Fukushima Nuclear Crisis update for September 17th to September 30th, 2013

It was reported in the documents obtained by The Asahi Shimbun that United States nuclear
experts urged Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) to install frozen soil barriers at the
Fukushima Daiichi plant, in an effort to prevent massive amounts of groundwater at the
compound from becoming contaminated. It was gathered that the cost of doing this could make
the company go into bankruptcy as such this plan was postponed. Two and a half years later,
TEPCO has continued to struggle with a growing radioactive groundwater crisis. An estimate of
800 to 1,000 tons of groundwater flow downward through the plant each day; it is believed that
300 tons of contaminated water were flowing into the ocean every 24 hours. Workers have still
not been able to identify where the water is entering the buildings, or how to stop the leaks;
radiation levels there remain so high that they cannot get close enough to do so. Prime Minister
Shinzo Abes administration has vowed to use $470 million in taxpayer funds to finally begin
building the ice wall, as international pressure mounts in advance of the 2020 Summer Olympic
Games, which were recently awarded to Tokyo.
The Japanese government was slammed by the members of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) for its inability to deal with the water crisis and also for its lack of transparency
and failure to disclose the state of the Fukushima plant for more than two years. There has been a
decline in seafood consumption by consumers since the disaster due to the fear of consuming
contaminated products. 1,130 tons of low-level radioactive water was dumped into the Pacific
Ocean by TEPCO as an emergency measure, after a heavy rain which resulted in water
accumulation within the barriers set up around the tanks of contaminated water. It was also
discovered at Daiichi plant that ventilation pipes were damaged or cracked and workers have not
been able to resolve this due to the fear of high radiation level. The Prime Minister urged the
officials of TEPCO to decommission the two remaining reactors but TEPCO remains reluctant to
dismantle them, hoping they could eventually restart them for profit, despite strong disapproval
from local government officials and residents. In response to a government request last week,
TEPCO has finally agreed to shut down reactors #5 and #6 at the Fukushima Daiichi power
plant. Officials said that the undamaged reactors will form the core of a new training center
designed to teach engineers and other nuclear experts the best way to decommission reactors.
Five loose bolts at the bottom of a tank that held 1,000 tons of highly radioactive water were
discovered by TEPCO workers. The company believes that the loose bolts may have led to a
massive leak last month, in which approximately 300 tons of the water flowed out, some of it
into the nearby Pacific Ocean. Workers have continued to dissemble the tank in an effort to
determine whether or not taking the tank apart, moving it, and reconstructing it months before
the leak occurred led to structural problems, as some experts have charged.
Tadamori Oshima, a senior politician within Abes Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is pushing to
split TEPCO into two companies: one responsible for decommissioning and decontaminating the

plant, and the other for compensation to victims of the Fukushima disaster, as well as its primary
business, which includes power generation. The branch responsible for decommissioning and
decontamination would primarily be supported by taxpayer funds. Oshima said that the split
would allow the utility to speed up decommissioning efforts, but some analysts are raising
concern that the question of who is responsible for those tasksincluding paying for them
could become murky.
In the area of compensation, the LDP plans to submit a new bill during next months
extraordinary Diet session that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of the
Fukushima disaster to file claims against TEPCO from three to 10 years. The economy of many
cities and towns in Fukushima Prefecture continues to flounder in the aftermath of the nuclear
disaster there. Approximately 160,000 people were forced to evacuate in the first days of the
crisis, and tens of thousands remain displaced. Municipal officials are concerned that residents
will not return, because decontamination efforts have not met with much success as
decontamination costs for the nuclear disaster amounts to $50 billion, and fear of radiation
remains high. And, many former residents say that they are worried that conditions at the
Fukushima plant are still unstable.
Fishery products caught off Fukushima Prefecture were ready for trial sale as early as Sept. 26
after fisheries cooperatives here resumed test fishing the day before. A local fisheries cooperative
in Iwaki, southern Fukushima Prefecture, will also embark on test fishing on Oct. 3, for the first
time since the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Fukushima Nuclear Crisis update for October 1th to October 30th, 2013
Japanese fast food chain Yoshinoya believes that having a Fukushima-based farm where they
plan to harvest rice and vegetables which will lead to support for reconstruction and will help
keep its dishes low-priced. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan should abandon
nuclear power as he feels nothing is costlier than nuclear power and the consequences of a
nuclear accident are enormous, and it takes 40 to 50 years to decommission a nuclear reactor.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a speech at an international science conference hosted by the city
and Kyoto Prefecture requested for more foreign assistance in terms of knowledge and expertise
in cleaning up the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, where work has been plagued by the
radioactive water crisis.

IAEA sent a team of experts to Japan to monitor the clean-up operation at the nuclear power
plant in Fukushima. The IAEA team, which includes 16 nuclear specialists, arrived in the
Japanese capital, Tokyo, on Monday for a week-long mission at the request of the Japanese
government from 14 to 21 October 2013.
Six of 11 workers who were attempting to control a new accidental water leak at the longbesieged Fukushima Daiichi have been contaminated, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO),
the nuclear power plants operator. The six workers found to have radioactive material on their
bodies were found to have no radioactive material on their faces Therefore, the possibility of
their internal intake of radioactive material was ruled out. The six workers have been
decontaminated; the company is now transferring the leaked water to a waste liquid supply tank.