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Sun, 05 Jan 2014 05:32

The internet's top source of Fukushima accident updates. It's often called theFukushima nuclear disaster. The Fukushima accident is the worst since Chernobyl.(3 times weekly; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

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The Nuclear Regulation Authority says no nukes will be restarted in the near future. The NRA has held 65 meetings to study the first nine restart applications submitted last year and decided none of the operators have ''appropriately renewed their estimations of the scale of possible earthquakes''. The NRA's Chair Shunichi Tanaka says he has no idea how long the screening process will take after this new finding.http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140101_18.html(comment - Once again, the NRA shows its earthquake phobia, entirely ignoring that the worst quake in the history of Japan was successfully endured by all of the nukes on the Tohoku coast. When will this watchdog wake up and look at quake precautions in a realistic light? It was inadequate tsunami protection that caused the F. Daiichi accident. There was no safety compromise due to the quake. It seems the NRA has a guilty-until-proven-innocent attitude toward earthquakes and nukes. I thought being independent meant avoidance of bias.)

The number of feral cats in the F. Daiichi evacuation zone is increasing. However, it should come as no surprise, says Hiro Yamasaki of the Animal Rescue System Fund. His Fund provides affordable spay and neuter services, and has been doing this in Kobe since the aftermath of the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. The city became inundated with the feral offspring former pets whose owners were either dead or could not move them to quake evacuation centers that disallowed pets. Yamasaki explain the Kobe situation,''Sterilization is the most practical and humane way to curb the growing population of feral animals, and research backs this up. I then realized a bigger problem existed. In the years after the earthquake, the number of feral kittens in Kobe increased. I did some quite detailed statistical research and worked out how many animals various areas could support, and the optimum rate of spaying and neutering '-- 70 percent '-- that was necessary to achieve this.'' However, tradition inhibited his work. Pet sterilization is the exception, and not the rule in Japan, plus most veterinarians make the operation expensive. Unwanted kittens were destroyed by residents, as an alternative to keeping them. Yamasaki opened his Kobe clinic in 2006 because ''In the decade between the Hanshin earthquake and the Kobe clinic opening, the number of kittens being gassed by the city rose. However, following our efforts to sterilize the feral cats in the region, the killings dropped year on year between 2006 and 2012. The TNR (trap, neuter, return) model clearly works.'' In 2012, he tried to open a new clinic near the F. Daiichi evacuation zone, but ran into strong opposition from local veterinarians. The ''old-boys network'' closed ranks to stop Yamasaki, ''There's a distinct inaka seishin (provincial mentality) in these communities. You can't rock the boat if you want to fit in. The local government officials and businessmen like things to stay as they are.'' Undaunted, he opened the Fukushima Spay Clinic near a Shirakawa shopping mall, about 100 kilometers southwest of F. Daiichi. To date, nearly 1,500 animals have been treated economically and safely. Yamasaki laments, ''Unfortunately, our clinic is the only one providing this kind of service. The local vets and bureaucrats have not responded adequately to the situation.''http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/12/30/issues/in-fukushima-abandoned-pets-are-multiplying/#.UsQT5suA0dUm (comment '' I live with three cats, and all are sterilized. Feral kittens show up occasionally because of a metro-park across the street where owners abandon their unwanted cats and they reproduce with other abandoned cats. The feral kittens won't let me catch them and they keep their distance'...such is the way of feral kittens. I give them some food, but it's basically one-and done. I think the coyotes get them. Regardless, my heart goes out to each of them. Here's the link for Yamasaki's Fund'...www.animalrescue-sf.org/fukushima_eng/index.html.I sent a small donation'...how about a little help, folks?)

