace on May 9, 2012.

The map is blacked out except for Shiga Prefecture, the prefecture who originally requested the SPEEDI simulation, even though Green Peace's request was for the SPEEDI map that shows Fukui Prefecture, which is located to the west of Shiga. The map is supposed to show, in different colors, the dose equivalent at thyroid for Fukui Prefecture in case of a severe accident at Ooi Nuclear Power Plant that would release a huge amount of radioactive materials including iodine-131.

From Green Peace Japan's post on June 19, 2012, soon after the government decided to restart Ooi Nuclear Power Plant:

This is the map that the Fukui prefectural government disclosed to the Fukui residents: a blacked-out map that doesn't even show Fukui Prefecture.

Why?

Green Peace Japan's page has the scanned document from Fukui Prefecture that gives the reason for the blackout:

滋賀県および福井県が行う防災対策に係る事務に関する情報であって、公にすることにより、当該事務の適正な遂行に支障を及ぼすおそれがあるため

It is the information that has to do with the disaster response measures to be undertaken by Shiga Prefecture and Fukui Prefecture, and there is a possibility that the proper execution of the measures may be hindered by making the information public.

Alright then, Fukui Prefecture must at least have such countermeasures in place for a "severe accident" like it happened at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, correct? No, says Green Peace and Fukui Prefecture. In another document on the site, Fukui Prefecture says:

Since we haven't done the simulation of a "severe accident" that releases iodine-131 at 10^16 to 10^17 becquerels/hour, there is no information to disclose.

So what DID the Fukui prefectural government do? Tokyo Shinbun in June this year had this article (I don't know the exact date, but it is about Green Peace Japan's freedom of information request to Fukui Prefecture.) The article says, toward the end:

In the fiscal 2011, Ministry of Education and Science gave Fukui Prefecture 24 SPEEDI simulation maps each for Ooi Nuclear Power Plant and Mihama Nuclear Power Plant. The amount of radioactive material release that Fukui Prefecture set for the SPEEDI simulation calculation was the same as before the Fukushima accident, about one-millionth of the amount of iodine-131 released per hour at Fukushima.

So, the Noda administration lied through their collective teeth when Prime Minister Noda and top ministers said Ooi Nuclear Power Plant and KEPCO could easily deal with an accident similar to the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident. The Fukushima accident was a "severe accident", but they didn't even do the severe accident simulation for Ooi Nuclear Power Plant. How would they know that they could easily deal with a severe accident they didn't even plan for?

PM Noda said again and again that he would be personally responsible for the safe operation of Ooi Nuclear Power Plant. Now, I can only take it to mean that he is responsible as long as the plant operates safely, but he is not responsible if the plant doesn't operate safely.

But this map really takes the cake. Move on, nothing to see here, literally.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Control Over the Independent Press Getting Tighter

Now, with the "unified" press conference (Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Nuclear Safety Commission, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Tokyo Electric Power Company including Mr. Hosono, Secretary General of the Unification headquarters of measures for Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident) coming, you will have to belong to a press club approved by the Japanese government if you want to attend the press conference.

This is how a fascist government controls the press.

What about those that do not belong to the establishment press clubs? Internet-based journalists and freelance journalists are the ones who have been breaking news about the Fukushima accident ignored by the Japanese MSM.

Yes, there is a press club for Internet-based journalists called "Internet News Association of Japan" but there are only 5 corporate members of that Association who pay 120,000 yen for the annual corporate membership, and they are not accepting any individual members. It looks like a very flaky organization, but for some unknown reason the government has accepted them as a legit press club. (Maybe the founders of the Association are friends of the government officials.) It looks almost as if this Association was set up to exclude the truly independent, freelance journalists and net-based news organizations.

The only way the freelance journalists to qualify to attend the unified presser is to submit, among other information, more than two articles with their bylines that appeared in the major news outlets that are the members of accepted press clubs, and hope for the best. (For specific details on how to qualify and how to attend the conference - which entrance to use, how to exit the building, etc. - see here.)

One of the freelance journalists in Japan who has been tirelessly uncovering the information that the government and TEPCO have tried to suppress may be one of those who will be excluded from the unified press conference, as his company doesn't belong to any of the approved press clubs.

Yasumi Iwakami's USTREAM channels have been live-streaming every single press conference in its entirety given by TEPCO and Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency since the accident. When I watched the hour-long presser the other day when NISA's Nishiyama announced Level 7, 11,000 people were watching with me. But that's precisely why the government wants to exclude journalists like him. Unedited, full coverage of the press conference? Oh the horror! The masses don't need to know everything, do they? They should be fed a snippet here and a snippet there from the long-established friends of the government.

From TEPCO's press release (their English; 4/23/2011):

Unification headquarters of measures for Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident

From Monday, April 25, 2011, Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Nuclear Safety Commission, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Tokyo Electric Power Company including Mr. Hosono, Secretary General of the Unification headquarters of measures for Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident, decide to hold a joint press conference in the third (3rd) floor meeting room of the Tokyo Electric Power Company head office where there is put the headquarters, once in the afternoon (at around 5:00 PM).

In addition, the participation of the following people can attend this press conference.

1.Member of Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association

2.Member of Japan Specialized Newspapers Association

3.Member of Japan Local Newspaper Association

4.Member of National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan

5.Member of Japan Magazine Publishers Association

6.Member of Internet News Association of Japan

7.Member of Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) and holder of
Foreign Press Registration Card

8.The person equivalent to the member or holder listed above 1 to 7,
reinterprets the issuance media based on objective, substance and
performance.

9.The person who provides articles to the medium above which the medium
publishes regularly (as it is called "freelance").

We would like to request the people of the media to make an arrangement following a predetermined procedure listed in an attached sheet, and pre-registration is required. (Referred to the HP of Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency)

In addition, we request the participant adheres closely to a news ethical standards and at the time of an entering a building procedure or movement, please follow the instructions of the staff. In case you do not to follow the instructions, we may ask you to go out of the building.

[Reference about the pre-registration]

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency Emergency Response Center (ERC)
public relations squad: kyodokishakaiken-toroku@meti.go.jp
*We do not accept any inquiry over the telephone.

A "news ethical standards". That's a good one, TEPCO and NISA.

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War Bill H.R. 2346 Is Set To Be Approved, After All

Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 (H.R. 2346) is set to be approved, after negotiations between House and Senate and the White House resulted in the "compromise".

U.S. Lawmakers to Vote on $106 Billion War Measure
(6/12/09 Bloomberg):

"U.S. lawmakers are set to approve a $106 billion war-spending bill after President Barack Obama said he would use “every legal and administrative remedy available” to block the release of photos of troops abusing detainees."

There goes Freedom of Information, and that was the position of the administration to begin with.

"Lawmakers crafting the war-spending bill also defeated an attempt to remove from it a “cash for clunkers” provision offering as much as $4,500 to those trading in cars for more fuel-efficient models.

"Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, estimated the provision would result in 250,000 cars being traded in. It would cost taxpayers $1 billion."

So they managed to put this back in, just like they wanted from the beginning. And this applies only to new car purchase, and as long as the new car's fuel efficiency is better than your old car that's OK. It would cost only $1 billion, and taxpayers are going to pay for it anyway. A chump change.

By the way, Mr. Durbin apparently made some shrewed investment decision back in September 2008 after he was in discussions with Messrs. Paulson and Bernanke (sorry, Dr. Bernanke) along with his Congressional colleagues, before the market started to crash in earnest in late September-early October. On September 19, the day he sold his mutual fund holdings, Dow had a huge up-day; it ended at 11,388. Then he put his money on Berkshire Hathaway by October 2, which shows there is some justice left in the world. (Didn't Martha Stewart have to go to prison for insider trading?)

"The bill also will approve an Obama request for $108 billion in aid, mostly in the form of a line of credit, to the International Monetary Fund to help it deal with the global recession. Lawmakers appropriated $5 billion to secure the aid."

Uh huh. It also happens to come with over $100 billion loan guarantee to IMF.

If IMF thing is in, World Bank thing should be in, too. To fight poverty in the world. Oh I see. It's a war. War against poverty. Only $4 billion. Big deal, right?

What compromise? It sure looks like the administration got everything they wanted. Here's my post when the bill was still in negotiation. The bill will also authorize Treasury Secretary Geithner to instruct IMF to sell part of IMF's gold. China must be laughing and saying "Oh, thank you so much, Timmy". Tim will also get to beat up on various development banks to adopt green gas accounting.

I don't think the U.S. economy will have much chance of surviving, not to mention thriving, under the government like this. Today's stock market agrees with me. It is selling off all day, just quietly selling off.

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