Saturday, October 1, 2011

01/10 Cuồng nhiệt cuộc thi K-pop Quốc tế tại Việt Nam

01/10/2011 | 20:15:00
Phần biểu diễn tiết mục thi của thí sinh cuộc thi K-pop tại Việt Nam. (Ảnh: Việt Hùng/Vietnam+)
Tối 1/10, tại Trung tâm Nghệ thuật Âu Cơ (Hà Nội), đã diễn ra Chung kết Cuộc thi “Hát tìm kiếm ngôi sao đại diện Việt Nam tham gia cuộc thi K-pop Quốc tế” do Trung tâm Văn hóa Hàn Quốc phối hợp cùng Phòng Du lịch và Văn hóa Hàn Quốc tổ chức.

Cuộc thi đã thu hút gần 500 đơn đăng ký của các bạn trẻ yêu âm nhạc. Qua hai vòng sơ loại diễn ra tại hai miền Nam, Bắc đã chọn được 17 tiết mục xuất sắc để bước vào vòng chung kết.

01/10 Bất ổn leo thang tại Syria

Các vụ giao tranh giữa quân đội và phe đối lập tiếp diễn tại Syria hôm qua, trong khi làn sóng biểu tình chống Tổng thống Bashar al-Assad vẫn không hạ nhiệt. 

Đại sứ Mỹ tại Syria bị ném trứng

Hàng trăm người biểu tình chống chính phủ tại làng al-Hirak, tỉnh Daraa, Syria hôm qua. Ảnh:AP

01/10 Obama: “Awlaki chết là đòn giáng vào Al-Qaeda”

01/10/2011 | 13:41:41
Trùm khủng bố Anwar al-Awlaki (Ảnh: AP)
Tổng thống Mỹ Barack Obama ngày 30/9 nói rằng việc tiêu diệt thủ lĩnh khét tiếng sinh tại Mỹ Anwar al-Awlaki của mạng lưới khủng bố quốc tế Al-Qaeda ở Yemen là cú đòn mạnh nữa giáng vào Al-Qaeda, sau cái chết của trùm khủng bố Osamar bin Laden hồi tháng Năm vừa qua.

Ông nói vụ này chứng tỏ tổ chức khủng bố Al-Qaeda "không tìm thấy bất kỳ chỗ ẩn náu an toàn nào trên thế giới."
 

01/10 Hữu danh vô thực


Cuộc gặp cấp cao giữa EU với 6 nước thuộc Liên Xô trước đây, hay còn được gọi là Thượng đỉnh EU - Đông Âu, là một trong những hoạt động trọng tâm trong nhiệm kỳ Chủ tịch luân phiên EU của Ba Lan. Nhưng cuộc gặp bị đánh giá là khó đạt được kết quả đáng kể nào.
Khuôn khổ hợp tác này được Thụy Điển và Ba Lan khởi xướng từ năm 2009 nhưng tới nay vẫn hữu danh vô thực. Sự kiện năm nay càng thêm quan trọng đối với Ba Lan vì tuy là Chủ tịch luân phiên EU đương nhiệm nhưng nước này bị đứng ngoài chuyện xử lý nợ công và cứu nguy đồng euro. Thủ tướng Ba Lan Donald Tusk lại rất cần thành tích đối ngoại để duy trì vị thế trong cuộc bầu cử nghị viện sắp tới.

21/09 Actions speak louder than words over cold shutdown goal for Fukushima nuclear reactors



In this photo taken on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011, and released Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 by Tokyo Electric Power Co., a giant panel is lifted up by a crane to build a tent to cover Unit 1 reactor building at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
In this photo taken on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011, and released Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011 by Tokyo Electric Power Co., a giant panel is lifted up by a crane to build a tent to cover Unit 1 reactor building at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.)
Achieving a "cold shutdown" of a nuclear reactor is not difficult as long as the reactor is not broken. A cold shutdown is defined by experts as a situation in which nuclear reactors whose operations are suspended are being stably cooled down and the temperatures in them are kept below 100 degrees Celsius.
However, it is no easy task to achieve a cold shutdown at the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant where fuel has melted and holes have developed in damaged reactors.
Goshi Hosono, state minister for the prevention of nuclear accidents, told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) annual general meeting under way in Vienna that Tokyo will do its best to achieve a cold shutdown of the stricken reactors at the plant by the end of this year. His remark suggests that the government intends to bring forward its target of achieving a stable cool-down of the troubled reactors and of substantially reducing the amount of radioactive substances released from the plant by January 2012.

01/10 Science ministry announces postponement of Monju trial run

FUKUI (Kyodo) -- The science ministry said Friday it has decided to postpone a trial run of the trouble-hit Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture to allay public concern over its safety in the wake of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

"We will forgo the 40 percent output trial we were planning during the current fiscal year to dispel public concern about the safety of the Monju reactor," Kanji Fujiki, head of the ministry's Research and Development Bureau, told Fukui Gov. Issei Nishikawa during a meeting about the ministry's budget request for the next fiscal year related to the reactor.

Separately, Fujiki also met with Kazuharu Kawase, mayor of Tsuruga, which hosts the Monju reactor, to convey the same message.

In the meetings, Fujiki said the recent resumption of discussions on reviewing the nation's nuclear policy guidelines, which were suspended following the Fukushima complex disaster, and the start of talks on formulating a new national energy policy lay behind the postponement.

"We need to carry out safety assessments and study measures to deal with severe accidents to improve safety," he said.

Nishikawa requested that the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry take the initiative in discussions within the government, indicating that he wishes to see the country stay on its existing course.

The Monju reactor and related research have been regarded as key to realizing the country's nuclear fuel cycle, in which spent nuclear fuel from power plants would be reprocessed for reuse as plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel.

Tsuruga Mayor Kawase, a strong advocate of the Monju project, told Fujiki, "The postponement is quite sad but inevitable. I believe that it will take time to ensure additional safety."

The reactor project, on which the country has so far spent around 900 billion yen, has been hobbled by a series of problems. The reactor first achieved criticality in 1994 but was shut down because of a sodium coolant leakage and resulting fire in 1995.

The reactor resumed operation in May 2010 after being idled for 14 years and five months, but after experiencing trouble in August that year, the launch of full operations was delayed.

(Mainichi Japan) October 1, 2011

01/10 Japan gov't lifts evacuation advisory for 20-30 km zone



Residents dressed in clothing to protect them from radiation prepare to board a bus on Aug. 26 ahead of temporary visits to their homes within three kilometers of the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. (Mainichi)  
Residents dressed in clothing to protect them from radiation prepare to board a bus on Aug. 26 ahead of temporary visits to their homes within three kilometers of the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. (Mainichi)  
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Japanese government on Friday lifted its advisory for residents living in areas between 20 and 30 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to evacuate due to the nuclear crisis at the plant, scaling down the evacuation zone five months after its designation.
"This is major progress following the nuclear accident, and we will support residents' steady and safe return," nuclear disaster minister Goshi Hosono said in announcing the decision reached during a government meeting to discuss measures to deal with the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Efforts to decontaminate land polluted with radioactive substances and restoration of infrastructure are expected to proceed to pave the way for the actual return of around 26,000 people who are currently staying outside the so-called Evacuation-Prepared Area in Case of Emergency.

25/09 天声人語

2011年9月25日(日)付

 あまり言われることもないようだが、佐藤栄作氏は20世紀生まれ初の総理大臣だった。「戦後生まれ初」は安倍晋三さんである。そこで野田さんだが、日本の国連加盟後に生まれた初の首相、と相成る▼日本は1956(昭和31)年、悲願の国連加盟を果たして国際舞台に復帰した。手間取ったのは、ソ連の度重なる拒否権行使で申請が葬られたからだ。ようやく加盟がかない、重光葵(まもる)外相の総会演説が大きな拍手に包まれたのは、今も語りぐさだ▼時は流れて、そんな歴史も思い起こすパレスチナの国連加盟申請である。自治政府のアッバス議長は総会で「パレスチナの春を」と訴えた。拍手喝采は、応酬するイスラエル首相の演説の影を薄くした。困ったのは米国である▼申請はまず安保理に付託されるが、イスラエル寄りの米国は拒否権の行使を明言している。これをサルコジ仏大統領は「中東で暴力の連鎖を生む恐れがある」と批判する。同じ懸念を抱く指導者は少なくはあるまい▼米国はこれまで、イスラエルに不利な採決に拒否権を連発してきた。安保理の常任理事国5カ国だけが持つ伝家の宝刀だが、今回は問題が大きい。抜けば副作用もあろう。安保理は当面、緊張のうちに駆け引きが続く▼そうして波立つ国連から野田首相は戻ったが、国際社会に存在感を示せただろうか。あれこれ苛立(いらだ)つ米国に普天間問題の「結果」を催促された印象ばかりが残る。回転扉と揶揄(やゆ)される1年交代のツケはやはり、つくづくと大きい。

01/10 公務員給与―議員が範を示し削減を

 震災からの復旧・復興財源を賄うため、公務員給与を2年余りで6千億円削る。そんな法案を政府が国会に提出している。

 いずれ国民に復興増税を求めるのだから、身を削るのは避けられまい。

 ただし、真っ先に身を削るべきは国会議員である。震災後の4月から月々の歳費を50万円減額してきたが、10月から満額の月129万円余に戻している。

 自分たちは満額を受け取り、公務員給与は減らす。こんな理屈が通るはずがない。まずは議員歳費の減額を強く求める。

 その次に、公務員給与をどれほど減らすのかという難しい問題がある。法案に沿えば、平均で7.8%減らすことになる。

 ところが昨日、もう一つの削減案が示された。人事院が年間給与を0.23%減らすよう勧告したのだ。民間の動向を踏まえて勧告することを定めた法律に従って出してきた。

 さて、法案通りに削るか、勧告に従うか。私たちは法案を成立させるべきだと考える。

 勧告を採るだけでは、想定している復興財源が不足するからだ。さらに「官の身をろくに切らずに増税するのは許せない」と、国民が復興増税への反発を強めることも考えられる。

 だが、法案成立のめどは立たない。6月に提出されたのに、まだ審議に入れない。

 理由は「給与削減」と、公務員が制約を受けている労働基本権のうち「協約締結権」を回復する問題が密接に結びついているからだ。

 基本権が制約されているため、人事院勧告に沿って給与などの労働条件を決めてきた。協約締結権を回復すれば、民間のように労使交渉で決められる。

 だから連合系の労組は権利の回復を宿願としてきた。それがかなうならと、人事院勧告方式から踏み出して、削減法案をのんだ経緯がある。

 なのに締結権回復の法案を先送りしたのでは、連合系との合意が崩れ、給与削減もおぼつかなくなる。政府は、両法案をあわせて成立させることを迫られている。

 だが、国会では自民党などに、労組の立場が強まる締結権の回復に反対が根強い。

 国会の外では、連合とほぼ拮抗(きっこう)する加入人員がいる全労連系が、勧告に基づかない賃下げは憲法違反だと主張している。

 自民党と全労連の理解を、それぞれ得るのは容易ではない。だが、政府は誠意を尽くして打開策を探るしかない。

 その出発点としても、国会議員の歳費削減が必要だ。

01/10 原発事故調―新しい国会の試金石に

 国会に東電福島第一原発事故の調査委員会を設ける法律が、きのう成立した。民間の有識者による調査機関が国会にできるのは憲政史上初めてだ。

 三権分立のもと、行政府をチェックするのは立法府本来の仕事であり、その機能を果たすべき舞台をしつらえた格好だ。

 政府には、「失敗学」を提唱する畑村洋太郎東大名誉教授をトップとする調査・検証委員会がある。12月に中間報告を予定している。

 ただ、法律で権限が保障されているわけではない。相手方の協力を得るため、これまで延べ275人からのヒアリングも非公開でやっている。

 自民党など野党からは「政府がつくった委員会が、本当に政府の失態に踏み込み、追及しきれるのか」という懸念が示されていた。私たちも同意見だ。

 これに対し、国会の事故調は上部機関として設ける国会議員20人による協議会を通じて強制的に証人喚問ができる。国政調査権に基づき、うそを言えば偽証罪での告発もできる。議事は原則公開される。

 強力な権限と透明性を武器に、政府の調査・検証委の成果を踏まえつつ、真相に迫ることが期待される。

 だが、大きな懸念がある。

 野党の設置要求に、民主党が応じてこなかったのは、菅前首相らの初動対応などに絡めて、政権批判を展開されることを警戒したからだ。

 一方で、与党は大津波や全電源喪失に十分備えてこなかった自民党政権下の原発行政の問題点に矛先を向けたい。

 こんな与野党の思惑が、ねじれ国会で激突すれば、責任の押しつけ合いや非難合戦になってしまう可能性がある。

 ここは明確にしておこう。

 事故調が最優先で取り組むべきは、誰が悪いのかという犯人捜しではない。綿密にデータを検証し、二度と今回のような惨事を起こさないための教訓をくみ取ることだ。

 それは、国際社会に対する重い責任でもある。

 まず、この認識を与野党が共有し、視野の広い学識経験者10人の委員選びから協調すべきだ。各党は「党派的な立場から委員会を政治的に利用してはならない」という申し合わせを守らねばならない。

