Japan keeps making a hash - new mistakes follow old mistakes.....

http://enenews.com/osaka-mayor-japan-will-collapse-if-reactors-are-restarted-hastily-asahi-new-safety-standards-written-in-just-two-days

Title: Ministers approve hastily written nuclear safety standards
Source: AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
Date: April 6, 2012

The government on April 5 approved new draft provisional safety standards for restarting suspended nuclear reactors that were written in just two days after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dropped a previous stance that they were not necessary.

The hastily drafted standards, part of a government effort to get reactors that have been suspended for regular maintenance back on line to avoid energy shortages this summer, limited new demands on plant operators. [...]

Operators only have to draw up plans for other mid- to long-term measures such as the construction of coastal levees. [...]

Noda’s administration is eager to restart the reactors at Oi before the No. 3 reactor of the Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido, the last online nuclear reactor in Japan, shuts down on May 5.

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto (Osaka is Kansai Electric’s top shareholder, operator of the Oi nuclear plant)

• [Hashimoto] attacked the government’s haste
• “There is no way for the government to hastily put standards together and judge safety in a couple of weeks (properly)”
• “Japan will collapse if (restarts are) approved based on these procedures”
• “The role of politicians is to assemble experts who have not received money from the nuclear power establishment and tell them to put together (new) standards”

and.....

http://enenews.com/just-in-tepco-refuses-to-translate-warning-about-radioactive-leak-from-fukushima-at-this-time-we-have-reserved-the-right-to-not-provide-an-english-version-due-to-potential-misunderstandings

Title: Warning regarding the event of leakage of water containing radioactive materials …
Source: TEPCO : Press Release
Date: April 6, 2012

With regard to the event that pipes (pressure hoses) to transfer concentrated water form the water desalinations (reverse osmosis membrane type) to the concentrated water storage tank in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station came off from the connection flange on April 5, 2012, yesterday we received from Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry an instruction document* titled “Outflow of the leakage water containing radioactive materials into the sea from pipes to transfer concentrated water to the storage tank of water desalination in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (warning)”We will take seriously this warning and take measures based on it in order to prevent the same mistakes and events from happening. [...]

* We have provided a Japanese press release version of the instruction document received from NISA. However, at this time we have reserved the right to not provide an English version due to potential misunderstandings that may arise from an inaccurate rendering of the original Japanese text.

We may provide the English translation that NISA releases in our press releases. However, in principle we would advise you to visit the NISA website for timely and accurate information.

and...

Source: Wall Street Journal
Author: By YUKA HAYASHI
Date: April 5, 2012, 7:09 a.m. ET

Water containing radioactive substances may have leaked into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the plant operator said Thursday, the latest example of continued problems at the stricken plant [...]

The company estimates roughly 12 tons of contaminated water may have escaped into the ocean. High levels of cesium 134 and 137 were confirmed at the point of the leak [...]

Such problems have cast doubts about the plant’s stability long after the government declared in late December the reactors had been brought under control.

Title: Japan nuke plant leaks radioactive water again
Source: AP
Date: April 5, 2012
Emphasis Added

[...] The leak comes as Tokyo Electric Power Co. struggles to keep the melted reactors cool and contain radiation and raises concerns about its ability to keep the plant stable. Similar leaks have occurred several times since last year, and officials say they do not pose an immediate health threat.Workers spotted the leak early Thursday coming from a section of hose on a device used to decontaminate cooling water leaking from reactors. The company said it appeared to have stopped the leak. [...]

“Our officials confirmed that cooling water leaked at a joint in the pipes [...] it is possible that part of the water may have flowed outside the facility and poured into the ocean” -Tepco spokesman

and....

Title: Another strontium leak at Fukushima nuclear plant
Source: NHK
Date: Thursday, April 05, 2012 10:23 +0900 (JST)

Tokyo Electric Power Company says more radioactive wastewater has leaked from its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The water contained high levels of strontium.

[...] the company says some of the wastewater may have flowed into a ditch leading to the ocean.

TEPCO has apologized for the incident and says it will determine the cause and extent of the leakage. [...]

Title: Strontium at Fukushima plant flows into sea
Source: NHK
Date: Thursday, April 05, 2012 12:34 +0900 (JST)

[...] TEPCO says about 12 tons of wastewater leaked from a disconnected joint in the pipe. The company also says it believes that a large portion of the water has flowed into the ocean through a nearby drainage ditch.

The utility is trying to determine how the joint became disconnected, and how much water poured into the sea. [...]

Read the report here