The World Must Take Charge at Fukushima

[PLAYSWITHMACHINES]

Time to catch up: Bumping this thread so i can read over breakfast...

Jeez, these guys have no control at all, i've seen it first hand.

The original movie 'the china syndrome' scared the carp out of me, i was just a kid, but i got the message!

These 'young proffesssionals' who think they run the world today, they don't know squat.

None of them have ever seen that movie, none of them know what 'hiroshima' or 'chernobyl' or 'windscale' means!

Jeez, they can make robots that play the piano, comb your hair, move at 20 meters a second with micron accuracy*, yet they can't in any way deal with this mess that a child of 10 could have seen coming............

Bah!

*The Germans now have the lead, with less than 300 nano-meter accuracy at the same speed, as posted by me years ago

[thorfourwinds]

"As man attempts to become God-like,
we release potential forces that can,
and probably will, destroy us."

Why would the west coast of America be in danger of radioactive fallout from Fukushima?

The prevailing jet stream winds are blowing from Japan directly across the Pacific ocean to the west coast of the United States.

Any airborne radioactive Fallout would make its way across with the jet stream, reaching the U.S. in approximately 36 hours, depending on the actual speed of the jet and how quickly the particles mixed in with the jet stream.

Image of the Jet Stream from Japan to the U.S. 14 March 2011.




Image of the Jet Stream from Japan to the U.S. 16 December 2013.

One half (50%) of all fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in America comes from California.   

Here's a glimpse of that juggernaut industry that has spread the fallout throughout the world and into citizens' bodies. 

California's agricultural abundance includes more than 400 commodities.
The state produces nearly half of U.S.-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables. Across the nation, U.S. consumers regularly purchase several crops produced solely in California.

California's top-ten commodities for 2012 are:
      Milk — $6.9 billion
      Grapes — $4.449 billion
      Almonds — $4.347 billion
      Nursery plants — $3.543 billion
      Cattle, Calves — $3.299 billion
      Strawberries — $1.939 billion
      Lettuce — $1.448 billion
      Walnuts — $1.349 billion
      Hay — $1.237 billion
      Tomatoes — $1.170 billion

Now, how do them hot particles taste with your Napa Valley Chardonnay?   

Lest we forget, this gem from summer 2011, posted in America's Being Nuked: Can Together We Stop the Madness?

The San Onofre nuclear power plant in San Diego County, California

The radiation that blew out of the Fukushima nuclear-power plants, particles of which the jet stream swept across the Pacific, barely left a trace on sensitive monitoring equipment in California.

Yet its minute presence also registered loud and clear: this is one planet.

What the above MSM conveniently forgot to add to the story that almost 25% of those 'sensitive monitors' were off-line for various reasons in the two months immediately following the triple melt-throughs before the EPA shut down the monitoring program on 3 May 2011, "because there is no need to monitor..."   

Let's look at a few tidbits from our friends over at USA Radiation News Today™ for possible enlightenment.


7 February 2012
Highest level of radioactive cesium in San Francisco-area milk since August 2011 — Now at 150% of EPA's maximum contaminant limit

2/6/2012 (2:31pm): A new milk sample has been measured, this one with a best-by date of 2/16/2012. The results are posted to the milk sample page. Low levels of both Cs-134 and Cs-137 were still detected in the sample.

Best Buy Date of 02/16/2012:
Cs-134 @ 0.052 Bq/L
Cs-137 @ 0.115 Bq/L

0.167 Bq/L of radioactive cesium = 4.526 picocuries/L (1 Bq = 27.1 picocuries)

The EPA Maximum Contaminant Level for radioactive cesium in milk is 3 picocuries/L:

"EPA lumps these gamma and beta emitters together under one collective MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level), so if you're seeing cesium-137 in your milk or water, the MCL is 3.0 picocuries per liter; if you're seeing iodine-131, the MCL is 3.0; if you're seeing cesium-137 and iodine-131, the MCL is still 3.0." -Forbes.com

These are the highest cesium levels detected by UCB since at least August 2011 (As the MDA was higher over the summer, it's hard to be sure of the exact levels at that time).

BTW, remember way back when we pondered the question of Napa Valley wine being affected?

The grapes that were on the vine in the spring and summer of 2011, ripening in the brilliant California sun and being continually doused with Fukushima Fallout Radiation Rain...   

And the story got buried and never saw the light of day, let alone have any of the grapes or wine tested.

Crazy we are, say you?

Check this out, mate.


7 September 2011
Alpha radiation detected in imported Japanese Sake

10-minute interior average Japanese Sake #1 Liquid in Test Dish bought in Southern California Japanese market = 45.6 CPM which is 22.3% higher than previous background average.

When detecting with the Inspector, the sake in its unopened bottle, there was little ionization above background radiation.

That makes this significant reading all the more troublesome because

it indicates the presence of alpha radiation which is up to a thousand times more dangerous than beta and gamma radiation.

(Image for illustration only. Identity of radioactive sake withheld)

16 January 2012
Over EPA limit: Cesium levels in San Francisco area milk now higher than 6 months ago


California Cows Threaten Strike If Forced to Eat Radiated Grass

Clarabelle Clovenhoofer – Spokebovine for Bovine Union Local #P-239

"The attitude of those happy cows in California
will turn very sour if they are mandated to eat radiated grass."

Mooing News Today is reporting that the persnickety bovines will strike if fallout from the Japanese triple nuclear melt-throughs continues to rain on their beloved California grasslands.


Clarabelle Clovenhoofer, local union spokesbovine, had this to say,

"It'll be a cold day in the pasture before we eat radiated grass."

You must understand that fallout from the ongoing Fukushima disaster is threatening world food supplies.

CNN, Reuters, and Russia Today are all reporting that radioactive material is being carried by minute moisture droplets in the air. It can then be directly inhaled into the lungs, get washed down by rain into the sea and onto the soil, and eventually contaminate crops, marine life and drinking water.

Cow's milk is especially vulnerable, experts say, when cows graze on grass exposed to radiation.

Here in Rabun County, we call that stuff fallout.   


This is one more huge blow to the already fragile world food supply.

If you are relying solely on supermarkets and the government to feed you in a disaster, you are gambling with your family's future.

But, then again, if you store (hoard) more than a week's worth of food, you are classified as a terrorist.   

And if you have a 'victory garden' or something similar for a sustainable food supply for your family, it is subject to government intervention and subsequent destruction.   

And what about that radioactive tsunami debris field from Fukushima slowly creeping across the Pacific to threaten our west coast shores, Hawaii and Alaska?

We're glad you asked.   

International Pacific Research Center | Research


IPRC Model Tracks Different Types of Tsunami Debris

Honolulu, August 3, 2012
The IPRC model that tracks the tsunami debris across the Pacific now reflects the effects of wind on the movement of debris with varying fractions of surface above water. Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner have added five additional windage levels to the original model, which is based on data from scientific drifting buoys with drogues at 15 meters deep. Items with high windage (levels 04 and 05) could have arrived on the West Coast by the end of 2011. Read more.

Boreas Storm Packs Radioactive Punch - EnviroReporter.com


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBALHFoc5A/

Death Valley RADIOACTIVE RAIN 7 X normal 11-21-13
Published on Nov 25, 2013[/center]

The first indication that something was wrong with the rain occurred November 21 when Boreas rains in Stovepipe Wells were measured at over 7 times normal background radiation.

Ten minute averages for background radiation as well as the hot rain samples were performed to accurately assess the amount of the ionizing water was raining down on the hundreds of tourists at the park who were clearly oblivious to the danger.

According to documents previously reported on by EnviroReporter.com, the California Highway Patrol considers any substance over three times background to be radioactive enough to warrant a hazardous materials response. The kind of radiation detected - beta radiation -- includes some of the most prominent isotopes associated with nuclear disasters such as Cesium 137, Cesium 134 and Strontium 90.

The radiation's probable source was the ongoing triple meltdowns at Fukushima Japan that began March 11, 2011.

The hot water raining down on Death Valley was likely carried on the jet stream that brings precipitation across the Pacific from Japan to the West Coast of North America and then eastward.

[thorfourwinds]

Warning from Japan's Top Nuclear Official: I am "much more worried" about fuel in #4

October 30th, 2013 at 7:04 am EST

"It's a totally different operation than removing normal fuel rods from a spent fuel pool," Tanaka said at a regular news conference. "They need to be handled extremely carefully and closely monitored. You should never rush or force them out, or they may break." He said it would be a disaster if fuel rods are pulled forcibly and are damaged or break open when dropped from the pool, located about 30 meters (100 feet) above ground, releasing highly radioactive material. "I'm much more worried about this than contaminated water," Tanaka said.

Channel 4 (UK), Oct. 15, 2013: The worst case scenario is if the fuel assemblies are dropped, which could ultimately lead to a partial meltdown

VoA News, Oct. 15, 2013: That hydrogen explosion [...] left the inside of the pool littered with debris. [...] TEPCO's first task is to remove the debris. [...] The fuel rods must be kept submerged and must not touch each other or break. Nuclear experts warn any mishaps could cause an explosion many times worse than in March 2011.

NHK WORLD, Oct 30, 2013: [...] The firm hopes to begin the removal at the facility's Number 4 reactor on November 8th. Tokyo Electric plans to check whether the rods are damaged by debris that fell into the pool in March 2011, and to ensure that they do not get caught in the debris during the removal process. [...]


"Nothing like this has ever been attempted".

-- Yale Professor: "All of humanity will be threatened for 1000's of years" if rods in Unit 4 pool touch and have nuclear reaction during removal process

-- Tepco: "Not clear" if fuel is already damaged.   

Whew! Let's take a visual and mental break here...smoke if you got'em.   

West Coast of North America to Be Hit Hard by Fukushima Radiation

Radiation Levels Will Concentrate in Pockets In Baja California and Other West Coast Locations
An ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre is bringing Japanese radiation to the West Coast of North America:

While many people assume that the ocean will dilute the Fukushima radiation, a previously-secret 1955 U. S. government report concluded that the ocean may not adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents, and there could be "pockets" and "streams" of highly-concentrated radiation.

