Generalcomments

Dear all,

Thank you all for visiting, reading and sharing the news with me on the Fukushima Appeal Blog. I’ve kept it running since February 2012. Unfortunately, I will need some break now to attend to some of my health issues.

I would like to thank this blog and its supporters for giving me an opportunity to become a part of the slowly awakening global community during this very important time of global change. I had zero knowledge of nuclear before the Fukushima disaster, and was and still am a just normal citizen. It’s been hard to see Japan becoming a criminal, immoral and authoritarian country since the Fukushima Disaster. So it’s been a huge awakening and healing process to have a platform to speak out instead of feeling powerless, angry and sad about it. With the new secret law that is going to be introduced in Japan soon, Japanese people will need more help than at any other time in its history from foreign bloggers, doctors and scientists. Please remember Fukushima. I hope that the more difficulties we may encounter, the stronger and connected we will become to fight against injustice and be able to act from our heart space. (Mia)

日本の皆さん、がんばってください。 再稼動反対、子供を守れ! 1mSv/yの約束を守れ!

For more Fukushima update go to: www.nuclear-news.net, http://fukushima-diary.com/, https://www.facebook.com/fukushima311watchdog, http://enenews.com/, http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/, http://www.nuclearhotseat.com/ http://ex-skf.blogspot.co.uk/

Petition: Support Mari Takenouchi and Radiation Protection

日 本の皆様へ、個人的な感情面から、竹ノ内真理さんのことを批判したい方は、すでにそうしたのだから、これからは、その時間とエネルギーをエートス批判に向 けるべきではないでしょうか? そしてボランテイアで、海外に向けて、英語発信する真理さんは、海外の情報源にとって、貴重な存在だと思います。 (Mia)

(English) https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Office_of_the_Prosecutor_Iwaki_Branch_Fukushima_Japan_Support_Mari_Takenouchi_and_Radiation_Protection/?pv=4

(Japanese) https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Fu_Dao_Xian_Jian_Cha_Ting_Dian_ziyanarisutonoZhu_Ye_Nei_Zhen_Li_Shi_Save_Kids_JapanwoQi_Su_sinaidekudasai/?pv=8

Urgent Petition: ttp://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/ask-japanese-government-promise-for-necessary-aid-for-children-who-are-still-exposed-radiation-more-than-1msv-year-3


National Parents Network to Protect Children from Radiation

I hope that every child in Japan is given comprehensive thyroid blood testing including at the minimum TSH, Free T4, Free T3 and thyroid antibodies. Their thyroid function should be regularly tested on an ongoing basis. “ By Dana Trentini http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/thyroid-testing-for-japanese-children.html

*latest Fukushima Thyroid examination results released on Nov 12. (Complete English translation) (Source) http://fukushimavoice-eng2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/thirteenth-prefectural-oversight.html
National Parents Network to Protect Children from Radiation

*Fuel Removal From Fukushima's Reactor 4 Threatens 'Apocalyptic' Scenario In November, TEPCO set to begin to remove fuel rods whose radiation matches the fallout of 14,000 Hiroshima bombs

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/10/24-3

*Kashiwazaki Nuclear Plant: Fukushima Governor stands in the way to stop restarting! 柏崎原発:再稼動させないよう立ちはだかる新潟県知事泉田氏 http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/kashiwazaki-nuclear-plant-fukushima.html

*Statement: Japanese civil society requests that the reports of the United Nations Scientific Committee on Fukushima be revised 日本の64の市民団体が福島事故に関しての国連科学の報告内容を改訂するよう要請 www.http://hrn.or.jp/eng/a tivity/area/worldwide/japanese-civil-society-requests-that-the-reports-of-the-united-nations-scientific-committee-on-fukus/

Anand Grover, Esq., UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, criticizes UNSCEAR report on Fukushima -10/24/2013 (1 of 4)国連「健康に対する権利」の特別報告者のアナンド・グローバー氏: 国連科学の報告を批判 Video - http://vimeo.com/78483070 October 24, 2013 (NYC, NY)

