2 Fukushima Police Officers Found Dead in Apparent Suicides
04 May 2014 Fukushima prefectural police said Thursday that two senior officers have [allegedly] committed suicide this week. In the first case, which occurred on April 28, Yoshikuni Tasaki, 51, an inspector, hanged himself inside an office at a police building. In the second case, which occurred on Wednesday, Yoshihiro Hikiji, 52, who was Tasaki’s superior officer at the Fukushima police department, was found dead in a car in a park in Yamagata Prefecture.
Nuclear expert doubts ice wall will solve Fukushima radiation leaks
02 May 2014 An international nuclear expert expressed skepticism Thursday about Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s plan to set up an experimental ice wall to ultimately stop radioactive water from escaping from the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. “I’m not convinced that the freeze wall is the best option,” former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale Klein, who heads a supervisory panel tasked with overseeing the operator’s nuclear safety efforts, said in an interview with Kyodo News. “What I’m concerned about is unintended consequences,” Klein said.
Japan effort to restart nuclear plants delayed until after summer
02 May 2014 Moves by Japan’s government and electric utilities to restart nuclear power plants idled after the 2011 Fukushima accident are facing further delays and appear unlikely to succeed before the summer peak…In the latest development, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the government agency conducting the reviews, told Kyushu Electric Power on Friday that a list of planned and completed safety upgrades for a pair of reactors, contained in a 7,200 page application that it submitted this week, was insufficient. Kyushu Electric had not adequately outlined measures to deal with some types of fires, including a theoretical [false flag] blaze caused by an airliner crashing into a reactor, the agency said.
M6.2 earthquake jolts Tokyo vicinity
05 May 2014 A strong earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.2 jolted Tokyo on Monday morning. The quake, which struck 5:18 a.m., measured lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Chiyoda Ward in central Tokyo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency traced the focus of the quake to a point some 160 km below seabed off Izu Oshima island.
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