Caroline Kennedy slips into a radiation protective suit and mask to visit devastated Fukushima nuclear plant with son Jack
Caroline Kennedy was accompanied by son Jack Schlossberg on their first visit to the plant
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Kennedy has vowed to support the clean up
The devastated nuclear plant will still take over three decades to clean up
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy got a firsthand look inside the Japanese
nuclear plant devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami today, as she vowed to
help support the clean up.
Kennedy toured the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant for about three hours on Wednesday with
her son Jack Schlossberg by her side.
She wore a yellow helmet and a white radiation protective suit with her last name
emblazoned on it as she was shown around the plant.
Schlossberg (right) visit the central control room for Fukushima on Wednesday
Caroline Kennedy speaks to journalists at the end of her visit
to TEMCO's tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Okuma town
(her son Jack pictured right)
Caroline, 56, and Jack, 21, were given a tour by an executive of Toyko Electric Power Co, Masuda Naohiro, and were taken through the central control room for the Unit One and Unit Two reactors.
The pair were shown how Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) is removing fuel rod assemblies from a cooling pod.
Tepco has removed 814 out of 1,533 fuel rod assemblies from the No. 4 reactor since
November.
'We stand ready to help in any way we can,' Kennedy told reporters after her visit,
when she made a stop at a Tepco facility near the nuclear power plant.
The plant was damaged beyond repair by the March 11, 2011,
disaster when a 9 magnitude earthquake triggered tsunami waves
that hit the plant on the coast north of Tokyo,
causing one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.
Caroline Kennedy wearing a yellow helmet and a mask
inspects the central control room for the Unit One and Unit Two reactors
of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima
Caroline Kennedy, left, and her son Jack Schlossberg, second left,
wearing protective suits and masks, listen to Masuda Naohiro, third left,
an executive of Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Shortly after the accident, the United States sent in water pumps, fire trucks, drones and
protective suits and masks.
Kennedy, daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, said in a statement the United
States 'will offer our experience and capabilities, in particular, toward the near-term
resolution of ongoing water contamination issues'.
Radioactive water poses a long-term risk at the plant and it could take more than three
decades to clear it up.
The plant has been hit by a series of accidents this year including a 100-tonne leak of
radioactive water from storage tanks.
After touring the plant, Kennedy told reporters that it's hard to visualize and understand
the complexity of the challenge just from reading about it.
for the clean up at the Japanese plant
Kennedy visits the unit four to inspect the operation
to move a spent fuel rod to a cask
at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant
an employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)
walks through an aisle covered with red plastic sheets
She expressed gratitude to those who continue to work at the plant.
Contaminated water accumulates at a rate of 400 tonnes a day at the plant as
groundwater flows into the destroyed basements of the reactor buildings and mixes with
highly radioactive water used to cool melted fuel.
Row upon row of huge blue and grey tanks that store contaminated water are lined up
while pink, white and purple azalea bushes are in full bloom nearby.
Overgrown plants curl onto the streets while pipes snake across the site where
numerous cranes still stand.
About 1,200 to 1,300 tanks storing about 450,000 tonnes of contaminated water are on
site and over the next two years Tepco wants to set up enough tanks to store 800,000
tonnes of water, said Kenichiro Matsui, a spokesman for the utility.
Wearing protective suits and masks,
Japanese journalists head to the central control room
for the Unit One and Unit Two reactors
when U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy visits
Wearing protective suits and masks, employees of Tokyo Electric Power Co.
(TEPCO) walk carefully through a dark aisle in the plant
Up to 5,000 workers are on site each day, according to the Tepco spokesman, Matsui,
up from about 4,000 a year ago. In future, that number is likely to increase to about
6,000, he said.
Overseas companies including U.S. ones are eager to get in on the clear-up work and the
decommissioning of the six reactors at the wrecked plant but most contracts have gone
to Japanese companies.
Kennedy, accompanied by her 21-year-old son, drew crowds of workers when she arrived
at the Tepco facility.
'It's good that she's here because the situation at the plant needs to be reported
worldwide,' said one man who now works as a driver for plant workers after hitting his
annual radiation exposure limit in his former job at the site.
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Mail Online
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Three years after Fukushima disaster prompted Japanese vow to abandon nuclear energy, the country plans to reopen power plants… and possibly build MORE All 48 plants could be re-started if they pass new safety
tests, PM reveals His predecessor had pledged to end atomic energy in the
country by 2040 Extra imports of oil and gas have contributed to a £120million
trade deficit
Electricity bills up 50% and carbon emissions have doubled since disaster By Simon Tomlinson
PUBLISHED: 16:09 GMT, 26 February 2014 | UPDATED: 17:59 GMT, 26 February 2014 Japan has unveiled plans to re-start dozens of nuclear reactors that were shut down after the Fukushima disaster despite past promises to end atomic energy altogether. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has revealed a new Basic Energy Plan that
will push to bring the country's 48 commercial reactors online if they pass safety tests and could even see the construction of new ones. Observers say the U-turn has been influenced by political and
economic factors, notably the change of leadership after the Fukushima meltdown three years ago, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Worst disaster since Chernobyl: Japan has announced plans to
re-start its 48 nuclear power plants that were shut down for safety
reasons after the disaster at Fukushima (above) three years ago
Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who announced a commitment to
end nuclear power in Japan by 2040, was far less connected to the
country's nuclear industry than his successor.
Meanwhile, the impact of closing down its plants, which generated some 30 per cent of its power, meant Japan had to massively
increase its imports of oil and gas.
This contributed to a $204billion (£120million) trade deficit between March 2011 and the end of last year, which in turn forced electricity
bills up by more than 50 per cent, it was reported by Time.
On top of that, carbon emissions within the electricity industry have doubled.
Ongoing threat: Radioactive water leaks from a tank at
the Fukushima nuclear power last week
in the latest safety scare to hit the crippled plant
Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s minister for trade and industry, said:
'If we had indicated "zero nuclear" without any basis, one could not
call it a responsible energy policy.'
The draft presented yesterday to the Cabinet for approval expected in March, said did say that Japan's nuclear energy dependency will be
reduced as much as possible, but that reactors meeting new safety
standards set after the 2011 nuclear crisis should be restarted.
Japan has 48 commercial reactors, but all are offline until and unless they pass the new safety requirements.
The draft of the Basic Energy Plan said that a mix of nuclear, renewable and fossil fuel will be the most reliable and stable source of
electricity to meet Japan's energy needs.
It did not specify the exact mix, citing uncertain factors such as the number of reactor restarts and the pace of renewable energy
development.
The government had planned to release the draft in January but a recommendation submitted by an expert panel was judged to be too
pro-nuclear.
Role reversal: The new plans which were released by
Japanese PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe (left)
come after his predecessor Naoto Kan
pledged to end nuclear power in the country by 2040 Tuesday's draft added slightly more emphasis on renewable energy. Mr Motegi, who is in charge of compiling the plan, told reporters that 'in principle, the direction has not changed.' He called for additional efforts to accelerate the development of
renewable energy over the next few years. The draft says Japan will continue its nuclear fuel recycling policy for now despite uncertainty at key facilities for the program, but added there is a need for 'flexibility' for possible changes to the policy down the road. Japan has tons of spent fuel and a stockpile of extracted plutonium, causing international concerns about nuclear proliferation. Officials have said the most realistic way to consume and reduce the
plutonium is to restart the reactors to burn it. The previous energy plan compiled in 2010 called for a boost in nuclear power to about half of Japan's electricity needs by 2030 from about one-third before the Fukushima disaster. |
Robot films INSIDE the Fukushima nuclear plantVideo filmed by a remote control robot at the Fukushima plant shows highly
radioactive water, which may have leaked from one of the damaged reactors.
（動画はリンク先）
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The ghost towns of Fukushima: Three years after Japan's nuclear disaster... （２０１４年１月１０日 Mail Online）
The ghost towns of Fukushima: Three years after Japan's nuclear disaster, residents are allowed home only once a month... and cannot stay overnight
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In March 2011 the world watched in horror as a powerful earthquake rocked Japan, before a deadly tsunami swept ashore, washing away any boats, cars, homes and people unfortunate enough to be in its path.
But while the initial reports of 19,000 dead shocked viewers around the globe, that news would soon be superseded by the terrors to come from the then-unknown town of Fukushima as its nuclear power plant was overcome by floodwater before going into meltdown.
Now, nearly three years on from the natural disaster, a very unnatural catastrophe is still unfolding in the central prefecture while the villagers who used to live around the plant are still suffering.
Scroll down for video
Fallout:
There is still a 12-mile exclusion zone in place around Fukushima which contains hundreds of bags of radioactive soil which cannot be
removed due to opposition from those outside
No way back:
Some 22,000 former residents of Namie (pictured) are
being allowed back to their homes,
but can only go once a month and cannot stay overnight
Cleanup:
In December Tepco, the company which owns the Fukushima plant,
announced it had reached a state of 'cold shutdown'
allowing a cleanup operation to begin
In total 80,000 people were evacuated because of the disaster as a 12-mile 'no go zone' was put in place around the stricken facility. Tepco, the owner of the plant and Japan's largest power company, insist that the situation is under control and announced in December that the plant is now in a state of 'cold shutdown' allowing a cleanup operation to start
As a result of that operation exclusion zone lines may be redrawn, allowing some former residents of the towns around Fukushima to go home. In the town of Namie more than 20,000 former residents are allowed to visit their homes once a month with special permissions but are not allowed to at stay overnight.
In the town of Futaba residents were once so proud of their nuclear plant that they erected a sign across the promenade saying the technology made them prosperous. Now their town lies in ruins. These temporary housing tructures were erected
for workers at J-Village, a soccer training complex now serving
as an operation base for those battling Japan's nuclear disaster
Long process:
The clean-up involves moving 400-tonnesof uranium
and is expected to take a year.
Only after this is completed can areas such as this hospital
- pictured with wheelchairs outside - be repopulated
Contaminated:
After the cleanup exclusion zone lines will be redrawn
allowing some people to move home, however others may need to
wait five years to find out if they can go back
But they are the lucky ones. Some other residents may have to wait five years before they will know if their houses are safe, others may have to wait a decade, and a few many never be allowed to return.
The Tepco cleanup operation involves moving 400 tonnes of uranium from a storage tank inside reactor number four of the plant to a safer location. It is expected to take a year, and is an extremely delicate process as the highly volatile fuel is prone to reigniting.
While the work has proceeded without incident so far, past leaks of contaminated water, an initial attempt to downplay the disaster, and continuing secrecy about the site have lead many to be wary of Tepco's handling of the many problems to come from the catastrophe.
Destroyed:
It has been nearly three years since tsunami waves
swept these defences aside and flooded the Fukushima Daiichi plant,
causing a meltdown
Unstoppable:
The devastating wave was caused by a 9.0 earthquake,
the most powerful ever to strike Japan,
and killed nearly 19,000 people as it swept ashore
Pride:
Decades ago, the citizens of Japan's Futaba town
took such pride in hosting part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex
that they built a sign over a promenade proclaiming
that atomic power made their town prosperous
For example, within the exclusion zone hundreds of bags filled with radioactive soil lie piled up next to road and fields because opposition from those outside the zone means there is nowhere to move them to.
Across the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the US state of California is also concerned about the effect of the disaster as water contaminated with radiation is expected to start washing up soon. The exact amount is unknown, and Tepco say there is no way to accurately measure how much has leaked away.
Even after the nuclear cleanup has finished, it will be just the beginning for anyone who decides to move back, as the devastation caused by the tsunami has still not been repaired after people fled.
Abandoned:
Tomioka town is another which falls inside
the exclusion zone, put in place to try and contain
the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years
Devastated:
Once the nuclear clean-up has finished,
it will be just the beginning for former residents of towns like Tomioka,
who must then repair their homes
http://web.archive.org/web/20140110153602/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537046/The-ghost-towns-Fukushima-Three-years-Japans-nuclear-disaster-residents-allowed-home-month-stay-overnight.html
Comments (278)Share what you think The comments below have not been moderated. I suspect in photo number 6 the gloves are sending a message to someone.
yes, to the person who decided to put a nuclear power plant on a major fault
Yea, to the residents of Pripyat living next to Chernobyl in perfect health.
haha! I was thinking the same.
Don't believe what you read or hear on tv, it's a lot worse than they tell us, just look at the western coast of north America
This is a global disaster that is being kept hush hush to the world, the pacific
Who do we believe then...? You?
mark, yes, we are being lied to, if you do not believe us then go do your own
"The most pressing worry in the damaged power plant cleanup is the spent
3.4 tones of radioactive material in every square kilometer of ocean before
Mark go for a stroll there government loves you
Nearly 36 percent of children in Fukushima Prefecture have been disgnosed
If you want to know just how disastrous Fukushima is, search "The ocean is
Matt, London,bah bah go and watch some more telly.
@bliss, london; Bah, bah... go and read some more conspiracy theory websites
@Grant, Birmingham; Hahahahaha! What utter nonsense!
Bliss, I've done the research you speak of. It's nonsense. You read something
Even though I don't consume large amount of fish, I feel its having a
mark, matt, i would rather believe what the conspiracy theorist are telling me
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different
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