General Manager at Fukushima Daiichi replaced due to hospitalization

The Asahi Shimbun reports that Tokyo Electric Power Company's General Manager at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 56 year old Masao Yoshida, stepped down on November 24th when he was hospitalized for undisclosed reasons. Citing privacy concerns, Tepco also refused to disclose Yoshida's level of exposure to hazardous radioactivity. Yoshida has directed Tepco's on-site respone to the earthquake-tsunami-triple reactor meltdown and radioactive waste storage pool fire catastrophe since it began on March 11th.

Break down on current status of Fukushima Daiichi reactors

Just after the 8 month mark (March 11 to November 11), the Asahi Shimbun reported an update on the status of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant reactors Units 1 to 4. Although radioactivity releases from Units 1, 2, and 3 still occur at the rate of 100 million becquerels per hour, this is a mere 1/8,000,000 the quantity that had escaped at the beginning of the catastrophe. Although each of the three melted down reactor cores' pressure vessels had cooled to below the boiling point of water by late September, the Japanese government acknowledged the need to bring the temperature of the molten nuclear fuel below the pressure vessels below boiling as well. Radioactively contaminated cooling water measured in the tens of tons continues to accumulate in each of the four destroyed units. Reactor Number 2 showed clear signs of ongoing, inadvertent nuclear criticality in its molten core. Decommissioning is estimated to take at least three decades.

Japan to strengthen radiation protections for children?

Earlier this month, the Global Security Newswire reported "Japan to Tighten Radiation Exposure Standard for Minors," focusing on clean up efforts in areas that children frequent the most: "schools, outdoor recreation areas and yards in private residences."

"Lessons of nuclear power and the media," San Francisco, Dec. 3

No Nukes Action invites people to its first educational conference "THE LESSONS OF NUCLEAR POWER AND THE MEDIA" on Saturday, December 3rd at San Francisco State University in California! Since the nuclear reactor accident on March 11th, 2011 in Fukushima, Japan, the world became more alert on issues of radioactive contamination due to the accidents. While mainstream media, governments, corporations, and military institutions are working to cover up the harms of the nuclear military-industrial-complex, people became media by sharing their skills, knowledge, and wisdom to protect themselves. Our speakers will discuss the history of nukes, industry, resistance, and make global pipelines of resistance against nukes among Japan, Korea, Mongolia, California, and New York. The event will be broadcasted on ustream, and will be webcast live, as well as archived, on the conference website (http://nukeinfo.wordpress.com/). Speakers include Professor Anthony Hall (Globalization Studies, University of Lethbridge), Andrew Philipps, Barbara George (Women's Energy Matters), Donna Gilmore and Marion Pack (San Onofre anti-nukes activists), Kei Sugaoka (former Tepco engineer), Steve Zeltzer (Labor Video Project), Choi Seungkoo (Nuclear-Free Asia, Christian Network for Nuke-Free Earth), and Yuko Tonohira (Todos Somos Japon), with music provided by the Okinawan sanshin band. Beyond Nuclear is a proud endorser of this event. For more information, see the event flyer.

Japan at less than 20% nuclear capacity

With the shutdown for maintenance at the Takahama nuclear reactor, Japan is now operating at under 20% of its nuclear capacity. Takahama will be shut for four months but it is up to the local authorities whether or not it is then allowed to restart. If all local authorities refuse restarts, there will be no nuclear reactors operating in Japan by April 2012. Only 10 of Japan's 54 commercial reactors are currently running. There is growing public opposition to the continued use of nuclear energy in Japan. A group of women (pictured) recently protested with a sit-in at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo.