March 24, 2011
Introduction
Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a set of constitutional amendments in last weekend's referendum, paving the way for parliamentary and presidential elections in the next four to six months.
But many liberal reformers and youth activists oppose that swift timetable, arguing that early elections would give an extraordinary advantage to Mubarak's old political party and the Muslim Brotherhood, which have strong organizational structures and would move to centralize power. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who met with Egyptian military leaders in Cairo on Thursday, urged them to give new political groups more time to organize.
Can the youth movement and those pushing for greater reforms be fairly represented in the upcoming elections? What does that movement need to do to form a viable coalition?
Read the Discussion » Debaters
Fears of Losing the Revolution
Kristen Stilt, Northwestern University
The Youth Influence Remains
Ellis Goldberg, American University, Cairo
Join Forces With Existing
Parties Emad Shahin, University of Notre Dame
Becoming a Viable Force
Steven A. Cook, Council on Foreign Relations
Stepping Up to the Challenge
Mona Eltahawy, columnist ..
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
21/03 Rising Wealth Inequality: Should We Care?.
March 21, 2011 
Introduction
Many studies have shown that income inequality is rising. In several different types of communities, median family income is lower now than 30 years ago. Yet an intriguing survey by Michael Norton and Dan Ariely found that Americans believe wealth distribution to be far more equal than it actually is and, if given a choice, they would select an even more equitable scenario. Why do Americans seem relatively unperturbed about growing income inequality? Is it a lack of awareness, or are there other factors?
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Introduction
Many studies have shown that income inequality is rising. In several different types of communities, median family income is lower now than 30 years ago. Yet an intriguing survey by Michael Norton and Dan Ariely found that Americans believe wealth distribution to be far more equal than it actually is and, if given a choice, they would select an even more equitable scenario. Why do Americans seem relatively unperturbed about growing income inequality? Is it a lack of awareness, or are there other factors?
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29/03 Libyan Militiamen Accused of Rape Said to Sue
March 29, 2011
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
TRIPOLI, Libya — In the latest turn in the case of Eman al-Obeidy, a Libyan woman apprehended by security forces for trying to tell journalists that she had been raped by members of the Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s militia, a government spokesman said Tuesday that the unidentified militia members she accused had filed a civil case against her.
“Oh, yeah, they have filed a case,” the spokesman, Musa Ibrahim said. “The boys who she accused of rape are bringing a case because it is a very grave offense to accuse someone of a sexual crime.” Journalists have been unable to learn Ms. al-Obeidy’s whereabouts since she was removed by force from the Rixos Hotel here after scuffles between security personnel, hotel staff and foreign journalists she had been trying to approach on Saturday.
Mr. Ibrahim initially described her as drunk and potentially delusional. Then, later on Saturday, he called her sober and sane. And on Sunday he termed her a prostitute and a thief.
He said that her case against the men had been dropped because she refused to submit to a medical examination, and he reiterated a promise that she would be offered a chance to speak again to the press.
The story of her treatment, covered by satellite news channels and Web sites, has riveted Libyans of all stripes. To critics of the Qaddafi government Ms. Obeidy has become the new face of its brutal tactics. Her family and tribe, based in the rebel-held east, is reportedly standing by her, bucking tradition to reject any assertion of a stain on her reputation from the alleged sexual crime. Rebels in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital, have also held rallies to support her.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
TRIPOLI, Libya — In the latest turn in the case of Eman al-Obeidy, a Libyan woman apprehended by security forces for trying to tell journalists that she had been raped by members of the Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s militia, a government spokesman said Tuesday that the unidentified militia members she accused had filed a civil case against her.
“Oh, yeah, they have filed a case,” the spokesman, Musa Ibrahim said. “The boys who she accused of rape are bringing a case because it is a very grave offense to accuse someone of a sexual crime.” Journalists have been unable to learn Ms. al-Obeidy’s whereabouts since she was removed by force from the Rixos Hotel here after scuffles between security personnel, hotel staff and foreign journalists she had been trying to approach on Saturday.
Mr. Ibrahim initially described her as drunk and potentially delusional. Then, later on Saturday, he called her sober and sane. And on Sunday he termed her a prostitute and a thief.
He said that her case against the men had been dropped because she refused to submit to a medical examination, and he reiterated a promise that she would be offered a chance to speak again to the press.
The story of her treatment, covered by satellite news channels and Web sites, has riveted Libyans of all stripes. To critics of the Qaddafi government Ms. Obeidy has become the new face of its brutal tactics. Her family and tribe, based in the rebel-held east, is reportedly standing by her, bucking tradition to reject any assertion of a stain on her reputation from the alleged sexual crime. Rebels in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital, have also held rallies to support her.
29/03 第一原発の南１６キロの海水、５８倍のヨウ素
. 福島第一原子力発電所から海に高濃度の放射性物質が漏れ出している問題で、東京電力は２９日、第一原発から南へ１６キロ離れた岩沢海岸で２８日に採取された海水から基準値の５８・８倍の放射性ヨウ素を検出したと発表した。
２７日に採取した海水では同７・４倍だった。第一原発の放水口近くから２６日に採取した海水から同１８５０倍の放射性ヨウ素が検出されており、高濃度の放射性物質を含む水があまり拡散しないまま、潮流で流された可能性がある。
同原発から南へ１０キロの第二原発近くでも、２７日に採取した海水中のヨウ素の濃度が同９５倍となり、２８日も同９５・５倍と高濃度が続いた。
一方、排出源と見られる第一原発放水口近くでは、海水中の放射性物質の濃度が低下しており、２８日朝に採取した海水中のヨウ素の濃度は同３３・９倍だった。
東京電力は、放射性物質は海で拡散して薄まると説明していたが、「沖合に流れれば、放射性物質は拡散すると思うが、海岸近くの流れはどうなっているか分からない。よどんだ水が塊で流れ着いた可能性がある」と説明している。
（2011年3月29日20時08分 読売新聞）
２７日に採取した海水では同７・４倍だった。第一原発の放水口近くから２６日に採取した海水から同１８５０倍の放射性ヨウ素が検出されており、高濃度の放射性物質を含む水があまり拡散しないまま、潮流で流された可能性がある。
同原発から南へ１０キロの第二原発近くでも、２７日に採取した海水中のヨウ素の濃度が同９５倍となり、２８日も同９５・５倍と高濃度が続いた。
一方、排出源と見られる第一原発放水口近くでは、海水中の放射性物質の濃度が低下しており、２８日朝に採取した海水中のヨウ素の濃度は同３３・９倍だった。
東京電力は、放射性物質は海で拡散して薄まると説明していたが、「沖合に流れれば、放射性物質は拡散すると思うが、海岸近くの流れはどうなっているか分からない。よどんだ水が塊で流れ着いた可能性がある」と説明している。
（2011年3月29日20時08分 読売新聞）
29/03 「ざっくばらん」班目委員長発言に官邸ピリピリ
国の原子力政策の安全規制を担う原子力安全委員会の班目春樹委員長の発言に首相官邸が神経をとがらせている。
班目氏は２８日の参院予算委員会で、菅首相が東日本巨大地震発生直後の１２日、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所を視察したことについて、「首相が『原子力について少し勉強したい』ということで同行した」と語った。視察が「首相の勉強目的」とも取れる発言だったため、野党が「視察が初動の遅れにつながった」と猛反発。首相は２９日の同委で、「そういう（勉強したいという）言葉を発した記憶はない」と打ち消しに躍起となった。
班目氏は２２日に首相と面談した後も、「（首相に）呼びつけられ、怒られた」と記者団に説明、首相周辺が「首相は怒っていない」と“訂正”して回る一幕も。過去にも、原子力発電所の運転差し止め訴訟の被告側証人として、「どこかで割り切らないと（原発の）設計はできない」と証言したことがあり、２２日の同委では「割り切り方が正しくなく、十分反省している」と述べた。
班目氏は東大教授などを経て、２０１０年４月に原子力安全委員に任命され、互選で委員長に就任した。研究者からは「ざっくばらんな性格で、偉ぶらない」と評されている。
（2011年3月29日19時17分 読売新聞）
班目氏は２８日の参院予算委員会で、菅首相が東日本巨大地震発生直後の１２日、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所を視察したことについて、「首相が『原子力について少し勉強したい』ということで同行した」と語った。視察が「首相の勉強目的」とも取れる発言だったため、野党が「視察が初動の遅れにつながった」と猛反発。首相は２９日の同委で、「そういう（勉強したいという）言葉を発した記憶はない」と打ち消しに躍起となった。
班目氏は２２日に首相と面談した後も、「（首相に）呼びつけられ、怒られた」と記者団に説明、首相周辺が「首相は怒っていない」と“訂正”して回る一幕も。過去にも、原子力発電所の運転差し止め訴訟の被告側証人として、「どこかで割り切らないと（原発の）設計はできない」と証言したことがあり、２２日の同委では「割り切り方が正しくなく、十分反省している」と述べた。
班目氏は東大教授などを経て、２０１０年４月に原子力安全委員に任命され、互選で委員長に就任した。研究者からは「ざっくばらんな性格で、偉ぶらない」と評されている。
（2011年3月29日19時17分 読売新聞）
29/03 'Hot' water removal going slowly / Flooded steam condensers in reactors hamper workers' efforts
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Steam condensers at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are flooded, making it difficult for workers to remove highly radioactive water from inside the turbine buildings, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday.
The turbine buildings house equipment indispensable to carrying out full-scale cooling of the troubled reactors.
Radioactive water has accumulated at the bottom of the buildings.
In the case of the No. 1 reactor, TEPCO could not ascertain when it would be able to completely pump out the water because of a huge quantity of water in the basement of the turbine building. Referring to radiation of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour that was detected on the surface of the radioactive water at the No. 2 reactor, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday the high level of radiation was caused by water overflowing after coming in contact with nuclear fuel rods that had temporarily melted.
Earlier in the day, TEPCO said the concentration of radioactive substances in the water at the No. 2 reactor's turbine building was about 100,000 times higher than normal in water inside a reactor.
The utility said Sunday morning that the concentration of radioactive iodine-134 detected in water taken the previous day from the basement of the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor was 2.9 billion becquerels per milliliter, or 10 million times the normal concentration.
Later that day, TEPCO corrected that analysis, saying it was highly possible that cobalt-56 was mistaken for iodine-134 when compiling the earlier data. Early Monday, the company again made a correction, saying it should have referred to cesium-134, not cobalt-56.
The concentration of radioactive substances detected at the same place in the No. 2 reactor was 20 million becquerels per milliliter or 100,000 times that of the water inside a reactor, TEPCO said.
There was some good news. TEPCO reported that the spent nuclear fuel rod temporary storage pools at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors were confirmed to be filled to their capacity Monday. Despite this, restoration work at the plant is expected to take a long time, observers said.
Referring to the radiation-contaminated water at the basement of Reactor No. 2's turbine building, Edano said the contamination was regrettable but restoration work would continue at the plant while ensuring there was no health risk.
With regard to the Nos. 1 and 3 reactors, where concentrations of radioactive substances are lower than at Reactor No. 2, he said radioactive water that became steam in the reactor containment vessel was condensed or diluted as a result of water spraying.
Reactor No. 1's condenser has a capacity of 1,600 tons while those of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors are almost twice that at 3,000 tons.
Work to remove radioactive water from the basement of Reactor No. 1's turbine building has started. Additional pumps have been installed to remove the radioactive water, but it remains to be seen when the work can be finished because of the large volume of water.
The condensers at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors cannot take additional radioactive water because they are already full.
TEPCO is looking into the possibility of transferring contaminated water to tanks located at other places. But new pipes will be needed to connect them, TEPCO said.
The amount of radiation in the air in the basements of the turbine buildings amounted to 25 millisieverts per hour at the No. 1 reactor, more than 1,000 millisieverts at the No. 2 reactor and 400 millisieverts at the No. 3 reactor.
The high radiation records at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors made it difficult to make progress in removing radioactive water.
To help ensure safety in the dark working environment, TEPCO is considering bringing temporary lighting equipment into the basements of the turbine buildings of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors and dividing workers into several groups so they can work for short periods.
As for pouring freshwater into Reactor No. 2, TEPCO has installed electric-driven pumps inside the turbine building to connect them with a power supply. On Sunday afternoon, water-spraying into the reactor started using water drawn directly from a freshwater tank installed about one kilometer away.
(Mar. 29, 2011)
29/03 中国が燃料油２万トンを無償提供 水・手袋も
2011年3月29日22時44分 .
【瀋陽＝西村大輔】中国の新華社通信などによると、東日本大震災を受けて中国が日本に無償提供するガソリン１万トンとディーゼル油１万トンを積んだ輸送船が２９日、遼寧省大連の港から出港した。
ガソリンは広島県江田島市に、ディーゼル油は愛媛県今治市に送る予定で、総額１億５千万元（約１９億円）相当。早ければ４月１日ごろには日本に届くという。国有企業の中国石油天然ガスグループ傘下の大連石化が１５日から、中国政府の指示を受けて生産していた。また、ミネラルウオーター６万本、ゴム手袋３２５万枚の計９６トンの支援物資も２８日に北京の空港から成田空港に空輸されたという。 .
【瀋陽＝西村大輔】中国の新華社通信などによると、東日本大震災を受けて中国が日本に無償提供するガソリン１万トンとディーゼル油１万トンを積んだ輸送船が２９日、遼寧省大連の港から出港した。
ガソリンは広島県江田島市に、ディーゼル油は愛媛県今治市に送る予定で、総額１億５千万元（約１９億円）相当。早ければ４月１日ごろには日本に届くという。国有企業の中国石油天然ガスグループ傘下の大連石化が１５日から、中国政府の指示を受けて生産していた。また、ミネラルウオーター６万本、ゴム手袋３２５万枚の計９６トンの支援物資も２８日に北京の空港から成田空港に空輸されたという。 .
29/03 「もう限界」「一時帰宅を」原発避難の首長らが窮状訴え
2011年3月29日21時55分
もう限界だ――。福島第一原発の周辺にあり、放射線被害から逃れるため避難や屋内退避の指示でちりぢりになっている福島県内８町村の首長や議長が２９日、震災後初めて、同県郡山市に集まった。佐藤雄平・県知事も同席。原発への憂慮や避難所生活の窮状を訴える声が相次いだ。
県内の会津美里町に集団移転する楢葉町の草野孝町長は、長期化する避難生活で具合が悪くなったり、医者にかかったりする町民が何十人も出ていると説明。「職員も限界にきている」と訴えた。
会津若松市への集団移転を進めている大熊町の渡辺利綱町長は、避難指示圏への住民の一時帰宅について言及。「避難している人は着の身着のまま、カギもかけてこないで出てきた人もいる。無理は承知だが１時間でもいい。住民を一度帰してもらいたい。それが住民からの一番強い要望だ」と報告した。
さいたま市に集団移転している双葉町の井戸川克隆町長は車で駆けつけた。町民の所在確認について「行政でやるのは、もう限界」と説明。「民間のリサーチ会社に委託するなど、外の力を借りた方が効率的にできるのではないか」と提案した。
馬場有・浪江町長は「大津波で相当な人が行方不明になり、遺体がまだ、そのあたりにあると聞いている。県は、遺体の収集と行方不明者の捜索をぜひ、県警、自衛隊に要請して頂きたい」と、津波被害を受けた町の写真を佐藤知事に見せた。
首長らは、原子力災害の収束を国や東京電力に求めることや住宅、雇用、就学先の確保などを佐藤知事に要望した。佐藤知事は、一時帰宅について「命の問題だから、ここは辛抱してもらわなきゃいけない。ただ、住民の気持ちはわかっているのか、と官邸には再三言っている」と答えた。
（斎藤健一郎）
もう限界だ――。福島第一原発の周辺にあり、放射線被害から逃れるため避難や屋内退避の指示でちりぢりになっている福島県内８町村の首長や議長が２９日、震災後初めて、同県郡山市に集まった。佐藤雄平・県知事も同席。原発への憂慮や避難所生活の窮状を訴える声が相次いだ。
県内の会津美里町に集団移転する楢葉町の草野孝町長は、長期化する避難生活で具合が悪くなったり、医者にかかったりする町民が何十人も出ていると説明。「職員も限界にきている」と訴えた。
会津若松市への集団移転を進めている大熊町の渡辺利綱町長は、避難指示圏への住民の一時帰宅について言及。「避難している人は着の身着のまま、カギもかけてこないで出てきた人もいる。無理は承知だが１時間でもいい。住民を一度帰してもらいたい。それが住民からの一番強い要望だ」と報告した。
さいたま市に集団移転している双葉町の井戸川克隆町長は車で駆けつけた。町民の所在確認について「行政でやるのは、もう限界」と説明。「民間のリサーチ会社に委託するなど、外の力を借りた方が効率的にできるのではないか」と提案した。
馬場有・浪江町長は「大津波で相当な人が行方不明になり、遺体がまだ、そのあたりにあると聞いている。県は、遺体の収集と行方不明者の捜索をぜひ、県警、自衛隊に要請して頂きたい」と、津波被害を受けた町の写真を佐藤知事に見せた。
首長らは、原子力災害の収束を国や東京電力に求めることや住宅、雇用、就学先の確保などを佐藤知事に要望した。佐藤知事は、一時帰宅について「命の問題だから、ここは辛抱してもらわなきゃいけない。ただ、住民の気持ちはわかっているのか、と官邸には再三言っている」と答えた。
（斎藤健一郎）
29/03 TEPCO says damage possible to reactor pressure containers
2011/03/29
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor, foreground, No. 2 reactor, No. 3 reactor and No. 4 reactor behind the rising white smoke on March 15 (Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
Editor's note: We will update our earthquake news as frequently as possible on AJW's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AJW.Asahi. Please check the latest developments in this disaster. From Toshio Jo, managing editor, International Division, The Asahi Shimbun.
