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TEPCO posts message in English on Fukushima crisis

27 Comments

The head of Tokyo Electric Power Co has sent a rare English message to calm fears over the impact of the Fukushima accident, which had overshadowed Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympics.

"We deeply apologize for the greater anxiety caused by the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station," TEPCO President Naomi Hirose said in a video message posted on its home page.

"Supported by the Japanese government ... all of us at TEPCO will strive relentlessly to control the contaminated water," Hirose said in English.

But he denied any significant impact on the environment outside the plant, playing down fears over the possible spread of radiation.

"We believe that the impact on the surrounding waters is limited to the area within the port of the power plant," he said.

"And that judging by the results of our monitoring three kilometers offshore there has been no impact on the water or the wider ocean," he added.

A TEPCO spokesman said the posting of the message "just coincided" with the final days of the Olympic race.

"We had long prepared for the message as there was a concern in other countries over the leak of contaminated water," the spokesman said. "It's nothing to do with Olympics."

© (C) 2013 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

27 Comments
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Hey- what about those of us who speak English and live here? Guess it didn't matter for the last TWO AND A HALF YEARS.

17 ( +22 / -6 )

Still doesn't. Nothing has been said you didn't already know!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Hey- what about those of us who speak English and live here? Guess it didn't matter for the last TWO AND A HALF YEARS.

You obviously haven't checked their website during that time then. TEPCO regulary updates their English, Chinese and Korean language pages.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Nuclear Power Plant should never be allowed to be built in the first place.

It is sad to know that Japan is located right on top of earthquake faults and no matter how advanced our technology can be, we can never beat or overcome the power of nature.

Crisis like this unfortunately happens when man is trying to be mightier than God... hope this be the lesson for many generations to come so no country will ever want to build anymore nuclear power plants....... the costs to restore lives outweighs any fundamental excuses to build a nuclear power plant.....

5 ( +9 / -4 )

What a joke Tepco is. Sick joke

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Usually anything written in English in Japan is just to make the writer look cool.

0 ( +7 / -7 )

This has nothing to do with the Olympics, obviously...

Utter sad acts.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Hey c'mon guys, lets give peace a chance. They're trying their best. No one wishes for the worst to come..lets be positive for a change. It's been so long that Japan has finally smiled. No ones perfect, we us individuals make all sorts of mistakes. Lets not just make the same ones. Be positive! Be forgiveable!

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

I wonder what the next nuclear disaster will be. Right now there is still a good chance it could happen by the time of the Olympics. We are still no closer to a solution that we were two and a half years ago. That is the part that should have people worrying. All that money spent and with no solid results. Somebody is sure making a fortune off of this ongoing disaster and no results yet.

Meanwhile we are seeing irradiated tuna off the California coast and dead whales are washing up on the Fukushima coast. And this guy is claiming that none f the radiation has affected beyond the plant site.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

@sillygirl AMEN!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Marilita Fabie-Fujisawa

we us individuals make all sorts of mistakes.

I believe there is a BIG difference between "mistakes" and downright "lies"... TEPCO and the Gov. have been lying through their teeth ever since day 1 of the disaster... They are both money grabbing conspirators...

0 ( +4 / -4 )

This is all lipservice... Frankly speaking, I cannot trust anything they say anyway. How many times have we been lied to the last 2 1/2 years? I can count pretty freaking hi, however I don't think I can count that high!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

“We believe that the impact on the surrounding waters is limited to the area within the port of the power plant,” he said.

TEPCO report on measured levels of Cesium 134, and 137 in fish taken from a 20-km raius of the plant not including the port of the power plant betweem 2012/10 and 2013/2: http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2013/images/handouts_130228_03-j.pdf

The worst case is one kind of flounder (a bottom dweller) with 16 times over the limit of 100 bequerels.

An outside observer relying on Naomi Hirose's description would not conclude that fish outside the port, at least up to 20 km away, were so radioactive.

I can guess that he is thinking "I mean that I hope the current leakage problem won't make things any worse than they are".

His speculative partial truth only erodes my confidence, and I would guess the confidence of those whose livelihoods depends on a solution to the problems.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Trust then verify****

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is regrettable !

