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.)

This ROV is dedicated to the work of Burners without Borders, who arrived in Japan on April 2 to set up a base camp in the remote Tohoku Prefecture. Their relief project was designed by Keith Miller, PhD, a resident of Japan and a director of international schools and technology entrepreneur Alfred Werner, a friend and former military colleague of Miller's. Over the next few months, volunteer staff - mostly from Philadelphia's Burning Man community - will be arriving to participate in this relief effort.



Railways are slowly being cleared in Northern Japan, over 6 weeks after the disaster the famed Shinkansen is clear only as far north as Nasushiobara. Shown above, the tracks just south of Rikuzentakata. Source.

It has been over six weeks since 'The Great Tohoku Kanto Earthquake-Tsunami' also referred to as the 'March 11 Disaster' began when a 9.0 earthquake, the strongest in Japan's recorded history, unleashed a massive tsunami which destroyed entire villages along Japan's North shore. The ensuing destruction at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant led to a Level 7 Nuclear Event, which continues to leak radioactive material into the atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean.

Today, as volunteers work to help the country deal with the ongoing and multi-faceted 'aftershocks' of this event, an event which has so far claimed at least 25,000 lives, coordination of volunteer centers on the ground is at long last effectively coming together and venture capitalists are finally succeeding at cutting through bureaucratic red tape to begin large scale reconstruction efforts.

Burners without Borders is just one example of the miraculous work which can be accomplished when a community flexes its muscle and rallies to a cause greater even than the sum of its parts.

The power of community, of collaboration, of moving beyond one's own self interests to do service, to call others to service, is evidenced powerfully here at DailyKos: through recent ongoing group efforts like Witnessing Revolution and the ongoing group coverage of Gulf Watchers. Through Weatherdude's oftimes solitary Extreme Weather Liveblogs as well as the tireless reporting and analysis of breaking news, be it political, scientific, spiritual, environmental -- or personal. This call to service often comes in announcements of civic actions or demonstrations, petition drives or calls for donations to help Feeding America or contribute towards a Shelter Box -- or kick in a fiver or a few kind words to comfort a co-Kossack with a community quilt.

But in reality, for the most part, here at DailyKos, we all herald our causes as observers from Remote Operating Vehicles -- observing and reporting from a safe distance, rarely passing beyond our comfort zone.

It is the hope of the Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblog team that, as a community, DailyKos can look to communities like Burners without Borders for inspiration. That we can journey together, as one team, united in our desire to be tireless 'worker bees' in the ongoing battle towards creating a better tomorrow. Towards righting whatever wrongs we can along the way. Showing up where we are needed. Together. That we can aspire towards reverence in the valuable work we do as a community and treat each other, regardless of our divergent points of view, with reverence as well.



The 'bill' the Burners without Borders team received for repair of their vehicle from an mechanic now once again open for business in Japan's Tohoku Prefecture. Source.

These are the purchases the Burning team in Tohoku Prefecture has determined it will need to fulfill its mission.

Water truck, or large truck to deliver potable water; motorcycle for off road access, personal vehicle donated for team use. Two 7500 Watt generators and fuel cans/drums. Field kitchen including propane rice cookers griddles and stoves, sinks, pots/pans, reusable eating ware for 250 people. Building and demolition tools and supplies including chainsaws, wrecking bars, portable power tools, screws, lumber, etc. Air travel for volunteers. to put together a plan and a team to provide relief to Japan.

To honor and witness their work, follow their reporting and make a donation if you can at Troubled Waters Mission.

Now on to the ROV!

Newsfeed: (JNI Combined News Services; Japan April 26 Tuesday) Levels of radioactive water has risen in the Number 3 and Number 4 reactors … Bank of Japan is expected to revise downward its forecast of the nation's economic growth for this fiscal year … Tepco announces deep salary cuts for management to fund compensation for nuclear accident … More than 12,000 still missing ... Highspeed train between Tokyo and Sendai reopens ... 25 years since Chernobyl marked by anti-nuclear demonstrations … Searches resume for bodies inside evacuation zone …

Russian nuclear scientist says Fukushima disaster was predictable

A Russian nuclear scientist who took part in emergency responses to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster finds one thing in common between what Japanese and former Soviet Union authorities used to say -- their nuclear power plants were absolutely safe.

Vladimir Asmolov, a scientist who was working at an atomic energy research institute in the former Soviet Union at the time of the April 26, 1986, explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, recounted the disaster during a recent interview with the Mainichi Shimbun.

Atmospheric radiation leak underestimated h/t mahakali overdrive

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Data released by the government indicates radioactive material was leaking into the atmosphere from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in early April in greater quantities than previously estimated.

Radioactive material was being released into the atmosphere from the plant at an estimated rate of 154 terabecquerels per day as of April 5, according to data released by the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission on Saturday.

The NSC previously estimated radiation leakage on April 5 at "less than 1 terabecquerel per hour."

Iodine-131 and cesium-137 were released into the atmosphere that day at the estimated rates of 0.69 terabecquerel per hour and 0.14 terabecquerel per hour, respectively, the NSC said.

Emissions are converted into iodine-131 equivalents for assessment on the international nuclear event scale (INES), to arrive at the total 154 terabecquerels per day, the nuclear safety watchdog said.

One terabecquerel equals 1 trillion becquerels.



Movers turn away evacuees / People told to relocate get cold shoulder from moving firms : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri) h/t peraspera

Many residents in Fukushima Prefecture who have been told to prepare for evacuation have been refused service by moving companies, it has been learned.

...

"Out of consideration for our employees' safety, we can't let them take on those jobs," an official of one moving firm said.

...

"We were told to evacuate, but we can't. Are [the moving companies] just going to abandon us without offering help?" said a 50-year-old woman of Iitatemura, which is within the designated zone.

...



asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：Japan readies own robot to probe crippled nuclear plant - English

2011/04/24

Recognized as the world leader in robotic technology, Japan will finally deploy its own robot at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after relying on U.S.-made versions to do all the work.

The Quince, equipped with an arm, a camera and sensors, is set to survey radiation levels, temperatures and other conditions inside reactor buildings.

How did Japan's nuclear industry become so arrogant?

The Mainichi Daily News

What has stood out at the countless press conferences by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) of Japan that I've attended in covering the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant, is the rampant use of cliches such as "unanticipated state of affairs" and "unprecedented natural disaster."

The excuses made by the organizations involved go to show that so-called nuclear power experts have no intention to self reflect or admit their shortcomings. It was this self-righteousness -- evidenced over the years in the industry's suppression of unfavorable warnings and criticisms, as well as in their imposition of the claim that the safety of nuclear energy was self evident -- that lay down the groundwork for the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

...

Nuclear safety regulation in Japan is ostensibly covered under a "double-check" system, but in practice, the system has not functioned sufficiently. Since both those in a position to be checked and those in a position to do the checking come from the same establishment, they are motivated to take action that will protect their common interests. As for NISA, there's a fundamental structural problem in that it is but an arm of METI, the government ministry in charge of promoting nuclear power generation.

Kyodo News

Six Fukushima prefectural government workers dressed in protective outfits went into the no-entry zone within a 20-kilometer radius of the crisis-hit nuclear power plant in the northeastern Japanese prefecture Monday to begin work to cull starving livestock.

While there is no legal stipulation involving slaughtering livestock in the area which has been restricted because of the nuclear accident, the prefectural government decided to kill the animals for public health reasons, local officials said. According to a livestock hygiene service center in the prefecture, the workers will conduct activities in Minamisoma's Odaka district, where 887 cows, 80 horses, about 6,200 pigs and around 260,000 chickens were raised as of October last year.

h/t ricklewsive

Monitoring rising temps in No 4 h/t ricklewsive

NHK World

The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is carefully monitoring the situation at the Number 4 spent fuel pool, where the water temperature is rising despite increased injections of cooling water.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, says it will inject 210 tons of water into the pool on Monday, after finding on Sunday evening that the temperature in the pool had risen to 81 degrees Celsius.

Hot debris hampers reactor repairs



Radiation map shows hazards lurking around every corner

Kyodo

A contamination map revealing radiation levels at about 150 places in the Fukushima No. 1 power plant was released Saturday by troubled Tokyo Electric Power The beleaguered utility, known as Tepco, updates the data periodically to help its workers navigate radiation hazards at the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The power plant lost its cooling systems when it was hit by the mega-quake and tsunami on March 11.

The updated maps and data on areas near the four crisis-hit reactors are also sent to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and posted at its crisis center in the prefecture.

“I want my life back. And if it’s not happening now, I want to know when.” Kenichi Suzuki , 61. Nuclear crisis takes high psychic toll in Japan

Scribble Live

25 Apr 8:00 plant parameters: www.meti.go.jp 25 Apr 2:00 plant parameters: www.meti.go.jp 25 Apr radiation measurements: www.meti.go.jp 25 Apr NISA Report 113: www.meti.go.jp 25 Apr NISA Report 112 www.meti.go.jp 25 Apr unit 2 runoff (water) report (large, multiple graphics): www.meti.go.jp 25 Apr runoff water report in English: www.nisa.meti.go.jp 25 Apr 12:00 JAIF NPP Status: www.jaif.or.jp MEXT Environmental Radiation Readings (dust, air, water, by-prefecture): www.mext.go.jp



For news and updates on the events in Japan from April 22-25, visit ROV 52