* * *
Tokyo Electric Power Co. acknowledged for the first time possible damage to core pressure containers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant--the last line of defense in preventing radioactive materials from spewing out.
TEPCO officials told reporters Monday morning that despite the continuous pumping in of water to cool down the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactor cores, water levels were not rising as expected, meaning the pressure containers may not be completely sealed off.
The water, which is believed to be mixing with radioactive materials from the fuel rods within, is likely leaking from the pressure containers, they said.
The tsunami that hit the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake knocked out the emergency generators at the three reactors. The systems that circulate water within the pressure containers to cool the fuel rods also stopped working.
Workers have been pumping in water through pipes to the pressure container to submerge the fuel rods and directly cool the decay heat that continues to be emitted even after the reactors were stopped.
But the water level meters for the three reactors have not risen as expected.
TEPCO officials said a possible reason the water levels were not rising sufficiently were breaches in the lower part of the pressure containers. They said they did not know what caused the possible damage.
A pressure container holds nuclear fuel pellets placed in metal rods that have been bundled together. A containment vessel, located within the building housing the reactor, surrounds the pressure container.
The pressure containers at the Fukushima plant are made of steel 16 centimeters thick. The lower part of the containers have openings for measuring and other equipment.
Water may be leaking from around those parts, the officials said. TEPCO has cited the possibility that fuel rods may have been damaged due to overheating after being exposed above the water's surface in the core.
According to experts, if the fuel rods are damaged and crumble, the melted fuel could fall and accumulate into a lump at the bottom of the pressure container. In that scenario, it would be more difficult to cool because of the fuel's larger surface area. The experts also said damaged fuel rods could have reached high temperatures that melted the walls of the pressure container.
However, TEPCO officials said major structural damage was unlikely and the soundness of the pressure container has probably been maintained because the pressure within the container remains at higher levels than the outside atmosphere.
TEPCO officials are trying to restart the cooling systems that circulate water so that they can stop discharging the water to the outside. But they have run into problems in obtaining a stable electric power source.
For now, they said the pumping will have to continue to cool the fuel rods, which raises concerns about highly contaminated water leaking steadily through breaches in the pressure containers.
At the same time, the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan said Monday that extremely high levels of radiation have not been recorded outside the reactor buildings, making it possible to continue pumping in water and releasing steam to cool the core, even if water continues to leak.
The NSC also commented on the water accumulated at the basement of the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor that had radioactivity levels about 100,000 times above the normal level.
The commission said the water likely flowed into the turbine building from the core containment vessel after coming in contact with fuel rods that had temporarily melted.
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor, foreground, No. 2 reactor, No. 3 reactor and No. 4 reactor behind the rising white smoke on March 15 (Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
Editor's note: We will update our earthquake news as frequently as possible on AJW's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AJW.Asahi. Please check the latest developments in this disaster. From Toshio Jo, managing editor, International Division, The Asahi Shimbun.
* * *
Tokyo Electric Power Co. acknowledged for the first time possible damage to core pressure containers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant--the last line of defense in preventing radioactive materials from spewing out.
TEPCO officials told reporters Monday morning that despite the continuous pumping in of water to cool down the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactor cores, water levels were not rising as expected, meaning the pressure containers may not be completely sealed off.
The water, which is believed to be mixing with radioactive materials from the fuel rods within, is likely leaking from the pressure containers, they said.
The tsunami that hit the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake knocked out the emergency generators at the three reactors. The systems that circulate water within the pressure containers to cool the fuel rods also stopped working.
Workers have been pumping in water through pipes to the pressure container to submerge the fuel rods and directly cool the decay heat that continues to be emitted even after the reactors were stopped.
But the water level meters for the three reactors have not risen as expected.
TEPCO officials said a possible reason the water levels were not rising sufficiently were breaches in the lower part of the pressure containers. They said they did not know what caused the possible damage.
A pressure container holds nuclear fuel pellets placed in metal rods that have been bundled together. A containment vessel, located within the building housing the reactor, surrounds the pressure container.
The pressure containers at the Fukushima plant are made of steel 16 centimeters thick. The lower part of the containers have openings for measuring and other equipment.
Water may be leaking from around those parts, the officials said. TEPCO has cited the possibility that fuel rods may have been damaged due to overheating after being exposed above the water's surface in the core.
According to experts, if the fuel rods are damaged and crumble, the melted fuel could fall and accumulate into a lump at the bottom of the pressure container. In that scenario, it would be more difficult to cool because of the fuel's larger surface area. The experts also said damaged fuel rods could have reached high temperatures that melted the walls of the pressure container.
However, TEPCO officials said major structural damage was unlikely and the soundness of the pressure container has probably been maintained because the pressure within the container remains at higher levels than the outside atmosphere.
TEPCO officials are trying to restart the cooling systems that circulate water so that they can stop discharging the water to the outside. But they have run into problems in obtaining a stable electric power source.
For now, they said the pumping will have to continue to cool the fuel rods, which raises concerns about highly contaminated water leaking steadily through breaches in the pressure containers.
At the same time, the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan said Monday that extremely high levels of radiation have not been recorded outside the reactor buildings, making it possible to continue pumping in water and releasing steam to cool the core, even if water continues to leak.
The NSC also commented on the water accumulated at the basement of the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor that had radioactivity levels about 100,000 times above the normal level.
The commission said the water likely flowed into the turbine building from the core containment vessel after coming in contact with fuel rods that had temporarily melted.
29/03 タンクに次々移し替え…汚染水除去、綱渡りの作業
2011年3月29日13時26分
水の移動先
東京電力の福島第一原発１～３号機のタービン建屋から外へつながる坑道に、高い線量を示す大量の汚染水が見つかった。同建屋の地下にも同様の汚染水が大量にたまっており、坑道の汚染水の供給源になっている可能性もある。この水の処理が、放射能を封じ込めるカギを握る。東電は建屋内の水を別のタンクに玉突きのように次々と移し替え、燃料冷却作業に取りかかる環境作りを急ぐ一方で、坑道の水があふれ出ないよう、土嚢（どのう）を積むなど応急対策を進めている。
東電によると、トレンチと呼ばれる坑道は、冷却で用いる海水ポンプの配管や電線などが通っている。人が入って点検できるようになっており、通常は水はない。その坑道の容量は総計１万３３００トン。坑道内はほとんど水で埋まっているとみられ、配管などを差し引いても１万トン前後の汚染水がたまっている可能性がある。
２号機の坑道入り口付近では、最大で毎時３００ミリシーベルト以上の高い放射線が測定された。１、３号機でも最大で毎時０．８～１ミリシーベルトが出ている。たて坑から海は５０～７０メートル離れているが、海に漏れる可能性もある。そのため、東電は２８日にまず１号機のたて坑の入り口周辺に土嚢を積み、流出を防ぐ応急措置を講じた。
一方、同じ１～３号機のタービン建屋地下では、水深０．４～１．５メートルの汚染水がたまっている。坑道の配管は建屋に通じており、「地下から流れ込んだ可能性は否定できない」（東電福島事務所）。建屋の浸水は、復旧作業にとって邪魔なだけでなく、坑道の水の供給源になっているとみられる。
このため、建屋の水をまず取り除くことを優先させる。
建屋外の汚染水流出の様子
汚染水の放射能が高いため、密閉性の高い建屋内の「復水器」という装置の中にポンプで移す方針だった。すでに１号機は、坑道の水が確認される前の２４日から水の移動を始めていた。だが、２、３号機も同様に復水器への移し替えを実施しようとしたところ、それぞれ満水状態だった。
そこでまず、この復水器に入っている比較的汚染度が低いとみられる水を、建屋外にある「復水貯蔵タンク」に移し替えることにした。だが、その貯蔵タンクも、もともと水が入っている。２、３号機については、仮設ホースを引いて、貯蔵タンクの水を、建屋からさらに遠く離れている別の「圧力抑制室用貯水タンク」に移し替えて容量を確保することにし、２８日から作業を始めた。
圧力抑制室用貯水タンクは各号機共用で、４号機の南にある２基については、容量計６８００トンで、空き容量は約４千トンあるとみられる。廃水を処理する施設は復旧しておらず、現状ではどこかにためるほかない。２、３号機の貯蔵タンクを空にして、復水器にどれだけ容量を確保できるか、綱渡りの作業を続けている。
水の移動先東京電力の福島第一原発１～３号機のタービン建屋から外へつながる坑道に、高い線量を示す大量の汚染水が見つかった。同建屋の地下にも同様の汚染水が大量にたまっており、坑道の汚染水の供給源になっている可能性もある。この水の処理が、放射能を封じ込めるカギを握る。東電は建屋内の水を別のタンクに玉突きのように次々と移し替え、燃料冷却作業に取りかかる環境作りを急ぐ一方で、坑道の水があふれ出ないよう、土嚢（どのう）を積むなど応急対策を進めている。
東電によると、トレンチと呼ばれる坑道は、冷却で用いる海水ポンプの配管や電線などが通っている。人が入って点検できるようになっており、通常は水はない。その坑道の容量は総計１万３３００トン。坑道内はほとんど水で埋まっているとみられ、配管などを差し引いても１万トン前後の汚染水がたまっている可能性がある。
２号機の坑道入り口付近では、最大で毎時３００ミリシーベルト以上の高い放射線が測定された。１、３号機でも最大で毎時０．８～１ミリシーベルトが出ている。たて坑から海は５０～７０メートル離れているが、海に漏れる可能性もある。そのため、東電は２８日にまず１号機のたて坑の入り口周辺に土嚢を積み、流出を防ぐ応急措置を講じた。
一方、同じ１～３号機のタービン建屋地下では、水深０．４～１．５メートルの汚染水がたまっている。坑道の配管は建屋に通じており、「地下から流れ込んだ可能性は否定できない」（東電福島事務所）。建屋の浸水は、復旧作業にとって邪魔なだけでなく、坑道の水の供給源になっているとみられる。
このため、建屋の水をまず取り除くことを優先させる。
建屋外の汚染水流出の様子 汚染水の放射能が高いため、密閉性の高い建屋内の「復水器」という装置の中にポンプで移す方針だった。すでに１号機は、坑道の水が確認される前の２４日から水の移動を始めていた。だが、２、３号機も同様に復水器への移し替えを実施しようとしたところ、それぞれ満水状態だった。
そこでまず、この復水器に入っている比較的汚染度が低いとみられる水を、建屋外にある「復水貯蔵タンク」に移し替えることにした。だが、その貯蔵タンクも、もともと水が入っている。２、３号機については、仮設ホースを引いて、貯蔵タンクの水を、建屋からさらに遠く離れている別の「圧力抑制室用貯水タンク」に移し替えて容量を確保することにし、２８日から作業を始めた。
圧力抑制室用貯水タンクは各号機共用で、４号機の南にある２基については、容量計６８００トンで、空き容量は約４千トンあるとみられる。廃水を処理する施設は復旧しておらず、現状ではどこかにためるほかない。２、３号機の貯蔵タンクを空にして、復水器にどれだけ容量を確保できるか、綱渡りの作業を続けている。
29/03 Ｍ７以上の余震発生確率は１０％ 気象庁が下方修正
2011年3月29日19時27分
東日本大震災で、気象庁は２９日、マグニチュード７．０（最大震度５強）以上の余震が起こる確率の目安を、４月１日までの３日間が１０％、その後の３日間も１０％と下方修正し、発表した。２５日の発表ではいずれも２０％で、１１日の本震以降、最も低くなった。
東日本大震災で、気象庁は２９日、マグニチュード７．０（最大震度５強）以上の余震が起こる確率の目安を、４月１日までの３日間が１０％、その後の３日間も１０％と下方修正し、発表した。２５日の発表ではいずれも２０％で、１１日の本震以降、最も低くなった。
29/03 群馬小６自殺「いじめが唯一の原因ではない」 第三者委
2011年3月29日19時16分
群馬県桐生市立新里東小学校６年の上村明子さん（当時１２）が昨年１０月に自宅で自殺した問題で、市が設置した第三者委員会は、いじめが自殺の唯一の原因ではない、と結論づける調査報告書をまとめた。桐生市が２９日、発表した。
明子さんの両親は「いじめと自殺の因果関係を認めてほしい」と主張していたが、因果関係を調べた第三者委の調査報告書は「いじめなどの存在が唯一の原因で児童が自殺をしたと判断することは相当ではない」とした。
群馬県桐生市立新里東小学校６年の上村明子さん（当時１２）が昨年１０月に自宅で自殺した問題で、市が設置した第三者委員会は、いじめが自殺の唯一の原因ではない、と結論づける調査報告書をまとめた。桐生市が２９日、発表した。
明子さんの両親は「いじめと自殺の因果関係を認めてほしい」と主張していたが、因果関係を調べた第三者委の調査報告書は「いじめなどの存在が唯一の原因で児童が自殺をしたと判断することは相当ではない」とした。
29/03 死亡１万１１０２人不明１万６４９３人―２９日
１８時2011年3月29日18時56分
警察庁によると、２９日午後６時現在の死者数は１２都道県で１万１１０２人にのぼった。行方不明は６県で１万６４９３人。負傷者は１８都道県で２７７８人。
確認されている死者数は宮城６７４４人、岩手３２８３人、福島１０１７人、茨城２０人、千葉１７人、東京７人、栃木と神奈川で各４人、青森で３人、北海道、山形、群馬で各１人。行方不明となっているのは宮城７０４７人、福島４８９８人、岩手４５４４人、千葉２人、青森、茨城各１人。
建物被害は全壊１万６５０１戸、流失は２１６５戸、全半焼１４６戸など。道路被害は２１２６カ所にのぼる。
また同日午前１０時現在、被害の大きかった岩手、宮城、福島の３県で死亡した人のうち身元が判明したのは８４７３人。８０３３人は遺族らに引き渡された。
警察庁によると、２９日午後６時現在の死者数は１２都道県で１万１１０２人にのぼった。行方不明は６県で１万６４９３人。負傷者は１８都道県で２７７８人。
確認されている死者数は宮城６７４４人、岩手３２８３人、福島１０１７人、茨城２０人、千葉１７人、東京７人、栃木と神奈川で各４人、青森で３人、北海道、山形、群馬で各１人。行方不明となっているのは宮城７０４７人、福島４８９８人、岩手４５４４人、千葉２人、青森、茨城各１人。
建物被害は全壊１万６５０１戸、流失は２１６５戸、全半焼１４６戸など。道路被害は２１２６カ所にのぼる。
また同日午前１０時現在、被害の大きかった岩手、宮城、福島の３県で死亡した人のうち身元が判明したのは８４７３人。８０３３人は遺族らに引き渡された。
29/03 原子炉圧力容器―損傷の恐れ直視し対策を
福島第一原子力発電所の原子炉圧力容器や格納容器の中に閉じ込められているはずの強い放射能を帯びた水が、所内で漏れている。政府と東京電力は容器が傷ついている可能性に向き合い、対策を練る必要がある。
圧力容器などの密閉に不安がある根拠は、原子炉建屋に隣接する建物の地下や、建物の外にある坑道にたまった水から、強い放射能が相次いで検出されたことだ。
とりわけ濃度が高いのは２号機の隣のタービン建屋地下で、運転中の原子炉の中をふだん循環している冷却水の１０万倍にもなる。
原子炉本体である圧力容器の中にある核燃料が高熱のために溶け、冷却水の中に出てきたとしか考えられない濃度だ。
圧力容器は厚い鋼鉄でできている。炉心の放射性物質を閉じこめる、原子炉で最も大切な構造だ。外側は格納容器に包まれ、そこから冷却をはじめとする様々な配管で隣の建屋とつながっている。
原子力安全委員会は、溶けた燃料と触れた容器内の水が、何らかの経路を通って隣の建屋に流れ込んだと推測している。
圧力容器は大丈夫なのか。
東電は、圧力容器から格納容器に水がもれている可能性を認めている。一方、経済産業省の原子力安全・保安院は、圧力容器が壊れている恐れは低いとみている。
圧力容器は、直接見ることができない。温度や圧力の計測データから状態を推測するしかない。
その数値を十分に分析して、たとえ悪い情報であっても直視し、起こりうる事態をきちんと国民に伝えることが重要だ。
高い濃度の汚染水が見つかったことは、原発の制御を取り戻す抜本的な対策に大きな影響を与える。それは、原発の電源を回復して冷却水の循環系統を復活させて冷やす作業だ。
地震と津波に襲われた電気配線やポンプが使えるか調べ、必要なら配線や機器を取りかえながら循環系統の復活を進めなくてはならない。
ところが、放射能レベルの高い場所があちこちにあるので、作業は短時間で交代になり、余計に手間がかかる。要員も増やさなくてはなるまい。
さらに心配なのは、もし圧力容器の損傷があり、それがひどければ、ポンプが復活しても効率良く水を循環させられない恐れがあることだ。
不安定な原子炉を落ち着かせるには最終的にそれを冷やすしかない。
高濃度の汚染水のために、今後の作業には数々の障害が立ちはだかりそうだが、政府と東電は幾重もの事態に備えた対策を用意して、原発の安定に向けて手を打ってほしい。
圧力容器などの密閉に不安がある根拠は、原子炉建屋に隣接する建物の地下や、建物の外にある坑道にたまった水から、強い放射能が相次いで検出されたことだ。
とりわけ濃度が高いのは２号機の隣のタービン建屋地下で、運転中の原子炉の中をふだん循環している冷却水の１０万倍にもなる。
原子炉本体である圧力容器の中にある核燃料が高熱のために溶け、冷却水の中に出てきたとしか考えられない濃度だ。
圧力容器は厚い鋼鉄でできている。炉心の放射性物質を閉じこめる、原子炉で最も大切な構造だ。外側は格納容器に包まれ、そこから冷却をはじめとする様々な配管で隣の建屋とつながっている。
原子力安全委員会は、溶けた燃料と触れた容器内の水が、何らかの経路を通って隣の建屋に流れ込んだと推測している。
圧力容器は大丈夫なのか。
東電は、圧力容器から格納容器に水がもれている可能性を認めている。一方、経済産業省の原子力安全・保安院は、圧力容器が壊れている恐れは低いとみている。
圧力容器は、直接見ることができない。温度や圧力の計測データから状態を推測するしかない。
その数値を十分に分析して、たとえ悪い情報であっても直視し、起こりうる事態をきちんと国民に伝えることが重要だ。
高い濃度の汚染水が見つかったことは、原発の制御を取り戻す抜本的な対策に大きな影響を与える。それは、原発の電源を回復して冷却水の循環系統を復活させて冷やす作業だ。
地震と津波に襲われた電気配線やポンプが使えるか調べ、必要なら配線や機器を取りかえながら循環系統の復活を進めなくてはならない。
ところが、放射能レベルの高い場所があちこちにあるので、作業は短時間で交代になり、余計に手間がかかる。要員も増やさなくてはなるまい。
さらに心配なのは、もし圧力容器の損傷があり、それがひどければ、ポンプが復活しても効率良く水を循環させられない恐れがあることだ。
不安定な原子炉を落ち着かせるには最終的にそれを冷やすしかない。
高濃度の汚染水のために、今後の作業には数々の障害が立ちはだかりそうだが、政府と東電は幾重もの事態に備えた対策を用意して、原発の安定に向けて手を打ってほしい。
về potassium idodide với 2 chất Iod 131 và Cs 137,134
Sông Hồng nói:
18/03/2011 lúc 8:42 chiều |
nguồn: trang blog của Nguyễn Đình Đăng
18/03/2011 lúc 8:42 chiều |
Kính gởi TS Nguyễn Đình Đăng, thật cám ơn bài viết có tính trung thực và dễ hiểu của bác về các tình hình lẫn quá trình xảy ra ở NHDNT Fukushima. Cháu chỉ xin có một thắc mắc, đó là chất potassium iodide theo 1 số nguồn tin khoa học, cho rằng, chất này không có tác dụng ngăn được phóng xạ? Ngoài ra, viec sử dụng không có hướng dẫn và trong tình trạng đồn thổi ồ ạt kéo nhau sử dụng ở nhiều nơi vậy có an toàn cho sức khỏe không ạ? Mong được bác giúp đỡ giải thích thêm về tác động của potassium idodide với 2 chất Iod 131 và Cs 137,134 , cháu xin chân thành cám ơn bác!
Nguyễn Đình Đăng nói:
20/03/2011 lúc 1:03 chiều |Potassium iodide (KI) là muối của iodine bền vững I-127 (không phóng xạ). Cơ thể cần I-127 để tạo nên hormones tuyến giáp (thyroid hormones).
Sự cố tại lò phản ứng hạt nhân làm iodine phóng xạ I-131 thoát ra ngoài không khí, thâm nhập cơ thể người qua đường hô hấp (thở hít), tiêu hoá (ăn, uống). Khi đó tuyến giáp hấp thụ I-131, và sẽ bị tổn thương, có thể bị ung thư. I-131 có thời gian bán hủy (half-life) tương đối ngắn (khoảng 8 ngày). Vì thế không còn nhiều I-131 trong các thanh nhiên liệu đã qua sử dụng và đã được làm lạnh (cooled spent fuel).
Tuyến giáp hấp thụ, không phân biệt, cả I-127 và I-131. Potassium iodide (KI) có tác dụng cản không cho I-131 không thâm nhập vào tuyến giáp theo cơ chế đơn giản như sau. Khi uống một liều lượng potassium iodide (KI) đủ lớn, I-127 trong KI được tuyến giáp hấp thụ. Vì I-127 là nguyên tố bền vững, tuyến giáp trở nên “no” iodine, không thể hấp thụ iodine được nữa trong vòng 24 giờ, bất kể đó là iodine bền vững hay iodine phóng xạ.
Thực ra muối ăn chứa iodine (iodized table salt) của chúng ta cũng có chứa một lượng iodine đủ cho sức khoẻ chúng ta trong điều kiện bình thường, nhưng không đủ nhiều iodine đế cản iodine phóng xạ.
Potassium iodide (KI) chỉ cản không cho I-131 xâm nhập tuyến giáp (thyroid gland), chứ không bảo vệ được các bộ phận khác và cũng không chống được tác hại của các nguyên tố phóng xạ khác.
Chú ý:
1 – Chỉ được uống potassium iodine (KI) theo chỉ dẫn của bác sĩ và KI chỉ có tác dụng trong trường hợp bị nhiễm phóng xạ độ cao. Uống KI khi không cần thiết có thể gây hại cho sức khoẻ.2 – Chỉ những người dưới 40 tuổi mới có nhiều nguy cơ bị ung thư tuyến giáp vì nhiễm iodine 131, đặc biệt đối với trẻ nhỏ. Nguy cơ này ở những người trên 40 tuổi là rất nhỏ.
(Xem chi tiết tại http://www.nirs.go.jp/data/pdf/iodine.pdf)
nguồn: trang blog của Nguyễn Đình Đăng
29/03 ６０代からのマネー術 -- 自宅担保に借金、没後に返済（７）
自宅を貸して生活資金を得る以外に、住み替えせずにマイホームを担保にしてお金を借りる方法もある。リバースモーゲージと呼ばれる手法で、本人の死後、自宅を売却するなどして一括返済する（＝イラスト）。
例えば、中央三井信託銀行では、６０歳から８３歳までの人が申し込める。東京や大阪、愛知などの都市部の戸建て住宅が対象で、土地評価額が４０００万円以上などが条件。評価額の５０％まで借りることができる。お金は生涯にわたって定期的に、または必要に応じて受けとれる。
東京スター銀行では、５５歳から８０歳までが申し込みの対象。戸建てのほか、東京など一部地域のマンションでもお金が借りられる。借入枠は、戸建ては同行が査定した担保価値の８０％、マンションは５０％が目安となっている（上限額あり）。
また民間とは別に、全国の社会福祉協議会でも、低所得者向けに「不動産担保型生活資金」を実施している。６５歳以上で、区市町村民税が非課税の世帯などが対象。戸建てのみ、土地の評価額が１５００万円以上が原則で、借入枠は評価額の７０％まで。
いずれのリバースモーゲージでも、相続を巡るトラブルを避けたり、売却をスムーズに進めたりするために、一人暮らしか夫婦のみが対象で、それ以外の同居人を原則、認めていない。また、事前に配偶者や子どもの同意を得ることや、そのうちの１人に連帯保証人になってもらうことを課しているところもあり、利用上のハードルは高い。
リバースモーゲージに詳しい法政大講師の倉田剛さんは「本人が長生きした場合や、不動産の価値が大幅に下落してしまったり、金利が上昇したりすると、予定より早く借入枠いっぱいになってしまう」と話す。直ちに返済を迫られることはないが、それ以上のお金が借りられなくなってしまう恐れがある。あくまで余裕を持って利用したい。
（2011年3月29日 読売新聞）
28/03 Arabs Will Be Free
March 28, 2011
By ROGER COHEN
By ROGER COHEN
LONDON — Three Middle Eastern countries have been conspicuous for their stability in the storm. They are Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. An odd mix, you might say, but they have in common that they are places where people vote.
Democracy is a messy all-or-nothing business. That’s why I love it. You can no more be a little bit democratic than a little bit pregnant.
Yes, citizens go to the polls in Turkey, Lebanon and Israel and no dictator gets 99.3 percent of the vote. They are lands of opportunity where money is being made and where facile generalizations, for all their popularity, miss the point. Turkey has not turned Islamist, Lebanon is not in the hands of Hezbollah, and Israel is still an open society.
All three countries, of course, are also wracked by division and imperfection; but then two great merits of democracy are that it finesses division and does not aspire to perfection.
Speaking of Hezbollah, remember all that alarm a couple of months back when a Hezbollah-backed businessman, Najib Mikati, emerged as prime minister? After that, Lebanon introduced the Libyan no-fly-zone resolution at the United Nations — a rare, if little noted, example of the United States and a Hezbollah-supported government in sync.
Talk to Hezbollah: That’s obvious. It’s no terrorizing monolith. Mikati is struggling with the give-and-take of Lebanese politics. Life goes on in the freewheeling way that has long drawn repressed, frustrated Arabs to Beirut.
Hezbollah is a political party with a militia. That’s a big problem. Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Shas party has an outsized influence over Israel because of coalition politics. That’s a problem. The Muslim Brotherhood will loom large in a free Egypt because it has an organizational head start. That may be a problem. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party is a brilliant political machine with a ruthless bent. That’s a problem, too.
These are problems of different sizes. But give me all these problems so long as they present themselves within open (or opening) systems. They are far preferable to the cowed conformity common to the terrorized societies of the now doomed Arab Jurassic Park, where despots do their worst.
It’s over: Enough of the nameless graves that whisper of horror, enough of the 20th-century police states in the 21st-century. Yes, it’s over for Ben Ali and for Mubarak. It’s over for Qaddafi, yes it is. How far it’s over for the other Arab despots and autocrats, whether of the oxymoronic “republics” or the royals, will depend on how far they can get out in front of their citizens’ demand to be heard.
You see, you can’t do Hama any more. You can’t do the Iraqi marshes. Perhaps you can kill dozens, but not tens of thousands. These despots relied on the limitlessness of their terror. It had to be as absolute as their contempt for the law.
But now people know. They communicate through the clampdowns. They are Facebook-nimble. The despots gaze into their gilded mirrors and, to their horror, see not themselves but the people who will be silenced no longer. They wonder then if their own myriad agents can be trusted. They are caught in their own web. They flail; they have gone too far to turn back but cannot go forward.
Bashar al-Assad, the embattled Syrian president, was about to say something Sunday, before deciding not to. He was trained in west London as an eye doctor. He’d better stop thinking Hama — where his father murdered at least 10,000 — and start thinking Hammersmith.
Questions swirl. Who are the Libyan rebels? Who are the angry of Latakia? The Arab transitions will be long and bumpy — like those that brought representative government to Latin America and Central Europe and wide swathes of Asia — but now that fear has been overcome, they are irreversible.
Here’s who the protesters are: people like Asmaa Mahfouz, 26, the Egyptian woman who on Jan. 18 made a video urging citizens to go to Tahrir Square on Jan. 25 — the demonstration that would start the revolution. She said then: “We’ll go down and demand our rights, our fundamental human rights. I won’t even talk about any political rights. We just want our human rights and nothing else.” And she said people “don’t have to come to Tahrir Square, just go down anywhere and say it, that we are free human beings.” And: “This is enough!”
People are being born throughout the Middle East. They are discovering their capacity to change things, their inner “Basta!” That’s how the Arab spring began on Dec. 17 in the little town of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia — with a fruit peddler’s “enough” to humiliation. In my end is my beginning.
Three months later the genie is not only out of the bottle, it’s shattered the bottle. I said of Libya in an earlier column: Be ruthless or stay out. So now the West is in, be ruthless. Arm the resurgent rebels. Incapacitate Qaddafi. Do everything short of putting troops on the ground. Qaddafi, as President Obama has said, “must leave.” So that Libya can be an Arab country that is imperfect but open.
You can follow Roger Cohen on Twitter at twitter.com/nytimescohen .
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Editorial: President Obama on Libya
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Democracy is a messy all-or-nothing business. That’s why I love it. You can no more be a little bit democratic than a little bit pregnant.
Yes, citizens go to the polls in Turkey, Lebanon and Israel and no dictator gets 99.3 percent of the vote. They are lands of opportunity where money is being made and where facile generalizations, for all their popularity, miss the point. Turkey has not turned Islamist, Lebanon is not in the hands of Hezbollah, and Israel is still an open society.
All three countries, of course, are also wracked by division and imperfection; but then two great merits of democracy are that it finesses division and does not aspire to perfection.
Speaking of Hezbollah, remember all that alarm a couple of months back when a Hezbollah-backed businessman, Najib Mikati, emerged as prime minister? After that, Lebanon introduced the Libyan no-fly-zone resolution at the United Nations — a rare, if little noted, example of the United States and a Hezbollah-supported government in sync.
Talk to Hezbollah: That’s obvious. It’s no terrorizing monolith. Mikati is struggling with the give-and-take of Lebanese politics. Life goes on in the freewheeling way that has long drawn repressed, frustrated Arabs to Beirut.
Hezbollah is a political party with a militia. That’s a big problem. Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Shas party has an outsized influence over Israel because of coalition politics. That’s a problem. The Muslim Brotherhood will loom large in a free Egypt because it has an organizational head start. That may be a problem. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party is a brilliant political machine with a ruthless bent. That’s a problem, too.
These are problems of different sizes. But give me all these problems so long as they present themselves within open (or opening) systems. They are far preferable to the cowed conformity common to the terrorized societies of the now doomed Arab Jurassic Park, where despots do their worst.
It’s over: Enough of the nameless graves that whisper of horror, enough of the 20th-century police states in the 21st-century. Yes, it’s over for Ben Ali and for Mubarak. It’s over for Qaddafi, yes it is. How far it’s over for the other Arab despots and autocrats, whether of the oxymoronic “republics” or the royals, will depend on how far they can get out in front of their citizens’ demand to be heard.
You see, you can’t do Hama any more. You can’t do the Iraqi marshes. Perhaps you can kill dozens, but not tens of thousands. These despots relied on the limitlessness of their terror. It had to be as absolute as their contempt for the law.
But now people know. They communicate through the clampdowns. They are Facebook-nimble. The despots gaze into their gilded mirrors and, to their horror, see not themselves but the people who will be silenced no longer. They wonder then if their own myriad agents can be trusted. They are caught in their own web. They flail; they have gone too far to turn back but cannot go forward.
Bashar al-Assad, the embattled Syrian president, was about to say something Sunday, before deciding not to. He was trained in west London as an eye doctor. He’d better stop thinking Hama — where his father murdered at least 10,000 — and start thinking Hammersmith.
Questions swirl. Who are the Libyan rebels? Who are the angry of Latakia? The Arab transitions will be long and bumpy — like those that brought representative government to Latin America and Central Europe and wide swathes of Asia — but now that fear has been overcome, they are irreversible.
Here’s who the protesters are: people like Asmaa Mahfouz, 26, the Egyptian woman who on Jan. 18 made a video urging citizens to go to Tahrir Square on Jan. 25 — the demonstration that would start the revolution. She said then: “We’ll go down and demand our rights, our fundamental human rights. I won’t even talk about any political rights. We just want our human rights and nothing else.” And she said people “don’t have to come to Tahrir Square, just go down anywhere and say it, that we are free human beings.” And: “This is enough!”
People are being born throughout the Middle East. They are discovering their capacity to change things, their inner “Basta!” That’s how the Arab spring began on Dec. 17 in the little town of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia — with a fruit peddler’s “enough” to humiliation. In my end is my beginning.
Three months later the genie is not only out of the bottle, it’s shattered the bottle. I said of Libya in an earlier column: Be ruthless or stay out. So now the West is in, be ruthless. Arm the resurgent rebels. Incapacitate Qaddafi. Do everything short of putting troops on the ground. Qaddafi, as President Obama has said, “must leave.” So that Libya can be an Arab country that is imperfect but open.
You can follow Roger Cohen on Twitter at twitter.com/nytimescohen .
MORE IN OPINION (4 OF 20 ARTICLES)
Editorial: President Obama on Libya
Read More »
Close
29/03 các comments về bài Fukushima 1 không phải là Chernobyl thứ hai
18/03/2011 lúc 11:39 chiều |
Cảm ơn tác giả về bài viết rất hay.
Tôi có một câu hỏi nhỏ nhằm nắm bắt vấn đề được tốt hơn: trong trường hợp không làm nguội được lò, liệu nhiệt độ có thể nóng lên rất cao tới mức làm chảy tan các thanh điểu khiển và làm giảm mất tác dụng hấp thụ neutrons? và nếu có thì liệu khi đó có thể dẫn tới các neutrons tự do có thể lại bắn phá được các hạt nhân uranium 235 trong các thanh nhiên liệu, và phản ứng dây chuyền có thể tái xảy ra?
19/03/2011 lúc 2:06 sáng |Lo ngại của anh có cơ sở. Nước có tác dụng hai mặt: vừa hấp thụ lại vưà làm chậm neutrons. Neutrons chậm dễ bị uranium hấp thụ, gây ra phản ứng phân hạch.
Trong lõi lò, các bó thanh nhiên liệu được xếp rất gần nhau, vì vậy sác xuất các neutrons chậm bị uranium hấp thụ lớn hơn nhiều so với sác xuất các neutrons chậm này bị nước hấp thụ, điều kiện tới hạn dễ dàng đạt được, dẫn đến phản ứng dây chuyền.
Còn trong bể chứa, các thanh nhiên liệu đã qua sử dụng được đặt cách xa nhau. Cho nên, trước khi lao được vào thanh nhiên liệu bên cạnh thì neutrons đã bị nước hấp thụ rồi, nên phản ứng dây chuyền sẽ không xảy ra.
Tuy nhiên nếu các thanh nhiên liệu bị tan chảy, thì các viên nhiên liệu chảy xuống đáy bể thành kết thành đống. Nếu bây giờ tưới nước vào thì neutrons chậm sẽ dễ gây phản ứng dây chuyền hơn là bị nước hấp thụ. Chính vì vậy mà người ta phải pha boric acid vào nước để tăng khả năng hấp thụ neutrons, khiến neutrons bị hấp thụ bởi nước nhanh hơn là bởi các thanh nhiên liệu nóng chảy, ngăn chặn phản ứng dây chuyền xảy ra.
Nếu phản ứng dây chuyền xảy ra thì, tuy không có vụ nổ, nhưng lượng phóng xạ sinh ra và thoát vào môi trường sẽ rất lớn – một điều hết sức nguy hiểm.
Nguyễn Hữu Viện nói:
19/03/2011 lúc 3:51 chiềuAnh Nguyễn Đình Đăng,
“Tuy nhiên nếu các thanh nhiên liệu bị tan chảy, thì các viên nhiên liệu chảy xuống đáy bể thành kết thành đống. Nếu bây giờ tưới nước vào thì neutrons chậm sẽ dễ gây phản ứng dây chuyền hơn là bị nước hấp thụ. Chính vì vậy mà người ta phải pha boric acid vào nước để tăng khả năng hấp thụ neutrons, khiến neutrons bị hấp thụ bởi nước nhanh hơn là bởi các thanh nhiên liệu nóng chảy, ngăn chặn phản ứng dây chuyền xảy ra. Nếu phản ứng dây chuyền xảy ra thì, tuy không có vụ nổ, nhưng lượng phóng xạ sinh ra và thoát vào môi trường sẽ rất lớn – một điều hết sức nguy hiểm.”
Chính vậy mà cách đây 2 hôm, Pháp vừa gởi gần 100 tấn boric acid đến Fukushima. Hoa Kỳ cũng đóng vai trò tích cực tại Fukushima.
Fukushima 1 không phải là Chernobyl thứ hai
28/03 Ex-Girlfriend Details How Bonds Changed
March 28, 2011
Paul Sakuma/Associated Press
Kimberly Bell gave graphic and sometimes tearful testimony in United States District Court about the changes she noticed in Bonds during their nine-year relationship.
By JULIET MACUR
Paul Sakuma/Associated PressKimberly Bell gave graphic and sometimes tearful testimony in United States District Court about the changes she noticed in Bonds during their nine-year relationship.
By JULIET MACUR
SAN FRANCISCO — Kimberly Bell — who was Barry Bonds’s girlfriend for nine years, spanning his two marriages — walked into the courtroom on Monday to testify at his perjury trial, and nearly everyone there turned to gawk at her.
Everyone except Bonds. As Bell took the witness stand, Bonds’s eyes were fixed on the defense table in Courtroom 10 of the Phillip Burton Federal Building. He knew what was coming.
For more than a decade, baseball and its fans have had to confront certain aspects of the sport’s steroids scandal: the unfair advantage gained by players who were using the drugs; the skepticism that baseball’s drug-testing policy was meaningfully set up to catch anyone; the tainted careers that have left likely Hall of Famers consigned to ignominy instead.
But on Monday, the public was introduced to what prosecutors insist is another side of the scandal: the physical toll of taking steroids, in effect what the athletes who used them were willing to do to their own bodies in pursuit of an advantage, real or imagined.
It was not pretty.
“He developed acne on his upper shoulders and back; his hair was falling out quickly, and he ended shaving it all off,” Bell testified of Bonds as the jury sat to her left, rapt. Then her voice grew so faint it was barely audible. “He changed sexually, in his testicles and performance and that.”
Between deep breaths and under unsparing questioning, Bell further testified: “The shape, size of his testicles were smaller, unusual, differently shaped.” Of Bonds, baseball’s official home run king, she testified that he had to resort to using “something” to resolve his trouble maintaining an erection.
For nearly six hours, Bell gave graphic and sometimes tearful testimony in United States District Court about the changes she noticed in Bonds, including a bloated face and belly. Prosecutors said all of it — the changed appearance and behavioral qualities — were documented symptoms of steroid use and thus evidence that Bonds had used them during his career, then lied about that fact under oath when questioned before a grand jury in 2003.
Bonds’s lawyers, in their cross-examination, tried to paint Bell as a vindictive, attention-craving gold-digger who was upset about their breakup. She posed in Playboy for money, was writing a book about her relationship with Bonds and gave at least 20 radio interviews about the subject, the defense pointed out.
Those attempts, to be sure, were aimed at blunting the power of her often explicit firsthand testimony.
Bell said she spoke to Bonds once about his possible steroid use, in 1999, but never pressed him about it because he told her it was common in baseball. Besides, she said he told her, he did not inject himself every day, as some bodybuilders do.
“He mentioned that other players do it and that’s how they got ahead,” Bell, who dated Bonds from 1994 to 2003, said. “That’s how they achieved.”
Bell testified that she had a good reason for never bringing up the subject of steroids with him again: she was afraid of him.
During their later years together, she said Bonds grew irritable and verbally abusive — “almost violent.” The government insists that change in his demeanor was brought about by steroid use.
Bell testified that Bonds threatened “to cut my head off and leave me in a ditch” and said that “he would cut out my breast implants because he paid for them.” He also said he was going to burn her house down, she said.
“I didn’t want to make him angry,” Bell said, growing teary. “I didn’t want him to yell at me.”
Their relationship started differently, she said. Bell first met Bonds in the parking lot of the San Francisco Giants’ stadium in the summer of 1994, then chatted with him the next day at a friend’s barbecue. She took a long drive with him in his new Porsche and spent the night with him that night, beginning their long relationship.
Bell said the first she heard of Bonds’s steroid use in 1999, when he talked about an elbow injury he had.
“He said it was because of steroids,” she said, adding that he explained that the muscle and tendons grew faster than the joint, so his elbow simply “blew out.”
Bell said she soon discovered that those achievements came at a cost. Bonds asked her to help clear up the acne on his back and shoulders, she said. She also remembered him standing in front of a mirror at spring training in 2000 and asking if she thought the bloating and puffiness in his face and belly were noticeable to others.
Yet she stayed with him. At times, he gave her money, in the thousands, and even helped her move to Arizona and put a down payment of $60,000 or maybe $80,000 on a house there shortly after he married his second wife, she said.
The defense questioned Bell’s motivation for testifying against Bonds, which she first did before a federal grand jury in 2005. Bell was angry that Bonds told her to “disappear” in early 2003, said Cris Arguedas, one of Bonds’s lawyers.
Arguedas said, “Sell a book that capitalizes on his fame, make a bunch of money, that was one part of your plan, wasn’t it?”
The Giants’ equipment manager, Mike Murphy, also testified Monday and said that Bonds’s cap size changed from 7 ¼ to 7‹. That change, prosecutors contend, showed Bonds’s head growth, which they say is evidence of use of human growth hormone.
Murphy, who has worked for the Giants for 54 years, said the cap size of several other Giants players, including Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, also increased, but only after they retired and gained weight.
The defense questioned Murphy for only a few minutes before Bell took the stand — and she remained there for the rest of the day. With her, the questioning was unrelenting.
Arguedas asked about an e-mail Bell sent to Bonds’s Web site after their breakup. Bell wrote about the other girlfriends she said Bonds had in other cities, calling one “the ugly whore in Vegas” and another “the stripper from Phoenix,” Arguedas said.
She asked Bell how Bonds — “the man you testified had some penile dysfunction” — could have so many girlfriends.
“You still weren’t angry?” Arguedas asked.
“Not really, no,” Bell answered.
At day’s end, a prosecutor, Jeffrey Nedrow, asked Bell, “Did you make this up just to get back at the defendant?” Bell answered no.
He asked, “Is it fun testifying in front of all these people?”
Choking up, Bell glanced at the jury and said no.
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Everyone except Bonds. As Bell took the witness stand, Bonds’s eyes were fixed on the defense table in Courtroom 10 of the Phillip Burton Federal Building. He knew what was coming.
For more than a decade, baseball and its fans have had to confront certain aspects of the sport’s steroids scandal: the unfair advantage gained by players who were using the drugs; the skepticism that baseball’s drug-testing policy was meaningfully set up to catch anyone; the tainted careers that have left likely Hall of Famers consigned to ignominy instead.
But on Monday, the public was introduced to what prosecutors insist is another side of the scandal: the physical toll of taking steroids, in effect what the athletes who used them were willing to do to their own bodies in pursuit of an advantage, real or imagined.
It was not pretty.
“He developed acne on his upper shoulders and back; his hair was falling out quickly, and he ended shaving it all off,” Bell testified of Bonds as the jury sat to her left, rapt. Then her voice grew so faint it was barely audible. “He changed sexually, in his testicles and performance and that.”
Between deep breaths and under unsparing questioning, Bell further testified: “The shape, size of his testicles were smaller, unusual, differently shaped.” Of Bonds, baseball’s official home run king, she testified that he had to resort to using “something” to resolve his trouble maintaining an erection.
For nearly six hours, Bell gave graphic and sometimes tearful testimony in United States District Court about the changes she noticed in Bonds, including a bloated face and belly. Prosecutors said all of it — the changed appearance and behavioral qualities — were documented symptoms of steroid use and thus evidence that Bonds had used them during his career, then lied about that fact under oath when questioned before a grand jury in 2003.
Bonds’s lawyers, in their cross-examination, tried to paint Bell as a vindictive, attention-craving gold-digger who was upset about their breakup. She posed in Playboy for money, was writing a book about her relationship with Bonds and gave at least 20 radio interviews about the subject, the defense pointed out.
Those attempts, to be sure, were aimed at blunting the power of her often explicit firsthand testimony.
Bell said she spoke to Bonds once about his possible steroid use, in 1999, but never pressed him about it because he told her it was common in baseball. Besides, she said he told her, he did not inject himself every day, as some bodybuilders do.
“He mentioned that other players do it and that’s how they got ahead,” Bell, who dated Bonds from 1994 to 2003, said. “That’s how they achieved.”
Bell testified that she had a good reason for never bringing up the subject of steroids with him again: she was afraid of him.
During their later years together, she said Bonds grew irritable and verbally abusive — “almost violent.” The government insists that change in his demeanor was brought about by steroid use.
Bell testified that Bonds threatened “to cut my head off and leave me in a ditch” and said that “he would cut out my breast implants because he paid for them.” He also said he was going to burn her house down, she said.
“I didn’t want to make him angry,” Bell said, growing teary. “I didn’t want him to yell at me.”
Their relationship started differently, she said. Bell first met Bonds in the parking lot of the San Francisco Giants’ stadium in the summer of 1994, then chatted with him the next day at a friend’s barbecue. She took a long drive with him in his new Porsche and spent the night with him that night, beginning their long relationship.
Bell said the first she heard of Bonds’s steroid use in 1999, when he talked about an elbow injury he had.
“He said it was because of steroids,” she said, adding that he explained that the muscle and tendons grew faster than the joint, so his elbow simply “blew out.”
Bell said she soon discovered that those achievements came at a cost. Bonds asked her to help clear up the acne on his back and shoulders, she said. She also remembered him standing in front of a mirror at spring training in 2000 and asking if she thought the bloating and puffiness in his face and belly were noticeable to others.
Yet she stayed with him. At times, he gave her money, in the thousands, and even helped her move to Arizona and put a down payment of $60,000 or maybe $80,000 on a house there shortly after he married his second wife, she said.
The defense questioned Bell’s motivation for testifying against Bonds, which she first did before a federal grand jury in 2005. Bell was angry that Bonds told her to “disappear” in early 2003, said Cris Arguedas, one of Bonds’s lawyers.
Arguedas said, “Sell a book that capitalizes on his fame, make a bunch of money, that was one part of your plan, wasn’t it?”
The Giants’ equipment manager, Mike Murphy, also testified Monday and said that Bonds’s cap size changed from 7 ¼ to 7‹. That change, prosecutors contend, showed Bonds’s head growth, which they say is evidence of use of human growth hormone.
Murphy, who has worked for the Giants for 54 years, said the cap size of several other Giants players, including Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, also increased, but only after they retired and gained weight.
The defense questioned Murphy for only a few minutes before Bell took the stand — and she remained there for the rest of the day. With her, the questioning was unrelenting.
Arguedas asked about an e-mail Bell sent to Bonds’s Web site after their breakup. Bell wrote about the other girlfriends she said Bonds had in other cities, calling one “the ugly whore in Vegas” and another “the stripper from Phoenix,” Arguedas said.
She asked Bell how Bonds — “the man you testified had some penile dysfunction” — could have so many girlfriends.
“You still weren’t angry?” Arguedas asked.
“Not really, no,” Bell answered.
At day’s end, a prosecutor, Jeffrey Nedrow, asked Bell, “Did you make this up just to get back at the defendant?” Bell answered no.
He asked, “Is it fun testifying in front of all these people?”
Choking up, Bell glanced at the jury and said no.
MORE IN BASEBALL (2 OF 38 ARTICLES)
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29/03 Nhật Bản đang trong "tình trạng báo động cực điểm"
29/03/2011 | 10:30:00
Từ khóa : Nhật Bản, Fukushima, Phóng xạ, Sóng thần, Điện hạt nhân
Đo độ phóng xạ tại Iitate, tỉnh Fukushima, ngày 27/3. (Nguồn: AFP/TTXVN)
Đo độ phóng xạ tại Iitate, tỉnh Fukushima, ngày 27/3. (Nguồn: AFP/TTXVN)
Hãng Jiji đưa tin Thủ tướng Nhật Bản Naoto Kan ngày 29/3 cho biết chính phủ nước này đang trong "tình trạng báo động cực điểm" về khủng hoảng tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima số 1 bị hư hại trong trận động đất mạnh kèm theo sóng thần hôm 11/3 vừa qua.
Phát biểu trước cuộc họp của ủy ban ngân sách Hạ viện Nhật Bản, ông Kan cho biết tình trạng này "tiếp tục không thể dự đoán được" và chính phủ nước này "sẽ giải quyết vấn đề này trong tình trạng báo động cực điểm."
Thủ tướng Kan cũng ám chỉ việc hoãn cuộc thảo luận của chính phủ về cải cách thuế và vấn đề thương mại tự do sau trận động đất trên.
Trong diễn biến khác, nước chứa phóng xạ của nhà máy điện hạt nhân trên vẫn chưa xác định được liệu có bị rò rỉ ra biển thông qua đường hầm của lò phản ứng hay không.
Ngoài ra, Viện An toàn Hạt nhân Hàn Quốc cho biết các dấu vết phóng xạ iốt-131 đã được phát hiện tại nước này sau khi phân tích các mẫu không khí được lấy từ 12 địa điểm trên cả nước song ở mức độ chưa gây nguy hại cho sức khỏe cộng đồng và môi trường.
Trong khi đó, dấu vết các chất phóng xạ được cho là có xuất xứ từ nhà máy điện Fukushima của Nhật Bản cũng được phát hiện có trong không khí tại các bang Nam Carolina, Bắc Carolina và Florida của Mỹ./.
(Vietnam+)
Phát biểu trước cuộc họp của ủy ban ngân sách Hạ viện Nhật Bản, ông Kan cho biết tình trạng này "tiếp tục không thể dự đoán được" và chính phủ nước này "sẽ giải quyết vấn đề này trong tình trạng báo động cực điểm."
Thủ tướng Kan cũng ám chỉ việc hoãn cuộc thảo luận của chính phủ về cải cách thuế và vấn đề thương mại tự do sau trận động đất trên.
Trong diễn biến khác, nước chứa phóng xạ của nhà máy điện hạt nhân trên vẫn chưa xác định được liệu có bị rò rỉ ra biển thông qua đường hầm của lò phản ứng hay không.
Ngoài ra, Viện An toàn Hạt nhân Hàn Quốc cho biết các dấu vết phóng xạ iốt-131 đã được phát hiện tại nước này sau khi phân tích các mẫu không khí được lấy từ 12 địa điểm trên cả nước song ở mức độ chưa gây nguy hại cho sức khỏe cộng đồng và môi trường.
Trong khi đó, dấu vết các chất phóng xạ được cho là có xuất xứ từ nhà máy điện Fukushima của Nhật Bản cũng được phát hiện có trong không khí tại các bang Nam Carolina, Bắc Carolina và Florida của Mỹ./.
(Vietnam+)
29/03 IAEA yêu cầu họp cấp cao về an toàn hạt nhân
29/03/2011 | 11:23:00 Từ khóa : IAEA, An toàn hạt nhân, Phóng xạ, Fukushima
Ngày 28/3, Giám đốc Cơ quan năng lượng nguyên tử quốc tế (IAEA) Yukiya Amano đã yêu cầu tổ chức một hội nghị quốc tế cấp cao trong vòng ba tháng tới nhằm củng cố các biện pháp an toàn và cách ứng phó khẩn cấp trong trường hợp xảy ra khủng hoảng tại các nhà máy điện hạt nhân như tại Nhật Bản hiện nay.
Phát biểu trong cuộc họp báo tại trụ sở của IAEA ở Vienna (Áo), ông Yukiya Amano cho biết cuộc khủng hoảng tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima số 1 tại Nhật Bản đã đặt ra thách thức lớn đối với IAEA và cộng đồng quốc tế. Thế giới phải rút ra những bài học đúng đắn kể từ sau sự kiện ngày 11/3 tại Nhật Bản và từ đó tăng cường các biện pháp an toàn hạt nhân trên toàn thế giới.
Ông Amano đề nghị tổ chức hội nghị cấp cao của IAEA tại Vienna vào cuối tháng Sáu tới (trước mùa Hè này), khẳng định cơ quan an toàn hạt nhân này là tổ chức chuyên môn, có thể đảm bảo sự minh bạch để xử lý sự cố như tại Fukushima. Ông Amano cho rằng cần mất thêm một thời gian nữa mới có thể ổn định được các lò phản ứng hạt nhân tại Fukushima.
Đề cập chương trình hội nghị, ông Amano cho rằng hội nghị này cần xem xét những đánh giá ban đầu về sự cố Fukushima, những ảnh hưởng và hậu quả của nó; những bài học rút ra; đưa ra quá trình nhằm tăng cường an toàn hạt nhân và tăng cường các biện pháp khẩn cấp nhằm đối phó với sự cố hạt nhân.
Giám đốc IAEA cũng cho biết thêm tình hình tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima hiện tại vẫn nghiêm trọng và IAEA đã cử hai đoàn giám sát phóng xạ đến Nhật Bản để theo dõi tình hình, một nhóm khác hỗ trợ Tổ chức Nông Lương Liên hợp quốc (FAO) theo dõi về vấn đề an toàn thực phẩm.
Trong một diễn biến liên quan, Bộ Giáo dục, Khoa học và Công nghệ Hàn Quốc ngày 29/3 cho biết các dấu vết phóng xạ iodine, được cho là có xuất xứ từ nhà máy điện Fukushima số 1 của Nhật Bản, đã được phát hiện tại thủ đô Seoul và bảy khu vực khác tại nước này.
Trước đó, phóng xạ xenon-133 với hàm lượng nhỏ cũng đã được phát hiện tại tỉnh Gangwon, Đông Bắc Hàn Quốc. Bộ trên khẳng định mức phóng xạ này chưa gây nguy hại cho sức khỏe cộng đồng và môi trường.
Cùng ngày, các nhà chức trách Mỹ cho biết đã phát hiện dấu vết chất phóng xạ iodine-131 tại ba bang nước này gồm Nam Carolina, Bắc Carolina và Florida.
Tuy nhiên, các nhà chức trách cho rằng lượng phóng xạ này chưa đến mức nguy hại cho sức khỏe người dân. Trước đó, phóng xạ iodine-131 cũng được phát hiện tại các bang Hawaii, California, Nevada và Massachusetts./.
(TTXVN/Vietnam+)
Khói bốc lên từ khu vực lò phản ứng số 3 của nhà máy điện Fukushima 1 ngày 21/3. (Nguồn: AFP/TTXVN)
Ngày 28/3, Giám đốc Cơ quan năng lượng nguyên tử quốc tế (IAEA) Yukiya Amano đã yêu cầu tổ chức một hội nghị quốc tế cấp cao trong vòng ba tháng tới nhằm củng cố các biện pháp an toàn và cách ứng phó khẩn cấp trong trường hợp xảy ra khủng hoảng tại các nhà máy điện hạt nhân như tại Nhật Bản hiện nay.
Phát biểu trong cuộc họp báo tại trụ sở của IAEA ở Vienna (Áo), ông Yukiya Amano cho biết cuộc khủng hoảng tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima số 1 tại Nhật Bản đã đặt ra thách thức lớn đối với IAEA và cộng đồng quốc tế. Thế giới phải rút ra những bài học đúng đắn kể từ sau sự kiện ngày 11/3 tại Nhật Bản và từ đó tăng cường các biện pháp an toàn hạt nhân trên toàn thế giới.
Ông Amano đề nghị tổ chức hội nghị cấp cao của IAEA tại Vienna vào cuối tháng Sáu tới (trước mùa Hè này), khẳng định cơ quan an toàn hạt nhân này là tổ chức chuyên môn, có thể đảm bảo sự minh bạch để xử lý sự cố như tại Fukushima. Ông Amano cho rằng cần mất thêm một thời gian nữa mới có thể ổn định được các lò phản ứng hạt nhân tại Fukushima.
Đề cập chương trình hội nghị, ông Amano cho rằng hội nghị này cần xem xét những đánh giá ban đầu về sự cố Fukushima, những ảnh hưởng và hậu quả của nó; những bài học rút ra; đưa ra quá trình nhằm tăng cường an toàn hạt nhân và tăng cường các biện pháp khẩn cấp nhằm đối phó với sự cố hạt nhân.
Giám đốc IAEA cũng cho biết thêm tình hình tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima hiện tại vẫn nghiêm trọng và IAEA đã cử hai đoàn giám sát phóng xạ đến Nhật Bản để theo dõi tình hình, một nhóm khác hỗ trợ Tổ chức Nông Lương Liên hợp quốc (FAO) theo dõi về vấn đề an toàn thực phẩm.
Trong một diễn biến liên quan, Bộ Giáo dục, Khoa học và Công nghệ Hàn Quốc ngày 29/3 cho biết các dấu vết phóng xạ iodine, được cho là có xuất xứ từ nhà máy điện Fukushima số 1 của Nhật Bản, đã được phát hiện tại thủ đô Seoul và bảy khu vực khác tại nước này.
Trước đó, phóng xạ xenon-133 với hàm lượng nhỏ cũng đã được phát hiện tại tỉnh Gangwon, Đông Bắc Hàn Quốc. Bộ trên khẳng định mức phóng xạ này chưa gây nguy hại cho sức khỏe cộng đồng và môi trường.
Cùng ngày, các nhà chức trách Mỹ cho biết đã phát hiện dấu vết chất phóng xạ iodine-131 tại ba bang nước này gồm Nam Carolina, Bắc Carolina và Florida.
Tuy nhiên, các nhà chức trách cho rằng lượng phóng xạ này chưa đến mức nguy hại cho sức khỏe người dân. Trước đó, phóng xạ iodine-131 cũng được phát hiện tại các bang Hawaii, California, Nevada và Massachusetts./.
(TTXVN/Vietnam+)
28/03 3-Month Nightmare Emerges in Rape Inquiry
March 28, 2011
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
LEAVING HOME: The 11-year-old girl often came home, right, late at night, her father says.
Michael Stravato for The New York TimesLEAVING HOME: The 11-year-old girl often came home, right, late at night, her father says.
By JAMES C. McKINLEY and ERICA GOODE
CLEVELAND, Tex. — A year ago, the 11-year-old girl who the police say was the victim of repeated gang rapes in this East Texas town was an outgoing honor roll student, brimming with enthusiasm, who went on hikes and planted trees with a youth group here.
“She has always been a really bubbly child,” said Brenda Myers, director of the Community and Children’s Impact Center, who worked with her. “She always had a smile on her face.”
But in October, just after starting sixth grade, the girl became withdrawn, Ms. Myers said, and in November, she stopped attending the center’s meetings.
What happened during those months is the subject of a criminal investigation that has sent waves of shock and sorrow through this impoverished town and has provoked anger across the nation.
The police say the girl was raped on at least six occasions, from Sept. 15 to Dec. 3. Nineteen boys and men, ages 14 to 27, have been charged in connection with the rapes, the most recent arrest last Wednesday.
Court documents and dozens of interviews over several weeks with the girl’s family, her friends and neighbors, as well as those who know the defendants, provide a more complete picture of what occurred as well as a deeper portrait of the victim. What begins to emerge is the nightmarish ordeal of a young girl over two and a half months involving an eclectic group of young men, some with criminal records, who shared a powerful neighborhood bond.
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
A TROUBLED HOME: The initial assaults occurred in the Rayford T. Ellis home, the affidavits say.
“She has always been a really bubbly child,” said Brenda Myers, director of the Community and Children’s Impact Center, who worked with her. “She always had a smile on her face.”
But in October, just after starting sixth grade, the girl became withdrawn, Ms. Myers said, and in November, she stopped attending the center’s meetings.
What happened during those months is the subject of a criminal investigation that has sent waves of shock and sorrow through this impoverished town and has provoked anger across the nation.
The police say the girl was raped on at least six occasions, from Sept. 15 to Dec. 3. Nineteen boys and men, ages 14 to 27, have been charged in connection with the rapes, the most recent arrest last Wednesday.
Court documents and dozens of interviews over several weeks with the girl’s family, her friends and neighbors, as well as those who know the defendants, provide a more complete picture of what occurred as well as a deeper portrait of the victim. What begins to emerge is the nightmarish ordeal of a young girl over two and a half months involving an eclectic group of young men, some with criminal records, who shared a powerful neighborhood bond.
Michael Stravato for The New York TimesA TROUBLED HOME: The initial assaults occurred in the Rayford T. Ellis home, the affidavits say.
In his first interview, with The New York Times, the father of the girl, a 57-year-old carpenter named Juan, said he became aware of his daughter’s abuse in late November, when she arrived home at 3 or 4 a.m. after having slipped out without permission. She was shaking and weeping when her mother opened the door to their small white frame house, he said, and she immediately closed herself in her room.
Later in the day, she told her mother she had been raped after her parents found sexually explicit photos that had been sent to her father’s cellphone, which she had been using. She told her father that the men had threatened to kill her.
Juan, whose last name is being withheld to protect his daughter’s identity, said his wife reported the crime to the police three days later, but in court documents the Cleveland Police Department said it was first alerted on Dec. 3 by school authorities.
Juan said his daughter had been a bright and easygoing girl, adept at schoolwork. As she reached puberty, he said, she had grown tall for her age and had begun to talk about wanting to be a fashion model. Yet she was still a child; her bed was piled high with stuffed animals. “Her mind is a child’s mind,” he said. “That’s what makes me so angry.”
The arrests have raised fundamental questions about how a girl might have been repeatedly abused by many men and boys in a tightly knit community without any adult intervening, or even seeming to register that something was amiss, until sexually explicit videos of the victim began circulating in local schools.
“It wasn’t that anyone was asleep,” said the Rev. Travis Hulett Jr., the pastor of the New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, which anchors the Precinct 20 neighborhood where most of the defendants live. “You can be awake and see things and still not do anything.”
The Cleveland police and the local district attorney have released little information about the alleged rapes and the evidence, and their silence has allowed rumor and speculation to flourish. Judge Mark Morefield of State District Court issued a broad order two weeks ago prohibiting law enforcement officials, defense lawyers, potential witnesses and relatives of the girl and defendants from speaking about the case to reporters.
According to court documents, the police seized the telephones of three men arrested, and the father of the girl said his family’s phones and computer were taken for evidence, as well. Eighteen defendants have pleaded not guilty; the 19th has yet to be arraigned.
The police interviewed the girl in early December, after school security officials heard rumors about sexually explicit videos circulating among the students. Then an elementary school student told a school employee she had seen pictures of the girl having sex with two young men, one of them a high school basketball star.
The girl, a sixth grader whose parents are immigrants from Mexico, told investigators that one of the defendants called her on Sunday, Nov. 28, during the Thanksgiving break, and asked if she wanted “to ride around,” according to four police search warrant affidavits.
That defendant, Eric B. McGowen, 19, who was on probation for burglary, and two other male teenagers picked her up at her house, and took her to a house in Precinct 20, the affidavits said. The wooded community is a hodgepodge of small houses, trailers and churches, bordered on two sides by railroad tracks and on a third by a prison. Everyone is related by blood or friendship.
The girl was taken to a blue house with white trim and a heart-shaped welcome sign — a house with a troubled history. The head of the household, Rayford T. Ellis, has a long criminal record and is a registered sex offender; one of his sons, Authur Ellis, 27, was arrested this year on murder charges. Neither man is charged in this case.
The police say a younger son, Rayford T. Ellis Jr., 19, an iron worker known as Mookie, shot and killed a teenager at the same house in August 2008. The younger Rayford Ellis was awaiting trial on manslaughter charges when he was arrested in early February on charges that he had raped the girl. (He has fathered at least five children with four young women, according to paternity suits.)
It is unclear from the affidavits if the younger Mr. Ellis was there the night of Nov. 28. But the girl said that a cousin, Timothy D. Ellis, 19, was there, and ordered her to strip, telling her that he would “have some girls beat her up” and would not drive her home if she refused, the affidavits said.
The affidavits said the girl told investigators that she then “engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex” with several of the men present, among them Jared G. McPherson, 18, a high school basketball player, and Jared L. Cruse, also 18, who has since been charged with robbing a grocery store in the next county.
During the sexual assault, the girl said, she heard Mr. McGowen call someone on the phone and invite him to the house to have sex with her, the affidavits said. Four more men whom she did not know arrived.
The assault was interrupted when Timothy Ellis’s aunt arrived at the house, the affidavits said, and the men took the girl out a back window to a squalid abandoned trailer a block away, where the sexual attack continued. Her underwear was left behind.
According to indictments, one man accused of participating was Kelvin R. King, 21, who was out on bond while awaiting trial on rape and robbery charges. Another was Marcus A. Porchia, 26, who worked at a local mental health clinic. Yet another, Isaiah R. Ross, 21, the son of a local school board member, was also present at the Nov. 28 rape, according to a search warrant affidavit for his telephone.
The November assault was not isolated, court documents say. Mr. King’s brother, Xavier M. King, 17, and Devo Shaun Green, 20, are accused of raping the girl on Sept. 15. Mr. McGowen and two others — Jamarcus N. Napper, 18, and Cedric DeRay Scott, 27 — are charged with sexually assaulting her on Oct. 25. Carlos B. Ligons, 22, is charged with sexually assaulting her on Dec. 1. The last indictment, released Monday, accuses Walter J. Harrison, 26, of raping her on Dec. 1 and Dec. 3. The police released no details about those episodes.
Four of the defendants are charged with continuous sexual abuse of a young child. The rest are charged with a single count of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14. Both felonies carry a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. In Texas, a child under 17 cannot give legal consent and, as in most states, ignorance of a child’s age is not a legal defense.
Bertha Cleveland, an aunt of Mr. Cruse, said her nephew went to church regularly, held down a job at McDonald’s and had told her he intended to go to college. “Our younger generation is running rampant,” she said. “The devil is in full control.”
Residents of Precinct 20 were torn between condemning the crime and defending the young men. Several expressed doubt that all of them were guilty. The grandmother of Mr. Napper said he was out of town at the time of the assaults.
Xavier King, a high school student accused in the Sept. 15 rape, told The New York Times that he did not know the girl and that he thought he had been arrested because “the people I hang with probably said my name, and if they go down, I go down with them.”
The small house where the girl lived is on a dusty road on the outskirts of town, about 10 miles from Precinct 20. There were chickens in the yard and a trampoline out front, where her father sometimes slept during the afternoons. She lived there with her parents, two older sisters who were in high school and a younger brother.
A 36-year-old cousin of the girl, who lived next door, said her family was in dire economic straits since Juan stopped working. The water and electricity had been cut off at times in recent months.
The house is empty now. Two weeks ago, the family moved to another town after detectives told the parents that they were in danger, Juan said.
The father said he had been worried about his daughter’s safety for months before the assaults. She had been sneaking out of the house two or three nights a week, he said, climbing out a bedroom window. Some nights she would come home as late as 11 p.m. or midnight, saying she had visited girlfriends. He said he and his wife had scolded her almost daily.
Both parents are plagued with health problems. Juan injured his back in November 2009 and has not held a steady job since. A diabetic, he receives disability checks of $700 a month. His wife, 42, was told last year that she had a mass in her brain, and a doctor had said it should be removed, friends said. She suffers frequent headaches and fainting spells.
Yet she put off surgery and continued to work at night at a cashier at an underground gambling parlor, friends said. “She wasn’t interested in living,” said Maria Luisa Lopez, a longtime friend. “She felt very sad.”
Two months ago, when the arrests started, the state Child Protective Services placed the girl, who had also received threats, in a foster home. “They told her it was best that they take her away from this town,” Ms. Lopez said.
A case worker has informed Juan that he and his wife must attend family therapy sessions to regain custody. Juan said he was despondent at the prospect of losing his daughter permanently. He said that she was doing well but that she was still fearful. “You can see she’s not happy,” he said. Then he added, “She will never recover from this.”
Gang Rape of Minor Reported
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Members of a Southern California gang raped an 11-year-old girl in the restroom of a neighborhood park, law enforcement officials said, and seven people have been arrested and charged.
The girl was raped at Victoriano Park on March 10 between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., the officials said. The attack was not made public until Sunday.
Six boys were arrested shortly after the rape, investigators said. Their names were not released because they are all minors, although the boys were over the age of 14.
A seventh male, Michael Sykes, 19, of Moreno Valley, was arrested Monday.
The 11-year-old was approached at a shopping center by an older girl she knew and was led to the park where the gang members were waiting, Lt. Chad Bianco told The Riverside Press-Enterprise.
Later in the day, she told her mother she had been raped after her parents found sexually explicit photos that had been sent to her father’s cellphone, which she had been using. She told her father that the men had threatened to kill her.
Juan, whose last name is being withheld to protect his daughter’s identity, said his wife reported the crime to the police three days later, but in court documents the Cleveland Police Department said it was first alerted on Dec. 3 by school authorities.
Juan said his daughter had been a bright and easygoing girl, adept at schoolwork. As she reached puberty, he said, she had grown tall for her age and had begun to talk about wanting to be a fashion model. Yet she was still a child; her bed was piled high with stuffed animals. “Her mind is a child’s mind,” he said. “That’s what makes me so angry.”
The arrests have raised fundamental questions about how a girl might have been repeatedly abused by many men and boys in a tightly knit community without any adult intervening, or even seeming to register that something was amiss, until sexually explicit videos of the victim began circulating in local schools.
“It wasn’t that anyone was asleep,” said the Rev. Travis Hulett Jr., the pastor of the New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, which anchors the Precinct 20 neighborhood where most of the defendants live. “You can be awake and see things and still not do anything.”
The Cleveland police and the local district attorney have released little information about the alleged rapes and the evidence, and their silence has allowed rumor and speculation to flourish. Judge Mark Morefield of State District Court issued a broad order two weeks ago prohibiting law enforcement officials, defense lawyers, potential witnesses and relatives of the girl and defendants from speaking about the case to reporters.
According to court documents, the police seized the telephones of three men arrested, and the father of the girl said his family’s phones and computer were taken for evidence, as well. Eighteen defendants have pleaded not guilty; the 19th has yet to be arraigned.
The police interviewed the girl in early December, after school security officials heard rumors about sexually explicit videos circulating among the students. Then an elementary school student told a school employee she had seen pictures of the girl having sex with two young men, one of them a high school basketball star.
The girl, a sixth grader whose parents are immigrants from Mexico, told investigators that one of the defendants called her on Sunday, Nov. 28, during the Thanksgiving break, and asked if she wanted “to ride around,” according to four police search warrant affidavits.
That defendant, Eric B. McGowen, 19, who was on probation for burglary, and two other male teenagers picked her up at her house, and took her to a house in Precinct 20, the affidavits said. The wooded community is a hodgepodge of small houses, trailers and churches, bordered on two sides by railroad tracks and on a third by a prison. Everyone is related by blood or friendship.
The girl was taken to a blue house with white trim and a heart-shaped welcome sign — a house with a troubled history. The head of the household, Rayford T. Ellis, has a long criminal record and is a registered sex offender; one of his sons, Authur Ellis, 27, was arrested this year on murder charges. Neither man is charged in this case.
The police say a younger son, Rayford T. Ellis Jr., 19, an iron worker known as Mookie, shot and killed a teenager at the same house in August 2008. The younger Rayford Ellis was awaiting trial on manslaughter charges when he was arrested in early February on charges that he had raped the girl. (He has fathered at least five children with four young women, according to paternity suits.)
It is unclear from the affidavits if the younger Mr. Ellis was there the night of Nov. 28. But the girl said that a cousin, Timothy D. Ellis, 19, was there, and ordered her to strip, telling her that he would “have some girls beat her up” and would not drive her home if she refused, the affidavits said.
The affidavits said the girl told investigators that she then “engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex” with several of the men present, among them Jared G. McPherson, 18, a high school basketball player, and Jared L. Cruse, also 18, who has since been charged with robbing a grocery store in the next county.
During the sexual assault, the girl said, she heard Mr. McGowen call someone on the phone and invite him to the house to have sex with her, the affidavits said. Four more men whom she did not know arrived.
The assault was interrupted when Timothy Ellis’s aunt arrived at the house, the affidavits said, and the men took the girl out a back window to a squalid abandoned trailer a block away, where the sexual attack continued. Her underwear was left behind.
According to indictments, one man accused of participating was Kelvin R. King, 21, who was out on bond while awaiting trial on rape and robbery charges. Another was Marcus A. Porchia, 26, who worked at a local mental health clinic. Yet another, Isaiah R. Ross, 21, the son of a local school board member, was also present at the Nov. 28 rape, according to a search warrant affidavit for his telephone.
The November assault was not isolated, court documents say. Mr. King’s brother, Xavier M. King, 17, and Devo Shaun Green, 20, are accused of raping the girl on Sept. 15. Mr. McGowen and two others — Jamarcus N. Napper, 18, and Cedric DeRay Scott, 27 — are charged with sexually assaulting her on Oct. 25. Carlos B. Ligons, 22, is charged with sexually assaulting her on Dec. 1. The last indictment, released Monday, accuses Walter J. Harrison, 26, of raping her on Dec. 1 and Dec. 3. The police released no details about those episodes.
Four of the defendants are charged with continuous sexual abuse of a young child. The rest are charged with a single count of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14. Both felonies carry a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. In Texas, a child under 17 cannot give legal consent and, as in most states, ignorance of a child’s age is not a legal defense.
Bertha Cleveland, an aunt of Mr. Cruse, said her nephew went to church regularly, held down a job at McDonald’s and had told her he intended to go to college. “Our younger generation is running rampant,” she said. “The devil is in full control.”
Residents of Precinct 20 were torn between condemning the crime and defending the young men. Several expressed doubt that all of them were guilty. The grandmother of Mr. Napper said he was out of town at the time of the assaults.
Xavier King, a high school student accused in the Sept. 15 rape, told The New York Times that he did not know the girl and that he thought he had been arrested because “the people I hang with probably said my name, and if they go down, I go down with them.”
The small house where the girl lived is on a dusty road on the outskirts of town, about 10 miles from Precinct 20. There were chickens in the yard and a trampoline out front, where her father sometimes slept during the afternoons. She lived there with her parents, two older sisters who were in high school and a younger brother.
A 36-year-old cousin of the girl, who lived next door, said her family was in dire economic straits since Juan stopped working. The water and electricity had been cut off at times in recent months.
The house is empty now. Two weeks ago, the family moved to another town after detectives told the parents that they were in danger, Juan said.
The father said he had been worried about his daughter’s safety for months before the assaults. She had been sneaking out of the house two or three nights a week, he said, climbing out a bedroom window. Some nights she would come home as late as 11 p.m. or midnight, saying she had visited girlfriends. He said he and his wife had scolded her almost daily.
Both parents are plagued with health problems. Juan injured his back in November 2009 and has not held a steady job since. A diabetic, he receives disability checks of $700 a month. His wife, 42, was told last year that she had a mass in her brain, and a doctor had said it should be removed, friends said. She suffers frequent headaches and fainting spells.
Yet she put off surgery and continued to work at night at a cashier at an underground gambling parlor, friends said. “She wasn’t interested in living,” said Maria Luisa Lopez, a longtime friend. “She felt very sad.”
Two months ago, when the arrests started, the state Child Protective Services placed the girl, who had also received threats, in a foster home. “They told her it was best that they take her away from this town,” Ms. Lopez said.
A case worker has informed Juan that he and his wife must attend family therapy sessions to regain custody. Juan said he was despondent at the prospect of losing his daughter permanently. He said that she was doing well but that she was still fearful. “You can see she’s not happy,” he said. Then he added, “She will never recover from this.”
Gang Rape of Minor Reported
MORENO VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Members of a Southern California gang raped an 11-year-old girl in the restroom of a neighborhood park, law enforcement officials said, and seven people have been arrested and charged.
The girl was raped at Victoriano Park on March 10 between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., the officials said. The attack was not made public until Sunday.
Six boys were arrested shortly after the rape, investigators said. Their names were not released because they are all minors, although the boys were over the age of 14.
A seventh male, Michael Sykes, 19, of Moreno Valley, was arrested Monday.
The 11-year-old was approached at a shopping center by an older girl she knew and was led to the park where the gang members were waiting, Lt. Chad Bianco told The Riverside Press-Enterprise.
29/03 'Hot' water removal going slowly / Flooded steam condensers in reactors hamper workers' efforts
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Steam condensers at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are flooded, making it difficult for workers to remove highly radioactive water from inside the turbine buildings, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday.
The turbine buildings house equipment indispensable to carrying out full-scale cooling of the troubled reactors.
Radioactive water has accumulated at the bottom of the buildings.
In the case of the No. 1 reactor, TEPCO could not ascertain when it would be able to completely pump out the water because of a huge quantity of water in the basement of the turbine building.
Referring to radiation of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour that was detected on the surface of the radioactive water at the No. 2 reactor, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday the high level of radiation was caused by water overflowing after coming in contact with nuclear fuel rods that had temporarily melted.
Earlier in the day, TEPCO said the concentration of radioactive substances in the water at the No. 2 reactor's turbine building was about 100,000 times higher than normal in water inside a reactor.
The utility said Sunday morning that the concentration of radioactive iodine-134 detected in water taken the previous day from the basement of the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor was 2.9 billion becquerels per milliliter, or 10 million times the normal concentration.
Later that day, TEPCO corrected that analysis, saying it was highly possible that cobalt-56 was mistaken for iodine-134 when compiling the earlier data. Early Monday, the company again made a correction, saying it should have referred to cesium-134, not cobalt-56.
The concentration of radioactive substances detected at the same place in the No. 2 reactor was 20 million becquerels per milliliter or 100,000 times that of the water inside a reactor, TEPCO said.
There was some good news. TEPCO reported that the spent nuclear fuel rod temporary storage pools at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors were confirmed to be filled to their capacity Monday.
Despite this, restoration work at the plant is expected to take a long time, observers said.
Referring to the radiation-contaminated water at the basement of Reactor No. 2's turbine building, Edano said the contamination was regrettable but restoration work would continue at the plant while ensuring there was no health risk.
With regard to the Nos. 1 and 3 reactors, where concentrations of radioactive substances are lower than at Reactor No. 2, he said radioactive water that became steam in the reactor containment vessel was condensed or diluted as a result of water spraying.
Reactor No. 1's condenser has a capacity of 1,600 tons while those of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors are almost twice that at 3,000 tons.
Work to remove radioactive water from the basement of Reactor No. 1's turbine building has started. Additional pumps have been installed to remove the radioactive water, but it remains to be seen when the work can be finished because of the large volume of water.
The condensers at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors cannot take additional radioactive water because they are already full. TEPCO is looking into the possibility of transferring contaminated water to tanks located at other places. But new pipes will be needed to connect them, TEPCO said.
The amount of radiation in the air in the basements of the turbine buildings amounted to 25 millisieverts per hour at the No. 1 reactor, more than 1,000 millisieverts at the No. 2 reactor and 400 millisieverts at the No. 3 reactor.
The high radiation records at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors made it difficult to make progress in removing radioactive water.
To help ensure safety in the dark working environment, TEPCO is considering bringing temporary lighting equipment into the basements of the turbine buildings of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors and dividing workers into several groups so they can work for short periods.
As for pouring freshwater into Reactor No. 2, TEPCO has installed electric-driven pumps inside the turbine building to connect them with a power supply. On Sunday afternoon, water-spraying into the reactor started using water drawn directly from a freshwater tank installed about one kilometer away.
(Mar. 29, 2011)
Steam condensers at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are flooded, making it difficult for workers to remove highly radioactive water from inside the turbine buildings, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday.
The turbine buildings house equipment indispensable to carrying out full-scale cooling of the troubled reactors.
Radioactive water has accumulated at the bottom of the buildings.
In the case of the No. 1 reactor, TEPCO could not ascertain when it would be able to completely pump out the water because of a huge quantity of water in the basement of the turbine building.
Referring to radiation of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour that was detected on the surface of the radioactive water at the No. 2 reactor, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday the high level of radiation was caused by water overflowing after coming in contact with nuclear fuel rods that had temporarily melted.
Earlier in the day, TEPCO said the concentration of radioactive substances in the water at the No. 2 reactor's turbine building was about 100,000 times higher than normal in water inside a reactor.
The utility said Sunday morning that the concentration of radioactive iodine-134 detected in water taken the previous day from the basement of the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor was 2.9 billion becquerels per milliliter, or 10 million times the normal concentration.
Later that day, TEPCO corrected that analysis, saying it was highly possible that cobalt-56 was mistaken for iodine-134 when compiling the earlier data. Early Monday, the company again made a correction, saying it should have referred to cesium-134, not cobalt-56.
The concentration of radioactive substances detected at the same place in the No. 2 reactor was 20 million becquerels per milliliter or 100,000 times that of the water inside a reactor, TEPCO said.
There was some good news. TEPCO reported that the spent nuclear fuel rod temporary storage pools at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors were confirmed to be filled to their capacity Monday.
Despite this, restoration work at the plant is expected to take a long time, observers said.
Referring to the radiation-contaminated water at the basement of Reactor No. 2's turbine building, Edano said the contamination was regrettable but restoration work would continue at the plant while ensuring there was no health risk.
With regard to the Nos. 1 and 3 reactors, where concentrations of radioactive substances are lower than at Reactor No. 2, he said radioactive water that became steam in the reactor containment vessel was condensed or diluted as a result of water spraying.
Reactor No. 1's condenser has a capacity of 1,600 tons while those of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors are almost twice that at 3,000 tons.
Work to remove radioactive water from the basement of Reactor No. 1's turbine building has started. Additional pumps have been installed to remove the radioactive water, but it remains to be seen when the work can be finished because of the large volume of water.
The condensers at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors cannot take additional radioactive water because they are already full. TEPCO is looking into the possibility of transferring contaminated water to tanks located at other places. But new pipes will be needed to connect them, TEPCO said.
The amount of radiation in the air in the basements of the turbine buildings amounted to 25 millisieverts per hour at the No. 1 reactor, more than 1,000 millisieverts at the No. 2 reactor and 400 millisieverts at the No. 3 reactor.
The high radiation records at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors made it difficult to make progress in removing radioactive water.
To help ensure safety in the dark working environment, TEPCO is considering bringing temporary lighting equipment into the basements of the turbine buildings of the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors and dividing workers into several groups so they can work for short periods.
As for pouring freshwater into Reactor No. 2, TEPCO has installed electric-driven pumps inside the turbine building to connect them with a power supply. On Sunday afternoon, water-spraying into the reactor started using water drawn directly from a freshwater tank installed about one kilometer away.
(Mar. 29, 2011)
29/03 Embassies need concrete info on aid supplies
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Arranging for aid supplies from overseas takes a great deal of time, a senior Foreign Ministry official said recently in explanation of the confusion surrounding such provisions.
"We have to respond to requests from disaster sites and make preparations so aid supplies can be handled smoothly," the official said. "Furthermore, transportation is limited, so it takes a lot of time to make the necessary arrangements," he said.
The official also said there was sometimes no space to store foreign aid supplies, and evacuees tend to prefer Japanese food if they have a choice.
According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, the central government declined the Thai government's offer to send rice because Japan has more than 3 million tons in stock. There also was not great demand for donated rice at disaster sites, the ministry said.
An official at a Latin American nation's embassy in Tokyo said the country offered food and water immediately after the earthquake, but the Japanese government requested financial aid instead.
The Japanese government said it would take time to make arrangements based on demands from disaster areas, the embassy official said.
Donated food and other items have already arrived at some foreign embassies in Tokyo, which may be at a loss as to what to do with the supplies.
One embassy official spoke for many foreign missions when saying: "If we received more concrete information from the Japanese government regarding what supplies are needed in specific areas, we could support them more efficiently."
(Mar. 29, 2011)
Arranging for aid supplies from overseas takes a great deal of time, a senior Foreign Ministry official said recently in explanation of the confusion surrounding such provisions.
"We have to respond to requests from disaster sites and make preparations so aid supplies can be handled smoothly," the official said. "Furthermore, transportation is limited, so it takes a lot of time to make the necessary arrangements," he said.
