Green Action Kyodo blog on Japanese nuclear emergency

Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action JapanAileen Mioko Smith, director of Green Action Kyodo and chairwoman of Greenpeace Japan, a top anti-nuclear watchdog in Japan, happens to be visiting the U.S. right now, and is providing invaluable translation from Japanese into English of news reports, government announcements, and grassroots reports from Japan on the unfolding nuclear crisis in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. See her blog reports at: http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress1/index.php?p=2

MELTDOWN AT FUKUSHIMA DAI-ICHI UNIT 1 HAS APPARENTLY STARTED

12:47 AM EST March 12, 2011

We deeply regret to report:

"A Tokyo Channel 12 TV news item just said that radioactivity is 70 times higher than normal around the Fukushima I (Daiichi) Plant Unit 1 and 1000 times higher than normal in the control room. Cesium has been detected around the site. Water is below the level of the fuel rods. There is a possibility of damage and "a high possibility that meltdown has begun".

Please note that besides the situation at Fukushima, we are also concerned about the state of the Onagawa nuclear power plant about which there is no news except that the nearest towns were totally inundated by tsunamis."

Source: Philip White, Citizens Nuclear Information Center Tokyo.

Beyond Nuclear spokespeople are available round the clock at 301.270.2209.

Japan issues 2nd emergency warning at additional reactor site as situation worsens

The Japanese government has declared a second nuclear emergency at another reactor site following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami. 

The first emergency was declared when offsite and emergency backup power to the cooling system failed at the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 in Ohkuma, Fukushima Prefecture. Tokyo Electric Power Company operators are fighting rising pressure and radiation levels in the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 as well.  A second nuclear emergency has now been declared following problems with power to the cooling system at a separate reactor site, Fukushima Daini, in Naraha, Fukushima Prefacture.

A fire in the turbine building of the Onogawa reactor site was extinguished earlier in the day. However, local activists have mounting concern that "There is almost no information about the Onogoawa site. Tohoku Electric's home page site almost appears non-functional. Also there is virtually no news
about Onogawa by media. It's strange."

Radiation levels are now reported to have risen 1000 times in the reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 perhaps indicating that some core damage has already occurred.  The operators are now deliberating venting radioactive steam into the atmosphere to relieve internal pressure to save the containment structure from rupturing.

Update on March 12, 2011 by admin

UPDATE: 12:34 AM EST MARCH 12

COOLING WATER LEVELS WITHIN THE FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI REACTOR UNIT 1  REPORTED TO BE DROPPING. FUEL CORE EXPOSURE POSSIBLE.

Radiation leaks from Japan reactor

Citing the Tokyo Electric Power Co., Japan's Kyodo News Agency said that radioactive substances may have seeped out of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north of Tokyo. Earlier, the agency had reported that authorities may purposely release radioactive vapor to alleviate pressure at the power plant.

Radiation levels measured at a monitoring post near the plant's main gate are more than eight times above normal, Japan's nuclear safety agency said, according to Kyodo. CNN

A Japanese nuclear safety panel said Saturday radiation levels were 1,000 times above normal in a reactor control room after a huge quake damaged a plant's cooling system, Kyodo News said. LeaderPost

Evacuation zone extended to 10 km

Japan ordered the evacuation in the vicinity of the Fukushima No. 1 plant, located in Fukushima Prefecture. There were press reports on Friday afternoon indicating that the original 3 kilometer evacuation order had been expanded to 10 kilometers. The Street