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CREATED:20191231T193000Z
DESCRIPTION:STOP The 2020 Olympics In Japan, End Nuclear Power and Nuclear  
 Weapons\n\nDefend the Children and Families of Fukushima\n\nJoin No Nukes 
 Action On Saturday March 11, 2020 3:00 PM\nSan Francisco Japanese 
 Consulate\n275 Battery St/near California\nSan Francisco\n\nJoin the No 
 Nukes Action NNA on Saturday, March 11,  2020 to demand the cancellation of 
 the Olympics in Japan and Fukushima. The Abe government lied to the 
 International Olympic Committee and the people of the world that Fukushima 
 had been \n“decontaminated”. \n\nNow the government is threatening to 
 release 1.5 million tons of radioactive water with tritium and other 
 dangerous material in the Pacific ocean. This environmental crime and 
 threat to all humanity\nmust be opposed. \n\nWe cannot be silent as the Abe 
 government with the collusion of the IOC continues to greenwash the 
 Olympics in Japan.\nThe Government is also demanding that families return 
 to Fukushima and has actually built public schools near the Fukushima plant 
 to show that it is safe. \n\nThese children are used as guinea pigs as the 
 government\ncontinues to try to remove the melted nuclear rods from the 
 broken down plants.\n\nThe Abe government is also moving to militarize and 
 remove Article 9 from the constitution which disallows offensive war and 
 the use of Japanese military forces outside Japan. Despite this law, the 
 government is sending military naval vessels to the Middle East to join 
 with the US and other imperial powers in threatening the people of the 
 Middle East.\n\nIt is also supporting the denialism of the ‘comfort 
 women’ who were sexual slaves of the Japanese Imperial Army during the 
 2nd World War.  It has attacked and. fired teachers who are opposed to the 
 remilitarization of Japan.\n\nJoin us in demanding the cancellation of the 
 Olympics in  Japan, The halt of the restarting of all nuclear plants in 
 Japan and against any release of radioactive water in the Pacific 
 Ocean.\n\nIf your organization would like to endorse and speak at the rally 
 please contact our committee\nNo Nukes Action 
 Committee\nhttp://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/\n(415)533-5642\n\nTokyo 2020 
 The Radioactive Olympics With Dr. Alex Rosen Of 
 IPPNW\nhttps://youtu.be/t9rThrZWQ38\n\nThe Japanese government with the 
 support of the International Olympic Committee is organizing the Olympics 
 in Japan in 2020, Dr. Alex Rosen who is with the International Physicians 
 for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) talks about the continuing health 
 dangers of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns and why the Olympics should not 
 be held in Fukushima.\nThis interview was done on 11/241 in Berlin, 
 Germany. For more information go to:\nInternational Physicians for the 
 Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)\nhttps://www.ippnw.de/startseite.html\n 
 www.radioactive-olympics.org\nhttp://www.openpetition.eu/petition/online/keep-the-olympic-games-out-of-radioactive-regions\nProduction 
 of Labor Video Project\nwww.laborvideo.org\n\nJapan Wants to Dump Nuclear 
 Plant’s Tainted Water. Fishermen Fear the Worst. \nThe water from the 
 Fukushima disaster is more radioactive than the authorities have previously 
 publicized, raising doubts about government assurances that it will be made 
 safe.\n\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/world/asia/japan-fukushima-nuclear-water.html\n\nTatsuo 
 Niitsuma and his wife, Yoko, in Iwaki, Japan, this month.\n\nBy Motoko Rich 
 and Makiko Inoue\nDec. 23, 2019\nUpdated 10:47 a.m. ET\n\nIWAKI, Japan — 
 The overpowering earthquake and tsunami that ripped through northern Japan 
 in March 2011 took so much from Tatsuo Niitsuma, a commercial fisherman in 
 this coastal city in Fukushima Prefecture.\nThe tsunami pulverized his 
 fishing boat. It demolished his home. Most devastating of all, it took the 
 life of his daughter.\nNow, nearly nine years after the disaster, Mr. 
 Niitsuma, 77, is at risk of losing his entire livelihood, too, as the 
 government considers releasing tainted water from a nuclear power plant 
 destroyed by the tsunami’s waves.\nPrime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet 
 and the Tokyo Electric Power Company — the operator of the Fukushima 
 Daiichi plant, where a triple meltdown led to the worst nuclear crisis 
 since Chernobyl — must decide what to do with more than one million tons 
 of contaminated water stored in about 1,000 giant tanks on the plant 
 site.\n\nON MONDAY, JAPAN’S MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, TRADE AND INDUSTRY 
 PROPOSED GRADUALLY RELEASING THE WATER INTO THE OCEAN OR ALLOWING IT TO 
 EVAPORATE, SAYING A CONTROLLED DISCHARGE INTO THE SEA WOULD “STABLY 
 DILUTE AND DISPERSE” IT. THE MINISTRY RULED OUT ALTERNATIVES LIKE 
 CONTINUING TO STORE IT IN TANKS OR INJECTING IT DEEP INTO THE GROUND. MR. 
 ABE’S CABINET WILL MAKE THE FINAL DECISION.\n\nThe water becomes 
 contaminated as it is pumped through the reactors to cool melted fuel that 
 is still too hot and radioactive to remove. For years, the power company, 
 known as Tepco, said that treatment of the water — which involves sending 
 it through a powerful filtration system to remove most radioactive material 
 — was making it safe to release. \nThe perfect gift for everyone on your 
 list.\nGift subscriptions to The Times. Starting at $25.\nBut it is 
 actually more radioactive than the authorities have previously publicized. 
 Officials say that it will be treated again, and that it will then be safe 
 for release.\nRegardless of government assurances, if the water is 
 discharged into the sea, it will most likely destroy the livelihoods of 
 hundreds of fishermen like Mr. Niitsuma. Consumers are already worried 
 about the safety of Fukushima seafood, and dumping the water would compound 
 the fears.\n\nIt would “kill the industry and take away the life of the 
 boats,” he said. “The fish won’t sell.”\nWith Fukushima preparing 
 to host baseball games during the Summer Olympics next year, and the plant 
 running out of land on which to build storage tanks, the debate has taken 
 on a sense of urgency.\n\nImageThe Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant.\nThe 
 Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant.Credit...Ko Sasaki for The New York 
 Times\nUntil last year, Tepco indicated that with the vast majority of the 
 water, all but one type of radioactive material — tritium, an isotope of 
 hydrogen that experts say poses a relatively low risk to human health — 
 had been removed to levels deemed safe for discharge under Japanese 
 government standards.\nBut last summer, the power company acknowledged that 
 only about a fifth of the stored water had been effectively treated.\nLast 
 month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry briefed reporters and 
 diplomats about the water stored in Fukushima. More than three-quarters of 
 it, the ministry said, still contains radioactive material other than 
 tritium — and at higher levels than the government considers safe for 
 human health.\nThe authorities say that in the early years of processing 
 the deluge of water flowing through the reactors, Tepco did not change 
 filters in the decontamination system frequently enough. The company said 
 it would re-treat the water to filter out the bulk of the nuclear 
 particles, making it safe to release into the ocean.\n\nFish being prepared 
 for screening for radioactivity at a lab inside a fish market in 
 Iwaki.\nFish being prepared for screening for radioactivity at a lab inside 
 a fish market in Iwaki.Credit...Ko Sasaki for The New York Times\nSome 
 experts and local residents say it is difficult to trust such 
 assurances.\n“The government and Tepco were hiding the fact that the 
 water was still contaminated,” said Kazuyoshi Satoh, a member of the city 
 assembly in Iwaki.\n\n“Because next year is the Tokyo Olympics, Prime 
 Minister Shinzo Abe wants to present the image that everything is ‘under 
 control,’” said Mr. Satoh, referring to a speech by the Japanese leader 
 to the International Olympic Committee when Tokyo was bidding to host the 
 2020 Games. \nThe power company acknowledged that it had not made it easy 
 for the public to get information. The water treatment data “has not been 
 presented in a manner that is easy to understand,” said Ryounosuke 
 Takanori, a Tepco spokesman.\n“As long as the water was stored in the 
 tanks, we thought it didn’t matter whether the water” exceeded safety 
 standards for discharge, said Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager in the 
 Fukushima Daiichi Decontamination and decommissioning office. \nMr. 
 Niitsuma, for whom fishing is not just a livelihood but also a balm against 
 grief over the loss of his daughter, said he thought both Tepco and the 
 government needed to come clean.\n“I want them to see the reality 
 squarely and disclose information fully,” said Mr. Niitsuma, who goes out 
 alone on his two-ton boat at dawn three times a week.\nHis wife, Yoko, 
 waits on the pier. On a recent morning, she helped drag the nets out of the 
 boat and dump squirming octopus, flounder and a few red gurnard into 
 buckets that the couple loaded onto a small flatbed truck to drive to a 
 warehouse where wholesalers bid on the fish.\n\n“Nuclear policy is 
 central government policy,” said Yukiei Matsumoto, the mayor of 
 Nahara.\n\nMrs. Niitsuma said she didn’t believe the government was 
 looking out for Fukushima’s fishing families. “They are talking about 
 discharging the water,” she said. “That itself means they are not 
 thinking about us.”\nThe question of whether the water could be 
 decontaminated to safe levels is a matter of degree, scientists say.\nIf 
 the water is processed so that the only radioactive materials that remain 
 are low levels of tritium, said Kazuya Idemitsu, a professor of nuclear 
 engineering at Kyushu University, releasing it into the ocean would be 
 “the best solution in terms of cost and safety.”\nMr. Idemitsu added 
 that functioning nuclear plants around the world release diluted water 
 containing tritium into the ocean.\nSome scientists said they would need 
 proof before believing that the Fukushima water was treated to safe 
 levels.\n“I want to see the numbers after they’ve removed these 
 additional radionuclides,” said Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist in 
 marine chemistry and geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 
 in Massachusetts. “Then, and only then, can I make a judgment on the 
 quality of the rationale for releasing it or the consequences of releasing 
 it.”\n\nGovernment officials argue that the water is not so much a 
 scientific problem as a perceptual one.\n“If the water is discharged into 
 the ocean, the price of seafood products may drop, or consumers won’t 
 want to buy them at all,” said Shuji Okuda, director for decommissioning 
 and contaminated water management at the economy and trade ministry. “So 
 even though there is no scientific evidence that the water is dangerous, we 
 are worried about the effects.”\nMore than 20 countries still have import 
 restrictions on Japanese seafood and other agricultural products that were 
 imposed after the 2011 disaster. Earlier this year, the European Union 
 lifted its ban on some products.\nIn Fukushima, the fishing industry brings 
 only about 15 percent of its pre-disaster catch levels to market. Every 
 haul is sampled and screened in labs run by Fukushima’s prefectural 
 government and the fisheries cooperative. \nAccording to the co-op, the 
 central government currently prohibits the sale of only one species, a rare 
 type of skate.\nTadaaki Sawada, the co-op’s division chief, said that if 
 the water was discharged, buyers would be unlikely to believe government 
 safety assurances.\n\n“Most people can live without fully understanding 
 the details of radioactivity,” Mr. Sawada said. “They can just say 
 ‘because I don’t understand fully, I won’t buy Fukushima 
 fish.’”\n\nIn the prefecture, where thousands of residents never 
 returned after evacuating, those who have come back harbor lingering 
 doubts.\n“In the corner of my mind, I wonder if it is safe or not,” 
 Keiko Nagayama, 65, said as she browsed at a seafood freezer in Naraha, a 
 hamlet in the original 12-mile exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant. 
 \nA government evacuation order was lifted in 2015. Although flounder and 
 Pacific saury from Iwaki were on sale, Ms. Nagayama chose flounder from 
 Hokkaido, in far northern Japan.\nYukiei Matsumoto, Naraha’s mayor, 
 declined to offer an opinion on the idea of water disposal from the nuclear 
 plant.\n“Nuclear policy is central government policy,” Mr. Matsumoto 
 said. “The contaminated water is their business.”\nNaraha is one of 
 several Fukushima towns where the central government has spent heavily to 
 draw people back to their communities.\nJust 3,877 people — a little over 
 half of the original population — have returned. Tokyo has devoted large 
 sums to subsidize a new school, a strip mall and a new arena that cost 4 
 billion yen, or about $37 million.\n\nOn a recent afternoon, a smattering 
 of people worked out in the gym, while just one man used the 25-meter 
 swimming pool in the arena complex. \nYukari Nakamura, 33, a local artist, 
 had been hired to paint murals on the walls and windows. Her husband, 
 Yuuki, and two young children were the only family in a spacious 
 playroom.\nMs. Nakamura said a Fukushima label on fish gave her pause. 
 “My heart aches to reject the seafood, and I feel such pain not being 
 able to recommend it,” she said, tearing up. “I don’t want to hurt 
 the fishermen who caught it, but it is so complicated.”\nMotoko Rich is 
 Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times. She has covered a broad range of 
 beats at the Times, including real estate (during a boom), the economy 
 (during a bust), books and education. @motokorich • Facebook\n\nJapan 
 gov't proposes Fukushima nuke plant water release to sea or air-The Madness 
 Continues\n\nThe government and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power 
 Co., have been unable to get rid of the more than 1 million tons of 
 radioactive water that has been treated and 
 stored\n\nhttps://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20191223/p2g/00m/0na/052000c\n\nDecember 
 23, 2019 (Mainichi Japan)\n\nIn this Nov. 12, 2014, file photo, a Tokyo 
 Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) official wearing radioactive protective gear 
 stands in front of Advanced Liquid Processing Systems during a press tour 
 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima 
 Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)\nTOKYO (AP) -- 
 Japan's economy and industry ministry has proposed gradually releasing or 
 allowing to evaporate massive amounts of treated but still radioactive 
 water at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. 
 \n\n【Related】Environment Ministry presents contaminated waste disposal 
 plan for Fukushima\nThe proposal made Monday to a body of experts is the 
 first time the ministry has narrowed down the options available to just 
 releasing the water. It is meant to tackle a huge headache for the plant's 
 operator as storage space runs out, despite fears of a backlash from the 
 public.\n\nNearly nine years after the 2011 triple meltdowns at Fukushima 
 Dai-ichi, the radioactive water is still accumulating as the water is 
 needed to keep the cores cooled and minimize leaks from the damaged 
 reactors. \n\nFor years, a government panel has been discussing ways to 
 handle the crisis and to reassure fishermen and residents who fear 
 potential health impacts from releasing the radioactive water as well as 
 harm to the region's image. \n\nIn Monday's draft proposal, the ministry 
 suggests a controlled release of the water into the Pacific, allowing the 
 water to evaporate, or a combination of the two methods. \n\nThe ministry 
 said a controlled release into the sea was the best option because it would 
 "stably dilute and disperse" the water from the plant using a method 
 endorsed by the United Nations' Scientific Committee on the Effects of 
 Atomic Radiation. It also would facilitate monitoring of radiation levels 
 in the environment. \n\nReleasing the entire amount of water over one year 
 would only increase radiation levels to thousands of times less than the 
 impact humans usually get from the natural environment. \n\nIn the 
 proposal, the ministry noted that evaporation has been a tested and proven 
 method following the 1979 core meltdown at Three Mile Island, where it took 
 two years to get rid of 87,000 tons of tritium water. \n\nThe government 
 and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., have been unable to get 
 rid of the more than 1 million tons of radioactive water that has been 
 treated and stored due to opposition from local fishermen and residents 
 fearing further damage to Fukushima's reputation and recovery. The utility 
 has managed to cut down the volume of water by pumping up groundwater from 
 upstream and installing a costly underground "ice wall" around the reactor 
 buildings to keep the water from running into the area. \n\nTEPCO says it 
 has space to store only up to 1.37 million tons and only until the summer 
 of 2022, raising speculation that the water may be released after the Tokyo 
 Olympics next summer. TEPCO and experts say the tanks get in the way of 
 decommissioning work and that they need to free up the space to build 
 storage for debris removed and other radioactive materials. The tanks also 
 could spill out their contents in a major earthquake, tsunami or flood. 
