Hàn tố cáo Triều Tiên đang chế tạo tên lửa hạt nhân

19/03/2012 

Tuyên bố phóng vệ tinh của Triều Tiên đang gây lo ngại từ nhiều phía (Nguồn: csmonitor)

Ngày 19/3, Hàn Quốc cáo buộc Cộng hòa Dân chủ Nhân dân Triều Tiên đang tìm cách phát triển tên lửa hạt nhân qua vụ bắn vệ tinh được Bình Nhưỡng tuyên bố vào tháng tới.


[Triều Tiên khẳng định phóng vệ tinh vào tháng Tư]


“Chính phủ Hàn Quốc coi kế hoạch mà Triều Tiên gọi là phóng vệ tinh là sự thách thức nghiêm trọng khi nước này tìm cách phát triển các phương tiện tên lửa tầm xa có thể mang đầu đạn hạt nhân,” người phát ngôn của tổng thống Hàn Quốc, Park Jeong Ha, nói.

イランと親密関係、北が８０年代から武器支援

【ソウル＝宇恵一郎】北朝鮮が、１９８０年９月に始まったイラン・イラク戦争当時、イランに大量の武器を売却していた実態が、１８日に韓国外交通商省が公開した外交文書（８０、８１年分）で明らかになった。
現在も北朝鮮とイランの間には、核・ミサイル開発をめぐって密接な技術協力が行われているとみられているが、８０年代からの武器支援関係が土台になっていることが浮き彫りとなった。
８０年９月の在イラン韓国大使館の報告では、開戦直後からイランの軍用輸送機が頻繁に、平壌・テヘラン間を往復し武器、弾薬を輸送。同年１２月には、１６隻の北朝鮮船舶がイランに入港し、小銃２万丁、野砲、対空砲、弾薬、装甲車などを陸揚げしたとしている。また、翌８１年４月にも、北朝鮮から弾薬７０トンを積んだイランの民間機がテヘラン空港に到着したことが確認されている。

12/11 Conflict in the Middle East: Nuclear Iran, anxious Israel

The world needs to be much tougher on Iran, but an Israeli attack would still be a disaster

Nov 12th 2011 | from the print edition

THE debate about timelines is almost over. This week’s report on Iran’s nuclear programme by the UN’s watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is its most alarming yet. Although no “smoking gun” proves beyond doubt that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the evidence gathered in a 12-page annex is hard to interpret in any other way.

04/04 U.S. team's mission is to help SDF

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The primary task of a visiting U.S. nuclear emergency response team will be to help the Self-Defense Forces with operations related to the ongoing nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture, such as decontaminating residents and providing information to assist the SDF's medical activities.

According to sources, the U.S. team will also prepare for unexpected contingencies, such as a large-scale radiation leak from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

About 10 members of the U.S. Marine Corps' Chemical Biological Incident Response Force arrived at U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on Saturday as an advance party. They arrived on a U.S. transport plane from Maryland.

They will be joined by two similar units scheduled to arrive Sunday and Monday. In total, the response force will deploy 155 personnel to Japan.

The team comprises six squads, with specialties such as detecting extremely dangerous levels of radiation, search-and-rescue operations in areas contaminated by radiation and decontaminating people exposed to radiation.

The team will work from U.S. military bases in the Kanto region, under the command of Yokota Air Base's Joint Support Force.

Currently, the Ground Self-Defense Force's Central Nuclear Biological Chemical Weapon Defense Unit, which is tasked with dealing with terrorist attacks using nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, is conducting decontamination and other activities in response to the Fukushima crisis. The U.S. team is expected to provide backup to the SDF in emergency situations.

A government source said the dispatch of the U.S. team reflects the U.S. government's growing concern over the situation at the Fukushima plant.

On Thursday, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the dispatch of the response force after receiving a request from Adm. Robert Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.

According to the Defense Ministry, the U.S. response force was established in 1996 in the wake of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, due to a belief that the U.S. government should be prepared for terrorist attacks using similar chemical weapons.

(Apr. 4, 2011)

24/03 Firefighters from Tokyo heroes in time of disaster

BY SEIKO SADAKUNI STAFF WRITER

2011/03/24

Yasuhiro Ishii, leader of the Tokyo Fire Department's rescue team (Seiko Sadakuni)
A Tokyo Fire Department chief leading a crew to prepare for hosing water on reactors of the hobbled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture called the operation "a race against time and radioactivity levels."

Yasuhiro Ishii, 47, led the first batch of the TFD Hyper Rescue team to cool nuclear reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The TFD has played a central role in the water spraying operation, along with the Self-Defense Forces.

Ishii's team arrived at the plant after 5 p.m. last Friday, a week after the magnitude-9.0 temblor knocked out the nuclear reactors' cooling systems.

His team's responsibility was to determine where a fire engine equipped with height-refraction water cannon should be positioned to spray water.

According to data, the amount of radiation at a location to the immediate west of the No. 3 reactor were 300 millisieverts per hour, a level that would require immediate evacuation under normal circumstances.

The TFD initially planned to place a fire engine equipped with a height-refraction water cannon between the No. 3 reactor and the coastline, but the plan was changed because the area is clogged with tsunami-swept debris and lumber.

A new location was found inland between the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, where the fire engine with a water pump could be positioned at the wharf northeast of the No. 1 reactor to pump seawater.

The process of putting extension hoses in place for about 450 meters from the planned water-discharging spot proved relatively smooth. But connecting the remaining 350-meter extension to the Super Pumper fire engine at the wharf had to be done manually because tanks containing hazardous materials and other obstacles blocked the path.

Although radiation levels at the site were between 80 millisieverts an 100 millisieverts per hour, Ishii's team working on the hose extension were so focused on their task that they paid little attention to the radiation reading on their gauges.

Ishii and six other members of the team also monitored the radioactivity in the area with dosimeters and were able to warn other workers of hazardous areas.

"It's dangerous. Don't come closer," Ishii ordered a member during the course of the operation. He had to gesture to stop members many times because of the high amount of radioactivity.

Spraying water began 30 minutes after midnight on Saturday, about seven hours after Ishii's crew arrived on the scene.

By then, the exposure of radiation for each individual was within safe limits.

25/03 Radiation from Fukushima exceeds Three Mile Island

2011/03/26

Top: Steam rises from the No. 3 reactor at the No. 1 Fukushima nuclear power plant in this satellite image taken on March 14. (DigitalGlobe); Bottom: The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
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.

* * *

Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, crippled by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, has discharged more radiation than the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the United States, according to calculations by the central government.

It has already reached a level 6 serious accident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).

Separately, calculations made by experts place the level of soil contamination in some locations at levels comparable to those found after the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

With the Fukushima plant continuing to release radiation, there is the danger that the contaminated land will be unusable for many years.

To calculate the spread of radiation using the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan estimates the discharge rate for radioactive iodine per hour from the Fukushima plant based on radiation measurements taken at various locations.

Using those figures to make a simple calculation of the amount of discharge between 6 a.m. March 12 and midnight Wednesday results in figures between 30,000 and 110,000 terabecquerels. Tera is a prefix meaning 1 trillion.

The INES defines a level 7 major accident such as Chernobyl as one in which radiation of more than several tens of thousands of terabecquerels is released.

The Fukushima accident is already at a level 6, which is defined as having a radiation discharge of several thousands to several tens of thousands of terabecquerels.

The discharge of radioactive iodine at the Chernobyl accident was said to be about 1.8 million terabecquerels. The Three Mile Island accident, which was considered the second-worst accident until now, had only a limited discharge of radioactive iodine into the outside atmosphere, but was classified as a level 5 accident because of the considerable damage done to the core.

In a provisional assessment made March 18 by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the situation at the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors at Fukushima was classified as a level 5 accident, but if estimates of the radiation discharged should progress, there could be the possibility of a revision in that assessment.

Meanwhile, calculations of soil contamination by experts have already produced results that are at the same level as for Chernobyl.

Cesium-137 levels of 163,000 becquerels per kilogram of soil was detected in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, about 40 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima plant, on March 20. That was the highest figure in the prefecture.

According to Tetsuji Imanaka, an associate professor of nuclear engineering at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, if the Iitate figure was converted to one square meter, the figure would be 3.26 million becquerels.

After the Chernobyl accident, residents who lived in regions with cesium levels of 550,000 becquerels ore more per square meter were forcibly moved elsewhere.

"Iitate has reached a contamination level in which evacuation is necessary," Imanaka said. "Radiation is still being released from the Fukushima plant. The areas of high contamination can be considered to be on par with Chernobyl."

Residents who were forced to move after the Chernobyl accident were believed to have been exposed to an average of about 50 millisieverts of radiation.

However, a study of the health of residents who lived for many years on contaminated land found that the incidence of leukemia among adults did not increase.

The increase in thyroid gland cancer was believed due to internal radiation exposure among children who drank milk contaminated by radioactive iodine when they lived in areas close to Chernobyl.

The accumulated radiation level at Iitate as of Thursday afternoon was 3.7 millisieverts.

Shigenobu Nagataki, professor emeritus at Nagasaki University, who specializes in radiation medicine, said, "Because there were no other health problems after the Chernobyl accident besides thyroid gland cancer among children, it is unlikely (that the situation in Fukushima) would lead immediately to health problems. In areas where high levels of contamination were detected, measures should be considered after holding sufficient discussions with residents based on the data that is available."

Meanwhile, in Vienna, Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The Asahi Shimbun that while the situation at the Fukushima No. 1 plant was still serious, it was too early to compare it to Chernobyl.

Asked about radiation found in agricultural produce and drinking water, Amano said, "The circumstances are serious based on the standards used in Japan."

However, touching upon analyses and predictions about radiation contamination that have related the Fukushima incident to Chernobyl, Amano said, "The studies are being conducted based on very limited data and are very extreme."

Amano also referred to debate in other nations about their own nuclear energy policy.

"There is no change to the fact that nuclear power is a stable and clean form of energy," he said, indicating his hope that other nations would respond in a calm manner.

25/03 Nuclear expert: Hubris led to disaster

2011/03/26

Atsushi Kasai

Having heralded Japan's entry into the atomic age, a leading nuclear scientist has been left reeling by the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

Atsushi Kasai, a former laboratory chief at what is now the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, suggests that today's generations of scientists and plant operators may have been blinded by an overconfidence in Japanese technology, saying they must try to prepare for the unforeseeable.

He and other nuclear experts also called for a thorough review of the events that led to the accident, which was triggered by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami, the worst natural disaster in Japan in modern history.

"Nuclear power has always had a dark side: nuclear weapons and accidents," Kasai said. "We have succeeded in passing on nuclear power technology from our generation to the next, but perhaps we failed to pass on the ability to think about that dark side."

Kasai joined the then Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute in 1959, just two years after Japan's first nuclear power reactor in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, achieved a self-sustaining nuclear reaction.

He served as a safety assessment committee member at the International Atomic Energy Agency and took part in numerous field inspections following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.

While others have denied the possibility of such a crisis occurring, Kasai firmly believes there is "maybe a one in several million of a chance that the China syndrome could become a reality."

The China syndrome is a hypothetical situation in which a nuclear meltdown destroys a power plant, melting the core all the way through the Earth's crust and reaching the other side of the globe.

However, when he mentioned this to younger researchers, he was shocked by their reactions.

"The younger generation appeared to believe that nuclear accidents cannot occur--that's a myth," he said, recalling how they argued that such a situation was "impossible" and appeared confident that Japanese technology ranked top in the world.

Moreover, when he visited a Tokyo Electric Power Co. nuclear power plant as an instructor 20 years ago, he was startled to find that workers thought that "the actual work on the floor can be carried out by a small clique."

He started to worry that the younger generation "lacked an awareness that such a practice could lead to an accident."

Kasai also feels uneasy about TEPCO's failure to fully disclose information about the current problems at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.

He said that they had failed to provide data needed to accurately evaluate both the seriousness of the incident and the spread of radiation.

According to Kasai, nuclear power plants are obliged to set up radiation monitoring devices capable of operating without an electric power source. These devices keep a cumulative record of the radiation released after an accident.

Operators are supposed to retrieve that data when an accident occurs, but Kasai said the data has not been published.

He also said that data indicating how much fuel was being spent at the time of the accident has yet to be released.

"As one who has been involved in nuclear development since the beginning, I feel a certain responsibility," Kasai said.

He also said that if the situation stabilizes, he hopes to conduct contamination studies with like-minded colleagues.

Ayao Tsuge, president at the Shibaura Institute of Technology and a former technician at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., who designed a type of nuclear reactor different from the ones at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, said he believed that Japanese engineers can "take pride in the fact that the reactors withstood the magnitude-9.0 quake and automatically shut down operations."

"We can only say that the earthquake and tsunami exceeded all expectations. Of course, those who designed the plant could be held accountable for the results caused by factors they had not taken into consideration."

Tsuge said that even after a power plant shuts down operations, there is a need to cool the reactor cores. He also said that nuclear power plants are equipped with a backup safety system, such as a diesel generator, that will kick in if the external power connection is severed.

"The fact that this multilayered, fail-safe system has broken apart, was, in itself, an unforeseeable disaster," he said, emphasizing that it will be necessary to start a chronological review of the orders and decisions made in the crisis.

Tsuge said workers must broaden their imaginations to consider just how powerful and unpredictable nature can be.

(This article was written by Mikiharu Sugiura and Manabu Sasaki.)

26/03 Safety of nuclear plants a key issue in governor elections

2011/03/26

Nuclear power safety has become a key issue in gubernatorial elections scheduled for April, with incumbents seeking stricter safety standards for nuclear plants and opponents demanding the scrapping of reactor projects.

The ongoing crisis at the hobbled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture has prompted candidates to take shots at the pro-nuclear power stances of the incumbents in Hokkaido, Fukui, Shimane and Saga prefectures, which are home to nuclear power plants.

The governors have not changed their stands but have somewhat toned down their arguments. They are focusing more on ensuring that the nuclear power plants can withstand natural disasters like the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that devastated wide areas of northeastern Japan.

Fukui Governor Issei Nishikawa, who is seeking a third term, quickly took action as the crisis unfolded at the Fukushima plant.

Six days after the earthquake, Nishikawa visited the industry ministry, which is in charge of mapping out Japan's nuclear power policy, and demanded a review of the screening process on whether nuclear facilities can withstand a huge earthquake.

Fukui Prefecture is home to 15 nuclear reactors, the most in the country.

When he was elected for the first time eight years ago, Nishikawa, with the support of an electric power company, clashed head-on with a candidate who advocated a break from the reliance on nuclear power.

"Fukui Prefecture is contributing the most of any prefecture to the country's energy policy," Nishikawa, a former central government bureaucrat, told voters Thursday, when campaigns for the first round of the unified local elections in April kicked off.

"I would like the central government and the utility company to be responsible (for the safety of nuclear power plants) in light of the current accident."

In the past two elections, Nishikawa pledged to continue to host 15 reactors. That promise has not been included in the current campaign.

A project to build two more reactors is under way in Fukui Prefecture.

But the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency's safety screening process for new reactors has been prolonged since stricter standards were set after the 2007 Niigata Chuetsu-oki Earthquake.

If tighter safety guidelines are introduced in light of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, the reactor projects could be further delayed.

Yasushi Furukawa, the incumbent seeking a third term in Saga Prefecture, said his stand on nuclear power has not changed.

"After the Fukushima accident occurred, a chorus for abandoning nuclear power plants has grown," he told a rally Thursday. "But it is not a realistic choice to immediately halt nuclear power generation."

He said Japan's dependence on nuclear power is high--around 30 percent of all electricity produced in Japan--and that cutting nuclear power would cause an energy shortfall.

But in a manifesto announced Tuesday, he promised to take all possible measures to prevent a nuclear accident in Saga Prefecture, putting the issue at the top of his pledges. The manifesto was postponed from the scheduled March 13 release.

Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahashi on Wednesday explained her plans to re-examine preparations for a possible nuclear accident in a meeting with four mayors of communities where the Tomari nuclear power plant is located.

In a campaign speech Thursday in Shimane Prefecture, incumbent Zenbe Mizoguchi urged the central government to drastically review its policies concerning nuclear power and energy.

Utilities are paying great attention to the words of the candidates in their campaigns.

"What incumbents are saying and doing in election campaigns after the nuclear crisis unfolded is of central concern for each power company," said a source in the energy industry.

Stricter safety standards, which voters will likely call for, could put new reactor construction projects on hold or lead to the decommissioning of older reactors, causing major headaches for their operators.

Contenders on the Japanese Communist Party's ticket are confronting the pro-nuclear incumbents in the four prefectures, criticizing their previous words touting the safety of nuclear power.

In the Saga race, JCP candidate Masakatsu Hirabayashi blasted Furukawa for stressing "the safety" of the Genkai nuclear power plant in the prefecture even after the extent of the Fukushima plant crisis emerged.

"What is the basis for his affirming the safety of Genkai, although he acknowledged that Fukushima is in danger?" Hirabayashi said.

He called for a mothballing of the No. 1 reactor of the Genkai plant, which is more than 35 years old, and a suspension of the use of a uranium-plutonium mixture, which is considered more dangerous than uranium, as fuel for the No. 3 reactor.

In a speech in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, JCP leader Kazuo Shii said his party will make Japan's nuclear power policy an issue in the unified gubernatorial and local elections.

"Projects to build 14 new reactors should be scrapped," he said. "We also strongly urge the cancellation of the use of the uranium-plutonium mixture as fuel at some reactors and the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor."

Japan has 54 commercial reactors. Three more reactors are already under construction, and projects to build 11 others have been planned.

The first round of the unified local elections will be held April 10. A total of 39 candidates have entered the races in 12 prefectures, including Tokyo.

26/03 Cold shutdown still far away as workers struggle to control No. 1 reactor

2011/03/26

The walkway workers used to reach the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was destroyed by the March 11 tsunami. (Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency)
Another, possibly more serious, venting of radioactive materials into the atmosphere remained a possibility late Thursday as workers struggled to bring an unstable reactor under control at Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

According to officials, the No. 1 reactor at the plant was exhibiting unstable temperatures and pressures within the core.

In the worst-case scenario, steam containing radioactive materials would have to be released, according to officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima plant, and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA).

White smoke believed to be steam was confirmed coming from the storage pool for spent fuel rods of the No. 1 reactor Thursday morning.

Seawater is being pumped into the No. 1 reactor core to cool the decay heat of the fuel rods.

However, on Tuesday, the temperature in the core at one time rose to about 400 degrees, about 100 degrees over the design limit. While exceeding the limit will not lead immediately to damage to the core, the amount of water pumped in was increased from early Wednesday as a precaution.

While the temperature fell to about 218 degrees by Thursday afternoon, pressure within the containment vessel began to rise.

Pressure within the pressure container may have risen after the pumped-in seawater turned to steam and that may have led to steam moving into the containment vessel.

According to NISA officials, the temperature and pressure within the No. 1 reactor appeared to have stabilized Friday. NISA officials said the temperature of the No. 1 reactor core was 204.5 degrees as of 6:10 a.m. Friday.

In the worst-case scenario, the containment vessel may become damaged by the steam pressure and that could lead to the release of large amounts of radioactive materials.

To avoid that possibility, TEPCO officials are considering ventilation to lower the pressure by releasing steam into the outside atmosphere.

While that is a measure that TEPCO officials want to avoid because the steam contains radioactive materials, it has been used a number of times after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 damaged the Fukushima No. 1 plant.

According to NISA officials, the No. 1 reactor was ventilated once on March 12, while the No. 2 reactor was ventilated on March 13. The No. 3 reactor was ventilated three times, on March 12, 13 and 14.

However, those ventilations were conducted in a way to reduce the effects on the environment.

The steam was first sent to the suppression pool under the pressure container and made to pass under water in the pool before being released.

That process is believed to reduce the level of radioactive iodine released in the steam to about 1 percent of the original level.

If the pressure cannot be reduced by that process, TEPCO officials would be forced to turn to dry ventilation in which the steam does not pass under water. That would mean a much larger release of radioactive materials.

An attempt to reduce pressure within the No. 2 reactor was made on March 15, but it is unclear if steam was actually released.

Because there is the possibility that part of the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor may have been damaged on March 15, there is the possibility steam was ventilated without passing under water.

An increase in radiation levels due to such ventilations could affect the work to restore functions in other reactors if workers have to be evacuated.

Because the steam is released from a ventilation tower about 120 meters high, TEPCO officials will also have to take into consideration wind direction before deciding to release the steam.

A NISA official said Thursday about releasing steam from the No. 1 reactor, "We will make a decision after taking into consideration the pressure, temperature, the pumping of seawater and the status of the core. In the end, the prime minister will have to give his approval."

Meanwhile, other experts said that even in the best-case scenario, it would take at least one month to bring the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors to a cold shutdown in which the temperature of the cooling water falls under 100 degrees.

To achieve a cold shutdown requires two pumping systems to work, one to circulate water into the core and the other to cool the heated water by using seawater.

However, there is a strong possibility that the pumps in the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors are damaged. In that case, because sufficient water could not be supplied, seawater may have to be pumped in for several months.

Radioactive materials would be released during that period.

According to TEPCO sources, a greater degree of precision control would be required the larger the pump was. Moreover, the pumps must also be cooled at the same time. The pipes to the cores have many valves.

Even if sensors could be used to let workers know the status within the core, a source said, "Properly operating the cooling mechanism would be many times more difficult than pumping in water."

Workers have already run into problems trying to confirm if the pumps actually work.

On Wednesday, high radiation levels were detected at the No. 2 reactor, forcing workers to evacuate.

On Thursday, two workers at the No. 3 reactor had to be taken to the hospital after being exposed to radiation.

Following the exposure to radiation by the workers, consideration was being given to processing the water that contained high levels of radiation as well as changing the location where power cables would be installed.

Moreover, if the hydrogen explosions at the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor which damaged the outer building also damaged the pumps, the pumps would have to be replaced.

Even if replacement pumps were available, installing them under high radiation levels would be a difficult task.

When an accident occurred in 1979 at the Three Mile Island plant in the United States, it took about three weeks after the accident to achieve a cold shutdown.

Because of the damage to the four reactors at the Fukushima plant from the tsunami and hydrogen explosions, Hiroaki Koide, an associate professor at Kyoto University's Research Reactor Institute, said, "The conditions are much more difficult. Achieving a cold shutdown in one month would be very optimistic."

Fuel rods in the core continue to give off decay heat from the elements that have decayed after nuclear fission.

According to calculations by Koide, decay heat has decreased to minimal amounts compared to when the reactor was actually operating, but the fuel rods still have about 6,000 kilowatts of energy in the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors. The energy will only gradually reduce to about 3,000 kilowatts after six months and to 2,000 kilowatts after one year.

Koide said, "To achieve cold shutdown will require dissipating the heat from the core into the ocean by using the two pumping systems, but the work will be time-consuming because of an environment of high radiation levels."

24/03 Japan Raises Possibility of Breach in Reactor Vessel

March 24, 2011

By DAVID JOLLY and HIROKO TABUCHI


TOKYO — Japan’s effort to contain the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered a setback, an official said on Friday, citing evidence that the reactor vessel of the No. 3 unit may have been damaged.

The development, described at a news conference by Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, raises the possibility that radiation from the mox fuel in the reactor — a combination of uranium and plutonium — could be released.

One sign that a breach may have occurred in the reactor vessel, Mr. Nishiyama said, took place on Thursday when three workers who were trying to connect an electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more radioactive than normal in a reactor. The No. 3 unit, the only one of the six reactors at the site that uses the mox fuel, was damaged by a hydrogen explosion on March 14. Workers have been seeking to keep it cool by spraying it with seawater along with a more recent effort to restart the reactor’s cooling system.

In another development on Friday, the Japanese government said it would help people who wish to leave the area around the crippled plant, a sign that efforts to reassure frightened residents have failed to persuade people to stay.

There is no evacuation order for a zone from 12 to 19 miles around the nuclear plant, the chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said in a televised news conference, but officials recognize that some people may wish to leave and it will assist them. The government has ordered all people living within about 12 miles of the plant to evacuate, but has only advised those in the outer zone to stay indoors.

That advice has not changed, Mr. Edano said. The United States has recommended that its citizens stay at least 50 miles away from the plant.

Levels of a radioactive isotope found in Tokyo’s water supply fell by more than half on Thursday, testing below the country’s stringent maximum for infants. The lower readings were made hours after Mr. Edano said the isotope, iodine 131, had been detected in the water supply of Kawaguchi City, just north of Tokyo, as well as in those of two of Tokyo’s neighboring prefectures, Chiba and Saitama. On Wednesday, the authorities cautioned those in the affected areas not to give infants tap water.

The problem is not likely to end soon; nuclear workers will have to keep venting radioactive gases from the damaged reactors, adding to the plume of emissions carried by winds and dispersed by rain. The public has been warned not to consume food and milk from the area near the plant.

Mr. Edano said the three injured workers at Reactor No. 3 had sustained radiation burns to their legs while dragging an electrical cable through contaminated water in an effort to restore the crucial pump. The workers were burned as contaminated water poured over the tops of their boots, soaking their feet and ankles, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, citing sources with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant’s operator.

Two workers were taken to Fukushima Medical University Hospital and were expected to be transferred to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba City. Hiro Hasegawa, a Tokyo Electric spokesman, said the third worker had not been hospitalized.

Mr. Edano said the three were employed by a subcontractor of Tokyo Electric. Halting progress was reported in the efforts to restart cooling systems at the plant that were knocked out in the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

A Tokyo Electric official said workers had managed to restore lighting in the central control room of Reactor No. 1, an important step toward restarting its cooling system. The temperature in the reactor pressure vessel has been showing a worrisome increase, and Mr. Edano said efforts were being focused on resolving the problem.



Takeshi Takizawa contributed reporting.

24/03 Japanese Town Mulls Future Without Whaling Industry

March 24, 2011

By MARTIN FACKLER


AYUKAWAHAMA, Japan — At first glance, it seemed like just one more flattened building in a seaside town where a tsunami had leveled hundreds of homes. But survivors gathered at this one to stand and brood.

They came to what had been the headquarters of Ayukawa Whaling, one of only a handful of companies left in Japan that still hunted large whales. Those who gathered on a chilly recent Thursday spoke as if the company’s destruction two weeks ago had robbed the town of its soul.

“There is no Ayukawa without whaling,” said Hiroyuki Akimoto, 27, a fisherman and an occasional crewman on the whaling boats, referring to the town by its popular shorthand.

Japan’s tsunami seems to have succeeded — where years of boycotts, protests and high-seas chases by Western environmentalists had failed — in knocking out a pillar of the nation’s whaling industry. Ayukawahama was one of only four communities in Japan that defiantly carried on whaling and eating whales as a part of the local culture, even as the rest of the nation lost interest in whale meat.

So central is whaling to the local identity that many here see the fate of the town and the industry as inextricably linked.

“This could be the final blow to whaling here,” said Makoto Takeda, a 70-year-old retired whaler. “So goes whaling, so goes the town.”

The damage was particularly heavy here because Ayukawahama sits on the tip of a peninsula that was the closest land to the huge undersea earthquake 13 days ago. The resulting tsunami tore through the tiny fishing towns on the mountainous coastline, reducing Ayukawahama to an expanse of splintered wood and twisted cars. Three out of four homes were destroyed, forcing half of the town’s 1,400 residents into makeshift shelters.

At the offices of Ayukawa Whaling, only a light green harpoon gun — which once proudly decorated the entrance — and an uprooted pine tree were left standing. Across a parking lot stood the skeletal frame of the factory where whale meat was processed. A beached fishing boat and crumpled fire truck lay on the raised platform where the whales were hoisted ashore to be butchered.

The company’s three boats, which had been sucked out to sea, washed up miles down the coast with remarkably little damage. But they remain grounded there.

Ayukawa Whaling’s chairman, Minoru Ito, said he was in the office when the earthquake struck, shattering windows and toppling furniture. He led the employees to higher ground.

All 28 of them survived, he said, though he later had to lay them off. He said he fully intended to rebuild, hopefully in time for an autumn hunt off the northern island of Hokkaido, though he acknowledged the recovery might take more time. He said the most costly part would be getting the whaling ships back in the water, an undertaking that the company cannot afford without government help.

Once the ships are ready, he wants to hire back the employees. However, he admitted that the waves might have scared some employees away, from both whaling and Ayukawahama.

“If we can fix the ships, then we’re back in business,” said Mr. Ito, 74, whose father was also a whaler. “They should not be afraid, because another tsunami like that won’t come for another 100 years.”

Other residents were similarly undaunted. Mr. Akimoto, the occasional whaler, who came with a friend to see the ruined company, said the town needed to resume whaling as soon as possible to lift its spirits.

He said the year would be a sad one because the town would miss the April hunting season, during which coastal whalers like Ayukawa Whaling are allowed to take 50 minke whales under Japan’s controversial whaling program, which is ostensibly for research.

Ayukawahama and the other three whaling communities — among them Taiji, made infamous by the movie “The Cove” — hunt only in coastal waters. Japan’s better-known whaling in the Antarctic is conducted by the government.

Mr. Akimoto said April was usually the town’s most festive month, especially when large whales were brought ashore. He said he would miss that feeling this year.

Added his friend, Tatsuya Sato, 20, “We are so hungry that if they brought a whale ashore now, the whole town would rush down to eat it.”

Many older residents compared the food shortages created by the tsunami with the hard-tack years after World War II, when Japan’s whaling industry boomed as a provider of scarce protein.

Those were the glory days of Ayukawahama, when the population swelled to more than 10,000 and whaling crews swaggered down streets that bustled with crowds drawn by cabarets and movie theaters. Today, Ayukawahama plays up its whaling history for tourists. Smiling cartoon whales adorn shop fronts and even manhole covers. The town also built its own whaling museum, which was gutted by the tsunami.

While no one expects a return to Ayukawahama’s postwar golden era, some wistfully hoped that whale meat could once more come to the rescue.

Seiko Taira said that food shortages here were particularly acute because the tsunami washed out roads, cutting off Ayukawahama for several days. She said she had neglected to store her own food, and was reduced to feeding her four children and one grandchild a single cup of instant ramen noodles and a few pieces of bread per day.

Ms. Taira, 54, said she had grown so desperate that she scavenged the tsunami wreckage for food. On Thursday, picking through the debris near the site of Ayukawa Whaling’s office, her 17-year-old daughter, Yumi, found a can of whale meat. She proudly held up the prize to her mother.

“I wish we could eat whale meat every day,” said Ms. Taira, who worked as caregiver for the elderly before the wave hit. “But the whalers are so old, I think they’ll just quit or retire after what happened.

“I think whaling is dead here,” she added.

Shin Okada, an official in the disaster-response office, said the town had its hands full bringing in more food and finding shelter for the homeless. He said officials had not had time to think about steps to revive the fishing and whaling industries.

On a plaza in front of the whaling museum, Shinobu Ankai struggled to remove the wheels from his overturned car, which had been deposited there by the tsunami. He did not want them to be stolen by the same people who drained the gas tank.

Like many older men in town, he is a retired whaler, and he spoke of hunts that once ranged from Alaska to the Antarctic. However, he said, whaling was in a terminal decline even before the tsunami.

“There was Sea Shepherd, and now this,” he said, referring to the American environmental group, which has sought to block Japan’s whaling in the Antarctic. “Whaling is finished.”



Makiko Inoue contributed reporting.













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25/03 Japan Encourages a Wider Evacuation From Reactor Area

March 25, 2011



By DAVID JOLLY, HIROKO TABUCHI and KEITH BRADSHER


TOKYO — Japanese officials began encouraging people to evacuate a larger swath of territory around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Friday as new signs emerged that parts of the crippled facility are so damaged and contaminated that it will be hard to bring the plant under control soon.

The authorities said that they would now assist people who want to leave the area from 12 to 19 miles outside the plant and that they were now encouraging “voluntary evacuation” from the area. Those people had been advised March 15 to remain indoors, while those within a 12-mile radius of the plant had been ordered to evacuate.

The United States has recommended that its citizens stay at least 50 miles away.