The official also said there was sometimes no space to store foreign aid supplies, and evacuees tend to prefer Japanese food if they have a choice.
According to the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, the central government declined the Thai government's offer to send rice because Japan has more than 3 million tons in stock. There also was not great demand for donated rice at disaster sites, the ministry said.
An official at a Latin American nation's embassy in Tokyo said the country offered food and water immediately after the earthquake, but the Japanese government requested financial aid instead.
The Japanese government said it would take time to make arrangements based on demands from disaster areas, the embassy official said.
Donated food and other items have already arrived at some foreign embassies in Tokyo, which may be at a loss as to what to do with the supplies.
One embassy official spoke for many foreign missions when saying: "If we received more concrete information from the Japanese government regarding what supplies are needed in specific areas, we could support them more efficiently."
(Mar. 29, 2011)
29/03 空きタンク総動員で排水作業…２・３号機
東京電力福島第一原子力発電所のタービン建屋地下にたまった汚染水の排出作業は２９日、３号機に続き、２号機でも空きのあるタンクを総動員した玉突き移送の準備が進んでいる。
汚染水は、１～３号機のタービン建屋地下１階の床に広範囲に広がっている。水深は、深いところで１号機０・４メートル、２号機１メートル、３号機１・５メートルとみられる。水表面の放射線量は２号機が毎時１０００ミリ・シーベルトと突出して高いほか、１号機（毎時６０ミリ・シーベルト）と３号機（毎時７５０ミリ・シーベルト）でも検出されている。
東電では当初、汚染水の排水先としてタービンを回した蒸気が冷えてできた水がたまる「復水器」が最適と判断した。
１号機は復水器に余裕があり、そこに貯蔵できる。しかし、２、３号機の復水器（容量各３０００トン）は満杯。これらの復水器に汚染水を入れるためには、入っている水をタービン建屋の外にある別のタンク（復水貯蔵タンク）へ移す必要が出てきた。
しかし、そのタンクも容量が限られるため、さらに別のタンク（圧力抑制室用水タンク）を使用することにした。具体的には、まず復水貯蔵タンクの水を圧力抑制室用水タンクへ移送。空いた復水貯蔵タンクに、復水器に元々あった水を玉突き方式で入れ、その上で地下にたまった汚染水を復水器に入れる。
（2011年3月29日12時35分 読売新聞）
汚染水は、１～３号機のタービン建屋地下１階の床に広範囲に広がっている。水深は、深いところで１号機０・４メートル、２号機１メートル、３号機１・５メートルとみられる。水表面の放射線量は２号機が毎時１０００ミリ・シーベルトと突出して高いほか、１号機（毎時６０ミリ・シーベルト）と３号機（毎時７５０ミリ・シーベルト）でも検出されている。
東電では当初、汚染水の排水先としてタービンを回した蒸気が冷えてできた水がたまる「復水器」が最適と判断した。
１号機は復水器に余裕があり、そこに貯蔵できる。しかし、２、３号機の復水器（容量各３０００トン）は満杯。これらの復水器に汚染水を入れるためには、入っている水をタービン建屋の外にある別のタンク（復水貯蔵タンク）へ移す必要が出てきた。
しかし、そのタンクも容量が限られるため、さらに別のタンク（圧力抑制室用水タンク）を使用することにした。具体的には、まず復水貯蔵タンクの水を圧力抑制室用水タンクへ移送。空いた復水貯蔵タンクに、復水器に元々あった水を玉突き方式で入れ、その上で地下にたまった汚染水を復水器に入れる。
（2011年3月29日12時35分 読売新聞）
29/03 汚染水除去、本格化…３号機では「玉突き排水」
東京電力福島第一原子力発電所では２９日、原子炉に冷却水を送る作業と並行して、タービン建屋地下の放射能汚染水を排出する作業が本格化した。
建屋地下に漏れ出した汚染水が、建屋の外側の作業用トンネル「トレンチ」にも大量にたまっていることが２８日に判明。海への流出を避けるため、１号機では建屋内の復水器に汚染水を移す作業が２４時間態勢で続き、３号機では、汚染水の回収先である復水器が満水なため、それをあらかじめ別のタンクに移す「玉突き排水」も新たに始まった。炉の冷却は最優先だが、除去に手間のかかる汚染水は増える。ジレンマの中で作業が進められている。
原子炉の冷却には、十分な量の冷却水を注入することが必要だ。しかし、例えば２号機では、放射能を帯びた冷却水が、原子炉格納容器からタービン建屋に漏れ出ているとみられている。漏出を減らすには、冷却水の注入を最小限にとどめなければならないが、少なすぎると原子炉の温度は上がってしまう。
（2011年3月29日12時09分 読売新聞）
建屋地下に漏れ出した汚染水が、建屋の外側の作業用トンネル「トレンチ」にも大量にたまっていることが２８日に判明。海への流出を避けるため、１号機では建屋内の復水器に汚染水を移す作業が２４時間態勢で続き、３号機では、汚染水の回収先である復水器が満水なため、それをあらかじめ別のタンクに移す「玉突き排水」も新たに始まった。炉の冷却は最優先だが、除去に手間のかかる汚染水は増える。ジレンマの中で作業が進められている。
原子炉の冷却には、十分な量の冷却水を注入することが必要だ。しかし、例えば２号機では、放射能を帯びた冷却水が、原子炉格納容器からタービン建屋に漏れ出ているとみられている。漏出を減らすには、冷却水の注入を最小限にとどめなければならないが、少なすぎると原子炉の温度は上がってしまう。
（2011年3月29日12時09分 読売新聞）
29/03 １号機トレンチの汚染水、タービン建屋と直結か
東京電力は、比較的放射線量の低い１号機タービン建屋地下の汚染水を、現場のすぐそばにある復水器（１６００トン）にくみ出していたが、なかなか水位は下がらない。
２７日午後には、新たにトレンチの汚染水が見つかり、タービン建屋の地下と直結しているらしいことが判明した。
１号機のトレンチ内の水位が少し下がったことや、２号機のトレンチの水が、地下の汚染水と同様に毎時１０００ミリ・シーベルト超という高い放射線を出していることがわかったため、作業が進まない。
トレンチ内には、海水を使う冷却系の送水管が通り、コンクリート壁を貫いてタービン建屋の地下階とつながっている。送水管とコンクリート壁のすき間は充填
じゅうてん
剤で防水処理が施されているが、東電によると、地震の振動と津波の水圧によって破壊され、地下階とトレンチの間に水の通り道ができている可能性が高いという。トレンチ内の水量は１号機が推定３１００トン、２号機が６０００トン、３号機は４２００トンに及ぶといい、汚染水除去対策はさらに難しい局面を迎えている。
（2011年3月29日12時03分 読売新聞）
２７日午後には、新たにトレンチの汚染水が見つかり、タービン建屋の地下と直結しているらしいことが判明した。
１号機のトレンチ内の水位が少し下がったことや、２号機のトレンチの水が、地下の汚染水と同様に毎時１０００ミリ・シーベルト超という高い放射線を出していることがわかったため、作業が進まない。
トレンチ内には、海水を使う冷却系の送水管が通り、コンクリート壁を貫いてタービン建屋の地下階とつながっている。送水管とコンクリート壁のすき間は充填
じゅうてん
剤で防水処理が施されているが、東電によると、地震の振動と津波の水圧によって破壊され、地下階とトレンチの間に水の通り道ができている可能性が高いという。トレンチ内の水量は１号機が推定３１００トン、２号機が６０００トン、３号機は４２００トンに及ぶといい、汚染水除去対策はさらに難しい局面を迎えている。
（2011年3月29日12時03分 読売新聞）
29/03 「東電がロボット提供の申し出拒否」…仏企業
福島原発
【パリ支局】福島第一原発事故で、フランスのベッソン産業エネルギー・デジタル経済担当相は２８日、東京電力からの支援要請を受け、仏原子力大手アレバ社が専門家２人を日本に派遣すると明らかにした。産業界との会合で述べた。
放射能汚染された水の処理の専門家という。必要な人員を「何人でも送る用意がある」とも表明した。
一方、アレバ社は２８日、本紙に対し、原発事故用にフランスで開発された作業用ロボットの提供を申し出たところ、東京電力が断ったと明らかにした。
ロボットは１９８６年のチェルノブイリ原発事故後に同社や仏電力公社が開発にあたり、高性能カメラや作業用アームを搭載。放射線量が高い場所で、遠隔操作により作業ができる。アレバ社報道担当は、「東京電力はロボット使用は決定的な効果がないと判断したようだ」と述べた。
（2011年3月29日11時41分 読売新聞）
放射能汚染された水の処理の専門家という。必要な人員を「何人でも送る用意がある」とも表明した。
一方、アレバ社は２８日、本紙に対し、原発事故用にフランスで開発された作業用ロボットの提供を申し出たところ、東京電力が断ったと明らかにした。
ロボットは１９８６年のチェルノブイリ原発事故後に同社や仏電力公社が開発にあたり、高性能カメラや作業用アームを搭載。放射線量が高い場所で、遠隔操作により作業ができる。アレバ社報道担当は、「東京電力はロボット使用は決定的な効果がないと判断したようだ」と述べた。
（2011年3月29日11時41分 読売新聞）
29/03 Photographic evidence of damage at Fukushima nuclear plant
2011/03/29
The ceiling and walls of the building housing the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant collapsed. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)
Photographs released by the Defense Ministry offer graphic evidence of the damage to reactor buildings at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant caused by the March 11 mega-earthquake and tsunami.
Many cracks appear on the walls of the No. 2 reactor building. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)
The ceiling and walls of the building housing the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant collapsed. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)Photographs released by the Defense Ministry offer graphic evidence of the damage to reactor buildings at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant caused by the March 11 mega-earthquake and tsunami.
Many cracks appear on the walls of the No. 2 reactor building. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)Taken from a Self-Defense Forces helicopter on Sunday, the images show that the ceiling and walls of the building housing the No. 1 reactor have collapsed, likely due to the first hydrogen explosion that occurred March 12, one day after the Great East Japan Earthquake struck.
A crane used for lifting and moving fuel rods at the No. 3 reactor was apparently wrecked in the disaster. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)
While the steel framework is visible, the steam and smoke previously seen billowing from the building is not. The current water level in the fuel rod pool cannot be ascertained from the outside.
The No. 2 reactor building incurred the least damage of the four reactor buildings, although the suppression pool that lies under the core containment vessel was likely damaged by an explosion on March 15.
However, white smoke or steam can be seen rising from several holes in the roof and walls. Cracks in the walls are also evident.
Steam is rising profusely from the upper part of the building housing the No. 3 reactor, which was badly damaged by a hydrogen explosion.
What appears to be the cover for the core containment vessel is visible inside the No. 4 reactor building. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)
A crane normally used to lift and move fuel rods is not visible, indicating the possibility that part of the crane may have fallen into the fuel rod pool and damaged some of the rods.
The walls of the No. 4 reactor building exhibit similar damage to the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor buildings where hydrogen explosions occurred, and steam rises from various parts of what is left of the structure.
What appears to be a green crane as well as a yellow structure, probably the cover for the core containment vessel, are visible inside the building.
The cover was likely removed while the reactor was undergoing a periodic inspection prior to the earthquake.
A crane used for lifting and moving fuel rods at the No. 3 reactor was apparently wrecked in the disaster. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)While the steel framework is visible, the steam and smoke previously seen billowing from the building is not. The current water level in the fuel rod pool cannot be ascertained from the outside.
The No. 2 reactor building incurred the least damage of the four reactor buildings, although the suppression pool that lies under the core containment vessel was likely damaged by an explosion on March 15.
However, white smoke or steam can be seen rising from several holes in the roof and walls. Cracks in the walls are also evident.
Steam is rising profusely from the upper part of the building housing the No. 3 reactor, which was badly damaged by a hydrogen explosion.
What appears to be the cover for the core containment vessel is visible inside the No. 4 reactor building. (Provided by the Ground Self-Defense Force)A crane normally used to lift and move fuel rods is not visible, indicating the possibility that part of the crane may have fallen into the fuel rod pool and damaged some of the rods.
The walls of the No. 4 reactor building exhibit similar damage to the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor buildings where hydrogen explosions occurred, and steam rises from various parts of what is left of the structure.
What appears to be a green crane as well as a yellow structure, probably the cover for the core containment vessel, are visible inside the building.
The cover was likely removed while the reactor was undergoing a periodic inspection prior to the earthquake.
29/03 Quake causing production stoppages across the world
2011/03/29
An Opel factory in Germany (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
An Opel factory in Germany (Asahi Shimbun file photo)The disruption to Japanese industrial production caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami is rippling through global supply chains, stopping production in factories across the world.
The U.S. research firm IHS Automotive released a report on Friday forecasting that cuts in Japanese carmakers' production and the failure of parts supplies from Japan would reduce global automobile production by 600,000 vehicles by the end of March.
The number of cars manufactured worldwide could drop by up to 30 percent in the two months following the quake, according to IHS.
General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, shut down an assembly plant making compact pickups in Shreveport, Louisiana, on March 21 because vital parts shipments from Japan had failed to arrive.
The company also stopped some production lines and stood down 59 workers at a factory in Buffalo, New York, that supplies engines to the Louisiana plant.
GM plans to resume operations at the Shreveport factory on March 28 and recall the workers in Buffalo after sourcing the necessary supplies.
GM's Opel unit in Europe has suspended operations at plants in Spain and Germany.
GM Chief Executive Daniel Akerson said on March 19 that the disruption from the quake could affect all automakers.
Ford Motor Co. on Friday told dealers to stop taking orders for vehicles painted in "tuxedo black" because of difficulties with importing a special pigment from Japan.
PSA Peugeot Citroen, the major French automaker, said disruption to supplies of electronics parts from the Tokyo-based auto parts firm Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. was beginning to affect operations at its diesel engine plants in Europe.
Peugeot Citroen has not yet stopped any of its production lines, but a spokesman said many of its factories were being affected.
Supply problems are also hitting other industries. Apple Inc.'s iPad 2 tablet uses at least five Japanese-made parts, according to a U.S. research firm.
Semiconductor memory chips supplied by Japanese makers could be replaced by South Korean products, but other parts, including special glass used in displays, have no alternative suppliers, according to the research firm.
The aircraft manufacturing industry is also bracing itself for supply problems. Tokyo-based IHI Corp. makes vital aircraft engine parts for General Electric Co. and others at its plant in Soma, a city in quake-hit Fukushima Prefecture. That factory is now at a standstill.
Power outages and disruption to transportation networks are compounding parts shortages.
A senior official of one Asian country's Japan chamber of commerce said uncertainty about when infrastructure would be restored meant that "many companies are finding it difficult to foresee how things will pan out and are finding it impossible to develop business plans."
At a regular news conference on March 22, Yao Jian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, predicted that Japanese companies would look to facilities in China to take over some of their production.
A senior official of a special economic zone in Guangdong province is reported to have proposed that quake-hit Japanese makers build substitute plants in the economic zone while extending his condolences to business partners for the disaster.
Some Japanese makers are already preparing to shift equipment and materials to China, while others are considering building new plants in the country rather than repairing the damage at home.
A wide range of industries, including the electronics parts, steel and auto parts sectors, are expected to follow such moves.
After the March 11 quake, Sony Corp. announced a plan to consider temporarily shifting production overseas.
The trend could lead to transfer of a broad array of Japanese technologies to foreign companies and countries.
Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said there are many countries wishing to attract the parts businesses that constitute the core of the Japanese manufacturing sector.
Mei predicted that The Great East Japan Earthquake will result in accelerating technology transfer from Japan.
"Makers in South Korea and Taiwan are looking for opportunities to win contracts to supply customers that are suffering from parts supply failures from Japan," an executive at a Japanese manufacturer in China said. "We cannot afford to give them any such an opportunity."
The U.S. research firm IHS Automotive released a report on Friday forecasting that cuts in Japanese carmakers' production and the failure of parts supplies from Japan would reduce global automobile production by 600,000 vehicles by the end of March.
The number of cars manufactured worldwide could drop by up to 30 percent in the two months following the quake, according to IHS.
General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, shut down an assembly plant making compact pickups in Shreveport, Louisiana, on March 21 because vital parts shipments from Japan had failed to arrive.
The company also stopped some production lines and stood down 59 workers at a factory in Buffalo, New York, that supplies engines to the Louisiana plant.
GM plans to resume operations at the Shreveport factory on March 28 and recall the workers in Buffalo after sourcing the necessary supplies.
GM's Opel unit in Europe has suspended operations at plants in Spain and Germany.
GM Chief Executive Daniel Akerson said on March 19 that the disruption from the quake could affect all automakers.
Ford Motor Co. on Friday told dealers to stop taking orders for vehicles painted in "tuxedo black" because of difficulties with importing a special pigment from Japan.
PSA Peugeot Citroen, the major French automaker, said disruption to supplies of electronics parts from the Tokyo-based auto parts firm Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. was beginning to affect operations at its diesel engine plants in Europe.
Peugeot Citroen has not yet stopped any of its production lines, but a spokesman said many of its factories were being affected.
Supply problems are also hitting other industries. Apple Inc.'s iPad 2 tablet uses at least five Japanese-made parts, according to a U.S. research firm.
Semiconductor memory chips supplied by Japanese makers could be replaced by South Korean products, but other parts, including special glass used in displays, have no alternative suppliers, according to the research firm.
The aircraft manufacturing industry is also bracing itself for supply problems. Tokyo-based IHI Corp. makes vital aircraft engine parts for General Electric Co. and others at its plant in Soma, a city in quake-hit Fukushima Prefecture. That factory is now at a standstill.
Power outages and disruption to transportation networks are compounding parts shortages.
A senior official of one Asian country's Japan chamber of commerce said uncertainty about when infrastructure would be restored meant that "many companies are finding it difficult to foresee how things will pan out and are finding it impossible to develop business plans."
At a regular news conference on March 22, Yao Jian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, predicted that Japanese companies would look to facilities in China to take over some of their production.
A senior official of a special economic zone in Guangdong province is reported to have proposed that quake-hit Japanese makers build substitute plants in the economic zone while extending his condolences to business partners for the disaster.
Some Japanese makers are already preparing to shift equipment and materials to China, while others are considering building new plants in the country rather than repairing the damage at home.
A wide range of industries, including the electronics parts, steel and auto parts sectors, are expected to follow such moves.
After the March 11 quake, Sony Corp. announced a plan to consider temporarily shifting production overseas.
The trend could lead to transfer of a broad array of Japanese technologies to foreign companies and countries.
Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said there are many countries wishing to attract the parts businesses that constitute the core of the Japanese manufacturing sector.
Mei predicted that The Great East Japan Earthquake will result in accelerating technology transfer from Japan.
"Makers in South Korea and Taiwan are looking for opportunities to win contracts to supply customers that are suffering from parts supply failures from Japan," an executive at a Japanese manufacturer in China said. "We cannot afford to give them any such an opportunity."
24/03 出荷停止区域の野菜・原乳の買い上げ検討 枝野官房長官
2011年3月24日21時24分
枝野幸男官房長官は２４日午後の記者会見で、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所の事故を受けて菅直人首相が出荷停止を指示した農産品や畜産品について、「補償があまり遅ければ、生活にかかわってくる。買い上げはひとつの提案だ」と述べ、市場に流通させられなくなった野菜や原乳（搾りたての牛の乳）などについて政府が買い上げを検討していることを明らかにした。
基準値を超える放射性物質が検出された福島など４県の一部野菜や原乳が出荷停止となったことを受けて、福島県選出の国会議員が農作物の買い上げを求めていた。買い上げ策のほかにも、篠原孝農林水産副大臣は２４日の会見で「（農家救済の）方策を考えている」と説明。農水省では補償が実施されるまでの間、つなぎ融資を可能にする案も検討されている。
枝野幸男官房長官は２４日午後の記者会見で、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所の事故を受けて菅直人首相が出荷停止を指示した農産品や畜産品について、「補償があまり遅ければ、生活にかかわってくる。買い上げはひとつの提案だ」と述べ、市場に流通させられなくなった野菜や原乳（搾りたての牛の乳）などについて政府が買い上げを検討していることを明らかにした。
基準値を超える放射性物質が検出された福島など４県の一部野菜や原乳が出荷停止となったことを受けて、福島県選出の国会議員が農作物の買い上げを求めていた。買い上げ策のほかにも、篠原孝農林水産副大臣は２４日の会見で「（農家救済の）方策を考えている」と説明。農水省では補償が実施されるまでの間、つなぎ融資を可能にする案も検討されている。
229/03 福島の野菜農家が自殺 摂取制限指示に「もうだめだ」
2011年3月29日5時30分
畑には自殺した男性が作ったキャベツが並んでいた＝福島県須賀川市、西堀写す
福島県須賀川市で２４日朝、野菜農家の男性（６４）が自宅の敷地内で首をつり、自ら命を絶った。福島第一原発の事故の影響で、政府が一部の福島県産野菜について「摂取制限」の指示を出した翌日だった。震災の被害に落胆しながらも、育てたキャベツの出荷に意欲をみせていたという男性。遺族は「原発に殺された」と悔しさを募らせる。
自宅は地震で母屋や納屋が壊れた。ただ、畑の約７５００株のキャベツは無事で、試食も済ませ、収穫直前だった。遺族によると、男性は２１日にホウレンソウなどの出荷停止措置がとられた後も「様子をみてキャベツは少しずつでも出荷しないと」と話し、納屋の修理などに取り組んでいた。
２３日にキャベツの摂取制限指示が出ると、男性はむせるようなしぐさを繰り返した。「福島の野菜はもうだめだ」。男性の次男（３５）は、男性のそんなつぶやきを覚えている。「今まで精魂込めて積み上げてきたものを失ったような気持ちになったのだろう」
男性は３０年以上前から有機栽培にこだわり、自作の腐葉土などで土壌改良を重ねてきた。キャベツは１０年近くかけて種のまき方などを工夫し、この地域では育てられなかった高品質の種類の生産にも成功。農協でも人気が高く、地元の小学校の給食に使うキャベツも一手に引き受けていた。「子どもたちが食べるものなのだから、気をつけて作らないと」。そう言って、安全な野菜づくりを誇りにしていたという。
遺書はなかったが、作業日誌は２３日までつけてあった。長女（４１）は「こんな状態がいつまで続くのか。これからどうなるのか。農家はみんな不安に思っている。もう父のような犠牲者を出さないでほしい」と訴える。（西堀岳路）
自宅は地震で母屋や納屋が壊れた。ただ、畑の約７５００株のキャベツは無事で、試食も済ませ、収穫直前だった。遺族によると、男性は２１日にホウレンソウなどの出荷停止措置がとられた後も「様子をみてキャベツは少しずつでも出荷しないと」と話し、納屋の修理などに取り組んでいた。
２３日にキャベツの摂取制限指示が出ると、男性はむせるようなしぐさを繰り返した。「福島の野菜はもうだめだ」。男性の次男（３５）は、男性のそんなつぶやきを覚えている。「今まで精魂込めて積み上げてきたものを失ったような気持ちになったのだろう」
男性は３０年以上前から有機栽培にこだわり、自作の腐葉土などで土壌改良を重ねてきた。キャベツは１０年近くかけて種のまき方などを工夫し、この地域では育てられなかった高品質の種類の生産にも成功。農協でも人気が高く、地元の小学校の給食に使うキャベツも一手に引き受けていた。「子どもたちが食べるものなのだから、気をつけて作らないと」。そう言って、安全な野菜づくりを誇りにしていたという。
遺書はなかったが、作業日誌は２３日までつけてあった。長女（４１）は「こんな状態がいつまで続くのか。これからどうなるのか。農家はみんな不安に思っている。もう父のような犠牲者を出さないでほしい」と訴える。（西堀岳路）
29/03 津波の中で抱きしめた 母娘３人、３５分の生還劇
2011年3月29日10時5分
小田島朋美さんと侑胡ちゃん（左）、侑杏ちゃん（右）。「命のありがたさを感じています」＝２６日、青森県八戸市、坂本写す
聞き慣れない着信音が携帯電話から響いた。
１１日午後２時４５分すぎ。
岩手県山田町の平屋建てアパートに住む主婦、小田島朋美さん（２８）は携帯の画面に目をやった。
「緊急地震速報 強い揺れに備えて下さい」
画面を見ると同時に、激しい揺れに襲われた。
「コタツの下に隠れて」
夫の宗史（むねふみ）さん（３１）は仕事で不在。長女の侑胡（ゆう）ちゃん（４）と次女の侑杏（ゆあ）ちゃん（３）に声をかけた。
ガチャン。茶わんが流し台に落ちて割れた。棚のグラスが飛び出し、破片が飛び散った。
「ママー」
揺れが収まると、２人の娘が飛びついてきた。部屋の窓から外を見た。駐車場の地面がひび割れていた。近所のお年寄りが外に飛び出ていた。
小田島朋美さんの自宅アパート。津波で窓ガラスが割れ、室内が海水で埋まった＝２７日、岩手県山田町織笠、坂本写す
小田島朋美さんと侑胡ちゃん（左）、侑杏ちゃん（右）。「命のありがたさを感じています」＝２６日、青森県八戸市、坂本写す聞き慣れない着信音が携帯電話から響いた。
１１日午後２時４５分すぎ。
岩手県山田町の平屋建てアパートに住む主婦、小田島朋美さん（２８）は携帯の画面に目をやった。
「緊急地震速報 強い揺れに備えて下さい」
画面を見ると同時に、激しい揺れに襲われた。
「コタツの下に隠れて」
夫の宗史（むねふみ）さん（３１）は仕事で不在。長女の侑胡（ゆう）ちゃん（４）と次女の侑杏（ゆあ）ちゃん（３）に声をかけた。
ガチャン。茶わんが流し台に落ちて割れた。棚のグラスが飛び出し、破片が飛び散った。
「ママー」
揺れが収まると、２人の娘が飛びついてきた。部屋の窓から外を見た。駐車場の地面がひび割れていた。近所のお年寄りが外に飛び出ていた。
小田島朋美さんの自宅アパート。津波で窓ガラスが割れ、室内が海水で埋まった＝２７日、岩手県山田町織笠、坂本写す 「すごかったですねー」。「津波が来ています。避難して下さい」という役場の放送が聞こえた。
携帯が鳴った。実家の青森県八戸市の母親からだった。「大丈夫？」。次に地元の親友から電話がきた。「こっちはケガないよ」と答えた。
親友と話しながら外に出た。アパートは海岸から数十メートル離れた高台にある。ふと、民家と民家の間に目をやると、真っ黒な水平線が見えた。家の１階と２階の間くらいの高さだった。
「目の錯覚？」
事態がのみ込めないまま、電話口の親友に叫んだ。
「津波が来た！」
電話をズボンのポケットにしまった。波に民家が倒される「グシャッ」という音が背中で聞こえた。
「侑胡、侑杏、早く！」
アパートに戻り、玄関口で２人を呼んだ。長靴を履かせ、ドアを開けると、道路が水浸しになっていた。
■この手は絶対離さない
「ここからは出られない」
長靴を履いたまま、廊下に上がり込んだ。
ガシャーン。窓ガラスが水圧で割れ、猛烈な勢いで水がなだれ込んできた。
「だめだ」
海と反対側にある別の窓から脱出しよう。そう思った瞬間、その窓からも水が入ってきた。玄関のドアが下からめくれ上がり、水が一気に長靴の高さまで流れ込んだ。
「ママ、しゃっこい（冷たい）」
侑胡ちゃんの声を聞き、２人の娘を抱き上げた。
海水が渦を巻き、コタツが浮き始めた。
「子どもたちが先に埋もれてしまう」
自宅アパート周辺の地図
２人のお尻を両腕で支え、さらに高く抱き上げた。それでも水位はどんどん上がっていく。長靴がストンと落ち、足が床に着かなくなった。
「私たち３人、こんなに早く死ぬんだ。人生あっけなかったな。こんなので死ぬんだ」
高さ２メートル以上の天井に頭がつき、３人とも水没した。脇腹で、２人が足をバタバタさせているのを感じた。
「苦しいんだね。ごめんね、ごめんね」
何度も謝った。水中でのどの奥の空気をのみ込んだ。
「どうせ死ぬなら絶対離れたくない。この手は絶対離さない」
２人の体をギュッと抱きしめた。静かに楽になりたいと思った。
どのくらいたっただろうか。つむった目の上が白んできた。
「脳に酸素が行かなくなったのかな」。遠のく意識で思った。
目の上がさらに明るくなった。口を開けた。息が吸えた。目を開けた。ぐちゃぐちゃの部屋が目に映った。水が引き、足は床に着いていた。
「えっ？」
すぐに、抱きかかえていた２人を見た。侑胡ちゃんはぼうぜんとして、侑杏ちゃんはむせていた。
「生きている」
侑胡ちゃんのほっぺをたたいた。倒れた冷蔵庫の上に２人を下ろした。
「生きなきゃ。行かなきゃ」
侑胡ちゃんの手をつなぎ、侑杏ちゃんを抱きかかえた。外に出ると、必死に駆けた。高台にたどり着き、振り返ると家々が浮いていた。
■日常ってすごく幸せ
１３日、避難所の県立山田高校の体育館に宗史さんが駆けつけ、２人の娘を順番に抱きしめた。この日、侑杏ちゃんは３歳の誕生日を迎えた。「生きててくれて本当によかった」。生まれた時間の午前１時１０分、朋美さんは、眠る侑杏ちゃんのほっぺに何度もキスした。
３人は避難所で数日過ごし、現在は八戸市の実家に身を寄せている。パソコンを開き、インターネットの交流サイトを見ると、安否を尋ねるメールが数えられないほど届いていた。みんなに向け、メッセージを書いた。
「あのね、日常ってすっごく幸せなことなんだよ。もう駄目だって諦めたけど、今こうして私たちは生きていて、温かい食事をいただいて、足を伸ばして寝ることができます。なにより、隣に、侑胡と侑杏がいる。命があって思うこと。みんな、大好きです。ありがとう」
アパートの壁の時計は午後３時２１分で止まっていた。地震の発生から３５分間の出来事だったことが後でわかった。（坂本泰紀）
携帯が鳴った。実家の青森県八戸市の母親からだった。「大丈夫？」。次に地元の親友から電話がきた。「こっちはケガないよ」と答えた。
親友と話しながら外に出た。アパートは海岸から数十メートル離れた高台にある。ふと、民家と民家の間に目をやると、真っ黒な水平線が見えた。家の１階と２階の間くらいの高さだった。
「目の錯覚？」
事態がのみ込めないまま、電話口の親友に叫んだ。
「津波が来た！」
電話をズボンのポケットにしまった。波に民家が倒される「グシャッ」という音が背中で聞こえた。
「侑胡、侑杏、早く！」
アパートに戻り、玄関口で２人を呼んだ。長靴を履かせ、ドアを開けると、道路が水浸しになっていた。
■この手は絶対離さない
「ここからは出られない」
長靴を履いたまま、廊下に上がり込んだ。
ガシャーン。窓ガラスが水圧で割れ、猛烈な勢いで水がなだれ込んできた。
「だめだ」
海と反対側にある別の窓から脱出しよう。そう思った瞬間、その窓からも水が入ってきた。玄関のドアが下からめくれ上がり、水が一気に長靴の高さまで流れ込んだ。
「ママ、しゃっこい（冷たい）」
侑胡ちゃんの声を聞き、２人の娘を抱き上げた。
海水が渦を巻き、コタツが浮き始めた。
「子どもたちが先に埋もれてしまう」
自宅アパート周辺の地図２人のお尻を両腕で支え、さらに高く抱き上げた。それでも水位はどんどん上がっていく。長靴がストンと落ち、足が床に着かなくなった。
「私たち３人、こんなに早く死ぬんだ。人生あっけなかったな。こんなので死ぬんだ」
高さ２メートル以上の天井に頭がつき、３人とも水没した。脇腹で、２人が足をバタバタさせているのを感じた。
「苦しいんだね。ごめんね、ごめんね」
何度も謝った。水中でのどの奥の空気をのみ込んだ。
「どうせ死ぬなら絶対離れたくない。この手は絶対離さない」
２人の体をギュッと抱きしめた。静かに楽になりたいと思った。
どのくらいたっただろうか。つむった目の上が白んできた。
「脳に酸素が行かなくなったのかな」。遠のく意識で思った。
目の上がさらに明るくなった。口を開けた。息が吸えた。目を開けた。ぐちゃぐちゃの部屋が目に映った。水が引き、足は床に着いていた。
「えっ？」
すぐに、抱きかかえていた２人を見た。侑胡ちゃんはぼうぜんとして、侑杏ちゃんはむせていた。
「生きている」
侑胡ちゃんのほっぺをたたいた。倒れた冷蔵庫の上に２人を下ろした。
「生きなきゃ。行かなきゃ」
侑胡ちゃんの手をつなぎ、侑杏ちゃんを抱きかかえた。外に出ると、必死に駆けた。高台にたどり着き、振り返ると家々が浮いていた。
■日常ってすごく幸せ
１３日、避難所の県立山田高校の体育館に宗史さんが駆けつけ、２人の娘を順番に抱きしめた。この日、侑杏ちゃんは３歳の誕生日を迎えた。「生きててくれて本当によかった」。生まれた時間の午前１時１０分、朋美さんは、眠る侑杏ちゃんのほっぺに何度もキスした。
３人は避難所で数日過ごし、現在は八戸市の実家に身を寄せている。パソコンを開き、インターネットの交流サイトを見ると、安否を尋ねるメールが数えられないほど届いていた。みんなに向け、メッセージを書いた。
「あのね、日常ってすっごく幸せなことなんだよ。もう駄目だって諦めたけど、今こうして私たちは生きていて、温かい食事をいただいて、足を伸ばして寝ることができます。なにより、隣に、侑胡と侑杏がいる。命があって思うこと。みんな、大好きです。ありがとう」
アパートの壁の時計は午後３時２１分で止まっていた。地震の発生から３５分間の出来事だったことが後でわかった。（坂本泰紀）
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