Sanae Takaichi: Another Pro-Nuclear Psychopath Who Is "Very Sorry"
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 2013-06-21

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

TEPCO SETTLEMENT IN FARMER SUICIDE

 The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant has reached a settlement with a family of a farmer who killed himself after his crops were banned from shipment soon after the nuclear accident.

Hisashi Tarukawa, a 64-year-old farmer in Sukagawa City, committed suicide in March 2011, 12 days after the nuclear accident.

Tarukawa's family has sought damages from the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, claiming the disaster drove him to suicide.

Family members said Tarukawa died the day after his cabbages and other vegetables were banned from the market. They also said he had told his family: "this is the end for farmers in Fukushima."
Officials at a government settlement body agreed that the nuclear accident led to the suicide.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will accept the settlement terms presented by the body.

The sum has not been disclosed, but the family's lawyer says the case is the first time the utility has accepted such a settlement.

Tarukawa's son said the family's aim is not money, but to prove that people died due to the nuclear accident.

Lawyer Izutaro Managi added he hopes this settlement will encourage families of other victims to file claims.

Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Company said that the utility respects the settlement and sought a swift resolution.

Jun. 5, 2013 - Updated 13:13 UTC

FUKUSHIMA PREF. COMPLAINS TO TEPCO

 Fukushima Prefecture has demanded that Tokyo Electric Power Company quickly determine how the groundwater was contaminated with radioactive material, and take steps to prevent it leaking into the sea.

The prefecture summoned the utility's managing director, Akio Komori, to the prefectural government office on Wednesday.

Komori apologized for the trouble and pledged to determine its cause and to step up monitoring.

The head of the prefecture's environment division, Tetsuya Hasegawa, expressed disappointment that the trouble happened amid repeated requests to guarantee safety in handling contaminated wastewater in the process of scrapping the plant's reactors.

The prefecture later decided to step up its own monitoring of seawater near the plant.

Jun. 19, 2013 - Updated 10:32 UTC

NUCLEAR EVACUATION GUIDELINES UPDATED

 Japan's nuclear regulator has decided further details of its guidelines for local residents in case of a nuclear plant accident.

In February the Nuclear Regulation Authority decided on a revised version of the guidelines. The review came after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident in March, 2011.

The new guidelines expanded the necessary evacuation area, or the area where residents must stay indoors, to a 30-kilometer radius around a nuclear plant.

It also says iodine tablets should be distributed to households within 5 kilometers of a plant in advance of a possible accident.

Iodine helps prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive substances.

On Wednesday an NRA meeting decided that municipalities within 5 kilometers of a plant will have doctors inform residents about the use and storage of iodine tablets before distributing them.

It also decided that the municipalities will identify residents who may suffer from the side effects from the tablets before distribution.

Municipalities outside the 5-kilometer radius will be ordered to store necessary amounts of the tablets for emergency.

However, municipalities can distribute the tablets to residents outside the 5-kilometer radius if quick distribution would be difficult due to geography.

Concerning monitoring radiation levels, the regulator decided that the central government, instead of relevant municipalities, will be in charge. The government will set up a monitoring center near each plant and instruct municipalities and the plant operator to gather data to be used for the government to analyze.

Municipalities within 30 kilometers of a plant must now incorporate the latest decision into their disaster preparedness programs.

Jun. 5, 2013 - Updated 04:28 UTC


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