Fukushima PASSES State SECRECY Bill while Removing SFP#4 Spent Fuel Rods Update 11/26/13

Removal of DANGEROUS USED NUCLEAR FUEL begins at Fukushima SFP reactor 4 (Much more toxic than "new fuel)
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has begun removing highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel from one of its reactor buildings.
Last week, Tokyo Electric Power Company began removing fuel from the Number 4 reactor pool, marking the first milestone in the process to decommission the plant's reactors.
Workers spent 5 days transferring 22 assemblies of unused fuel rods from the reactor building to a nearby storage pool. No problems were reported with the first round of transfer.
On Tuesday morning, a remote-controlled crane was used to lower a storage container cask into the pool. The fuel assemblies will be transferred into the cask. Once the cask is full, it will be lifted out and moved.
Radiation levels around the pool are as high as 300 micro-sieverts per hour, so a day's work is limited to 2 hours per person.

There are 1,331 spent fuel assemblies in the Number 4 reactor pool, nearly 90 percent of all the fuel there.
Assemblies of spent fuel rods require far more caution than unused assemblies. The spent fuel assemblies can be distorted by the effects of radiation or heat, which could cause them to get stuck when they're extracted from their holding rack.
In addition, the cask could fall or break during transfer --- a scenario that would potentially expose workers to massive doses of radiation.
Nov. 26, 2013 - Updated 08:36 UTC

Lower House PASSES STATE SECRETS BILL! (consider the implications of THIS!)
Japan's Lower House has passed the state secrets bill.
The bill was passed on Tuesday night by a majority vote in support of the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, along with the opposition Your Party. The 3 parties had agreed to amend part of the bill.
The bill was then sent to the Upper House.
At the plenary session of the Lower House before the vote, the Liberal Democratic Party's Takeshi Iwaya spoke in support of the bill. He said that amid the increasingly complex international situation, in which delicate information is shared with concerned countries, there must exist a system to preserve information. The bill is indispensable to secure the safety of the people.
The opposition Democratic Party's Akihisa Nagashima said that even in the amended bill the extent of secrecy is ambiguous, and there are concerns over the expanded interpretation of the matter. He said it belittles the legislative branch of government to force a vote on such an important bill.
Before the vote was called, all the members of the opposition Japan Restoration Party walked out of the chamber. One member of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party also left. Two members of the opposition Your Party cast a vote against the bill, and one other left the chamber.
The bill would designate national security information as special secrets. Convicted leakers of such information would face a maximum prison term of 10 years.
Opposition Democratic Party leader Banri Kaieda says today must be remembered as the day when the powerful ruling party begun to go out of control.
He was speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening after the Lower House approved the state secrets bill.
Kaieda said he cannot but express indignation at the ruling party's use of the force of numbers to railroad the bill through, in disregard of growing public opposition and calls for full parliamentary debate.
Kaieda said he felt very sorry that the bill passed the Lower House, but that his party was able to voice its opinion against the bill in the house. He added that his party will continue to participate in Diet discussions to express its policies.
Nov. 27, 2013 - Updated 01:13 UTC