*Medical experts criticize UNSCEAR report for playing down consequences of Fukushima nuclear accident ドイツの専門家が国連科学の報告書を、「福島事故の影響を過小評価している」と批判! http://www.save-children-from-radiation.org/2013/11/05/medical-experts-criticize-unscear-report-for-playing-down-consequences-of-fukushima-nuclear-accident/

*Frightening Report from the UNSCEAR (The United nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation UNSCEAR-国連科学委員会による、恐るべき報告http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/frightening-report-from-unsear-united.html

*Heavily Criticized Recent WHO Report on Health Risk Assessment from the Fukushima Disaster 厳しく批判された最近の福島事故による健康被害についてのWHO報告 http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/who-report-on-health-risk-assessment.html

*UN Report – Japanese Delegation to The UN Spreads Lies and Deception! 国連報告書2013年4月  国連への日本政府代表団のうそとごまかし! 抗議締め切り517日! http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/un-report-japanese-delegation-to-un.html

*まとめ:国連報告書2013年4月  国連への日本政府代表団のうそとごまかし! 抗議締め切り517http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/un-report-japanese-delegation-to-un.html

*A letter to all young athletes who dream of coming to Tokyo in 2020 東京オリンピックを目指している若い選手の方々へ Some Facts You Should Know About Fukushima 0.086Bq/kg was normal amount of ionizing radiation in fish before the Fukushima accident. Now it is 100Bq/kg 1160times more radioactive. http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/a-letter-to-all-young-athletes-who.html

Fukushima Petitions ☢ Please Sign and Share! Japan needs Worldwide Help NOW! Stop Fukushima Radiation – UN Action Needed

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/STOP_FUKUSHIMA_RADIATION_UN_ACTION_NEEDED/

Mobilize the U.N. Security Council to declare Fukushima a global emergency;
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/mobilize-the-un-security

*Tokyo radiation is worse than Gomel - Mika Noro’s speech on the impact of radiation in Japan http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/tokyo-radiation-is-worse-than-gomel.html

*Police arrest animal rescuers inside Fukushima evacuation zone — “They cannot be contacted and are being charged with crimes” http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/police-arrest-animal-rescuers-inside.html

Resistance posted by Ian Thomas Ash, a director of Fukushima Documantary Film "A2-B-C"

As one does not train with weight that is too light,….. And as I write this, I realize something for the first time: the more I embrace the resistance, the more I am becoming it. http://ianthomasash.blogspot.jp/2013/11/resistance.html

*福島原発で働く皆さんへ、世界からの暖かいメッセージ http://nuclear-news.net/2013/12/01/to-the-fukushima-workers-we-support-you-address-to-j-village-supplied/

(Japanese translation)http://goo.gl/re5822

*Fukushima Farmers negotiate with Japanese Government/Tepco 福島農家の若者、政府と東電に対して勇気ある発言 http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/fukushima-farmers-negotiate-with.html The current government limit is 100Bq/kg... 0.1Bq/kg for cesium in rice before the Fukushima disaster. … We feel guilty about growing it and selling it...

*Atomic bombs survivors received fair compensation, not so in Fukushima!

広島・長崎の被爆者援護法:追加1ミリ被曝で被曝者認定、福島事故被害者にも認定を、するべき

The Japanese Gov recognizes radiation related illnesses! http://fukushimaappeal.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/atomic-bombs-survivors-received-fair.html


Friday, 18 October 2013

Tepco cleanup workers: Underpaid, |Overexposed...