The University of Hawaii's International Pacific Research Center created a graphic showing the projected dispersion of debris from Japan:

Last year, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and 3 scientists from the GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences showed that radiation on the West Coast of North America could end up being 10 times higher than in Japan. After 10 years the concentrations become nearly homogeneous over the whole Pacific, with higher values in the east, extending along the North American coast with a maximum (~1 x 10-4) off Baja California.

A new beginning...










tfw
Peace Love Light
Liberty & Equality or Revolution

FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT CLOCK
Elapsed Time since March 11, 2011, 2:46 PM - Fukushima, Japan

The World Must Take Charge at Fukushima

"In a time of universal deceit
telling the truth is considered a revolutionary act."
George Orwell

[WhatTheHey]

I noticed no one was looking much at the (711 days after) thread. I'm Glad to see the thread was moved and Thor started this as I am in the path of the radio activity.
I took this from a post I did in the 711 days thread. Its a desperate thought from a desperate place.

I had this idea to accompany the nuclear blast idea..... If a massive directional containment wall were built around the area, deep and massive enough to cause a nuclear blast to be directed strait up (or as close to it as can be). Perhaps a large percent of the radio active material could be ejected high enough into the atmosphere to at least delay contact for a time and dispersed into a less harmful concentration. With luck there may be an atmospheric interaction along with cosmic radiation that hopefully may neutralize some radiation also. After all we do have the technology to build mountains if we work together.
  Of course this would require a near global effort and would most likely mean the deaths of many workers carrying out this project. 

For the west coast Help!

[thorfourwinds]

** NEWS FLASH -- URGENT ** STEAM SUDDENLY EMANATING FROM FUKUSHIMA REACTOR # 3 - WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA SHOULD BEGIN PREPARATIONS FOR POSSIBLE RADIATION CLOUD WITHIN 3 TO 5 DAYS

December 28, 2013  11:00 PM EST
(TRN http://www.turnerradionetwork.com)

-- Persons residing on the west coast of North America should IMMEDIATELY begin preparing for another possible onslaught of dangerous atmospheric radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site in Japan.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) says radioactive steam has suddenly begun emanating from previously exploded nuclear reactor building #3 at the Fukuishima disaster site in Japan.

TEPCO says they do not know why this is happening and cannot go into the building to see what's happening due to damage and lethal radiation levels in that building.

Experts say this could be the beginning of  a "spent fuel pool criticality (meltdown)" involving up to 89 TONS of nuclear fuel burning up into the atmosphere and heading to North America. Steam photo, full details and suggested methods to protect yourself appear below.

On December 28, 2013, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) admitted steam was seen billowing out of reactor building #3, saying the steam appeared to be coming from what's left of the fifth floor of the mostly-destroyed building.

It is widely known that persons cannot get inside Reactor Building #3 because it is severely damaged and highly radioactive, so TEPCO cannot state for certain what is happening in that building or why. TEPCO admits they do not know why this steam is being generated, but matter-of-factly revealed today (December 28)  the steam was first spotted on December 19 for a short period of time, then again on December 24 and again on December 25.

Nuclear energy experts have told TRN that the ONLY way this could be happening is if radioactive material previously ejected from the reactor explosion in March, 2011 has mixed together with other materials and has begun its own self-sustaining reaction(s), also known as a "criticality."

Put simply, another "meltdown" may be taking place.

There are basically two possibilities if another meltdown is in progress:

1) Pellets of radioactive fuel, ejected when the reactor exploded, have mixed together and "mini" meltdowns are taking place with those small clumps of pellets.  This would not be a horrific problem and may be manageable, OR;

2) Pellets of radioactive fuel, ejected when the reactor exploded, went into the spent fuel pool located above the reactor and have begun melting down so seriously they are boiling off the water in the spent fuel pool.

Since steam is visible, experts tell TRN that Scenario #2 above is is the most likely scenario and if so,  it would be an absolute nightmare -- WORSE than the original Fukushima disaster!

The Spent Fuel Pool was situated on the fourth floor above Reactor #3, and if this is the source of the steam, the situation could escalate rapidly out of control.

As shown in the diagram above, the spent fuel pool is not a contained structure; it is literally a "pool" filled with water, to keep old fuel cool.

(The metal radioactive fuel, once removed from a nuclear reactor, remains hot enough to melt itself for two to three YEARS after being removed from a reactor.)

The experts tell TRN that if steam is coming out of reactor building #3 this could very well be the start of a much worse radiation release because once the spent fuel pool begins its own reactions, all of it will be uncontrolled and uncontrollable.

To provide insight into how much trouble this could be, the chart below proves that, according to TEPCO, reactor #3 was loaded with 566 fuel assemblies.  The spent fuel pool in reactor building #3 contains 514 assemblies; about 89 TONS.  If that "goes critical" there's nothing to contain the radiation which will go directly into the air.

The video below was taken several months ago by TEPCO. It shows that the roof is totally blown off reactor building # 3 and shows a robotic crane being operated by remote control, trying to clear debris from the Reactor # 3 spent fuel pool.

TEPCO is forced use robotic cranes operated by remote control because the area is so contaminated, anyone entering the area would die from radiation within one hour.

AGreenRoad - Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 Spent Fuel Pool Debris Removal Work Pt 1

Published on Nov 22, 2013
http://www.agreenroadproject.org

The area around #3 is so 'hot' and dangerous that people cannot even go there. Instead, robot cranes operated by remote control are picking up the debris around the spent fuel pool in preparation for removing whatever fuel rods are left; after a fire and meltdown event a few days after 3/11.

TEPCO is not even planning on approaching this spent fuel pool to do any removal of anything in the near future, other than the debris. Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the human race.

Plutonium was released from this spent fuel pool in the fire and the explosion at reactor #3, and the only question left is how much, where it went, and what effects it will have globally on all life. Please like this video and subscribe to this channel.

Thanks for watching    for more info, go to: http://tinyurl.com/agrindex

Imagine, now, 89 tons of nuclear fuel boiling away that spent fuel pool water and releasing 89 tons of deadly radioactive fuel directly into the air.

Two to three days later, the West Coast of North America would be "fried" by levels of airborne radiation and "hot particles" which could kill.

[thorfourwinds]

Fukushima World Warning! Spent Fuel Melt Down

Published on Dec 29, 2013
Tepco announces this Steam Cloud will move over the US in the next 2 Days.
http://www.turnerradionetwork.com/news/146-mjt

[deuem]

Can you do a refresh us on the pools. 1, 2, 3 & 4
I know 4 will be/is being unloaded.  3 is the above story, For the few of us with limmited memory, what happened to 1 & 2. If they blew up before why did they not have the same problem as they say 3 will have. What's the difference Thor? Why the different panic? Maybe you answered this in the UT vids that I can't see.

Deuem

[thorfourwinds]

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrp5yLLh3Dc

AGreenRoad - TEPCO/Fukushima Lies Exposed Around Building #4, SFP, Core. Equipment Pool, Melt-Out

Published on Dec 22, 2013
http://www.agreenroadproject.org

This is a theory about the equipment pool of R4 totally melting down.

Watch the overwhelming proof in this material, that suggests TEPCO and the nuclear industry are lying about many of the things that happened with building number 4.

The pictures tell a story that does not line up with what TEPCO and the nuclear industry is saying about Building #4.

Satellite imagery of Fukushima all four reactors from March 14, 2011 @11:04am note R4 is steaming away! TEPCO and NRC claims R4 blew from hydrogen entering from reactor 3 pipe. How could this be possible when R3 is blown up and we can clearly see R4 undergoing extreme heat steam release?

Satellite imagery from March 14, 2011 @11:04am R1 blown up melted down bottom left next up is the R2 building outside structure intact, next R3 MOX plutonium reactor blown up steaming heavily to atmosphere centre pic, top is R4 steaming away putting into question the lie from the nuclear industry that R4 blew up from hydrogen from R3.

March 14 2011
@ 11:01am R3 building explodes, injuring six workers.

@ 13:15pm The reactor core isolation cooling system for reactor 2 stops and, shortly afterwards, the water level within the reactor starts falling.

@ 15:00pm A major part of the fuel in R3 meltsdown and drops to the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel.

@ 18:00pm: The water level in R2 reaches the top of the fuel and by 20:00pm Core damage starts occurring in R2.

There are no images of Fukushima on March 15, 2011 due to a 9 hour fire that breaks out at R4.

Radiation levels at the plant rise significantly and the works evacuate. @11:00am A second explosion of reactor 3 happens.

Satellite imagery from March 16, 2011 @09:35am see R4 to the left (south) steaming from the south wall where the sfp (spent fuel pool) is located. R3 is steaming like a jet into the atmosphere centre pic most damaged reactor. Can see R1 on the right blown up and no steam as it would have already burned and released its lethal load to the environment.

Satellite imagery March 16, 2011 @ 10:35am Just like the picture before this one we can see R1 in red box at top (north) with no steam from its already melted fuel. R4 is at the bottom (south) in red box no steam seen from the north wall.

March 16, 2011 Zoom on North wall of R4 molten mass note the molten mass that flowed out of the wall is gold colour it later turns black as pictures will show. Also note the black smoke rising from R4!

Satellite imagery March 17, 2011 @ 12:00am steam from all reactors dissipates compared to the first week of releases.

March 17, 2011 from helicopter TEPCO says/confirms there is water in R4SFP.

March 18, 2011 fly over. Yellow smoke seen rising up from R4SFP indicating fuel damage in the SFP!

March 18, 2011 fly over Zoom of molten mass that flowed out of R4 north wall the same side as the Equipment Pool (EP). The R4SFP in located on the south wall.

March 20, 2011 drone fly over facing west, see R4 north wall buckled and blob melted out.

March 20, 2011 drone fly over looking straight down see the buckle in the north wall. SFP is still steaming away-good thing that means there is water.

March 20,2011 heat signature from thermographic images show there was more to reactor 4 then the spent fuel pool. The SFP would be on the left and the core in the muddle and the equipment pool on the right all show heat signatures.

(more info in link provided above)

There is no question I think, TEPCO and the nuclear industry are lying about Reactor 4. Is the SFP all burned up? I don't think it all is... but it's definitely damaged and definitely lost some fuel. Pictures show steam so that means water and current 2013 images show intact fuel so it could not have gone completely dry as there would not be such intact fuel assemblies as we see now.

Did the equipment pool go dry? Well, it sure looks like it, from heat signature, melted fuel and more.

Did the core burn? Well, it looks like it did burn, from the heat signatures and burn marks.

Did the R4SFP burn? Well, it looks like it partially burned, but not fully.

AND KEEP IN MIND: Reading the NRC's FOIA documents revealed the following:
Fear and Loathing on Fukushima Unit 4


debunking 'alternative' media propaganda on Fukushima unit 4 fuel offload

[thorfourwinds]

Streamed live on Dec 27, 2013
The Mox fuel in melted reactor 3 is two million time more deadly than any other kind of reactor on earth . All the fuel is melted and gone into a uncontrollable chain reaction, its like two million reactors into the ocean every second of every day, if that is not enough for you two other reactors have melted down.

Reports: Highly significant quantity of fission products are flushed into environment by water used on Fukushima molten fuel, including plutonium and curium — Radioactivity to recirculate for many generations in ocean food chain.

[The Matrix Traveller]

How much more suffering will it take for those on Earth to take notice of LIFE?


It is up to all of us to change, or we can expect much, much worse, and if we don't learn
we might loose our world !

If that happens we have no one to blame but ourselves, as we are all together in this world ! (Program)

[thorfourwinds]

The 10 Most Radioactive
Places on Earth

While the 2011 earthquake and worries surrounding Fukushima have 'somewhat' brought the threat of radioactivity and fallout with every rain and snow event back into the public consciousness, many people still don't realize that radioactive contamination is a worldwide danger.

Radionuclides are in the top six toxic threats as listed in the 2010 report by The Blacksmith Institute, an NGO dedicated to tackling pollution. You might be surprised by the locations of some of the world's most radioactive places — and thus the number of people living in fear of the effects radiation could have on them and their children.

Perhaps after you see the "Hot Ten", one might consider the other resources at the www.ClimateViewer.com site.

Here is a screen shot from www.ClimateViewer.com which, because you're reading this, is well worth your time to explore.

It shows locations of everything from radioactive waste sites, chemical weapons munitions dumps, nuclear reactors, uranium mines; then there are all the other things you can locate like coal burning power plants, fracking gas wells, Superfund clean-up sites and an amazing amount of additional information.

Check it out.

Ten Most Radioactive Places on Earth Mapped Out [GRAPHIC] - Climate Viewer News

Adapted, embellished and added to by thorfourwinds to an article posted on November 24, 2013 by Jim Lee

Do you know the dirty side of the nuclear industry?

After researching this article by brainz.org, we were shocked to find out how truly awful our radioactive waste problem is and how it is going to be hurting us all, for a long time to come.  Please take the time to read the links below, share this with your friends, and discuss solutions to these problems.

You might be surprised by the locations of some of the world's most radioactive places — and thus the number of people living in fear of the effects radiation could have on them and their children.


10. Hanford, USA

WASHINGTON — The amount of plutonium buried at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State is nearly three times what the federal government previously reported, a new analysis indicates, suggesting that a cleanup to protect future generations will be far more challenging than planners had assumed.

Question: What if that 'misstatement' by the federal government applies to all nuclear waste (accounted for   ) in the United States?

The numbers that have been bandied about for many years by the NRC, DOE, DOD and various mouthpieces for various agencies with various presidents are between 70,000 and 200,000+ metric tons.

That was what Yucca Mountain was/is about. Stay tuned on that fish rotting in the glaring Nevada sun.

Even Zorgon can smell that stench 'way over in Las Vegas at his lovely fortress.

The Hanford Site, in Washington, was an integral part of the US atomic bomb project, manufacturing plutonium for the first nuclear bomb and "Fat Man," used at Nagasaki. As the Cold War waged on, it ramped up production, supplying plutonium for most of America's 60,000 nuclear weapons.

Although decommissioned, it still holds two thirds of the volume of the country's high-level radioactive waste — about 53 million gallons of liquid waste, 25 million cubic feet of solid waste and 200 square miles of contaminated groundwater underneath the area, making it the most contaminated site in the US.

The environmental devastation of this area makes it clear that the threat of radioactivity is not simply something that will arrive in a missile attack, but could be lurking in the heart of your own country. More information available at the Hanford Site, Department of Energy website.

A tank farm at Hanford, Washington, built in the 1940s, uses only single-wall tanks to store radioactive sludge from plutonium processing. Many of the tanks have leaked, tainting groundwater. (Photograph by Peter Essick)

Richland: DOE says just 1, not 6, Hanford single-shell tanks leaking | Hanford news | Tri-CityHerald.com

Hanford Nuclear on ClimateViewer 3D

      America's Atomic Time Bomb: Hanford Nuclear Waste Still Poses Serious Risks, SPIEGEL ONLINE
      Half Life—The Lethal Legacy of America's Nuclear Waste, National Geographic
      Radioactive Waste Contamination of Soil and Groundwater at the Hanford Site, University of Idaho
      A New Analysis Triples U.S. Plutonium Waste Figures, NYTimes.com
      
Hanford related disaster alerts:
      Nuclear Event in USA on Saturday, 28 July, 2007 at 17:38 (05:38 PM) UTC
      HAZMAT in USA on Wednesday, 10 August, 2011 at 03:13 (03:13 AM) UTC.
      HAZMAT in USA on Tuesday, 14 February, 2012 at 04:14 (04:14 AM) UTC.
      HAZMAT in USA on Wednesday, 22 August, 2012 at 03:18 (03:18 AM) UTC.
      Environment Pollution in USA on Tuesday, 11 September, 2012 at 03:17 (03:17 AM) UTC.
      Environment Pollution in USA on Tuesday, 23 October, 2012 at 16:09 (04:09 PM) UTC.
      HAZMAT in USA on Tuesday, 08 January, 2013 at 08:18 (08:18 AM) UTC.
      HAZMAT in USA on Saturday, 22 June, 2013 at 04:33 (04:33 AM) UTC.
      Nuclear Event in USA on Friday, 23 August, 2013 at 15:22 (03:22 PM) UTC.


9. The Mediterranean

For years, there have been allegations that the 'Ndrangheta syndicate of the Italian mafia has been using the seas as a convenient location in which to dump hazardous waste — including radioactive waste — charging for the service and pocketing the profits.

Being hidden by the Italian government, coasts of 22 countries in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia are now affected by sure ecological and public health disaster.

The Tyrrhenian Sea has been 'intentionally poisoned with toxic waste' and 'government officials have known about it all along.'

The secret just has to be buried deep, as some authorities have vowed it to be, that 'a journalist has been killed, possibly for trying to reveal the truth about the disposal of waste by the international Ecomafia and their colluding government and corporate interests.'

(photo courtesy: grandefratellino)

The award-winning journalist described was multi-lingual Rai television reporter Ilaria Alpi. Leonardi says she was following the trail of arms and toxic garbage trafficking from Italy to Somalia in 1994 when she and her camera man, Miran Hrovatin, were gunned down and killed in Mogadishu.

In the 2002 movie Ilaria Alpi - Il più crudele dei giorni, directed by Ferdinando Vincentini Ornagni, she is portrayed by Giovanna Mezzogiorno.

'Dozens of ships with the radioactive and toxic cargoes have been intentionally sunk by organized crime syndicates.' This has brought about 'epidemic levels of cancerous tumors and thyroid problems' victimizing the many coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. A report says that there are between 32 and 41 such ships sunk in international waters between Italy, Greece, and Spain.

An Italian NGO, Legambiente, suspects that about 40 ships loaded with toxic and radioactive waste have disappeared in Mediterranean waters since 1994.

If true, these allegations paint a worrying picture of an unknown amount of nuclear waste in the Mediterranean whose true danger will only become clear when the hundreds of barrels degrade or somehow otherwise break open. The beauty of the Mediterranean Sea may well be concealing another environmental catastrophe in the making.

Sinkings and incidents in the Mediterranean Sea, involving ships which are suspected of having carried toxic and radioactive waste on ClimateViewer 3D

      Interactive map of toxic shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, in.fondo.al.mar
      Ecofamia Radioactive Waste Dumping in Mediterranean: International Catastrophe Coming to Light, Ecosalon
           Toxic waste dumping by the 'Ndrangheta, Wikipedia


8. The Somalian Coast

The Italian mafia organization just mentioned has not just stayed in its own region when it comes to this sinister business. There are also allegations that Somalian waters and soil, unprotected by government, have been used for the sinking or burial of nuclear waste and toxic metals — including 600 barrels of toxic and nuclear waste, as well as radioactive hospital waste.

Indeed, the United Nations' Environment Program believes that the rusting barrels of waste washed up on the Somalian coastline during the 2004 Tsunami were dumped as far back as the 1990s. The country is already an anarchic wasteland, and the effects of this waste on the impoverished population could be as bad if not worse than what they have already experienced.

"...As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore."

People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: 'Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it.'

Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to 'dispose' of cheaply.

When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said
with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by over-exploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving."


Floating in a Sea of Hazardous Nuclear Waste

The Somalia press has also reported details about this ongoing environmental disaster that is being inflicted upon the impoverished nation. Mohammed O. Ali, the Director of Somalia's Ministry of Aviation and Transport, explains that the once clean blue Somalia seas are now horribly contaminated with a growing toxic-waste nightmare, as more and more western chemical and shipping firms continue to poison their waters. Ali explained that:

"...the toxic dumping, which includes highly radioactive nuclear waste, was destroying the fragile coastal ecology and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Somalis. Some residents in Mogadishu's coastal areas already reported hundreds of dead fish washing ashore every day."

