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Tsunami video and farmers in fukushima

Farmers Livelihoods Wither in Japan s Nuclear Crisis  from NYTimes By MICHAEL WINES

"At least one farmer has been pushed over the edge. ... a 64-year-old farmer  ...killed himself one day after the government imposed a
ban on the sale of cabbages from the prefecture...The farmer [had] lost his house in the
earthquake but had a field of 7,500 organically grown cabbages ready for
harvest when the prohibition was announced."

TOWA, Japan If Japan s leaders regard the collapse of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex as this nation s greatest crisis in decades, Saichi Sato has a different perspective. From where he sits in this leafy village of 8,000 about 25 miles from Daiichi, he says, this is the greatest crisis in 400 years.

Mr. Sato, 59, is a 17th-generation family farmer, a proprietor of 14 acres of greenhouses and fields where he grows rice, tomatoes, spinach and other vegetables. Or did grow: Last week, the national government banned the sale of farm products not just from Towa, but also from a stretch of north-central Japan extending south almost to Tokyo, for fear that they had been tainted with radiation.

Already, Mr. Sato stands to lose a fifth of his income because of the ban. If the government cannot contain the Daiichi disaster, he could lose a farm that his family has tended since the 1600s.

1 Mil radiation spike was an error, just 1K

The big news today was a severely high level of radioactivity in reactor 2 at Fukushima, but I have just come across an flash saying that is now reported to have been a mistaken reading. Again, Tepco undermines our confidence.

[Tepco] had said radiation levels reached 10 million times higher than
normal in the cooling system but because the level was so high the
worker taking the reading had to evacuate before confirming it with a
second reading.

A spokesman for Japan's nuclear watchdog, Hidehiko Nishiyama,
said the level of radiation in puddles near reactor two was confirmed
at 1,000 millisieverts an hour.

Radiation Exposure in Daily Life

from http://eq.wide.ad.jp/110315houshasen_en.html

back to top page

March 15th, 2011 posted by MEXT (PDF)

** Translation by volunteer students of KEIO University.**

---

Sv (sievert) = constant of biological effects of radiation* x Gy (Gray)

(*) X-Ray, γ-Ray = 1

---

<b>250,000 µSv/year</b>
	 Maximum permitted for staff working in emergency cases (new guideline) 
<b>100,000 µSv/year</b>
	 Maximum permitted for staff working in emergency cases 
<b>50,000 µSv/year</b>
	 Maximum permitted for Radiation workers and management workers (Policeman and Firemen)
<b>10,000 µSv/year</b>
	Guarapari Beach, Brazil
<b>6,900 µSv/tomography</b>
	Chest X-Ray computed tomography (ont time)
<b>2,400 µSv/year</b>
	Natural Radiation per person/year (World Average)
		Space  0.39
		Food 0.29
		Earth 0.48
		Radon (in air) 1.26
<b>1,000 µSv/year</b>
	Regular public space (except medical area)
<b>600 µSv/radiograph</b>
	Abdominal X-Ray for health checkup (one time)
<b>400 µSv/year</b>
	Domestic Natural Radiation variation (Gifu - Kanagawa)
<b>200 µSv/roundtrip</b>
	Tokyo - New York Flight (radiation varies depending on the flight attitude)
<b>50 µSv/radiograph</b>
	Chest X-Ray for health checkup (one time)
<b>50 µSv/year</b>
	Nuclear Power Plant area (Light Water Reactor) (estimated value)
<b>22 µSv/year</b>
	Evaluation of radioactive emission from nuclear reprocessing plant
<b>10 µSv/year</b>
	Clearance Level (estimated value)

morning update

via cnn--Tests showed that levels of radioactive iodine in seawater just offshore
of the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are more than 1,250
times higher than normal, Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency
said Saturday.Its potential effect on Japan's fishing industry -- even if consumers
stay away, for simple fear of contamination -- remains a major concern.
So, too, is the fact that authorities have yet to pinpoint the exact
source of the radiation, and thus to determine if it's stopped.

via nature -- Core of reactor 3 possibly breached. Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency today said this was highly likely, NHK TV reported,
and that the highly-contaminated water at the plant seems likely to
have come from the core, not spent fuel ponds. Reactor 3 is where three
workers were injured yesterday by exposure to high levels of radiation,
when water overtopped their boots while wading through floodwater - now
known to be highly contaminated - in a basement floor.

Reactor 3 also is the only reactor at the plant to use plutonium as
part of a mixed oxide fuel with uranium, increasing the hazards of
leaked radiation. The mix of radionuclides found in the water and published today
by TEPCO, the plant operator, are novel compared to other escapes over
the past two weeks (see image). Fission products so far detected in
escaped radiation have been volatiles such as Cs-137 and I-131 released
during ventings to reduce reactor pressure. The new mix contains
elements that are not volatile, and so must have leaked from broken fuel
rods into the water.

Highly contaminated water pool found today at reactor 1, and pools of contaminated water also found at reactors 2 and 4, Kyodo news reports.
The water in underground parts of the buildings is thought to have come
from either the cores or spent fuel pools – reactor 4 contained no fuel
at the time of the accident, and its fuel rods were being stored in the
pools.

Evacuation zones around plant extended. People
living in the 10km radius beyond the current 20 km evacuation zone, were
today encouraged by the government to leave voluntarily.

TEPCO, the plant operator, is starting to switch from
seawater to freshwater to cool the reactors as salt crusts on the rods
were hampering flow. The New York Times had an interesting piece earlier this week on the risk of salt crusts resulting in fuel melt.

Japan's science ministry has started posting data from radiation monitoring of coastal waters.
The first samples from 30 km off-shore had surface seawater
concentrations of 24.9 to 76.8 Bq/l of I-131, and 11.2 to 24.1 Bq/l of
Cs-137. For a discussion of what these units mean, see here, and here.

A dilute radioactive cloud has already crossed much of the Northern Hemisphere.
Austria's weather service, the Central Institute for Meteorology and
Geodynamics in Vienna, reported today that 24 radionuclide detecting
stations worldwide run by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
Organization are now detecting Fukushima fallout as far away as Western
Europe. See report in English here, and the maps here.

Since the Fukushima accident, the CTBTO network, designed to pick up
nuclear tests, has also proven itself to be the key (and indeed unique)
system for detecting worldwide fallout from nuclear accidents, as it emphasized tonight. For my recent article on its role here see "Radiation data from Japanese disaster starts to filter out." Meanwhile, the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection has followed Austria's lead in making its findings from the CTBTO's classified data public.

another explanation of sieverts from nature.

The Latest Word...literally!

Latest update : Oxford English Dictionary

Latest update
March 2011

The latest update of the OED, published on 24 March 2011, revises more than 1,900 entries and adds new words from across the dictionary. The OED's chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revisions in this update, while Graeme Diamond and Katherine Martin comment on some of the most interesting new words in the batch. A full list of new words can be found below.

mind controlled movement in handicapped person

BrainGate neural interface system reaches 1,000-day performance milestone

“...after 1,000 days a woman who has no functional use of her limbs and is unable to speak can reliably control a cursor on a computer screen using only the intended movement of her hand ...

The woman...performed two “point-and-click” tasks each day by thinking about moving the cursor with her hand. In both tasks she averaged greater than 90 percent accuracy. Some on-screen targets were as small as the effective area of a Microsoft Word menu icon."

more on common knowledge

puzzle red hat, blue hat

Muddy Children and Common Knowledge

Interesting article on common knowledge and a simple form of the red hat problem.

But does he know that I know that he knows?
From No Right to Believe by Ezra Resnick


Five children have been playing together, and three of them have gotten mud on their foreheads. Each child can see mud on others but not on himself. When the children come home, their father says that at least one of them has mud on his forehead; he then asks if anyone can deduce whether there is mud on his own forehead. The children look around, but no one answers. So the father asks again: Does anyone know whether he has mud on his own forehead? Silence. The father then repeats his question a third time, at which point all three dirty children immediately step forward and proclaim that their foreheads must be muddy.

Today's tidbits

The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.

The Fukushima 700, from Reuters, my new favorite news source.

 "They're all the real Samurai," said one admirer on a Facebook page dedicated to the Fukushima workers and mainly containing messages from outside Japan.

I seem to be to be observing a slight "disconnect" between the way this event is being experienced by gaijin (foreigners) and natives, especially in Tokyo.

How Bad is the Reactor Meltdown in Japan?

The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.

The Question of the Day: How Bad is the Reactor Meltdown in Japan?
Not so bad according to this physicist, who seems to know what he is talking about.



On the other hand, from slashdot and newscientist

"The cumulative releases from Fukushima of iodine-131 and cesium-137 have reached 73% and 60% respectively of the amounts released from the 1986 Chernobyl accident.
These numbers were reached independently from a monitoring station in
Sacramento, CA, and Takasaki, Japan. The iodine and cesium releases are
due to the cooking off of the more volatile elements in damaged fuel
rods."

The story of the second nuclear casualty in history

Louis Slotin

radiation levels in Kyoto

Kyoto levels seem unchanged from what I can tell. Tokyo is getting a bit worse, though, and I would say is approaching the turning point. It has crossed my mind that the government would not have the will to do the right thing...evacuate...should the time for that come. But as Yukie says, this kind of cynicism is probably not constructive, and we don't even have enough information to be cynical. 

I am going to keep updating  my blog with general information for people that want to keep up. The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.

part 3 of Japan Update

Part1 original post
Part2 follow up 1
Part3 (this post) follow up 2
I am going to keep updating  my blog with general information for people that want to keep up. The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.
-----------
First I want to thank people for the warm response to my email, and also for the kindness people showed in passing it along to others. This is heartwarming, and I can only reply with my own love and appreciation, and the traditional buddhist prayer that "all beings be blessed by this selfless action".

After sending the email, though, I did have some further thoughts, and I started to compose a followup without a serious intention to send it, and in fact, in the end I didn't, but posted it to my blog-that-no-one-reads-but-me. But after that, radiation levels started spiking, and I got worried, then calm, and I wanted to let people know that I was still alright, but concerned. I then realized there were even more things I wanted to say, especially about how to keep informed about what is happening, so I wrote another blog post/email.

Thus I am sending a long these links. They are not terribly well composed, just a set of notes to myself, but I think they complement and complete my original thoughts.

Again, thanks of the response, and I will limit myself to individual replies from now on...

david

follow up unsent on blog up unread

The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.
Part1 original email
Part2 (this post) follow up 1
Part3 follow up 2
I am going to keep updating  my blog with general information for people that want to keep up.
--
This is a follow-up to an email [below and here. read first?] I sent that included a call for people to make donations in support of the survivors of the first 2011 Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster (in case there should be another). This got sent on to others [below], and I suddenly felt a bit of concern over what I had written. I never actually sent the follow-up, since my position didn't end up changing very much, and in order not to complicate matters, but I decided to post it here to save my effort for future reference.

I should add that I have no special interest in this, but one thing led to another... 

Original Email About Japanese Crisis

Part1 (this post)
Part2 follow up 1
Part3 follow up 2
The best way to keep up do date on my posts about Fukushima is via this link.
I am going to keep updating  my blog with general information for people that want to keep up.

----

Jeff (and everyone else getting this):

Thanks for emailing me. In fact I apologize for not having been in touch with
you and with others to let everyone know I am alright. I have been planning to
write long email to as many people as I could, but your email has finally made
me say to heck with it, I will just email my whole address book...well no cant
quite do that...but anyway apologies for the long mass email:
Basically what I need to say is that we are completely fine, but things are bad
elsewhere. We are actually quite far from where all the trouble is. Of course
everyone, including here in Kyoto, is worried about what is happening, and in
fact some people are quite sick about it, but as far as daily life is concerned,
everything is normal.
On the other hand, for people in Tohoku, in the shelters, things are terrible.
Because attention is focused on the reactor, people are not as aware of how
difficult it is for them, and we are encouraging people to donate to relief
organizations if they can. I've hear about fundraising that people are doing in
the US, and it is wonderful. I have done quite a bit of research, and at the
bottom of this email is a list of links of the best organizations we feel are
safe and good to give to; if you decide to give to another organization, I
strongly recommend doing your research because many organizations are
soliciting, but the funds end up in their general funds not specifically to
relief efforts in Japan, and there are even fake organizations popping up. Also,
though I think this is wrong under the circumstances, one charity watch
organization suggests there is a possibility of "overfunding", but they are
entirely mistaken about that. They are being misled by a cultural difference,
because Japanese people are perhaps stoic and reserved by nature, they will do
all they can to give the appearance to the outside world of not needing help.
But I am watching the news from inside and yukie is translating it, and what's
really happening is that as prepared as they were, the need is overwhelming.
Even the head of preparedness in Japan has admitted so. In the worst areas, the
shortage of food, medical supplies, and so on is staggering...one shelter can
only give out half a rice ball and a quarter of an apple per day! And there are
too many kids who have lost family, who are searching for family members, and
have no one to take care of them. It is heartbreaking. I can't put into words
how heart wrenching it is watching the news. Last night one man talk about
losing his wife and his first grade son. He has been left with nothing, not
even  a small memento. I can't imagine trying to carry on. And it goes on and
on, he is just one of hundreds of thousands. I really hope people can give,
because the scale of this disaster is unprecedented, and will undoubtedly be the
most expensive on record, and it will be years before some places get even close
to returning to "normal", if ever.
OK, I've ranted enough. I apologize.
For people like us, outside that area, things are relatively the same. Yukie's
family is in Niigata, which is further north, and has endured a few aftershocks,
but they were mild and everyone is alright. Yukie's sister is in Tochigi, which
is a little north of Tokyo, but from what Yukie tells me there have been some
small inconveniences, but she seems to have worked them out. She was supposed to
move back to Niigata this week, for example, but because of the gas shortage she
couldn't find a moving company. Her dad is coming to the rescue. We knew a few
people who are/were in Tokyo at the time, and they said the earthquake and the
aftershocks are scary, even by japanese standards, and there was a bit of
hoarding (but no looting, folks. c'mon), but on the whole it is manageable. The
trains are running again, for example. The sense of panic there has abated. I
think all the fuss about shipping people home that was made by some governments
was a matter of people trying to err on the overcautious side, and not a
reaction to the situation as it is in Tokyo. As my friend Etsuko, who lives in
the US but is japanese and watches Japanese media, says, the truth is somewhere
in between.
Right now, in the affected areas, things are much worse. The search efforts are
being hampered by weather and other factors. For the thousands of people waiting
it out in the shelters with nothing to do, it appears that some of the shock is
wearing off, so now the real emotional impact is starting to be felt. Depression
is becoming a problem. This is very frustrating for me, because I think in the
end, this is the worst damage that this event will have inflicted. You can give
all the money in the world, you can give blankets, send people, you can have all
the medicine you need, and these ills will fade, but the need for healing is the
one thing they have most, is the hardest to take care of, and will remain, I
fear, the longest.
Anyhow, my best wishes and thanks to everyone for their concern, and I look
forward to talking with people soon. Please feel free to respond if you wish to.
Sincerely,
David and Yukie
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Aid Organizations...a focus on small local organization, and some larger, more
global ones.
One of the organization that we like is
Kyoto Nicco
We like it because it is based in Kyoto, but has experience all over the world,
and it provides direct relief.
http://www.kyoto-nicco.org/english/project/support/information/relief-activity-for-earthquake-1.html

http://www.kyoto-nicco.org/english/index.html
Japan Center for International Exchange
http://jcie.org/earthquake.html
This is an umbrella organization that uses half of it donations for direct
relief, and half for long term development (which is often overlooked after a
tragedy). I came across this organization after discovering it was supporting
the same organizations that I was considering, such as NICCO. This is good if
you are not sure of what kind of organization you like. The organizations they
support are:
    * Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR, Japan)—focus on people with
disabilities. Worldwide, but based in Tokyo.
    * Association of Medical Doctors in Asia—medical needs. They seem very
active and have many teams.
    * Japan Platform— well connected and directly involved coalition of NGOs,
corporations, and government.
    * JEN—Good organization but not working in Japan at the moment.
    * Nippon International Cooperation for Community Development (NICCO)—see
above. mobile clinics and portable toilets and distributing hygienic goods.
    * PeaceWinds Japan—see below. free access to satellite phones and
distributing food, water, blankets, and medical supplies.
PeaceWinds Japan
This is another local organization that provides direct assistance and has a
good track record.
http://www.peace-winds.org/en/
Japanese Red Cross.
It is possible to give directly to them, without needed to go through the US
organization, via this page for example:
http://www.google.co.jp/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
Save the Children
is focused on children and providing direct assistance, but I havent been able
to find out if donations can be earmarked for japan or not. However they have a
very clear long term plan for dealing with this disaster:
http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9DEF2EBE-10AE-432C-9BD0-DF91D2EBA74A%7D/save-the-children-japan-earthquake-brief-20110317.pdf

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=8rKLIXMGIpI4E&b=6478615&ct=9183299&msource=wessnmis1010

Direct Relief
This organization focuses on health issues, all funding goes to japan, and the
organization is highly rated in terms of efficiency.
http://www.directrelief.org/EmergencyResponse/2011/JapanEarthquakeTsunami.aspx

Japan Society:
Japanese cultural society (for "the cultivation of a constructive, resonant and
dynamic relationship between the people of the U.S. and Japan.") that has
experience working on relief efforts. It is absorbing the cost of passing all
donations directly to relief organizations. They run a cultural center in NY.
http://www.japansociety.org/tohoku_earthquake_response
http://www.japansociety.org/frequently_asked_questions