Editorial: Gov’t declares cold shutdown at nuclear plant, but crucial steps lie ahead, Mainichi, Dec 17, 2011:
- Japan is still standing on thin ice
- Gov’t should [...] explain in detail the possibility of any additional explosions and whether a recriticality accident has been ruled out
- [TEPCO] indicated that melted fuel has also been cooled down by water
- This is nothing but speculation
- We urge the utility and the gov’t to find a way to ascertain the precise condition of the fuel
- Gov’t [...] bears a heavy responsibility [...] as it aims to bring the seemingly infinite nuclear crisis under control
sending...
If only this concise summary was reprinted in newspapers across N.Amer. and the world.
It’s tone is calm, reasonable, mentioning issues familiar @ Enenews but not in MSM.
The most striking thing for me is the acknowledgement of local farmland contamination.
The major omission concerns health effects, IMO.
What damns OUR media is how much news has originated in Japans’ mainstream media that hasn’t been picked up – cheap, easy, no need to send anyone there.
Report Comment
The government is trying to save the Japanese economic structure by limiting liability. This PR stunt is part of that, and they don’t want to offer any information that might cost them more taxpayer money or hurt Japanese corporation sales.
Report Comment
@dosdos,
I assume the gov’t.s’ “cold shutdown” announcement is the PR stunt you refer to…not the editorial itself…
Why I think the editorial is interesting is because the Editors/Publisher of Mainichi must be aware of the economic impact this crisis has had/will have, but still present a counterpoint to the whole PR campaign.
I agree much is being done/spun to limit liability claims and promote Japan as “OK”.
That our own media is doing more of this than the Japanese media is interesting…
Report Comment
Don’t forget that the journalists live in Japan so they have to deal with the fallout as well. That can be a great motivator, along with the blatant lies, for getting some truth out. It is almost like the Japanese public at large, not the anti-nukes, is going through the grieving process. They would be a great sociology study.
Report Comment
That motivator of having a personal stake may be starting to sink into the heads of media employees in N. Amer. I hope.
Report Comment
wow! i think the cold shut down claim has put some noses out of joint at the japan press!! maybe they realise that this level of secrecy is HARMFUL to the people of japan!! well done japan times! up yours the IAEACORP!! cold shut down indeed!! LOL!!
SO WHAT DOES THIS DO TO THE
“IAEA….(only checking for cesium, unless you are in europe.. where they check for nothing!!)..CORP” !
Noda’s declaration on Fukushima met with cynicism
National Dec. 17, 2011
“Sawada stressed that the use of the term “cold shutdown” did not indicate that all four disaster-hit reactors were now completely normal.
Environmental campaign group Greenpeace dismissed the announcement as a “smokescreen”.
“By triumphantly declaring a cold shutdown, the Japanese authorities are clearly anxious to give the impression that the crisis has come to an end, which is clearly not the case,” said Junichi Sato, executive director of Greenpeace Japan.
“Instead of creating a PR smokescreen… the government’s priority should be to ensure public safety and begin the shutdown of all nuclear reactors in Japan.”
“The ongoing radiological threat posed by the Fukushima nuclear disaster remains enormous.”
Akira Yamaguchi, a nuclear physicist at Osaka University, said that the government’s definition of cold shutdown is disputable.”
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/nodas-declaration-on-fukushima-met-with-cynicism
Report Comment
maybe media folks are getting worried for themselves and their families…
Report Comment
hope the british press catches on to that thought too?!!! should pregnant women and young children avoid milk cheese and leafy products etc…. i think so!! any advice from the WHO?? NOT BLEEDIN LIKELY!! does the press know any pregnant women or children?? and do they really go with wade allinsons hormesis/psychology bullshit?? cesium 137?? heart problems anyone??
notice the press talikng of extra cancers already.. not mentioning from radiological sources but from smoking, having sex with a banana etc
the children of europe are at some risk i believe! as are the children of the world! we are being run by short term thinking profit loonies!!
