BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18830571 SEQUENCE:18982218 CREATED:20200210T075800Z DESCRIPTION:2/11 SF Rally At Japanese Consulate To Stop Nuclear Olympics In Japan, End Nuclear Power and Defend Fukushima Families\nSTOP The 2020 Olympics In Japan, End Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons, Stop Cover-up\nDefend the Children and Families of Fukushima\nJoin No Nukes Action On Tuesday February 11, 2020 3:00 PM\nSan Francisco Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St/near California\nSan Francisco\n\n\nJoin the No Nukes Action NNA on Tuesday February 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”. A study has found hot spots on the 2020 Fukushima Torch Relay that will start in March. The government is threatening to release 1.5 million tons of radioactive water with tritium and other dangerous material in the Pacific ocean. This is an environmental crime and threat to all humanity. The release will contaminate the entire Pacific rim and must be opposed.\nWe also 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. These children are used as guinea pigs as the government\ncontinues to try to remove the melted nuclear rods from the broken down plants.\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\nmilitary naval vessels to the Middle East to join with the US and other imperial powers in threatening the people of the Middle East.\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.\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\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\nRadiation hot spots found at 2020 Olympics torch relay venue near site of nuclear disaster, Greenpeace claims\nhttps://www.cnn.com/2019/12/05/asia/fukushima-radiation-olympic-games-greenpeace-intl-hnk/index.html\nBy Eric Cheung and Yoko Wakatsuki, CNN\nUpdated 6:32 AM ET, Thu December 5, 2019 \nThe J-Village sports complex is located around 12 miles south of the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.\nOne million microsieverts is equal to 1 sievert, the unit used to measure radiation and quantify the amount absorbed by the body.\nAccording to the International Atomic Energy Agency, an average person receives natural exposure to radiation of 2,400 microsieverts a year, but a very large dose may result in heightened risks of long-term health effects like cancer. \nUsing Greenpeace's calculations, people staying near the stadium could be exposed to a greater amount of radiation in just over a day than they would naturally experience in a year.\nPublic health concern\nKauze Suzuki, energy campaigner at Greenpeace Japan, said while the general radiation levels at the stadium remained low, the hot spots were concerning because they were detected in areas visited by a large number of people.\n"These radiation hot spots are of significant public health concern," he said, adding the group called on the Japanese government to "act urgently and to initiate immediate decontamination."\nIn March 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, about 130 miles (210km) northeast of Tokyo, was damaged by a tsunami resulting from a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that sparked reactor meltdowns and leaked high levels of radioactive material into the sea and air.\n\nThe Japanese government has conducted extensive decontamination work following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.\nDecontamination work\nIn response to the report, Japan's environment ministry said it had conducted further decontamination work and would enhance radiation monitoring at the stadium, where the Japanese leg of the Olympic torch relay will start on March 26, 2020.\nSpeaking to CNN on Thursday, a deputy counselor at Japan's Ministry of the Environment, Kishiko Yokoyama, said the government has worked with the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) -- which owned the nuclear plant -- to decontaminate the area.\n"The radiation was found in a corner of a parking lot adjacent to the J-Village," she said. "TEPCO is investigating why the high radiation level was found in that spot."\nShe added the government would enhance monitoring of radiation levels at the stadium to ensure the safety of athletes and spectators.\nJapan will host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9 next year. \nIn a statement, organizers of the Games said they were waiting to hear the result of the investigation, and have been working with the Japanese government to ensure the event's success.\nThe statement said the Olympic torch relay would be "a grand start for us and we would like to coordinate with relevant parties to continue the preparation.”\n\nFukushima assures radiation is no threat to Olympic torch relay On March 26\nhttps://nypost.com/2020/01/21/fukushima-assures-radiation-is-no-threat-to-olympic-torch-relay/\n\nanuary 21, 2020 | 2:08pm\nBy Reuters\nJ \nEnlarge Image\nn employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) uses a geiger counter next to storage tanks for radioactive water at TEPCO's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan\nn employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) uses a geiger counter next to storage tanks for radioactive water at TEPCO's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan.Reuters\n\nTOKYO — Fukushima prefecture, home to the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, on Tuesday reassured participants and spectators at the Olympic torch relay this year that they would not need to worry about radiation exposure.\n\nThe four-month torch relay ahead of the 2020 Olympics will begin on March 26 at J-Village, a soccer training center in Fukushima that served as a frontline operations base for workers who battled the 2011 nuclear crisis.\n\nOf more than 24,000 monitoring spots along the relay route in Fukushima, one in Iitate village, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, had the highest reading, at 0.77 microsieverts per hour, the prefecture’s December survey results showed.\n\nA four-hour stay there would bring radiation exposure to 3.08 microsieverts, or 0.003 millisieverts, well below the government’s target of keeping the public’s annual exposure arising from the nuclear accident below 1 millisievert.\n\nBy comparison, an air traveler is exposed to 0.1 to 0.2 millisieverts of radiation during a round trip between Tokyo and New York.\n\n“This won’t be posing any problem for holding the torch relay,” the Fukushima prefecture said in a statement.\n\nThe radiation level in Iitate is about 20 times higher than that of downtown Tokyo, which registered at 0.037 microsieverts per hour on Tuesday, according to the web page of Japan’s nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Regulation Authority.\n\nA magnitude 9 earthquake and massive tsunami hit eastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.\n\nThe buildup of contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power, has hampered what will be a decades-long recovery and alarmed neighboring countries.\n\nAthletes from at least one country, South Korea, are planning to bring radiation detectors and their own food this summer.\n\nThe torch relay will take place in Fukushima for three days to March 28, during which more than 260 people will carry the flame, before it starts to crisscross Japanese archipelago in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics starting on July 24.\n\n\nFinal disposal of Fukushima nuke water should reflect local input\nhttp://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13096244\nFebruary 3, 2020 at 12:20 JST\nShare\nTweet\nPrint\n\nStorage tanks on the grounds of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant hold radiation-contaminated water. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)\nThe ministry of trade and industry's expert panel has made its recommendations on how to tackle the formidable challenge of disposing of radiation-contaminated water being generated by the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.\n\nAfter three years of debate on options, the subcommittee on Jan. 31 effectively endorsed as the best approach diluting the water to safe levels and releasing it into the ocean. The water will still contain tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, even after being treated with a filtering system.\n\nFinal decisions on the method and time frame for disposal of the polluted water will be left to the government. Releasing the water into the environment could deal an additional blow to the reputation of the local fishing and other industries, which have already been badly damaged by rumors and other effects.\n\nThe government should not make a rash decision on this delicate matter.\n\nSince 2016, the expert panel has been examining five options presented by the ministry's working group, not just delving into technical issues but also assessing possible social effects of each option including reputational damage from harmful rumors.\n\nThe panel has chosen two of the five options--releasing the water into the ocean after dilution and vaporizing the tritium-laced water and releasing the steam into the atmosphere--as realistic approaches because they have been used before. Then, the panel pointed out the advantages and disadvantages of these two methods.\n\nThe experts have decided that release in the ocean will be the less troublesome of the two options for several technical advantages. For one, this approach has been used by ordinary nuclear power plants. The facilities are simpler and there is a pool of expertise to operate them.\n\nIt would be easier to predict and monitor how the water will spread after being dumped into the sea. Unexpected situations are unlikely to occur.\n\nFrom the social viewpoint, the panel says, it is difficult to compare the magnitudes of the effects of the two methods. But it nevertheless points out that boiling the water and releasing the steam into the atmosphere could cause reputational damage to a wider range of industries than releasing the water into the sea.\n\nWhile the panel did not say clearly which of the two options should be adopted, it suggested that dumping the water into the ocean is more preferable.\n\nBut the government should not take this simply as a cue to go for the ocean dumping option.\n\nThe subcommittee has called on the government to "listen to the opinions of a wide range of parties concerned including local governments and people working in the agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries" as it makes the decision.\n\nThis call should be taken seriously.\n\nIf the government starts talks with local communities over the issue with the position that the decision to discharge treated radioactive water into the sea has already been made, there will be a fierce backlash from the communities.\n\nIt should listen sincerely and carefully to the voices of local governments, businesses and residents.\n\nIt should be noted that the subcommittee has stressed the importance of ensuring a fully transparent process for making the decisions. If the issue is discussed behind closed doors, the final decisions, whatever they may be, will not win broad public support. Information disclosure is crucial for the entire process.\n\nThe treated water has been stored in an increasing number of on-site tanks, but Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the ruined nuclear plant, has warned that storage tanks holding processed water on the grounds of the plant will become completely full by the summer of 2022. The electric utility wants the government to make the decision as soon as possible.\n\nBut the subcommittee did not refer to the timing of the government's decision or the beginning of the process of disposing of the water.\n\nThe government should not set any fixed time frame for making the decisions.\n\nEven if the method of disposal is chosen early, it will take years to make the necessary preparations. It will take many additional years to complete the task.\n\nThe government needs to realize that it is facing a long and bumpy road ahead in its efforts to deal with this colossal challenge.\n\n--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 1\n\n\nPop group TOKIO to run in 2020 Tokyo Olympic torch relay in Fukushima\n\nhttps://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200128/p2a/00m/0na/023000c?yclid=YJAD.1580277496.aFw22uqdcq2puIjQzkmx94exRtXX28QNJsvWZJ21Zo1tIY.AhGHiLom43T_WMA--\nJanuary 29, 2020 (Mainichi Japan)\nJapanese version\n\n\nThe Fukushima Prefectural Government office is seen on Feb. 22, 2019. (Mainichi/Motoyori Arakawa)\nFUKUSHIMA -- The Fukushima Prefectural Government announced on Jan. 27 that it has casted pop group TOKIO to carry the Olympic torch as part of the relay in the northeastern Japan prefecture ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.\n\n【Related】Olympics: Tokyo torch relay to add another Fukushima reactor town\n【Related】Olympics: Marathoner Yuko Arimori, skater Daisuke Takahashi to run in torch relay\n【Related】Ex-women's soccer champions to open Japan leg of Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay\nMembers of the popular group will run on March 26, when the relay will start at the J-Village soccer national training center straddling the prefectural towns of Naraha and Hirono, which was used as a base to cope with the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami hit the plant in March 2011.\n\nThe group, managed by Johnny & Associates Inc., will occupy one of the seven slots for runners recommended by a prefectural executive committee. TOKIO has maintained a close relationship with the prefecture through TV programs and other means since before the disaster, and the group's members have appeared in TV commercials underscoring the safety of agricultural products in the prefecture, which was damaged by rumors of radioactive contamination after the meltdowns.\n\nFukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori said in a regular press conference on Jan. 27, "Having members of TOKIO, who have cheered us on with passion, run (in the relay) will provide a good chance for us to call for for restoration of the prefecture, and to promote our prefecture's tasty and high-quality agricultural products."\n\nMembers of TOKIO released a commented stating, "Fukushima is spiritual home for TOKIO. We will run in the relay as our way to repay Fukushima and convey to the whole world Fukushima's efforts to recover."\n\n(Japanese original by Hideyuki Kakinuma, Fukushima Bureau)\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/09/18830571.php SUMMARY:Rally At Japanese Consulate To Stop Nuclear Olympics In Japan, End Nuclear Power LOCATION:San Francisco Japanese Consulate\n275 Battery St/near California\nSan Francisco URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/09/18830571.php DTSTART:20200211T230000Z DTEND:20200212T000000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR