Japanese Industry Minister Banri Kaieda apologized over reports that he threatened to ‘‘punish’’ firefighters if they did not work at the quake-hit nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
The apology came after Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara protested to Prime Minister Naoto Kan over the ‘‘forcing’’ of Tokyo Fire Department to engage in an hours-long water-spraying mission, saying they were threatened with ‘‘punishment’’ if they refused.
Almost from day one of the so called revolution in Libya, President Obama said “It’s time for Gaddafi to go.” He didn’t say that about Mubarak, not for several weeks of the Egyptian Revolution anyway.
Obama has said many times he wanted Gaddafi out. Then Gaddafi’s compound is bombed by coalition forces, and the official statement from coalition leaders is that they were not trying to bomb Gaddafi. That’s one dumb smart bomb then.
Here is what Obama said today: “Now, I also have stated that it is U.S. policy that Gadhafi needs to go.” President Obama has basically admitted that trying to get rid of Gaddafi IS what he’s trying to do. Obama then goes on to admit that UNSCR 1973 does not allow him to do that: “But when it comes to the military action, we are doing so in support of U.N. Resolution 1973 that specifically talks about humanitarian efforts, and we are going to make sure we stick to that mandate.”
Obama also says he’s hoping that other “tools” will be used to allow the Libyan people to kick Gaddafi out. Remember, UNSCR 1973 is supposed to be about protecting peaceful civilians, not regime change. Lies. lies and more lies!
TEPCO officials say they have tested water from the ocean, where water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant runs off, and it tested positive for radiation.
Iodine 131 was 126.7 times higher than the legal level, cesium 134 was 24.8 higher, and cesium 137 was 16.5 times higher. Cobalt 58 was below the legal limit.
This was the first time the Tokyo Electric Power Company tested the ocean water. They say they will conduct more tests, over a wider area.
Ten prefectures have radioactive tap water, according to the Japanese government.
Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata and Yamanashi prefectures.
Tap water in Tochigi and Gunma revealed radioactive iodine and cesium.
Radioactive iodine alone was found in Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata and Yamanashi prefectures.
It must be noted that several different government agencies are involved with testing for radiation levels. People have been told the radiation levels exceed safety levels, but officials think that at this point there is not health threat.
Over the weekend food products from Fukushima Prefecture were banned due to radiation contamination. Now 3 more prefectures have been added to the food ban.
Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures have now been told their food products are contaminated was well. Earlier Ibaraki Prefecture had spinach test positive for contamination, but wasn’t told to stop shipments.
Once again the government is confusing people by saying the radiation levels in the food had exceeded established safety levels, but was not harmful if eaten.
Workers were evacuated from the Fukushimah Daiichi nuclear plant after smoke started pouring from reactors 2 & 3. Planned water spraying had to be stopped.
White smoke/steam coming from reactor 2, from a crack in the roof, it is probably from the spent fuel pool.
Reactor 3 more serious; black/gray smoke coming from whats left of the reactor (reactor 3 exploded last week).
There is speculation that the smoke might be related to the recently increasing radiation levels.
Masataka Shimizu, chief executive of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), hasn’t been seen in a week.
He’s in charge of the company dealing with one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters, Fukushima Daiichi. Many Japanese want to know where he is.
Even the BP (British Petroluem) CEO held press conferences during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster last year.
USAF C-17 transport from Vandenburg Air Force Base, in California, has left for Japan loaded with 17 tons of boric acid.
The boric acid is from the stock pile at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California. It’s to be used on the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
People living in parts of Fukushima Prefecture have been told not to drink tap water. Japanese officials say the radiation levels in the water are now higher that government safety limits.
The confusion comes from Japanese officials also saying that there is no immediate health risk from drinking the water.
Not only have the agriculture industry, in north east Honshu, been hit by a natural disaster, they are suffering from the nuclear disaster as well.
Many farm fields were wiped out by the tsunami. Because sea walls are destroyed, and land has actually sunk, the coastal areas could be under water for a time, especially during high tide. Now dairy and produce products are turning out to be contaminated with radiation.
Even though the Japanese government says they have stopped any shipments of such food, and that the levels are not harmful, shoppers have made it clear they won’t buy the stuff: “It’s a little hard to say this, but I won’t buy vegetables from Fukushima and that area,” said shopper Yukihiro Sato, at a Tokyo supermarket.
It’s also affecting Japan’s fishing industry, so far the winds have been blowing the radiation particles out over the Pacific Ocean.
In the immediate term Japanese food producers are benefiting as shoppers turn to their products, out of fear. But, it will eventual stress the Japanese food industry. Japan will have to increase imports of food from other countries.
This will add to what the United Nations said, earlier this year, is a growing food “supply” problem. The supply problems is due to a combination of climate change and social unrest. Some countries are experiencing long droughts, reducing crop production. Other countries are experiencing flooding which destroys farm land. Many countries in Asia experience both climactic conditions. On top of that, social unrest, in Africa, Middle East (aka West Asia) and even Mexico (drug war) are causing the same end result, reduced crop production as well as interruption in supply.
Supply is the main concern of the UN because there are countries that have excess food but for many reasons, including the way the commodities markets work, the food is not being equally distributed around the world.
The food supply problem will have a bad result for consumers all over the world, prices will continue to go up.