Speaking to a national audience at a news conference Friday night two weeks after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed it, Prime Minister Naoto Kan dodged a reporter’s question about whether the government was ordering a full evacuation, saying officials were simply following the recommendation of the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission.

“The situation still requires caution,” Mr. Kan, grave and tired-looking, told the nation. “Our measures are aimed at preventing the circumstances from getting worse.”

“The state of the plant is still quite precarious,” he said. “We’re working hard to make sure it doesn’t get worse. We have to ensure there’s no further deterioration.”

In the latest setback in the effort to contain the nuclear crisis evidence emerged that the reactor vessel of the No. 3 unit may have been damaged, an official said Friday. The development, described at a news conference by Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, raises the possibility that radiation from the mixed oxides or mox fuel in the reactor — a combination of uranium and plutonium — could be released.

One sign that a breach may have occurred in the reactor vessel, Mr. Nishiyama said, took place on Thursday when workers who were trying to connect an electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more radioactive than normal.

Two workers were burned when water poured over the top of their boots and down around their feet and ankles, Linda Gunter, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said. She said workers on an earlier shift had no problem with low boots, but the water rose between shifts and the injured workers were unprepared for the deeper water. A third worker was wearing higher boots and did not suffer the same exposure.

Like the injured workers, many of those risking their lives are subcontractors of Tokyo Electric, paid a small daily wage for hours of work in dangerous conditions. In some cases they are poorly equipped and trained for their task.

A Japanese physicist, who asked not to be identified so as not to damage his relations with the establishment, said it was “ridiculous” that the workers had not been wearing full protective gear.

The National Institute of Radiological Sciences said that 3.9 million becquerels per square centimeter of radiation had been detected in the water that the three workers stepped in — 10,000 times the level normally seen in coolant water at the plant.

The injured workers’ dosimeters suggested exposure to 170 millisieverts of radiation. But the institute said that the actual amount of radiation the workers are thought to have been exposed to in the water is 2 to 6 sievert. Even 2 sievert is eight times the 250 millisievert annual exposure limit set for workers at Daiichi.

Concerns about Reactor No. 3 have surfaced before. Japanese officials said nine days ago that the reactor vessel may have been damaged.

A senior nuclear executive who insisted on anonymity but has broad contacts in Japan said that there was a long vertical crack running down the side of the reactor vessel itself. The crack runs down below the water level in the reactor and has been leaking fluids and gases, he said.

The severity of the radiation burns to the injured workers are consistent with contamination by water that had been in contact with damaged fuel rods, the executive said.

“There is a definite, definite crack in the vessel — it’s up and down and it’s large,” he said. “The problem with cracks is they do not get smaller.”

The contamination of the water in the basement of the turbine building where the workers were injured — a separate building adjacent to the one that houses the reactor — poses a real challenge for efforts to bring crucial cooling pumps and other equipment back online.

“They can’t even figure out how to get that out, it’s so hot” in terms of radioactivity, he said. A big worry about reactor No. 3 is the mox fuel. The nuclear industry has no experience with mox leaks, and it is possible that unusual patterns in the dispersal of radioactivity from the plant partly result from the mox, he said.

But Michael Friedlander, a former nuclear power plant operator in the United States, said that the presence of radioactive cobalt and molybdenum in water samples taken from the basement of the turbine building raised the possibility of a very different leak.

Both materials typically occur not because of fission but because of routine corrosion in a reactor and its associated piping over the course of many years of use, he said.

The aggressive use of saltwater to cool the reactor and its storage pool for spent fuel may mean that more of these highly radioactive corrosion materials will be dislodged and contaminate the area in the days to come, posing further hazards to repair workers, Mr. Friedlander added.

The news Friday and the discovery this week of a radioactive isotope in the water supplies of Tokyo and neighboring prefectures has punctured the mood of optimism with which the week began, leaving a sense that the battle to fix the damaged plant will be a long one.

No one is being ordered to evacuate the second zone around the plant, officials said, and people may choose to remain, but many have already left of their own accord, tiring of the anxiety and tedium of remaining cooped up as the nuclear crisis simmers just a few miles away. Many are said to be virtual prisoners with no access to shopping and immobilized by a lack of gasoline.

“What we’ve been finding is that in that area life has become quite difficult,” Noriyuki Shikata, deputy cabinet secretary for Mr. Kan said in a telephone interview. “People don’t want to go into the zone to make deliveries.”

Mr. Shikata said the question of where those who chose to leave would go was still under consideration. The effort to move people comes at a time when there are already hundreds of thousands of Japanese displaced by the quake and tsunami.

Officials continue to be dogged by suspicions that they are not telling the entire story about the radiation leaks. Shunichi Tanaka, former acting chairman of the country’s Atomic Energy Commission, told The Japan Times in an interview published Friday that the government was being irresponsible in forcing people from their homes around the damaged plant without explaining the risks they were facing.

“The government has not yet said in concrete terms why evacuation is necessary to the people who have evacuated,” he said.

The National Police Agency said Friday that the official death toll from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami had passed 10,000, with nearly 17,500 others listed as missing.

There was some good news. Levels of the radioactive isotope found in Tokyo’s water supply fell Friday for a second day, officials said, dropping to 51 becquerels per liter, well below the country’s stringent maximum for infants.

On Wednesday Tokyo area stores were cleaned out of bottled water after the authorities said the isotope, iodine 131, had been detected in the city’s water supply and cautioned those in the affected areas not to give infants tap water. On Thursday cities in two of Tokyo’s neighboring prefectures, Chiba and Saitama, also reported disturbing levels of radiation in their water.

.

Meanwhile, the senior nuclear executive who said the reactor vessel was definitely cracked also said Friday evening that the reason the United States Navy had moved nuclear-powered vessels like the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier far from the plant was that officers had become concerned that radiation could enter the ships’ duct systems.

The worry is not that the radiation would pose a threat to the vessels’ crews but that even trace contamination of the ducts could create problems for years in the extremely sensitive equipment that is designed to detect any hint of a radioactive leak from onboard systems, said the executive, who insisted on anonymity to protect business connections.

The Navy initially sent the Ronald Reagan toward northeast Japan to help with earthquake and tsunami relief a week and a half ago but quickly pulled it back after Navy helicopter crews had low-level radiation exposure while flying near the power plant. The Navy has been sending vessels since then to the west coast of Japan, upwind of the reactors, and providing assistance from there, although this means considerably longer flight times to affected areas.



David Jolly and Hiroko Tabuchi reported from Tokyo and Keith Bradsher from Hong Kong. Takeshi Takizawa contributed reporting from Tokyo.













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23/03 Mưa lớn làm tăng nỗi lo phóng xạ ở Nhật

Thứ hai, 21/3/2011, 11:19 GMT+7


Mưa liên tục hôm nay gây cản trở nỗ lực cứu hộ ở Nhật Bản và càng khiến nỗi lo về phóng xạ tăng lên.

Cảnh tượng đổ nát ở thành phố Kessennuma, tỉnh Miyagi. Ảnh: AFP.

Thời tiết xấu buộc Thủ tướng Nhật Naoto Kan hủy chuyến thị sát tới miền đông bắc hôm nay, bao gồm cả chuyến đi thăm một trung tâm huấn luyện cầu thủ cách nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I 20 km. Nơi đây trở thành hậu phương cho các nhân công đang cố sức ngăn chặn phóng xạ rò rỉ từ nhà máy điện hạt nhân.

Thảm họa hôm 11/3 khiến hơn 21.000 người thiệt mạng hoặc mất tích khi nhiều khu vực ở vùng đông bắc bị sóng thần cuốn trôi hoặc bị san phẳng trong động đất 9 độ Richter.

Ngân hàng Thế giới cho biết thảm họa có thể đã khiến nền kinh tế lớn thứ 3 thế giới thiệt hại tới 235 tỷ USD. Tuy nhiên, tăng trưởng có thể khôi phục trở lại từ quý 3 năm nay.

Giữa đống đổ nát, câu chuyện về hai bà cháu được giải cứu sau 9 ngày dưới ngôi nhà bị sập khiến nhiều người xúc động. Bà cụ 80 tuổi và cháu trai 16 tuổi đang ở trong bếp thì ngôi nhà của họ tại thành phố Ishinomaki bị động đất đánh sập. Hai người sống nhờ thức ăn cậu bé lấy trong tủ lạnh, AFP dẫn tin từ NHK cho biết.

