. Medical and Hospital News .




.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Retreat never an option: ex-Fukushima chief
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 12, 2012

New Japan anti-nuclear rally
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 10, 2012 - Hundreds of protesters staged a weekly anti-nuclear rally outside Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's residence Friday despite the approach of a summer break and soaring temperatures.

The crowd chanted slogans against Noda's decision to restart nuclear power plants following a total shutdown in the wake of last year's atomic crisis at Fukushima.

The Tokyo rally followed the 67th anniversaries of the World War II US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Monday and Thursday, which further fuelled anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan.

The turnout at the demonstration, which has been mainly organised online by anti-nuclear activists every Friday, was estimated by an AFP photographer at more than 1,000.

It came as many in Tokyo prepared to go away next week, which is traditionally a peak holiday time.

The rallies outside the prime minister's residence have drawn thousands of people and a demonstration in west Tokyo last month saw a crowd that organisers claimed was about 170,000-strong.

Noda in June ordered the restart of two reactors.

He defended the move citing looming power shortages after Japan switched off its 50 nuclear reactors -- which provided the resource-poor country with a third of its energy -- in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.


The chief of Japan's Fukushima atomic plant at the time of the quake-tsunami disaster has said he never considered withdrawing from the escalating crisis despite fearing for his life, reports said Sunday.

"I thought my fellow workers and I could die when huge amounts of debris flew off" the plant after an explosion, Masao Yoshida said in rare public comments in a video message released Saturday, according to local media.

The 57-year-old, whose message was played to an event in northeast Fukushima prefecture that discussed recovery from the disaster, described the scene as "hell".

But he added: "I did not suggest to headquarters that (we should) retreat and never thought about it."

"If we had left there and could not have poured water (into the reactors), there would have been more serious radiation leaks. It would have been a dire calamity," he said. His comments were recorded early July in Tokyo.

In one of their desperate attempts to stop the disaster in March last year, workers poured water into the plant to try and cool down the overheating reactors.

The deadly tsunami knocked out the atomic plant's cooling system and sent some of its reactors into meltdown, spewing radiation into the air, sea and food chain in the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

At the start of the message, Yoshida offered an apology to people around the plant. "We are doing our best for restoration," he said.

Last week, TEPCO released video footage that showed Yoshida shouting "We have a big problem, a big problem!" to bosses at the operator's Tokyo headquarters as a reactor exploded.

It was among 150 hours of footage released by the operator.

Yoshida, who stepped down from the job of plant chief in December after being diagnosed with esophagus cancer, has spoken little to the media, saying investigation into the accident is still under way.

At the time of his cancer diagnosis, a TEPCO spokeswoman said it was "extremely unlikely that his disease was caused by radiation exposure".

No one is officially recorded as having died directly as a result of the power plant accident, but many who fled the area and those who remain, including workers decommissioning the crippled plant, worry about the long-term effects.

The quake-tsunami killed more than 19,000 people.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries


Japan's Onagawa nuclear plant 'remarkably undamaged': IAEA
Vienna (AFP) Aug 10, 2012 - The UN atomic agency said Friday that Japan's Onagawa nuclear power plant, despite having been closest to the epicentre of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, was in surprisingly good shape.

The structural elements of the plant were "remarkably undamaged given the magnitude of ground motion experienced and the duration and size of this great earthquake," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in an initial report.

Onagawa "experienced very high levels of ground shaking -- among the strongest of any plant affected by the earthquake -- and some flooding from the tsunami that followed, but was able to shut down safely," the Vienna-based IAEA said.

The Fukushima plant, 120 kilometres (75 miles) to the south, was not so lucky, suffering multiple reactor meltdowns and releasing radioactivity into the environment in the world's worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

The IAEA report followed a two-week trip by 19 international experts that will be followed by further visits at Onagawa and reviews of other Japanese nuclear plants.

Findings will be added to an IAEA database being compiled by its International Seismic Safety Centre (ISSC) that was part of the watchdog's "action plan" on nuclear safety drawn up in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

"The data we are collecting will make an important contribution to improving safety," said mission head Sujit Samaddar.

"Information in the database will allow IAEA member states to measure the performance of their nuclear power plants in the face of external hazards."



.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



DISASTER MANAGEMENT
TEPCO video shows tensions as Fukushima crisis unfurls
Tokyo (AFP) Aug 6, 2012
Video footage released Monday shows the head of the Fukushima nuclear power plant shouting "We have a big problem, a big problem!" as a reactor exploded after last year's quake-tsunami disaster. The footage was among 150 hours of video conferencing recorded during the first days of the nuclear disaster reluctantly released by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) which operated the plant. ... read more


DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Retreat never an option: ex-Fukushima chief

Urban disasters spotlight strain on Asian cities

Armageddon looming? Tell Bruce Willis not to bother

TEPCO video shows tensions as Fukushima crisis unfurls

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Raytheon completes GPS OCX iteration 1.4 Critical Design Review

Mission accomplished, GIOVE-B heads into deserved retirement

Boeing Ships 3rd GPS IIF Satellite to Cape Canaveral for Launch

GPS Can Now Measure Ice Melt, Change In Greenland Over Months Rather Than Years

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
It's in our genes: Why women outlive men

Later Stone Age got earlier start in South Africa than thought

Modern culture 44,000 years ago

Hey, I'm over here: Men and women see things differently

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Can nature parks save biodiversity?

Division of labor offers insight into the evolution of multicellular life

Baby rhinos given second chance at S. African orphanage

Study shows how elephants produce their deep 'voices'

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Mexico destroys 8 mn chickens amid bird flu outbreak

Clinton signs new deal to fight AIDS in South Africa

Malawi to test 250,000 people for HIV in one week

New bat virus could hold key to Hendra virus

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Tibetan sets himself alight in China: group

Workshop blast in east China kills 13

China's passion for fashion catapults blogger to stardom

China accuses US of prejudice on religious issues

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Nigeria intensifies search for 4 kidnapped foreigners: navy

Somali pirates release Taiwan fishing boat

ONR Sensor and Software Suite Hunts Down More Than 600 Suspect Boats

Netherlands beefs up anti-piracy forces

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Outside View: Deus ex machina 3.0

More China loosening tipped as output, inflation ease

Outside View: Risking economic depression

Walker's World: August, the cruel month


Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement