Japan can't reduce greenhouse gas by 25%

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Japan can't reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%

Vice Minister of the Environment Hideki Minamikawa says it will be hard for Japan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as it previously said. Japan had said it would cut emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 if major emitting countries participate in the same framework. On Sunday, Minamikawa made the remarks to reporters in Bangkok, Thailand, in consideration of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan. The power plant was hit by the tsunami caused by the magnitude 9 earthquake on March 11th. Minamikawa said the accident will have a big effect on Japan's greenhouse gas reduction target. He also said the target was made on the assumption that 8 or 9 nuclear reactors would be in operation by 2020. But the Vice Minister of the Environment added that the issue must be studied based on a long-term vision, after the Fukushima Daiichi plant is stabilized. Read more at www3.nhk.or.jp

 

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Radioactive water? Put a diaper on it!

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Absorbent yet to soak up radioactive water at Fukushima plant

TOKYO, April 3, Kyodo

Workers tried Sunday to block the leakage of highly radioactive water into the sea from the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant by injecting polymeric water absorbent that can soak up 50 times its volume, but the water flow remains unaffected, the government's nuclear safety agency said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, meanwhile, told a press conference that it could take several months before radiation stops leaking from the plant, suggesting a lengthy battle ahead to resolve the crisis triggered by the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami.

Engineers put 8 kilograms of the polymeric water absorbent together with 60 kilograms of sawdust and three bags of shredded newspaper into pipes leading to a pit connected to the No. 2 reactor building where a 20-centimeter crack has been found to be leaking radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, the agency said.

However, those materials injected at a point 23 meters away from the seaside pit have not been sucked into the water flow, leaving no impact on the rate of leakage, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the governmental Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Nishiyama said the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. will keep monitoring the situation until Monday morning to examine the effects of the water-absorbing mission. The firm will also try to trace the route of the radioactive water leakage from the pit by draining colored water on Monday, he added.

The utility known as TEPCO deployed the absorbent called ''water gel bag,'' which contains polymeric materials used for diapers, as its efforts to encase the pit's fracture in concrete failed on Saturday.

Highly radioactive water has been filling up the basement of the No. 2 building and a tunnel-like underground trench connected to it. The water in the pit is believed to have come from the No. 2 reactor core, where fuel rods have partially melted.

TEPCO has revealed that radioactive iodine-131 more than 10,000 times the legal concentration limit was detected in the water found in the pit.

Nishiyama said the utility firm has confirmed that pits from the plant's other reactors do not have similar cracks. Workers have also been checking the condition of the embankment at the plant on the coast to find out other possible routes for radiation leakage into the sea, according to the agency.

Levels of radioactive substances have been skyrocketing in the sea near the nuclear power plant, fanning concerns about the expansion of sea contamination and the impact on fishery products.

The plant operator said the same day that two TEPCO workers in their 20s who had been missing since the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami that crippled the power station were found dead in the basement of a reactor turbine building last Wednesday.

They died of bleeding from multiple injuries apparently after the tsunami struck the plant, TEPCO said. It is the first time that TEPCO workers have been confirmed to have died at the Daiichi plant following the twin disasters.

In addition to efforts to block the contaminated water leakage, technicians continued operations Sunday to secure enough space in tanks to remove radioactive water that has been soaking the basement of the plant's Nos. 1-3 reactors.

The stagnant water has been obstructing work to restore the vital cooling functions at the reactors. Referring to Edano's remarks, Nishiyama said TEPCO aims to reestablish stable cooling systems at the plant within several months to prevent further radiation leakage and put recovery work at the site on track.

To store the tainted water, the utility is considering using a large artificial floating island called a ''megafloat,'' and U.S. Navy barges that originally carried fresh coolant water for injection into the reactors, Nishiyama said.

Up to 11,000 tons of low-level radioactive water will be stored in the basement of the No. 4 reactor's turbine building as an emergency step, he added.

The utility has been pouring massive amounts of water into the reactors and their spent nuclear fuel pools as a stopgap measure to cool them down, because serious damage to the fuel rods from overheating could lead to the release of enormous amounts of radioactive materials into the environment.

However, the measure is believed to be linked to the possible leak of contaminated water from the reactors, where fuel rods have partially melted.

As part of recovery work, engineers on Sunday also connected pumps used to inject fresh water into the troubled reactors to an external power source, switching from emergency diesel generators, to stably pour in the coolant water, according to the agency.

Nishiyama said TEPCO will inject nitrogen into the containment vessel of the No. 1 reactor on Tuesday or later to help prevent the risk of more hydrogen explosions caused by overheating of the reactor.

==Kyodo Read more at english.kyodonews.jp

 

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Several months to stop radiation

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Several months needed to stop radiation from Fukushima plant: gov't

TOKYO, April 3, Kyodo

The government expects that several months may be required before radioactive particles stop being released from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, its top spokesman said Sunday.

''If we apply methods considered to be normal, I believe that it will be something like that,'' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference, when asked whether at least several months would be required before the plant crippled by the devastating March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami is brought under control.

''While it may not be feasible, we have been asking for other possibilities to be explored to shorten that period,'' Edano said, noting that the government and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., are considering multiple approaches to halting the nuclear crisis.

Goshi Hosono, a special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, said earlier in the day that the government has set a target of ''several months'' for the release of radioactive substances from the plant to be stopped.

''What will follow that stage is the goal of stabilizing the plant by installing a perfect cooling mechanism for the reactors,'' Hosono told a live Fuji TV news program.

Hosono indicated to reporters after the program that the government will set separate time frames for halting the release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere, seawater and ground.

''Although the plant has not yet emerged from its critical situation, it has recovered some stability'' and it is time ''to inform the public what we are trying to do'' with time frames to help ease anxiety, said Hosono, who has been serving as a major liaison between the government and the power company.

As a lengthy battle to overcome the crisis is expected, Edano said the government will enhance its assistance for people who resided in the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the nuclear plant and those within 20 km to 30 km who have been advised to stay indoors.

Edano said the government will review whether it is necessary to change the currently designated areas once experts finish analyzing the latest data as a larger number of radiation monitoring samples have been collected in recent days.

He said authorities have examined the thyroid gland functions of around 900 infants and children living in municipalities near the plant. But he said none of them, ranging from under the age of 1 to 15 years old, showed signs of being affected by radiation.

Edano also touched on the need to launch a ''highly independent'' panel to thoroughly examine the nuclear crisis at an early date once the emergency situation has been mitigated.

==Kyodo Read more at english.kyodonews.jp

 

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Sheet to contain radioactive substances

It's is a cover up!

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Gov't eyes use of huge sheet to contain radioactive substances

TOKYO, April 4, Kyodo

The government has asked Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, to study the possibility of containing radioactive substances from four damaged reactors by wrapping their entire containment buildings with a huge amount of sheeting, government sources said Sunday.

The proposal calls for building framed structures around the 45-meter-high containment buildings and then wrapping them with the sheeting, the sources said.

If all of the four buildings were wrapped in this manner, it would cost about 80 billion yen and take up to two months, the sources said.

But atomic energy experts are skeptical about the feasibility of the plan, proposed by a general construction firm, saying the step would have only limited effects in blocking the release of radioactive substances into the environment.

Osaka University professor emeritus Keiji Miyazaki said that there is the risk that such sheeting would be torn apart by heat emanating from nuclear reactors. ''What must be done speedily is rather the restoration of the reactors' cooling functions,'' said the professor of atomic energy engineering.

Ritsumeikan University professor emeritus Ikuro Anzai said if sheeting-based containment were technically possible, it would help block the release of radioactive substances into the atmosphere and the ground.

But the professor, who specializes in ways to protect humans from radiation exposure, added that there is the risk that radiation levels would go up inside the sheeting, thus hampering various restoration work, including the work to spray water onto the reactors.

A source close to the government criticized its latest move, saying, ''Politicians and the TEPCO management adopted the proposal from the major construction company which does not have deep knowledge about nuclear power plants.''

''This step is essentially lip service to give the public a sense of ease by hiding the image of the decrepit nuclear plant,'' the source said.

==Kyodo Read more at english.kyodonews.jp

 

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Nuclear crisis to impact climate change

Japan nuclear crisis to impact climate change talks: EU

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Japan nuclear crisis to impact climate change talks: EU

BANGKOK, April 3, Kyodo

The European Commission's top climate negotiator said here Sunday that the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan will definitely have an impact on global climate change negotiations.

Artur Runge-Metzger told reporters on the sidelines of U.N. talks on climate change that the radiation crisis at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex will push the world to look for better technologies that pose less risk in the future.

''There will be a lot of political considerations and they have repercussions here in Bangkok and during the year because we haven't seen the end of what is going to happen in Fukushima,'' Runge-Metzger said. Read more at english.kyodonews.jp

 

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FBI puts Madonna charity in crosshairs

Probe of second kid-related nonprofit comes on heels of Malawi scandal

By Sarah Ryley and Joshua Bernstein

A week after scandal broke about Madonna's Raising Malawi charity, The Daily has learned that another one of the Material Girl's nonprofits, Success for Kids, is under scrutiny by the FBI. Federal agents out of the FBI's Los Angeles field division have been looking into "several irregularities and suspicious activity" involving the educational charity which she chairs, several sources within the Department of Justice told The Daily. The charity has raised more than $33 million in contributions since it was founded in 2001 — and the Material Girl has been its biggest booster, using her star power to raise millions from rich and famous donors. Success for Kids claims its lessons on emotional empowerment have reached 60,000 kids in seven countries, from Russia to Panama. Through her Ray of Light foundation, Madonna donated $671,000 toward the charity between 1999 and 2009, and an additional $2.5 million toward her other charity, Raising Malawi, which split from Success for Kids in 2008. Recently it was reported that Raising Malawi wasted $3.8 million on a planned school in the impoverished nation before even a brick had been laid, and some of that money couldn't be accounted for. "First of all, most charities are not investigated," said Ken Berger, president of the charity watchdog group, Charity Navigator. "Multiple investigations going on at once is quite extraordinary," he said, referring to a blog report that several unnamed people had been served subpoenas to appear before a grand jury convened in Manhattan's U.S. District Court.   Success for Kids, the Kabbalah Centre, Raising Malawi and Madonna all declined to comment. Read more at www.thedaily.com

 

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Test Tube Cows Produce ‘Human-Like Milk’

Jeff Neumann — Researchers at China Agricultural University have done something truly disgusting: They've introduced human genes into test tube cows so that they can produce a "human-like milk." The lead researcher, professor Ning Li told the Sunday Telegraph, "The milk tastes stronger than normal milk." Mmm, test tube milk that's stronger than Vitamin D milk — who wouldn't want to drink that? The grand plan:

"We aim to commercialize some research in this area in coming three years. For the 'human-like milk,' 10 years or maybe more time will be required to finally pour this enhanced milk into the consumer's cup."

Coming soon: Enhanced fake human breast milk straight from a genetically-modified cow's utters to your cereal bowl! Yum.

[Image via Getty] Read more at gawker.com

 

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Iran Says The End of World Has Arrived

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Iran Says The End of the World Has Arrived

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Iran Says The End of the World Has Arrived

Maryland Marriage Amendment Protest