Tuy nhiên, với nửa triệu người sống sót ở quanh khu vực nhà máy hạt nhân, nỗi lo về phóng xạ ngày càng lớn. Thực phẩm nhiễm phóng xạ được phát hiện lần đầu tiên ngoài nước Nhật. Đài Loan hôm qua công bố phát hiện ra phóng xạ trong một loại sản phẩm đậu fava. Dấu hiệu của phóng xạ cũng tìm thấy ở nước từ vòi thuộc mạng nước sạch ở Tokyo, ở cách nhà máy điện 250 km về phía nam. Giới chức yêu cầu dân chúng một ngôi làng không được uống nước từ vòi.

Bầu trời tối tăm và mưa lớn ảnh hưởng tới nỗ lực cứu hộ tại tỉnh Miyagi. Cảnh sát tin rằng con số người chết cuối cùng ở đây có thể lên tới 15.000. "Chúng tôi không thể cho trực thăng cất cánh trong trời mưa", quan chức Miyagi Kiyohiro Tokairin nói. "Chúng tôi đã dùng trực thăng đưa đồ cứu trợ tới nhiều nơi nhưng hôm nay chúng tôi phải chuyển sang đường bộ".

Dù giới chức Nhật trấn an về lo ngại phóng xạ từ nhà máy điện Fukushima, mưa khiến dân chúng thêm lo. "Chúng tôi từng rằng mức độ phóng xạ có xu hướng tăng khi trời mưa và chúng tôi đang giám sát", một quan chức ở Fukushima nói. "Tỉnh đang đưa ra lời khuyên cho dân chúng làm thế nào đối phó khi trời mưa, chẳng hạn người dân nên tránh việc tiếp xúc với mưa càng nhiều càng tốt và lau khô người sau khi bị ướt".

Mức độ phóng xạ cao nhất đo được ở tỉnh Fukushima là 12,10 microsieverts một giờ vào lúc 8h sáng qua. Tỉnh cho biết độ phóng xạ dù cao song vẫn thấp hơn rất nhiều so với một lần chiếu X-quang (600 microsieverts) và không ảnh hưởng tới sức khỏe.

Tại chính nhà máy điện, các kỹ sư đã nối lại nguồn điện ngoài cho lò phản ứng số 2 nhằm khôi phục lại hệ thống làm lạnh. Tuy nhiên, nguồn điện tại trong lò vẫn chưa được nối lại. Xe tải cứu hỏa vẫn phun nước vào các bể chứa nhiên liệu.

Mai Trang

23/03 Dư chấn dữ dội gần nhà máy điện hạt nhân Nhật

Thứ tư, 23/3/2011, 07:36 GMT+7

Nổ tại lò phản ứng số 3 ở nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I. Ảnh: AFP.

Hai cơn dư chấn mạnh vừa xảy ra tại gần khu vực nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I vốn liên tiếp gặp sự cố sau trận động đất kinh hoàng hôm 11/3.
Cơ quan địa chất Nhật hôm nay trấn an rằng không có khả năng sóng thần sẽ xảy ra sau cơn dư chấn mạnh 6 và 5, 8 độ Richter sáng nay.

Kênh truyền hình NHK cho biết chưa có số liệu về ảnh hưởng tới các nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I và II. Trong khi đó, điện đã được nối lại tại 6 lò phản ứng ở nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I, hơn một tuần sau khi sóng thần cao 14 mét tấn công cơ sở này.

Kể từ trận động đất mạnh 9 độ Richter hôm 11/3, nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I liên tục gặp sự cố do hệ thống làm lạnh tại đây ngừng hoạt động. Các lò phản ứng số 1, 3 và 2 lần lượt phát nổ còn lò phản ứng số 4 thì gặp hỏa hoạn. Công ty vận hành nhà máy phải đục lỗ trên mái của lò số 5 và 6 để tránh nguy cơ phát nổ.

Nhà máy Fukushima I (còn gọi là Fukushima Daiichi) được xây ở thị trấn Okuma, huyện Futaba, tỉnh Fukushima, Nhật Bản. Với 6 lò phản ứng, Fukushima I là một trong những nhà máy điện hạt nhân lớn nhất trên thế giới. Đây là nhà máy điện hạt nhân đầu tiên do công ty Điện lực Tokyo xây dựng và vận hành. Mỗi năm nhà máy sản xuất được 25.806 GWh điện.

Mai Trang

24/03 Hình ảnh đầu tiên về '50 người cảm tử' ở Nhật

Thứ năm, 24/3/2011, 10:15 GMT+7

Làm việc gần như trong bóng tối và điều kiện nóng bức, các công nhân tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I nỗ lực chạy đua với thời gian để tránh thảm họa hạt nhân cho Nhật.
> Những anh hùng thầm lặng tại Nhật

Các công nhân làm việc ở Fukushima I. Ảnh: AP.

Những bức ảnh bên trong nhà máy điện hạt nhân lần đầu tiên cho thấy các công nhân phải làm việc trong điều kiện kinh khủng thế nào. Mặc bộ đồ bảo hộ có gắn đèn pin, những người này chạy đua với thời gian để cứu nhà máy điện dù biết rằng việc tiếp xúc với phóng xạ có thể giết chết họ. 5 công nhân được cho là đã thiệt mạng và 15 người bị thương kể từ khi thảm họa diễn ra.

Một quản lý ở nhà máy, ngoài 30 tuổi, đã được đưa ra khỏi nơi này một ngày trước đây, News.com.au đưa tin. Anh bị nhiễm xạ cao hơn "mức trần" đối với công nhân nhà máy trước khủng hoảng (100mSv/một năm).

Anh thuộc nhóm Fukushima 50, những kỹ sư của công ty điện Tokyo phải làm việc trong bóng tối để kiềm chế các lò phản ứng không phát nổ. "Khi quy định về mức trần phóng xạ tăng lên 250mSv, tôi sẽ quay lại làm việc", anh nói.

Vị quản lý này là một trong 7 công nhân đầu tiên trong nhóm Fukushima 50 bị nhiễm xạ vượt cho phép của Bộ Y tế, lao động và phúc lợi Nhật.

Chỉ một số ít người đang thực hiện công việc tối quan trọng là nối lại nguồn điện khẩn cấp cho hệ thống làm lạnh tại nhà máy. Điều đó có nghĩa là mức độ phóng xạ cao nhất hàng năm đối với họ được tạm thời tăng lên là 250mSv. Vào lúc nguy hiểm nhất, hôm 15/3, lò phản ứng số 3 của nhà máy phát ra phóng xạ tới 400mSv một giờ.


Họ phải chạy đua với thời gian để tránh thảm họa tại Fukushima I. Ảnh: AP.

Nhóm 50 công nhân ban đầu được sự trợ giúp của 150 người khác làm theo ca để hạn chế độ nhiễm xạ. Hiện có khoảng 1.000 người đang nỗ lực nối lại dây cáp, thử thiết bị và làm lạnh các lò phản ứng số 3 và 4.

Người quản lý và nhóm những công nhân bị nhiễm xạ nặng sẽ không được phép vào một nhà máy điện hạt nhân nào nữa trong vòng 5 năm, thậm chí là cả đời. Tuy nhiên, khi thảm họa qua đi, cả nước chắc chắn muốn biết những người này để ca ngợi lòng dũng cảm của họ. "Các anh là người hùng trong thế giới mới", một người viết trên mạng xã hội Ni Channeru.

Trong khi đó, người thân của những công nhân này cũng bắt đầu kể những câu chuyện cảm động về họ. Một phụ nữ cho biết chồng cô tiếp tục làm việc dù hiểu rõ rằng anh đang bị bủa vây bởi phóng xạ. Trong một email, anh viết cho vợ: "Em ơi, hãy sống khỏe nhé. Anh chưa thể về nhà lúc này".

Hải Ninh

25/03 Hàng loạt nước hạn chế thực phẩm nhập từ Nhật

Thứ sáu, 25/3/2011, 10:30 GMT+7

Nhiều nước khắp thế giới ngừng nhập khẩu thực phẩm từ Nhật Bản sau khi phóng xạ bị rò rỉ từ nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I.

Một người mẹ đi lấy nước đóng chai của chính phủ. Ảnh: AFP.

Tổng số người chết và mất tích sau thảm họa động đất và sóng thần hôm 11/3 đã lên tới 26.000. Hàng trăm nghìn người vẫn phải sống trong những trung tâm sơ tán trong khi dân chúng Tokyo lo ngại về nguồn nước.

Những sự cố liên tiếp từ nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I cũng khiến cả thế giới lo lắng. Mỹ và Hong Kong đã hạn chế thực phẩm nhập từ Nhật trong khi Pháp cũng muốn Liên minh châu Âu thực hiện chính sách tương tự.

Nga yêu cầu ngừng nhập khẩu thực phẩm từ 4 tỉnh là Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki và Tochigi, gần nhà máy điện hạt nhân. Matxcơva cũng cách ly một tàu chở hàng từng qua khu vực có nhà máy điện. Giới chức kiểm tra 19 thành viên thủy thủ đoàn sau khi phát hiện mức độ phóng xạ cao gấp ba lần bình thường ở phòng máy.

Australia cấm các sản phẩm từ vùng đông bắc Nhật, bao gồm tảo biển, hải sản, sữa, các sản phẩm từ sữa và rau quả. Tuy nhiên, nước này cho biết những sản phẩm đã được bán trên thị trường thì an toàn do chúng được nhập khẩu trước trận động đất.

Canada tăng cường kiểm soát đối với sản phẩm từ 4 tỉnh trên. Singapore cũng tạm ngưng nhập khẩu các sản phẩm từ sữa và thực phẩm khác từ 6 tỉnh của Nhật. Động thái này được đưa ra sau khi giới chức tìm thấy "chất nhiễm xạ" trong rau từ Nhật dù giới chức khẳng định mức độ phóng xạ trong sản phẩm vẫn rất thấp.

Philippines cấm nhập khẩu chocolate từ Nhật và Indonesia yêu cầu Nhật xác định sản phẩm xuất khẩu của họ là không có phóng xạ.

Trong khi đó, tại Tokyo, vùng đô thị có 30 triệu người sinh sống, dân chúng vẫn tiếp tục hứng chịu các cơn dư chấn dữ dội. Lo lắng càng lên cao khi chính quyền thành phố cho biết mức độ phóng xạ trong nguồn nước ở đây cao gấp hai lần mức được cho là an toàn cho trẻ nhỏ. Thông tin khiến hàng loạt người đổ đi mua nước đóng chai. Chính quyền thành phố thì bắt đầu phân phát nước cho những gia đình có trẻ em.

Giới chức ở tỉnh Chiba và Tochigi yêu cầu cha mẹ không cho trẻ em uống nước từ vòi sau khi phát hiện mức độ phóng xạ ở đây không còn an toàn cho các em.

Chính phủ Nhật cấm vận chuyển sữa và rau chưa qua xử lý từ Fukushima và 3 tỉnh kế cận, tăng cường giám sát phóng xạ ở 6 tỉnh quanh Tokyo.

Mai Trang

25/03 Một lò phản ứng hạt nhân tại Nhật có thể bị thủng

Thứ sáu, 25/3/2011, 17:40 GMT+7

Giới chức Nhật Bản nghi lỗ thủng xuất hiện trên vỏ của một lò phản ứng trong nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I khiến nồng độ phóng xạ trong nhà máy tăng vọt hôm qua.

Đống đổ nát trước cổng an ninh của lò phản ứng số 1 và 2 trong nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I hôm 23/3. Ảnh: AP.

Cơ quan An toàn Hạt nhân và Công nghiệp Nhật Bản (NISA) thông báo, họ nghi ngờ lò phản ứng bị thủng sau khi kết quả kiểm tra hôm qua cho thấy nước ở dưới hầm của tòa nhà chứa turbin thuộc lò phản ứng số 3 có nồng độ phóng xạ gấp 10 nghìn lần mức bình thường. Hai công nhân không đeo ủng bị bỏng khi giẫm vào nước dưới hầm.

Mặc dù vậy, NISA chưa tìm ra nguyên nhân khiến nồng độ chất phóng xạ trong nước tăng phi mã, AP đưa tin.

“Rất có thể một chỗ nào đó trong lò phản ứng bị hư hại. Kết quả kiểm tra cho thấy không có bất kỳ vết nứt nào tại hệ thống bơm nước hay ống thông hơi của lò phản ứng”, Hidehiko Nishiyama, người phát ngôn của NISA, nói.

Lò phản ứng số 3 có thể bị hư hại ở lõi sau vụ nổ khí hydro hôm 14/3. Vụ nổ thổi bay những bức tường xung quanh lò. Đây là lò phản ứng khiến các chuyên gia lo ngại nhất, bởi nó chứa tới 170 tấn nhiên liệu hạt nhân trong lõi.

Sự bối rối của NISA là một trong những bước lùi trong nỗ lực kiểm soát sự cố tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima I suốt hai tuần qua.

Từ hôm 11/3 chất phóng xạ bên trong các lò phản ứng của nhà máy liên tục phát tán ra ngoài. Giới chức phát hiện chất phóng xạ trong sữa nguyên liệu, nước biển và 11 loại rau. Nước máy tại nhiều khu vực ở Nhật Bản, bao gồm cả Tokyo, cũng nhiễm phóng xạ ở mức nguy hiểm đối với trẻ em sơ sinh. Chính phủ vừa quyết định mở rộng vùng sơ tán xung quanh nhà máy Fukushima I, theo đó bán kính của khu vực này sẽ tăng từ 20 km lên 30 km.

Giới chức Nhật Bản cũng đang giải quyết cuộc khủng hoảng nhân đạo ở vùng đông bắc, nơi vài trăm nghìn người sống sót sau động đất và sóng thần vẫn phải sống trong các trường học và tòa nhà công quyền vì mất nhà.

Khoảng 660 nghìn hộ gia đình không có nước và hơn 209 nghìn hộ không có điện. Chính phủ thông báo mức thiệt hại vật chất có thể lên tới 310 tỷ USD, mức cao nhất trong lịch sử thiên tai tại xứ sở hoa anh đào.

Cảnh sát cho biết, tính tới hôm qua hơn 10 nghìn thi thể đã được tìm thấy. 17.400 người vẫn mất tích và số người chết có thể vượt 18.000.

Minh Long

25/03 Người Trung Quốc kẹt giữa đống muối 'trừ phóng xạ'

Thứ sáu, 25/3/2011, 14:13 GMT+7

Những người Trung Quốc từng mua vơ vét muối để tích trữ tuần trước, do nghĩ rằng muối có thể giúp ngừa nhiễm xạ, giờ đang không biết làm gì với cả đống muối trong nhà.
Nhiều người mang muối đến trả nhưng các cửa hàng không nhận lại, với lý do khách không thể trả thực phẩm lại nếu hàng đảm bảo chất lượng.


Người tiêu dùng ở Trịnh Châu, tỉnh Hà Nam, Trung Quốc đổ xô mua muối tuần trước. Ảnh: AP.

Rất nhiều người đã đi mua muối i ốt về tích trữ, bởi lo ngại rằng Trung Quốc có thể bị nhiễm xạ từ nhà máy hạt nhân Fukushima I của Nhật. Truyền hình Trung Quốc cho hay một phụ nữ 60 tuổi ở Thượng Hải đã gọi cảnh sát khi cửa hàng không chịu nhận lại 50 túi muối mà bà ta mua trước đó.

"Tôi mua mỗi túi này hết 6 tệ (0,9 USD). Giờ nghe nói muối không hiếm nên tôi muốn trả muối để lấy lại tiền", bà kể.

Quản lý một siêu thị ở Bắc Kinh cho hay cơ sở kinh doanh của anh không nhận lại muối dù khách hàng mang đến đông. Phong trào mang muối đi trả không chỉ diễn ra ở Thượng Hải, Bắc Kinh mà cả ở Tứ Xuyên, Chiết Giang và Quảng Đông, nhật báo Thanh niên Trung Quốc cho hay.

