Tag Archives: cesium

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Once again, food in Japan comes up contaminated with radiation!

Eight months after the March nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, Japanese food producers continue to find their latest crops contaminated.

In Tochigi Prefecture, about 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the local mushroom harvest is contaminated with cesium.

The prefectural government did their own test, and found 649 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram in Kuritake mushrooms grown outdoors.  The official national safe limit is 500.

Earlier this month, radioactive cesium exceeding the government limit were found in Shiitake mushrooms grown in Yokohama.  Yokohama is about 260 kilometers (161.5 miles) from Fukushima Daiichi!

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More radiation in Yokohama, this time school lunches!

Shiitake mushrooms used in school lunches have tested positive for 350 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium.  That’s below the government limit of 500 becquerels, but Yokohama school officials are getting rid of them anyway.

Yokohama is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

At a Ibaraki Prefecture mushroom farm, 830 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium were found on the mushrooms there.  The farm is about 170 km (106 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Earlier in the week mushrooms in Chiba Prefecture were found to be contaminated with cesium, higher then the government safe limits.  Clearly, after almost seven months, radiation is still spreading from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan’s wild animals and plants highly contaminated with Cesium!

Gakushuin University Professor Yasuyuki Muramatsu, says radioactive cesium on soil and fallen leaves in forests is easily absorbed by mushrooms and edible plants.

On 03 September 2011, wild mushrooms found in a forest in Fukushima Prefecture contained 28,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, far above the national safety limit.  A wild boar was also found to have radiation amounts about 6 times the safety limit.

Professor Muramatsu is urging the Japanese government to conduct tests on wild animals and plants.

FUKUSHIMA TO EUTHANIZE ABANDONED LIVESTOCK AND PETS!

FOOD CRISIS: HALF MILLION LIVESTOCK STARVING TO DEATH IN JAPAN!

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More Japanese Tea contminated with Cesium!

As the nuclear disaster continues in Japan, more tea leaves have been found with extremely high levels of cesium.

The Japanese health ministry says radioactive cesium has been detected in harvested tea leaves in Chiba and Saitama prefectures, near Tokyo  (about 297km or 185 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant).

One type of tea from Chiba Prefecture contained 2,720 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, more than 5 times the safety limit.

1,530 becquerels per kilogram was detected in three kinds of tea leaves from Saitama Prefecture.

The local governments will try to trace which tea farms the contaminated leaves came from.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima exceeds radiation levels at Chernobyl!

Six towns in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, have soil that is contaminated with Cesium levels far higher than those at Chernobyl.  The levels exceed that which forced mandatory evacuations around Chernobyl back in the 1980s.  Some areas around Chernobyl are still off limits.

Japan’s Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry put together a soil contamination map.  Six municipalities recorded more than 1.48 million becquerels per square meter of Cesium 137.

The Cesium hot spots are in no-entry and expanded evacuation zones around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was damaged by the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

 

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan announced beef was safe to eat, then once again, more cesium contaminated cows!

The day after the Japanese government announced it was lifting the contaminated cattle ban on Fukushima cows, four cows tested for cesium levels above safe limits.

Then, the very next day five more cows showed up with cesium contamination.

The contaminated cows had already been shipped to a slaughter house in Yokohama.  It was there that the beef was found to be highly contaminated.

To make matters worse, the cow farmers swear they were not feeding the cows local rice hay, but more expensive imported hay.  The imported hay had been stored indoors.

This means that the cows could be getting contaminated on their way to the slaughter house.  Officials are trying to figure it out.

And yes, the Japanese government suspended the lifting of the contaminated cattle ban.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: More proof radiation spreading across Japan, rice feed for cows 440 miles away contaminated!

Yet another prefectural government announced they will begin radiation checks of their cows, after they discovered their cattle feed is contaminated with cesium.

That prefecture is Shimane, and it’s 708 kilometers (440 miles) south west of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant!

Shimane officials say they will begin blanket tests of their cattle starting next week.

Tests of cattle feed, at the end of July, came back showing high levels of contamination.  As a result prices for cows from Shimane crashed.  Officials are hoping their cows are not contaminated, because cattle farming is an important business for them.

Fukushima

Fourth Prefecture makes cesium cattle ban list, within 24 hours of the third Prefecture!

Within 24 hours of banning cattle from two locations in Iwate Prefecture, the Japanese government is also banning cows from Tochigi Prefecture.

Just like Iwate, the ban affects two areas within Tochigi Prefecture, after cesium contamination was found in cows and plants.  Tochigi has a much bigger cattle industry than Iwate.  As many as 55,000 head of beef cattle are shipped from Tochigi, and they process (slaughter) another 30,000 per year.

The national government is asking Tochigi officials to step up voluntary cesium inspections with the farms that are not in the two cesium affected areas.

The prefectures that are now under beef bans are Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Tochigi.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: More cesium contaminated beef!

The Japanese government has made it official, and banned beef from Iwate Prefecture.  Iwate is the third prefecture to have its cattle banned from market.  Fukushima and Miyagi are the other two prefectures.  Iwate normally ships out 36,000 head of beef cattle every year.

The ban doesn’t affect all cattle from Iwate, just those from farms in two areas that have already tested positive for cesium contamination.  Other cattle farms, in Iwate, are being asked to step up cesium inspections.

The problem with the Japanese government’s response to the contaminated cattle, is that it is reactive.  They only take action after contaminated beef has made it to market.

It’s so obvious that massive cesium contamination has spread over a large area of Honshu.  It’s time to become pro-active and stop all agriculture shipments now!  Do contamination inspections on everything coming from farms.

I know for most agriculture products time is important because they can spoil, but spoiled food is better than letting highly contaminated food make it to market.  Again, it is so obvious that massive radioactive contamination has occurred.

 

 

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo announces reduction in contamination, then finds more contamination!

01 August 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced a drop in cesium and iodine flooding into the Pacific Ocean, from Fukushima Daiichi.

TEPCo claims cesium 134 and 137, in water leaking from reactor 3, have remained steady since Friday.  Iodine 131, in water leaking from reactor 2, has stopped.

At the height of contaminated water emission, cesium 134 hit 20,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter, while cesium 137 was 17 times the official safe limit.

Iodine 131, from reactor 2, had hit 7.5 million times the official safe limit.

But along with TEPCo’s announcment that radioactive water was dropping, they discovered a building flooded with highly radioactive water.

A storage building was found to be flooded with 700 tons of water.  That water contains 19,000 becquerels of cesium 134 per cubic centimeter, and 22,000 becquerels of cesium 137.  And, not surprisingly, TEPCo officials say they’re trying to figure out where it came from.