Radiation levels in seawater near Fukushima reactor hit 2-year high

@EthanWilber "What happen to once much admired and appreciated Japanese corporate culture ? Will TEPCO's mega failure be severed as a precursory element to point to Japan's future?"

Japan's factories are still superbly run, Japan still makes excellent high precision products and sells them as far as the exchange rate allows it.

The difference between say, Toshiba and TEPCO is like the difference between West Germany and East Germany before the wall came down.

Last year the buzz word was 'kizuna'. This year it will be 'Under Control'.

You haven't been "Omotenashi"'d to death yet? If I hear it one more time I will scream!!

I read the description of the bumbling workers, managers and the government coverup everyday and I can now appreciate my friend's description otf this as the Fukushima Extinction Event.

At least now that tons or radioadctive slop is pouring into the Pacific Ocean, I don't have to feel bad when I throw a plastic bottle into the trash bin instead of the recycle bin,

Ohhhh well the extra-terrestials who have been waiting for us to kill ourselves off can finally come back and make this planet into something fun.

Last year the buzz word was 'kizuna'. This year it will be 'Under Control'.

Ok I just read up a little on the situation in Fukushima.

There are like 1.300 spent fuel rod assemblies in reactor number 4 at Fukushima Daiichi. There is a danger that this building will collapse causing a fire and/or explosion which would release so much radioactivity into the atmosphere you don't even want to know the consequences.

That is why they are trying to remove the spent fuel rod assemblies from the stricken plant to transport them to a safer location (probably at another nuclear reactor in Japan). This extraction is technically very difficult and will start in november.

If there is an accident during the extraction, and all of the spent fuel rod assemblies will catch fire and/or explode, there will be a release of radioactivitiy so large you don't even want to know how much.

If that operation succeeds and the nuclear waste will be stored at another nuclear reactor. Look forward to the next earthquake and tsunami. Because all of Japans nuclear reactors are located at the coast.

Since this nuclear material will stay dangerous for another tens of tenthousand more years, this problem will be here to stay until a permanent storage facility is built. So far Japan has none.

a worker on Wednesday mistakenly detached a pipe connected to a treatment system, releasing seven tonnes of highly radioactive water..................as we all predicted, more " accidents ".

...that could have gone better...

What worries me is that they have been watering these reactor for more than 2 years now.

That leads to certain problems. With all these leaks the ground will become so soft, the building structures will get cracks and they might collapse. If that happens, the nuclear fuel rods will be exposed which will make it even more complicated to cool them, if that is at all possible with the techniqual equipment they have or will be able to get before a nuclear explosion occurs.

The Japanese are literally sitting on a powder keg and I wonder whether they realize this?

And another thought. If they do realize this, do they plan on doing something about it?

Still Under Control?

there goes my last taste for sashimi! Mr ABE you said Under controll!!! we trust you!!! (no way)

actually TEPCO informed all Fishes to leave the danger zone so they are safe

T_rexmaxytimeOCT. 11, 2013 - 12:15AM JST My question is, are the fishes safe to eat???

NO

I would suspect that any fish caught off the eastern coast are not. If this "little leak" gets all the way up to the Bering Sea there is going to be a huge problem. Huger? Monumental? Where does it end?

Abe should fire TEPCO and the Yaks and hire some foreigners to take over.

If you have to ask, it probably isn't.

My question is, are the fishes safe to eat???

I guess Yoshinoya is going to have to rethink their PR campaign to push Fukushima produce in its foods, and perhaps the government ought to rethink their stance on letting the area sell fish and crops from the area instead of saying, "We're going to serve it to ambassadors as proof it is not harmful" idea.

please some body explain me the meaning of "Under control" is it Japanese English?

It's Abe-lish. It basically means All hell broke loose and we don't know what the hell we are doing.

Dohh

please some body explain me the meaning of "Under control" is it Japanese English?

The WTO has only this to say to Japan: Don't waste our time. Japan should eat what you fish out from there but don't try forcing other countries to eat what you don't even want to eat.

Cesium readings further out in the Pacific Ocean remain non-detectable and officials say there is no environmental threat to other countries as radiation will be diluted by the sea.

This statement has been bugging the heck out of me all day to the point of infuriating me! How would the mullet in charge of the clean up feel if I went to his place and took a leak in his bath? It's diluted! No worries? I haven't surfed in ibaraki since the meltdowns. I agree there is very little risk of contamination from the sea, but one of my friends got some very alarming readings from the sand on the beach. Most of the heavier isotopes sink to the bottom close to the plant, but during periods of strong winds and storms they are spread over a much wider area and carried along the coast by ocean currents. It is both repugnant and obnoxious for them to make this kind of statement because it is WRONG! The radioactive particles DO spread beyond their containment dam and they ARE entering the environment!

What a irony!

Back to the mid of 90s when I was a student of an university in the states, my professors in Economics classes enthusiastically credited Japanese companies for their sounder approaches on quality control and decision making process comparing with American companies' predominate profit-driven business model. Now I am in Japan, I absolutely stunned by how careless, indecisive and incompetent that a major company such as TEPCO as well as Japanese national regulatory bodies can continue to parade on a dangerously slippery slope without a vanguard in place.

While TEPCO's mishaps and mistakes recrudesces on regular basis, yet besides of some politicians empty pledges, little concrete measures are deployed to combat this grave matter so far.

What happen to once much admired and appreciated Japanese corporate culture ? Will TEPCO's mega failure be severed as a precursory element to point to Japan's future?

Japanese government must step in to do something bold to stop this reckless and irresponsible behaviors now not later as the stake for Japan's reputation in the international community is too high to stay inactive.

Reputation, whether or not for a person or country is somewhat like a piece of clean paper, When it's crumbled, it would very hard to put back to the pristine state again.

Is the Japanese government still going to maintain their fish from the area is safe and take countries that refuse to import them to court? ... not looking easy for them now..

hereforever "Why do I always feel like I'm reading past JT comments?"

Because with TEPCO it's always SSDD, or as the late Yogi Berra said "It's deja vu all over again...."

"Hello, WTO? There seems to have been a mistake.."

hereforever: "Why do I always feel like I'm reading past JT comments?"

Because companies like TEPCO never learn, nor does the government. Or rather, they learn, but the tatemae comes in and they seem to think it's an unmistaken world-wide value instead of just a bandaid on a bullet-hole.

Daijoboots: "TEPCO regularly update their website with information,"

Of COURSE they do -- only two years after the fact they are admitting certain problems! And just out of curiousity, who maintains said page? Let me guess.... TEPCO! Ah, they've never lied in the past, why would they on a website?

We, not only here in Japan but the world, need more data on this catastrophe!

TEPCO regularly update their website with information, you just have to read it. If you don't like it then let your fingers do the walking.

Here is their page on countermeasures for water leakage. http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/water/index-e.html

Just seeing the word "TEPCO" whenever I open JT is beginning to give me a serious headache (from bashing it against the walls in disbelief that they're still "working" on all these problems...) PLEASE bring in some real experts !

Why do I always feel like I'm reading past JT comments?

but lets bash Korea for not wanting to buy any of our fish )

The technical term FUBAR comes to mind

Who are they hiring? Are they having to bring in untrained workers from outside, or are they forcing junior workers lowest on the pecking order to do this kind of work, despite being unprepared and unfamiliar with the layout?

Covered in this thread. Unskilled workers who couldn't get regular jobs in Japan.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tepco-says-6-workers-contaminated-by-fukushima-water-leak#comment_1657217

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster is reported and taken very seriously overseas but I don't see that in the Japanese media. Under control? It's completely out of control.

The situation up there keeps getting worse every day. What next? There are so many errors there that there are no longer any real "surprises." Thank you TEPCO and, of course, Abe-san for making sure everything is under control ... under the control of idiots ...

This article brings another question to mind. How about the rest of the prefecture and the neighboring beaches? We, not only here in Japan but the world, need more data on this catastrophe! I mean reliable data. How it is affecting the seas, would it find convincing numbers to make us go back to sushi shops or would it make us run for our lives? Since we don't know, we take the safest path.

Come to think of it, this water quality motoring most certainly exists and since there is no one from the gov bragging about it, it sure is NOT good news!

Several employee-related cockups. Who are they hiring? Are they having to bring in untrained workers from outside, or are they forcing junior workers lowest on the pecking order to do this kind of work, despite being unprepared and unfamiliar with the layout? Something is very wrong with management here (beyond the obvious, of course).

@Daijoboots "the leak is confined to an area of 0.3 km sq"

Bottom dwelling fish outside the 0.3 km sq area can currently be found to be irradiated several times higher than the legal limit. Furthermore, the values are not decreasing. This is either because the radiation is locked into the local ecosystem, and/or because of new radiation laden pollution leaking out. I read about it in a very scholarly and informative woods hole article.

Therefore, the leak is NOT confined to an area of 0.3 km sq.

And the hits just keep on comin'

Doesn't surprise me with all the stupid mistakes happening over the last week!

It's under controlled!

Cesium readings further out in the Pacific Ocean remain non-detectable and officials say there is no environmental threat to other countries as radiation will be diluted by the sea.

Um, excuse me! Is the Pacific Ocean Japan's private nuclear waste dump? Yeah, it will dilute the radioactivity, but only for so long and, the many fish species coming into contact with it are accumulating radioactive particles in their bodies. Japan's long running disregard for natural environments disgusts me!

Read my lips - "Its under control" and " the leak is confined to an area of 0.3 km sq".

Hmm, just read will suffice.

Cesium-134 readings were 370 becquerels per liter while cesium-137 was 830/liter within a silt fence right outside the reactor building.

and japan is wondering why SK is banning fishery products from this region. puh-lease!

"Workers are injecting chemicals to harden the ground on the seaside of the Fukushima reactor buildings to prevent contaminated water from flowing out to the ocean."

Seems it's having the opposite effect now, isn't it. But given that the workers at the plant accidentally shut off cooling systems and don't know which pipes go where and splash themselves with radioactive water, it's no surprise. This company is making Homer Simpson look good.

Well fire up the fishing trawlers then! These miracle fish bake themselves!