Fukushima town protests PM's claim

[bananas]

Source: Sky News

A Japanese town abandoned after the Fukushima nuclear accident has protested Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's global promise that the situation of the crippled plant was 'under control'.

The town assembly of Namie, half of which sits within the 20-kilometre zone around the nuclear plant, unanimously adopted a statement of protest against Abe's remarks on Friday, saying his comments went against facts on the ground, the Asahi and the Mainichi papers said on Saturday.

The statement said about 300 tons of contaminated water is estimated to be leaking from the plant every day, which is 'a serious situation', and that toxic water is 'far from being controlled or blocked completely,' the Mainichi quoted the statement as saying.

'Members of the town cannot help feeling furious at the government and TEPCO which neglected Fukushima,' the statement reportedly said, referring to Tokyo Electric Power, the company that runs the plant.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=908190

[bananas]

1. Namie town assembly protests PM Abe's 'under control' comment

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130921p2a00m0na008000c.html

Namie town assembly protests PM Abe's 'under control' comment

September 21, 2013

The town assembly of nuclear disaster-hit Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, passed a protest resolution against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sept. 20 for declaring the situation surrounding the radioactively contaminated water leaks at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant "under control."

The prime minister made the controversial comments during Tokyo's final presentation at the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s general meeting in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7, saying, "Some may have concerns about Fukushima. Let me assure you, the situation is under control." He also said the effect of the water leak has been "completely blocked" within the 0.3 square kilometers of the plant's harbor.

The Namie Town Assembly unanimously passed the Sept. 20 protest resolution stating that there is a "serious problem" with Abe's remarks as they "contradict reality." The protest also calls the situation at the plant, where some 300 metric tons of radioactively contaminated water is leaking into the ocean every day, "serious."

"The situation has never been 'under control,' nor is the contaminated water 'completely blocked,'" the protest read.

<snip>

Click here for the original Japanese story http://mainichi.jp/select/news/20130921k0000e040223000c.html

[bananas]

2. Local leaders criticize Abe for saying radioactive water leaks 'under control'

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201309210057

Local leaders criticize Abe for saying radioactive water leaks 'under control'

September 21, 2013

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The governor of Tokyo and a local town assembly severely affected by the Fukushima disaster took issue with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's assurance to International Olympic Committee members earlier this month that the Fukushima nuclear crisis is "under control."

<snip>

In Tokyo, Governor Naoki Inose also countered Abe's claim that things are under control.

&quot The leakage of contaminated water is) not under control necessarily at this stage,” Inose told reporters Sept. 20 at a regular news conference. "It was very important for the central government to demonstrate its resolve to get things done right by providing funds for it (at the IOC committee). Officials should strive toward resolving it."

[bananas]

3. Fukushima town protests Abe's global promise on crippled plant

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130921/fukushima-town-protests-abes-global-promise-crippled-plant

Fukushima town protests Abe's global promise on crippled plant

Agence France-Presse
September 21, 2013 06:17

A Japanese town abandoned after the Fukushima nuclear accident has protested Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's global promise that the situation of the crippled plant was "under control", papers reported Saturday.

<snip>

This seems to be identical to the Sky News article in the OP.

[Mnemosyne]

4. K&R nt

[love_katz]

5. K&R

[mbuch64]

6. Yeah, nothing to see here

Don't you just love how tepco phrases their mismanagement. They say that just 300 tons of radioactive water is leaking a day. It's just 300 tons. If my math is correct, that breaks down to around 75000 gallons a day. That really changes one's perception of what is happening at fukushima. This is not only Japans problem, it is a disaster on a global scale.

[daleo]

8. 300 tons is about 300 cubic meters

That's enough water to fill a good sized basement to the top of the stairs every day.

[Art_from_Ark]

9. That's a pretty big basement

The deed to my house says it has 78 square meters of floor space, and the ceilings are about 2.6 meters above the floor-- so I calculate the whole house as holding slightly more than 200 cubic meters.

[daleo]

11. I was thinking ten meters by ten meters by three meters

Which is about 33 feet by 33 feet by 10 feet. I don't know how that compares with most homes - my estimate was just to get a ballpark feel for it. I think a lot of modern homes (monster homes, if you prefer) might easily be that big, though.

[Katashi_itto]

12. Or 1 cubic metre = 1000 Litres so 300 cubic metres = 300 000 Litres

or 79,251 US gal per day.

[daleo]

13. Any way you look at it, it is plenty of radioactive waste

[davidpdx]

7. I feel sorry for anyone who lives in that area

Given TEPCO's record of downplaying things and recent events there is no way to confirm that the situation is under control. How about sending in international monitors.

[Art_from_Ark]

10. Of course, hardly anyone trusts TEPCO's numbers

It's like that old Monty Python mattress skit: "But it does mean that when he says a bed is two foot wide, it is in fact sixty foot wide."

There are other monitors outside the reactor area. So the people in the area can at least get an indication of what is happening in the reactor areas (in terms of radiation release) by paying attention to monitoring sites that are administered by their respective municipal governments, or by universities, etc.

[davidpdx]

15. That's good to hear

I'm not sure how much the Japanese Government is involved in the process. They need to ask the world for help though to protect the lives of the people there in Japan and in other countries before the situation worsens.

[Art_from_Ark]

17. For example, here's a link to Fukushima Medical University's data

The university is 57km (34 miles) from the Dai-ichi site. The currrent reading (which is constantly updated) is 0.19 microsieverts per hour, close to the average 0.15 microsieverts per hour before the disaster.

http://www.fmu.ac.jp/home/lib/radiation/

[madokie]

14. A lot of things Fukushima might be

but under control is not one of them.
It will be a long time before that can be declared, if it ever will be. in anyone alive todays lifetime that is

[wordpix]

16. "About 300 tons of mildly contaminated groundwater"

TEPCO says its radioactive contamination is only "mild." Yeah, right.


"About 300 tons of mildly contaminated groundwater is entering the ocean every day having passed under the reactors, TEPCO says."