Enrollment at grade schools in Fukushima Prefecture are down 70%.
Before the March 2011 nuclear disaster began at Fukushima Daiichi, there were 54 elementary and junior high schools in the Prefecture. Now only 42 schools are open, and they are operating in rented areas away from their original locations.
School officials say many families have moved away permanently.
A city 140 km (87 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is offering radiation checkups for residents.
Utsunomiya City, north of Tokyo, started the service because of demands from taxpayers.
The city says they can check up to five houses per day, inspecting up to three specific areas requested by the inhabitants, such as the entry way or bedroom, etc.
Inspections done so far show radiation levels below the official safe limits. This is a limited time offer ending in September.
Last year the Japanese government said all farm animals within the 20 kilometer (12.42 miles) radiation no go zone, around Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, had to be killed (if they weren’t already dead).
Now the government says those animals that are still alive can live, provided the farmers do not ship them off to food markets.
This comes after farmers refused to follow through with the order to cull radioactive animals. Turns out about 700 farm animals are still alive within the no go zone.
Farmers must not breed the animals, or allow them to mingle with new animals that are not contaminated.
ONE YEAR LATER: JAPAN DEVELOPS THEIR FIRST EVER MOBILE PET CLINIC, TO HELP THE HUNDRED OF ANIMALS STILL SUFFERING IN IWATE
ONE YEAR LATER: JAPANESE BAMBOO NOW RADIOACTIVE, 124 MILES AWAY FROM FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI!
April 5, 2012, Tokyo Electric Power Company is admitting that even more strontium 90 is pouring into the Pacific Ocean from the GE designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
TEPCo officials say at least 12 tons of contaminated water poured into the ocean overnight. They blame it on the usual suspect; leaking pipes!
Around 02:00 the morning of April 5, workers found a joint in a waste water pipe had been disconnected, causing the huge leak. It took them half an hour to fix it.
This is the third major strontium leak reported by TEPCo, since December 2011.
About one year ago, Japanese government officials swore to the refugees fleeing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, that they’d be returning home soon.
Not only did that turn out to be a lie, but one official now says some towns will never be inhabitable.
On April 4, 2012, Japan’s reconstruction minister, Hirano Tatsuo, told the Governor of Fukushima Province, and the Mayor of Futaba Town, that because of the storage of highly radioactive waste coming from Fukushima Daiichi, the areas around that waste can never be lived in.
There are areas of Fukushima Province, being used to store hundreds of tons of contaminated water (left over from trying to keep the disaster reactors cool), that are being irradiated by the deadly levels of radiation in the water.
The Japanese media is pointing out that Hirano’s opinion runs counter to the official statements of the government. The Japanese government continues to promise the nuclear refugees that they will be able to return to all their homes.
Here’s a thought: It’s been proven that Fukushima Daiichi is worse than Chernobyl, and yet, how many people have been allowed to return to Prypiat, the town next to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, 26 years later? Zero!
Prypiat had nearly 50,000 people prior to the Chernobyl explosion in 1986. Now it’s a city full of vacant and ghostly skyscrapers.
The Japanese government has set new cesium contamination limits for food, but even with the new limits hundreds of inspections have revealed highly contaminated food products.
The new limits on non-dairy food products will be allowed to contain up to 100 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, baby food and milk will be permitted to contain 50 becquerels, and drinking water 10 becquerels.
But wait, what most people don’t know is that immediately after the March 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, the Japanese government temporarily raised the maximum cesium limit in food to 500 becquerels!!!
What that means is that it’s almost guaranteed that the people of Japan have been eating radioactive food!
Between January and March, 2012, a total of 600 cases have been found with more than the new 100 becquerels limit. That includes salmon, flounder and raw shiitake mushrooms. Local governments are supposed to stop the shipments of such contaminated food.
28 March 2012, finally, after one year, Tokyo Electric Power Company is taking radiation readings from Fukushima Daiichi disaster Reactor 2.
They placed a dosimeter into Reactor 2’s containment vessel. It is emitting 72.9 sieverts, or 72,900 millisieverts, or 72,900,000 microsieverts of radiation per hour!!!
At that rate the radiation will kill a human in seven minutes!
TEPCo admits that the lethal radiation levels, and the recently discovered lack of cooling water indicating a huge leak, are setbacks for their plans to decommission the reactor.
200 kilometers (124 miles) away from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke factory, bamboo plants grown for food are turning up radioactive!
On bamboo shoot farms in Chiba Prefecture, samples have turned out to be contaminated with as much as 250 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram!
Not only that, the latest samples are higher in cesium than samples taken more than one week ago. Officials think cesium absorbed by the parent bamboo plants is being passed on to the young bamboo shoots.
Bamboo farmers have been told not to ship their product to market.
ONE YEAR LATER: FINALLY, JAPANESE OFFICIALS SAY SEA BASS ARE TOO RADIOACTIVE, FISHING BAN NOW IN PLACE!
March 27, 2012, Tokyo Electric officials say strontium 90 is pouring into the Pacific Ocean, from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant!
The latest leak was discovered March 26. It’s coming from above ground tanks, which are holding radioactive water. They also admit leaks are coming from pipes connecting the water tanks.
On March 26, TEPCo detected 0.25 becquerels per cubic centimeters of strontium beta particles in the Pacific Ocean.
It turns out this happens often. TEPCo admits the first strontium leaks, from pipes and water tanks, happened in December 2011, and have continued since then!
Disaster reactor 2 at General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi is overheating because Tokyo Electric officials miscalculated the cooling water levels!
Reactor 2 was the only active reactor that did not explode immediately after the March 11, 2011 natural disasters. It has been a constant struggle for TEPCo to keep its temperature down.
On March 26, 2012, TEPCo discovered that one reason is there is much less cooling water in the reactor, than what they first guessed. They thought there was three meters (9.8 feet) of water in the containment vessel. There is only 60 centimeters (23.6 inches) of water in the reactor!!!
TEPCo discovered this on Monday, after they used an endoscope to check out the inside of the reactor. TEPCo has been pumping about nine tons of water per hour, for months now, trying to keep the melted nuclear fuel cooled down.
This is only the second time TEPCo used an endoscope to look inside reactor 2. The first time the endoscope was too short, and they couldn’t see anything!
The facts that after months of pumping nine tons of water per hour (sometimes more), and finding only 60 centimeters of water at the bottom of the containment vessel, means there is a massive leak! It also means the melted nuclear fuel has been leaking out, into the Pacific Ocean, as well!
This revaluation comes after a March 15, 2012 report, in which TEPCo said they found “…there were no cracks in the suppression chamber [of reactor 2] and there were no changes in the shape.”
The suppression chamber is also known as the ‘wetwell’, or ‘torus’. It is separate from the containment vessel. However, TEPCo also reported high radiation levels coming from the wetwell. It could be a sign that nuclear fuel is leaking out of the containment vessel and into the wetwell (suppression chamber/torus).
TEPCo also reported that the paint on the wetwell was peeling and the color of the paint had changed.