 事故調が、後世の歴史家の検証に堪える成果を残せるかどうか。国会の実力が試される。

 うまく行けば、国民の政治不信を和らげるだけでなく、新しい国会の役割を切り開く貴重な先例になる。

01/10 Disaster-experienced Niigata throws lifeline for Fukushima evacuees



2011/10/01
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photoWataru Suenaga and Aoi Suenaga, son and daughter of Masayoshi Suenaga, live together with Mariko Suenaga, their mother, in Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture. (Toshiyuki Matsumoto)
Thousands of residents whose lives were shattered by the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant say their flight was made much easier thanks to the efficient work of government officials. Officials in Niigata Prefecture, that is.
For central government officials, those forced to evacuate their homes in Fukushima Prefecture have a quite different opinion.
Niigata Prefecture stepped up to the challenge when throngs of residents fled from the Fukushima power plant in the early stages of the crisis, housing thousands of evacuees despite the chaotic situation.
The prefecture's recent experience in dealing with two huge earthquakes proved invaluable.
On March 15, four days after the March 11 disaster, a traffic jam more than 10 kilometers long formed on Route 49 near the border between Fukushima and Niigata prefectures. The 241-km road connects Niigata city and Iwaki, the largest city in the southern coastal area of Fukushima Prefecture.
Katsumi Tsuboi, a 46-year-old resident of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, and his family were on the congested road on their way to Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, part of a "convoy" of 18 relatives in four cars heading out of Fukushima Prefecture.
Tsuboi's house is only 3.5 km from the Fukushima plant. He told his wife: "This is it. We'll never be able to return home."
Their biggest concern was the effects of radiation exposure on their children. "Let's get out of here and live as far from the plant as we can," Tsuboi told his family.
Tsuboi recalls the traffic becoming heavier as they neared Niigata Prefecture. Seeing most of the vehicles carrying Iwaki or Fukushima license plates, he thought, "Everyone is leaving."
Tsuboi crossed the border at 6:30 p.m. on March 15 and arrived in Kashiwazaki four-and-a-half hours later.
"When we crossed the border, the rain turned into snow, making me feel we were now in Niigata Prefecture," Tsuboi said.
The previous afternoon, the Niigata prefectural government became aware of the exodus of evacuees on Route 49. All telephones at the government's disaster control headquarters began ringing, many from drivers seeking hotels and other accommodations in the prefecture.
The prefectural government added four personnel to its 10-member team handling evacuees. The team prepared sites where the evacuees could rest, consult with officials or even be checked for radiation exposure.
Team members also asked municipal governments to establish evacuation centers.
On March 16, Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida watched Minami-Soma Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai plea for help on TV.
"We have no relief supplies or information on the situation (at the Fukushima plant). All routes from Minami-Soma city have been cut off," Sakurai said.
The mayor's words reminded Izumida of Yamakoshi village, which was in a similar situation in the aftermath of the Niigata Chuetsu Earthquake seven years ago.
Ten minutes after the TV program ended, Izumida called Sakurai, although they had never met.
"Since Niigata Prefecture experienced the Chuetsu Earthquake and the Chuetsu-Oki Earthquake, we have a good sense of what the situation is like. We will be immediately prepared to accept a large number of people from Fukushima Prefecture," Izumida told Sakurai.
The Niigata prefectural government had already started asking municipal governments to set up evacuation centers. Within one day, 10 of the 30 municipalities in the prefecture and the prefectural government were ready to receive about 3,000 evacuees.
On March 18, 26 municipalities opened 64 evacuation centers. The next day, the prefecture accepted 10,574 evacuees.
Teruhiko Matsuoka, vice manager of the prefectural government's residents' life and environment division, stressed the importance of lessons learned from the two earthquakes in Niigata Prefecture.
"Every municipality can open evacuation centers in two hours," said Matsuoka, who led the evacuation response team at the disaster control headquarters until the end of March.
Late on March 16, the Minami-Soma government sent more than 200 evacuees in six buses to Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture.
Sakurai criticized the system that forced municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture to find evacuation sites on their own if given evacuation orders by the central government.
"The central government is so irresponsible for the evacuation orders it issues," the mayor said. "It should at least specify where to evacuate to."
Sakurai said, "(One phone call from Niigata) was our real savior, considering we were in an extremely chaotic situation."
In May, Akira Shishido, a 76-year-old evacuee from Minami-Soma who temporarily stayed in a gymnasium in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, visited an earthquake rebuilding museum in an area that used to be Yamakoshi. The village was incorporated into Nagaoka city in 2005.
When the 2004 earthquake hit the prefecture, all Yamakoshi villagers left the town.
Photographs exhibited at the museum showed houses buried under sand and mud in the Kogomo area. As Shishido read a statement at the entrance of the museum, tears welled in his eyes.
"Cry as much as you want. Then smile," the statement read. "There is a way you can open up brighter future. I was just like you. Everyone is waiting for your smile." That was words from a woman in the village.
Shortly after the Chuetsu Earthquake, the slogan "Let's return to Yamakoshi!" spread in the area.
"With the slogan in place, local residents managed to come through the challenging times as evacuees," said Tamio Mori, mayor of Nagaoka, who serves as acting chairman of a discussion group of the government reconstruction panel.
"It is important for the central government to set goals (on evacuation plans) right away. Otherwise more people will lose motivation (to return home) and will feel isolated," Mori said.
Haruji Matsui, the head of the area's community, invited Shishido and other evacuees from Minami-Soma to participate in rice planting.
"I thought it may help them relax and get to feel a little better," Matsui said.
Even after Shishido retuned to Minami-Soma at the end of May, Shishido still keeps in touch with Matsui by calling once a week. In early August, Shishido grumbled to Matsui, "I was going to fight hard to rebuild my hometown, but I have hardly seen any children here, and most stores remain closed. I don't know how much longer I can hang in here."
Matsui told him, "It's been only 150 days (since the May 11 disaster). It took us seven years to get to this point (after the Chuetsu Earthquake). You will see signs of recovery if you continue working for your hometown."
About 6,500 evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture still live in public housing and rental houses in Niigata Prefecture.
(This article was written by Kohei Tomida and Seiji Kanda.)

01/10 Fukano says another quake could threaten Fukushima operation



BY TATSUYUKI KOBORI STAFF WRITER
2011/10/01
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photoHiroyuki Fukano, director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Tatsuyuki Kobori)
The head of Japan's nuclear regulator warned that the effort to regain control of stricken reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is relying on "makeshift equipment" that might easily be destroyed if another earthquake hits.
Hiroyuki Fukano, director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said in a Sept. 29 interview with The Asahi Shimbun that there is an urgent need to assess back-up systems at the plant as hopes rise that reactors are nearing the relatively stable "cold shutdown" state.
"We have little choice but to keep reactors under the cold shutdown without much change (in the reactor control systems)," he said.
But he warned: "The plant is using some makeshift equipment now. That raises fears that those units could be easily destroyed by another earthquake. We need to assess our back-up systems for the equipment should the units be knocked out by an earthquake."
On Sept. 28, water temperatures at the plant's No.1, No.2 and No.3 reactors fell below 100 degrees for the first time since the start of the crisis in March.
Getting below 100 degrees was one of the conditions stipulated for classifying the reactors as being in "cold shutdown," but a significant reduction in radiation leaking from the reactors is also included in the criteria. There has been no announcement that cold shutdown has been reached.
Fukano said NISA would continue to monitor temperatures, water levels and amounts of radiation leaking from the reactors. When the cold shutdown phase is announced, he said the agency would then outline a detailed plan for keeping the reactors stable.
Fukano's agency, which is part of the industry ministry, and the Cabinet Office's Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan are due to be swallowed up in a new body, provisionally named the Nuclear Safety Agency, to be set up next spring under the Ministry of the Environment.
Fukano said NISA would study lessons learned from the Fukushima accident and present its findings to the new organization.
But he urged caution about one of the key parts of the Democratic Party of Japan-led government's strategy for ensuring safety in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster: the stress tests being used as prerequisites for the resumption of suspended nuclear plants.
Fukano said: "Some say reactors (that have passed such tests) meet safety standards and therefore there should not be any problem, but questions have been raised as to the appropriateness of the standards themselves (after the March 11 disaster)."

30/09 Tsunami survivor won't return home near the sea



BY YOICHIRO KODERA STAFF WRITER
2011/09/30
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photoToshiko Matsumoto, 65, far right, prays in front of her home in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, less than 2 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, on a brief return on Sept. 1. The bodies of her husband, Shuhei, and grandson, Eiji, were discovered near their home in late May. (Hiroshi Kawai)
Wearing protective clothes, caps, masks and gloves, Toshiko Matsumoto looked from her home where cedar trees were swept away in the March 11 tsunami. With little left to block her view, she could now see the sea.
"I don't like looking at the sea from here," Matsumoto, 65, said, and turned her eyes.
A transceiver dangling from her neck announced that an hour had passed since Matsumoto and other residents returned to their homes in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, for the first time on Sept. 1. They were forced to evacuate because they lived within a 3-kilometer radius of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Matsumoto's dosimeter showed radiation levels above 30 microsieverts, the accumulated total of her radiation exposure since she returned to Okuma. She called the minibus that had taken them to the town, even though she still had 40 minutes left in the two-hour visit to collect belongings. She waited patiently for the bus to take her away from Okuma, perhaps for the last time.
Her brief visit to Okuma allowed Matsumoto to try to bring a sense of closure to all the misery she suffered in the aftermath of the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. But it also gave her painful reminders of all she had lost and the current torment she suffers.
After the bus arrived in Okuma, Matsumoto headed to her home, which is uphill and a 10-minute walk from the coast. It was also less than 2 kilometers from the nuclear plant.
She had trouble walking through the knee-high grass and weeds that had grown after the town was abandoned soon after the quake.
When she finally reached the front of her home, she pulled out a bundle of incense sticks and burned them for her husband, Shuhei, 68, and her 4-year-old grandson, Eiji. They were swallowed up by the tsunami when they fled to the garden after the magnitude 9-0 earthquake struck.
Matsumoto only learned in late May that their bodies had been found. At that time, she was taking refuge at a relative's house in Chiba Prefecture. She and her sons could not search for the bodies because the nuclear accident had forced them to stay away from Okuma.
After lighting the incense in front of the house, she gave offerings for the two--a can of sweet coffee for Shuhei, which was his favorite drink, and a red miniature car for Eiji.
"It must have been lonely to be left in a place like this for three months," Matsumoto said, while putting her glove-covered hands together to pray.
She was cleaning up the mess in her house caused by the earthquake when she heard a roar around 3:30 p.m. She raced upstairs and saw a wall of water pour over the cedar trees, the height of a four-story house, that surrounded her home. She called out to Shuhei and Eiji, but received no reply. The tsunami struck the house, throwing broken trees and electricity poles into the first floor.
March 11 was Matsumoto's birthday. Shuhei was the kind of person who would realize it was her birthday usually a couple of days after the date. But on that day, he remembered it correctly and took her out for lunch at a revolving sushi bar. She said it was a real treat for her.
"(You died in the tsunami) because you did something you usually didn't do," she had said to her husband's remains, now in her apartment in Aizuwakamatsu in the prefecture. "But why did you take Eiji with you?"
It was something that kept bothering her.
But in August, Matsumoto learned what actually happened when her sister-in-law asked for details from the Self-Defense Forces member who had discovered the bodies.
The sister-in-law called Matsumoto to inform her that Shuhei was found holding his grandson. Matsumoto burst into tears.
"You tried to protect him to the end," she said to the remains. She felt slightly relieved.
When Matsumoto returned to her home on Sept. 1, she was accompanied by her oldest son, the father of Eiji.
"Fifty-five microsieverts (per hour)," her son, holding a dosimeter, shouted upstairs. "It is impossible to take out clothes (due to high radiation levels)."
When the quake hit, her son was working at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Despite the disappearance of his father and son, he has continued to work on a schedule of four days on and two days off since the nuclear disaster started.
In late August, he told his mother that he was being transferred to a section handling clerical work. He would not tell her why.
Matsumoto wanted to ask her son many things, like how much radiation he had been exposed to at the plant, and if he was getting enough sleep.
But he would never talk about the nuclear disaster. And Matsumoto said she has never seen tears in the eyes of her son, despite the loss of his child and father. He often appeared absent-minded.
He sat silent for a while in front of the remains of his father and son.
"I sometimes get disoriented and cannot tell where I am," he whispered.
Matsumoto did not know what to say to her son.
She followed him upstairs, where she spotted a black leather wrist watch, a gift her two sons and a daughter-in-law had given her on her 60th birthday.
She also found her diary. The last entry was on March 10.
The two items were under collapsed drawers. She hesitated for a bit due to the high radiation readings. But she retrieved them and put them in a plastic bag.
The last item she took from her home was a photo album kept in an upper closet. On the first page of the album was a message: "Be happy ever after." When she turned another page, she found a photo of her and Shuhei on their wedding ceremony.
Before she boarded the bus, Matsumoto looked around at what had become of her home and showed little emotion.
"I will never feel like building a home here again," she said. "I am afraid this is it."
She had never said such things when I interviewed her in late March.

01/10 Radiation spread reaches Chiba, Saitama prefectures

BY HISAE SATO STAFF WRITER

2011/10/01

Fairly high levels of accumulated radioactive cesium in Chiba and Saitama prefectures were shown in a new contamination map released by the science ministry on Sept. 29.

