Nor do I because I'm still buying and reading the Boston Globe.
"Japan approves $48 billion to aid tsunami recovery; Criticism mounts over leader’s disaster response" May 03, 2011|By Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan’s Parliament passed a $48 billion tsunami recovery budget yesterday that will only start to cover the cost of what was the world’s most expensive disaster.
As more budgetary battles lie ahead, mounting frustrations over the government’s response to the tsunami and the still-unfolding nuclear crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant are threatening to topple the country’s prime minister....
Related: Fallout From Fukushima
Opposition leaders have called on Kan — who was already unpopular before the disaster — to step down for his handling of the aftermath, particularly his response to the subsequent crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
A poll released yesterday by the Asahi, a major newspaper, found 55 percent of respondents have “few expectations’’ for Kan’s Cabinet to handle the disaster response properly. Only 27 percent said they were “hopeful,’’ according to the nationwide telephone survey conducted April 23 and 24 among 1,842 randomly selected households. A poll of that size would normally have a margin of error of plus- or minus-3 percentage points.
The budget does not include any government support for the massive compensation liability of the nuclear plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.....
In an unrelated development, unusually high radiation levels were detected inside a nuclear plant in Fukui, on the Japan Sea well away from the northeast coast devastated by the tsunami.
The abnormality was contained within the plant’s cooling system, causing no outside leaks, and the plant was still running, said Mitsuru Marutani, of the Japan Atomic Power Co. He said the plant would be gradually closed for an inspection.
Also yesterday, customs agents in Chile detected low levels of radioactivity in cars shipped from the Japanese port of Yokohama, officials said....
The stuff is making its way around the world one way or another.
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Related: Workers enter damaged nuclear reactor facility in Japan
"Japan wants nuclear plant’s reactors shut until sea wall built" May 07, 2011|By Shino Yuasa, Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan urged a power company yesterday to suspend all three reactors at a coastal nuclear plant while a sea wall and other structures are built to help ensure a major earthquake or tsunami does not cause a second radiation crisis....
What?
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"Power firm delays decision on reactor
TOKYO — A Japanese power company postponed its decision on a government request that it halt three reactors at a coastal nuclear plant until safety measures can be improved to guard against future earthquakes and tsunamis. On Friday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he had asked Chubu Electric Power Co. to suspend operation of the reactors at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station in Shizuoka prefecture until a sea wall is built and backup systems are improved."
"Japan to stick with atomic power; Energy policy is unchanged by reactor crisis" by Mari Yamaguchi,
Associated Press / May 9, 2011
TOKYO — Atomic power will remain a major part of Japan’s energy policy despite the ongoing crisis at one tsunami-crippled plant and a looming shutdown of another while its quake protections are improved, a government official said yesterday.
What more is there to say?
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku also said there is “no need to worry’’ about other reactors. “Scientifically, that’s our conclusion at the moment.’’
This from the same government that admitted it lied about the severity of the crisis.
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Nuclear energy provides more than one-third of Japan’s electricity, and shutting the three reactors would probably worsen power shortages expected this summer.
Would you rather a shortage of life?
Already, buildings have reduced lighting, stores have trimmed service hours, and subway operators have shut off air conditioning in a conservation effort in the capital region since the March 11 disasters.
After an executives’ meeting Saturday failed to finalize a decision, Chubu chairman Toshio Mita left for Qatar to negotiate for liquefied natural gas supplies to cover the shortfall, company official Tatsuo Sawaki said yesterday....
Chubu official Mikio Inomata added that officials are discussing possibilities of boosting output from gas, oil, and coal-fueled power plants and buying power from other utility companies.
But, but, but.... global warming! Of course, spring has gone missing here in Massachusetts. It's been damp, it's been chilly, and the trees are still struggling to leaf.
The Hamaoka plant is a key power provider in central Japan, including nearby Aichi, home of Toyota Motor Corp.
The plant about 125 miles west of Tokyo has been known as Japan’s “most dangerous’’ nuclear plant as it sits in an area where a major quake is expected within decades....
Well, WHO'S BRIGHT IDEA WAS IT to LOCATE ONE THERE?!!!!
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Also see: No Need to Worry About Nuclear Radiation
I know so because my lying, obfuscating, cover-up wipe rag of a new$paper told me so.
Update: Japanese utility to shut three reactors
Of course, such a thing could never happen here:
"Nuclear regulator rapped on oversight" May 08, 2011|New York Times
NEW YORK — Critics paint the commission as well-intentioned but weak and compliant, and incapable of keeping close tabs on an industry to which it remains closely tied.
Just like the oil industry, gas industry, and all the other industries regulated by the federal government. They are looking out for intere$t$, dear Americans, and they are not yours.
The concerns have greater urgency because of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan, which many specialists say they believe was caused as much by lax government oversight as by a natural disaster.
George A. Mulley Jr., a former investigator with the inspector general’s office who led the Byron inquiry: “Well, sooner or later, our luck — you know, we’re going to end up rolling craps.’’
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