Trong khi đó Reuters trích báo Trung Quốc kể câu chuyện về một anh chàng tên là Guo ỏ Vũ Hán, định kiếm tiền từ cơn sốt muối, đã mua ba xe tải muối giá hơn 4.000 USD về chất đầy nửa căn hộ của mình. Muối giờ chẳng được ai đến mua lẻ, cũng không bán hay chở sang tỉnh nào bán được, Guo kẹt giữa đống muối khổng lồ.

I ốt liều lượng cao như trong những viên nén được cho là chất có thể giúp cơ thể người ngừng hấp thu chất xạ khi bị phơi nhiễm. I ốt có thể được tìm thấy trong muối ở Trung Quốc, nhờ chính sách bổ sung vi chất.

Mai Trang

22/03 Authorities jump gun on iodine pills / Premature distribution risked ill effects on health, depleted emergency supplies

Masashi Yoshida and Masae Honma / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Nonradioactive iodine pills of the type distributed in a shelter in Miharumachi, Fukushima Prefecture, are pictured Sunday.

Some municipal governments in Fukushima Prefecture distributed pills containing nonradioactive iodine without waiting for the central government's go-ahead, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

The municipal governments decided to distribute the pills, which can be used to protect the thyroid gland from radiation, after relatively high levels of radiation were observed in several locations after a series of accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Nuclear experts said the radiation levels detected pose no risk to human health.

Premature distribution of the medicine presents the risk of people taking it without needing to. It also risks depleting stocks, meaning the medicine could be in short supply if administering it became necessary.

Under central government policy, iodine pills should in principle be distributed at the time of evacuation, and taken under the supervision of medical personnel.

But a large number of fearful residents in Fukushima Prefecture were desperate to obtain iodine pills, and some municipal governments accepted their requests.

The municipal governments in question are those of Tomiokamachi, Iwaki and Miharumachi.

Tomiokamachi is within a 20-kilometer radius of the troubled power plant, the area to which evacuation orders were issued. Iwaki is within the range of 20 to 30 kilometers from the plant, where residents have been instructed to stay indoors. Miharumachi is outside the elevated-risk zone.

The three municipal governments distributed iodine pills to a total of at least 157,000 people.

The Miharumachi government advised residents to take the medicine. A woman in her 50s in Miharumachi said she let her son take the medicine immediately because the government had instructed people to do so.

But she later heard taking the medicine had not been necessary at the time. She said: "I did it because I expected the medicine to have an effect. Now I know it was useless."

The central and prefectural governments apparently were unable to avoid confusion amid the massive exchange of information between them.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a senior official of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said Saturday night, "On the morning of March 16, we instructed the prefectural government to give iodine medicine to people who were evacuating from inside the 20-kilometer zone."

The evacuations had been completed by shortly after noon on March 15, however.

A prefectural government division chief in charge of the issue said, "We didn't [hand out the iodine pills] because we judged it was useless to let people take the medicine after they had already evacuated."

A NISA official said, "We did decide to give people the medicine as a preventative step, but as it turned out nobody actually received the pills."

On Saturday, Nagasaki University Prof. Shunichi Yamashita, who is also the head of the World Health Organization's Collaboration Center for Research on Radiation Emergency Medicine, visited the prefectural government's disaster headquarters.

He said to reporters: "Information about radiation risks has not been correctly communicated. Under the current levels, administering iodine pills is unnecessary."

Medicine containing nonradioactive iodine is kept by authorities for use in case of a nuclear accident.

===

Iodine not sure-fire defense

By Masashi Yoshida and Masae Honma / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Ingesting nonradioactive iodine protects people from harmful effects of exposure to radiation.

Iodine is essential for the production of the thyroid hormone, and thus iodine in the body is absorbed by the thyroid gland.

If radioactive iodine discharged from a nuclear reactor enters the human body, such as via air or food, it accumulates in the thyroid gland and remains radioactive. It heightens the risk of cancer.

Nonradioactive iodine is absorbed by the thyroid gland in the same way. Therefore, preemptively "filling" the thyroid gland with nonradioactive iodine will prevent the gland from absorbing harmful radioactive iodine.

If radioactive iodine then does enter the body, it will not accumulate and will be passed out of the body.

Timing is important to maximize the efficacy of iodine medicine. Medical experts say the medicine remains effective for about 24 hours after ingestion.

Taking the medicine within about eight hours of exposure to radioactive iodine can still reduce the quantity absorbed by the thyroid gland by up to 40 percent.

According to a guideline of the Nuclear Safety Commission, taking the medicine is advised for people aged under 40. Those aged over 40 have a low risk of developing thyroid cancer even if exposed to radiation.

But the nuclear disaster headquarters in the disaster zone allowed people aged 40 or older who wanted to take the medicine to do so.

Important to remember is that nonradioactive iodine medicine does not provide guaranteed protection from radiation. It does not protect from the health risks posed by other radioactive elements, such as cesium.

Some people cannot take the medicine, such as those who have an iodine intolerance. Reported side effects of the medicine include nausea and diarrhea.

Therefore, the central government guideline stipulates people should take the medicine only if necessary--that is, at the time of evacuation.

Some people wrongly believe that mouthwashes and disinfectant agents containing iodine can help prevent health damage caused by radiation. Such products have no such preventative effects, and can be harmful if swallowed. Wakame seaweed and kelp contain nonradioactive iodine, but in quantities far too small to have preventative effects.

(Mar. 22, 2011)

21/03 Questions about radiation's effect on food

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Frequently asked questions and answers about foods that contain radioactive materials.

Question: What will happen if foods containing radioactive materials are consumed?

Answer: If radioactive substances contained in foods or water are consumed, they will remain in the body and continue emitting radiation. Emissions from the Fukushima nuclear facility of radioactive iodine-131, which has been found in milk, vegetables and water, has an eight-day half life--meaning it loses half of its radiation in eight days and three-quarters in 16 days. Similarly, iodine-131's radiation reduces steadily and does not remain on soil for long periods. Meanwhile, radioactive cesium-137 takes 30 years to lose half of its radiation. It will remain on soil for a longer time and affect agricultural products. However, even if cesium-137 is consumed, much of it will be excreted from the body.

Q: What do provisional limits mean?

A: Provisional limits are the amounts of radiation estimated to cause health hazards such as increased risk of cancer if a person consumes all the following foods containing radioactive materials every day for one year: one liter of milk or other dairy products, two liters of water and 100 grams of leafy and other vegetables, said Atsushi Kasai, former laboratory chief of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. It is significant to note that your body will not be affected even if a food containing radiation at about 100 times the provisional limit is accidentally ingested just once.

However, this does not mean that you should eat foods containing more than the provisional limits of radioactive materials, Kasai said.

Q: How do radioactive substances attach to foodstuffs?

A: Yasuyuki Muramatsu, professor of Gakushuin University, who specializes in radiochemistry, said that radioactive iodine and radioactive cesium are carried by the wind and tend to attach to large leafy vegetables like spinach. They adhere to the surface of cabbage but will not easily make their way inside, Muramatsu said. Radiation levels can be lowered to a certain degree by washing vegetables well with clean water. It also is recommended that cabbage be washed after the outside leaves are removed.

Radioactive substances tend to stay on the soil surface and have only small effects on Japanese radish and other root vegetables in the short term, he added. Radiation was detected in cows' milk because dairy cows probably consumed feedstuff or water containing radioactive substances, Muramatsu said.

Q: How were the latest radiation tests conducted?

A: Each municipal government tested its principal and other products such as rice, vegetables, milk and seafood. In case of Ibaraki Prefecture, the prefectural government took samples in its northern region, which is closer to the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, and areas with larger shipping volumes to test their products.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry advised local governments to test vegetables after washing them so their radiation levels more closely approximate produce just before it is consumed.

Q: What are the effects of radioactive materials on children?

A: Children are more sensitive than adults to the effects of radiation. In case of an adult, about only 7 percent of radioactive iodine taken into the body is stored in the thyroid gland and the rest is excreted within 24 hours, said Gen Suzuki, professor of International University of Health and Medicine. On the other hand, a child's body retains about 20 percent. However, provisional limits are set at a safe level so that children will not be affected if they consume foods containing radioactive substances within the limits.

(Mar. 22, 2011)