Today in Tokyo, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman at the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said, “It’s very possible that there has been some kind of leak at the No. 3 reactor” at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant. That came on the heels of bad news yesterday, when two workers stepped in water near the […]
Category Archives: Japan
Into Ibaraki
We received an emergency request for socks from North Ibaraki City, hit hard by the earthquake and tsunami, and located only 73 km (45 mi) south of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plants. We faced two questions: Was it safe to travel closer to the radiation, and could we justify using precious gasoline for such […]
Radiation Report
As of 12 noon Tuesday (11 pm Monday EDT), radiation in Tochigi City near my office 178 km (111 mi) from the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains far below the level in Wednesday’s report at only 0.153 microsieverts per hour (μSv/hr). Recent history of this measurement: 0.224 μSv/hr Mar 16 at 12 pm 0.216 μSv/hr Mar […]
Radiation Levels Still Falling
It’s 10 pm Monday Japan time (9 am EDT), and I just returned from an aid trip to northern Ibaraki Prefecture, just below the Fukushima nuclear power plant situation. I’ll provide a full report on that in the morning, Japan time, with photos. Too tired to do it now. News continues to be promising, confirming […]
Situation Stabilizing
Despite what you’ve read about radiation being detected in Fukushima milk and Ibaragi spinach (not lethal levels, not consumed by anybody, and immediately pulled from market), a Japanese government cover-up of key information (yet said government reporting throughout the day readings that were confirmed by non-government testers), and a fire that won’t go out (but […]