“Reality in Fukushima”: Actual conditions within crippled reactors remain unknown — Japan likely unable to cope if there’s another similar accident -Asahi
[The IPPNW Board of Directors has issued the following statement about the ongoing public health crisis resulting from the March 2011 nuclear reactor disaster in Fukushima. The statement makes reference to a report from Anand Grover, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, an advance, unedited copy of which has been made available by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.]
Statement by IPPNW Board of Directors on the ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan and the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health to the UN Human Rights Council
“Sr-90 and Cs-137 from my sister’s breast milk, hospital says we worry too much”
A teenage women in the temporary housing of Fukushima said, “Sr-90 and Cs-137 were detected from the breast milk of my sister. They call us fearmonger, even hospital tells us we worry too much. We shouldn’t have trusted the government and media to say “It’s all safe”after 311.”
Radioactive Japan: “Eat and Support” Fukushima Rice, Without Knowing and Without Choice
From rice to be grown and harvested in 2013, the national government is buying up 250,000 tonnes for the government’s rice reserve; of that, 40,000 tonnes, or 16%, may come from Fukushima Prefecture. The Fukushima prefectural government is encouraging farmers to participate in the government bidding if they fear “baseless rumors” driving down the price for their rice in the open market.
Once it is purchased by the national government, Fukushima rice becomes just “rice”.
The reserve rice will be released to the market a few years later as the need arises (shortage of rice, request from food companies) and as part of the regular inventory control. The consumers won’t be able to tell it is rice from Fukushima, or the products (rice crackers, miso, shochu, etc.) is made with rice from Fukushima.
This year, farmers in some of the areas that weren’t planted because of the nuclear accident (i.e. former evacuation zones) are happily growing rice with full intention of selling to consumers as long as it is judged “safe” (i.e. testing below the national government’s safety standard of 100 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium).
Expert: UN’s Fukushima study “absolutely ridiculous” — “Absolutely unacceptable” to claim no observable increase in cancer rates is expected — “Dose estimates don’t reflect the real dose of radiation”
Fairewinds: Thyroid data means much more radiation must have come out of Fukushima reactors than anyone reported — Medical professionals are talking about how many cancers have started showing up
The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol 11, Issue 24, No. 5, June 17, 2013. 281_Anti Nuke: The Japanese street artist taking on Tokyo, TEPCO and the nation’s right-wing extremists
“Chilling Phenomena”: Fungus emitting radiation 70 times higher than nearby asphalt — “A boy sitting on that patch to watch a baseball game could do real damage to his gonads”
It might be a good idea to stay inside for a few days if you’re in the greater Tokyo area… I have not checked these facts and cannot substantiate their veracity, but post this message here FYI. It comes from a citizens’ e-mail network. The gist is that the wind is blowing from FD1 and is winding its way toward Tokyo, so the radiation levels have been slightly higher (see first link below):
Japan Times: The panel’s draft report said the government and Tepco hope to create the frozen-soil walls between April and September 2015. […] A rough estimate suggests that groundwater seepage into the basements would be reduced from 400 tons [every day] to 100 tons once the frozen-soil walls are built.
(I guess frozen soil doesn’t crack with aftershocks or melt in the Japanese summer. Amazing.)
More on this from EX-SKF:
Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Freeze Soil to Block Groundwater
Japan Times: Discharges of Fukushima nuclear material into Pacific “have effectively contaminated the sea” — Melted reactor cores will burn again if water not perpetually poured in — “Tepco proposing some of it be dumped into ocean”
Atomic Energy Society of Japan Survey: 70% of Nuclear Experts Say They Are Comfortable with Nuclear Power, 92% Say We Should Continue to Use Nuclear Power
Radioactive Japan with Nothing Better to Do: Police and Japan Coast Guard Held Joint Anti-Terrorism Exercise to Protect #Fukushima I Nuke Plant from Terrorists
Groundwater Pump and Release from #Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Fukushima Fishermen Want Safety Assurance from Government, and Goverment Is Set to Give That Assurance
The world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky commented on the ruling of Sendai High Court which rejected a demand that a city affected by the fallout of the country’s 2011 nuclear disaster evacuate its children.
Chomsky said:
It is deeply disturbing to learn that the courts have blocked efforts to evacuate children from the Fukushima site, though acknowledging the health risks. Nothing tells us more about the moral level of a society than how it treats the most vulnerable, in this case its most precious possession, its children. I hope and trust that this grim decision will be reversed.
Noam Chomsky
Please support the campaign for evacuation of the children
Can you help us send messages to the court from all over the world?
The Fukushima Collective Evacuation Trial Team is collecting messages to judges from international celebrities and campaigners. The Japanese authorities tend to be vulnerable to criticism from abroad. In order to show the strong international interest and support for the trial, the trial support team would like to film as many video messages as possible to the judges from all over the world. If you sympathise with our struggle, please do get in touch. Do let us know if you have a contact with any international celebrities, politicians or well-known campaigners who are prepared to give us a short message. Volunteers of the trial support team will make an arrangement with them and decide when and where filming can take place. Please contact: fukuchima-picture@song-deborah.com
CNN shows diagram of nuclear material leaking from Fukushima reactor — “Tepco always says it’s alright… it always turns out they’re not telling the truth”
IAEA Team’s Initial Review of Japan’s Plans to Decommission #Fukushima I Nuke Plant: “Define an end-state of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station site”
According to CTBT, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty’s radiation monitoring post in Takasaki Gunma, unusual level of Xe-133 and Xe-131m were measured from 4/8 ~ 4/9/2013.
CTBT in Japan comments Xe-133 has been lower than 0.64 mBq/m3 and Xe-131m has been lower than 0.21 mBq/m3 in the past 15 months. The detected level was unusually high. However, it has been over the normal range occasionally.
On 4/23/2013, CTBTO in Vienna announced the readings of Xe-133 and Xe-131m are due to the nuclear test of N. Korea back in February.
They reported this,
The CTBTO’s radionuclide network has made a significant detection of radioactive noble gases that could be attributed to the nuclear test announced by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 12 February 2013.
The detection was made at the radionuclide station in Takasaki, Japan, located at around 1,000 kilometres, or 620 miles, from the DPRK test site. Lower levels were picked up at another station in Ussuriysk, Russia. Two radioactive isotopes of the noble gas xenon were identified, xenon-131m and xenon-133, which provide reliable information on the nuclear nature of the source.
The ratio of the detected xenon isotopes is consistent with a nuclear fission event occurring more than 50 days before the detection (nuclear fission can occur in both nuclear explosions and nuclear energy production). This coincides very well with announced nuclear test by the DPRK that occurred on 12 February 2013, 55 days before the measurement.
Using Atmospheric Transport Modelling (ATM), which calculates the three-dimensional travel path of airborne radioactivity on the basis of weather data, the DPRK test site was identified as a possible source for the emission. Watch the video here.
CTBTO radionuclide expert Mika Nikkinen said: “We are in the process of eliminating other possible sources that could explain the observations; the radionuclides could have come from a nuclear reactor or other nuclear activity under certain specific conditions, but so far we do not have information on such a release.”
On 12 February, the DPRK event was detected immediately, reliably and precisely by 94 seismic stations and two infrasound stations of the CTBTO’s International Monitoring System. The first data were made available to CTBTO Member States in little more than one hour, and before the DPRK announced that it had conducted a nuclear test.
The event recorded at 02.57.51 (UTC) was found to have a magnitude of 4.9 using the CTBTO International Data Centre’s magnitude scale. The location was in the vicinity of the two previous nuclear tests (Lat.: 41.313 degrees north; long.: 129.101 degrees east).
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In Mie…
[Not radiation effect] Mutated cabbage with 4 small ones outside and 10 inside, produced in western JP
Fukushima Diary is following this radiation researcher of citizen.
(cf, [It happens] 0.60~0.80 μSv/h measured from a man in Ibaraki directly on his body [URL])
(cf, Radiation researcher “Social welfare service corporation for children stopped us from measuring radiation” [URL])
They had the thyroid test in Iwaki city Fukushima. The laboratory is “Iwaki citizens’ radiation measurement station -Tarachine”. It’s supported by the chief editor of Days Japan, Hirokawa and the citizens in Iwaki city.
The laboratory offers whole body counter test, food test and ultrasound scan of thyroid.
The result of the thyroid test shows the researcher has 4mm of a thyroid cyst on the right side and 2mm of a cyst on the left side.
The researcher has been in the highly contaminated areas. Unfortunately, he might have been affected.
Three special interviews on the legacy of Chernobyl and the implications to Fukushima and the future of the people of Japan:
Chernobyl survivor Bonnie Kouneva, who as a 16-year-old lived in Bulgaria, 800 miles away from the nuclear disaster… but not far enough.
Dr. Alexei Yablokov, who compiled over 5,000 research papers in multiple languages for the book, Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, as well as co-founding Greenpeace, Russia.
Dr. Janette Sherman, known for her work with Joseph Mangano as well as editing the English translation of Alexei Yablokov’s book.
PLUS:
Los Angeles City Council votes unanimously to tell NRC to hold So Cal Edison to an Adjudicated Evidentiary Hearing on San Onofre – a BIG WIN!
Florida House committee passes bill to prevent Progress Energy from charging customers for the development of nuclear plants before they even obtain a license to build the sucker!
Shut It Down Affinity Group gets arrested yet again for blocking the driveway of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee NPP:
Ellen Graves (L) and Frances Crowe (R) — two Vermont Yankees blocking Vermont Yankee. Photo by Hattie Nestle.
According to Takasaki city government in Gunma, they are going to hold triathlon in Haruna lake this summer.
The entrants are from 6 years old.
They are to swim in the lake.
Haruna lake is known to be a resort place, the altitude is 1,000m, the surface area is 1.15km2.
The pond smelt fishing is one of their sightseeing activities but they couldn’t even conduct the radiation test due to the lack of samples.
In 2012, they released 80 million eggs of pond smelt but they were all extinct.
(cf, 80 million eggs of pond smelt became extinct in Gunma [URL])
In 2013, they managed to collect only 4 smelt samples, but 340 Bq/Kg of Cs-134/137 was measured. They gave up lifting the fishing restriction of pond smelt this year too.
(cf, Japanese pond smelt gone nearly extinct in Haruna lake Gunma, can’t even find a sample for radiation test [URL 2])
(cf, Only 4 smelt samples collected in Haruna lake, 340Bq/Kg measured but fishing restriction is lifted [URL 3])
This is the first time for them to hold triathlon in Haruna lake. It’s from 7/20 to 7/21/2013. It’s usually banned swimming in this lake.
6 ~ 9 years old children are to swim for 50m, Junior high school and high school students are to swim for 200m.
The fee is 3,000 ~ 21,000 JPY.
The radiation level of the lake water is not announced.
Fukushima I Nuke Plant Pond Leak of April 2013: TEPCO Started Transfering 900 Tonnes of Post-RO Waste Water from Pond No.2 to a Steel Tank, Will Take 6 Days
POINT OF VIEW/ Daniel P. Aldrich: Bottom-up initiatives needed to move forward after 3/11
More than two years after the 3/11 disaster, a tremendous amount of tsunami debris remains uncollected throughout Japan’s Tohoku region. In municipalties like Rikuzentakata, Kamaishi and Ofunato that were slammed by the massive tsunami, only 37 percent of the concrete, debris and household materials that litter the ground has been picked up so far.
As locals ponder whether to exit their often isolated, low-quality
temporary housing to move inland toward cities like Morioka and
Sendai, they look closely at the conditions in the area. Aesthetics
matter to residents who remain undecided about whether to rebuild their wrecked homes or move on to greener pastures.
The inaction is partly due to cities, towns and villages being plagued by bureaucratic gridlock; many local communities have not yet reached agreement on issues such as collective housing relocation, with younger residents seeking to move to higher ground and older ones hoping to remain by the ocean.
MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013 7:00 PM
Auditorium, Henry R. Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Avenue
Yale University
Director, Camera, Editor: MATSUBAYASHI Yojyu
Sound: NAKAGAWA Kyuya
Production: 3JoMa Film Distribution: TOFOO.LLC
JAPAN / 2011 / Japanese / Color / HD / 109 min
The Enei district of Minami Soma town lies within the 20 km exclusion site of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In early April 2011, immediately after the devastating tsunami and nuclear meltdown forced people to evacuate the area, filmmaker Matsubayashi rushed here with relief goods. From a chance meeting with city councilor Tanaka Kyoko, he begins making this film. Living together with the evacuees in school classrooms designated as temporary evacuation sites, he captures an extraordinary time period in the lives of the local people, in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Interspersed with humorous episodes and loving emotions, the film delves into memories of a local culture that has been taken away by the tragedy. The cherry blossoms of April 2011 were as beautiful as ever.
2 videos from the 1950s. For the last two years, many people, children included, have been complaining of these symptoms, yet doctors and government officials are still not taking them seriously.
Biggest news the past few days: the water leaks at FD1
(Facebook comment):
“The whole amount of radioactivity in the leaked water is estimated at about 710 gigabecquerel, TEPCO said.”
There is no longer a storage location of the polluted water.TEPCO has to cool the nuclear fuel until decommissioning. By when??
Tepco: Immediate environmental concern due to radioactive leak at Fukushima plant — ‘Rupture’ allowed contamination to escape — May already be in groundwater
Around 120 tons of contaminated water with 710 billion becquerels of radioactivity probably leaked into the ground under the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, Tepco says.
uhohjapan2 