Preventing radiation contamination more important than TEPCO's stock prices
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Preventing radiation contamination more important than TEPCO's stock prices
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110620p2a00m0na005000c.html
Which is more important: upholding share prices or stopping pollution? The Japanese political and business world has sunk to a level where it can't even answer such a question.
The crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is still not over. Far from it, there are signs that it is getting worse. I can't stand by and look at the political situation without focusing on this serious event.
One figure who has entered the public spotlight in the wake of the nuclear crisis is 61-year-old Hiroaki Koide, an assistant professor at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute and a controversialist in the anti-nuclear debate. A specialist in nuclear power, Koide has garnered attention as a persistent researcher who has sounded the alarm over the dangers of this form of energy without seeking fame.
In a TV Asahi program on June 16, Koide made the following comment: "As far as I can tell from the announcements made by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the nuclear fuel that has melted down inside reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant has gone through the bottom of the containers, which are like pressure cookers, and is lying on the concrete foundations, sinking into the ground below. We have to install a barrier deep in the soil and build a subterranean dam as soon as possible to prevent groundwater contaminated with radioactive materials from leaking into the ocean."
It would cost about 100 billion yen to build such a dam, but there is no guarantee that the government would cover the amount. If an announcement were made and TEPCO were seen as incurring more liabilities, then its shares would fall once again, and the company might not be able to make it through its next general shareholders' meeting.
The most important issue now is preventing contamination from radiation. We need leaders who can focus on the core issue without being swayed by empty theory.
(By Takao Yamada, Expert Senior Writer)
I'm fairly disgusted that
I'm fairly disgusted that the IAEA has chosen to exclude journalists and, by extension, the public from their meeting in Vienna this week with TEPCO and other representatives of various agencies in Japan. In the early weeks before the government took over the press conferences, it was said that the foreign journalists there in Japan were the only ones asking pointed questions or asking for clarification of certain statements. With IAEA's decision to hold this week's talks in secret, we'll no doubt be left with a single narrative when all is said and done, having no chance to pose followup questions or challenge any inconsistencies. That's assuming, of course, that news organizations would have anyone on hand capable of understanding enough of what was being said to ask such questions at an open forum. That is highly doubtful, now that I think about it, so maybe the closed meeting isn't such a travesty after all. On the other hand, it gives the impression that they have something to hide and are gathered in Vienna this week to make sure they all get their stories straight.
>I'm fairly disgusted that
>I'm fairly disgusted that the IAEA has chosen to exclude journalists and, by extension, the public from their meeting in Vienna this week with TEPCO and other representatives of various agencies in Japan.
This is what the IAEA did in August 1986, in the meeting where it was decided that the estimated number of cancer deaths as a result of Chernobyl was going to be 4,000 instead of the 40,000 calculated by the Soviet delegation.
Time is of the essence!
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Time is of the essence!
Three (3) core meltdowns have occurred at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, (Honshu Island) Japan. Nuclear containment is breached. Highly radioactive waste has erupted into the land, air, groundwater and the Pacific. A public health nightmare and oceanic Armageddon are underway.
This ‘underground dam’ proposal, which likely includes a massive grouting and ditching project is expected to cost on the order of 100B Yen which converts in dollars to approximately $1.25B.
Known, long-standing and systemic flaws have materially contributed to the disaster. These systemic flaws include meticulously documented failures comprising: engineering, design, materials, construction, operation, procedures, misrepresentation, fraud, government regulation, cover-up, corruption, environmental protection and public health breakdowns. There is an ongoing pattern of criminal misconduct involving multinational corporations and international government bodies. This has some parallels with the BP Macondo oil spill disaster; in that corporate distortion of public policy has materially contributed to the causes and sequella of the disaster.
Deliberate decisions by, (if memory serves) TEPCO, Hitachi, General Electric, Siemens, Areva and the lenders CAUSED this disaster and are actively contributing to worsening the predictable consequences of their corrupt prior acts. These players have an unlimited of procedural objections against paying for the disaster caused by their myoptic self-interests. Their moral and honorable liability is unlimited. Their immediate legal and financial obligations should reflect that reality. BP created a $20B mitigation fund to guarantee performance.
TEPCO, Hitachi, General Electric, Siemens, Areva and the international lenders should follow that example, with a much larger mitigation fund. They all gambled heavily on the ill-fated Fukushima power plant. It is now time for the players to ‘cover their bets’.
SPIN
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TEPCO Talking Points
Stalling for dollars - while children get sicker.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110620p2a00m0na005000c.html
In my possession, I have a copy of the guidelines that TEPCO presented to the government on how to handle press releases. The title of the document, dated June 13, is "Underground boundary' -- Regarding the press." It is split into five categories on how to handle the announcement of construction of an underground boundary. In essence, it says, "We are considering the issue under the guidance of prime ministerial aide Mabuchi, but we don't want to be seen as having excess liabilities, so we're keeping the details confidential."
Possibly the silliest response to envisaged questions from reporters is TEPCO's suggestion for a reply to the question, "Why hasn't construction been quickly started?" The response reads: "Underground water flows at a speed of about 5 to 10 centimeters a day, so we have more than a year before it reaches the shore."
Debt forgiveness
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This debt forgiveness statement is quite interesting.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/05/90976.html
http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/bank-chiefs-unsettled-b...
Bank chiefs unsettled by Edano's remarks over TEPCO
TOKYO, May 13, Kyodo
The heads of major banking groups did not hide their discomfort on Friday at remarks by the government's top spokesman suggesting banks lending to the embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co. should forgive their debt and help the utility pay compensation over the crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said earlier in the day that the government should not inject any public money into the company to help it handle the huge compensation claims resulting from the radiation leaks at the tsunami-ravaged power plant, unless its creditors offer full support to the utility first.
"infringing on private firms' profits"
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Japan approves Tepco nuclear claims plan
Government will help power company compensate victims of the natural disaster
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43022541/ns/business-world_business/t/japan-...
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Yoko Kubota
Reuters updated 5/13/2011 10:56:10 AM ET 2011-05-13T14:56:10
TOKYO — Japan on Friday announced a plan to help Tokyo Electric Power compensate victims of the crisis at its tsunami-crippled nuclear plant without going broke while it struggles to resolve the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. The plan, agreed after weeks of wrangling between government officials, bankers and Tokyo Electric executives over who should pay for the crisis, allays investors' fears that a collapse of the power firm would roil financial markets. The government will issue special-purpose bonds to help finance a fund that will allow Asia's largest utility to handle compensation claims expected to run into tens of billions of dollars. No ceiling was set on Tokyo Electric's liabilities.
The government is also considering buying preferred shares from Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, if it runs short of capital. It did not provide details on the size of its planned fund injection but lawmakers told reporters earlier this week the bond issue would total about 5 trillion yen ($62 billion). In return for public backing, the government said it will exert control "for a certain period of time" over management of Tokyo Electric and other power utilities, which will also be asked to pay annual premiums into the fund.
Though relieved that the worst may have been averted, investors sold utility stocks, unsettled by the prospect of the government's hands-on role in running the sector. Bank shares also slid after Japan's top government spokesman said a distinction should be made between loans made before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and those extended after the disaster and that banks should be asked to cooperate in easing Tokyo Electric's financial burden. The market interpreted the comments from Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano as an indication banks may be asked to forgive loans or make other concessions.
Shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, the utility's main creditor bank, dropped 3.8 percent.
"The government is infringing on private firms' profits. It has violated the profits of utilities and now it's trying to lower the burden for the taxpayer by encroaching on banks' profits," said Kiyoshi Noda, chief fund manager at MU Investments.
How was Siemens
How was Siemens involved?
Anyway, you forgot Toshiba.
Partial list
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Agreed, Toshiba built some of the Fukushima complex. The 'Player's List' is representative and not comprehensive. Attorneys sometimes use the phrase, "comprising but not limited to".
If memory serves, The Fukushima plant control system platform is/was based on Siemens hardware/software. Also, the word on the street was that Stuxnet malware was found in the Fukushima systems last year.
The typical business practices of these international 'players' is based on secretive 'allocation' meetings. The market allocation process is widely practiced by the Germans and Japanese. Virtually every transaction they engage in, is a prima facie violation of US monopolistic practices law, where US law 'long arm statutess' are applicable.
I've never seen any solid
I've never seen any solid info on Siemens having installed anything at the Fukushima plant (apart from one site that claimed the explosions at the reactors were caused by nuclear bombs planted inside Israeli security video cameras, which were somehow related to the earthquake being fake and the tsunami artificially generated. You may find the link somewhere in the forum).
Tepco, General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba being the ones that built Fukushima, I don't see how Siemens fits in the picture.