Continuing inspections of rice crops are revealing how pervasive the radiation contamination is. Three more farms have been found to be contaminated above safe limits.
The result is that the national government, on 05 December 2011, banned rice shipments from 406 farms. The farms are located in several districts within the cities of Fukushima and Date, in Fukushima Prefecture.
The latest rice farms to make the list are 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant.
On 01 December 2011, Russian port authorities in Vladivostok stopped a shipment of tires from Japan. They say the tires are emitting beta and gamma rays.
This is not the first time Russian inspectors found radioactive products from Japan. In April, 49 second hand (used) cars shipped from Japan were found to be emitting radiation six times the safe limit. A similar incident happened in June. Eastern Russia is a big market for used Japanese cars.
What about radiation testing in the U.S.? The latest statement from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) claims to have conducted “…28,190 field examinations for radionuclide contamination.” However, they only talk about 1186 samples (out of the 28,190 tests) being safe. The data for the rest of their test is in a format my computer couldn’t open.
The FDA website has some statements that are pure bogusnus. Example: “Little or no harvesting of fish is taking place in the area around the reactor.” This is false! Fisherman in the Fukushima area have been fishing, including around the Daiichi power plant, it’s their only source of income! In fact the latest revelation, that strontium 90 is pouring into the ocean, has the local fishermens’ co-op threatening to sue Tokyo Electric.
Another example from the FDA: “The volume of water between particles and fish absorbs radiation, “shielding” the fish.” Bull Shit! Why have so many fish in Japanese markets turned up highly contaminated with radiation? Why are Fukushima fishermen so pissed off!?
The FDA tries a Red Herring argument by saying: “The half life of I-131 is about eight days.” They’re talking about cesium 131, they’re trying to make you feel safe. Hello, what about the strontium 90, the plutonium, and other isotopes that last virtually freakin’ forever!
They do mention cesium 137 (half life of 30 years), but here’s another amazing statement the FDA makes: “…the radionuclides also undergo biological excretion and do not continue to build up in fish…” Bull shit again! When I was a Cold War soldier, the U.S. Army had us doing yearly training for NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) warfare. One of the things we were taught is that radiation contamination freakin’ builds up over time! The longer you’re exposed the more F–ked up you get, because it builds up! You see when you work around radiative shit, you have to monitor not only the intensity of the radiation, but how long you’re exposed to it.
Finally the FDA passes the buck onto Customs and Border Protection saying they screen the cargo containers coming from Japan. The FDA also says their own people walk around the docks using hand held radiometers, and if they detect high “background” radiation levels then they do more intensive inspections. The problem is that just because the contents of the shipping container are radioactive does not means the thick steel container will emit radiation! The Russian inspectors at Vladivostok must be doing a better job at inspections than our people.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is making things more confusing , because they’ve been revising their “methodologies” and policies (isn’t that convenient). They don’t inspect products, but are supposed to be testing air and water. I’ve written about how many of the RadNet sites were not even working during the first few months of the nuclear crisis in Japan.
The EPA has changed how they report their RadNet data. In Idaho there’s only one RadNet site, in Idaho Falls. Their gamma counts show a lot of spikes, but it’s not clear if it’s because of Fukushima or not. On the old RadNet web page there was a detection of cesium 131 (short half life) in precipitation readings on 01 April 2011. However, the new RadNet sites are even more confusing, there is no way the general public can make use of them, what a waste of taxpayer money!
Fend for yourself!
Tokyo Electric Power Company officials say that on 16 December 2011 (the day the U.S. Postal Service will be in official default) they will declare the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Cold Shut Down mode.
The Cold Shut Down could be officially announced by Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko.
Of course this is after they let millions and millions of becquerels of radiation pour out into the air and water, along with the radioactive remains of the melted fuel rods!
Cold Shut Down means that the water being used to flush out, I mean, ‘cool down’ the reactors remains below boiling point, which is an indication that most of the fuel rods are used up.
There must be so little left inside the reactors that the temps have come down. I guess that’s one way to do it, I personally like the way the Soviets handled Chernobyl: Sand, lead and concrete.
The Prefectural government of Fukushima (where the spewing Fukushima Daiichi GE designed disaster reactors are) is asking the Japanese government for logistical help.
Fukushima officials said they want to test one third of their rice farms/crops for radiation contamination, after several rice crops came up highly radioactive. Here’s the logistical problem: One third of Fukushima rice farms/harvests amount to 24,000 crops!
Fukushima Prefecture asked the national government to provide devices to measure radiation, dispatch personnel to expedite inspections, and shoulder the cost.
On 02 December 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company officials admitted that lack of communication resulted in Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 1 melting down and exploding, on 12 March 2011.
Former plant manager, Yoshida Masao (who recently resigned due to health problems, which might be caused by exposure to radiation, which TEPCo denies) said he, and other officials, were not told that Reactor 1’s cooling system was manually shut down. He realized the cooling system was not working a little more than six hours after it had been turned off. By then it was too late.
Just a few days ago TEPCo admitted, after an independent investigation, that 100% of the fuel rods in Reactor 1 melted.
The irony is that Reactor 1 had the only operable cooling system after the 11 March earthquake and tsunami hit the nuclear disaster reactor plant. Reactors 2, 3 and 4 lost their connections to electrical power, but Reactor 1 was still connected.
This could add some fuel to the conspiracy theories out there (that it was intentional, after all, look how long they’ve dragged this out!).
The governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Yuhei Sato, ordered all nuclear reactors in the prefecture, to be shut and scrapped. There are ten nuclear reactors in Fukushima Prefecture.
The residents of Fukushima know that it will have a huge negative impact on their local economy, but they say it’s better than trying to live with an ongoing nuclear disaster!
The Fukushima government is working on a reconstruction plan that will try to create new jobs for those working at the nuclear plants.
Tokyo Electric Power Company has been forced to admit that serous melt downs took place in reactors 1, 2 and 3, of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Independent researchers confirmed that melt downs did occur, and were severe enough to melt through the reactor cores into the bottom of the containment vessels. Some melted fuel rods penetrated as much as 57 centimeters (22 inches) into the containment vessels. The bottom of the containment vessel is made of thick concrete, with a steel plate on top.
TEPCo now says 100% of the fuel rods in Reactor 1 melted, all the way through the core into the containment vessel! 57% of Reactor 2’s fuel rods melted, and 63% of Reactor 3’s fuel rods melted.
Many months ago, I posted how nuclear experts, who were being ignored by the main stream media, explained that the amount and type of radiation coming from Fukushima Daiichi could only mean melt down was occurring. Somehow the main stream news media found other nuclear ‘experts’ (including many who work for the U.S. government, and the U.S. nuclear power industry) who countered those claims.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reactors were designed by General Electric.
The manager of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was forced to resign, because of major health problems.
Yoshida Masao has been directly dealing with the situation at the nuclear plant since the 11 March 2011 disasters. Yoshida said a major health problem was discovered during a medical check up. TEPCo officials refused to give any information, or to confirm if was the result of long term exposure to high levels of radiation.
Yoshida said there were three times he, and the workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, thought they were going to die: The explosions of reactors 1 and 3, and the coolant pump failures on Reactor 2.
During the week that followed the March 11 earthquakes and tsunamis that hit Japan, reactors 1, 3 and 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant exploded. Yet Reactor 2 spewed the most radiation.
Contract workers at the plant say they heard an explosion inside Reactor 2, but TEPCo officials swear no explosion took place. Independent researchers claim that Reactor 2 has emitted more radiation than the reactors that exploded!
Scientists (not working for TEPCo) say the most probable reason is that the containment vessel around the core was breached. TEPCo also denies that.
TEPCo officials simply state that “somehow” radioactive gas escaped Reactor 2.
Three farms in the city of Date, Japan, harvested rice that was found to be contaminated with cesium, up to 1,050 becquerels per kilogram.
Earlier in November as many as six farms in Oonami district were found with contaminated rice. Those farms did not sell their rice, but the farms in Date did.
Now officials are trying to track down who bought the cesium contaminated rice.
Date, and Oonami are in Fukushima Prefecture, where the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant continues to emit high levels of radiation. Originally officials were testing rice just from the 154 farms in Oonami, but will now test more than 2,300 farms in the prefecture.