IWAKI — Our meeting with one of the “liquidators” of Fukushima’s power plant takes place in a discreet location, out of sight. Talking to journalists is risky, and the man's nervous employers could use it as a pretext to fire him.
It’s the same thing for workplace accidents — there’s a collective solidarity,” he says. “If it isn’t too serious, we hide them to avoid problems with the social insurance.”
He is one of the liquidators in charge of securing and dismantling the site. In his thirties, he was working for a subcontractor at the power plant when the accident occurred, following the March 11, 2011 tsunami. Then, his company’s contract was not extended. He just started working on the site again. “The workers' situation has gotten better when it comes to security, but wages have gone down and there are fewer and fewer qualified people,” he says, asking to remain anonymous.
The quality of work is mediocre because the management asks us to work fast, but the guys aren’t experienced enough,” explains the supervisor of a radioactivity inspection company, in charge of about 50 workers. “Sometimes they don’t even know the names of the tools. The teams often change. There’s a mandatory rotation because workers who have received the maximum radiation exposure must leave the zone. But others leave prematurely because they think they're not paid enough. If we don’t manage to form a qualified and trustworthy team quickly, we won’t be able to work fast and efficiently. We even lack qualified team supervisors.”
Bad all along
These deficiencies partly explain the contaminated water leaks that have increased considerably over the last few months. The people we are speaking to start smiling. “The leaks? They've been there for a while, but no one talked about them.”
Even the employees working directly for Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the site’s operator, are leaving because of the inadequacy of wages and risk premiums, or the non-payment of overtime. “The power plant lacks workforce. There are a thousand job offers in the Fukushima prefecture, and barely a quarter of these jobs are occupied,” says the assistant director of Iwaki's employment agency. Less dangerous decontamination projects and the prospect of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 are draining workers elsewhere, far from the damaged nuclear plant.
A little more than 3,000 people work at the plant. Some 1,400 live in J-Village — Japan Football Association's National Training Center, a TEPCO sports facility that was transformed into a reception center for the workers. The other 1,600 or so live in nearby hostels or in temporary accommodation built on car parks in front of which, in the evening, the minibuses that take them to J-Village and back are parked in line. They leave from there to the power plant, 10 kilometers away, and return in special shuttles.
Some of the liquidators are from the region — sometimes, former farmers who lost their farms because they were located in the contaminated zone. The others come from all over Japan, even Okinawa, more than 2,000 kilometers to the south. They are recruited through numerous subcontractors: six to eight levels, depending on the job category.
For the first three — direct TEPCO subcontractors and important companies — we can find out how recruitments are done, but with the lower levels, it’s very complicated,” says Hiroyuki Watanabe, a communist Iwaki city counselor who set up a consultancy agency for the nuclear plant’s employees. “People think that Japan, a technologically advanced country, uses the most sophisticated methods with its robots at the damaged power plant — but the reality is different. We often use old material because once it is contaminated, it becomes unusable.”
The least qualified workers do not benefit from sufficient protection, and their wages are “drained” by the intermediaries through which they are recruited. In the end, they only earn 6,000 yens (45 euros) per day. “Discussions with the workers reveal the discontentment and the latent anxiety of those who are the most exposed,” Watanabe explains. “Some try to cheat with the cumulative radiation exposure limit in order to be able to work as long as possible.” They hide the device used to measure their contamination in a less-contaminated place to decrease the level of radiation accumulated during the day.
Some companies would like to reduce the exposure limits, “but the workers refuse because they want to be able to work. At the same time, they are bitter because they’re being ignored by the rest of the country. Tokyo is indifferent to their fate,” Watanabe continues. In J-Village, words of encouragement sent by high school students the country over are displayed on walls.
The time of high wages during the panic year that followed the tsunami disaster — with its influx of workers and, in their wake, bars in the nearby towns — is over. The nuclear plant’s workers remain cloistered in their companies’ prefabricated dormitories or in hostels around the region. Some places, such as Hirono, a dozen kilometers south of the plant, are ghost towns.
After being evacuated, this small town was reopened in August 2012. Hirono is the last stop of the railway line towards the north, which has been cut off. Only 1,000 of the 5,800 residents who lived here before the disaster have returned. The schools are empty. Most houses are boarded up. The stores’ iron curtains are down. Early in the evening, the main street is dimly lit and dull. The only illuminated sign is the Maehama Café. The small room on the second floor is almost empty. “We’ve lost our regulars,” the owner says. “The workers don’t come here anymore. They buy their food in the supermarkets along the main road.”
Some of the liquidators live in houses rented out by owners who no longer want to live there. They can only be seen at dusk and dawn when they get on and off the minibuses. The dismantling of the nuclear plant will probably take 40 years and will require many thousands such “drudges,” invisible and vulnerable.




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