Record radiation found off
Japan 23 Aug 2012 Record levels of
radioactive caesium were detected in fish caught within 20km of Japan's damaged
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, news reports said yesterday. The
operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said Tuesday it had found 25,800 becquerels per
kilogram of radioactive caesium in greenling, 258 times higher than the
government safety standard. Fishing in waters off the plant has been voluntarily
restricted since the nuclear disaster at the plant, which went into meltdown
after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Tepco Finds Extreme Levels of
Radioactivity in Fukushima Fish 22
Aug 2012 Tokyo Electric Power Co. found record high levels of radioactive cesium
in fish it caught for tests within 20 kilometers of the coast from the crippled
Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. The utility detected a combined 25,800
becquerels per kilogram of cesium 134 and cesium 137 in a greenling caught on
Aug. 1, it said
yesterday in a statement. That beat the previous high of 18,700 becquerels per
kilogram found in cherry salmon and is 258 times the level of cesium Japan's
government considers safe for consumption, Kyodo News reported.

Japan nuclear protesters meet
premier 22 Aug 2012 For the first
time since antinuclear rallies began months ago outside Prime Minister Yoshihiko
Noda's office, a dozen protesters were allowed inside Wednesday for a half-hour
meeting that the fledgling movement hailed as a victory. The meeting comes at a
time of growing antinuclear sentiment in Japan, and with elections expected this
year. Noda, who angered demonstrators by
dismissing their weekly rallies as "loud noise," had been under
public pressure to meet with them face to face. The demonstrators are calling
for a shutdown of the reactors at the Oi nuclear power plant in western Japan -
the first reactors to be restarted since the nuclear accident at Fukushima in
March 2011 - and for Japan to decommission its 54 other reactors. [No,
Noda. 'Loud noise' would have been the case if protesters stormed the
building and opened fire. (Well, some might think: If you're gettin'
blamed for making 'loud noise' -- you might as well make some!
<g>) ]

Japan's PM meets leaders of anti-nuke
protests but rejects demand that plants stay shuttered 22 Aug 2012 Japan’s prime minister met for the first time
with leaders of weekly anti-nuclear protests Wednesday but rejected their demand
that two recently restarted nuclear plants should be shut again. Tens of
thousands of people have been gathering every Friday night outside Prime
Minister Yoshihiko Noda's office compound to protest against nuclear power
because of safety concerns set off by last year's the ongoing Fukushima
Dai-ichi nuclear crisis. The 11 protest leaders were allowed into the complex
for the first time since they started chanting anti-nuclear slogans outside the
tightly guarded building in April.