During the height of the Somali civil war, Swiss and Italian firms Achair Partners and Progresso, signed a secret agreement with the transitional government of warlord Ali Mahdi Mohamed. Taking advantage of the chaos and the fact that Ali Mahdi was desperate for arms and cash to oust rival General Farah Aideed– the European firms began to unload thousands of tonnes of toxic waste arriving in steel drums off the coast of Somalia. Some even made it to the mainland and were buried in 40 inches by 30 inches holes.

The main perpetrators are said to be Italian firms controlled by the mafia, whose job is to dispose Europe's extremely hazardous waste. Locals also suspect German and Danish shipping companies are in the trade, with some contracted to transport thousands of tonnes of poisonous stockpile including 60,000 hexachlorobenzene (HCB) barrels from Australia.

They say, sometimes instead of taking the hazardous waste to Europe where it can be incinerated, they dump it in the Somali coast to save money and time and also they face strong opposition from Europe's environmental action groups.

In 2010, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish port staff refused to unload a ship carrying 3,000 tonnes of HCB waste from Sydney, Australia. Furthermore they said one gram of HCB was enough to contaminate one billion gallons (over 3 billion litres) of water."

Somalian illegal nuclear and toxic waste dumping and piracy on ClimateViewer 3D

      Somalia: The Most Dangerous Environment on Earth [Disturbing Images], Environmental Graffiti
      More Illegally Dumped Radioactive Waste Found on Somalia's Coast, EcoLocalizer
      Root causes of Piracy, mtholyoke.edu
      Somalia used as toxic dumping ground, The Ecologist
      Somali pirates versus European toxic-waste dumpers, BoingBoing


7. Mayak Chemical Combine, Russia (Chelyabinsk-40)

The industrial complex of Mayak, in Russia's north-east, has had a nuclear plant for decades, and in 1957 was the site of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents. Up to 100 tons of radioactive waste were released by an explosion, contaminating a massive area. The explosion was kept under wraps until the 1980s.

Starting in the 1950s, waste from the plant was dumped in the surrounding area and into Lake Karachay. This has led to contamination of the water supply that thousands rely on daily.

Experts believe that Karachay may be the most radioactive place in the world, and over 400,000 people have been exposed to radiation from the plant as a result of the various serious incidents that have occurred — including fires and deadly dust storms.

The natural beauty of Lake Karachay belies its deadly pollutants, with the radiation levels where radioactive waste flows into its waters enough to give a man a fatal dose within an hour.

A report compiled in 1991 found that the incidence of leukemia in the region had increased by 41% since Chelyabinsk-40 opened for business, and that during the 1980s cancers had increased by 21% and circulatory disorders rose by 31%. It is probable, however, that the true numbers are much higher since doctors were required to limit the number diagnoses issued for cancer and other radiation-related illnesses.

In the village of Muslyumovo, a local physician's personal records from 1993 indicated an average male lifespan of 45 years compared to 69 in the rest of the country. Birth defects, sterility, and chronic disease also increased dramatically.

In all, over a million Russian citizens were directly affected by the misadventures of the Mayak Chemical Combine from 1948 to 1990, including around 28,000 people classified as "seriously irradiated."

Russia has long been fond of producing the most massive specimens of military might: the monstrous Tsar Cannon, the 200-ton Tsar Bell, the cumbersome Tsar Tank, and the 50-megaton Tsar Bomba. In that "biggest-ever" tradition, the Mayak Chemical Combine is now credited by the Worldwatch Institute as the creator of the "most polluted spot" in history, a mess whose true magnitude is yet to be known.

The chemical explosion at Chelyabinsk was caused by a fault in the reactor's cooling system. In an incredible display of poor engineering and cavalier attitudes towards nuclear safety, the design of the nuclear waste storage tanks did not allow repairs of the cooling system if it began to fail.

Source

Mayak Chemical Combine Russia on ClimateViewer 3D

      Kyshtym-57: A Siberian Nuclear Disaster, GeoCurrents
      In Soviet Russia, Lake Contaminates You! DamnInteresting.com

Chelyabinsk-40...anyone remember the Russian meteorite?

      Mayak Production Association, Wikipedia
      The Mayak Chemical Combine, Bellona


6. Sellafield, UK

Behind the razor wire, security guards and public relations campaigns, Sellafield is home to some of the most radioactive buildings in Europe.

Sellafield: The dangers of Britain's nuclear dustbin
Located on the west coast of England, Sellafield was originally a plutonium production facility for nuclear bombs, but then moved into commercial territory.

Since the start of its operation, hundreds of accidents have occurred at the plant, and around two thirds of the buildings themselves are now classified as nuclear waste.

The plant releases some 8 million liters of contaminated waste into the sea on a daily basis, making the Irish Sea the most radioactive sea in the world.

England is known for its green fields and rolling landscapes, but nestled in the heart of this industrialized nation is a toxic, accident-prone facility, spewing dangerous waste into the oceans of the world.

The UK has the largest stockpile
of Plutonium anywhere in the world
and it's all stored at Sellafield.

Plutonium is used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons and is extremely radioactive with a half-life of 25,000 years.
 
According to Francis Livons, research director of the Dalton Nuclear Institute in Manchester, this 113 tonne Plutonium mountain is the historical consequence of the British nuclear weapons programme in the 1950's and 60's and of over 60 years of reprocessing nuclear fuel.

Since the late 1980's the plant has been plagued by technical failures and, according to Livons, and a lack of political will to invest in new technology that works. He also said a vast amount of other nuclear waste stored at Sellafield "is not in a good state at-all."

It is the task of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to clean all this up. The plans are to pay the French company Areva, who have proved their technology works, to build a new mixed oxide fuel (MOX) plant.

The other option is to let the US-Japanese GE-Hitachi build a new fast PRISM reactor on the site to burn the plutonium and produce electricity. This is a more elegant engineering option but the reactor is totally unproven and is decades away from completion.

The GE-Hitachi plans have been met with dismay by many locals, despite the prospects of large scale job creation in the area. Martin Fullwood, campaign coordinator at CORE has branded the proposals "absolute nonsense".

Livons admits that the fast reactor plans are extremely ambitious, given that this type of reactor has never been built anywhere in the world before.

If new nuclear does go ahead in the UK then the technology will be French, Japanese or American. Britain's post war dreams of being a world leader in nuclear energy lie in radioactive ruins in Sellafield.

Douglas Parr, the head scientist at Greenpeace, told RT, "Sellafield is a monument to the huge failings of the British nuclear industry."

Sellafield, UK on ClimateViewer 3D

      Report damns Sellafield firm over clean-up, The Independent
      Dealing with Sellafield's radioactive legacy, BBC
      Sellafield (including Calder Hall and Windscale), Nuclear Decommissiong Authority
      The 'Hot' nature created by Sellafield, Lakestay
      Sellafield swallows contaminated by radioactivity, guardian.co.uk
      Sellafield: The dangers of Britain's nuclear dustbin, RT


5. Siberian Chemical Combine

Mayak is not the only contaminated site in Russia; Siberia is home to a chemical facility that contains over four decades' worth of nuclear waste.

Liquid waste is stored in uncovered pools and poorly maintained containers hold over 125,000 tons of solid waste, while underground storage has the potential to leak to groundwater.

Wind and rain have spread the contamination to wildlife and the surrounding area. And various minor accidents have led to plutonium going missing and explosions spreading radiation.

While the snowy landscape may look pristine and immaculate, the facts make clear the true level of pollution to be found here.

A two-headed calf suffering radiation poisoning that was born in the village of Naumkovo near the Siberian Chemical Combine in May 2006. – European Court of Human Rights finds in favour of villagers suing the Siberian Chemical Combine.

Siberian Chemical Combine on ClimateViewer 3D

      Siberia Nuclear Waste, Trade Environment Database Case, The Mandala Projects
      European Court of Human Rights finds in favour of villagers suing the Siberian Chemical Combine, Bellona
      Siberian Chemical Combine (SKhK), The Nuclear Threat Initiative
      The Radiological Accident in the Reprocessing Plant at Tomsk, IAEA
      Russia plays down effect of nuclear accident: 'Cloud of uranium and plutonium' over Siberia, The Independent
      Tomsk-7 / Seversk Combine 816 / Siberian Chemical Combine, Global Security
      Eyeballing Seversk, Cryptome
      Partners and foreign economic activity, shk.tomsk.ru
"Siberian Chemical Plant – a world-class enterprise. But we are open for cooperation?:
Cogema (France), United States Enrichment Corporation (USA), Urenco (UK), Siemens (Germany), Palmco Corp. (USA), Sinatom (Belgium), UMP (Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan), Iskra Industry Co., Ltd. (Japan)"


4. The Polygon, Kazakhstan

For Kazakhs, nuclear fallout a painful reality – Washington Post

Once the location for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons testing, this area is now part of modern-day Kazakhstan. The site was earmarked for the Soviet atomic bomb project due to its "uninhabited" status — despite the fact that 700,000 people lived in the area.

The facility was where the USSR detonated its first nuclear bomb and is the record-holder for the place with the largest concentration of nuclear explosions in the world: 456 tests over 40 years from 1949 to 1989.

While the testing carried out at the facility — and its impact in terms of radiation exposure — were kept under wraps by the Soviets until the facility closed in 1991, scientists estimate that 200,000 people have had their health directly affected by the radiation.

The desire to destroy foreign nations has led to the specter of nuclear contamination hanging over the heads of those who were once citizens of the USSR.

Semipalatinsk Test Site on ClimateViewer 3D - Click Pollution > Nuclear Test Explosions

      Semipalatinsk Test Site, Wikipedia
      In Kazakhstan, the race for uranium goes nuclear, Washington Post
      Kazakhstan's radioactive legacy, Boston.com
      The lasting toll of Semipalatinsk's nuclear testing, The Bulletin


3. Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan

Considered one of the top ten most polluted sites on Earth by the 2006 Blacksmith Institute report, the radiation at Mailuu-Suu comes not from nuclear bombs or power plants, but from mining for the materials needed in the processes they entail.

The area was home to a uranium mining and processing facility and is now left with 36 dumps of uranium waste — over 1.96 million cubic meters. The region is also prone to seismic activity, and any disruption of the containment could expose the material or cause some of the waste to fall into rivers, contaminating water used by hundreds of thousands of people. These people may not ever suffer the perils of nuclear attack, but nonetheless they have good reason to live in fear of radioactive fallout every time the earth shakes.

Maylisuu, Kyrgyzstan radioactive leeching on ClimateViewer 3D

      Current Environmental Issues Associated with the Mining Wastes in Kyrgyzstan, Central European University
      Environment and Security: Transforming risks into cooperation, GRID-Arendal
      Uranium mining site, Hibakusha Worldwide
      Worst Polluted: Maylisuu, WorstPolluted.org
      Mailuu-Suu Legacy Uranium Dumps, Blacksmith Institute


2. Chernobyl, Ukraine

Home to one of the world's worst and most infamous nuclear accidents, Chernobyl is still heavily contaminated, despite the fact that a small number of people are now allowed into the area for a limited amount of time.

The notorious accident caused over 6 million people to be exposed to radiation, and estimates as to the number of deaths that will eventually occur due to the Chernobyl accident range from 4,000 to as high as 93,000.

(This figure is highly questionable, even for wiki - tfw)

The accident released 100 times more radiation than the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombs. Belarus absorbed 70 percent of the radiation, and its citizens have been dealing with increased cancer incidence ever since. Even today, the word Chernobyl conjures up horrifying images of human suffering.

source – Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima

WTF?
America's Being Nuked: Can Together We Stop the Madness?

The Exclusion Zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 km2 in Ukraine immediately surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant where radioactive contamination from fallout is highest and public access and inhabitation are restricted.

                Chernobyl radioactive fallout exclusion zone on ClimateViewer 3D

   
      Chernobyl disaster, Wikipedia
      State Agency of Ukraine of the exclusion zone, Ukraine Government
      Chernobyl Tour, Chernobyl Tour.com
      Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima, Japan Focus


1. Fukushima, Japan

The 2011 earthquake and tsunami was a tragedy that destroyed homes and lives, but the effects of the Fukushima nuclear power plant may be the most long-lasting danger.

The worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the incident caused meltdown of three of the six reactors, leaking radiation into the surrounding area and the sea, such that radiative material has been detected as far as 200 miles from the plant. As the incident and its ramifications are still unfolding, the true scale of the environmental impact is still unknown. The world may still be feeling the effects of this disaster for generations to come.

                Cesium-137 ground deposition (fallout) on ClimateViewer 3D

      The Implications of The Massive Contamination of Japan With Radioactive Cesium, ClimateViewer News
      Ten Years of Fukushima Radiation Crossing the Pacific Ocean, ClimateViewer News

* Research based on this brainz.org article, with images, links, and maps by Jim Lee of ClimateViewer News and additional links, commentary, typography, graphics and images by thorfourwinds of Pegasus Research Consortium.

See all of these locations and more:
      In 3D: Google Earth
      In 2D: Google Maps

Please be sure to check out our ClimateViewer features:
      Nuclear Reactors of the World
      Nuclear Storage Tracker, Waste, Warheads, Processing, and Leaks
      Nuclear Test Explosion Database
      and more Pollution News

[spacemaverick]

When I look at the information put forth I am sickened by how we have polluted the planet.  I used to call environmentalists - tree huggers and all those other names.  I fell in with the mainstream of people and their thought patterns.  Then Chernobyl happened and I became a little bit more aware but not to the point of dipping into research myself and the research of others to find out what was transpiring.  Then Fukushima happened and it just so happened that I had gotten hurt at work and I had time to sit down at the computer and found out what a huge problem we now had.  (Life and living happened)  I had become so engrossed in everyday living and providing for my family that I forgot to look around me and noticing what was going on in the world.

Fukushima was not in the mainstream news for long.  I had been paying attention to the wars going on and failed to notice we had the same issues as Japan did in our own back yard.  The failure of the nuclear industry not monitoring the condition of the plants infrastructure, rules and regulations and enforcement of said rules and regs along with the priority of making profits instead of regulation has caused us to be in this position.  The real lack of concern for the industry to properly place these plants in places that would not place people in danger became an issue also, hence Fukushima being at a lower level where it would be effected by a tsunami...the Calhoun plant being flooded...etc.

Boy, did I get a wake-up call!  This caused me to start disseminating information the best I knew how.  I started a thread on a forum that dealt with the problem until that forum went belly up.  Lucky for me someone had saved that thread in PDF form and gave it to me.  I went to another forum and continued with that same subject matter and then that one shut down.  I did not recover the information from there unfortunately.  I had been a member of Pegasus for awhile and ran across THOR.  His information is much more detailed and now I reap the benefit of this more detailed information he ha put forth.

I believe now that we all have a responsibility to tell the rest of the world of the dangers we have been facing and should shout it from the rooftops.  We are all busy with life and living and not all of us can give the same amount of time to the task but everyone can give some time and effort to putting out the information.  We are not responsible for the other people believing but I believe we are responsible to put out the information.  We are not dealing with a theory or conspiracy but a cold hard reality which can and will eventually kill us if we do not get a handle on the situation.  I have even used social media to get out the word along with word of mouth from myself personally where I live and meet with friends.  Most people don't want to hear it but even if you get through to one person you have accomplished much.

I lost my job again because of the economy but I do have a retirement from law enforcement coming in so I have some time to devote to Fukushima again and I'm using it.  Once I am back to work that time will be reduced but I must continue on.  THORFOURWINDS has put forth a huge effort to educate everyone with good accurate information and this should be spread far and wide.  You all are very serious about your projects and I hope you can also take on this subject with equal time because it affects us all in a serious way.  Thanks THOR for your valiant effort.

[thorfourwinds]

Greetings Brother spacemaverick:

Considering how high you (and others) have set the bar, I consider your comments the highest of praise, and further dedicate ourselves to the struggle.   

Thanks THOR for your valiant effort.

Valiant Thor   

The 'Roundtable' on Pegasus (DENY NUCLEAR ROUNDTABLE on Facebook) is my private back room and it will become apparent soon as to what's up.   

TONIGHT, our friend Hatrick Penry (Tony Muga) is live here:

Hatrick Penry Unbound: Sundays 8-9pm Eastern
Listen to Lifeboat Hour online

I'll be there and will participate if possible.

If there is no chat room attached to the show, I'll do a live one on Chatzy, where the New Year's LIVE event was anchored.   

ATM, I have no mic, so no sound from my end on Skype, although I do have chat and the ability to hear y'all there.   

Check this out:

[thorfourwinds]

ISIS Report 05/06/12

The release of radioactivity from Fukushima is at least as great as from Chernobyl,
and a humanitarian disaster on the scale of Chernobyl needs to be averted
by acknowledging the truth and taking responsibility for mitigating measures.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

Special report to be included in Science in Society #55 (available August 2012). Pre-order now or Subscribe. All proceeds from SiS 55 will be donated to children of Fukushima and Chernobyl

Regulators seriously economical with the truth
"Few people will develop cancer as a consequence of being exposed to the radioactive material that spewed from Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant...and those who do will never know for sure what caused their disease."

These conclusions, published in the journal Nature [1] are based on two "comprehensive, independent assessments" from UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation) and WHO (World Health Organisation), both notorious for downplaying and denying the devastating health impacts of the Chernobyl accident [2] (see Chernobyl Deaths Top a Million Based on Real Evidence, SiS 55).

They are now using the same tactics to rule out, a priori, potential health impacts from Fukushima radioactive releases.

According to the draft UNSCEAR report seen by Nature [1], 167 workers at the plant received radiation doses that "slightly raise their risk of developing cancer."

Actually, six former reactor workers have died since the catastrophe, but UNSCEAR ruled they were unrelated to the accident [3].

"There may be some increase in cancer risk that may not be detectable statistically," Kiuohiko Mabuchi, head of Chernobyl studies at the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, told Nature. He said that in Chernobyl, where clean-up workers were exposed to much higher dose, 0.1 % of the 110,000 workers surveyed have so far developed leukaemia, although not all of those cases resulted from the accident. In fact, the death rate of the "clean-up workers" at Chernobyl remained high even four years after the accident, and 20 years later, 115,000 (out of 830,000) are dead [2].

WHO, for its part, estimates that most residents of Fukushima and neighbouring Japanese prefectures received absorbed doses below 10 mSv [1]. Residents of Namie town and Iitate village, not evacuated until months after the accident, received 10-50 mSv, though infants in Namie may have been exposed to enough I-131 to have received 100-200 mSv.

The government aims to keep public exposure from the accident below 20 mSv, but in the longer term, it wants to decontaminate the region so residents will receive no more than 1 mSv per year from the accident. Thus, people have been exposed within a matter of weeks, 10 to 200 times the legal limit dose for a whole year.

Yet, WHO's conclusion for Fukushima is the same as for Chernobyl [1]: "A greater health risk may come from the psychological stress created."   

One day later...

A day later, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced that the amount of radioactive material released during the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost two and a half times the initial estimate by Japanese safety regulators [4]. The operator said the meltdowns at the three reactors released about 900,000 Terabecquerels (10¹² Bq) of radioactive substances into the air during March 2011.

The later estimate was based on measurements suggesting the amount of radioactive iodine I-131 released was much larger than previous estimates. TEPCO said it had initially been unable to accurately judge the amount of radioactive materials released because radiation sensors closest to the plant were disabled in the disaster.

Several days later, ex-Prime Minister Naoto Ken apologized for his role in the Fukushima nuclear crisis [5].

His government's push for nuclear energy was largely to blame. Ken had stepped down in September 2011 when the government faced fierce criticism over its handling of the crisis and for providing too little information to the public. It was Ken, however, who ordered TEPCO to keep the men on site; otherwise Fukushima would have spiralled out of control, according to a private panel probing the accident.

But the threat remains. Experts are now worried about the state of the spent fuel pool in unit 4, which is unlikely to withstand another earthquake [6]. The severely damaged unit 4 building houses a spent nuclear fuel pool that contains 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released at Chernobyl.

Nearly all of the 10,893 spent fuel assemblies at the Fukushima Daiichi plant sit in pools vulnerable to future earthquakes, with altogether 85 times the long-lived radioactivity released at Chernobyl. A letter was sent by 72 Japanese NGOs to the United Nations with an urgent request for immediate action to stabilize Unit 4's spent nuclear fuel. The letter was endorsed by nuclear experts from both Japan and abroad.

Andrew DeWit, professor of political economy at Rikkyo University told Al Jazeera that transparency on the issues of nuclear energy was paramount. And that is precisely what's lacking, in Japan, and in the world at large.

"We heard it first from the internet"
Miwa Chiwaki from Kodomo Fukushima (Fukushima network to protect children from radiation) said [7] it was in a BBC programme via the internet that people first saw pictures of the explosions at the power station. The Japanese government had information from SPEEDI (System for Prediction of Environment Emergency Dose Information) and they passed the information first to the US government on 14 March and to the Japanese people only on 23 March.

The day after the tsunami struck the Fukushima nuclear plant, thousands of residents at the nearby town of Namie gathered to evacuate. In the absence of guidance from Tokyo, the town officials led the residents north, in the belief that the winter winds would blow south and carry away the radioactive plume.

They stayed in the Tsushima district for three nights where the children played outside and some parents used the water from a mountain stream to cook rice [8]. But the ill winds from Fukushima had been blowing directly towards them in Tsushima, as it would transpire two months later.

SPEEDI had predicted that. But bureaucrats in Tokyo had not seen it their responsibility to make that information public. Japan's political leaders did not know about the system, and later downplayed the data, fearful of having to enlarge the evacuation zone and acknowledge the severity of the accident.

Tamotsu Baba, the mayor of Namie, now living with thousands in temporary housing in another town, condemned the withholding of information as being akin to "murder".

The true level of contamination is also hidden from people, Chiwaki said [7]. Many mothers queued up with their children in the rain for several hours to receive water rations (while radioactivity was being washed down over them with the rain), in Iitate, villagers were left in very high levels of contamination for a whole month.

"Advisers on radiation control from Fukushima prefecture flocked to the villages," Chiwaki said, "and, with broad smiles on their faces, told the people that "there is nothing to worry about, you can let your children play outside."" Three days later, the village was classified "planned evacuation zone".

The circumstances of the accident and the real levels of contamination were only revealed piecemeal. A "safety campaign" was initiated on 20 March.

Professor Shunichi Yamapoopa of Nagasaki University was sent around the country, smiling and say things like: "100 mSv? No problem!"

"Radiation is only a threat to people who worry about it."

"Smile and you won't be affected by the radiation."

Radioactivity, dose and general exposure limits
A great deal of confusion and anxiety is created by the different units used in announcements to the popular media. The unit of radioactivity is a Becquerel, Bq, equal to 1 radioactive disintegration per second, coming directly from a source, a radionuclide in contaminated food or drink, soil or air. Larger units are the kBq (1,000), MBq (10⁶), (GBq (10⁹), TBq (10¹²), PBq (10¹⁵), and EBq (10¹⁸).

The unit of absorbed dose (amount of energy absorbed by a unit of material) is the Gray, Gy, equal to 1 Joule/kg. The equivalent or effective dose is the Sievert, Sv (also in units of Joule/kg) is the absorbed dose modified to represent the presumed biological effect. Note that 1 Joule is a very small amount of energy.

But unlike ordinary chemical energy, where typically kJ quantities are needed before anything can happen, the energy in ionizing radiation exists in extremely concentrated quanta or packets; hence 1 J of energy would already contain many of these energetic missiles (typically a billion) that target atoms and molecules. This is the major difference between ionizing radiation and ordinary chemical energy.

The Becquerel and the Sievert are not directly convertible, because it depends on the radionuclide involved, which particles or photons it produces per disintegration, and how much energy each of the photons or particles carries.

There is a website that tells you how the calculation is done and actually does it for you [9] (http://www.radprocalculator.com/Gamma.aspx). Some useful approximate correspondences are:
1 mSv of I-131 = 2.06525 x 10⁶ Bq
1 mSv of Cs-137 = 1.30878 x 10⁶ Bq

Radiation exposure considers how long a period over which the dose is absorbed, usually in mSv/year.

The exposure limit in Europe is 1 mSv/year for the public, and the occupational exposure, 20 mSv/year [10]. For USA, the occupational exposure limit is 50 mSv, reduced to 10 % for pregnant women. Dose limit for the public is 1 mSv/year, in addition to a background of o.3 mSv and 0.05 mSv from sources such as medical X-ray [11].

To put these exposure limits in perspective, it is generally recognized that a dose of 1,000 mSi will kill an adult.

A whole body dose of 400 mSi will kill about 50 % of people within 60 days of the exposure, mostly from infection, as their immune systems are destroyed [12].

At very low doses, such as what most of us receive every day from background radiation, the cells are able to repair the damage, though the recent discovery of bystander effects indicate that doses as low as tens of mSi are harmful [3].

At higher doses (up to 100 mSi), the cells may not be able to repair the damage, and may either be changed permanently, or die. Most cells that die are replaced with few consequences. Cells changed permanently may give rise to diseases, they may go on to produce abnormal cells when they divide, and may become cancerous.

A comment submitted to the ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection) by the Sierra Club in 2006 stated [13]: "Numerous academic researchers, independent scholars, and governmental bodies, such as the U.S. National Academies of Science and National Research Council, have now concluded that the linear no-threshold hypothesis is valid and that there is no "safe" level of radiation exposure."

Exposure limits and exposure levels in Japan post-Fukushima
The pre-Fukushima legal exposure limit for the public in Japan was 10 mSi/y and 50 mSi/y for occupational exposure [14]. The occupational legal limits were soon scrapped after the accident. At the end of April 2011, the Japanese government released a map based on air surveys done by MEXT (Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), which revealed that people living in areas not being evacuated will receive radiation doses up to 23.5 times their annual legal limit over the course of the next year [15].

It is important to note that all the exposure limits and projected exposure mentioned so far are for external sources. As the French expert body, Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) pointed out, they take no account of [15, p. 4] "exposure from other pathways such as immersion within the plume and inhalation of particles in the plume during the accident nor the doses already received or to be received from ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs."

"The total effective doses to be received (external + internal) could be much higher according to the type of deposit (dry or wet), diet and source of food."
   
In addition, as Director of the Medical Institute of Environment at Gifu in Japan Matsui Eisuke pointed out [16], the government and its professional advisors in measuring exposure have relied mainly on g-rays that are easy to detect. But, in terms of internal radiation exposure, b and a- particles have a far more serious effect. "The government and TEPCO hardly measure such isotopes as b-emitting Strontium-90 or a-emitting plutonium-239."

Exposure due to ingested or inhaled radionuclide is a major problem in radioactive fallout, particularly when prompt evacuation, radioactive monitoring, and remediation have all failed to be carried out, as was the case for both Chernobyl and Fukushima.

IRSN's assessment of projected doses based on the Japanese map released (see Figure 1), estimated that some 70,000 people including 9,500 children are living in the most contaminated areas outside the initial 20 km evacuation zone projected to receive further doses up to 200 mSv or more. This clearly calls for further evacuation beyond the initial 20 km zone. Under Japanese Food Sanitation Law, 5,000 Bq/kg of radioactive Cs is considered the safe limit in soil [17].

Consequently, large areas of Japan may no longer be suitable for agriculture.

Figure 1.  Map of Caesium 137 + 134 deposits (Figure 7) superimposed on the map
of projected doses for the 1st year (Figure 4) for 3 dose levels only (5, 10 and 20 mSv)

The Japanese government at first raised the legal exposure limit to 20 mSi a year for the public, including children, thereby leaving them in areas from which they would have been barred under the old standard [7]. The limit for children was later scaled back to 1 mSi/y but only applies while they are inside school buildings.

In March 2012, the Japanese government announced a new standard limit for radionuclides in foods to 1 mSv/y, reducing from a previous provisional limit of 5 mSv/y. This translates into a maximum of 100 Bq/kg for regular food items such as meat, vegetables and fish (revised down from 500 Bq just after the Fukushima meltdown), 50 Bq/l for milk and infant food and 10 Bq for drinking water (revised down from 200) [18].

As shown above, this still means an accumulation of internal exposure up to 1 million Bq a year, depending on how fast the radionuclides are cleared from the body. We already know that much lower levels have proven deadly for the children of Belarus (see [19] Apple Pectin for Radioprotection, SiS 55).

According to the German Society for Radiation Protection, a person is normally exposed to about 0.3 mSv per year through ingestion of food and drink; and this should be considered the permissible level of ingested radioactivity. In order not to go beyond this level, the amount of radioactive caesium-137 should not exceed 8 Bq/kg in milk and baby formula and 16 Bq/kg in all other foodstuff.

Radioactive iodine with its short half-life should not be permitted in food at all .[20]

How much radioactivity was released by the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant?
Although a picture of the radioactivity deposited on land is emerging, the actual levels of radioactivity to which people have been exposed are impossible to tell because there is a lot of uncertainty as to how much radioactivity has been released in the series of explosions in the Fukushima nuclear plant thus far.

TEPCO's latest press release [21] gave the amounts of radionuclides released between 12 and 31 March 2011 as follows.

Releases into the air:
Noble gas: Approx. 5x10¹⁷ Bq
Iodine 131: Approx. 5x10¹⁷ Bq
Cesium 134: Approx. 1x10¹⁶ Bq
Cesium 137: Approx. 1x10¹⁶ Bq

Releases into the ocean:
Iodine-131: Approx. 1.1x10¹⁶ Bq
Cesium-134: Approx. 3.5x10¹⁵ Bq
Cesium-137: Approx. 3.6x10¹⁵ Bq

These add up to a total of 1 038.1 x 10¹⁵Bq
or 1,038.1 PBq released.

[color=red]TEPCO admits that the radioactivity measuring equipment were "unavailable due to the accident," so "further data still need to be collected to review the validity of the evaluation result."[/color]

These reported radioactive releases from Fukushima are less than one-tenth those from the Chernobyl accident, a total of some 14 EBq (14 x 1,018 Bq), over half of it in noble gases [22].

How reliable are the latest TEPCO results?

Using data from radioactivity measuring posts set up under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) gave estimates of between 360-390 PBq Iodine-131 and about 50 PBq of Caesium-137 for the period of 12-14 March [23]. According to their calculations, the Iodine-131 emissions from Fukushima in those three days amounted to 20 % of the total Iodine-131 emissions from Chernobyl (1,760 PBq), while the emissions of Caesium-137 in those three days amounted to about 60 % of the total Caesium-137 emissions from Chernobyl (85 PBq).

A study led by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) found about 16,700 PBq of xenon-133

250% of the amount released at Chernobyl

emitted by the Fukushima power plant between 12 and 19 March 2011,

the largest release of radioactive Xenon in history [24].

In addition, 35.8 PBq of caesium-137 (42% of the amount released at Chernobyl) was emitted in the same period (7 days...today, 10 January 2014, is 1036 days!)   )

The study found that radioactive emissions were first measured right after the earthquake and before the tsunami struck the plant, indicating that the quake itself had already caused substantial damage to the reactors.

The NILU report also suggests that the fire in the spent fuel pond of reactor 4 may have been the major contributor to airborne emissions, as emissions decreased significantly after the fire had been brought under control.

The same team of researchers updated their estimates in a paper published online giving estimates of 15,300 PBq of Xenon-133 and 36.6 PBq Cs-137 released into the atmosphere [25],

not counting Iodine-131 or Cs-134
- which was as much as Cs-137 -
nor releases into the ocean.

But already, this is nearly 15 times the latest TEPCO estimate for total releases.

I shall report separately in detail on this latest independent estimate, which gives a global picture of contamination from the fallout (see [26] Fukushima Fallout Rivals Chernobyl, SiS 55).

Contamination of soil [27]
MEXT conducted soil surveys in 100 locations within 80 km of the Fukushima power plant in June and July of 2011. They found contamination with various radionuclides; the main ones were strontium-90, iodine-131, and caesium-137. Strontium-90, with a half-life of 28 years, is similar to calcium, and is therefore incorporated into bone where it can remain for decades, emitting b-particles and irradiating the bone-marrow, causing leukaemia and other cancers.

Strontium-90 was found at concentrations of 1.8-32 Bq/kg at sites outside the 30 kM evacuation zone in Nishigou, Motomiya, Ootama and Ono.

Iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days. When ingested, it is incorporated like ordinary iodine in the thyroid gland, where it emits b- and g-radiation, causing thyroid cancer especially in children. I-131 was found in milk, drinking water, vegetables and water around Northern Japan.

According to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), iodine-131 deposition in Tokyo reached 36,000 Bq/m2  between 22 and 23 March 2011. Soil samples in the municipalities of Nishigou, Izumizaki, Ootama, Shirakawa, Nihonmatsu, Date, Iwaki, Iitate, Ono, Minamisoma and Tamura showed concentrations of I-131 between 2,000 and 1,170,000 Bq/kg. In the municipality of Ono, 40 km southwest of the Fukushima plant, MEXT scientists found up to 7,440 Bq/kg of I-131 in rainwater samples.

In August 2011, MEXT scientists still found I-131 concentrations of more than 200 Bq/kg in most of the municipalities, with maximum in Namie and Iitate of 1,300 and 1,100 Bq/kg respectively. Given its short half-life, this high level detected 145 days after the initial fallout on 15 March suggests extremely high initial contamination of the soil > 288 MBq/kg, or additional contamination of the area after the initial fallout.

To convert from Bq/kg to Bq/m², the convention is to multiply by 20 or 65, depending on the depth to which the soil is sampled. A conservative multiplier of 20 would give a value of > 5760 MBq/kg, going way off the top of the scale shown in the map of Fig. 1, which only gives radioactivity due to Cs-137 and Cs-134.

Cs-137 has a half-life of 30 years. It is similar to Potassium, so its distribution is fairly even throughout the body if ingested. It is mainly a b-emitter, but its decay product Barium-137 also produces g-radiation. It can cause solid tumors in virtually all organs. Cs-137 has a biological half-life of 70 days and is excreted through urine like Potassium. It therefore accumulates in the bladder and irradiates the adjacent uterus and foetus in pregnant women.

IRSN states that around 874 km² of the area outside the 20 km evacuation zone must be considered highly contaminated with Cs-137, to an estimated concentration >6MBq/m2, similar to the evacuation zone around the Chernobyl power plant [15] (see Figure 1). In fact, Cs-137 in the Fukushima prefecture even reached up to 30 MBq/m² north-west of the plant, and up to 10 MBq/m² in neighbouring prefectures.

Soil sample with Cs-137 between 20,000 and 220,000 Bq/kg were found by MEXT scientists in the municipalities of Iitate, Kawamata, Name, Katsurao and Nihonmatsu in April 2011. Even higher values up to 420,000 Bq/kg were recorded later in August 2011. According to IAEA, Cs-137 deposition in Tokyo reached 340 Bq/m² 22-23 March 2011.

Radioactive caesium was also found in large quantities in beef, rice, milk, fish, drinking water and other foodstuff.
       

Contamination of the marine environment
Massive amounts of radioactive waste water used in cooling the reactors and spent fuel ponds were discharged into the sea, seeped into the soil or ground water or evaporated into the atmosphere [27]. Between 4 and 10 April 2011, TEPCO deliberately released 10,393 tonnes of radioactive water.

It constituted the single largest
radioactive discharge into the oceans in history.

A 1-2 week pulse of radioactivity peaked in the water around the Fukushima plant on 6 April 2011, with ocean concentrations of 68 MBq/m³, and an estimated total release of up to 22 PBq [28, 29]; TEPCO admits 18.1 PBq [21]. After considerable dilution 2-3 months following the peak, surface concentrations were still higher than previously existing by as much as 10,000-fold in coastal waters and as much as 1,000-fold over a 150,000 km² area of the Pacific up to 600 k east of Japan.

Radioactive Cesium was detected in all species of
marine organisms ranging from phytoplankton to fish.

The waters northeast of the Fukushima plant are among the major fishing zones in the world, responsible for half of Japan's seafood. But catch from the Ibaraki prefecture showed such high levels of radioactive isotopes that it had to be discarded as radioactive waste [27].

Radioactive contamination in the ocean does not get diluted away, like other pollutants it gets accumulated in the marine food chain, up to fish consumed by humans. Radioactive caesium in sea bass caught in the North Pacific continually rose from March till September, with a maximum found on 15 September of 670Bq/kg.

Radioactivity not only disperses passively in the ocean by currents and mixing, but is also spread by fish and mammals. The Pacific Bluefin tuna was found to transport Fukushima-derived radionuclides from Japan to California. Fifteen Pacific Bluefin tuna sampled in August 2011 had elevated levels of Cs- 134 (4.0 + 1.4 Bq/kg) and Cs-137 (6.3 + 1.5 Bq/kg).

Contamination of food and drinking water
Extensive contamination of food and drinking water was documented in the months after the disaster [27].

Outside the evacuation zone in Fukushima prefecture, MEXT survey one week after the earthquake found contaminated vegetables in the municipalities of Iitate, Kawamata, Tamua, Ono, Minamisoma, Iwaki, Tshukidate, Nihonmatsu, Sirakawa, Sukagawa, Ootama, Izumizaki and Saigou. I-131 concentrations were as high as 2.54 MBq/kg and Cs-137 up to 2.65 MBq/kg. One month after meltdown, radioactivity was still above 100,000 Bq/kg for I-131, and 900,000 Bq/kg for Cs-137 in some regions.

In Ibaraki prefecture ~100 km south of the Fukushima plant, spinach was found with I-131 up to 54,100 Bq/kg and Cs-137 up to 1,931 Bq/kg. Other highly contaminated vegetables included mustard, parsley, and poopake mushrooms, and lesser amounts of radiation were detected in lettuce, onions, tomatoes, strawberries, wheat and barley.

Milk, beef, rice and drinking water were also contaminated. The IAEA warned that levels of I-131 exceeded permissible limits between 17 and 23 March. Even in the northern district of Tokyo, tap water contained 210 Bq/l of I-131.

Seafood and fish caught close to the nuclear plant reached 500 – 1,000 Bq/kg. In April 2011, the Japanese Fishing Ministry found radioactive iodine and caesium in sand lance from Fukushima prefecture each with an activity up to 12,000 Bq/kg. The independent French radioactivity laboratory ACRO found readings of more than 10,000 Bq/kg in algae harvested outside the 20 km evacuation zone. One sample showed levels of 127,000 Bq/kg of I-131, 800 Bq/kg of Cs-134 and 840 Bq/kg of Cs-137.

In the prefecture of Shizuoka ~400 km from Fukushima, local tea leaves were found contaminated with 670 Bq/kg Cs-137, and radioactive Japanese green tea was discovered in France in June 2011.

Emerging health impacts[27]
Employees of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, rescue- and clean-up workers are the most acutely exposed group.

According to the Japanese Atomic Information Forum, radiation levels inside the plant peaked at around 1,000 mSi/h, a dose fatal to humans exposed for more than an hour. While airborne emissions decreased gradually, massive amounts of radiation still remained on site through wash-out in water continually pumped into the plant to cool the reactors.

By 1 August 2011, radiation of 10 Sv/h was still detected around the premises. A total of 8,300 workers have been deployed in rescue and clean-up since March. In July, TEPCO announced that 111 workers had been exposed to radiation of more than 100 mSv, some as high as 678 mSv. That did not take into account effects of internal radiation through ingested or inhaled radioisotopes.

An under-cover report broadcast on 4 October 2011 on German TV ZDF revealed radiation levels as high as 10 Sv/h, and new hotspots were still being discovered [30]. The exposure badges given to the workers routinely registered an error message as the radioactivity went way off-scale. The workers, paid €80-100 a day, were forbidden by contract to talk to reporters and given little information on the radiation levels in the plant. They only discovered that on TV. Some 18,000 workers had gone through the plant by then.

Following the nuclear meltdowns, the Japanese government ordered the evacuation of 200,000 people in an area of about 600 km2. As mentioned above, 70,000 people including 9,500 children were still living in highly contaminated areas outside this evacuation zone 2 months after the accident [15]. IAEA measured radiation levels 16-115 mSv/h (i.e., up to 140-1,007 mSv/y) outside the 20 km evacuation zone. MEXT scientists confirmed these levels in their soil surveys of April 2011.


Dose rates recorded in several cities outside the evacuation zone were 2 mSv/h in Nihonmatsu, Tamura, Souma, Minamisoma and Date; more than 5 mSv/h in Namie, and more than 100 mSv/h in Iitate.

Four months later in August 2011, MEXT scientists still detected radiation doses up to 34 mSv/h in Namie, up to 16 mSv/h in Iitate, and up to 17.5 mSv/h in Katsurao.


IRSN projected the external exposure of the 70,000 living in the highly contaminated areas outside the 20 km evacuation zone to reach 200 mSv/y or more in the first year [15]. The external collective dose over 4 years of this population was calculated to be 4,400 person-Sv, amounting to 60 % of the collective dose received by the population in the highly contaminated regions around Chernobyl.

MEXT's calculations confirm those exposure levels. The estimated doses over the course of a year are up to 235.4 mSv in the town of Namie, 61.7 mSv in Iitate, 24.2 mSv in Kawamata, 21.2 mSv in Date, 18 mSv in Katsurao, 15.6 mSv in Minamisoma and more than 10 mSv in Fukushima city and Koriyama – both more than 55 km away from the plant.

The natural (pre-existing) background radiation level in Japan is 1.48 mSv/y.

These high external sources of exposure have been and will continue to be internalized in food and drink.

The devastating impacts of chronic exposure have been documented especially in the multiple diseases and deaths of hundreds of thousands of children as the result of the Chernobyl catastrophe, exacerbated by official denial, suppression, and disinformation [2].

I-131 is one of the most acute causes of cancer in children after a nuclear meltdown. Uptake of radioactive iodine can be prevented by a timely supply of iodine tablets. While such iodine tablets were supplied to the municipalities and evacuation centres during the first few days of the disaster, the order to distribute them was never issued, and hence, with very few exceptions, no iodine tablets were taken by people exposed to radioactive iodine [27]. The may lead to a large number of cases of thyroid cancer, as in the case of Chernobyl [2]. And the signs are ominous.

At the end of March 2011, a group of researchers around Hiroshima professor Satoshi Tashiro tested 1,149 children aged 0 to 15 from Iwaki city Kawamata town and Iitate village.
Some 44.5 % showed radioactive contamination of up to 35 mSv in their thyroid gland.

In October 2011, the University of Fukushima began with thyroid-examinations on 360,000 children living in the regions affected by radioactive contamination. Matsui Eisuke reported some of the results so far [16]. Between October 2011 and 31 March 2012, 38 114 children 1-18 y in Fukushima prefecture were examined by ultrasonography of the thyroid gland.

Cysts were found in more than 35 % of the children.

In comparison, in Nagaski where 250 children 7-14 y had been examined since 2000, only 2 (0.8 %) had cysts in their thyroid gland.

Chiwaki reports that today, centres for measuring levels of radioactivity in food are opening one after another all over Japan, and not just in Fukushima [7]. Parents have banded together to set up organic cafes to stock non-contaminated organic vegetables, and also to demand that school canteens use only uncontaminated ingredients.

"It is mainly thanks to independent networks that people have been able to go somewhere else temporarily to take care of their health."

Evacuation from highly contaminated areas still refused
The government still refuses to evacuate people from the highly contaminated regions [7]. The city of Fukushima organized a planning meeting in the Ônami district that had been recommended for evacuation, and the opening words were:"Evacuation reduces economic activity, so we would opt for decontamination," in other words, "We won't let you leave." The city has designated zones measuring >2 mSv/h for decontamination, and wanted volunteers; but when asked about their decontamination plans, said they have none. In February 2012, an estimated 62,000 people left Fukushima prefecture to seek refuge elsewhere.

In June 2011, pupils from 14 primary and secondary schools from the town of Kôriyama formally demanded that the local authority respect their right to be evacuated and to continue their education in a less contaminated area. But six months later, the demand has been refused.

"We have launched an appeal," Chiwaki said. Refugees from the evacuation zones leave however they can, sometimes the whole family and sometimes the mother leaves with the children, and the husband stays behind to work and look after the house. Sharp divisions of opinion end in divorce and break up families.

"We have learnt lessons from the experience of Chernobyl and will never give up in our efforts to protect the lives of our children and everyone else. We ask the whole world to give us their support."

For more information and especially if you can offer help, please contact http://fukushima-evacuation-e.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/take-action-to-help-children-in.html

tfw
Peace Love Light
Liberty & Equality or Revolution

FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT CLOCK
Elapsed Time since March 11, 2011, 2:46 PM - Fukushima, Japan

The World Must Take Charge at Fukushima

"In a time of universal deceit
telling the truth is considered a revolutionary act."
George Orwell

[thorfourwinds]

Greetings Citizens of the World:

There is no question that the most under-reported disaster of our modern era has been the triple melt-throughs at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan that has been leaking hundreds of tons of highly-radioactive water 24/7/365 into the Pacific Ocean since 11 March 2011, over one-thousand fifty days as of 24 January 2014.

The vast majority of planetary citizens are completely unaware of the devastating disaster unfolding right before our eyes because it is being hidden from the people by the very agencies designated to be our first line of defense - our "protectors", the EPA, NOAA, NRC, IAEA, NISC, JAPGOV, USGOV, etc.

As one expert remarked recently, "There is no protocol for what is happening now. They are making it up as they go."

This sobering reality should be cause for great alarm all along the Northern Hemisphere (USA, Canada, Europe, Asia) should even one more major earthquake hit the Fukushima region. Should the plant sustain additional damage, and the #4 Spent Fuel Pool collapse, resulting in another zirconium fire (this time uncontrollable) and the subsequent radioactive fallout could prove catastrophic for Planet Earth.

By obfuscating the true dangers of the radiation blanketing the U.S. West Coast and the rest of North America and withholding life-saving Potassium Iodide pills from the American public in those critical early days of the disaster, the unconscionable miscreants at the EPA, NOAA, NRC, IAEA, NISA, USGOV, and the mainstream media are complicit in a worldwide cover-up and have committed premeditated murder and should be held accountable.

And then, there is this...who got to David?

Peter J. Thompson/National Post/Files
"I can't believe he would say that. When he's in his own field, he's usually reasonable. But this is just crazy," one professor said of David Suzuki's comments about another Fukushima nuclear disaster.

David Suzuki 'regrets' claim that another Fukushima disaster would require mass evacuations in North America | National Post

Three months after making the wildly overblown claim that a second nuclear emergency at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant would require the evacuation of the North American West Coast, environmentalist David Suzuki said he "regrets" the comments.

Wildly overblown?

Not by a long shot if one truly understands what is at stake here.

Nevertheless, the Nature of Things host did not seem to go so far as to renege the claim, which has baffled nuclear scientists.

"I regret having said it, although my sense of potential widespread disaster remains and the need for an urgent international response to dealing with the spent rods at Fukushima remains," wrote Mr. Suzuki in an email to The Province, which was compiling a feature on myths surrounding the 2011 Japanese tsunami.

He also said that it was "an off-the-cuff response."

The comment first arose when Mr. Suzuki was speaking at an October 30 event on public water policy at the University of Alberta. At one point, Mr. Suzuki began discussing the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, in particular the spent fuel rods housed at the plant's explosion-damaged Reactor Number 4.

"I have seen a paper saying that if, in fact, the fourth plant goes in an earthquake ... it's 'bye-bye Japan' and everybody on the West Coast of North America should evacuate," Mr. Suzuki is seen to say in a video of the event captured by Alberta artist Aaron Paquette.

"If that isn't terrifying then I don't know what is," he added.

The tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, in this December, 2013, aerial view photo.

In Canada and the United States alone, there are roughly 50 million people living in relatively close proximity to the Pacific Ocean. By definition, any wholesale evacuation of North American West Coast settlements would rank among the largest mass-movements of humans in history.

And presumably, if there was a need to empty settlements that are more than 8,000 kilometers away from the Fukushima plant, this hypothetical evacuation order would also seem to apply to Eastern Russia, Northern Australia and most of South Asia.

In short, a significant chunk of the world's humanity would need to suddenly begin a retreat from the radioactive plume.

Luckily, Mr. Suzuki's near-apocalyptic claim does not appear to have much scientific bearing. For starters, the "paper" Mr. Suzuki mentions is the 2013 World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

The paper makes no mention of any emptying of the North American coastline, but the 140-page document does mention evacuation in a brief passage citing the "worst case scenario" that would unfold in the event of the collapse of Unit 4.

Drawn up in the midst of the initial Fukishima disaster by the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, the scenario calls for the "evacuation of over 10 million residents in the wider Tokyo megalopolis within a 250-km radius of Fukushima Daiichi."

No mention is made of any evacuation taking place outside Japanese borders.

What a bunch of carp.

"Drawn up in the midst of the initial Fukishima disaster..."

That was before 1,050 days of 24/7/365 nuclear particulates spewing from triple melt-throughs...erroneously referred to as 'meltdowns'. The corium has left what's left of the buildings.   

And dare we mention the 400 tons of highly-radioactive Strontium and Caesium-laced water 'escaping' into the Pacific Ocean every day for 1,050 days?

That's almost as ridiculous as the "cold shutdown has been achieved at all reactors":  BS from TEPCO, JapGov, IAEA, JAEC.   

Fukushima is tragic proof governments will choose denying catastrophic reality over mass panic any day.

Don't forget, investigative journalism is now illegal in Japan as of December 2013.

tfw
Peace Love Light
Liberty & Equality or Revolution

FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT CLOCK
Elapsed Time since March 11, 2011, 2:46 PM - Fukushima, Japan

The World Must Take Charge at Fukushima

"In a time of universal deceit
telling the truth is considered a revolutionary act."
George Orwell