This is another clearinghouse diary for discussion and commentary about the ongoing nuclear disaster(s) in Japan. For updated information on news and a timeline of the events following the March 11 Japanese Earthquake, visit the Mothership. The Mothership is updated regularly and also provides a more extensive list of news and data sources, social media, crisis mapping and other relevant information.
If you would like to recommend this diary feel free to do so. All previous liveblogs published to the Japan Nuclear Incident group can be found here. The group also serves as an archive for Coverage@Kos. (For more details on this ongoing 24/7 breaking news resource and information on how to follow this @ Kos, please read below the fold.)
April 22, 2011 JST: Day 42 since the 11 March 9.0 Earthquake & ensuing Tsunami devastated the NorthEast Coat of Japan,leading to an International Level 7 disaster at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Latest News: Due to threat of long-term radiation exposure, residents of five towns & villages beyond 20-kilometer evacuation zone formally advised to leave within one month .... 20-kilometer radius now officially a no-entry zone … TEPCO estimates 520-ton radioactive water dumped into sea ... Several Japanese women test positive for radioactive iodine-131 in breast milk with highest contamination case found 150 miles from Fukushima ... TEPCO official Junichi Matsumoto compares possible No 1 meltdown to “a state in which molten fuel accumulates like lava.”
Combined Sources: Kyodo, NHK, Fukushima Wiki Spaces,
Japan bans residents from remaining within 20-km of Fukushima plant
Japan imposed a no-entry zone midnight Thursday prohibiting residents from remaining within a 20-kilometer radius of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to enhance control of evacuees amid continued fears of radiation leaks.
The no-entry zone came into effect following a meeting between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato at the prefectural office on Thursday, in which Kan told Sato to upgrade the current evacuation instruction for residents in the area.
Sato, emerging from a 35-minute meeting with Kan, told reporters he had called on the premier to thoroughly explain the new step to the municipalities subject to the legally binding ''caution areas.''
TEPCO estimates 520-ton radioactive water into sea
Tokyo Electric Power Company says radioactive substances that leaked into the sea at the damaged Fukushima plant over six days from April 1st are estimated at 4,700 terabecquerels. This is 20,000 times more than the annual allowable limit at the complex.
At a news conference on Thursday, Tokyo Electric said it calculated the total amount of leaked water assuming that the leak began on April 1st. The leak of contaminated water from a pit of the Number 2 reactor was found on April 2nd and was stopped four days later using liquid glass.
The utility firm said that 520 tons of the high-level radioactive water is likely to have leaked into the sea during the period.
Japan Misses Early Opportunity to Deploy UAVs at Stricken Fukushima Plant
The Japan Times online revealed on Monday, April 18 that the U.S. government, through the Department of Defense, working with Lockheed Martin and manufacturer Kaman Aerospace, approached the Japanese government with an offer to supply an unmanned K-MAX helicopter with full support and 20 volunteer specialists to fly to Japan at short notice.
Industry sources have added that the unmanned rotorcraft, which has already undergone stringent cargo carrying tests with the U.S. Marine Corps, could have been deployed early to lift water or even cement above the leaking fuel rods as the Chinook crew were attempting to do, in a bid to try and cover them. With a sensor on the front of the remotely piloted aircraft, and with the operators controlling it from a safe distance, the early efforts to cover the rods could have met with significantly more success.
Flower message to cheer up quake survivors
The husband-and-wife owners of a cafe in Takamatsu City, western Japan, have created flower messages to encourage the country's recovery from the March 11th disaster.
A garden attached to the cafe, owned by Masayuki Inokuma and his wife Emiko, is carpeted with pink moss flowers. About 250,000 plants are currently in full bloom.
The pair created a 5x35-meter flower arrangement forming the phrase "Gambaro Nippon" or "Let's hang in there Japan".
The couple began planting the flower arrangement a week after the disaster to cheer up the survivors of the quake and tsunami in northern Japan.
In another arrangement, moss pinks are planted in the image of a bluebird, a symbol of hope and happiness to the devastated areas.
Fukushimia data as of 4/21 from daily Scribble Live report (linked below)
TEPCO re-evaluation of results: translate.google.com 21 Apr 13:00 plant parameters: www.meti.go.jp 21 Apr radiation monitoring: www.meti.go.jp 21 Apr radionuclide measurement: www.meti.go.jp 21 Apr NISA Report 106: www.meti.go.jp 21 Apr NISA Report 105: www.meti.go.jp 21 Apr 16:00 JAIF Status: www.jaif.or.jp Georgia Japan data in English: translate.google.com
JNI Team Analysis
Dear JAIF, You Missed Some Spots by middleagedhousewife
OK, this is curious -- drywell, sup chamb rad readings. h/t middleagedhousewife
Remember the datapage was reporting them through the 15th, then stopped reporting anything. TEPCO, after the surge on Apr 8th stopped reporting the unit 1 drywell readings. That hasn't changed.
DOE cumulative radiation estimates are out h/t peraspera,
Top News Finds by JNI Team 4/21
Silver lining in sight for makers of solar panels h/t ricklewsive
"It's become clear we can't keep relying on nuclear power or fossil fuels," said Koji Toda, chief fund manager at Resona Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. "Still, solar power is too expensive for the vmarket to bloom without subsidies. It's easy to agree on the big picture but not so easy to determine who pays the price."
Temporary housing beset by lack of land / Government estimates 72,000 units needed for disaster victims, but only 395 completed h/t siri
While the government estimates that 72,000 units are needed for displaced residents, only 395 units had been completed as of Wednesday. The land secured so far is only enough to build 31,000 units.
U.S. warns radiation near crippled plant could exceed upper limit - The Mainichi Daily News
The United States has warned that radiation levels could exceed the upper limit on annual exposure set by the Japanese government in extensive areas around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.
The U.S. Department of Energy released the estimation as part of a hazard map on cumulative radiation in areas near the Fukushima plant created by an affiliate, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
The hazard map shows that the annual exposure dose of radiation could exceed 1 millisievert in some areas within an 80-kilometer radius of the plant hit hard by a massive tsunami triggered by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
In Focus: Videos, Lessons Learned. Discussion. Information
Fukushima: Could A Similar Disaster Strike Closer To Your Home
Robots enter Fukushima plant buildings
Dr Helen Caldicott - Fukushima Nuclear Disaster-
http://www.robertlpeters.com/...
A New Time line of Disaster through 21 4 11
The Facts in Sequence of the Accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: Released by the Government of Japan. (Unofficial Translation. Dates and Times are shown in Japan Standard Time, or UTC + 9.)
Life, Death and Graphic Design: The Critical Role of Information Design in Emergencies
Graphic design helps people make decisions. This is a given to designers. We don’t often think about how vital it becomes in an emergency situation. Visual information guides our thinking process, helps us assess personal risk and gain understanding so that we can make informed decisions—decisions which can have a profound impact on our lives. They can mean life or death.
Peggy Cady has written a compelling article that explores the vital importance of information design to the public and aid workers during the disasters in Japan. Access or download an online PDF of the article (4.5 MB, loaded with information graphics and numerous links)here.
Lessons from Fukushima: The Risks, Realities, and Future of Nuclear Energy Chicago, IL & Webcast April 21, 2011, 4–6 p.m.
The panel includes Mark Peters, deputy director of Argonne National Laboratory (moderator); Kennette Benedict, executive director of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; Hussein Khalil, director of the Nuclear Energy Division at Argonne National Laboratory; Robert Topel, the Isidore Brown and Gladys J. Brown Distinguished Service Professor in Urban and Labor Economics, Chicago Booth School of Business, and director, University of Chicago Energy Initiative.
The 90-minute discussion is open to the public and will begin at 4 p.m. in the atrium of the University's Gordon Center for Integrative Sciences. For those who cannot attend in person, the event will be webcast through the University's website and Facebook page. A poster session will follow the discussion, with some of the leading scientists from Argonne displaying recent work on nuclear energy.
Please visit ROV #51: TEPCO Releasing More Info & Radiation for news, discussion and analysis of events prior to breaking news on from 18-21 April JST.
Regularly Updated Data Sources
@Kos: A database of temperature, pressure, radiation levels, etc readings over time can be found in: The Daiichi Database This is an evolving diary that will be updated regularly.
• Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF)
• RSOS Emergency & Disaster information Services - Japan
• EPA RadNet Map View & EPA's Radiation Air Monitoring
Scribble Live
• Japan Municipal Water Charts (in Japanese)
Best News Sources
Kyodo Nuclear News Feed
NHK Japan Live
OilDrum
Asahi on Facebook
Fukushima Wikispaces
WHO situation reports
METI Twitter Feed
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