fukushima - search results
Video: Record Radiation: Handling of Fukushima cleanup is 'comedy of errors'
Eight Years after Triple Meltdowns and Explosions at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in...
A Fukushima waiting to happen? Huge stockpile of nuclear waste on California fault line...
Video: Women & children sent back to Fukushima fallout zone, isn’t it too early?
Notes of nuclear? Fukushima radioactivity found in California wine — RT US News
Move Over Chernobyl, Fukushima is Now Officially the Worst Nuclear Power Disaster in History
Video: Dana Durnford “Fukushima Radiation & NOT Climate Change Is Responsible For Extreme Weather.”
Fukushima Darkness, Part Two
Fukushima Darkness | Dissident Voice
USS Reagan crew can sue Japanese company over Fukushima nuclear disaster – court
Fukushima’s Radiation Will Poison Food “for Decades,” Study Finds
Nuclear nightmare worse than Fukushima could hit US because of ignored risks – study
The Fukushima Disaster Continues
Fukushima’s Upcoming Olympics
Video: Fukushima residents hold vigil paying tribute to victims of 2011 earthquake & tsunami
Fukushima on My Mind
Fukushima Catastrophe at 6: Normalizing Radiation Exposure Demeans Women and Kids and Risks Their...
Fukushima: a Lurking Global Catastrophe?
Fukushima: A Lurking Global Catastrophe?
Fukushima: Still Getting Worse After Six Years of Meltdowns
Fukushima reactor hit by 2011 tsunami shows record radiation levels
New Fukushima Trouble
Are the EPA's Emergency Radiation Limits a Cover for Fukushima Fumbles?
Fukushima Reactor Cooling System Stops
Video: Tsunami warnings lifted after 7.4 quake strikes Fukushima coastline
Video: 7.4 quake strikes Fukushima Prefecture, triggers imminent tsunami alert
Video: 7.4 quake off Fukushima triggers tsunami warning
Fukushima Cover Up
Fukushima Cover Up
Fukushima Backlash Hits Japan Prime Minister
Fukushima 3/11 Breeds Cynicism
Fukushima: Worse Than a Disaster
Fukushima: Worse Than a Disaster
An American Fukushima May Be Closer Than You Think
Fukushima Flunks Decontamination
Fukushima Flunks Decontamination
How Japanese Officials Can Atone for Fukushima
Video: Chernobyl & Fukushima: Remembering the only 2 highest-level nuclear incidents
A Fukushima on the Hudson? The Growing Dangers of Indian Point
From Fukushima to Brussels, Nuclear Energy Isn’t Worth the Risks
Fukushima Radiation: a Killer
Fukushima Radiation: A Killer
The Truth About Fukushima
Fukushima Five Years On: Not a Comedy of Errors, a Calamity of Terrors
‘No plan A’: US unprepared for nuclear crisis as more Fukushima radiation found off...
Video: Fukushima 5yrs on: Japan keeps fighting consequences of nuclear disaster
Inside Control Centre of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Video: Radioactive Waste Still Leaking Five Years After Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Fukushima’s Mini-Me
Criminal charges against TEPCO executives a step forward for Fukushima victims
Video: ‘Fukushima showed there’s risk’: Japan’s volcano erupts in nuclear plant vicinity
Video: Fukushima Hero From Nuclear Disaster Speaks Out
New Report Expects a Million Cancer Deaths from Fukushima Fallout
Radiation Levels at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant May Be Increasing
Video: The Real Situation Inside The Fukushima Nuclear Fallout
Video: Inside The Most Dangerous Place In The Planet, Fukushima Exclusion Zone
Video: Dana Durnford: “The Pacific Is In Terminal Decline. The Fukushima Legacy Is Terrifying!”
Video: Meria Heller On The Real Causes Of Alzheimer’s, Planned Parenthood And The Fukushima...
Video: Fukushima disaster was preventable – new study
The Fukushima Fix
Video: ‘Floods may pose threat not only to radiation under Fukushima but also structures’
Fukushima Report Dangerously Downplays Ongoing Health Risks: Greenpeace
Video: Flying over Fukushima: Spooky drone footage of abandoned nuke station
Video: ‘Japanese people won’t accept nuclear safety grey zone after Fukushima’
Is Fukushima Getting Worse?
Dr. Josh Park’s Courage at Fukushima
What’s Really Going on at Fukushima?
“Caldrons of hell” created at Fukushima, says energy company official
Worst may not be over from Fukushima – “Effects of radiation have become much...
Fukushima radiation has reached North American shores
Fukushima disaster caused at least 1,232 fatalities last year
Fukushima: Fishermen Slam TEPCO for Silence on Cesium-Water Dumped in Pacific
Two US Sailors Dead After Fukushima Radiation Exposure
​Fukushima radiation detected 100 miles off California coast
Fukushima fallout in California 1000x Greater than Expected: What You can Do
Fukushima spilled 2 trillion becquerels of radioactive waste into Pacific in 10 months
Top Experts Warn Of ‘Inevitable’ Fukushima Disaster In California
Failed Attempt To Curb Contaminated Water At Fukushima
Large number of Fukushima youth diagnosed with cancer
The Fukushima Health Crisis
UN And Japanese Covering Up Fukushima Peril
Fukushima lessons: US nuclear plants ‘must be better equipped for offsite disasters’
In the Wake of Fukushima: “Why I Left Tokyo”? Eastern Japan Contaminated with Radiation....
Fukushima: Bad and Getting Worse
Fukushima Disaster Will Never End, Dr. Caldicott Warns
Fukushima builds ‘ice wall’ to contain leaks
Leak at Fukushima Nuclear Plant Threatens Dangerous Meltdown
Farmers Protest Over 2011 Fukushima Disaster
Fukushima’s Children are Dying
US firm hired to save Fukushima from 400k tons of radioactive water
Corporate media silence on Fukushima is deafening
Fukushima Effects: Akita Governor Suffers Nosebleed During Press Conference
TEPCO Receives OK to Build “Ice Wall” Around Fukushima
Caught On Camera: Fire At Fukushima?
90% of Fukushima workers fled during 2011 crisis
Fukushima radiation message in popular manga sparks political firestorm
Nuclear Fuel Fragment from Fukushima Found In EUROPE
Fukushima Didn’t Just Suffer 3 Meltdowns … It Also Suffered Melt-THROUGHS and Melt-OUTS
Fukushima Radiations are Killing Children, TEPCO Employees
​US Service Members Lied To About Killer Fukushima
Fukushima Fallout: Canadians Are Eating Radioactive Seafood
Fukushima Families Return to Homes in ‘Hot Zone’
School Science Project Reveals High Levels Of Fukushima Nuclear Radiation in Grocery Store Seafood
A Canadian high school student named Bronwyn Delacruz never imagined that her school science project would make headlines all over the world. But that is precisely what has happened. Using a $600 Geiger counter purchased by her father, Delacruz measured seafood bought at local grocery stores for radioactive contamination. What she discovered was absolutely [...]
Fukushima ‘Decontamination’ System Fails Again
Fukushima Radiation Sickness Increasing
Fukushima Meltdown: What Is Being Hidden?
Did Fukushima Give 1 Year Old Child Cancer?
Thousands Sue Nuclear Giants Over Japan’s Fukushima Disaster
Fukushima: They Knew
Cutting through Fukushima Fog: Radiation in U.S.?
The Giant Lie About Fukushima
Documents Say Navy Knew Fukushima Dangerously Contaminated the USS Reagan
Radioactive Fukushima Plume Due to Reach West Coast this Spring
Beyond the Bubble, Beyond Fukushima: Reconsidering the History of Postwar Japan
West Coast Residents: Dead Men Walking From Fukushima Radiation (Video)
By Susan Duclos
As I say in the video, by then it will be too late, it probably already is.
The media almost complacently reports yet another 100 tons of radioactive water has leaked from a holding tank at Fukushima, this is in addition to the hundreds of tons pouring into the Pacific ocean daily.
In the first video below I attempt to show the undeniable and obvious evidence that residents along the West Coast are nothing more than dead men walking at this point and the governments of those areas, along with the media are complicit in their deaths by refusing to inform the public of the dangers, the radiation levels and the truth of what is happening.
Below are the headlined stories from ENENews recently that I use in the video:
Study: Daily release from Fukushima of 100+ Quadrillion becquerels of cesium-137 early on in crisis “seems reasonable” — Chernobyl total release was ~70 Quadrillion Bq of cs-137
Gov’t map shows highest radiation levels were directly over Salt Lake City, Utah and surrounding area on March 20, 2011 — Most intense concentration of anywhere in world, including Fukushima (GRAPHIC)
TV: Bald eagles dying at rate “much higher than normal” and it’s not from West Nile virus as previously claimed — Now around 60 dead in Utah since December — “We feel helpless, we don’t have a lot of answers” (VIDEO)
The headlines alone tell the story, but read each, learn it, understand it because when the next little tidbit is quoted below from Global Research on January 27, 2014, it should be a hard smack in the face to understand the level of duplicity coming from our very own government.
What we don’t really know is how fast and how much is being transportedacross the Pacific. Yes, models tell us it will be safe, yes the levels we expect off the US West Coast and Canada we expect to be low, but we needmeasurements — especially now, as the plume begins to arrive along the West Coast and will actually increase in concentration over the next 1 to 2 years.Despite public concern about the levels, no public agency in the US is monitoring the activities in the Pacific.
***
Without careful, extensive, consistent monitoring, we’ll have no way of knowing how much radiation from Fukushima is reaching our shores, and how it could affect life in the ocean.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Either they are lying and are monitoring but do not wish to officially announce the results because they are so bad people will panic or the US government and those along the West Coast are simply the most incompetent ever seen throughout history.
Video below says in the details that the nuclear radiation detector you will see in the short 16 second video was "filmed at 36k feet on route from Taipei to Seattle, Feb. 12th, 2014."
In the video below we see quite a few DEAD MEN WALKING
Cross posted at Before It's News
Highly Radioactive Water Overflow at Fukushima
Bizarre Cluster Of Babies Born Without Parts Of Skull And Brain – Hanford Or...
Fukushima Withheld Alarming Numbers as Contamination Just Keeps Soaring
Interview 823 — Dan Dicks Reports on Fukushima Radiation Across the Pacific
U.S. Sailors Sick From Fukushima Radiation
50 Reasons We Should Fear the Worst from Fukushima
Fukushima Radiation Hitting West Coast of North America: “No One Is Measuring So Therefore...
The Fukushima Secrecy Syndrome — From Japan to America
Fukushima Radiation More Than 10 Times The Normal Level Is Detected On California Beaches
Multiple independent tests have confirmed that levels of nuclear radiation are being detected on California beaches that are more than 10 times the normal level. Many believe that this is the result of highly radioactive water from Fukushima that has crossed the Pacific Ocean and is now washing up on California beaches. Others are [...]
Crippled Fukushima Reactor Springs Another Mysterious Leak
Toll Mounts Among U.S. Sailors Devastated by Fukushima Radiation
Discovery Channel: Stop Worrying About Fukushima Radiation!
Enjoy The Radioactive Fish: Tests Show Fukushima Fish Are Up To 124X Above Safe...
Are you purchasing radioactive fish at the grocery store? Are you absolutely certain that you know the answer to that question? You are about to read about a test that discovered that a fish recently caught off the coast of the Fukushima prefecture was found to have 12,400 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium. [...]
Scientists to Monitor California Kelp Forests For Fukushima Radiation
Fish testing at 124 times over radiation limit caught off Fukushima
US Sailor Crippled by Fukushima Radiation Speaks Out on Government Lies
Radioactive Fish at 124 Times ‘Safe’ Levels Caught Near Fukushima
The Irradiated Sailors of Fukushima
Toll of U.S. Sailors Devastated by Fukushima Radiation Continues to Climb
Fukushima Radiation Reaches 8 Times Gov’t Standards
Interview 802 — James Corbett on the Snowden Saga, Fukushima, Saudi Arabia
Study: Dead Sea Creatures cover 98 percent of Ocean Floor off California coast; up...
Fukushima Madness: Plant Decontamination System Shuts Down Amid Failure
After sickening US Navy sailors in 2011, radioactive steam continues to billow from Fukushima...
Pentagon Agency Admits It Began Stockpiling Potassium Iodide Due to Fukushima
Government, Media Cover Up Fukushima Radiation Wave Hitting US
Fukushima Out of Control January — 2014
Fukushima Out of Control January — 2014
Professor Denies West Coast Radiation Link to Fukushima
Fukushima Workers Used Duct Tape to “Stop” Radiation Leaks
Has Fukushima’s Radioactive Wave Already Hit California?
Fukushima Worker Says ‘Slipshod Work’ Done on Storage Tanks
Fukushima Meltdowns: A Global Conspiracy of Denial
Fukushima Radiation: US Government Official Hangs Up When Asked About Iodide Purchase
71 US Sailors, Half Suffering From Cancer, to Sue TEPCO For Fukushima Radiation Poisoning
Plumes of Mysterious Steam rise from Crippled Fukushima Nuclear Reactor
Plumes of mysterious steam rise from crippled nuclear reactor at Fukushima
Is The Government Stockpiling Iodine In Preparation for Fukushima Meltdown?
Fukushima Ghost Towns Struggle to Recover Amid High Radiation Levels
The Mystery Plume Rising Over Fukushima’s Reactor 3
The Mystery Plume Rising Over Fukushima’s Reactor 3
12 States Hit With Swine Flu, Fukushima News & More
71 U.S. Sailors Who Responded to Fukushima Have Cancer, Radiation Sickness
36 Signs The Media Is Lying To You About How Radiation From Fukushima Is...
The west coast of the United States is being absolutely fried by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and the mainstream media is not telling us the truth about this. What you are about to see is a collection of evidence that is quite startling. Taken collectively, this body of evidence shows that nuclear [...]
Earthquakes Rattle Fukushima Region Once More
Former MSNBC Host Told Not to Warn Public About Fukushima
Is Fukushima Radiation Decimating Wildlife in the Western Portion of North America?
Homeless Japanese Being ‘Recruited’ To Clean Up Fukushima Disaster
More radioactive water leaks from Fukushima reactor
Nuclear Snow! USS Ronald Reagan Sailors Sue TEPCO Over Fukushima Radiation Sickness! (Videos)
By Susan Duclos
The more information that comes out about the crew of the USS Ronald Reagan sailors and their March 2011 relief efforts in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the more horrifying we find out their experiences were at the time and ever since as they suffer blindness, cancer and a whole host of other effects from their massive exposure to the radiation plumes from the Fukushima nuclear plant after the great earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
Almost instantly after being sent to help, they felt a warm gust of the killer death plume, then the radioactive snow started, described as tasting like "like aluminum foil."
Lindsay Cooper, Navy sailor aboard USS Ronald Reagan during 3/11 rescue operation: “I was standing on the flight deck, and we felt this warm gust of air, and, suddenly, it was snowing [...] We joked about it: ‘Hey, it’s radioactive snow! I took pictures and video [...] Japan didn’t want us in port, Korea didn’t want us, Guam turned us away. We floated in the water for two and a half months [until Thailand took them in] “People were s- -tting themselves in the hallways [All the while crew members had been suffering from excruciating diarrhea].”
Their stories are chilling, the effects on their bodies horrifying and their lives destroyed and they deserve compensation for the families they will leave behind. 70 to date are involved in the lawsuit against Fukushima plant operators, TEPCO, after their initial lawsuit was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
Cooper was interviewed on EON, listen to the interview below.
Cross posted at Before It's News
Thyroid Cancers Surge Among Fukushima Youths
Fukushima: Radioactivity Flowing into the Ocean will Shift towards West Coast of North America,...
“Surge in Cancers among young in Fukushima”: Japan Experts Voice Alarm
Record Radiation: Handling of Fukushima cleanup is ‘comedy of errors’
Fukushima: Wave of Radiation Will Be Ten Times Bigger than All of the Radiation...
U.S. Navy Sailors Sue TEPCO over Cluster-Fukushima Snafu
US Sailors, Assisting With Fukushima Clean Up, Crippled By Cancer
TEPCO detects record radiation at Fukushima’s reactor 2, new leak suspected
Sickened by service: 51 US sailors claim cancer from helping at Fukushima
US Sailors: Response to Fukushima Emergency Resulted in Cancer
Tepco Plans to Dump ALL the Fukushima Radiation Into the Ocean
Fukushima Aftermath? 98 Percent Of The Pacific Ocean Floor Covered By Dead Sea Creatures
According to an absolutely shocking study that has just been released, one area of the Pacific Ocean floor was 98 percent covered by decomposing sea creatures in July 2012. But in March 2012, only 1 percent of that same section of the Pacific Ocean floor was covered by dead sea [...]
The Lotto of a Fukushima-style Nuclear Disaster
Fukushima: General Electric Knew Its Nuclear Reactor Design Was Unsafe … So Why Isn’t...
Japan’s New ‘Fukushima Fascism’
General Electric Knew Its Reactor Design Was Unsafe … So Why Isn’t GE Getting...
GE Engineers and American Government Officials Warned of Dangerous Nuclear Design 5 of the 6 nuclear reactors at Fukushima are General Electric Mark 1 reactors. GE knew decades ago that the desisangn was faulty. ABC News reported in 2011: Thirty-five … Continue reading →
General Electric Knew Its Reactor Design Was Unsafe … So Why Isn’t GE Getting Any Heat for Fukushima? was originally published on Washington's Blog
300k Fukushima refugees still living ‘in cages’ in makeshift camps
What Is Happening To Alaska? Is Fukushima Responsible For The Mass Animal Deaths?
Why are huge numbers of dead birds dropping dead and washing up along the coastlines of Alaska? It is being reported that many of the carcases of the dead birds are “broken open and bleeding”. The photo of some of these dead birds at the top of this article was originally posted by Alaska [...]
Rice grown near crippled Fukushima nuclear plant served to govt officials
Fukushima Testimony: “We are being Used as the World’s first Human Guinea-pigs”
Fukushima: The ‘Real Nightmare’ Is Coming (Video)
By Susan Duclos
Via ENENews, quoting BBC, we see the work on Unit 4 of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, which the global community and the world is watching with bated breath, is nothing more than a "distraction" and the "easy bit" because Unit 4 didn't suffer a meltdown and the "real nightmare" is coming from Units 1,2 and 3, where actual meltdowns occurred.
Reactor buildings 1, 2, and 3 where there were core meltdowns, the radiation levels there are still way too high for anyone to go in those buildings. So I think Reactors 1, 2, and 3, the reactors that had core meltdowns, are the real long-term problem, and a very difficult problem to deal with. Reactor 4 is a bit of a distraction. It’s important to get the fuel out, but it is the easy bit.
The same article also quotes the NYT with bad news on top of bad new, stating "Melted fuel is “all over the place… First goal is simply to stop uncontrolled releases of radioactive material."
Last but not least, Global Research headlines with "The Fukushima Coverup: “Biggest Industrial Catastrophe in the History of Mankind”
The video below starts was a live event and Fukushima discussion with BeautifuGirlByDana where commenters and Dana discuss the issue in depth.
Join in folks, discuss, debate, talk about it because ignoring it is not going to make it go away.... the real nightmare is coming.....
Cross posted at Before It's News
Fukushima: Radioactivity in the Pacific Ocean, Diluted, But Far from Harmless
The Fukushima Coverup: “Biggest Industrial Catastrophe in the History of Mankind”
Releasing radioactive water an option for Fukushima?
Radioactive Fukushima Water Headed for US West Coast
White House Petition: “Tell The Truth To The American People About Radiation Emitted By...
The American government – like the Japanese and Canadian governments – are covering up the extent of the Fukushima crisis. Someone launched a White House petition saying: Tell the truth to the American people about radiation emitted by Fukushima Dai-Chi … Continue reading →
White House Petition: “Tell The Truth To The American People About Radiation Emitted By Fukushima Dai-Chi Reactor Disaster. Stop LYING” was originally published on Washington's Blog
Canada Busted Covering Up Spikes In Fukushima Radiation
Canada Busted Covering Up Spikes In Fukushima Radiation
Falsely Stated That There Were No Unusual Radiation Levels The governments of Japan, America and Canada have covered up the severity of the Fukushima crisis ever since it started in March 2011. They’ve cut way back on radiation monitoring after … Continue reading →
Canada Busted Covering Up Spikes In Fukushima Radiation was originally published on Washington's Blog
They’re Going to Dump the Fukushima Radiation Into the Ocean
Yup … They’re Going to Dump It Tepco is planning on dumping all of the radioactive water stored at Fukushima into the ocean. Others are pushing them to do this as well. As EneNews reports: Juan Carlos Lentijo, head of … Continue reading →
They’re Going to Dump the Fukushima Radiation Into the Ocean was originally published on Washington's Blog
Fukushima’s Deadly Legacy
Japan brainstorms new measures to stop radioactive leak at Fukushima
Mass Die-Off of West Coast Sealife: Fukushima Radiation … Or Something Else?
What’s Causing the Unprecedented Weirdness In West Coast Ocean Life? NBC Nightly News reports that a mass die-off of starfish up and down the West Coast of North America is puzzling scientists: Brian Williams, anchor: Environmental officials in California say … Continue reading →
Mass Die-Off of West Coast Sealife: Fukushima Radiation … Or Something Else? was originally published on Washington's Blog
Expert: “High Risk” Of Nuclear Holocaust – Fukushima (Videos)
By Susan Duclos
More dire warnings and bad news regarding the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan which was crippled from the 2011 great earthquake and tsunami and has been leaking radiation which has been sending plumes of death across the Pacific to the West coast of the United States as well as dumping hundreds of tons of radioactive water into the Pacific ocean on a daily basis.
Via ENENews, a couple of headlines pretty much say it all.
Risk Expert: “High risk” of nuclear holocaust at Fukushima — Plant to keep emitting radioactive materials “for a thousand years or so”
Interview with Dr. Charles Perrow, professor emeritus at Yale University, shown below,key quotes come at the 46:30 minute mark and the 54:15 minutes mark.
It is still emitting radioactive materials [to the atmosphere] […] not in a gigantic form, but it’s going to keep emitting that for a thousand years or so. I think the only thing they can do with it is cover it over with cement like they did at Chernboyl.[...]
Q: Are we literally on the verge of seeing Japan ceasing to exist as a nation — Is it this serious? A: If we have a serious accident […] or a serious earthquake, yes. The chances are we will get through it. I don’t think that it’s guaranteed that there’s going to be a nuclear holocaust from these events — but there is a high risk.
Second headline shown below.
Study: Those lacking wisdom expected Fukushima plume to disperse before hitting West Coast — In reality “sharp features” were detected even after several days travel"
Below was a live event starting at 10pm ET, with BeautifulGirlByDana, it is interactive where commenters can go to the YouTube URL and type in comments or questions and discuss Fukushima with the topic of the day being "Should Japan Kill Indian Ocean or South Pacific Ocean After North Pacific Dies"
When the live event ends, the video of this event will be able to be played as a video.
Via the video details:
Now that the pacific ocean is lost to perpetual radiation fallout what ocean will fall next . Seeming as Japan has decided it is going to hide everything it can from the world should we hold their leaders for war crimes . They are a signature democratic county that is gone rouge against earth itself and all forms of life on it . We have to rise to this threat against earth and humanity before we pass the point of no return that has already passed for the north pacific ocean . We have no option but to set our resolve to autopilot and become more informed and more articulate to the point where our knowledge destroys their narrative in every chat room , on every Radio broadcast and every media outlet we will stomp Japan into the dirt relentlessly because out very lives depend on it . Songhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnM-8h...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQdbQc...
Nuked Pacific with Leuren Moret & Rad Chick watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50C7Um...
Excellent ! Chernobyl 3828 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDa8t...
VERY COOL PEOPLE
MsMilkytheclown1 current site
http://www.youtube.com/user/MsMilkyth...
Rad Chick http://www.youtube.com/user/ichicax4
NibiruMagick2012 https://www.youtube.com/user/NibiruMa...
Susan Duclos http://beforeitsnews.com/contributor/...
Hatrick Penry http://www.youtube.com/user/HatrickPenry
h.thomas ackermann https://www.youtube.com/user/artrant/...
MsMilkytheclown1 older sitehttp://www.youtube.com/user/MsMilkyth...
kevindblanch http://www.youtube.com/user/kevindblanch
http://enenews.com/
Cross posted at Before It's News
Leak Forces Shut Down of Fukushima Water Decontamination Unit
Fukushima And The End Of Humanity 2: Radioactive Ocean (Video)
What Is The ACTUAL Risk for Pacific Coast Residents from Fukushima Radiation?
“[The Odds of] Longer Term Chronic Effects, Cancer Or Genetic Effects … Cannot Be Said To Be Zero” It is very difficult to obtain accurate information on the dangers from Fukushima radiation to residents of the West Coast of North … Continue reading →
What Is The ACTUAL Risk for Pacific Coast Residents from Fukushima Radiation? was originally published on Washington's Blog
Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism
Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism
Japan – Like the U.S. – Turns to Censorship 2 weeks after the Fukushima accident, we reported that the government responded to the nuclear accident by trying to raise acceptable radiation levels and pretending that radiation is good for us. … Continue reading →
Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism was originally published on Washington's Blog
How to Reduce Your Risk of Radiation from Fukushima
Is There Anything We Can Do to Reduce Radiation Risks? Doctors in Hawaii and the West Coast of North American are being bombarded with questions about how to protect ourselves from radiation from Fukushima. This essay provides an introduction to … Continue reading →
How to Reduce Your Risk of Radiation from Fukushima was originally published on Washington's Blog
Fukushima Man
Fukushima Countdown To Mass Extinction (Video)
By Susan Duclos
BeautifulGirlByDana has not forgotten the people most affected by the Fukushima radiation, nor has he stopped relentlessly hammering Japan for gagging their populace after the latest 7.3 earthquake where a very small percentage of social media messages that were seen from previous disasters, are now being seen.
As fears rise from the removal of the spent fuel from the Fukushima nuclear plant after the original crippling in 2011 from an earthquake and tsunami, Dana focuses on the complete lack of urgency as to why the people of Japan are being ignored, why the media isn't highlighting the lack of direct word from those most affected.
I have seen Dana go from his live events having 10 people in the comment section interacting with him, to over a 100 during the events as people are thirsty for his latest findings, and hungry for information that hasn't come from Japan's state run media.
His latest live event was on Saturday and is shown below.
YouTube Details:
Japan has some explaining to do so they blocked the internet since Oct 25th 2013 earthquake that registered 7.3 on the scales just 29 days ago . We only see about 1/1000 of 1% of the normal internet traffic from youtube , facebook , twitter , instagram , etc etc . We understand the implications of this and refuse to be put off any longer , if they have nothing to hide about contamination why did they silence their own people and why does media refuse to call them on it , you don,t have to be very smart to understand they are afraid you will ask . Die-offs of mammals, birds, reptiles in Western U.S. — "So many diseases afflicting such a wide variety of animals" — Names out of sci-fi thriller: hemorrhagic disease, sylvatic plague .song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBYKD...
Clip Rad Chick was referring to that can help people understand what i mean by rod pellets , rods full of pellets when hitting building 4 after unit 1 , 2 , 3 exploded and left the whole area mauled by radiation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL-D0g...
VERY COOL PEOPLE
MsMilkytheclown1 current site
http://www.youtube.com/user/MsMilkyth...
Rad Chick http://www.youtube.com/user/ichicax4
NibiruMagick2012 https://www.youtube.com/user/NibiruMa...
Susan Duclos http://beforeitsnews.com/contributor/...
h.thomas ackermann https://www.youtube.com/user/artrant/...
MsMilkytheclown1 older sitehttp://www.youtube.com/user/MsMilkyth...
kevindblanch http://www.youtube.com/user/kevindblanch
http://enenews.com/
Cross posted at Before It's News
Why TEPCO is Risking the Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods. The Dangers of Uncontrolled...
Fukushima Nuclear Fallout Has Damaged the Thyroids of California Babies
Fukushima Nuclear Fuel Removal Procedures
Fuel rod removal: Fukushima’s most dangerous operation yields first successes
ABC NEWS: West Coast Evacuation Due To Fukushima Radiation Possible! (Video)
Smallstorm and Fetzer on Sandy Hook, Fukushima, RF Radiation
Sofia Smallstorm offers a detailed discussion of her recent video presentation, Unraveling Sandy Hook, on Professor Jim Fetzer’s The Real Deal radio program.
The edition aired on Friday November 15.
Dump It in the Ocean: TEPCO’s Plan for Radioactive Fukushima Water
Yet Another Call to Dump Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Into the Ocean
Fukushima meltdown is warning to the world, says nuclear plant operator
The Fallout from Fukushima in the Global Nuclear Industry
Fukushima Fallout Damaged the Thyroids of California Babies
Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant begins fuel rod removal
Developing: Earthquake Hits Japan Amid Fukushima Fuel Rod Removal
Highly Dangerous Fukushima 4 Fuel Removal Begins Monday
‘Slap in the Face’: Japan Uses Fukushima Nuclear Disaster to Ditch Carbon Targets
Tepco Negligence, Dangerous Crisis: Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods Hits a Bump … Before...
Tepco’s Negligence in 1982 Makes Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods More Difficult Now
Fukushima: Reactor #1 ‘Gushing Out’ Radioactive Water, Similar Damage Suspected At Other Reactors (Video)
U.S. To Face Fukushima Style Disaster?
Radiating The People: Fukushima’s Cancer Legacy (New Release)
Arafat Poisoned, India To Mars, Fukushima Cleanup — New World Next Week
Scientists Warn of Extreme Risk: Greatest Short-term Threat to Humanity is From Fukushima Fuel...
Fukushima – Death Plumes, Martial Law, Internet Blackout – Day 12 Q & A...
Big quake near Fukushima would ‘decimate Japan, lead to US West Coast evacuation’
Fukushima plant readies for removal of dangerous fuel rods
Fukushima’s Legacy: “Shut Down All Nuclear Power Plants!”
Top Scientist: Another Fukushima Quake Would Mean US Evacuation, ‘Bye Bye Japan’
Pro-Nuke Scientists Should Go to Fukushima
Fukushima Falsified Cancer Reports Exposed (Video)
Fukushima Trial Run Begins Dangerous Reactor 4 Clean-Up
Fukushima: Appalling Silence Of Good People – Day 9 (Video)
Tepco Tore Down the Natural Seawall Which Would Have Protected Fukushima from the Tsunami
Fukushima: Japan’s Cut-Price Nuclear Cleanup: Human Error, Plummeting Morale and Worker Exodus ç¦å³¶ã¯å‰²å¼•æ¸…掃
Hard Times in Fukushima
Fukushima: Day 8 Martial Law In Japan (Video)
Could the Entire Pacific Fishery Be Tainted by Fukushima?
Alaska Fuked Now? Scientists From Alaska Concerned About Fukushima Radiation (Video)
Fukushima Radiation Levels Will Concentrate in Pockets at Specific US and Canada West Coast...
Fukushima Radiation Levels Will Concentrate in Pockets at Specific US and Canada West Coast...
‘Nuclear Slaves’ At Fukushima – Dead Men Walking (Video)
So much focus has been on the level of radiation spewed by the crippled Fukushima plant, the radioactive water killing the Pacific ocean as hundreds of tons get dumped into it every day, the effects seen in the ocean life, the spread to Canada and the US, but not much is being said about the workers being forced to work at the devastated plant, literally being made into "nuclear slaves."
ENENews highlights these workers and how thousands of unemployed Japanese workers were tricked into being on the front lines. The other day we saw a video, by Reuters on workers being exploited and I'll add that video again at the very end of the article, but some of the quotes are heartbreaking
"You can’t escape” — “They kept me in a shed” — “There’s nowhere else to go… Everyone is stuck” — “You’re brainwashed” — “After a few days, they’re thrown away”
Enforcers used to keep these "nuclear slaves" from complaining or leaving the jobs until their "labor brokers" are paid off, at which time the workers are most likely dead men walking anyway.
Now the news they are going to need foreign workers. I can see the job advertisement now, "Nuclear slaves needed, apply here."
Where are the screaming human rights activists now?
Cross posted at Before It's News
Fukushima Death Poison Spreading Around The World – It’s Worse Than You Thought (Video)
The global damage from the Fukushima nuclear plant, crippled by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, with of tons of radioactive water pouring into the Pacific ocean every single day and radioactivity levels spiking uncontrollably, even here in the US, is far worse that Japan's media and the mainstream media across the world is telling you.
Very few MSM personalities are addressing it in any depth, but one TV journalist has,George Knapp, host, investigative journalist at KLAS-TV, winner of the Peabody Award, Edward R. Murrow Award and over a dozen Emmys, finally admits the truth when he states " If you thought that that mess over there at that nuke plant had been cleaned up, you are wrong. It’s sort of dropped off the face of the Earth in terms of mainstream media coverage, at least in this country. But the poison continues to pour in to the ocean — and some of that poison has been detected, nuclear poisoning off the coasts of the United States. It is spreading around the world, causing incalculable damage."
In the video below titled "Fukushima Nuclear Crisis, Worse Than You Think: 5 Things You Need To Know Now," you will hear about the lawsuit by the group the Plaintiffs Against the Fukushima Power plant, who filed a lawsuit Monday accusing Tokyo Electric Power Company and government officials of negligence in the disaster.
Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese write "The story of Fukushima should be on the front pages of every newspaper. Instead, it is rarely mentioned. The problems at Fukushima are unprecedented in human experience and involve a high risk of radiation events larger than any that the global community has ever experienced. It is going to take the best engineering minds in the world to solve these problems and to diminish their global impact."
If all that is not enough to wake the mainstream media up, the most recent bombshell that a monumental chain reaction is feared as operators of the Fukushima plant prepare to remove the fuel rods from the damaged reactor #4 in November, reported at Before It's News just this morning, should slap the MSM into consciousness.
Cross posted at Before It's News
Japan Greenlights ‘Perilous’ Cleanup at Fukushima’s Reactor 4
Nuclear Authority Greenlights ‘Perilous’ Fukushima Clean Up
Fukushima Death Plumes Hitting Canada? Total Media Blackout (Video)
We have a twofer here since they both involved a media blackout, one from the mainstream media in and out of Japan, and the other on social media continued five days after a major earthquake hit near the Fukushima nuclear plant.
First we will start with a Tokyo mother declares that despite sickness, death and serious radiation symptoms, there is a "total media blackout" on what is actually happening in Japan as a result of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami cripple it.
That question and answer from the Cinema Forum Fukushima was published in July and still, the media ignores what is happening.
"In Japan, it’s really a total blackout of media, even though there are lots and lots of people who have been developing symptoms. That information itself cannot come out because of the control of the media and the doctors, like the Society of Medicine in Japan, are denying even now that there have been health damages [...] I just wanted to remind you that this is really a real thing. It’s not only the anxiety, it is happening. I think this is the most important thing. But there are very few people who talk about this […] I was outside on the 15th of March in Tokyo, and then about 1 month later, I had fever of like 103ºF for 8 days. And this [baby] boy, he was totally healthy, now he’s OK, but at the time he had 101ºF fever on and off for 13 times in the duration of 3 months. He had rash all over and he was really, really sick [...] he became real skinny and he stopped growing for 3 or 4 months. It is really happening. I have 2 nodules in my thyroid, and my boy has countless number of minor nodules. So what I wanted to stress most, the most important thing is the symptoms are happening. I want you to know, and I want you to spread this information."
That will be the first video below.
As was reported yesterday, there are also questions as to whether the supposed "live" camera at the fukushima nuclear plant is really live.
Last but definitely not least, BeautifulGirlByDana continues to monitor the web and five days after another 7 plus magnitude earthquake hit near the already devastated nuclear plant, still no verifiable direct social media interaction from Japan.
Dana also brings about the question of the global damage as is clear in the headline of his video "# 2 Fukushima Death Plumes Hitting Canada Tonight & for months ??"
One more quick thought before showing the two videos below.... is it only Japan that has a total media blackout or are governments around the world also hiding the effects from their people and why is the media being complicit and helping them do so?
Cross posted at Before It's News
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Something Is Killing Life All Over The Pacific Ocean — Could It Be Fukushima?
Something Is Killing Life All Over The Pacific Ocean — Could It Be Fukushima?
Why is there so much death and disease among sea life living near the west coast of North America right now? Could the hundreds of tons of highly radioactive water that are being released into the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima every single day have anything to do with it? When I wrote my last [...]
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28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From...
The map above comes from the Nuclear Emergency Tracking Center. It shows that radiation levels at radiation monitoring stations all over the country are elevated. As you will notice, this is particularly true along the west coast of the United States. Every single day, 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific [...]
Toxic Overflow of Thousands of Fukushima Tanks Following Heavy Rains
Water radiation soars at Fukushima No. 1
Japan Times
Oct. 18, 2013
Radiation levels in groundwater under Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are soaring, Tepco said Friday after taking samples from an observation well.
Tepco said 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting substances such as strontium were detected in water sampled Thursday from the well located some 15 meters from a storage tank that leaked about 300 tons of highly radioactive water in August.
The level of becquerels, a record high for water in that well, was up 6,500-fold from the 61 becquerels found Wednesday.
Tepco was planning to pump groundwater up from different wells about 100 meters from the leaky tank for release into the Pacific before the water flows into the damaged reactor buildings and becomes heavily contaminated with radioactive materials.
This article was posted: Friday, October 18, 2013 at 9:50 am
Tags: health, natural health, radiation
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Radioactivity level spikes 6,500 times at Fukushima well
RT
October 18, 2013
Radioactivity levels in a well near a storage tank at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan have risen immensely on Thursday, the plant’s operator has reported.
Image: Fukushima Plant.
Officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Friday they detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances – including strontium – at the site, a level 6,500 times higher than readings taken on Wednesday, NHK World reported.
The storage tank leaked over 300 tons of contaminated water in August, some of which is believed to have found its way into the sea through a ditch.
The well in question is about 10 meters from the tank and was dug to gauge leakage.
TEPCO said the findings show that radioactive substances like strontium have reached the groundwater. High levels of tritium, which transfers much easier in water than strontium, had already been detected.
Officials at TEPCO said they will remove any contaminated soil around the storage tank in an effort to monitor radioactivity levels of the water around the well.
The news comes after it has been reported a powerful typhoon which swept through Japan led to highly radioactive water near the crippled nuclear power plant being released into a nearby drainage ditch, increasing the risk of it flowing into the sea.
On Wednesday TEPCO said it had detected high levels of radiation in a ditch leading to the Pacific Ocean, and that it suspected heavy rains had lifted contaminated soil.
This article was posted: Friday, October 18, 2013 at 5:33 am
Tags: environment, radiation
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Fukushima Meltdown: “Forty Good Years And One Very Bad Day”
This week Fairewinds Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen participated in two panel discussions in Boston and New York City entitled “The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident: Ongoing Lessons” Other panelists included Ralph Nader, Peter Bradford, Naoto Kan, Gregory Jaczko and Jean-Michel Cousteau.
The video above is a recording of Arnie’s speech entitled “Forty Good Years And One Very Bad Day.” To watch the entire NYC presentation, visit:
http://new.livestream.com/FukushimaLessons/newyork
For a complete transcript, visit:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/lessons-from-the-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-...
Radioactivity level spikes 6,500 times at Fukushima well
Fukushima Governor Yuhei sato (orange helmet) inspects the contaminated water tanks at Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture on October 15, 2013. (AFP Photo/Jiji press)
Radioactivity levels in a well near a storage tank at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan have risen immensely on Thursday, the plant’s operator has reported.
Officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Friday they detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances - including strontium - at the site, a level 6,500 times higher than readings taken on Wednesday.
The storage tank leaked over 300 tons of contaminated water in August, some of which is believed to have found its way into the sea through a ditch.
The well in question is about 10 meters from the tank and was dug to gauge leakage, NHK World reported.
TEPCO said the findings show that radioactive substances like strontium have reached the groundwater. High levels of tritium, which transfers much easier in water than strontium, had already been detected.
Officials at TEPCO said they will remove any contaminated soil around the storage tank in an effort to monitor radioactivity levels of the water around the well.
The news comes after it has been reported a powerful typhoon which swept through Japan led to highly radioactive water near the crippled nuclear power plant being released into a nearby drainage ditch, increasing the risk of it flowing into the sea.
On Wednesday TEPCO said it had detected high levels of radiation in a ditch leading to the Pacific Ocean, and that it suspected heavy rains had lifted contaminated soil.
Fukushima Beta-Radiation Levels Soar To New Record In Aftermath Of Typhoon Wipha
Radioactive Water From Fukushima Pumped to the Sea in Typhoon Wipha’s Wake
Japan’s Ground Self Defense Force soldiers remove debris to search for survivors after a landslide buried houses caused by heavy rain of typhoon Wipha at Oshima island, 120km south of Tokyo on October 16, 2013. (Photo: AFP /Getty Images)The destructive path of Typhoon Wipha has led to the release of unknown amounts of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear facility into the ocean.
Workers reported high levels of radioactive water in a ditch that leads directly to the Pacific Ocean, suggesting that high rain levels released contamination from the soil, according to Euronews.
Plant owner TEPCO is pumping large amounts of water that has gathered near the facility's radioactive water storage tanks into the ocean to prevent more flooding. Officials claim that "the contamination was far below safe drinking water levels," The New York Times reports.
The powerful typhoon hit areas in the east of Japan on Wednesday, sparking floods, landslides, and infrastructure collapse that have left 17 people dead and scores missing.
As daily disasters continue to sweep the wrecked facility, the plant is proving vulnerable to storms and heavy rains. In early October, a heavy rainstorm caused at least 4 tons of toxic water to leak from the plant, just one of many radioactive water spills.
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Mega Nuclear Power Plant Raises Fear of Fukushima Type Disaster in India
Bhagwat Singh Gohil frets for the future of his bountiful orchards in Mithi Virdi village in western Gujarat state’s coastal district Bhavnagar. “After contending with droughts, rough seas and earthquakes we are staring at the possibility of a man-made disaster in the shape of a nuclear power park.”
Women protesting against a proposed nuclear plant at Mithi Virdi in the Indian state Gujarat. Credit: Krishnakant/IPS. Speaking with IPS over telephone from Mithi Virdi, Gohil said he and other villagers are unconvinced by official declarations guaranteeing the safety of the Gujarat Nuclear Power Park (GNPP) which, when complete, is due to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity.
“They could not have chosen a worse site for a mega nuclear power plant – we have a history of earthquakes and fear a Fukushima type disaster in the Gulf of Khambat where the GNPP is coming up,” said Gohil. “Also, Gujarat borders Pakistan, a hostile neighbour. What if this nuclear facility is bombed in a future war?”
On Mar. 5 Gohil and some 5,000 villagers silently walked out of a public hearing held by the local administration seeking approval for construction for the GNPP which is due to be equipped with six Westinghouse-Toshiba nuclear reactors, each with a 1,000 megawatt capacity.
“We did not want to be party to an illegal public hearing that was seeking endorsement for an environment impact assessment (EIA) report that was flawed and ignored many safety aspects which we are soon going to publish in a parallel document,” Rohit Prajpati, leader of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (Environment Protection Group), a voluntary agency active in Gujarat told IPS.
“To begin with, the EIA was drawn up by Engineers India Limited (EIL), a public sector consultancy that does not have the required accreditation – a fact which is apparent on the government’s own website,” Prajapti said. “An attempt was made to hoodwink the villagers, but they did not buy it.”
According to the terms of reference, EIL was supposed to carry out a detailed risk assessment and provide a disaster management plan, but the final document avoids that responsibility. “We have made written protests about this flawed EIA to the environment ministry,” Prajapati said.
According to V. T. Padmanabhan, independent researcher and member of the Brussels-based European Commission on Radiation Risk, basic safety aspects are being glossed over in the EIAs in the rush to set up a string of nuclear parks along India’s vast coastline.
“The EIA drawn up for the Mithi Virdi project, for instance, ignores the fact that there has been no study conducted on maximum flood levels – and that in an area that is seriously prone to tidal floods,” Padmanabhan told IPS.
On Mar. 6, answering questions in parliament concerning the new nuclear parks, V. Narayanswamy, minister in the prime minister’s office, said coastal nuclear power parks are designed with consideration given to possible earthquakes, tsunamis, storm surges and tidal flooding.
“Safety is a moving target in nuclear power plants and is continuously evolving based on the reviews by utilities and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) besides internationally evolving standards,” Narayanaswamy informed parliament.
But, it is not just the villagers and activists who are worried at the haste with which the public sector Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is going about setting up coastal nuclear power projects – the courts have been lending a sympathetic ear to the protestors.
On Mar. 12, the high court of the southern Andhra Pradesh state halted plans for a 9,000 megawatt nuclear park at Kovvada in coastal Srikakulam district following a petition filed on behalf of local residents and fishermen by J. Rama Rao, a retired naval engineer.
The high court took notice of the petitoners’ plea that the government was going about attempting to acquire land for the 6,000 megawatt nuclear facility even though the project is yet to gain clearance from the AERB.
Kovvada villagers have been on a relay hunger strike since December 2012 against the proposed nuclear power plant. Their petition cited the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear meltdowns to say that in the event of an accident, future generations would be affected by radiation contamination.
But, in spite of the protests and intervention by the court the government appears determined to push ahead with plans to generate 40 gigawatts of nuclear energy by 2020, most of it from nuclear parks in various stages of completion along India’s peninsular coastline.
Narayanasamy stated in parliament that electricity will begin to flow from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in southern Tamil Nadu by April. The KNPP, which is designed to generate 9,200 megawatts, has been in the making since 1988 when a deal was signed for its construction between India and Russia.
KNPP is yet to have valid Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearances. Last November, NPCIL also admitted in the Supreme Court that it had constructed a desalination plant without mandatory environmental clearance, showing how existing rules are being bypassed.
“CRZ clearance is not a technical formality, but an important procedure designed to protect India’s sensitive coastal region,” said Padmanabhan, adding that the haste in setting up coastal nuclear plants contrasts with the bureaucratic red tape that India is known for.
“What we are seeing is a repeat of the Fukushima experience where investigations by a parliamentary committee have shown that although triggered by a tsunami, the meltdown of the rectors was man-made and a result of collusion between the government, the regulators and the utility Tokyo Electric Power Company,” Padmanabhan said.
Poor governance and lack of independent regulatory oversight in the construction of nuclear plants have already been pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General, India’s powerful government watchdog.
© 2013 Inter Press Service
Fukushima Rescue Mission Lasting Legacy: Radioactive Contamination of Nearly 70,000 Americans
Who are the victims of Japan’s great 3.11 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear meltdown? Japan Focus has documented the heavy price paid by the more than 20,000 who died in the tsunami, the hundreds of thousands driven from their homes by the combination of tsunami and meltdown, and the nuclear workers who have fought to bring the radiation at the Tepco plants under control at risk of their lives. Roger Witherspoon extends this analysis to the US servicemen and women of Operation Tomodachi who were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation with little preparation or protection. This is the first of two major articles on their plight and their fight.
The Department of Defense has decided to walk away from an unprecedented medical registry of nearly 70,000 American service members, civilian workers, and their families caught in the radioactive clouds blowing from the destroyed nuclear power plants at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan.
The decision to cease updating the registry means there will be no way to determine if patterns of health problems emerge among the members of the Marines, Army, Air Force, Corps of Engineers, and Navy stationed at 63 installations in Japan with their families. In addition, it leaves thousands of sailors and Marines in the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group 7 on their own when it comes to determining if any of them are developing problems caused by radiation exposure.
The strike group was detoured from its South Pacific duties and brought to Fukushima for Operation Tomodachi, using the Japanese word for “friend.” It was an 80-day humanitarian aid and rescue mission in the wake of the earthquake and massive tsunami that decimated the northern coastline and killed more than 20,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
The rescue operation was requested by the Japanese Government and coordinated by the US State Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Departments of Defense and Energy. In addition to the USS Ronald Reagan with its crew of 5,500, the Strike Group included four destroyers – The Preble, McCampbell, Curtis Wilbur, and McCain – the cruiser USS Chancellorsville, and several support ships.
It was the participants in Operation Tomodachi – land based truck drivers and helicopter crews, and carrier based aircraft and landing craft – who were repeatedly trying to guess where the radioactive clouds were blowing and steer paths out of the way. It was unsuccessful on more than one occasion, according to Defense Department records and participants, resulting in efforts to decontaminate ships travelling through contaminated waters and cleansing helicopters only to send them right back into radioactive clouds.
So far, however, more than 150 service men and women who participated in the rescue mission have since developed a variety of medical issues – including tumors, tremors, internal bleeding, and hair loss – which they feel were triggered by their exposure to radiation. They do not blame the Navy for their predicament, but are joined in an expanding law suit against the Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, for providing false information to the US officials about the extent of spreading radiation from its stricken reactors at Fukushima. And the decision by the Defense Department to abandon the registry leaves them on their own.
Jobs are compartmentalized at sea explained Navy Quartermasters Maurice Enis and Jaime Plym, two of the navigators on the carrier Reagan. Few of those on board knew there were dangerous radioactive plumes blowing in the wind and none knew what ocean currents might be contaminated. They did know there were problems when alarms went off.
“We make our own water through desalinization plants on board,” said Plym, a 28-year-old from St. Augustine, Florida. “But it comes from the ocean and the ocean was contaminated. So we had to get rid of all the water on the ship and keep scouring it and testing it till it was clean.
“You have a nuclear power plant inside the ship that uses water for cooling, and they didn’t want to contaminate our reactor with their reactors’ radiation.”
But avoiding it was not easy. It meant going far enough out to sea where there were no contaminated currents, washing down the ship and its pipes, and then going back towards shore.
“We could actually see the certain parts of the navigation chart where radiation was at, and to navigate through that was nerve wracking,” said Enis. “The general public, like the ship, didn’t really know where it was or what it was and relied on word-of-mouth and rumors. We have more information, but there was no absolute way for us to know how much radiation was out there because we were still being told by the (Japanese) power company that we shouldn’t worry.
“We stayed about 80 days, and we would stay as close as two miles offshore and then sail away. It was a cat and mouse game depending on which way the wind was blowing. We kept coming back because it was a matter of helping the people of Japan who needed help. But it would put us in a different dangerous area. After the first scare and we found there was radiation when they (the power company) told us there was none, we went on lockdown and had to carry around the gas masks.”
When it came to getting timely information on radiation, the Americans on land were just as much at sea. Gregory Jaczko, then Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, urged the evacuation of all Americans within 50 miles of the stricken reactors. And the Defense Department evacuated women and children from the Yokosuka Naval Base, located 300 miles south of Fukushima, after sensors picked up increases in background radiation.
Information was hard to come by, exacerbated by the rigidity of the Japanese bureaucracy. Two nuclear experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists, David Lochbaum, who has worked as a consultant for the NRC and industry, and Ed Lyman, a nuclear physicist, have examined thousands of government emails and cable traffic during a confusing period when the data base shifted by the hour and concrete information was hard to come by.
“After the explosion in Fukushima Daiichi Unit #4 the Japanese were not able to get enough water into the building to keep the spent fuel pool cool,” Lochbaum said. “So the US airlifted a concrete pumper truck all the way from Australia to an American naval base in the northern part of the island. And the Japanese would not let it leave the base because it wasn’t licensed to travel on Japanese roads. Given the magnitude of their problems, that seemed to be the wrong priority.
“But the Japanese culture is more like a symphony, where everyone follows the conductor’s lead. Whereas American society is more like a jazz ensemble where everyone is playing together, but improvisation is prized.”
The inability to get cohesive, trustworthy information from the Japanese hampered the American rescue effort.
Michael Sebourn, senior chief mechanic for the helicopter squadron based at Atsugi,about 60 miles from Fukushima, recalled that “after the earthquake and tsunami we were given one day notice to pack up the command and go to Misawa, Japan Air Base to provide relief efforts to the Sendai and Fukushima areas. All of the other squadrons were evacuating to Guam. There was a big possibility that the base at Atsugi would be shut down and we would never be returning. We were told to put our names and phone numbers on the dashboards of the cars because we would probably not get them back.
“We were in Misawa 3 ½ weeks, working every day, flying mission after mission after mission to pick people up, rescue people, ferry supplies and things like that. There were a few nuclear technicians scanning individuals coming back from missions. Many times they would cut off their uniforms.” The decontamination team cut off their uniforms to avoid touching them and further contaminating them.
Sebourn was sent to Guam for three days of intensive training and became the designated radiation officer. It wasn’t easy.
“This was a completely unprecedented event,” he said. “We had never dealt with radiation before. We were completely brand new to everything and everyone was clueless. We had had drills dealing with chemical and biological warfare. But we never had any drills dealing with radiation. That was nuclear stuff and we didn’t do nuclear stuff. The aviation guys had never dealt with radiation before. We had never had aircraft that was radiated. So we were completely flying blind.”
There were rules for Sebourn’s group of mechanics. They scanned the returning helicopters for radiation, and then removed any contaminated parts and put them in special containers filled with water and stored on an isolated tarmac. It began snowing in Misawa so the group moved back to their base at Atsugi, closer to Fukushima. Sebourn tracked varying radiation levels in units called Corrected Counts Per Minute on their electronic detectors.
“Normal outside radiation exposure is between five and 10 CCPM,” he said. “And that’s from the sun. At Atsugi, the background readings were between 200 and 300 CCPM in the air. It was all over. The water was radiated. The ground was radiated. The air was radiated.
“The rule was if there was anything over a count of 500 you needed special gloves. Over 1,000 CCPM and you needed a Tyvek radiation suit. And if it was over 5,000 you needed an entire outfit – suit, respirator, goggles, and two sets of gloves. You couldn’t put a contaminated radiator back into the helicopters – they had to be replaced. I remember pulling out a radiator and it read 60,000 CCPM.”
But in the end, the safety equipment may not have been enough.
The Tomodachi Medical Registry, developed over a two year-period and completed at the end of 2012, was a collective effort of the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Veterans Affairs launched at the insistence of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
It was an exhaustive registry essential to develop a medical baseline from which to determine if there were any long lasting repercussions from exposure to radioactivity – particularly iodine and cesium – spewing for months from the Fukushima Daiichi reactor units 1 through 4 into both the air and the sea.
The Registry was unparalleled in its depth. The Defense Department’s 252-page assessment of radiation doses the 70,000 Americans may have been exposed to is broken down by a host of factors, including proximity to Fukushima, the type of workbeing done and its impact on breathing rates, changing weather patterns, sex, size, and age. In the latter category children were divided into six different age groups, reflecting their varying susceptibility to radiation. (link)
In addition, the report states, “over 8,000 individuals were monitored for internal radioactive materials and the results of those tests were compared with the calculated doses.”
In the end, however, the Department concluded that their estimates of the maximum possible whole body and thyroid doses of contaminants were not severe enough to warrant further examination.
Navy spokesman Lt. Matthew Allen, in a written statement, said “The DoD has very high confidence in the accuracy of the dose estimates, which were arrived at using highly conservative exposure assumptions (i.e., assuming individuals were outside 24 hours a day for the 60 days in which environmental radiation levels were elevated and while breathing at higher than normal rates).
“The estimated doses were closely reviewed by the Veterans' Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction and by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements who both agreed that the methods used to calculate the estimates were appropriate and the results accurate. In addition the dose estimates were consistent with the estimates made by the Japanese government and by the World Health Organization.”
Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia Smith added that as a result of the agency’s decision that there was no serious contamination, “There are no health surveillance measures required for any member of the DoD-affiliated population who was on or near the mainland of Japan following the accident and subsequent radiological release from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station beginning on or about March 11, 2011.”
But there are skeptics of the Defense Department’s blanket conclusion that there was not enough radiation poured into the environment to warrant continuous monitoring of the men, women, and children living and working there.
“Radiation does not spread in a homogenous mix,” said Lochbaum. “There are hot spots and low spots and nobody knows who is in a high zone or in a low zone. Who knows what the actual radiation dose to an individual is? There are no measurements of what they consumed in water and food.
“This is the Navy’s best attempt to take a few data points they have and extrapolate over the entire group. They took a lot of measurements, but those represent just a point in time. It’s like taking a strobe light outside to take a picture of a nighttime scene. Every time the strobe flashes you will get shots in spots of the area. But do you really capture all of the darkness?”
The Navy Life – Into the Abyss
To the US Government, Operation Tomodachi was just another big humanitarian aid and rescue mission in which the nearest Navy fleet and many land-based personnel rushed to the aid of an ally in need. In this case, the northeast coast of Japan had been flattened by a massive earthquake and tsunami, which destroyed infrastructure, killed some 20,000 citizens and left 315,000 refugees, many of whom may never return to their homes in contaminated areas.
Operation Tomodachi – named after the Japanese word for Friend – began as a large logistical exercise. It seemed that way to the American sailors, both land based and in the USS Ronald Reagan Aircraft Carrier Strike Group. The view from Washington was that Operation Tomodachi would enhance the long ties between allies.
Then everything changed.
The nuclear fuel in reactors 1, 2, and 3 at Fukushima Daiichi overheated and melted down, creating a hydrogen cloud in the process, which exploded, spiking radiation readings on detection monitors across Japan. Hydrogen from Unit 3 migrated through a shared venting system into Unit 4 and blew off its roof as well, exposing the spent fuel pool and its 1,500 bundles of fuel rods containing a lethal mix of cesium, iodine and plutonium.
Transcripts of meetings and conference calls hosted by Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko showed steadily increasing concern as newer data contradicted previous data and measurements of radiation from the Navy differed markedly from the information coming from the Japanese government and TEPCO, the giant utility which owned the stricken reactors. (NRC’s Operation Center Fukushima Transcript. Note large censored passages, including the identity of the speaker)
The NRC itself was flying blind. The agency had believed it was virtually impossible to have multiple meltdowns at the same site. As a result, their emergency models all involved the healthy plant using its working systems to control critical systems in the stricken plant until the problems were solved. Jaczko had publicly urged calm and for Americans in Japan to follow the guidelines of the Japanese government. NRC press releases in the United States all stated prominently that there was no danger from radioactive fallout.
But the transcripts tell another story.
On March 14 Jaczko’s conference call was interrupted by Jack Grobe, Deputy Director for Engineeringin the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, with bad news:
“JACK GROBE: Okay, guys, I apologize for bothering you, but things are degenerating quickly. This reminds me of the drill. [...]
what’s really troubling is that we, we have had that wind shift — the Chairman’s here, by the way — we’ve had that wind shift and the wind is out of the northeast blowing towards the southwest. That’s inland and towards Tokyo. And there’s an aircraft carrier in the port just south of Tokyo. It’s about 180 miles from the site, about 10 miles southwest of Tokyo, and they’re measuring on the order of 10 to 20 millirem over a 12-hour period total effective dose and roughly five to 10 times that, thyroid. [...]
JACK GROBE: The, the answer is the dose rates don’t seem to be consistent either with what would be released or with the timing that it would take for a plume to get 180 miles away from the site to the southwest.
MIKE WEBER: Yeah, well, that’s what struck me when you told us what’s going on.
JACK GROBE: Yes, but the, the feedback through Trapp from the admiral is that they used multi* instruments and confirmed this in multiple ways [BLACKED OUT]
MIKE WEBER: Wow.
JACK GROBE: They do operate nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, so they must have a level of competence that’s fairly decent. [...]”
This was new territory, and they could not trust data from the Japanese.
For the Americans in Operation Tomodachi, this meant they would be improvising throughout the crisis. They faced the dual needs to conduct search and rescue missions in a devastated landscape with little functioning infrastructure while guarding against unseen and unforeseen contamination from the stricken reactors.
To officials at the Defense and State Departments, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Operation Tomodachi was a successful, limited duration event in which the military worked in a civilian humanitarian mission. It was requested, logged, and finished.
But military operations are carried out in real time by people implementing orders from half a world away who have to live with the consequences of making the mission succeed.
And for some of the Americans sent into action, Operation Tomodachi would mean the end of a career and dream of service in the US Navy, and the start of a new life laced with anxiety.
The Junkie’s Kid
Michael Sebourn was just another kid nobody wanted, from a neighborhood nobody cared about, with a future leading towards jail or death and a life nobody would have missed. Then he met the US Navy.
“My mother was a drug addict and my father was killed when I was 18 months old trying to rob a drug dealer,” he said. “We lived in the housing projects in Charleston, South Carolina. My stepfather was abusive and spent all the money my mother made on drugs and alcohol. I was malnourished and underweight.”
At age five he was sent to live with his grandparents, who died two years later. He moved in with an aunt in Gary, Indiana, a poor white kid in a predominantly poor, black part of a decaying city.
“I never thought I would ever be able to accomplish anything,” Sebourn said. “I knew college was out of the question because I was poor. I worked in a factory for a while after high school, but that didn’t work out and I was homeless for three months, living out of a truck and driving to Wal-Mart parking lots to sleep.”
He moved back in with his aunt. He had a bad attitude, made bad choices, and “had a couple of run-ins with the law. I needed something new. I had nothing going for myself at all and I wanted a fresh start. I asked my aunt if I should join the military and she ran into the kitchen and got her car keys and said ‘let’s go’. Two days later I was gone.”
He did well in the Navy’s Great Lakes training station and when he was offered a choice of assignments, it turned out to be administrative. “Something clicked,” he said of his entry into the Navy in 1993. “I got my pride back. I got a sense of worth and I started succeeding. I decided serving in the Navy was something I needed to do.
“It was the first time I felt I had a home. It was the first time I felt I had a family.”
It would not be his only family.
He landed in Japan 17 years ago, loved it and stayed at the Navy’s Misawa naval air base, working his way up to head mechanic for the helicopter squadrons based there. He married a Japanese woman and, eventually they had a son. He was half a world and a full life away from the drug dens of South Carolina. He was a Navy man.
The Athlete and the Musician
Maurice Enis was a tall, strapping kid from the frost belt of Rochester, Minnesota whose world revolved around sports and physical fitness. “I was running track at Century High School in Rochester,” he recalled, “doing the 400 and 200 meters and wanted to continue.
“My coach was an ex-Marine who had traveled the world, competing for the military. It sounded like a great life and I wanted to compete for the Navy, too. When I was 19, we went down to the recruiting station and talked about the opportunities they had, and I enlisted. It was 2007, but there was a lot of crying at home because my Mom was afraid I would get hurt because of the war and 9/11. But I told her that this is what I want to do with my life.
“And it was good. It saved me, in a way. I was aimless and it taught me a lot more about my time and what you can do and accomplish. Being deployed, you have no time to do anything extra. Every minute of the day is accounted for. When you get out and have 24 hours to play with, I can accomplish so much more now because I can manage my time and I learned how to prioritize.
“I really did grow up in the Navy. They didn’t have track and field in the Navy anymore, so I chose navigation and general quartermaster. There is the old school way, navigation using different celestial bodies, and the new way, which is all math and computers. You learn to use all the different navigation systems that we have. You apply it to the paper nautical charts and use the satellites and you can actually figure out exactly where we are in the water.”
He also fell in love.
Jaime Plym came from as far away from the snow as one can get without swimming in the Caribbean, which she also enjoyed. She grew up in St. Augustine, Florida, one of the nation’s oldest cities and went on to attend Jacksonville University for two years as a music major, playing bass clarinet.
I decided I wanted music in my life,” Plym said, “but I didn’t want it as my job. I quit school and just worked as a pre-school teacher in Gainesville. I wanted to go back to school, but I had been on a music scholarship and I didn’t have the money for any other major.”
She felt aimless, and went home and loafed on the beach as 2007 drew to a close. She had a brother who was in the Marines and decided she, too, could join the service. “But I wanted to be out to sea,” she said. “I wanted to be on a big ship.”
Plym and Enis were in the same class at the Great Lakes training center and came together at the end. “I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do,” she said. “They told me about quartermaster, which meant we worked at the command center and were responsible for navigation. I signed up for it.”
Navigation is critical, especially on an aircraft carrier. Other naval craft can move and shift to be in the most favorable position regarding the wind and the currents, with their navigators finding the best and quickest routes to take. That is especially important if there is danger approaching, like a slow moving radioactive cloud.
Navigators on an aircraft carrier do not have that luxury. Their quarter-mile deck slowly rolls side to side, and up and down in accordance with the sea. They must find the smoothest spot and hold it for the duration of the mission, regardless of what comes. After the aircraft leave the deck, the ship must remain at that spot so they can find their way back.
That makes dodging dangerous winds and radioactive currents problematic.
But they didn’t know that when they graduated from the training camp and began life as quartermasters and navigators on the USS Ronald Reagan, head of a carrier battle group plying the South Pacific.
“We had a lot of fun,” said Plym. “We were friends at first, and then we started dating.”
On March 11, 2011, the USS Ronald Reagan and Carrier Strike Group 7 were headed for port in South Korea as a tsunami struck the northeastern coast of Japan.
“We knew right away they were going to redirect us to go to Japan and provide aid,” Plym said. “We were there by 5 AM the next morning.
“We didn’t know about the reactors,” said Enis. “Wedidn’thave outside contact like the internet or cable to know what was going on on land. We just knew there was a major crisis. We had no idea about the nuclear plants till they notified the captain of a possible radiation scare. That’s when we found out that there might be a possible radiation leak.
Something New: Radiation
Operation Tomodachi began with the request for help from the Japanese Embassy to Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs who quickly turned to Gregory Jaczko, then chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who would regularly brief President Barak Obama on the escalating difficulties on land.
What had begun as a rescue mission was being increasingly complicated by spreading radiation from Unit 1 at the six-reactor, Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear complex. At least three other reactors were in danger of failing, including the spent fuel pool of reactor Unit 4, holding 1,535 bundles of irradiated fuel.
On March 12, as the USS Ronald Reagan and Carrier Strike Group 7 arrive two miles off the coast, Fukushima Unit 1 blows up. Unit 3 would explode March 14, and the hydrogen gases migrating through a shared vent would also destroy the containment building at Unit 4, exposing the spent fuel pool to the air. Unit 2 would explode March 15. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) would announce that most of the fuel in Units 1,2, and 3 are intact. They were not. They had fused into a molten mass and were oozing through the bottom of their destroyed reactors.
The Japanese government, not wanting to acknowledge that the situation was getting out of control, did not activate its military, the Self Defense Forces, to airlift water to the stricken Unit 4 and continuously drop it on the spent fuel to keep it from exploding in a nuclear fuel fire. According to Asahi Shimbun, a leading Japanese newspaper, which obtained the communications between Tokyo and Japan’s embassy in Washington, Mullen sent a cable to Fujisaki Ichiro, Japan’s ambassador to the US, stating that the SDF should be used to cool the reactors:
“The U.S. military believes the No. 4 reactor is in danger. It feels every step should be taken to cool the reactor, including using the SDF,” the cable said. “The United States has made various preparations to deal with the nuclear accident. The president is also very concerned…” (link)
At the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Jack Grobe is leading a crisis team in the 24-hour Operations Center in nearly constant conference calls with Jaczko and a team in Japan. Their previous scenarios – including the long held belief that it was impossible to have multiple meltdowns in a single nuclear complex, and that the containment structure would stop radiation from spreading from a reactor to the environment – have proved disastrously wrong and their scenarios for keeping people safe from spreading radiation are being called into question.
The NRC’s redacted transcript of those conversations shows that after the explosion at Unit 4 Grobe says in exasperation, “The projections on releases with the containment intact are completely insignificant now.
“I mean, this is beginning to feel like an emergency drill where everything goes wrong and you can’t, you know, you can’t imagine how these things, all of them, can go wrong.”
But the NRC released several daily press releases, all reassuring the public that there was no danger to the public.
And on the high seas and at the American naval installations, the sailors of Operation Tomodachi were on their own.
This is part one of a two part series by Roger Witherspoon.
One step from meltdown: Fukushima NPP avoids another crisis
A blackout of unknown origin that put all Fukushima NPP cooling systems out of action has finally been resolved. The latest technical glitch at the plant comes as Japan returns to the use of nuclear power halted after the 2011 disaster.
The Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant devastated by a tsunami two years ago continues to bring bad news to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).
On Monday, March 18, at 6:57am local time, an electricity outage disabled nine facilities at the Fukushima plant, including cooling systems of the four storage pools for used fuel rods.
TEPCO dispatched 25 specialists to deal the problem, but it took all of 30 hours for technicians to repair the systems.
On Wednesday, just 12 minutes after midnight (15:12 GMT), power supply to the cooling systems was fully restored, reported TEPCO. However, certain questions remain.
Speaking at a briefing in Tokyo, TEPCO’s general manager Masayuki Ono was honest: “We haven’t found the cause,” he said.
Ono explained that due to cable repairs the cooling systems of the nuclear station have been without a back-up power supply since March 6, relying on a single source of electricity. That source failed.
The general manager did not specify whether the back-up electric supply of nuclear power plants is mandatory or whether any regulations have been violated this time.
Masayuki Ono made a supposition that the electricity outage could possibly be caused by failure of a distribution box affected by sand and wind.
Another questionable moment of the emergency is exactly the same as during the initial disaster two years ago.
Back in 2011, TEPCO was well aware of the disastrous consequences of the earthquake and tsunami striking the Fukushima plant, but opted to play down the scale of the catastrophe for several months for fear of the reputational and financial costs.
This time, TEPCO informed the government's regulatory agency immediately about the blackout, but the company waited for three hours before issuing an official public press release.
Though no radiation spikes have been registered near Fukushima plant during the blackout, a real problem was imminent. If not cooled, even used uranium fuel tends to heat up because of the fission that continues within it. Uncontrolled heating leads to increasing fission and, as a result, a meltdown of the rods, exactly as it happened with the fuel from three of the four reactors at Fukushima Dai-Ichi after the March 2011 events put plant’s cooling systems out of order.
TEPCO has particularly stressed that the temperatures of all the fuel pools remained below the maximum safety limit of 65 degrees Celsius.
The latest incident at Fukushima Dai-Ichi comes as the newly–elected Japanese government is opting to revive the national nuclear power industry.
After winning national elections in December with a landslide victory, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and its leader, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, promised to reconsider plans of the previous government to give up nuclear energy altogether by the end of the 2030s.
PM Shinzo Abe believes that nuclear energy and plans to revive the world’s third-biggest economy are inseparable.
The Fukushima catastrophe became the biggest nuclear incident after the Chernobyl tragedy in 1986. Japanese authorities had to evacuate 160,000 citizens living in the 20km no-go zone that became uninhabitable because of radiation fallout.
Record Radiation Found in Fukushima Fish
Hope from Fukushima
As we mark the second memorial of the March 11, 2011 triple disaster, we see tragedy, but also hope in Japan.
While people mourn for the mothers, fathers, siblings, grandparents and children that were lost in the earthquake and tsunami, many of those that fled the natural disaster have been able to return home and rebuild their lives and communities as best they can.
The tragedy continues, however, for those still suffering from the impacts of radioactive contamination from the Fukushima nuclear accident. Many areas remain uninhabitable, leaving 160,000 evacuees stuck in limbo, unable to go home, but also unable to rebuild their lives as they lack proper compensation and support.
Families and communities are breaking up, financial ruin is common, as is divorce and mental breakdowns. Recent estimates suggest cancer rates are likely to increase in Fukushima, which weighs heavily on people’s minds, and suicides are increasing in the area. It is untrue to say nobody has lost their lives as a result of the nuclear accident.
This ongoing tragedy for the victims of the nuclear disaster is the fault of a system that is supposed to provide fair compensation when there is a nuclear disaster, but doesn’t. This system essentially protects the nuclear industry, not people.Greenpeace activists join tens of thousands of people marching on the Japanese parliament on March 10, 2013 in remembrance of the 2011 triple disaster in Fukushima , and to demand the Japanese government to abandon its dangerous nuclear program. (Photo: Courtesy of Greenpeace)
That the nuclear industry is protected before people is a sad and totally unjust reality for most of the world.
The cost of the Fukushima disaster is estimated at US$250 billion, but costs so far have already crushed owner TEPCO so badly it had to be nationalised. TEPCO is one of the largest energy utilities in the world, yet it had to be protected from its responsibilities. Taxpayers are now picking up the tab.
Worse still is that the system offers even greater protection to companies like General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba. They built the Fukushima plant based on a flawed reactor design. Yet the regulations allow them to walk away and pay nothing to help victims. They also do not show much moral responsibility to help.
The big gap between the costs of a nuclear disaster and what the nuclear industry pays should make everyone angry.
This reality, like other painful truths about nuclear power, has hit home with many Japanese people. They are standing up in protest.
Last year I wrote about hope and the emerging “Hydrangea revolution”. Hundreds of thousands of protestors flooded the streets of Tokyo around the Prime Minister’s residence and the parliament. These protests continue, and the support for a total nuclear phase-out in Japan is growing.
People are angry, first at the previous government’s decision to restart a nuclear power plant after all were switched off following the Fukushima meltdowns, and now they are angry at the new government’s plans to restart more reactors, and to resume building them.
This mobilisation has already had some success, as only two of Japan’s reactors are currently online. The rest remain offline, and it will not be long until the lone two reactors working at the Ohi plant are once again shut down for maintenance, leaving Japan nuclear-free once more. We want an end to our disastrous experiment with nuclear power. We showed that we can live without it last summer, and we will do so again.
The hope coming out of Fukushima is that the people continue to speak out, loudly and clearly, about this man-made disaster, to speak out against nuclear power.
Over the last week they have again been joined by people in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, India, Jordan, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and the USA calling for nuclear companies to be made responsible for the damage they can, and do, cause.
We cannot stop natural disasters, but we can prevent man-made ones.
We cannot give the people of Fukushima back what they have lost, but we can stand together and ensure they get compensated, that they are remembered, and that no one has to suffer through a nuclear meltdown ever again.
We hope that the Japanese government will listen to the voices of its people, stop talking about nuclear, and push renewables much harder.
You can help – sign here and demand that nuclear companies, like General Electric, Hitachi and Toshiba, are responsible for nuclear disasters.
© 2013 Greenpeace
Fukushima nuclear plant flooded daily by 400 tons of groundwater
Published time: March 08, 2013 19:44
Groundwater flooding has become a major problem for Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), with hundreds of tons of water seeping daily into the damaged reactor buildings. Experts predict overall clean-up works at the site could take up to 40 years.
Stopping the groundwater is crucial, says Tepco's general manager for research and development of Fukushima Daiichi decommissioning, Shunichi Suzuki, adding that "Every day we have approximately 400 metric tons of groundwater."
Tepco is now building a bypass system to try to stop the water, flowing from high ground into the buildings, mixing with the water already being poured onto the leaking reactors through a jerry-rigged cooling system.
"One approach we are considering is putting grout like cement. In other words, filling it in. That would block all the holes," Suzuki said as cited by Reuters, adding that removing the groundwater may take from two to four more years.
One of the most challenging tasks for the operator remains the disposal of water contaminated after it is poured onto the reactors. Radioactive material must be filtered out and stored.
Work to treat and store the contaminated water is behind schedule, partly because of the groundwater flooding in. On Thursday, the company announced another delay in an operation to remove radioactive material from the water.
The Japanese government has told the facility to revise by June its roadmap for cleaning up the site, which is expected to take well over a quarter of a century.
"What we need to do is isolate, remove and store the damaged and broken nuclear fuel safely. This work will take 30 to 40 years to complete," plant manager Takeshi Takahashi told the media.
Experts say it could cost at least $12 billion to close the reactors down.
Monday it will be two years since the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. On March 11, 2011, an earthquake and a subsequent tsunami knocked out cooling equipment at the company's Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo, leading to the meltdown of three reactor cores. More than 160,000 people were forced from their homes.
Another earthquake or tsunami could be fatal for the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, according to a nuclear engineer, as two years after the disaster it’s still vulnerable to natural disasters.
"What remained intact after the disaster is completely fragile and when the next one comes it's going to collapse," he told The Weekend Australian newspaper.
Local residents are still unaware if it’s safe to return to their homes in the disaster area of Fukushima prefecture. The displacement caused huge psychological distress, becoming one of the biggest health issues which emerged from the disaster, according to experts, while attention is also focused on the potential cancer risks years after the tragedy.
A health questionnaire sent to Fukushima residents by the Fukushima Medical University found that around 15 percent of the 67,500 respondents indicated high levels of stress - much higher than the 3 percent among the general population of the country.
‘They Profit, You Pay’: Activists Slam Nuclear Industry as Fukushima Remains Too Hot to...
Greenpeace activists protest with English, Japanese and German banners in front of the European Hitachi headquarters in Duisburg,The six reactors of the Fukushima nuclear plant are built by Hitachi, GE and Toshiba (Bernd Arnold / Greenpeace)With the two year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster quickly approaching, environmental activists from Greenpeace launched a worldwide campaign Thursday calling for the international community to hold the nuclear industry accountable for past and present nuclear catastrophes.
Meanwhile, from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant today, Julian Ryall of the Telegraph reports that radiation levels within half of the reactor units are still far too high for people to enter, let alone efficiently "decommission" them, two years after the disaster began.
According to Ryall, scientists still do not have a grasp on the conditions of the reactor cores in three of the six units at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. They cannot enter the structures to investigate and are confined to using remote-controlled vehicles to get inside the "tangle of wires, pipes and rubble that has lain untouched since the tsunami tore through the facility."
Takeshi Takahashi, the head of the crippled plant, recently conceded that it will take at least 30 years before the plant could be fully decommissioned.
"Radiation levels at units one, two and three are very high and the cause of that is the fuel that has melted inside the reactors," he said.
In protest of the subsequent ongoing and adverse effects on public health and the environment—in the past, present, and likely future of nuclear catastrophes—Greenpeace activists across the world called on the nuclear industry to take responsibility for their ongoing crimes.
From demonstrations outside of the Japanese parliament, to direct action outside of GE's European headquarters in Brussels, to the unfurling of a protest banner at Hitachi Power's European HQ, activists coordinated actions across three continents to "highlight that the lack of accountability of the nuclear industry is not only a problem limited to Japan."
Greenpeace reports:
Using giant stickers, photos, projected images and nuclear scream masks, activists have already brought messages such as 'They profit, you pay' or 'Your Business, Our Risks' to the industry and the public. Activists are also demanding that GE, Hitachi and Toshiba should not be allowed to walk away from Fukushima.
Additionally, Greenpeace stated, a giant blimp with an anti-nuclear message will be seen flying across an undisclosed North American city later Thursday. More actions will be taking place in France, Germany, Belgium, Japan and North America throughout the day, following similar actions in Jordan and Switzerland that took place earlier this week.
Dr. Rianne Teule of Greenpeace International stated:
In the case of Japan, two years after the Fukushima disaster, the unfair system means hundreds of thousands of victims are still waiting for reasonable compensation for their pain, suffering and losses. They aren’t getting the help they need to rebuild their lives.
It is shocking that big companies like GE, Hitachi and Toshiba, don’t feel they have a moral responsibility to help people who have suffered from the radioactive contamination caused by their products. They should be made accountable for the risks they create.
Fukushima Anniversary Protest in Tokyo: Greenpeace activists wearing “nuclear scream” masks demonstrate in front of the Japanese parliament (Noriko Hayashi / Greenpeace)
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Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War: The Unspoken Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation
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GLOBAL RESEARCH ONLINE INTERACTIVE READER SERIES
The Unspoken Crisis of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation
Michel Chossudovsky (Editor)
I-Book No. 3, January 25 2012
Global Research’s Online Interactive I-Book Reader brings together, in the form of chapters, a collection of Global Research feature articles and videos, including debate and analysis, on a broad theme or subject matter.
In this Interactive Online I-Book we bring to the attention of our readers an important collection of articles, reports and video material on the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe and its impacts (scroll down for the Table of Contents).
To consult our Online Interactive I-Book Reader Series, click here.
INTRODUCTION
The World is at a critical crossroads. The Fukushima disaster in Japan has brought to the forefront the dangers of Worldwide nuclear radiation.
The crisis in Japan has been described as “a nuclear war without a war”. In the words of renowned novelist Haruki Murakami:
“This time no one dropped a bomb on us … We set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives.”
Nuclear radiation –which threatens life on planet earth– is not front page news in comparison to the most insignificant issues of public concern, including the local level crime scene or the tabloid gossip reports on Hollywood celebrities.
While the long-term repercussions of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster are yet to be fully assessed, they are far more serious than those pertaining to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine, which resulted in almost one million deaths (New Book Concludes – Chernobyl death toll: 985,000, mostly from cancer Global Research, September 10, 2010, See also Matthew Penney and Mark Selden The Severity of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster: Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima, Global Research, May 25, 2011)
Moreover, while all eyes were riveted on the Fukushima Daiichi plant, news coverage both in Japan and internationally failed to fully acknowledge the impacts of a second catastrophe at TEPCO’s (Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc) Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant.
The shaky political consensus both in Japan, the U.S. and Western Europe is that the crisis at Fukushima has been contained.
The realties, however, are otherwise. Fukushima 3 was leaking unconfirmed amounts of plutonium. According to Dr. Helen Caldicott, “one millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled can cause cancer”.
An opinion poll in May 2011 confirmed that more than 80 per cent of the Japanese population do not believe the government’s information regarding the nuclear crisis. (quoted in Sherwood Ross, Fukushima: Japan’s Second Nuclear Disaster, Global Research, November 10, 2011)
The Impacts in Japan
The Japanese government has been obliged to acknowledge that “the severity rating of its nuclear crisis … matches that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster”. In a bitter irony, however, this tacit admission by the Japanese authorities has proven to been part of the cover-up of a significantly larger catastrophe, resulting in a process of global nuclear radiation and contamination:
“While Chernobyl was an enormous unprecedented disaster, it only occurred at one reactor and rapidly melted down. Once cooled, it was able to be covered with a concrete sarcophagus that was constructed with 100,000 workers. There are a staggering 4400 tons of nuclear fuel rods at Fukushima, which greatly dwarfs the total size of radiation sources at Chernobyl.” ( Extremely High Radiation Levels in Japan: University Researchers Challenge Official Data, Global Research, April 11, 2011)
Fukushima in the wake of the Tsunami, March 2011
Worldwide Contamination
The dumping of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean constitutes a potential trigger to a process of global radioactive contamination. Radioactive elements have not only been detected in the food chain in Japan, radioactive rain water has been recorded in California:
“Hazardous radioactive elements being released in the sea and air around Fukushima accumulate at each step of various food chains (for example, into algae, crustaceans, small fish, bigger fish, then humans; or soil, grass, cow’s meat and milk, then humans). Entering the body, these elements – called internal emitters – migrate to specific organs such as the thyroid, liver, bone, and brain, continuously irradiating small volumes of cells with high doses of alpha, beta and/or gamma radiation, and over many years often induce cancer”. (Helen Caldicott, Fukushima: Nuclear Apologists Play Shoot the Messenger on Radiation, The Age, April 26, 2011)
While the spread of radiation to the West Coast of North America was casually acknowledged, the early press reports (AP and Reuters) “quoting diplomatic sources” stated that only “tiny amounts of radioactive particles have arrived in California but do not pose a threat to human health.”
“According to the news agencies, the unnamed sources have access to data from a network of measuring stations run by the United Nations’ Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. …
… Greg Jaczko, chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told White House reporters on Thursday (March 17) that his experts “don’t see any concern from radiation levels that could be harmful here in the United States or any of the U.S. territories”.
The spread of radiation. March 2011
Public Health Disaster. Economic Impacts
What prevails is a well organized camouflage. The public health disaster in Japan, the contamination of water, agricultural land and the food chain, not to mention the broader economic and social implications, have neither been fully acknowledged nor addressed in a comprehensive and meaningful fashion by the Japanese authorities.
Japan as a nation state has been destroyed. Its landmass and territorial waters are contaminated. Part of the country is uninhabitable. High levels of radiation have been recorded in the Tokyo metropolitan area, which has a population of 39 million (2010) (more than the population of Canada, circa 34 million (2010)) There are indications that the food chain is contaminated throughout Japan:
Radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit was detected in tea made in a factory in Shizuoka City, more than 300 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Shizuoka Prefecture is one of the most famous tea producing areas in Japan.
A tea distributor in Tokyo reported to the prefecture that it detected high levels of radioactivity in the tea shipped from the city. The prefecture ordered the factory to refrain from shipping out the product. After the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, radioactive contamination of tea leaves and processed tea has been found over a wide area around Tokyo. (See 5 More Companies Detect Radiation In Their Tea Above Legal Limits Over 300 KM From Fukushima, June 15, 2011)
Japan’s industrial and manufacturing base is prostrate. Japan is no longer a leading industrial power. The country’s exports have plummeted. The Tokyo government has announced its first trade deficit since 1980.
While the business media has narrowly centered on the impacts of power outages and energy shortages on the pace of productive activity, the broader issue pertaining to the outright radioactive contamination of the country’s infrastructure and industrial base is a “scientific taboo” (i.e the radiation of industrial plants, machinery and equipment, buildings, roads, etc). A report released in January 2012 points to the nuclear contamination of building materials used in the construction industry, in cluding roads and residential buildings throughout Japan.(See FUKUSHIMA: Radioactive Houses and Roads in Japan. Radioactive Building Materials Sold to over 200 Construction Companies, January 2012)
A “coverup report” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (May 2011), entitled “Economic Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Current Status of Recovery“ presents “Economic Recovery” as a fait accompli. It also brushes aside the issue of radiation. The impacts of nuclear radiation on the work force and the country’s industrial base are not mentioned. The report states that the distance between Tokyo -Fukushima Dai-ichi is of the order of 230 km (about 144 miles) and that the levels of radiation in Tokyo are lower than in Hong Kong and New York City.(Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Current Status of Recovery, p.15). This statement is made without corroborating evidence and in overt contradiction with independent radiation readings in Tokyo (se map below). In recent developments, Sohgo Security Services Co. is launching a lucrative “radiation measurement service targeting households in Tokyo and four surrounding prefectures”.
“A map of citizens’ measured radiation levels shows radioactivity is distributed in a complex pattern reflecting the mountainous terrain and the shifting winds across a broad area of Japan north of Tokyo which is in the center of the of bottom of the map.”
“Radiation limits begin to be exceeded at just above 0.1 microsieverts/ hour blue. Red is about fifty times the civilian radiation limit at 5.0 microsieverts/hour. Because children are much more sensitive than adults, these results are a great concern for parents of young children in potentially affected areas.
SOURCE: Science Magazine
The fundamental question is whether the vast array of industrial goods and components “Made in Japan” — including hi tech components, machinery, electronics, motor vehicles, etc — and exported Worldwide are contaminated? Were this to be the case, the entire East and Southeast Asian industrial base –which depends heavily on Japanese components and industrial technology– would be affected. The potential impacts on international trade would be farreaching. In this regard, in January, Russian officials confiscated irradiated Japanese automobiles and autoparts in the port of Vladivostok for sale in the Russian Federation. Needless to say, incidents of this nature in a global competitive environment, could lead to the demise of the Japanese automobile industry which is already in crisis.
While most of the automotive industry is in central Japan, Nissan’s engine factory in Iwaki city is 42 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Is the Nissan work force affected? Is the engine plant contaminated? The plant is within about 10 to 20 km of the government’s “evacuation zone” from which some 200,000 people were evacuated (see map below).
Nuclear Energy and Nuclear War
The crisis in Japan has also brought into the open the unspoken relationship between nuclear energy and nuclear war.
Nuclear energy is not a civilian economic activity. It is an appendage of the nuclear weapons industry which is controlled by the so-called defense contractors. The powerful corporate interests behind nuclear energy and nuclear weapons overlap.
In Japan at the height of the disaster, “the nuclear industry and government agencies [were] scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities hidden inside Japan’s civilian nuclear power plants”.1 (See Yoichi Shimatsu, Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant? Global Research, April 12, 2011)
It should be noted that the complacency of both the media and the governments to the hazards of nuclear radiation pertains to the nuclear energy industry as well as to to use of nuclear weapons. In both cases, the devastating health impacts of nuclear radiation are casually denied. Tactical nuclear weapons with an explosive capacity of up to six times a Hiroshima bomb are labelled by the Pentagon as “safe for the surrounding civilian population”.
No concern has been expressed at the political level as to the likely consequences of a US-NATO-Israel attack on Iran, using “safe for civilians” tactical nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state.
Such an action would result in “the unthinkable”: a nuclear holocaust over a large part of the Middle East and Central Asia. A nuclear nightmare, however, would occur even if nuclear weapons were not used. The bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities using conventional weapons would contribute to unleashing another Fukushima type disaster with extensive radioactive fallout. (For further details See Michel Chossudovsky, Towards a World War III Scenario, The Dangers of Nuclear War, Global Research, Montreal, 2011)
The Online Interactive I-Book Reader on Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War
In view of the official cover-up and media disinformation campaign, the contents of the articles and video reports in this Online Interactive Reader have not trickled down to to the broader public. (See Table of contents below)
This Online Interactive Reader on Fukushima contains a combination of analytical and scientific articles, video reports as well as shorter news reports and corroborating data.
Part I focusses on The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: How it Happened? Part II pertains to The Devastating Health and Social Impacts in Japan. Part III centers on the “Hidden Nuclear Catastrophe”, namely the cover-up by the Japanese government and the corporate media. Part IV focusses on the issue of Worlwide Nuclear Radiation and Part V reviews the Implications of the Fukushima disaster for the Global Nuclear Energy Industry.
In the face of ceaseless media disinformation, this Global Research Online I-Book on the dangers of global nuclear radiation is intended to break the media vacuum and raise public awareness, while also pointing to the complicity of the governments, the media and the nuclear industry.
We call upon our readers to spread the word.
We invite university, college and high school teachers to make this Interactive Reader on Fukushima available to their students.
Michel Chossudovsky, January 25, 2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: How it Happened
The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: What Happened on “Day One”?
– by Yoichi Shimatsu – 2011-04-16
Fukushima is the greatest nuclear and environmental disaster in human history
- by Steven C. Jones – 2011-06-20
Nuclear Apocalypse in Japan
Lifting the Veil of Nuclear Catastrophe and cover-up
- by Keith Harmon Snow – 2011-03-18
Humanity now faces a deadly serious challenge coming out of Japan — the epicenter of radiation.
VIDEO: Full Meltdown? Japan Maximum Nuclear Alert
Watch now on GRTV
-by Christopher Busby- 2011-03-30
Fukushima: Japan’s Second Nuclear Disaster
- by Sherwood Ross – 2011-11-10
Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant?
U.S.-Japan security treaty fatally delayed nuclear workers’ fight against meltdown
- by Yoichi Shimatsu – 2011-04-12
The specter of self-destruction can be ended only with the abrogation of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, the root cause of the secrecy that fatally delayed the nuclear workers’ fight against meltdown.
Fukushima: “China Syndrome Is Inevitable” … “Huge Steam Explosions”
“Massive Hydrovolcanic Explosion” or a “Nuclear Bomb-Type Explosion” May Occur
- by Washington’s Blog – 2011-11-22
Accident at Second Japanese Nuclear Complex: The Nuclear Accident You Never Heard About
- by Washington’s Blog – 2012-01-12
VIDEO: New TEPCO Photographs Substantiate Significant Damage to Fukushima Unit 3
Latest report now on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2011-10-20
PART II
The Devastating Health and Social Impacts in Japan
VIDEO: Surviving Japan: A Critical Look at the Nuclear Crisis
Learn more about this important new documentary on GRTV
- by Chris Noland – 2012-01-23
Fukushima and the Battle for Truth
Large sectors of the Japanese population are accumulating significant levels of internal contamination
- by Paul Zimmerman – 2011-09-27
FUKUSHIMA: Public health Fallout from Japanese Quake
“Culture of cover-up” and inadequate cleanup. Japanese people exposed to “unconscionable” health risks
- by Canadian Medical Association Journal – 2011-12-30
- 2012-01-16
VIDEO: Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated
Watch this important new report on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2012-01-19
VIDEO: The Results Are In: Japan Received Enormous Exposures of Radiation from Fukushima
Important new video now on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen, Marco Kaltofen – 2011-11-07
The Tears of Sanriku (三陸の涙). The Death Toll for the Great East Japan Earthquake Nuclear Disaster
- by Jim Bartel – 2011-10-31
The Severity of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster: Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima
- by Prof. Matthew Penney, Prof. Mark Selden – 2011-05-24
Uncertainty about the long-term health effects of radiation
Radioactivity in Food: “There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources. Period,” – by Physicians For Social Responsibility – 2011-03-23
71,000 people in the city next to the Fukushima nuclear plant “We’ve Been Left to Die” - 2011-03-19
Tokyo Water Unsafe For Babies, Food Bans Imposed – by Karyn Poupee – 2011-03-23
PART III
Hidden Nuclear Catastrophe: Cover-up by the Japanese Government and the Corporate Media
VIDEO: Japanese Government Insiders Reveal Fukushima Secrets
GRTV Behind the Headlines now online
- by James Corbett – 2011-10-06
Fukushima and the Mass Media Meltdown
The Repercussions of a Pro-Nuclear Corporate Press
- by Keith Harmon Snow – 2011-06-20
- by Alexander Higgins – 2011-04-18
Emergency Special Report: Japan’s Earthquake, Hidden Nuclear Catastrophe
- by Yoichi Shimatsu – 2011-03-13
The tendency to deny systemic errors – “in order to avoid public panic” – is rooted in the determination of an entrenched Japanese bureaucracy to protect itself…
VIDEO: Fukushima: TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay
Learn more on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2012-01-11
The Dangers of Radiation: Deconstructing Nuclear Experts
- by Chris Busby – 2011-03-31
“The nuclear industry is waging a war against humanity.” This war has now entered an endgame which will decide the survival of the human race.
Engineers Knew Fukushima Might Be Unsafe, But Covered It Up …
And Now the Extreme Vulnerabilty of NEW U.S. Plants Is Being Covered Up
- by Washington’s Blog – 2011-11-12
COVERUP: Are Fukushima Reactors 5 and 6 In Trouble Also?
- by Washington’s Blog – 2011-11-14
Fukushima’s Owner Adds Insult to Injury – Claims Radioactive Fallout Isn’t Theirs
- by John LaForge – 2012-01-17
PART IV
The Process of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation
VIDEO: Japan’s Nuclear Crisis: The Dangers of Worldwide Radiation
- by Dr. Helen Caldicott – 2012-01-25
An Unexpected Mortality Increase in the US Follows Arrival of Radioactive Plume from Fukushima, Is there a Correlation?
- by Dr. Joseph J. Mangano, Dr. Janette Sherman – 2011-12-20
In the US, Following the Fukushima fallout, samples of radioactivity in precipitation, air, water, and milk, taken by the U.S. government, showed levels hundreds of times above normal…
Radioactive Dust From Japan Hit North America 3 Days After Meltdown
But Governments “Lied” About Meltdowns and Radiation
- by Washington’s Blog – 2011-06-24
VIDEO: Fukushima Will Be Radiating Everyone for Centuries
New report now on GRTV
- by Michio Kaku, Liz Hayes – 2011-08-23
Fukushima: Diseased Seals in Alaska tested for Radiation
- 2011-12-29
- by Washington’s Blog – 2011-11-15
PART V
Implications for the Global Nuclear Energy Industry
Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima
- by Gayle Greene – 2012-01-26
After Fukushima: Enough Is Enough
- by Helen Caldicott – 2011-12-05
VIDEO: Radiation Coverups Confirmed: Los Alamos, Fort Calhoun, Fukushima, TSA
New Sunday Report now on GRTV
- by James Corbett – 2011-07-04
VIDEO: Why Fukushima Can Happen Here: What the NRC and Nuclear Industry Don’t Want You to Know
Watch now on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen, David Lochbaum – 2011-07-12
VIDEO: Safety Problems in all Reactors Designed Like Fukushima
Learn more on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2011-09-26
VIDEO: Proper Regulation of Nuclear Power has been Coopted Worldwide
Explore the issues on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2011-10-05
VIDEO: New Nuclear Reactors Do Not Consider Fukushima Design Flaws
Find out more on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2011-11-24
Nuclear Energy: Profit Driven Industry
“Nuclear Can Be Safe Or It Can Be Cheap … But It Can’t Be Both”
- by Washington’s Blog – 2011-12-23
VIDEO: Fukushima and the Fall of the Nuclear Priesthood
Watch the new GRTV Feature Interview
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2011-10-22
Why is there a Media Blackout on Nuclear Incident at Fort Calhoun in Nebraska?
- by Patrick Henningsen – 2011-06-23
Startling Revelations about Three Mile Island Disaster Raise Doubts Over Nuke Safety
- by Sue Sturgis – 2011-07-24
Radioactive Leak at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station
- by Rady Ananda – 2011-07-01
VIDEO: US vs Japan: The Threat of Radiation Speculation
Dangerous double standards examined on GRTV
- by Arnie Gundersen – 2011-06-25
Additional articles and videos on Fukushima and Nuclear Radiation are available at Global Research’s Dossier on The Environment
TEXT BOX
Nuclear Radiation: Categorization
At Fukushima, reports confirm that alpha, beta, gamma particles and neutrons have been released:
“While non-ionizing radiation and x-rays are a result of electron transitions in atoms or molecules, there are three forms of ionizing radiation that are a result of activity within the nucleus of an atom. These forms of nuclear radiation are alpha particles (α-particles), beta particles (β-particles) and gamma rays (γ-rays).
Alpha particles are heavy positively charged particles made up of two protons and two neutrons. They are essentially a helium nucleus and are thus represented in a nuclear equation by either α or . See the Alpha Decay page for more information on alpha particles.
Beta particles come in two forms: and . particles are just electrons that have been ejected from the nucleus. This is a result of sub-nuclear reactions that result in a neutron decaying to a proton. The electron is needed to conserve charge and comes from the nucleus. It is not an orbital electron. particles are positrons ejected from the nucleus when a proton decays to a neutron. A positron is an anti-particle that is similar in nearly all respects to an electron, but has a positive charge. See the Beta Decay page for more information on beta particles.
Gamma rays are photons of high energy electromagnetic radiation (light). Gamma rays generally have the highest frequency and shortest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. There is some overlap in the frequencies of gamma rays and x-rays; however, x-rays are formed from electron transitions while gamma rays are formed from nuclear transitions. See the Gamma Rays for more” (SOURCE: Canadian Nuclear Association)
“A neutron is a particle that is found in the nucleus, or center, of atoms. It has a mass very close to protons, which also reside in the nucleus of atoms. Together, they make up almost all of the mass of individual atoms. Each has a mass of about 1 amu, which is roughly 1.6×10-27kg. Protons have a positive charge and neutrons have no charge, which is why they were more difficult to discover.” (SOURCE: Neutron Radiation)
“Many different radioactive isotopes are used in or are produced by nuclear reactors. The most important of these are described below:
1. Uranium 235 (U-235) is the active component of most nuclear reactor fuel.
2. Plutonium (Pu-239) is a key nuclear material used in modern nuclear weapons and is also present as a by-product in certain reprocessed fuels used in some nuclear reactors. Pu-239 is also produced in uranium reactors as a byproduct of fission of U-235.
3. Cesium (Cs-137 ) is a fission product of U-235. It emits beta and gamma radiation and can cause radiation sickness and death if exposures are high enough. …
4. Iodine 131 (I-131), also a fission product of U-235, emits beta and gamma radiation. After inhalation or ingestion, it is absorbed by and concentrated in the thyroid gland, where its beta radiation damages nearby thyroid tissue (SOURCE: Amesh A. Adalja, MD, Eric S. Toner, MD, Anita Cicero, JD, Joseph Fitzgerald, MS, MPH, and Thomas V. Inglesby MD, Radiation at Fukushima: Basic Issues and Concepts, March 31, 2011)
Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Ottawa. He is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal and Editor of the globalresearch.ca website. He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America’s “War on Terrorism”(2005). His most recent book is entitled Towards a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War (2011). He has taught as Visiting Professor at universities in Western Europe, South East Asia, Latin America and The Pacific, acted as adviser to governments of developing countries and as a consultant to several international organizations. Prof. Chossudovsky is a signatory of the Kuala Lumpur declaration to criminalize war and recipient of the Human Rights Prize of the Society for the Protection of Civil Rights and Human Dignity (GBM), Berlin, Germany. He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages.
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Fukushima infant cancer risks outlined in new WHO report
Published time: February 28, 2013 19:31
The Fukushima disaster has resulted in high cancer risks for children living nearby: The WHO estimated a 70 percent increase in the risk that girls residing within 12 miles radius of the epicenter will develop thyroid cancer.
A magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed nearly 19,000 people after triggering a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011. Following the radioactive meltdown – the worst since the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster – scientists have closely measured the potential long-term impact of the spread of radiation.
An increase in child cancer rates was discovered in the most contaminated areas of Fukushima Prefecture, with young girls in the area at a 70 percent increased risk of contracting thyroid cancer. The standard risk is 0.75 percent, rising to 1.25 in the plant area.
There was a 4 percent increased chance of all solid cancers in females exposed as infants, a 6 percent increased risk of breast cancer in the same group, and around a 7 percent increased risk of leukemia in males exposed as infants. In these areas, a radiation dose of approximately 50 milli-sieverts was measured.
“Apart from emergency workers, the most affected people were those who remained in some highly contaminated towns and villages to the northwest of the power station for up to four months before evacuation,” Jim Smith, professor of Environmental Science at the University of Portsmouth in England told Reuters.
In the second-most contaminated region, just outside the 12-mile radius of the evacuation zone but still inside the prefecture, these risk figures were halved. As the Fukuhsima disaster struck, residents living within 18 miles of the plant were advised to evacuate. In other areas of Fukushima Prefecture, and the rest of Japan, no observable increases in cancer were expected.
The results from those immediately infected area have, however, led to calls for continued monitoring of the potentially adverse effects.
A 200-page report – titled ‘Health Risk Assessment from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami based on preliminary dose estimation’ – was conducted by several international officials from fields such as radiation risk modeling, epidemiology, public health and radiation effects.
The assessment also covered cases of emergency workers in the area, one-third of whom are expected to see increased risks of cancer compared to the local population.
No rise is expected for miscarriages, stillbirths and other conditions stemming from the radiation in infants conceived after the accident, the report said.
“The WHO report underlines the need for long-term health monitoring of those who are at high risk, along with the provision of necessary medical follow-up and support services,” WHO Director for Public Health and Environment Dr. Maria Neira said.
- Those exposed to radiation in the most severely contaminated areas in Fukushima Prefecture received a 50 milli-sievert (MSV) lifetime radiation dose.
- Exposure to high levels of radiation can result in radiation sickness. A high level is considered to be over one ‘gray,’ the unit in which a clear absorbed dose of radiation is measured. Over four grays is a fatal dose for half of all healthy adults.
- A sievert is a gray weighted by the effectiveness of a particular type of radiation. Grays do not take into account the impact of biological factors, or the radiation type’s effectiveness at damaging tissue.
- The sievert measures lower levels of radiation, and is used when assessing long-term risk, rather than the immediate impact of exposure. There are 1,000 MSV in a sievert.
- People safely absorb low levels of radiation in day-to-day life, averaging about 2 MSV per year. A 1,000 MSV dose would cause radiation sickness, but stop short of killing adults. With a 100 MSV dose, an increase in cancer risks is evident.
Fukushima survivors to file class action lawsuit against Japanese govt, plant operator
This handout picture, taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on March 18, 2011 and released on February 1, 2013 shows water discharged against unit 3 reactor building at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant at Okuma town in Fukushima prefecture. (AFP Photo/TEPCO)
At least 350 people affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown will file a class action lawsuit against the Japanese government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on the second anniversary of the disaster.
Lawyers representing residents whose homes and farms were hit by radiation in the wake of the disaster said it was the largest suit on the issue filed against the government.
The plaintiffs will further seek some US$535 each in compensation from TEPCO for every month they have been displaced as a result of the accident.
They also plan to seek a court injunction that will require both the government and TEPCO to reduce radiation levels in the affected area to pre-disaster levels.
The suit will be filed on March 11, the two-year anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Several other similar class-action suits against both the government and TEPCO will be filed with the Tokyo District Court on the same day.
"The government promoted nuclear power as a national policy and has been closely involved with it," lawyer Izutaro Managi told AAP news agency.
"Being fully aware of the danger of losing power due to a tsunami, the government neglected its duty to prevent such an event," he said. "This is a suit to recover a Fukushima with neither radiation nor nuclear power," he continued.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami crashed into the power station and knocked out its cooling system leading to the meltdown of three reactor cores. Tens of thousands were forced to flee the area and many are still unable to return.
Fukushima residents to sue Japan govt.
Workers spray water to cool down the spent nuclear fuel in the fourth reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the town of Okuma, March 22, 2011.
Residents whose houses or farms have been hit by radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant will file a class-action lawsuit against the Japanese government.
Japanese lawyers said on Friday that at least 350 residents were to file a case with Fukushima District Court on March 11, the second anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, to seek damages from the government.
On March 11, 2011, a nine-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that inflicted heavy damage on the six-reactor Fukushima plant. Cooling systems of the plant’s reactors were knocked out, leading to meltdowns and the release of radioactivity.
Japan’s entire nuclear reactors were gradually taken offline for two months for maintenance or safety checks after the tsunami.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs are also planning to sue the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), and seek more than 500 dollars in compensation for every month that the residents have been displaced because of the disaster.
The lawyers also called the lawsuit as the largest class-action on the matter against the state with one of them saying that the Japanese government promoted “nuclear power as a national policy and has been closely involved with it.”
“Being fully aware of the danger of losing power due to a tsunami, the government neglected its duty of preventing such an event,” said Izutaro Managi, a Japanese lawyer.
In July 2012, a Japanese parliamentary panel found that the incident at the Fukushima nuclear plant had been a “man-made disaster” and not only due to the tsunami.
The report, which was released on July 5, also criticized “governments, regulatory authorities and Tokyo Electric Power” for lacking “a sense of responsibility to protect people’s lives and society.”
The 2011 incident at Fukushima “could and should have been foreseen and prevented” and its catastrophic effects “mitigated by a more effective human response,” the report said.
MR/HSN
Pentagon Coverup: U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base Evacuated Following Fukushima Disaster
TEPCO Pushes Plan to Dump Fukushima’s Radioactive Water into Pacific
The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced Thursday plans to dump its stores of contaminated water—used to cool the damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant—into the Pacific Ocean.
(Photo: Greenpeace) According to the Japan Times, TEPCO says the measure is "necessary because the utility fears it will eventually run out of capacity to store radioactive water that continues to accumulate at the plant due to water being injected to help cool the three reactors that experienced core meltdowns in March 2011."
Though the action will need approval from local governments, plant officials have struggled for months to find ways to store the accumulating amount of toxic water. According to the report, TEPCO is increasing the number of storage tanks, but has issued a warning that they will soon reach full capacity.
Meet Mike, The Most Radioactive Fish Ever From Fukushima
Fish with radiation over 2,500 times safe levels found near Fukushima plant
The unit No.1 (L) and No. 2 reactor building of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are seen through a window in a bus while Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe inspects the nuclear power plant power plant in Fukushima Prefecture December 29, 2012.(Reuters / Pool New)
A fish containing over 2,500 times Japan's legal limit for radiation in seafood has been caught in the vicinity of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the facility's operator reported.
A ‘murasoi’ fish, similar to a rockfish, was caught at a port inside the plant, according to AFP. Plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) indicated that the amount of cesium measured 254,000 becquerels per kilogram – 2,540 times Japan's legal limit for radiation in seafood.
In October, TEPCO admitted that radiation leaks at the plant had not fully stopped.
In 2011, after a March earthquake and tsunami devastated the region, Japan barred beef, vegetables, milk, seafood and mushrooms grown near the affected area from both domestic markets and exports over safety concerns.
Science magazine published an article revealing that the levels of cesium in seafood around the disaster-battered area had not decreased since 2011. In October 2012, around 40 percent of bottom-dwelling marine species demonstrated elevated radiation levels, with cesium-134 and 137 levels above Japan's legal limit. August samples collected by author Ken Buesseler had cesium levels 250 times what Japanese authorities consider safe.
Seafood from the area near Fukushima has turned out to be a health hazard abroad, as well as within the country.
In July, Russia expressed concern over fish caught off its coast near Japan. In May, a contaminated tuna was found near the California coastline. Japan stressed that they understood the numbers of contaminated seafood are “extremely high,” but also pointed out that radiation was detected only in the kinds of fish found closest to the plant.
In October 2012, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, announced that it would relax regulations on imports of Japanese food starting on November 1. The restrictions were introduced after the quake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, with many countries such as the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, France and the UK either halting food imports or starting additional inspections of Japanese imports.
Fukushima debris hits Hawaii
Debris set adrift by the 2011 Japanese tsunami has made its way to Hawaii, triggering concerns over the unknown effects of the radiation it may carry from the meltdown of the Fukushima reactor.
Debris has washed ashore the islands of Oahu and Kauai and the state’s Department of Health has been asked to test some of the incoming material for radiation levels. Refrigerator parts, oyster buoys, housing insulation, storage bins, soda bottles, toys, fishing nets, plastic trash cans and even Japanese net boats have all washed up on Hawaiian sands in the past few weeks, triggering serious environmental concerns over both water pollution and radiation exposure.
Long-term exposure to radiation can cause cancer, gene mutations, premature aging and in severe cases, death. The consequences of the influx of debris are unknown, causing local agencies to advocate precaution in picking up the Japanese debris.
After a Kona fisherman discovered a 24-foot Japanese net boat floating along the Hawaiian coast early this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began an investigation to trace where some of the items have come in from and possibly find its owners.
“On behalf of NOAA and the State of Hawaii, we ask that anyone who finds personal items, which may have come from the tsunami, to please report them to county, state and/or federal officials,” William J. Aila, Jr., Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) chairperson, told Hawaii 24/7 News.
Depending on an object’s weight, density and other physical characteristics, it can take months or years to travel from Japan to Hawaii, which explains why many of the same type of items are floating ashore at the same time. Although an estimated 70 percent of the tsunami debris sank offshore, millions of tons of wreckage are still adrift and slowly making landfall, reports LiveScience.
Aside from the unknown radiation risks, some of the debris is bringing invasive species to Hawaii, thereby threatening the island chain’s ecosystem and introducing the possibility of consuming contaminated seafood. The 24-foot boat found by the fisherman was covered in blue mussels, which are native to Japan and harmful to Hawaii’s marine life – especially the corals.
“If it does take hold, the concern is that they will just be able to populate at a fast rate and out compete some of our native species,” Jono Blodgett, the aquatic species program leader at DLNR, told the Honolulu Civil Beat. And even if Hawaiians attempt to kill the invasive mussels, their attempts might be fruitless.
“When species are stressed out and about to die, they might release their eggs or sperm,” he said. The fisherman who discovered the abandoned Japanese boat saw the mussels as an opportunity for a tasty meal, raising additional concerns about Hawaiian locals’ exposure to radiation found in seafood. Blodgett believes the boat likely drifted to sea before the Fukushima reactors had a meltdown, making the attached mussels safe to consume – but the possibility of contamination remains, especially if the creatures are found on some of the other debris.
Even though Hawaiian officials have minimized panic by assuring residents that radiation risks are low, their investigations and detection programs indicate that the concern is still there. The state of Hawaii purchased a $15,000 portable radiation detection device in September, while the Hawaii Department of Health has conducted quarterly shoreline surveillance since the tsunami hit in 2011. This monitoring has increased since the debris began to wash upon the Hawaiian shoreline.
But some of the debris is so small that it becomes quickly buried in the sand on the beach, making it impossible to clean up or even detect.
“Many places on the beach, it’s hard to differentiate the sand from the plastics on the surface,” Nicholas Mallos of the Ocean Conservancy group told LiveScience.
And as long as the radiation risks are unknown, Hawaii residents should avoid collecting floating refrigerator parts or consuming Japanese mussels they might find on washed up debris.
Sky-High Radiation Found in Fukushima Fish
Fukushima “Decontamination” Measures Are Making Things Worse
We’ve previously noted:
- Japan has severely underplayed the amount of radiation from Fukushima, putting Japanese residents and U.S. navy sailors in jeopardy
- Experts call Japan cleanup effort meaningless … an endless task that’s simply spreading around radiation
- Tepco has taken extraordinary steps to hide radiation by blocking radiation monitors with thick metal and other foreign objects. And see this
In a series of essays called “Crooked Cleanup”, leading Japanese news source Asahi shows the level of corruption and incompetence.
Cleanup crews in Fukushima Prefecture have dumped soil and leaves contaminated with radioactive fallout into rivers. Water sprayed on contaminated buildings has been allowed to drain back into the environment. And supervisors have instructed workers to ignore rules on proper collection and disposal of the radioactive waste.
***
The decontamination work witnessed by a team of Asahi Shimbun reporters shows that contractual rules with the Environment Ministry have been regularly and blatantly ignored, and in some cases, could violate environmental laws.
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In signing the contracts, the Environment Ministry established work rules requiring the companies to place all collected soil and leaves into bags to ensure the radioactive materials would not spread further. The roofs and walls of homes must be wiped by hand or brushes. The use of pressurized sprayers is limited to gutters to avoid the spread of contaminated water. The water used in such cleaning must be properly collected under the ministry’s rules.
***
From Dec. 11 to 18, four Asahi reporters spent 130 hours observing work at various locations in Fukushima Prefecture.
At 13 locations in Naraha, Iitate and Tamura, workers were seen simply dumping collected soil and leaves as well as water used for cleaning rather than securing them for proper disposal.
Photographs were taken at 11 of those locations.
The reporters also talked to about 20 workers who said they were following the instructions of employees of the contracted companies or their subcontractors in dumping the materials. A common response of the workers was that the decontamination work could never be completed if they adhered to the strict rules.
Asahi reporters obtained a recording of a supervisor at a site in Naraha instructing a worker to dump cut grass over the side of the road.
Workers involved in cleaning up the radioactive fallout from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant disaster expressed concerns. One even apologized for what he did.
But they were on the bottom employment levels in the decontamination process, and their words apparently meant nothing to their supervisors.
***
The supervisor from Dai Nippon Construction told the 30 or so workers under his watch to dump whatever would not fit into the bags or to throw materials down the slope outside of the line marked by the pink tape. Whenever the supervisor was not present, the person taking his place gave similar instructions.
The man questioned if the work could actually be called decontamination. He confronted the supervisor about his instructions on Nov. 27 and recorded the conversation.
The man can be heard asking, “Is it all right to just dump the stuff?”
The supervisor replied: “Yeah, yeah, it’s OK. It can’t be helped.”
***
“Even though I was following an order, I am sorry for polluting the river,” the man said.
Indeed, “clean-up measures” often make the radiation ariborne … making it more dangerous:
The airborne radiation level near the gutter before the cleaning water flowed in was 0.8 microsievert per hour. The radiation level near the cleaning water hovered between 1.9 and 2.9 microsieverts. The larger figure is close to the cutoff point in determining if residents should evacuate.
***
In some cases, radiation levels at homes have even increased after decontamination, leading some workers to suspect that radioactive materials were blown into the area by wind.
The only actual decontamination work which was done appears to have been right around radiation monitors, to create false low readings:
We were told to clean up only those areas around a measurement site.
Even worse, Japan is spreading radioactivity throughout Japan – and other countries – by burning radioactive waste in incinerators not built to handle such toxic substances.
One of our main themes is that trying to cover up problems only makes them worse. Japan is once again proving that this is a bad strategy …