Tag Archives: fukushima

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima to be turned into giant nuclear waste dump!

Struggling to figure out what to do with the ever increasing nuclear waste, caused by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster reactors, the Japanese government has decided to dump it in Fukushima.

The county of Futaba, in Fukushima Prefecture, is being asked to allow eight of its cities to become nuclear waste dumps.  The official reasoning is that area is already contaminated (currently it suffers the equivalent of 100 millisieverts of radiation per year).

Of course this would mean that those people still living in the area would have to leave, and the national government will pay for occupying the land.

Many people in the area are upset, and disillusioned with their national government, because immediately after the March nuclear accidents, they were told, by national government officials, that the situation wasn’t that bad and they would all be returning to their homes soon.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese trees now highly radioactive, a new twist on pollen allergies!

Japan’s Forestry Agency tested male cedar tree flowers, in Fukushima Prefecture, and discovered extreme levels of contamination: More than 250,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium!

The forestry Ministry took samples from 87 locations between November and December.  The highest level, 253,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, were discovered at Omaru in the town of Namie, 11.3 kilometers (7 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Now realize that pollen is blown through the air, meaning highly radioactive pollen is blowing throughout Japan!

Japan’s Environment Ministry says as much as 2,207 grains per cubic meter, of radioactive pollen, is being blown around. However, the Forestry Ministry is trying to downplay the spread of radiation through pollen, by saying if people breath it for 4 months they would be exposed to 0.553 microsieverts of radiation.  Officials claim this is equivalent to ten times the normal background radiation found in Tokyo.  Mmm, they’re not concerned with that?

 

Fukushima, Idaho

Government Incompetence: 14,000 U.S. deaths directly linked to Fukushima nuclear disaster! Idaho hit with highest reported radiation. Infants suffered most.

“Based on our continuing research, the actual death count here may be as high as 18,000, with influenza and pneumonia, which were up five fold in the period in question as a cause of death. Deaths are seen across all ages, but we continue to find that infants are hardest hit because their tissues are rapidly multiplying, they have undeveloped immune systems, and the doses of radioisotopes are proportionally greater than for adults.”-Janette Sherman, MD  toxicologist

According to the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services, an estimated 14,000 deaths in the United States can be connected to the ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan!

The peer reviewed report also points out that within 17 weeks following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster 16,500 people in the U.S. died.

The report says one week after the explosions at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a toxic cloud was detected over the west coast of the United States. I had posted several times how most EPA RadNet sites were not working.

The EPA did report radiation detected in water, milk and other agricultural products, but it was downplayed and the U.S. neo-conservative controlled mainstream media went along with it!  What was reported by the EPA showed that Idaho had the highest Iodine 131 readings; 390 picocuries per liter of water (2 picocuries of I-131 per liter of water is considered normal)!

Interestingly this was claimed to be in Boise, Idaho, which is on the western side of the state. The only RadNet site in Idaho is in Idaho Falls, on the eastern side of the state.

The report says there were at least 14,000 unexplained deaths in the United States within the first 14 weeks of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster (that’s 1,000 per week, and the nuclear disaster is ongoing).  They also noted a sudden 1.8% jump in infant deaths compared to the same time the previous year.  They claim there is enough evidence for scientists to suspect radiation contamination, and they’re asking for more studies to be done.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima Governor challenges claims of Cold Shut Down

On 16 December 2011 the Japanese government declared the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant in “Cold Shut Down”.  On 18 December, the governor of Fukushima challenged that claim.

Governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Sato Yuhei, met three national government Cabinet members.  He asked them how they could make such a declaration when no one at the national level talked to anyone living around the nuclear plant, or even made an inspection tour.

The Minister for Nuclear Crisis Compensation, Edano Yukio, said the contamination zones will be redefined, and the national government will considering local governments’ requests.

The three Cabinet members also said that areas with radiation levels of 20 millisieverts per year or higher, will require former residents to continue living elsewhere, and, those people from areas with readings of over 50 millisieverts per year should expect not to be able to return for a long long time.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: 230 tons of radioactive water found under Fukushima Daiichi!

On 18 December 2011, workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, found 230 tons of highly radioactive water in a tunnel under a building used to store contaminated water.  This comes after the Japanese government declared the damaged nuclear reactors in “cold shut down”.

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say the water is giving off 3 millisieverts per hour of radiation. Of course, and as usual, TEPCo officials don’t have clue how it got there, and are investigating.

This latest discovery reminds everyone to question TEPCo’s inspection and management capabilities.  Even the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture is challenging the national government’s declaring the plant in cold shut down.

 

Fukushima

Japan admits high levels of radiation in north eastern Honshu!

Japan’s Environment Ministry has given some clues as to how bad the radiation contamination is in north eastern Honshu.  The area is being devastated by radiation coming from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

In a report on how the government of Japan plans to address decontamination issues, they revealed that some areas have soil that’s emitting more than 0.23 microsieverts per hour!

They also stated that ‘sludge’ has been found to be contaminated with 8,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium!

The Environment Ministry even admitted that areas as far south as Tokyo are highly contaminated and will require decontamination.  Tokyo is about 220 kilometers, or 137 miles from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

 

Fukushima

Japan says it will take at least 40 years to scrap the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant!

The Japanese government released details of their plan to tear down the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

From 2012 to 2015 they hope to remove the hundreds of spent fuel rods stored in the facility’s spent fuel pools.

Then from 2015 to 2021 they will work to repair and fill up the highly radioactive reactor containment vessels with the melted fuel rods inside.  That plan involves using water to fill the containment vessels on four reactors.

Then by 2022 they hope they can figure out a way to safely remove the melted fuel rods from the containment vessels.  The ultimate goal is to tear down the reactor buildings.

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Still no decontamination efforts in Fukushima!

Just days after the the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunamis, several Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors went critical, melted down, and some even exploded.  But to date (11 December 2011) no decontamination efforts have been carried out by the prefectural or national governments!

A couple of cities, and even neighborhood committees have attempted decontamination of their immediate surroundings, but nothing on the large scale that’s needed.  This is because no one in higher authority thought such a nuclear disaster would ever happen.

Testimony by many Japanese officials (and Tokyo Electric Power Company officials) say representatives from General Electric (and other U.S. nuclear power companies), and the U.S. government, had claimed the U.S. designed disaster reactors were the safest in the world.  Japanese officials thought there was no justification for such preparations as the U.S. designed nuke plants were so safe.

As a result of the March nuclear disaster (which is still ongoing) officials in the national and prefectural governments have been scrambling to learn everything they can about how to deal with the situation (that included a trip to Chernobyl, albeit very late in the game).

But learning everything they could in a short time wasn’t enough.  The Japanese national government had to pass a law ordering the large scale decontamination!

The Japanese Environment Ministry says they will begin decontamination of roads and other infrastructure in late January 2012.  They do not expect to be able to start decontaminating residences until March 2012!  And that’s for areas contaminated with less than 20 millisieverts of radiation. Japanese officials admit they still don’t know how to deal with areas contaminated with more than 20 millisieverts of radiation!

The Environment Ministry says they are conducting new studies to see how best to handle decontamination in areas with more than 20 millisieverts of radiation, with a focus on protecting the workers.

Fukushima, International

Japan Modern Day Atlantis round 4: Minamisanriku, hometown of Heroine Miki Endo is becoming the Atlantis I predicted

Video

On March 11, a massive tsunami hit Minamisanriku.  If it wasn’t for a young woman, Miki Endo, as well as her boss ordering the residents to escape, many thousands more would have been killed.

Endo and her boss did not survive. They stayed at their posts on the second floor of the town hall building.  The water reached the top of the third floor of the building.  Endo’s last words over the city’s loudspeaker system were: “Take care mom!”

On November 7, Independent Television News updated the situation of Minamisanriku, and it looks like my past posts, comparing it to a modern day Atlantis, might apply.  A city official says no rebuilding can take place, because the land is slowing sinking into the ocean: “…our plan is to move the entire town to higher ground, because the ground level here has dropped by 70 cm [27.5 inches]. When we get higher tides, they come in and this entire area is underwater.”-Jin Sato, Mayor

Who said southern California can’t drop off into the ocean?

ATLANTIS SYNDROME: OFFICIALS CONFIRM LAND SUNK AFTER 9.0 QUAKE

JAPAN MODERN DAY ATLANTIS ROUND 3: QUAKE UPGRADED 10,000+ DEAD

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Powdered milk contaminated with radiation!

Japanese powdered milk maker Meiji says they will replace 400,000 cans of their product, after it was found contaminated with cesium.

The levels are below safe limits but the company says it’s better to be safe than sorry.  The powdered milk was produced from March 14 to 20. The base powder used was made before 11 March 2011.

Meiji did not voluntarily test their product, nor was it government officials, it was a consumer group who forced the testing.  Meiji officials are now trying to figure out how their product got contaminated.  The company has factories all over Japan, from Hokkaido down to Tokyo.  This is another indication how much the radiation from Fukushima Daiichi has spread.