The two prefectures, neighboring the municipal areas of Tokyo, are located about 200 kilometers from the disabled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The measurements for Chiba and Saitama prefectures were taken from Sept. 8 to Sept. 12 using helicopters.

In Chiba Prefecture, the highest levels of cesium-137, between 30,000 and 60,000 becquerels per square meter, were detected in northern areas, such as Kashiwa, Matsudo, Abiko and Nagareyama. Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years.

In Saitama Prefecture, some mountainous areas of Chichibu, located 250 km from the plant, recorded 30,000 to 60,000 becquerels per square meter.

In the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, areas with 37,000 becquerels or more of radioactivity per square meter were designated contaminated zones, while levels of 555,000 becquerels or more required forcible relocation.

In Chiba and Saitama prefectures, the highest radiation levels were 0.2 to 0.5 microsievert per hour. In most other areas, the radiation levels were 0.1 microsievert or less.

03/09 More schools 1st refuge for kids in disaster

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Drawing lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake, an increasing number of schools are considering keeping students at school instead of letting them go home to keep them safe in the event of a similar disaster.

All train services were halted for several hours in the Tokyo metropolitan area after the March 11 earthquake, preventing many parents from returning home and leaving them unable to confirm the safety or whereabouts of their children.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plans to have an expert panel, which was launched in July, make new guidelines covering when students should be returned to parents in such situations.

On Aug. 26, municipal Takashima Daiichi Primary School in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, conducted a disaster prevention drill on the premise that an earthquake measuring lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 had hit the area. Part of the drill involved parents coming to the school to pick up their children.

Mizuho Wakabayashi, 40, who came to pick up her 10-year-old daughter, Satsuki, said, "It's important to learn through drills like this so I won't panic when a real disaster strikes."

After the March 11 earthquake, the school's principal, Yoshiaki Yazaki, decided to let students go home in groups because no buildings had collapsed and there was no serious damage nearby.

However, many parents later complained about Yazaki's decision.

"Why didn't the school keep students there?" asked one. Another said, "When I got home, my child was crying."

More parents had great difficulty getting home from work than Yazaki had predicted.

"We failed to make preparations from the perspective of our students and their parents," he said.

In July, the school notified parents it will take care of students until parents come to pick them up if an earthquake of lower 5 or stronger on the Japanese scale occurs.

Even after an earthquake measuring 4 or less disrupts public transport systems in the Tokyo metropolitan area, the school will look after students whose parents have registered in advance.

Parents of about 160 students at the school have registered.

According to a survey by the Tokyo metropolitan board of education, 52.7 percent of primary schools and 12.3 percent of middle schools of Tokyo's 1,900 primary and middle schools kept an eye on students after the March 11 quake.

In July, the metropolitan board of education instructed the schools to, in principle, care for students after a disaster until parents come to pick them up.

The Yokohama municipal board of education also revised the city's disaster-management plan for schools.

The new plan stipulates that if public transportation systems shut down, schools should keep students until parents pick them up.

But some parents may be unable to come to school and some children could have to stay at school overnight. This raises the question of what food and other supplies schools should keep on hand.

Tokyo metropolitan high schools stock enough water, food, blankets and other emergency goods to last three days. However, what supplies primary and middle schools should stockpile is left to individual ward, city, town and village governments. Some principals have suggested their schools do not have enough emergency supplies.

According to a survey by Tokyo Shiritsu Shoto-gakko Kyokai, an association of 54 private primary schools in Tokyo, a total of 1,123 students at 28 member schools spent the night at school after the March 11 quake because they could not get home.

At Keio Yochisha Primary School in Shibuya Ward, 23 of the 852 students took shelter at the school overnight after the March quake.

"We realized anew that it's safer to keep the kids at school rather than force them to go home," an official of the school said.

The school is reviewing what emergency supplies it will store.

(Sep. 3, 2011)

01/10 Panel queries TEPCO rates / Customers pay price for flawed accounting, wasteful spending

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Tokyo Electric Power Co. overstated the costs incurred in running its power-supply business over the past 10 years by 618.6 billion yen in reports submitted to the government about how the utility's electricity charges are determined.

The disparity is mentioned in a final draft report that has been drawn up by the independent government panel assessing TEPCO's financial conditions.

The third-party committee has raised questions about TEPCO's method for deciding power-usage rates, suspecting the utility's pricing mechanism has led to inflated prices.

TEPCO has long used the same method to determine pricing, a formula that takes into account personnel and fuel costs, expenditure on investment in power-generation and transmission equipment, plus a certain percentage of profits.

Critics say TEPCO's pricing system is one reason for the utility's failure to improve operational efficiency.

The panel's final draft report emphasizes the need for TEPCO to undergo reforms, and says that having a power-supply monopoly in its service area has negatively affected the utility's business efficiency.

One focus of attention is whether the panel's reference to the 618.6 billion yen disparity between TEPCO's claimed expenses and the actual costs incurred could pave the way for a fundamental review of the utility's pricing system.

TEPCO told the third-party panel it would be able to reduce costs by about 1.19 trillion yen, but the panel said cuts of up to 2.41 trillion yen would be possible.

The panel said the large gap between the two estimates is because TEPCO has not done enough to improve material procurement by its group companies.

The report said: "Most of the group's major companies have a higher profit margin in deals with TEPCO than they do in deals with other companies. In some cases, group companies effectively offset losses from deals with other companies by making deals with TEPCO."

In other words, TEPCO has provided financial support to group companies via sweetheart deals. The report identified such arrangements as an example of TEPCO's inefficient management.

In addition, the report said: "There were many cases of sales agency firms mediating deals" between TEPCO and suppliers of materials.

"The amounts paid [by TEPCO] to such sales agency firms could be reduced," the report said.

If TEPCO revises its dealing with group companies and ends the practice of overly generous deals, some of the group companies may be unable to survive, leading to job losses.

Industry analysts said this is one reason why TEPCO has not taken major steps to address the situation.

In the early stages of the panel's investigation, TEPCO suggested it might raise electricity charges by about 15 percent.

The utility was anxious about the deterioration of its financial health due to the huge bill for compensation payments and the costs involved in decommissioning nuclear rectors.

But the committee's report expressed skepticism about the utility's method of deciding electricity charges.

Electric power companies have to report their expected total costs in advance to the government, and that figure is used as the basis for deciding how much the power companies can charge for electricity.

The panel's report says TEPCO's estimates over the past 10 years exceed actual costs by 618.6 billion yen in total.

TEPCO has lowered its electricity charges four times in the past 10 years, but the panel said the rates could be reduced even further.

The panel said TEPCO's estimates included expenditure on advertisements promoting new electricity-powered devices; donations; purchases of books and other expendables; corporate welfare for employees; contributions to the Federation of Electric Power Companies and other business organizations; and other miscellaneous expenses.

The panel's report concluded, "It is necessary to fully investigate whether such expenses should be borne by ordinary customers."

If TEPCO is made to revise its method of deciding electricity charges, similar reforms will likely have to be made at other regional electric power companies.

(Oct. 1, 2011)

01/10 TEPCO compensation predicted to reach 4.54 tril. yen

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Tokyo Electric Power Co. will have to pay an estimated 4.54 trillion yen in damages over the two-year period following the outbreak of the disaster at its Fukushima No. 1 power plant, according to a government panel scrutinizing the utility's financial standing in connection with compensation payments.

According to a draft of a final report compiled by the Study Committee on Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Management and Financial Conditions, TEPCO should cut 2.41 trillion yen in personnel and other business costs over the next 10 years, about double the amount projected in business restructuring plans TEPCO has submitted to the government.

Chaired by lawyer Kazuhiko Shimokobe, the panel will officially announce the report after presenting the final draft to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday at the earliest, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

In reference to the utility's cost-cutting efforts, the panel says in the draft that TEPCO is believed to have set its electricity rates higher than the actual cost of producing it, leading to higher power bills than in other countries.

The study panel's report is designed to serve as a basis for devising a program for TEPCO's special operational plans, which are to be compiled as a precondition for the utility to seek assistance from the state-backed Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation over massive compensation payments necessitated by the nuclear crisis, panel officials said.

The draft report divides damages payments into three major categories:

-- Damage caused by government evacuation orders.

-- Damage due to radiation fears.

-- Indirect damage suffered by business partners.

The estimates are based on the premise that the problems of at least 150,000 evacuees will continue for two years from the outbreak of the Fukushima disaster.

Compensation for damage related to evacuation orders is estimated at 577.5 billion yen, on the assumption that evacuees have completely lost the value of their land, buildings and other properties.

Damage to business operations and job losses also are included in this category, bringing its total to 1.92 trillion yen.

Compensation for losses by such people as farmers and tourist companies due to radiation fears has been estimated at 1.3 trillion yen.

On the business restructuring plans worked out by TEPCO to secure funds to cover part of the compensation payments, the draft report says the company's cost-cutting goal of 1.18 trillion yen over the next 10 years should be doubled to 2.41 trillion yen.

The company's electricity generation costs can be reduced significantly by such efforts as ending inefficient procurement of equipment through TEPCO's affiliated firms, according to the draft.

The panel calls for a review of the utility's current formula of calculating power bills, which is called the cost-plus pricing system. It allows TEPCO, like other power utilities, to pass on power generation costs, such as personnel and fuel costs, plus a certain margin, to consumers.

The power generation costs declared by TEPCO when deciding on power bills have totaled 618.6 billion yen more than actual spending in the past decade, the draft says, and it calls for improved methods of calculation.

(Oct. 1, 2011)

30/09 原発敷地外でプルトニウム…福島・双葉など

 文部科学省は30日、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所事故で周辺地域に拡散したとみられる放射性物質のプルトニウムとストロンチウムの土壌汚染状況をまとめた地図を公表した。

 プルトニウムは、福島県双葉町、浪江町と飯舘村の計6か所の土壌から検出され、国の調査では初めて原発敷地外から見つかった。同省は、「プルトニウム、ストロンチウムによる被曝(ひばく)線量は非常に小さいため、除染対策はセシウムに着目していくのが適切」と話している。

 調査は今年6~7月、原発周辺の100か所の土壌を採取して行われた。東西冷戦時代の大気圏内核実験で日本に降下した放射性物質を同省が事故前10年間に測定した値と比較した。

 プルトニウムが見つかった6か所はいずれも警戒区域、計画的避難区域だった。原発事故で放出されたプルトニウム238の最大値は、浪江町の1平方メートル当たり4ベクレル。これは過去の測定の最大値8ベクレルの半分だった。同省の試算によると、今後50年間の被曝線量は0・027ミリ・シーベルトだった。他の5か所は0・55~2・3ベクレルで、最も遠い検出地点は、原発から約45キロの飯舘村だった。

 一方、原発由来のストロンチウム89、90は45か所で検出された。このうち半減期の長いストロンチウム90の最大値は双葉町の同5700ベクレル。過去の最大値(950ベクレル)の6倍に相当する。50年間の被曝線量の試算は0・12ミリ・シーベルトだった。ほかに、950ベクレルを超えたのは7か所あった。

(2011年9月30日21時12分 読売新聞)

01/10 避難準備区域を解除、2万8000人帰宅支援




 政府は30日、首相官邸で原子力災害対策本部の会合を開き、東京電力福島第一原子力発電所から半径20~30キロ・メートル圏を中心に福島県の5市町村で設定した「緊急時避難準備区域」について、指定を一括解除することを決め、解除を公示した。
 3月の同原発事故を受け、政府が設けた避難区域が解除されたのは初めて。原発事故後に約2万8000人が区域外に避難しており、政府は、閉鎖中の学校の再開など帰宅支援に全力を挙げる方針だ。
 野田首相は30日の対策本部で、「復旧、復興に向けて着実な一歩を踏み出しているが、放射能汚染の徹底した除去を始め様々な課題がある。国が先頭に立ち、最大限の対応を行いたい」と述べた。政府は同日午後6時11分、解除を公示した。
 緊急時避難準備区域は、福島県南相馬市、田村市、楢葉町、広野町、川内村の全域または一部が対象で、同原発事故前には約5万9000人が住んでいた。
 避難住民の帰宅は、各市町村が放射性物質の除染などの取り組みをまとめた復旧計画に基づいて、順次進められる。経済産業省によると、5市町村が復旧計画に盛り込んだ住民の帰宅完了目標は、最も早い川内村で、2012年3月までとなっている。
(2011年10月1日01時27分  読売新聞)

01/10 Nhật Bản muốn dân Fukushima quay về nhà



Nhật Bản dỡ bỏ khuyến cáo di tản tại 5 khu vực gần nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima và khẳng định những nơi này đã an toàn để người dân trở về.

Người dân Fukushima tại một trại tạm trú ở tỉnh Fukushima. Ảnh: AFP.
Người dân Fukushima tại một trại tạm trú ở tỉnh Fukushima. Ảnh: AFP.
Chính phủ Nhật Bản hôm qua cho biết đã dỡ bỏ khuyến cáo di tản tại 5 khu vực cách nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima số 1 từ 20 km đến 30 km, nơi hàng chục nghìn người dân đã được yêu cầu di dời để tránh phóng xạ hồi tháng 3 năm nay. Tuy nhiên, theo AFP, Nhật Bản sẽ vẫn duy trì vùng cấm 20 km quanh nhà máy bị động đất và sóng thần phá hủy, dẫn đến cuộc khủng hoảng hạt nhân tồi tệ nhất ở Nhật Bản.
Tokyo đặt mục tiêu thuyết phục được 28.500 người dân trong tổng số 58.500 người đã đi sơ tán rằng các khu vực này đã an toàn để trở về sinh sống, với mức phóng xạ chấp nhận được và tình trạng nhà máy hạt nhân đã ổn định hơn. Tuy nhiên, nhiều người trong họ nói với kênh truyền hình NHK rằng họ vẫn đang lưỡng lự chuyện quay về.
“Chính phủ sẽ nỗ lực hết sức để xóa bỏ càng sớm càng tốt những nỗi lo sợ trong người dân để họ có thể trở về nhà”, Thủ tướng Nhật Bản Yoshihiko Noda, người đã ra quyết định trên nói.
Yêu cầu dỡ bỏ khuyến cáo sơ tán cũng được áp dụng với một số vùng bên ngoài vùng cấm ở hai thị trấn Hirono và Naraha, làng Kawauchi, thành phố Tamura và Minamisoma.
Hàng chục nghìn người ở các vùng phía trong và quanh vùng cấm của nhà máy Fukushima số 1 đang sống tại các trại tạm trú. Quá trình khôi phục hoàn toàn các khu vực này dự kiến phải kéo dài hàng chục năm. Nhiệm vụ khôi phục các thị trấn và làng mạc tại các vùng nhiễm phóng xạ rất phức tạp, đòi hỏi chi phí cao và gặp vấn đề về địa điểm để trữ nguồn đất đã bị nhiễm xạ.
“Chính phủ đã để dành ngân sách 1,15 nghìn tỷ yên, tức 15 tỷ USD, để tiến hành tẩy uế các khu vực này”, Bộ trưởng Môi trường Goshi Hosono nói.
Nhiều nhà khoa học đã yêu cầu mở rộng vùng sơ tán do lo ngại những hậu quả khó lường của phóng xạ rò rỉ từ nhà máy. Thậm chí những vùng cách nhà máy Fukushima 100 km cũng bị ảnh hưởng phóng xạ. Một số khu vực trong vùng cấm có thể sẽ không có sự sống trong nhiều thập kỷ tới, với lượng phóng xạ hơn 50 millisievert mỗi năm, trong khi mức phóng xạ cho phép là 20 millisievert mỗi năm.
Công ty điện lực Tokyo (Tepco) cho biết đã có những tiến triển trong hệ thống làm mát và ổn định các lò phản ứng bị rò rỉ. Tepco hy vọng có thể đưa nhà máy Fukushima vào trạng thái ổn định trong tháng một năm sau.
Anh Ngọc