Government officials will soon be explaining details of low level waste storage to Fukushima residents. Intermediate storage facilities are intended for F. Daiichi's two host communities, Futaba and Okuma. Over the next two months, Tokyo representatives will inform the estranged residents of the safety provisions that will be taken and the process for compensation to those whose land will be expropriated. Some locals object because they do not want to lose the land held by their families for generations. Others fear that the proposed facilities will actually be a detriment toward recovery efforts in the two towns. Tokyo wants to resolve these issues quickly in order to have the facilities in operation by January, 2015.http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.htmlTepco has requested $10 billion to cover their new compensation pay-outs. This is the fifth time the company has submitted their estimated needs to meet the government's mandated evacuee stipends. In all, the five requests total nearly $48 billion. The reasons posted by Tepco for the new estimate include redefinition of loss of property, damages due to procurement of houses (presumably for building temporary rural waste facilities), damages after evacuation orders are dissolved, and mental anguish with those whose return cannot be forecast. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu13_e/images/131227e0101.pdf

PM Shinzo Abe pledged to increase financial support to quake/tsunami victims. This should not be confused with pay-outs to Fukushima evacuees. Rather, it is intended to assist municipal recovery in the three prefectures hardest hit, primarily due to the tsunami '' Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima (outside the nuclear evacuation zone). Disaster-area municipalities are facing on-going difficulties with the public insurance program due to increasing medical costs and decreasing insurance premium revenues. It is intended that this boost in money will help for at least three more years. The proposed amount will be announced before March. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013122700796

Rural decontamination teams can work overnight in some evacuation zone locations. Tokyo says workers will be allowed to stay overnight in areas where residents are allowed to visit during the daytime. One stipulation concerns work with projects deemed indispensable for zone restoration and revival, so long as the measured exposure levels are below the 20 millisievert per year limit. Local governments and businesses have asked for this because daytime access is slowed at times by workers traveling to their and from job sites, causing congestion on the roads. Tokyo said the allowance for overnight work will begin immediately in Iidate village. Other municipalities can apply for similar approval as long as locations in their communities meet the stipulations. Director of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences Makoto Akashi says strict monitoring of exposure will be needed for each worker, including their off-work hours. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html

About one-fourth of Fukushima's citizens have answered the prefecture's radiation survey. The analysis began a few months after the accident. It is designed to provide reasonable estimates of individual exposures due to the F. Daiichi accident during the early weeks of the crisis. The surveys were intended to cover about 2 million people, but as of September only 23.6% have completed and submitted the forms. The survey asks about time outside the home, eating habits and other behaviors that may have affected exposure, both internally and externally. Fukushima officials feel the reasons for the low response include the difficulty of filling out paperwork, insufficient explanation, and reluctance to try and remember what residents were doing early-on in the crisis. The prefecture is trying to simplify the survey in order to get more residents involved. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131227_06.html

The number of Japanese nukes asking for restart is now sixteen. The latest submittal is from the Tohoku Electric Company for Onagawa unit #2. The Onagawa station was closest to the quake epicenter on 3/11/11, and experienced a bit higher than F. Daiichi. Quake damage was limited to non-safety systems, such as potable water. The anti-tsunami barricade much higher and more robust than at F. Daiichi, completely protecting the station. Tohoku's Executive Vice President Shigeru Inoue said, "Some minor damage resulted due to the quake, but we have confirmed the soundness through on-site checks. Having our safety improvement measures checked will also bring a sense of reassurance to the local people." It should be noted that more than 200 nearby residents fled to the station to avoid the tsunami that swept their homes away, and were sheltered for more than a week at no cost until they could re-locate elsewhere. The Onagawa units are Boiling Water Reactor types, thus staff is installing hardened, filtered depressurization systems on each. Unit #2's installation should be finished early enough to pass the government's inspection in time to restart in 2016. http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131227p2g00m0dm049000c.html

Tepco's special rehabilitation plan was submitted Friday and has caused some controversy. The plan was co-opted by Tepco and the government's Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund. Jiji Press says success hinges on restarting two Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nukes by July 2014. Because of the de-facto nuclear moratorium imposed on Japan by then-PM Naoto Kan, Tepco has been forced to re-start moth-balled fossil fuel (thermal) units. Also, the company has been forced to continually run thermal power plants designed for handling short-term demand peaks. As a result, Tepco's fossil fuel importing costs nearly doubled from 2010 to 2012. They have stayed at the high level since. Tepco has experienced company-wide staff cutbacks and other cost-cutting measures, but the more than $2 billion outlay for fossil fuels has only been superficially impacted. One Tepco executive says, "No matter how much restructuring measures we take, we cannot achieve a turnaround unless we trim fuel costs." Meanwhile, Japan Real Time (Wall Street Journal) says the announcement by Tepco is hiding its real plan for the future, and adds that the Tokyo government is abetting the company's lack of disclosure. JRT says it is unlikely that the two K-K units will be restarted because of opposition from Niigata prefecture's governor, thus Tepco should have identified what they will do to prevent financial collapse without the K-K unit restarts. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013122700849 -- http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/12/27/tepco-has-a-plan-for-the-future-but-wont-say-what-it-is/Fukushima: The First Five Days... a book taken from the staff records at Fukushima Daiichi the first five days of the crisis. Fukushima : The First Five Days is available at E-book stores, including Amazon, Barnes&Noble and Koble.Click here for more...

It seems that the fuel transfer operation at F. Daiichi #4 continues smoothly. A Web-friend from Japan's Press, Joel Legendre-Koizumi, writes, ''At Fukushima Daiichi, Tepco proceeded with 6 transport operations of 132 assemblies out of a total of 1533 as of December 26, 2013. [This is] according to a message I received from Tepco Thursday afternoon. Operations to monitor the strength of the reactor unit 4 infrastructure have been undertaken and concluded the unit 4 is confirmed as resistant and secured enough to carry on nuclear rods assemblies transport to the 'common pool'." There has been nothing in the Tepco web pages since December 16.

This week, Tokyo gave Tepco $1.4 billion for their next compensation pay-outs. The total amount to date has been $32.2 billion, mostly for the 85,000 mandated evacuees who qualify for the monthly subsidies. The money has come from the government's Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund (herein, the Fund). So far, each evacuated man, woman and child have received about $141,000 in evacuation compensation, totaling $12.6 billion. Therefore, a typical family of four has received ~$640,000 in evacuation compensation. In addition, corporate and property compensations have totaled $15 billion, thus a family may well have garnered $1 million by the New Year. The total pay-out to qualifying voluntary evacuees has been $3.53 billion. The Fund will surely cover more than $50 billion in payouts before all is said and done, and could well approach $90 billion. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1233172_5130.html -- http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/comp/images/jisseki-e.pdf(comment - meanwhile, the remaining tsunami refugees who haven't given up and moved elsewhere, now estimated to be about 225,000, have received a little over a combined total of $20 billion and there's little hope of getting any more.)

The Fund has approved Tepco's plan for business reconstruction and has adopted the new guidelines for evacuee compensation which have been rumored for a few weeks. The plan is expected to be finalized today and forwarded to the Industry Minister on Friday. Final Ministry approval is expected in early January. The blueprint includes the expected restart of two Tepco nukes by this coming summer (Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 6&7) and Tepco's becoming a holding company as early as 2016. The Fund now estimates that the total amount of money they will eventually transfer to Tepco will be about $90 billion. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013122500840

N-evacuees will get more money. Tokyo's damage compensation panel has decided to make Tepco give money help to those who have no plans to return home. It is intended to help them resettle elsewhere. The guidelines call for $70,000 per person to compensate for the emotional damage caused by their decision to not return home. The added pay-outs strongly suggest that Tokyo has given up on persuading many of the evacuees to repopulate. Panel Chair Yoshihisa Nomi said, ''The new guidelines focus on putting the lives of evacuees back on track.'' http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000899302 -- http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013122600572

Some evacuees have gone home for the holidays, but most are staying away. Tokyo decided to ease restrictions on people eligible for temporary visits so they could spend their holidays at home. However, less than 10% have exploited the opportunity. Radiation levels at the specified locations registered lower than what had been estimated after decontamination, and anyone staying until January 7 would not exceed the national limit's. The lower levels have not reached the point where continuous residence would be allowed. Of the 27.150 who were offered the holiday opportunity, only about 1,700 registered to do it. The Reconstruction Agency says the reasons for the poor turn-out are fear of radiation and unrepaired damage to their homes. http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-evacuees-to-go-home-for-holiday-season?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2013-12-26_AM

Radiation levels inside the F. Daiichi evacuation zone have dropped by 47% since November, 2011. Further, trial decontaminations in the most intensely radioactive rural locations indicate that full deconning will drop radiation current levels by more than 50%. The Environment Ministry has quietly run trial decontaminations at locations having greater than 50 millisieverts per year exposures, which is considered unsuitable for repopulation. However, after decontamination in three of the districts of Namie Town, radiation levels were less than half of what they were before. In fact, most of the deconned areas have dropped below the ~ 5.7 µSv/hr criterion (equal to 50 mSv/yr), and are now showing a range of between 3.5-6.6 µSv/hr. Thus, some of the trial locations now satisfy the criteria for easing their evacuation restrictions. If people are allowed to return, however, decontamination of the community will continue until reaching 1 mSv/yr above background. The Ministry says that before they decide to lift restrictions, they will negotiate with former residents. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201312250062 -- http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131225_05.html

Rice planting inside the F. Daiichi evacuation zone will be expanded. Since 3/11/11, rice planting has been banned by Tokyo inside the no-go zone, leaving some 5,300 hectares untended. In 2013, some Nagadoro District farmers grew rice on an experimental basis and harvested 3 kilograms for testing by the government. (Fukushima Updates '' December 9, 2013) All samples were well below the national standard of 100 Bq/kg'...in fact none registered above 10 Bq/kg. As a result, Tokyo will allow planting of up to 3,900 hectares of paddies in 2014. If farmers want their product sent to market, their crop from each paddy must pass government screening. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131224_28.html

The Environment Ministry has convened a panel on transporting Fukushima's rural radioactive waste. Currently, the bagged materials are stored temporarily at ~460 locations in the prefecture. Before any transfer of the material can begin, intermediate facilities must be built adjacent to F. Daiichi and transportation regulations must be created to accommodate resident's fear of radiation exposure as the trucks pass by. The panel will decide how to move the waste, minimize public from exposure, and avoid heavy traffic. Two other discussions concerned increased informational transparency and training for workers moving the trash. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131224_24.html

A Tokyo panel of experts is assessing the Tritium disposal issue. Nine panel members met at the Industry Ministry on Wednesday and feel they could reach a conclusion by March. Because Tritium is hydrogen, it is a part of the water molecule and difficult to remove. Because it is a very weak Beta radiation emitter, it is questionable as to whether or not it poses a realistic hazard. Thus, the panel will assess the risks of long-term storage and the technical difficulties posed by Tritium removal, and compare it all with releasing the tritiated water to the ocean after dilution to below national standards. The IAEA suggested Tokyo allow the diluted release to the sea earlier this month. However, before doing such a thing the government would have to alleviate the fears of local residents and gain the support of the Fukushima fisheries. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131226_03.html

The elevated child thyroid cancer rate in Fukushima is probably not due to the accident. While a few alarmist voices have received the lead in the Japanese Press, most experts say it is too soon to judge that Fukushima radiation is the culprit. The alarmist opinion of Okayama University professor Toshide Tsuda was presented in the last Updates, as well as criticism of Tsuda's claim by professors Tetsuya Ohira and Shunichi Suzuki. Yesterday, Fukushima Prefecture officials said it is unlikely that the cancers are due to the nuke accident, basing their conclusion on the fact that Chernobyl thyroid anomalies did not happen until 4-6 years after the accident. Plus, the exposures from Fukushima were many times less than what occurred in the Ukraine. Dr. Choi Kin of Hong Kong Medical Association added that no one can prove the increase in cancer incidence was from Fukushima. He feels that other natural causess are at the root of the situation. http://japandailypress.com/cancer-cases-rise-in-fukushima-but-experts-unsure-on-the-cause-2341371/

The Nuclear Regulation Authority may have become isolated rather than independent. That's what the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan says. The LDP has submitted a list of proposals regarding NRA policies to Cabinet Secretary Yoshide Suga in the hope of preventing the isolation situation from becoming permanent. The document criticizes the NRA for its isolation tendencies rather than its intended role as an independent agency. Independence was intended to mean making decisions after consulting a wide range of experts, and avoiding unilateral decision-making. NRA Chair Shunichi Tanaka said they will meet with more people in the future. Included in the LDP-recommended future mix of experts will be utility managers experienced in power plant operations. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html

The rumored creation of an F. Daiichi decommissioning company is now a fact. Tepco announced that ''a new entity is being established to focus solely on the cleanup activity at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.'' Naohiro Masuda, former chief executive at undamaged F. Daiini in 2011, will head up the as-yet un-named company under the Tepco corporate umbrella. The move is welcomed by Tepco foreign advisors. American Dale Klein said, "This new structure will aid in the decommissioning process by focusing expertise and accountability.'' American Lake Barrett added, "This is an important step that will enhance safe cleanup progress at the site." Britain's Lady Barbara Judge praised the choice of Masuda to run the operation, "Mr. Masuda has demonstrated his ability both in his leadership at Fukushima Daini and in his work with the NSOO (Nuclear Safety Oversight Office). His promotion provides clear evidence that TEPCO has made nuclear safety a priority, and that service with the NSOO can be an important step on a nuclear engineer's career path to the highest levels.'' http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1233100_5130.html Tepco also posted an outline of the new decommissioning company, which can be found here - http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1233102_5130.html

Dale Klein also praised making F. Daiichi units 5&6 into testing and training facilities. Neither unit was damaged by the 3/11/11 quake/tsunami and could be restarted to generate electricity. However, Tepco decided to decommission both units due to public and political pressures. They will be used to test decommissioning methods and technologies designed for the four damaged units at the station, as well as provide hands-on training for staff. Klein calls this a ''wise decision'' that demonstrates a commitment to developing a ''safety culture'' within Tepco. He added, ''I believe the use of Units 5 and 6 as essentially a full-size mock up facility is the right thing to do.'' http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1233084_5130.html

Japan is adding still more nuclear compensation pay-outs. The amount will be $9,000 per person for those who return home between one and two years after evacuation restrictions are lifted. The add-on payments are designed to relieve problems due to limited infrastructure, such as markets and shops. A process of confirmation will begin in the spring to see who has actually returned home. Tokyo feels this money will be an incentive to those skittish about repopulating due to radiation fears. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013122000671

Tokyo has set a new timetable for Fukushima's rural decontamination. The Environment Ministry had hoped to have all deconning done by March, 2014, but that is no longer feasible. Six of the eleven evacuated communities have fallen far behind in their work and will probably not be ready for repopulation by the 2014 date, and some might take until 2017. Plus, it is unlikely that one community, Futaba, will be cleaned up for full repopulation in the near-future. One community, Tamura, has been reopened and three more are expected to have restrictions lifted by March. Officials say the main reason for the delays is lack of temporary waste storage sites. The existing sites are effectively filled. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131222_04.html

F. Daiichi staff has found small concentrations of radioactive material in deep groundwater samples. The well is 25 meters deep and is located between F. Daiichi unit #4 and the inner harbor (quay). The water sample taken last Tuesday shows 6.7 Becquerels per liter of Cs-137, and 89 Bq/liter of ''all beta'' emitters. Since the sample was taken the same day as a cross-contaminated sample from another well, the company is investigating whether or not the same thing happened with this one. If the reading is correct, it indicates that a previously unknown leak may be emanating from the bottom of unit #4 turbine building. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131221_02.html

A few researchers say it is possible that that the unusual number of child thyroid cancers in Fukushima Prefecture may be due to nuke accident exposure. However, most experts say it cannot be due to F. Daiichi radiation. One person, Okayama University professor Toshihide Tsuda, says the frequency of child thyroid problems is ''several tens of times'' higher than before the accident. He said national statistics between 1975 and 2008 showed a variance of between 5 to 11 cases per million people. He feels 59 cases out of ~240,000 tested Fukushima children is so much higher that the possibility of Fukushima radiation as a cause cannot be dismissed. On the other hand, most experts say Tsuda's conclusion is non-scientific because it is based national statistics from all age groups and cannot be compared to only the 18-and-under cohort. Tetsuya Ohira of Fukushima Medical School says it is not scientifically appropriate to compare the Fukushima child numbers with the national cancer registry. Another Fukushima Medical University professor, Shunichi Suzuki, says there is no actual link between the low radiation exposures and the confirmed/suspected child thyroid cancer cases in Fukushima. The expert opinions were presented at a December 21st meeting held by the Environment Ministry and the Fukushima government. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201312220021

The Mainichi Shimbun has polled volcanologists about risks to nukes. The paper sent questionnaires to 134 university professors, with 50 responding. Nine said no Japanese nukes were at risk, 12 left the question blank, and 29 indicated various levels of risk from worst-case pyroclastic flows and ash fall-outs. The most-often mentioned at-risk plant is the Sendai station in Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern tip of Kyushu Island. This is due to massive Sakurajima Volcano located in Kagoshima Bay. In mid-August, 2013, a significant eruption occurred with Sakurajima, sending a plume more than 5,000 meters into the air. There was considerable local ash fallout, but nothing significant occurred with the shuttered Sendai station, nearly 50 kilometers south of the volcano. Other stations listed as at-risk are Tamori in Hokkaido Prefecture, Higashidori in Aomori Prefecture, Genkai in Saga prefecture, Ikata in Ehime Prefecture, and Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture. All lie within 160 kilometers of active volcanoes, which seems to be an academic criterion for establishing risk. Shintaro Hayashi, a professor at Akita University, commented, "If a pyroclastic flow were to reach a nuclear power plant, the safety of its operators could not be guaranteed." He added that the Sendai station carried ''unacceptable risk''. However, most negative responders said the probability of a volcano causing a nuclear accident was ''extremely low.'' http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131223p2a00m0na013000c.html

A rather large demonstration against nukes happened in Tokyo. It should be noted that antinuke demonstrations occur every week in the capitol, but this had one of the largest turn-outs in the last year. The reason for the gathering was recent news reports that some nukes would be restarted in 2014, perhaps as soon as March. Banners said ''Don't restart nukes'' and ''Don't create nuclear waste''. A woman from Saitama Prefecture said nukes should remain closed until all troubles from the Fukushima accident are resolved. A man from Tokyo said the country should abolish nukes and replace them with renewables to protect future generations. The metropolitan police said about 2,000 attended the rally, while antinuke organizers posted their typically-exaggerated figures, this time 15,000. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131222_18.htmlTokyo's French chefs surprised some F. Daiichi child evacuees with a surprise gourmet Christmas meal. 360 meals and 200 snacks were delivered to a school in Koriyama with a large number of evacuees in their enrollment. Chef Christophe Paucod supervised preparation of scalloped potatoes, buttered veggies, and roast beef, plus a scrumptious cake topped with fresh berries. He said, ''It's a different flavor for their palates. For many it is the first time they have tasted French cuisine.'' Caravan Bon Appetite has been providing meals to earthquake and tsunami refugees across the Tohoku region since April, 2011. This is part of a program started by French chefs in Japan due to the 3/11/11 natural disaster that left a lot of people homeless. They send their culinary delights to the region several times a week. However, this is the first Press coverage of their gustatory philanthropy. The reason seems obvious'...the Fukushima refugees are more newsworthy than the tsunami refugees. http://japandailypress.com/santa-brings-a-different-kind-of-gourmet-christmas-to-fukushima-nuclear-evacuees-1741107/ -- http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/santa-takes-gourmet-dinner-to-nuclear-evacuees

The deposed Democratic Party of Japan has harshly attacked the current regime's energy policy. The government of Shinzo Abe has announced repeatedly that they will work towards lessening reliance of nuclear-generated electricity and promote renewables. But, to the DPJ, it is nothing more than a smokescreen to keep the nuclear industry alive in Japan. The DPJ under Naoto Kan was in power when the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami hit. Kan and his successor Yoshihiko Noda tried to end Japan's nuclear age once and for all. However, the negative impact on the economy caused by their nuclear moratorium, their openly antinuclear agenda, and their lack of viable support for the 300,000 homeless tsunami refugees led to their landslide defeat a year ago. Undaunted in their antinuclear crusade, the DPJ says Tepco and Tokyo are not taking steps to alleviate the contamination of the Pacific by groundwater flow at F. Daiichi. They say Tepco should inject more water-stops and pump out contaminated groundwater before it reaches the shoreline. The DPJ's current antinuclear tirade is due to Tepco announcing a new high radiation level for one of the dozens of near-shore sampling wells at F. Daiichi'...63,000 Becquerels per liter. In addition, the DPJ condemned plans to restart safe, undamaged, fully-viable viable nukes while there is no firm nuclear waste policy. One DPJ politico also said nuclear power is not low cost energy because decommissioning and nuclear accident clean-up costs make it more expensive than alternatives. The DPJ has become little more than a Japanese sounding-board for time-worn criticisms of nukes borrowed from the world's bastions of antinuclear rhetoric. http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013121700419 -- http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html

Fukushima Prefecture says the number of nuke-evacuation deaths has surpassed the number killed by the earthquake and tsunami of 3/11/11. The number of evacuee deaths now stands at 1,605 while the number directly killed by the quake/tsunami was 1603. The number of ''indirect'' post-evacuation deaths has been due to inappropriate medical care resulting in deteriorating health, development of new illnesses, and suicides of those who became mentally unwell. There are no firm standards for defining disaster-related deaths, but the prefecture believes the unprecedented duration of the evacuation warrants making this determination. One Tomioka official said, "We're seeing more and more diversification, and it's getting more complicated" to distinguish between fatalities related and unrelated to the evacuation. Tohoku Institute of Technology's Kunihiro Fukutome added, "In Fukushima Prefecture, where evacuation is drawn out, damage from the disaster is on a different scale from what we've seen in the past.'' http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20131217p2a00m0na010000c.html (comment -Once again there is no distinction made between the Fukushima evacuees who will never go home because their abodes were swept away by the tsunami and the nuclear-only demographic. The tsunami-devastated group should be addressed separately because they would be suffering even if the nuke accident had never happened. Thus, we would like to see statistics on how many of the above ''disaster-related'' fatalities are from the tsunami-devastated cohort. We would also like to know how Fukushima's tsunami-devastated evacuees living conditions and compensatory income compares with the tsunami refugees of Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures. To date, the government has avoided doing this and the Press seems satisfied with reporting on the Fukushima refugees alone.)

