Xinhuanet, of Tokyo, reports, in their English lanaguage online edition that a 6.2-magnitude quake hits Japan's Fukushima Prefecture
TOKYO, July 25 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale jolted Japan's northeastern Fukushima Prefecture and its vicinity on early Monday Morning, said the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The focus of the quake, which occurred at 03:51 a.m. local time was located some 40 km under the sea off Fukushima, said the agency.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to properties, and no tsunami warning was issued. Tremors were felt in Tokyo, about 240 kilometers away from the prefecture.
There was no immediate reports of abnormalities from the quake by the operator of the crippled Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.
Since this really isn't much news I'll use this spot to update a few minor reports of interest. The director of the IAEA visited the Fukushima plant today. Serveral blogs are reporting a Japanese TV broadcast claiming that the real levels of radiation at Fukushima City, are as much as an order of magnitude higher than reported by the government. I'll post these articles in updates.
In other nuclear news in Japan today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the President of Sharp electronics company, is pushing Solar Energy for Japan's future.
Juro Osawa, of the Wall Street Journal Reports Sharp President Pushes Solar Power in Japan's Nuclear Wake
As Japan rethinks its dependence on nuclear energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, Sharp Corp. is out front in the discussion over what's next.
A proposed shift in Japan's energy policy could mean higher electricity costs for Sharp and its fellow manufacturers. Sharp—whose biggest businesses are liquid-crystal display panels and television sets—is a member Keidanren, a powerful Japanese business lobby opposed to the proposed renewable energy bills.
Sharp's Mikio Katayama says, under the current system, an alternative to nuclear power would cost more. However, Sharp could benefit from the new policies, which would require utilities to buy up electricity that comes from renewable sources. The company is Japan's largest supplier of solar panels, which accounted for about 9% of Sharp's overall revenue of ¥3.02 trillion (US$38.57 billion) in the last fiscal year.
Sharp President Mikio Katayama sat down for a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal at the company's headquarters in Osaka.
Aya Takeda Threat to Japanese Food Chain Multiplies as Cesium Contamination Spreads
Radiation threats to Japan’s food chain are multiplying as cesium emissions from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant spread more widely, moving from hay to cattle to beef. Hay contaminated with as much as 690,000 becquerels a kilogram, compared with a government safety standard of 300 becquerels, has been fed to cattle. Beef with unsafe levels of the radioactive element was detected in four prefectures, the health ministry said July
Radiation threats to Japan’s food chain are multiplying as cesium emissions from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant spread more widely, moving from hay to cattle to beef. Prolonged exposure to radiation in the air, ground and food can cause leukemia and other cancers, according to the London- based World Nuclear Association.
Levels of cesium-134 in seawater near the Fukushima plant’s No. 3 reactor rose to levels 30 times the allowed safety standards last week, according to tests performed by Tokyo Electric Power Co, national broadcaster NHK reported.
No Testing System CProducts including spinach, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tea, milk, plums and fish have been found contaminated with cesium and iodine as far as 360 kilometers from Dai-Ichi.
Tokyo Electric said June 14 it found cesium in milk tested near another nuclear reactor site about 210 kilometers from the Fukushima plant.
Japanese are growing more concerned that the release of large, and unknown amounts of radiation into sea water may concentrate and work its way up the food chain.
The latest poll of the Japanese People shows three quarters support Prime Minister Naoto Kan's call to phase out nuclear power in Japan. And, now problems with the manufacturing of the pressure vessle at a completely different plant raise additinal concerns.
Japanese support PM's call to do away with nuclear power: poll
More than two-thirds of Japanese support Prime Minister Naoto Kan's call to do away with nuclear power, a media poll showed on Sunday, underscoring growing opposition to atomic energy in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Earlier this month the unpopular Kan said the Fukushima crisis, triggered by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami, had convinced him that Japan should wean itself from nuclear power and eventually have no atomic plants.
The Fukushima complex is still leaking radiation four months after the disaster and the public is growing increasingly anxious about the safety of other plants across quake-prone Japan.
A poll conducted this weekend by Kyodo news agency showed 70.3 percent support for Kan's call to wean the county off atomic energy, which accounted for nearly a third of the country's electricity output before the crisis.
In a development that could add to those worries, Kyodo separately reported that a report by researchers showed a reactor unit at Kyushu Electric Power's Genkai plant in southwestern Japan may have a faulty pressure vessel.
The study, led by Tokyo University professor Hiromitsu Ino, revealed disparities in the quality of steel used for the vessel at the No. 1 reactor, signaling the possibility of mistakes in the manufacturing process, Kyodo reported.