Report Comment
Immediately after the “cold shutdown” announcement it looked like all media world-wide were going along with it. Now, less than a day later, it looks like there is growing pushback. I’m encouraged by this, but it’s still a tug of war for the world’s perceptions.
Meanwhile, on and under the ground, it is what it is.
Propaganda games work well against human beings. Against physics, not so much.
Report Comment
articles like this might have “forced” things along some!
Fukushima nuclear plant nowhere near ‘under control’ despite govt’s claims
Fukushima power plant is far from ‘cold’,Deutsche Welle, Alexander Freund , 16 Dec 11 http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6682457,00.htm
“The Japanese government has claimed to have reached a cold shutdown in Fukushima. But experts are skeptical and believe it could take another 40 years to get the situation under control. Headlines from Japan surely sound good: Fukushima is under control, the dilapidated nuclear power plant is stable.”
“They are hoping to pacify the population by talking about a cold
shutdown, but it won’t work. The Japanese people are infuriated – nine
months after the earthquake and tsunami which led to the meltdown in
the Daiichi plant – Tepco was speaking of nuclear fission in reactor 2
just a couple of weeks ago. Nuclear radiation is still extremely high
in the Fukushima prefecture and contaminated water continues to flow
into the sea. High levels of radiation continue to be found in rice,
meat, vegetables, seafood, milk and tea in the region. And thousands
of people have been displaced by the nuclear disaster and continue to
live in evacuation shelters. They will receive a small amount in
compensation – but it will be payed out of the pockets of Japanese tax
payers and not out of Tepco’s.”
http://nuclear-news.net/2011/12/16/fukushima-nuclear-plant-nowhere-near-under-control-despite-govts-claims/
Report Comment
@arclight, question,
Are you in Germany ?
Is German media covering it well ?
Are German people talking about it ?
Report Comment
nine or well
i am in uk.. you can wait for our resident fraulien to appear!! for that news.. COMPLETE CENSORSHIP ON HIGH LEVELS OF RADIATION IN THE AIR IN UK!! cover up explained on the radiation monitoring thread!!
iodine 131, cesium 134 (recent criticality) cesium 137 according to criirad! oh and areva are going down the tubes to be replaced by westinghouse!! (mitsubushi) great cars! dumb water boilers!!
peace
Report Comment
The radiation monitoring thread scares me
Take care please.
Report Comment
me too!! orwell and the largest effects are on our most vulnerable!!
peace
Report Comment
Dear Arclight: I think you might get something out of this book by Sonallah Ibrahim, “Zaat” (means “identity” in Arabic). It’s available in English and is an excellent and telling read–dark satire, but funny, as well. The chapter that stood out most for me that ties into ENE’s topic area is found in Zaat, Chapter 14, This chapter is an Egyptian news headline montage. The topic will be interesting to ENEers. It’s about how Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, France, and others contaminated by Chernobyl fallout in that week in late April and early May 1986, unloaded, dumped, foisted their radiologically contaminated food products, especially, and mfg. products onto the Egyptians. The Chernobyl uncontrolled fissioning lasted maybe a total of a one–week, not the long 9 months so far (no end in sight) as with FukuDai. Imagine how much tonnage of radionuclide or irradiated products have swept the world under far more relaxed freight rules for favored suppliers under neoliberalism (globalization).
Report Comment
Oh Zaat was written originally in 1992 about the events, as far as we’re concerned, of Chernobyl in the agriculture harvest season of late summer 1986. So the insights have not been contaminated by modern disinformation spinning. This comparatively assists us in extrapolating what we currently contend.
Report Comment
Great links arc. Posted to HP.
Report Comment
Secrecy caused delay in dealing with Fukushima nuclear disaster
liked this article looking at secrecy and its effects!!
“Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant? U.S.-Japan security treaty fatally delayed nuclear workers’ fight against meltdown Global Research, 12/4/11 by Yoichi Shimatsu ”….Death of Deterrence …. in 2009, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued a muted warning on Japan’s heightened drive for a nuclear bomb— and promptly did nothing. The White House has to turn a blind eye to the radiation streaming through American skies or risk exposure of a blatant double standard on nuclear proliferation by an ally. Besides, Washington’s quiet approval for a Japanese bomb doesn’t quite sit well with the memory of either Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima.”
“The nihilism at the heart of this nuclear threat to humanity lies not inside Fukushima 1, but within the national security mindset. The specter of self-destruction can be ended only with the abrogation of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, the root cause of the secrecy that fatally delayed the nuclear workers’ fight against”
http://nuclear-news.net/2011/12/15/secrecy-caused-delay-in-dealing-with-fukushima-nuclear-disaster/
Report Comment
That’s HUGE NEWS arc. The very reason for the delay?!?! That’s incredible and i believe it. Why else would there have been a HOLD OFF? Muther fluckers.
Report Comment
That’s why there hasn’t been a Manhattan Project-style international response to the disaster, they’re covering up nuclear weapons development at the plant. So we are left with Tepco’s three stooges act which endangers the whole planet.
Report Comment
The media, almost all news media these days, including TV, relies about 90% on privately produced news stories and press releases for their content.
They don’t write stories – they simply convey them whole. They also don’t check facts.
About 50% of the “news” stories you see on TV are actually privately produced segments that look like news, but are actually promotions or advertisements – as soon as the public became unable to detect them, they proliferated.
Furthermore – The “news” isn’t produced for the public. When you watch the news you are not the customer. The customer is GE or BP or whoever is paying for the advertising.
You – the viewer – are actually the product that the TV network sells to their actual customer.
So – do you think if GE or BP is the customer that you are going to get the straight scoop on Fukushima or the Oil spill?
Of course not. You cannot expect to, you didn’t pay for the information – except we are all indignant that we don’t.
Now, the government is a totally different matter. Here in the US the government is supposed to be “by the people and for the people”.
When it is not, the people have every right to be irate.
Report Comment
Hi James2,
Years ago I read a neat take…
ALL TV is advertising. What the programs sell are behavioural models, attitudes, opinions, values and beliefs – programming them into us – much more sophisticated than merely touting products…
Look at the entire “Reality TV” model and all its’ subcategories…
I agree too, we must scrutinise the CONTENT PROVIDERS.
Report Comment
exactly -see my comment below
Report Comment
Spot on James. Irate is a New State Of Mind for us.
Report Comment
Just to add to the above point. The more skillfully the news media can “sell” you or “trick” you into thinking what the advertisers want you to think, the more they can sell their TV “news” show for.
The media – TV media specifically is in the business of selling thought control – and that’s the fact, not some tinfoil conspiracy.
The thought control may be as simple as getting you to buy Huggies diapers over Pampers, or it might be as sophisticated as selling the idea that the biggest environmental disaster ever doesn’t exist – but it is their job to trick the public.
Report Comment
OT
Is there ANYTHING Obama doesn’t CAVE ON?
FRONT PAGE TOP
CORNERED ON KEYSTONE
Payroll Tax Deal Forces Obama’s Hand On Worrisome Pipeline
Report Comment
OT NEW AT HP
House Committee Delays Vote On Disastrous Internet Bill
BUT! ALEX JONES:
Don’t Be Fooled: The Horrible Anti-Internet Bill Is NOT Being Shelved Until Next Year
http://www.prisonplanet.com/don%E2%80%99t-be-fooled-the-horrible-anti-internet-bill-is-not-being-shelved-until-next-year.html
Report Comment
This is also why a free internet is so vitally important, and why I hate corporate shills here with a passion.
And probably why I go overboard in fighting them when I see them.
Right now – the US government – which is supposed to be “by the people and for the people” is drafting up and likely will pass a law that says they can shut down any website for any reason – and they want to require internet providers to track their customers.
It’s a tremendously dangerous thing, and obviously prompted by corporate motivations – and will render – the rest of the way, because it’s mostly that way now – it will render the internet useless for getting the truth.
And then, our thoughts will be 100% under the watchful eyes of corporate interests, and not free to do or say what we think.
Report Comment
ALEX JONES Update…. Or not. Despite the fact that Congress was supposed to be out of session until the end of January, the Judiciary Committee has just announced plans to come back to continue the markup this coming Wednesday. This is rather unusual and totally unnecessary. But it shows just how desperate Hollywood is to pass this bill as quickly as possible, before the momentum of opposition builds up even further.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111216/11102617108/sopa-markup-runs-out-time-likely-delayed-until-2012.shtml?r
SNEAKY BASTARDS!!
Report Comment
Yup do it over the holidays, when nobody is looking
Report Comment
It’s very refreshing reading this thread today. That “cold shutdown” ploy was getting to me.
Thanks, gang. You’re a great bunch and a great antidote to the TV news.
Report Comment
Note to self – am I on the right thread ?
I think it’s “big” Mainichi mentions the contaminated farming belt, because food is every day for everybody and Japans’ supply of agricultural land is limited.
Plus the whole “blending down to acceptable levels” thing and I’ve read the Japanese are well aware of recurrent food-mislabelling scandals in the past.
Report Comment
had to grab something od mainichi.. hard going.. mostly govcorp cut and paste!! but got this little gem!
TEPCO faces tough challenges after ‘cold shutdown’ of Fukushima nuclear reactors
(Mainichi Japan) December 17, 2011
“Extra annual fuel costs in the range of 1 trillion yen — resulting from suspension of the plant’s nuclear reactors — weigh heavily on the utility. According to estimates by a government third party panel, it will cost about 1.151 trillion yen to decommission the No. 1 to 4 reactors. If decontamination costs were added to this amount, the total cost would likely reach several trillion yen. Furthermore, if the costs of decommissioning the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors were included, the financial burden on the utility would become even heavier.
Compensation to people affected by the nuclear crisis will not directly affect the utility financially because the government will foot the bills for compensation through the Nuclear Damage Compensation Facilitation Corporation. But the costs of decontamination and decommissioning the nuclear reactors are weighing on the company, and therefore it is fighting an uphill battle to secure funds by selling its assets and cutting personnel expenses. According to plans unveiled by TEPCO on Dec. 9, it will be able to cut only 2.649 trillion yen over next 10 years.”
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111217p2a00m0na003000c.html
Report Comment
“…if DECONTAMINATION costs were added…” [emphasis mine],so maybe the Gov’t (read Citizens!) will foot THAT cost as well as Compensation.
Kind of adds weight to the idea put out by former PM Hatoyama that Gov’t must take control of the Fukushima facility – an idea that an agent of Tepco might suggest, under cover of getting proper science done.
Hmmm…
Report Comment
thats about 10 billion yen for the site if “levelled” within forty years… estimated time for reactor 4 chernobyl?? 100 years!! leaves about 80 years costs on this site to full decommisioning!!
left that bit out didnt they.. like saying “never been done before” because chernobyl has another 100 years to go!! they are moving 10 tons of scrap per day out of the other reactors 1,2,3 chernobylon just that part of the project.. estimated time to finish 1,2,3 ?? 10 years!!
plus decontamination and pitiful compensation… WOW!! some costs there boy!! and your one stop nuclear shop.. areva, specialists in clean up?? going out of buisness!! so how long to clean up?? should be a bit of a wait!! ………strontium anybody?
Report Comment
arclight, the annual one trill to Tepco may be covered by a “National Energy Stabilisation Surcharge” or some such baloney applied to energy bills or taxes or whatever.
Oh heck, just default and dedicate all GDP to paying for this mess.
Won’t Areva be backstopped by French Gov’t ? (citizens actually)
Report Comment
From the Mainichi editorial: “We urge the utility and the gov’t to find a way to ascertain the precise condition of the fuel”
So far, it strikes me that critics have not got beyond urging, requesting, imploring, suggesting… to the entities who caused the problem and have been lying and covering up, both before and during the present crisis.
This is like asking Dracula to please, please, run the blood bank better because we really need to know we can rely on it.
Report Comment
hehe, “Dracula”,
Maybe the Japanese characters for “urge” have a subtlety we’re unaware of.
Like “cut the crap!”
One hopes.
Report Comment