More compensation for Fukushima evacuees becomes law on Friday. The new pay-outs will include expanded support for those who want to go home (and can) plus additional money to those who need to settle elsewhere. Most already receive compensation for ''lost'' property value, but the new allocation is intended to let long-term evacuees buy new homes. The new package also allows mental distress compensation for long-term evacuees continuing until 2017. However, it also says that mental damages will end one year after the restrictions are lifted for residents allowed to go home. All of the government loans must eventually be repaid by Tepco and other contributing utility companies. In addition to the increased income for Fukushima evacuees, Tokyo has created new grants for Fukushima municipalities to accelerate the reconstruction of infrastructure. Lastly, the government has revised the estimate of the total loans that will eventually be extended to Tepco. The new projection is $90 billion, with nearly $50 billion devoted to evacuee compensation, $25 billion for rural decontamination and $11 billion for construction of waste storage facilities. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html -- http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201312190046 -- http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131219_28.html

Tepco has announced the decommissioning of F. Daiichi units #5 & 6. Neither unit suffered damage to their power production or emergency systems from the 3/11/11 tsunami. Tepco's board of directors made the announcement to the Industry Ministry on Wednesday. The decision to decommission will become official company policy on January 31. Tepco wants to use the two units for testing of remote-control decontamination and fuel debris removal technologies, in conformance with suggestions made by the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning. Tepco President Hirose met with Fukushima governor Sato to announce the decision, but all Sato would say was, "I want you to know that the complete dismantlement of reactors in Fukushima is the general consensus of people in the prefecture," which includes the four undamaged units at F. Daiini. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1233020_5130.html -- http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013121900500

The high groundwater radioactivity at F. Daiichi mentioned above (63,000 Bq/liter) was due to sample cross-contamination. The well from which Tuesday's sample was taken was retested later in the day. It was found to have radioactivity below the lower limit of detection. Tepco attributes Tuesday's reading to ''the incorporation of radioactive material into the sample water'' from an adjacent well sampled at the same time. The adjacent well has had high contamination readings for several weeks, thought to be due to seepage from a nearby equipment tunnel containing the highest levels found outside the turbine basements. Tepco says they will upgrade sampling procedures to prevent a recurrence. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/2013/1233005_5130.html

A lawsuit filed by US Navy personnel in August of 2012 has been dismissed. San Diego's federal judge Janis L. Sammartino effected the dismissal due to a jurisdictional issue. The plaintiff's lawyers say they will re-file. The judge dismissed the lawsuit on Nov. 26 on grounds that it was beyond her authority to determine whether Tepco and Japan's government had committed fraud. The suit claimed Tepco lied about the severity of the Fukushima atmospheric releases and that Tokyo was complicit in the lie. The plaintiffs were attached to the USS Ronald Reagan in support of tsunami efforts in Japan. They were all non-nuclear-trained. Plaintiffs say they suffered a number of post-accident ailments including rectal bleeding, gastrointestinal distress, hair loss, headaches, and fatigue. Some allege they now have thyroid and gallbladder cancer. Only hair loss and thyroid cancers can be caused by radiation exposures, and must be several orders of magnitude above the plaintiff exposures. http://japandailypress.com/us-judge-dismisses-fukushima-radiation-lawsuit-from-sailors-who-arrived-post-tsunami-1841170/

French journalists are touring Fukushima Prefecture to check if French news reports on food radiation have been correct. They visited Yanagawa Town in Date City to witness the processes for determining whether or not Fukushima Prefecture foods are safe. Le Monde reporter Pierre Le Hir said he was impressed with how hard people work to insure the foods they produce are safe for consumption. He hopes to correct biased reports that have occurred in the French Press. http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20131218_22.html

Thanks to two Fukushima Update readers for this'... Tepco has moved 88 of the unit #4 fuel bundles as of today. Four complete transfers of 22 bundles each have occurred without a problem. One of the readers (John) said the third transfer was finished Dec. 9 and the fourth on the 16th. I've been looking for multiple Press releases for each transfer, like the first 2 weeks, but it seems Tepco has posted none. My personal opinion? The Press lost interest so Tepco decided to play it on the ''down low'' for security purposes. I'll be following the following Tepco link from now on, but if you want to monitor it yourself'... http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/removal4u/index-e.html

With the relative lull due to a week of no spent fuel movement at F. Daiichi #4, much of the Japanese Press has resorted to the promotion of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD).