Press Conference on Fukushima Daiichi Disaster
Japanese nuclear scientist and Japanese and U.S. medical doctors to discuss current radiological health conditions and concerns in Japan after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor catastrophe.
Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Location: Rissho Kosei-kai, 320 East 39th Street (between First Ave. & Second Ave.)
A press conference about the on-going, rarely publicized, and still grave situation around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, featuring a nuclear scientist from Japan, and first hand medical reports of clinical and on site observations in Japan related to the Fukushima radiological contamination. Discussion will include the immediate needs to protect Japanese citizens now living in contaminated areas, for better monitoring of radioactive content of food, and for the cessation of incineration and burying of radioactive tsunami rubble throughout Japan.
Featuring: Mr. Hiroaki Koide, Assistant Professor, Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University, Japan; Dr. Junro Fuse, Internist, Japan; Dr. Ken Nakayama, Orthopedic Surgeon, Japan; Dr. Andrew S. Kanter, President, Physicians for Social Responsibility, USA; Kazko Kawai, Voices for Lively Spring, Japan; Mari Inoue, Human Rights Now, USA.
From ENENEWS at:
Canadian Nuclear Scientist: Another, even more dangerous possibility than fire at Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 — Re-initiation of chain reaction can occur if fuel rods move slightly, an “accidental criticality”
Title: Why Nuclear Scientists Have Missed the Danger of Spent Fuel Pools
Source: Akio Matsumura
Author: Gordon Edwards
Date: Jan. 23, 2012
Dear Akio,You asked me why there has been so little warning from the “nuclear establishment” (TEPCO and the regulatory agency) about the potential for catastrophic accidents involving the spent fuel pool in reactor number 4.
[…]
In addition to the possibility of zirconium fires (which have for a long time been almost completely overlooked by nuclear engineers and regulators) there is another, even more dangerous possibility. An alteration in the geometry of the spent fuel in the pool, by which the separation between the spent fuel rods is slightly but significantly reduced, can lead to re-initiation of the chain reaction in the pool.
This “accidental criticality” will not only drive the temperature up rapidly, but will also replenish the supply of short-lived heat-producing fission products, accelerating the damage to the fuel, magnifying the heat loading, increasing the probability of a fuel pool meltdown, andvastly increasing the atmospheric releases of radioactivity.
It has been a standard practice in the nuclear industry to avoid consideration of all of these possibilities, based on the assumption that there will be “lots of time” to react to any emergency involving the spent fuel pool, as it will normally take days for the spent fuel to reach the melting point and it will be a “simple matter” to refill the pools with water if necessary.
This ignores the fact that major structural damage may make it impossible to approach the spent fuel pool due to the lethal levels of gamma radiation emanating from the spent fuel once the protective shielding of the water is gone.
Read the report here
From FUKUSHIMA DIARY at:
http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/04/how-contaminated-a-bird-is-in-fukushima/
How contaminated a bird is in Fukushima
Prof. Mori of Tokyo university took a picture of a bush warbler in Fukushima by autoradiography.
It took one month to capture the radiation from cesium 137.
The bush warbler was found dead in Iidate mura last December.
This photo was taken from the stomach of the bird. Black spots in the wing parts show radioactive particles stuck to the wings. The ones in the body parts show the radioactive particles taken into the body. Biological concentration is assumed to have happened through contaminated worms.
33% of prized bird species disappears after summer near Fukushima — Those making it back “were in a poor condition” says New Zealand gov’t researcher
Title: Muttonbird numbers lower
Source: Radio New Zealand
Date: Apr. 30, 2012
The Japanese nuclear meltdown may have reduced New Zealand’s muttonbird population.
A study near Auckland has found a third […] failed to return this summer after spending the southern winter in their northern hemisphere base near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Department of Conservation researcher Graeme Taylor says the birds that did return were in a poor condition. […]
Read the report here
Also from ENENEWS at:
A “Most Unusual Event”: Birds returning from Fukushima-area with troubling symptoms — Appear to not have been able to find food in North Pacific — “I’ve never seen birds in that poor of a condition come back to New Zealand”
Title: Muttonbirds affected by Fukushima
Source: NZ Herald News
Author: Paul Harper
Date: 10:55 AM Monday Apr 30, 2012
Headline: Muttonbirds affected by Fukushima
Department of Conservation seabird researcher Graeme Taylor told Radio New Zealand
- The birds return to New Zealand in November to mate, but […] the ones that returned were in poor condition
- “We won’t know if they’ve died up there in the north Pacific until another year goes by, because sometimes these birds skip a breeding season- where if they are in a poor condition they don’t attempt to breed, and so they may turn up again and breed”
- “But if the birds never turn up again then you have to start to wonder what’s gone on with the population”
- The drop in numbers was the “most unusual event” in 20 years of studies of the birds’ numbers
- He said many of the birds which arrived back had old feathers on their tails, wings and body
- “I’ve never seen birds in that poor of a condition come back to New Zealand”
- He said the condition of muttonbirds suggested they did not get the food in the north Pacific they usually do
Strong quake jolts northeast Chiba
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 jolted Chiba Prefecture and its vicinity Sunday evening, coming in at lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 near its epicenter in the northeast, the Meteorological Agency said.
No tsunami warning was issued after the 7:28 p.m. quake, which measured 4 in northwest Chiba and in southern Ibaraki Prefecture, and 3 in central Tokyo and surrounding areas, the Meteorological Agency said.
Tsunami-hit towns aim to move 70% of housing areas
Seventy percent of communities devastated by the tsunami in northeastern Japan last year want to move their residential districts inland or to higher ground.
Article continues at:
Thyroid nodules rate in Fukushima is 20 time higher than in Chernobyl
Following up this article..Thyroid pandemic
In March, Fukushima government conducted thyroid test for under 18 in 13 cities and towns such as Minamisoma city, Namiemachi, Iidatemura, Tomiokamachi etc..
The result shows thyroid nodules (≦5.0mm) or cyst (≦20.0mm) were seen in 13,460 from 38,114 people (35.3%).
Compared to their pre-test result of January, it increased from 29.7% to 35.3%. (↑ 5.6%)
[snip]
By the way, Yamashita Shunichi conducted thyroid test for 120,000 people in Chernobyl from 5.1991 to 4.1996, when was 5 years ~ 10 years after Chernobyl.
According to the research of Yamashita, in Homyel, the most contaminated city in Belarus, the thyroid nodules ratio (*) was 1.74%, which is only one in twenties of that 35.3%.
Read the entire article at:
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