Bharat Rakshak

saip wrote:.... Most reactors have pools for storing low level radio active material in special containers. I have not heard anything about these. When the tsunami hit the plant, did these suffer damage?

Heard even the USS Ronald Reagan is staying at a safe distance to avoid the 'radio active plumes' and the floating debris.

Donnay said, “If these pools are breached (as could have happened in the explosions, Fukushima #3 looks worse than #1) and can no longer hold water, the spent fuel racked inside them will start to overheat, and eventually melt and burn. And since there is no longer any roof above these pools in reactors 1 and 3, all the radioactivity they contain is directly open to the atmosphere.”

Theo_Fidel wrote:I wish they would stop using the 'Residual Heat' term. This is very incorrect and misleading. It is this term that is causing all this confusion from calling it an 'electrical heater element' to a steam kettle.

The real problem is the reactor is still active. They are still generating about 5% of the full rated output.

Reactor 1 - Still generating 20MW worth of heat dropping to 10 MW in 30 days.
Reactor 2 - Still generating 40MW worth of heat dropping to 20 MW in 30 days.
Reactor 3 - Still generating 40MW worth of heat dropping to 20 MW in 30 days.

This is still a 100 MW of heat being constantly generated that needs to be dealt with. With most cooling equipment inoperational this is almost impossible. This is a LOT of heat.

Singha wrote:speaking of discipline I have not read of reports of looting - you know in places like L.A. moment yellow matter hits fan, people will be out getting themselves new shoes, ipod and TVs

there was report of a devastated town with all shops broken and open for looters but people were queueing up to take their ration share.

that kind of society can usually weather heavy blows without the need for "national guard with orders to shoot looters" thing

And solidarity seems especially strong in Japan itself. Perhaps even more impressive than Japan’s technological power is its social strength, with supermarkets cutting prices and vending machine owners giving out free drinks as people work together to survive. Most noticeably of all, there has been no looting, and I’m not the only one curious about this.

This is quite unusual among human cultures, and it’s unlikely it would be the case in Britain. During the 2007 floods in the West Country abandoned cars were broken into and free packs of bottled water were stolen. There was looting in Chile after the earthquake last year – so much so that troops were sent in; in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina saw looting on a shocking scale.

TOKYO – Japan's nuclear safety agency says it suspects an explosion at a nuclear power plant may have damaged a reactor's container and fears a radiation leak.

An agency spokesman, Shigekazu Omukai, says the nuclear core of Unit 2 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was not damaged in the explosion early Tuesday.

But the agency says it suspects the bottom of the container that surrounds the generator's nuclear core might have been damaged.

Another agency spokesman, Shinji Kinjo, says that "a leak of nuclear material is feared."

Loud noises were heard at Fukushima Daiichi 2 at 6.10am this morning. A major component beneath the reactor is confirmed to be damaged. A fire is burning at unit 4 and evacuation to 30 kilometres is being urged.

TIMES OF INDIA
Rising from the ashes
Jean-Pierre Lehmann and Dominique Turpin
Mar 19, 2011, 12.00am IST

We sadly mourn the many deaths and suffering arising from the earthquake and tsunami that remorselessly pummelled Japan. While there will be much analysis of what happened, this tragedy also provides an opportunity to draw broader lessons and look forward.

During the 1980s, leading Japanese companies were dauntingly innovative. But it was not just the world of industry - this was also a time when the Japanese came to master many culinary arts, including the French. Fashion, architecture and classical music were among other areas where an atmosphere of creativity prevailed.

During this period, Japan's global soft power spread. Japanese study centres opened up in numerous universities in the West. Many of Japan's Asian neighbours felt impelled to publicly express their desire to learn from Japan. Sushi restaurants and other forms of Japanese culinary arts spread throughout the planet. Manga defined a new artistic genre. Japanese overseas travellers multiplied. While Tokyo was the world's biggest stock market, Japan became the world's largest donor of overseas aid and many Japanese brands became synonymous with excellent quality and innovation. In 1989, when IMD first published its ranking on competitiveness, Japan was firmly in the number one position, while the US was third.

Then something happened and Japan took quite a different, radical and unexpected turn. The asset bubble burst in the early 1990s, with both the Nikkei index and property prices plunging precipitately. However, it was more than just that. Japan seemed to have failed to understand, let alone anticipate, the profound transformations driven by several key driving forces of the turn of the century: demographics, the IT revolution, the rise of China and globalisation.

As a Swiss demographer once said: "The only thing sure about tomorrow is that we will be older than today." Japan, with one of the fastest ageing societies in the world, has not been able to meet the challenge to truly find growth opportunities outside of home. Many Japanese companies are stuck in their domestic market and find it more and more difficult to globalise. Also in the 1980s, Japanese companies retained their lead in many 'hard' electronic products, but the playing field was rapidly shifting to the internet. Attempts by new entrepreneurs to create venture business "a la Steve Jobs" were quickly crushed by the large traditional Japanese companies. Today, there is no Japanese Microsoft, Google or Apple.

The Japanese attitude towards China was interesting. In spite of physical and cultural proximity, it prevented the Japanese from responding appropriately to rising Chinese competition. As to globalisation, the Japanese were not ready in many ways, including concerning the basic but fundamental imperative of mastering the English language. In a 2009 comparative survey by TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), Japan scored even worse than North Korea and Myanmar!

For the last couple of decades, not only has the economy been sluggish, but so has the spirit. Whereas Japan was the talk of the town in the 1980s, for much of the last couple of decades it has been conspicuously absent from global attention and discourse. The Japanese have been closing themselves off from the world. Whereas, for example, the number of students from many countries to the US and other overseas universities has been booming, in Japan it has been decreasing. Japanese companies have been finding it increasingly difficult to post executives abroad or even to recruit new staff with basic global skills.

Japan seems to have entered a phase of deep depression and sense of isolation from the outside world. Japanese speak increasingly of the "Galapagonisation" (garapagosuka) of the country, in reference to those isolated islands situated in the Pacific 1,000 km from Ecuador. Japan's own anomie has resulted in either global indifference or criticism.

Yet this terrible tragedy shows the Japanese in many ways at their finest. It is, needless to say, dramatic that the world should be turning its attention to Japan because of the catastrophes it is experiencing. But all will concur that, in the face of this tragedy, the Japanese people have displayed awesome courage, dignity and perseverance. Many foreign commentators have remarked on the amazing stoicism of the people and the order that they managed to retain in the carnage. In how many countries in the world could one imagine such a scenario even vis-a-vis lesser tragedies?

As the world watches Japan with anguish and admiration, one is reminded of the great resilience of the Japanese people and how much, in fact, they have to offer. The dead will tragically need to be buried and mourned, those who suffer will need to be consoled and the damage will need to be repaired. But we also hope that Japan's incredible phoenix-like capacity to rise from the ashes will manifest itself again. And that having shown themselves so dignified and courageous in the face of great tragedy, the Japanese will "leave the Galapagos" and rejoin the global mainland, from which it stands to benefit and to which it can bring so much.

March 11, 2011 may mark a new phase in Japanese history, with the Japanese regaining self-confidence and the intellectual openness vis-a-vis the outside world for which they were known and respected for many decades. In this new phase, Japan will catch the next globalisation train and provide the forceful influence required to meet tomorrow's global challenges.

Lehmann is professor of international political economy, IMD; Turpin is president, IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.

In a remarkable gesture, Indian IT companies in tsunami-hit Japan are offering their Japanese employees the option to shift to Indian cities.

“Apart from rolling out the offer to move to Indian locations to Indian employees working in Japan, our IT companies are extending this opportunity to their Japanese colleagues as well,” Mr Som Mittal, President, Nasscom, told newspersons on the sidelines of Global Captive Conclave 2011 here on Thursday.

Apparently, the objective behind the gesture is to provide some relief/diversion from the trauma some of them might have gone through, or to give them a chance to be in a different environment. “This is happening. But we don't have exact numbers as yet,” Mr Mittal said.

...
Though there is speculation in media regarding the effect of Tsunami in Japan on Tea exporters of Assam as Japan is one of the major exporters of tea from Assam. But tea insiders in Assam rejected such possibilities.



"It is too early to comment on that. India exports 2 to 2.5 millions tea to Japan, which is very nominal in comparison to other countries" , said a senior official of a tea company. ''We have not seen any immediate effect in Assam. But if climate change due to Radioactivity which is again very unlikely, than the crop may be effected', the source added.

Another source expressed that this year the export quantity may be increased as the tea plantations in Japan are likely to be affected. In this situation, Assam along with other states will have to export more tea to Japan. But, it will become clear after a few months when the pick session starts. The period from June to December is generally considered as the pick session of tea export.

...

ramana wrote:What foodstuffs does India import from Japan?

India and Japan on Thursday started an economic-strategic dialogue, an exercise that promises to have important strategic ramifications regarding balancing China. Separately, India, Japan and US will start an official trilateral dialogue on political and economic matters.

The economic-strategic dialogue had been a Japanese idea, proposed to India by former Japanese foreign minister Okada. Its significant that Japan insisted on the foreign secretary talks even though it has its hands full right now getting up on its feet after the double whammy of the tsunami-earthquake in March.

The only jarring note in the India-Japan bilateral relationship right now has been an advisory by the government to ban food imports from Japan fearing radioactive contamination. {Why should it be jarring ? When bird flu broke out in India, several countries stopped importing poultry products from us} The issue is expected to be raised by the Japanese side during the talks.

The proposed economic-strategic dialogue -- is based on the template that China has with the US, or the India-US strategic dialogue. It will be a meeting of the top cabinet ministers on both sides which should give a new dimension to the relations.

Foreign minister SM Krishna and defence minister AK Antony are expected to be in Japan over the next few months, which willl also see a visit by Japanese PM to India later in the year.

India and Japan are working out a civil nuclear agreement that was stuck because of Japanese insistence on India signing the CTBT. In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis however, India and Japan are looking at the agreement with new eyes now. The issue is expected to figure in the talks over the next couple of days as well.

The cryptic announcement on Friday that India will launch a new trilateral dialogue with Japan and the United States masks the significance of Delhi’s bold new move.

Delhi’s power play comes days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh heads to China to attend a summit of the BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Delhi’s decision to initiate a new trilateral forum with Japan and the United States underlines the continuing relevance of India's non-alignment.

The pragmatists also recall how India benefited by engaging both the Eastern block and Western block during the Cold War.India’s non-alignment then allowed it to access massive amounts of aid from both the Soviet Union and the United States. Today the strategy of engaging all powers in different plurilateral settings is about maximising India’s strategic options in a multipolar world.

Some in India and the world are bound to see the new triangle as a counter weight to a rising China. The reality, however, is none of three can afford a confrontation with China, which is their principal trading partner and an important political interlocutor.

Delhi has no reason to be defensive about its new move, for it is very much part of its enduring tradition of non-alignment. As Shyam Saran, India’s former foreign secretary and special envoy of the PM put it recently, India foreign policy strategy must be simple in its conception: “engage all great powers, but align with none”.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto on Friday expressed “appreciation” of India's offer of “additional assistance, if necessary” towards Japan's continuing efforts to overcome the devastation caused by a series of natural disasters.

An Indian relief and rehabilitation team has already fulfilled several need-based tasks in the Miyagi prefecture, one of the worst affected areas.

India's new offer was spelt out by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao when she called on Mr. Matsumoto in Tokyo. In a briefing on their talks, Japanese spokesman Hidenobu Sobashima told The Hindu from Tokyo Ms. Rao indicated that “India intends to consult Japan before making a decision” on whether to ban the import of Japan's food products.

She told the Japanese Foreign Minister that the reported Indian move “is only a recommendation” in the relevant circles.

Significantly in this context, “the two sides agreed on the importance of nuclear energy and agreed to continue consultations on the issue of nuclear energy.”

Asked whether Japan would in fact continue talks with India on civil nuclear cooperation, in spite of the accident at Fukushima, Mr. Sobashima said: “I don't have the details of [Mr. Matsumoto's] remarks. [However], this is the intention, I presume so.”

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has thanked the government and people of India “for doing so much to help us” following the March 11 tsunami and earthquake.

Taking note of the dispatch of 25,000 blankets, 13,000 bottles of mineral water and 10 tonnes of high-calorie biscuits, Mr. Kan, in a letter to the Centre, noted that this help was timely and appreciated by the evacuees because the affected areas were going through very cold weather conditions.

In addition, New Delhi had also sent a 46-member NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) Response Force which further “demonstrates India's strong friendship towards Japan.” Their activities were widely reported in Japan with much gratitude, noted the Japanese Prime Minister.

Mr. Kan also appreciated the “thoughtful gestures” such as reading out of condolence messages in both Houses of Parliament and the personal messages by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and assured that these gestures “will never be forgotten by the people of Japan.”

SSridhar wrote:It has been simply a travesty of truth that India & Japan, which have a lot of convergence in many areas, have been unable to realize the full potential of their relationship thus far due to various reasons. As changing geopolitical a& geostrategic situations compel these two nations to take a re-look, they are realizing the mutual benefits. Japan usually takes a lot of time to take a stand and is generally guided by US perceptions in international relations. These have delayed that country from striking a much closer relationship with us. Japan also realizes that it can no longer take a patronizing stand vis-a-vis India. The MV Allondra Rainbow incident, I still hold as the inflexion point in the relationship.

Japanese Parliament is likely to give approval to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India by the end of June this year, the Japanese Ambassador to India, Mr Akitaka Saiki, has said.

India and Japan signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in February which is expected to give greater market access to both the countries and “the agreement is awaiting approval in Diet (Japanese Parliament). It will be submitted to the Diet shortly and we hope the approval is given in the current session by the end of June,” Mr Saiki said during his maiden visit to the city.

The agreement is expected to ensure market access for India’s pharmaceutical industry. Japan had assured to give the same treatment for Indian generics as their domestic industry.

The agreement between the two countries covers trade in goods, services and investment and is expected to reduce tariffs in about 90 per cent of the trade in the next 10 years as both Japan and India seek to diversify trade and ensure greater market access within Asia, he said.

The pact between the two countries is to ensure that the sensitive sectors for India are fully protected. These include agriculture, fruits, spices, wheat, basmati rice, edible oils, wines and spirits and also certain categories of industrial products such as auto and auto parts, he said.

Speaking on the Indo-Japanese economic relationship, he said although trade between the two countries is expected to double in the next five years, the total trade in 2009 was very modest at $12.5 billion.

It is unthinkable that foreign direct investment to India from Japan was only $10 billion considering the size of the Indian economy, he said, adding that “We need to improve in both export and investment.”