1 ( +1 / -0 )

TEPCO has a clear plan to take melted nuclear fuels out of #1, #2, #3 around 2020. There is no technologies of such a biggest mess yet. It seems to be the most difficult of all to take them out, and to where? Nowhere to go yet! If TEPCO failed it and it would affect the Olympic games and finally strong radiation would come flow all over Tokyo in air and water.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

"Be positive, be forgiveable.." I don't think you have the right to say that Fujisawa-san unless you are one of the displaced because of this nuke crisis. No home, no livlihood, and no end in sight. Just bumbling around and covering up with all our tax money with no accountability for the gross negligence that is the real reason for this current situation. The Olympic athletes quarters will be better than the "homes" that the displaced are living in.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

English or Japanese, it is the same old denial mode that we have experienced from the first. The disaster has and will have a major impact on the environment. Also Tepco's incompetence has been so bad that even the Abe government cannot ignore it.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Where's the link?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Dbsalya: I have the right to my own opinion like you and the rest who is writing here ok,? You don't have the right to tell me that I don't have the right, understand? This is a column wherein we have the freedom to express what we feel, may I be wrong or right, hopefully I am right...because even the ones that are telling lies as all of you are claiming don't wish such tragedy to ever happen again.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The Olympic athletes quarters will be better than the "homes" that the displaced are living in.

The apartments to be built in the athletes village will be sold to the market after the Olympics. It's not like they will be used for three weeks and then abandoned, just as all other facilities won't. The apartments are in central Tokyo on prime real estate. You probably shouldn't compare them to the subsidised apartments that have and are being built on higher land in affected rural coastal areas.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Fujisawa-san - I stand corrected, you are right, and I'm sorry if I offended you, my sincere apologies. However, a note of caution, don't get get whisked away with all the feel good and forget about the displaced, and the nuke situation. And as you say even those like Shimizu and Katsumata don't wish another tragedy, I'm sure at the same time, they don't want to man up and take responsibility for all their negligence. Celebrate, fine, but be real and know that there are still those out there that aren't having a good time...two years on. Kind of like having a designated driver for a lack of a better analogy.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Kwatt

Correct about the melted cores of reactors 1,2,3. More threatening and more immediately so is the 'spent' fuel pool on top of reactor building 4. There is a plan to begin removing that fuel, a very risky business (almost equally risky is leaving it there). A very touch operation and any mishap could have enormous consequences.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3532725.htm

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Dbsalya: I do volunteer work for disables, work as a caregiver as well, give my seats to elders in the bus while healthy looking man watch and remain seated, I am fully aware with my surroundings. Maybe u could say that I may be in denial here. But isn't this how we more or less have an approach to life as we sit and wait and hope nothing of the same thing occurs..I cried everyday for a month on that horrible March! I cried for the elders that lost a little of their precious things as the old have little to be contented with. Much more for their lost loved ones. We say, anything bad can happen but don't take away our loved ones, right? And yet most suffered the unexpected, the lost of humans. But we have to move on, hope for the best as there are kids being born each day witha future unknown. For them I worry, but what good is worrying without hope. So I decided to make a pact, to worry less and hope more. That's all I have in me, hope that we are not being lied to, and even if we are, that the government is doing their very best. As I've mentioned, not even this politicians would wish for anything the same. We are all one in this. You look up, you see one moon, so do I, so does the ones that manipulate us..who is more at a lost here? Now, you be the judge. BTW, tha is for your apology. Don't let my opinion be misunderstood.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

They're trying their best.

i think the problem is that TEPCO is not. they don't have the money or the know how. if they were they should have agreed to be put into bankruptcy and nationalized. as it stands TEPCO and the DJP caved to the banks who stood the most to lose if TEPCO was put into bankruptcy. TEPCO is pretty good at covering thing up though...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So they think they can control the contaminated water...ok, but what about the melted reactor core now resting below the plant in the soil?? Did I hear correct that one of the aquifers for Tokyo's water supply passes through Fukashima? Freaking wonderful. Great Toko got the games but if this problem isn't solved will anyone show up?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

English speaking people also understand that TEPCO doesn't have a clue.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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