Strong earthquake hits Fukushima

[robdogbucky]

Strong earthquake hits Fukushima

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.5 jolted Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Sunday morning.

The Meteorological Agency says the quake occurred at around 3:53 AM. The quake's focus is off Fukushima Prefecture and is 57 kilometers deep.

Tremors with an intensity of 5 plus on the Japanese scale of zero to 7 hit Naraha Town and Kawauchi Village in Fukushima. There is no chance of a tsunami.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says there have been no reports of abnormalities at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants.

Sunday, July 31, 2011 05:30 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_07.html



Full operation of cooling device begins

The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has begun full operation of a device to cool a spent fuel storage pool.

The pool holds 1,535 fuel rods, the most for any of the plant's reactors. The wall supporting the pool was damaged in a blast on March 15th.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company reinforced the wall with steel pillars and concrete, and installed a cooling device with a heat exchanger to set up a circulatory cooling system.

TEPCO conducted a test-run of the cooling device at the Number 4 reactor's spent fuel pool on Sunday morning. It gradually increased the volume of water flowing into the device before shifting to full operation in the afternoon...

Sunday, July 31, 2011 22:41 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_22.html





Hundreds more cattle found shipped after being fed tainted straw

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Hundreds of more beef cattle were confirmed Saturday to have been shipped after being fed rice straw contaminated with radioactive cesium, with 290 from Fukushima Prefecture and 103 from Miyagi Prefecture, local officials said.

Iwate Prefecture separately said cesium above the government-set limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram had been found in the meat of a sixth animal. A meat sample from the animal measured 655 becquerels, and other meat from that animal is believed to have been consumed after it was shipped last month from a local farm to Tokyo.

The cattle are believed to have become contaminated with radioactive cesium by being fed rice straw stored outdoors in the weeks after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant spewed out radioactive material following a series of explosions after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The Fukushima prefectural government said the number of cattle suspected to be radioactively contaminated and shipped to markets from the prefecture now stood at 872...

(Mainichi Japan) July 31, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110731p2g00m0dm068000c.html




Kan criticizes nuke watchdog for manipulation

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has criticized Japan's nuclear regulator for trying to manipulate public opinion on nuclear power....

...The agency allegedly told Chubu Electric Power Company to ensure that some participants at a symposium asked prearranged questions in favor of nuclear power. The event was held 4 years ago in Shizuoka Prefecture, which hosts a nuclear plant.

Kan said if the allegation is true, it means that the agency sided with the utility to promote nuclear power, although the agency should ensure the safety of nuclear plants for the public.

Kan said the current nuclear administration and system totally lack the ability of responding to nuclear accidents. He put the blame on the realignment of government offices about a decade ago under Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto that created various committees in the Cabinet Office...

Sunday, July 31, 2011 22:41 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_24.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. I always value your updates on the Japan Nuclear problems.

Esp. since there are so little USA sources.

[thereismore]

2. Thank you so much! nt

[thereismore]

3. They are cooling the No. 4 fuel pool. Really good news. nt

[liskddksil]

6. Yes and now lets shut these monsters down forever so this never

happens again.

[alfredo]

4. In Chrome and Chromium there's a plugin called Earthquake Notifier

There's been many smaller quakes everyday off the coast. Most are around 4.5 on the scale.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. K

[Forkboy]

7. They just keep coming.

People over there must be almost shell shocked by this time. :(