Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (Currently In Meltdown) Chief Dies Of Cancer
Channel: onthewaytoextinction
Date: 2013-07-11

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FORMER FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI CHIEF DIES OF CANCER
 
The former head of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has died of esophageal cancer.

 Masao Yoshida died at a Tokyo hospital on Tuesday.
 He was 58 years old.

 Yoshida led the fight to bring the reactors under control after the accident in March 2011. Three reactors melted down as all power sources were lost in the massive quake and tsunami.

 He left the post in December the same year after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer. In July 2012, he had surgery after a brain hemorrhage.

 In November 2011, Yoshida told reporters he thought several times that he would die in the first week after the accident. He said he expected the worst when hydrogen explosions occurred at the No.1 and No.3 reactors, and when his team failed to inject water into the No.2 reactor.

 In a video interview shown in Fukushima in August last year, Yoshida said knowledge should be gathered from around the world to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi plant. He said this is the only way to make local residents think that things are improving. He said he planned to work at the plant again when he recovered.

 The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, denies that Yoshida's cancer was caused by radiation exposure.

 The utility's officials say Yoshida was exposed to about 70 millisieverts of radiation from the time of the accident to his resignation. They say it would take at least 5 years for esophageal cancer to develop after exposure to radiation.

Jul. 9, 2013 - Updated 09:27 UTC

NRA PANEL TO STUDY WAYS TO PREVENT LEAKS INTO SEA

 Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has decided to form a working group to study ways to keep highly tainted water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant from seeping into the sea.

NRA officials met on Wednesday. They said contaminated water is very likely leaking into the sea. A panel including experts is to look into the problem.

The decision followed findings of soaring radioactive cesium levels in observation wells at the plant.

The facility's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, has reported high levels of radioactive substances in a well near the sea since May.

The firm said on Tuesday that levels of cesium 137 in a new well near the plant's No. 2 reactor had risen to 22,000 becquerels per liter. That's 100 times the level logged 4 days earlier.

Utility officials had said highly contaminated water that leaked near the reactor in April 2011 may have been detected this time around.

But regulators say this is unlikely, as cesium was also detected in wells near other reactors -- even though it can easily be absorbed by soil.

They also say radioactive substances were recently found in high densities in waters of the plant's port. They say they strongly suspect that highly contaminated water is leaking into soil and then into the sea.

NRA chief Shunichi Tanaka told reporters that examinations by experts are needed to take countermeasures as a top priority.

Tokyo Electric says it will seriously heed the NRA's views.

Jul. 10, 2013 - Updated 10:34 UTC