Japanese national government devotes mere $500 million to radioactive "soggy mess" at Fukushima Daiichi

As reported by the Washington Post, Japanese Prime Minister Shizo Abe has pledged a mere $500 million towards stabilizing the leakage of highly radioactive water into the ground and ocean at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant site.

Critics regard such a small amount as "chicken feed" or "chump change."

As pointed out by Fairewinds Associates, Inc.'s Chief Engineer, Arnie Gundersen, "clean-up" and decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi site itself will likely cost around $100 billion, while "clean-up" of contaminated regions of Fukushima Prefecture and adjacent prefectures could easily cost an additional $400 billion. So, Abe's pledge of half a billion dollars is very small, compared to that half a trillion dollar price tag!

As the article reports:

'...Last month, Tepco admitted that one storage drum had sprung a leak. Spiking radiation levels around the tanks have raised fears that others could be leaking as well. But it is hard to tell: Water levels in the tanks have not been measured on a regular basis, said Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, at a news conference Monday.

“We believe that management of and monitoring of tanks represents a serious problem,” Tanaka said, adding that regulators have given Tepco “strict instructions” to strengthen its oversight...'.

Tanaka (pictured, above left with U.S. NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane exchanging documents after a signing ceremony with her counterpart at the newly established Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority in Japan in December, 2012; the documents established, among other activities, a joint steering committee between the two regulatory agencies) recently compared the situation at Fukushima Daiichi to a "house of horrors."

Radiation levels at Fukushima 18 times higher than previously admitted to

From The Guardian, September 1st: "Radiation levels 18 times higher than previously reported have been found near a water storage tank at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing fresh concern about the safety of the wrecked facility.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said radiation near the bottom of the tank measured 1,800 millisieverts an hour – high enough to kill an exposed person in four hours."

The stricken reactors have been leaking radioactively contaminated water into the ocean since the disaster first began on March 11, 2011, with unknown consequences to sea life and the surrounding ecosystems.

TEPCO has finally admitted that  a toxic mixture of groundwater and water being used to cool melted fuel lying deep inside the damaged reactors was seeping into the sea at a rate of about 300 tonnes a day. There is little confidence left in the utility's ability to manage the current crisis let alone the future prolonged decommissioning process.

The Guardian reported that: "The high radiation levels announced on Sunday highlighted the dangers facing thousands of workers as they attempt to contain, treat and store water safely, while preventing fuel assemblies damaged in the accident from going back into meltdown.

"Japan's nuclear workers are allowed an annual accumulative radiation exposure of 50 millisieverts. Tepco said radiation of 230 millisieverts an hour had been measured at another tank, up from 70 millisieverts last month. A third storage tank was emitting 70 millisieverts an hour, Tepco said. Radiation near a pipe connecting two other tanks had been measured at 230 millisieverts."

Pictured: A TEPCO employee works around the water tanks. . Photograph: Noboru Hashimoto/EPA.

"Why Fukushima is worse than you think"

In a blog special to CNN, Paris-based independent international consultant on energy and nuclear policy, Mycle Schneider, calls for an International Task Force Fukushima to provide the Japanese government and nuclear safety regulatory agency with keenly needed help at the wrecked, leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Schneider calls on the international community to "muster the will to put their own interests aside, and help Japan conquer the denial that is risking catastrophe." He is the coordinator and lead author of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

Just say no to nuclear power -- from Fukushima to Vermont

Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, has published a column in The Guardian analyzing Entergy's surprise announcement that it will close the Vermont Yankee reactor in October 2014, in light of the worsening crisis at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan.

Goodman quotes Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc.:

“It took three years, but it was citizen pressure that got the state Senate to such a position”, nuclear-energy consultant Arnie Gundersen told me of Entergy’s announcement. He has coordinated projects at 70 nuclear plants around the country and now provides independent testimony on nuclear and radiation issues. He explained how the state of Vermont, in the first such action in the country, had banned the plant from operating beyond its original 40-year permit. Entergy was seeking a 20-year extension.

The legislature, in that 26-to-4 vote, said: ‘No, we’re not going to allow you to reapply. It’s over. You know, a deal’s a deal. We had a 40-year deal.’ Well, Entergy went to first the federal court here in Vermont and won, and then went to an appeals court in New York City and won again on the issue, as they framed it, that states have no authority to regulate safety.

Japan Industry Minister: no more radioactive "whack-a-mole" at Fukushima Daiichi

As reported by CNN, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Toshimitsu Motegi, has said:

"Countermeasures led by Tepco to stop the contaminated water leaks have been like a "whack-a-mole" arcade game. From now on, the government is going to step forward."

Motegi made the remarks after donning a radiation protection suit and respirator, and touring the tank farm (photo, above left) where highly radioactive water leaks have been detected and/or admitted to in recent days and weeks.

Motegi's remarks echo earlier ones of his boss, Japanese Prime Minister Abe, who has declared that the Japanese national government will step up, given Tokyo Electric Power Company's clear failures.