Public Intelligence

The Oregon response to the Japan Radiation Event was a real-time response triggered by the Tohuku Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011. Damage caused by the tsunami to the Oregon coast did not necessitate a state Public Health response. Rather, state PH focused primarily on the health and medical informational needs of the public, public health and medical partners and other state agencies and tribes. OPHD initially responded in an ad hoc manner. It was subsequently determined that a more effective approach would be to establish an Incident Management Team and activate the Agency Operations Center, which were accomplished on 16 March and 21 March respectively. Agency Operations Center and Public Health Information Center operations worked well, with enhanced cooperation demonstrated in message development and interaction with the media. Use of HAN, links on the OHA website to FAQs and statistical data, rapid translation of messages into 6 languages, teleconferences with LHDs, tribes, PIOs and Region X Federal and state partners and Oregon Emergency Management facilitated calls with sister state agencies resulted in consistent information being provided. The major deficiency in the process was the lack of clarity and responsiveness from the national headquarters of federal agencies (EPA, FDA).

The available facts about the power of the atomic bomb as a military weapon lie in the story of what it did at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many of these facts have been published, in official and unofficial form, but mingled with distortions or errors. The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, therefore, in partial fulfillment of the mission for which it was established, has put together in these pages a fairly full account of just what the atomic bombs did at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Together with an explanation of how the bomb achieved these effects, this report states the extent and nature of the damage, the casualties, and the political repercussions from the two attacks. The basis is the observation, measurement, and analysis of the Survey’s investigators. The conjecture that is necessary for understanding of complex phenomena and for applying the findings to the problems of defense of the U.S. is clearly labeled.

The TEPCO Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident was the result of collusion between the government, the regulators and TEPCO, and the lack of governance by said parties. They effectively betrayed the nation’s right to be safe from nuclear accidents. Therefore, we conclude that the accident was clearly “manmade.” We believe that the root causes were the organizational and regulatory systems that supported faulty rationales for decisions and actions, rather than issues relating to the competency of any specific individual.

The government buried a worst-case scenario for the Fukushima nuclear crisis that was drafted last March and kept it under wraps until the end of last year, sources in the administration said Saturday. After the document was shown to a small, select group of senior government officials at the prime minister’s office in late March, the administration of then Prime Minister Naoto Kan decided to quietly bury it, the sources said. “When the document was presented (in March), a discussion ensued about keeping its existence secret,” a government source said.

Aki Tsurumaki says he never felt his life was in danger during the 15 years he has been helping companies escape entanglements with Japan’s “yakuza” crime syndicates. But the 42-year-old lawyer jokes that he does not take any chances, adding with a smile, “I never stand near the edge of the train platform.” The dark and sometimes dangerous triad of ties among gangsters, businesses and politicians has a long tradition in Japan, which helps explain why a scandal engulfing Japan’s Olympus Corp has stirred up media and market talk of possible yakuza links, despite company denials and a lack of evidence. Ousted Olympus CEO Michael Woodford has told Reuters he will not return to Japan to meet investigators due to “security issues,” although he declines to spell out his fears. And Facta, a Japanese magazine that broke the Olympus story, says a Cayman Islands firm linked to some Olympus deals had indirect ties to “anti-social forces” — a common euphemism for organised crime.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Integrity Inspection of Dry Storage Casks and Spent Fuels at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station from November 16, 2010.

Trace amounts of radiation from damaged nuclear-power facilities in Japan have been detected in rainwater in the U.S., but pose no health risks, officials said. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Nevada and other Western states are among the states that have reported minuscule amounts of radiation. Nuclear-plant operators Progress Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. in North Carolina and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. also said they have detected trace amounts of radiation.

This map illustrates satellite-detected standing bodies of water remaining after the tsunami event over the city of Sendai and affected areas south in Miyagi Prefecture. Flood waters were identified through an analysis of Radarsat-2 satellite data recorded 12 March 2011 with a medium degree of confidence. This is a preliminary analysis & has not yet been validated in the field. It is possible that tsunami-related water bodies areas have been underestimated in areas with high debris levels. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR / UNOSAT.

The unfolding crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has put a harsh spotlight on General Electric, the giant US conglomerate which built parts of the plant and which had been hoping to benefit from a renaissance in nuclear power that now looks to be on hold. Almost $12bn (£7.4bn) has been wiped from the value of the company since Monday, and a retired nuclear engineer revealed how he and several colleagues resigned from GE in 1975 because of his safety concerns over the design of the Mark 1 containment unit used at the plant. GE beefed up its nuclear business in 2007 by forming a joint venture with Hitachi of Japan that could bid to build new nuclear reactors around the globe. Climate change and energy security concerns are driving a global resurgence in support of nuclear energy, it said at the time.

Behind Japan’s escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses. Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all. In one case, workers hand-mixed uranium in stainless steel buckets, instead of processing by machine, so the fuel could be reused, exposing hundreds of workers to radiation. Two later died. “Everything is a secret,” said Kei Sugaoka, a former nuclear power plant engineer in Japan who now lives in California. “There’s not enough transparency in the industry.”

Dangerous levels of radiation escaped a quake-stricken nuclear power plant after one reactor’s steel containment structure was apparently breached by an explosion, and another reactor building in the same complex caught fire, Japan’s leaders told a frightened population. Authorities warned that people within 20 miles of the crippled reactors should stay indoors to avoid being sickened by radiation. The fast-moving developments at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo, catapulted the 4-day-old nuclear crisis to an entirely new level, threatening to overshadow even the massive damage and loss of life spawned by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Prime Minister Naoko Kan, in a nationwide address to the Japanese people, called for calm even as he acknowledged the radiation peril. Dressed in industrial-style blue coveralls, he offered solemn assurances that authorities were doing “everything we can” to contain the leakage.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Japanese Earthquake Memo with Rotating Power Blackout Schedule from March 13, 2011. 東京電力株式会社 – 需給逼迫による計画停電の実施と一層の節電のお願いについて – 平成23年3月13日

Japanese officials struggled today to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were facing serious cooling problems at three more. The accident appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort. According to officials, at least 1,000 people were killed in the earthquake and tsunami — including 200 bodies found today along the coast — and hundreds more are missing.

Widespread advanced use of mobile phones in Japan has not come about serendipitously: the Japanese have taken to their cell phones because of the country’s highly advanced mobile phone technology and network infrastructure. Additionally, the government’s ambitious strategic plan to make Japan the most advanced “e-nation” in the world has boosted the industry, created an ideal environment for promoting mobile phone usage beyond simple person-toperson calling, and spurred domestic demand for high-tech handsets.

U.S.-Japan-EU-Mexico-Canada Confidential Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) Draft Text, January 18, 2010. This is the 56-page full version of the “consolidated text” of the treaty.

Japan’s prime minister backed a U.S. role for a proposed EU-style Asian community on Saturday, telling Southeast Asian leaders Tokyo’s alliance with Washington was at the heart of its diplomacy. Making a case for an East Asian Community at a summit of Asian leaders in Thailand, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said there should be some U.S. involvement in the bloc, which faces stiff obstacles including Japan’s historic rivalry with China.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday pressed Japan to quickly implement a deal to reorganize the U.S. military presence in the country, an issue that could test ties with Tokyo’s month-old government. “It is time to move on,” Gates said at a news conference with Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa after they held talks on alliance issues. “This may not be the perfect alternative for anyone, but it is the best alternative for everyone.”