Japan sells Fukushima technology to Arab dictatorships

This video from Japan is called New radioactive leak found at Fukushima plant.

Hard line Rightist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan will visit various absolute monarchies in the Middle East.

For military cooperation, as Mr Abe is reviving Japanese militarism. And as pro-democracy movements in the Middle East might hamper Japanese Big Business access to cheap oil.

Abe’s visit is for other purposes as well. Seemingly, it is not bad enough for the people of monarchies like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to have torture, birdshot and lethal teargas. If things depend on the Japanese government, they are to have Fukushima-style disasters as well.

From AFP news agency:

Friday, August 23, 2013, 14:29

Tokyo: The prime minister of energy-poor Japan heads to the oil-rich Middle East this weekend in his latest push to promote nuclear technology exports, a spokesman said today, despite growing problems at the crippled Fukushima plant.

Shinzo Abe was due to leave Tokyo tomorrow for a six-day trip that will take in Bahrain, Kuwait, Djibouti and Qatar, with discussion of Japan’s nuclear know-how expected to be on the agenda.

“Qatar and Kuwait have shown interest in Japan’s nuclear safety technology,” said an official at the foreign ministry.

“They don’t necessarily plan to build a nuclear plant themselves, but their neighbouring countries do,” the official said.

“Qatar and Kuwait are therefore concerned about a possible accident and any environmental impact that might be inflicted.”

Japan has continued to push its atomic expertise as an important export, despite the 2011 catastrophe at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where multiple meltdowns cast a pall of radiation over a swathe of the country’s northeast.

An already-lengthy list of problems in the clean-up got longer this week when around 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water was found to have seeped from one of the 1,000-odd storage tanks on the site.

Workers looking for other leaks yesterday identified two more radiation hotspots near the containers, although plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) says they were dry and it cannot yet explain where they came from.

While the atomic catastrophe has put a crimp on Japan’s own nuclear power generation, with all but two of the country’s 50 reactors shut down, the government has been keen to push exports of its technology as part of efforts to boost infrastructure exports to USD 350 billion a year by 2020.

Abe, a supporter of nuclear power, visited Turkey in May as part of a wider Middle Eastern tour, signing a long-awaited deal to build a sprawling nuclear power plant on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, in a milestone for the Japanese nuclear industry.

The agreement came a day after Japan signed a nuclear cooperation deal with the United Arab Emirates.

The foreign ministry official brushed aside suggestions that the latest setback at Fukushima might put a dampener on talks during the upcoming trip, saying the government does not expect them to have “any impact”.

The nuclear shutdown in Japan has also increased the country’s reliance on imported fossil fuels, of which the Middle East is an important source.

Japan’s nuclear watchdog has said the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is facing a new “emergency” caused by a build-up of radioactive groundwater: here.

(Reuters) – The operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant failed to properly monitor storages tanks holding dangerously contaminated water that have sprung leaks and are a source of international concern, the country’s nuclear regulator said on Friday: here.

Fukushima leaks not properly monitored: here.

More tanks at embattled Fukushima plant may have leaks: here.

New radiation readings suggest more Fukushima tank leaks: here.

The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant has admitted it may need outside assistance after confirming two new “hot spots” of radiation within the facility: here.

Radiation spreading from Japan’s crippled Fukushima plant threatens to derail Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to revive nuclear power and deliver the lower energy prices needed to power his economic reforms: here.

Commentary: Japanese gov’t has to shoulder responsibilities over toxic water leakage in Fukushima: here.

PR-first approach turns Fukushima safety into a farce: here.

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Victims in Fukushima accuse gov’t for neglecting aid: here.

The News From Fukushima Just Gets Worse, and the Japanese Public Wants Answers: here.

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