national

TEPCO struggling to stabilize plant despite progress reports

26 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2011 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

26 Comments
Login to comment

Just wait for the rice radiation levels coming in. I'm expect them to see a lot they didn't want to see.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Does anyone know in which dairy products (and product brands) contamination has been found?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Contamination in the rice will send a serious shockwave through Japan. I expect that panic buying will be an issue once again.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I think it may be wise to purcase imported products,ie, rice ,dairy, meat ,fish and vegetables.I may get a hammering for this sugestion but as the origin of these items seems to be obscure in some cases and new contamination is being discovered it is becoming more difficult to discern what is safe for the consumer.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Lethal hotspots were detected inside the crippled nuclear plant last week with radiation so high that it would kill a person within weeks if they were exposed to it for even one hour

How about that for some good news from Fukushima

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

How about that for some good news from Fukushima

That news was reported here last week. The hot spots were located between the Daiichi 1 and Daiichi 2 reactor buildings.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

My guess they have control of the information released but little control if any at ground zero. A get ready for bad news story.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Does anyone know in which dairy products (and product brands) contamination has been found?

Here is a good link with lots of information including which products have been banned or restricted for consumption (you might have to scroll down a bit). It also has information about local radiation levels in Fukushima. I check this site every day: http://www.worldvillage.org/fia/kinkyu_english.php

0 ( +1 / -1 )

They could always fake the radiation levels in the rice or change the labels to bypass testing. Ya never know.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

the origin of these items seems to be obscure in some cases and new contamination is being discovered it is becoming more difficult to discern what is safe for the consumer.

That's true, but remember there's been plenty of food safety scandals on imported foods as well, especially Chinese products. There's probably not a good answer.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I only wish I knew the truth what's happening.

TEPCO won the weekly lying competition again, they will be in the Guinness world records soon.

Radioactive substances from the plant continue to contaminate the food chain

Yes, I know that, that's the only thing we know for sure.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

There is a BIG difference between E-Colei and radiation especially for children, you can not compare dodgy food to food containing isotopes! Both might kill but you can recover from one.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

TEPCO struggling??? ... they have struggled since day 1.... I am sure that Homer Simpson could have done a better job at this nuclear power plant than they have.... does Montegomery Burns work for Tepco??

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I hope the contaminated rice does not find it's way to the Municipalities and served in school lunches like the contaminated beef was.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Of course contaminated rice will find its way into the consumer food chain, either directly or indirectly. As for what items are contaminated, you'll never know for sure.

What can you rely on?

Well, in this as well as most other health, safety, food, drug or similar problems ever in any country around the world is that the "official" figures and results will be late, fudged, doctored, based on self-reported or unscientific procedures, and filtered by industry, bureaucrats and politicians. So make that your assumption and act accordingly. Then you'll be about as OK as you can if you choose to live in a place with a level 7 nuclear accident in progress.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Lethal hotspots were detected inside the crippled nuclear plant last week with radiation so high that it would kill a person within weeks if they were exposed to it for even one hour

I wonder how many lives of these workers have been lost, how many deaths have been covered up by this government and the media smegma that runs this country. I just wonder....

How painful and heartbreaking is to know that money-saving, worldwide image and saving their dirty asses is the first priority rather than saving lives, especially the children. Shameless government of Japan.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I hope the contaminated rice does not find it's way to the Municipalities and served in school lunches like the contaminated beef was.

So much for the future of this country, the children.... I have no doubt that pets are fed way better than school kids.

Yet another example of how they prefer to serve contaminated food in order to save some yen. No shame whatsoever.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Like I said yesterday, since the head of the UN is coming to see the site, expect a bunch of revelations to come out.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Japanese consumers are especially concerned about rice, the country’s staple food, as the harvest season approaches, with local authorities hurrying to inspect radiation levels.

Oh yes, trusting local authorities. doing the same mistake all over again.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Progress report does not mean "positive report"... tepco are just releasing stuff saying things are moving along, I'll put money on it that the plants are not under control for a long time. All these "excuses" will come up, in fact Tepco are going to blame anything besides themselves.

The workers knew about these hot spots for weeks and run past them, yet Tepco released no reports on it... Tepco and the government are sugar coating everything.. mean while the general public are all getting poisoned.

If you think Tepco are idiots please vote "good" for this comment!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The head of the UN? As in, funded by countries in bed with the nuclear industry? Just watch. It'll be all about making a few appropriate noises while smoothing over the whole thing.

The revelations are already out and continuing to come out if you know where to look on the Net, but nothing happened and nobody does anything, even if they could. Most official organizations are still ignorantly or deliberately mixing up radiation and radioactive isotopes, fudging readings, giving the lowest number detected in every case, saying "no radiation detected in XYZ" for "never even checked it", dragging feet, using a handheld geiger counter against the side of an animal or plant to judge "offically safe", etc. What will the head of the UN or any organization do about this.

Same story with chemical pollution, oil industry, big pharma, wall street ripoffs and bailouts, etc. Forget it. There are no saviors or organizations that will break loose the truth and set things in motion. You're on your own and you have to take the official stance with a grain of salt and make your own conclusions.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Lethal hotspots were detected inside the crippled nuclear plant last week with radiation so high that it would kill a person within weeks if they were exposed to it for even one hour.

If this Hotspot is NEW then the situation at Daiichi and the surrounding areas are not to good. Radiation levels of that magnitude outside of containment is horrible to say the least.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Progress report does not mean "positive report"...

I couldn't agree with you more. The title of the article is misleading. The reports from the Japanese government and the TEPCO do not reflect the ongoing impacts of radiation substances on the soil and the infrastructures at all. The fact that the substances are released for 5 months—even after heavy rain in Tohoku last week—explains its little progress in general.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@the_odeman: Thanks very much!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Bury it or cover the whole thing over and tackle them one by one. That would be progress.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

smithinjapan's on the money. When foreign adults come to have a look, the news does tend to get worse, doesn't it? Here's a headline from today's Asahi: "Report suggests second meltdown at reactor at Fukushima plant". The reason radiation went up again from March the 21st was a second meltdown in No. 3, not rain as TEPCO said. Oh, the black smoke that day? Not a mysterious oil fire as TEPCO said, but nuclear fuel burning the concrete floor of the containment building. According to the Asahi: "Tanabe [Fumiya, the chap who figured all this out] also suggested [Quite helpfully, no?] that TEPCO officials think about what steps should be taken to monitor whether the fuel that has fallen into the containment vessel is being properly cooled." So we've cleared stage one, have we? Except for the part about where the fuel for No.3 is, how hot it might be, where it might have gone from March the 21st to now, where it might be going from here...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites