Tokyo Electric officials now admit that contaminated water is leaking into the ground under the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Earlier TEPCo dismissed concerns over radioactive water getting into the ground, after tunnels and trenches under the pant were found to be full of contaminated water.
This continues the trend of corporate officials to dismiss concerns about serious issues, only later to admit the concerns were valid.
Beef from Fukushima Prefecture has tested positive for cesium levels about legal limits. Officials say the contaminated beef was not shipped out.
Also, the number of prefectures with crops being hit by radiation continues to expand. Again, officials say the crops have not been shipped to market.
Swissnuclear, a pro nuclear power lobby group in Olten, Switzerland, was bombed on 31 March. Police suspect it was by anti-nuclear activists.
Two women were injured when the package they were opening exploded.
Swissnuclear works to promote the use of nuclear power.
Little Switzerland has five nuclear power plants. The government canceled plans to restart three old plants, after the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Company admitted that they did not provide radiation monitoring devices to sub-contractors. This is part of the reason three workers ended up in the hospital a little more than a week ago.
Japanese regulations requires all workers in nuclear power plants to have their own radiation monitor.
TEPCo officials said most of their radiation monitoring devices were washed away by the tsunami. Yet their is no evidence that they tried to get new monitors after the tsunami, in fact TEPCo officials say they will NOW get more radiation monitors. This will reduce work at the damaged nuclear plant, until the new radiation monitors arrive.
Just more proof that you can NOT trust corporations. And should we really trust what officials are saying about radiation levels?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is increasing radiation monitoring after milk tested positive for trace amounts of radiation from Japan.
The milk, with iodine-131, was found in California and Washington states.
Dairy cows probably ingested the iodine-131 after eating grass, or feed, that the isotope settled on after being blown here from Japan.
Officials insist the radiation levels are so low that the milk is still safe to drink. However, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is emitting higher levels of radiation now, and the predominate wind direction is towards North America.
‘‘I want more JETs to come and interact with the locals in the future but due to the current situation, I cannot welcome them open-handedly. I hope life gets back to normal as soon as possible.”-Hoshi Kazuyuki, assistant director at the international affairs section at the Miyagi prefectural government.
Organizers of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program worry that foreign teachers will think twice about teaching in Japan, after the 9.0 quake and tsunami, as well as radiation leaks from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
So far, many teachers from the United States, and Canada, have opted to stay and help with recovery efforts, even after one teacher from the U.S., Taylor Anderson, was killed in the disasters.
A body found in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, about 5 km (3.1 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, tested positive for high levels of radiation. As many as 1,000 bodies of victims of the 11 March earthquake and tsunami, might be contaminated with radiation, delaying their recovery.
Police officers, doctors and bereaved families may be exposed to radiation while retrieving the radiation-exposed bodies. Local police stopped retrieving bodies, after radiation was detected on a victim in the town of Okuma last Sunday.
Any attempts to decontaminate bodies would damage the bodies even more.
McDonald’s fast food restaurants around the world rely on regional, or local, suppliers for their food products.
Thanks to the March 11 disasters, and radiation threat, Japanese McDonald’s lost many of their local sources. Now suppliers in the United States, and other parts of the world, are sending food to the Japanese McDonald’s.
There are more than 3,300 McDonald’s in Japan, and as many as 100 had to close down. Don’t think that what you eat in Japanese McDonald’s is the same as in the U.S. Many foreign McDonald’s tailor their menus to what local people want to eat.
So far McDonald’s supplies from U.S., and Asian countries, had to be flown in because the situation was serious. But once on the ground there was more problems getting the food from the airport to the restaurants. They faced the same problems everyone else in Japan is facing: Power outages and fuel shortages.
Subway and Starbucks are dealing with the same problems, they just don’t have the high number of restaurants that McDonald’s does.
Several airlines around the world announced cuts, even total cancellations, of flights to Japan.
American Airlines will suspend two daily flights between the U.S. and Japan, from April 7 through 25. Officials blame a huge drop in passengers wanting to fly to Japan.
Delta Air Lines cut capacity on flights to Japan by 20%.
Russian company, Vladivostok Air, has stopped flights between Niigata and Khabarovsk. It also plans to suspend weekly flights between Niigata and Vladivostok starting Saturday. The reason is that the number of the airline’s passengers have dropped a huge 90%, when compared to February.
Australia’s Qantas Airlines is dealing with loses from Australia’s natural disasters, the New Zealand quake, and now dealing with the Japan disasters. Qantas officials are blaming natural disasters for an estimated $140 million dollars in losses. Add to that the steadily increasing fuel prices and Qantas officials are worried. They say they have no choice but to cut flights.
New York state is reporting trace amounts of Iodine-131.
Also, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality reported, on its March 29 RadNet posting, that trace amounts of Iodine-131 and Xenon-133 has been detected in the Gem State. The Idaho DEQ runs monitoring sites in Spokane, Washington, and Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Both states say the levels are of no threat, and monitoring is continuing.