 \n\nExperts, including those at the International Atomic Energy Agency who 
 have inspected the Fukushima plant, say the controlled release of the water 
 into the ocean is the only realistic option, though it will take 
 decades.\n\nA government panel earlier compiled a report that listed five 
 options, including releasing the water into the sea and evaporation. The 
 three others included underground burial and an injection into offshore 
 deep geological layers.\n\nThe panel has also discussed possibly storing 
 the radioactive water in large industrial tanks outside the plant, but the 
 ministry proposal ruled that out, citing risks of leakage in case of 
 corrosion, tsunamis or other disasters and accidents, as well as the 
 technical challenge of transporting the water elsewhere.\n\nJapan to either 
 dump contaminated water into ocean or release it as 
 steam\nhttp://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/922022.html\nPosted 
 on : Dec.24,2019 18:10 KST Modified on : Dec.24,2019 18:10 KST	\nFacebook 
 페이스북\nTwitter 트위터\nprint 프린트\nLarger font size 
 글씨크기 크게\nSmaller font size 글씨크기 작게\nStudies show 
 treated water is still highly radioactive\n391577178290.jpg\nStorage tanks 
 for contaminated water from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Image was 
 taken in 2017. (photo pool) \nThe Japanese government is narrowing down its 
 plans for the disposal of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi 
 Nuclear Power Plant to two possible approaches: an ocean dump or steam 
 release.\nAn expert subcommittee established in the Japanese Ministry of 
 Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to discuss measures for disposal of 
 contaminated water announced three possible plans for disposing of the 
 Fukushima water: releasing it into the ocean, evaporating it and releasing 
 it into the atmosphere, or using both approaches simultaneously. While no 
 final conclusion has been reached, the announcement indicates that it is 
 moving toward a release of contaminated water into the ocean.\nIn 
 particular, the expert subcommittee ruled out the possibility of an 
 underground disposal, which had previously been under consideration. The 
 subcommittee has been considering contaminated water disposal methods since 
 2016, with its secretariat responsible for compiling a draft report 
 announced on Dec. 23. Regarding the schedule and duration of the 
 contaminated water’s release, the report only said that the Japanese 
 government would “take responsibility for deciding the matter.” In view 
 of the amount of water to be disposed of, however, it predicted that the 
 process would take at least 10 years.\nEven with Japan, many are voicing 
 concerns about the government leaning toward an ocean dump of the 
 contaminated water.\n“It’s too soon for an ocean dump. It will have an 
 impact on our successors in the fishing industry,” the chairperson of a 
 fishing industry cooperative in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, was quoted as 
 saying by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.\nOnce the expert subcommittee 
 produces a final opinion on the contaminated water disposal schedule, the 
 Japanese government plans to use it as a basis for determining its basic 
 policy approach and proceed into hearing opinions from Tokyo Electric Power 
 Company (TEPCO) shareholders and members of the public.\nAround 170 tons of 
 radioactively contaminated water is being produced each day at the 
 Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant due to the infiltration of underground water 
 since a 2011 disaster that caused the leakage of radioactivity. Around 1.7 
 million tons of it is currently being stored in water tanks. The Japanese 
 government has been strongly considering dumping the water into the ocean, 
 explaining that the amount of space available for storage will run out by 
 late 2022.\nThe Japanese government is referring to the contaminated water 
 as “processed water,” as it has been purified with a multi-nuclide 
 removal equipment (ALPS) system to reduce 62 types of radioactive 
 substances (not including tritium) to below threshold levels.\nBut 
 controversy has raged since a September 2018 study of 890,000 tons of 
 Fukushima water that had undergone ALPS purification (a total of 950,000 
 tons) showed that 750,000 tons of it, or more than 80%, still contained 
 radioactive substances above the threshold levels for release.\nBy Cho 
 Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent\nPlease direct comments or questions to 
 [english@hani.co.kr]\nCaption: Storage tanks for contaminated water from 
 the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Image was taken in 2017. (photo 
 pool)\n\n\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/31/18829368.php
SUMMARY:Stop The 2020 Olympics In Japan, End Nuclear Power & Nuclear Weapons
LOCATION:San Francisco Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St/near California\nSan 
 Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/12/31/18829368.php
DTSTART:20200111T230000Z
DTEND:20200112T000000Z
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