The World Must Take Charge at Fukushima

[astr0144]

Impressive continued thread  updating us on Fukushima, Thor !

Now it seems that the UN are trying to convince us it will not be a cause for concern about Cancer according to this article !

                                  ------------------------

Fukushima meltdown not seen causing many cancers: UN scientists

Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster is unlikely to lead to a rise in the number of people developing cancer like after Chernobyl in 1986, even though the most exposed children may face an increased risk, U.N. scientists said on Wednesday.

In a major study, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) said it did not expect "significant changes" in future cancer rates that could be attributed to radiation exposure from the reactor meltdowns.

The amounts of radioactive substances such as iodine-131 released after the 2011 accident were much lower than after Chernobyl, and Japanese authorities also took action to protect people living near the stricken plant, including evacuations.

However, some children - estimated at fewer than 1,000 - might have received doses that could affect the risk of developing thyroid cancer later in life, UNSCEAR said, making clear that the probability of that happening was still low.

UNSCEAR chair Carl-Magnus Larsson said there was a theoretical increased risk among the most exposed children as regards to this type of cancer, which is a rare disease among the young.

But "we are not sure that this is going to be something that will be captured in the thyroid cancer statistics in future," he told a news conference.

Wolfgang Weiss, who chaired the Fukushima assessment, said the thyroid cancer risk was much lower than after Chernobyl and any increase would affect a limited number of people.

WORST DISASTER SINCE CHERNOBYL

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 220 km northeast of Tokyo, spewing radiation and forcing about 160,000 people to flee their homes.

It was the world's worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl reactor explosion sent radioactive dust across much of Europe. People close to the then Soviet plant were exposed to radioactive iodine that contaminated milk.

In contrast, UNSCEAR's Fukushima report said it expected a low impact on cancer rates of the population and that this was largely due to "prompt protective actions" by Japanese authorities following the accident.

A 30-km radius around the plant was declared a no-go zone, while areas where radiation was not so critically high took steps such as replacing the earth in parks and school playgrounds, decontaminating public spaces like sidewalks, and limiting children's outdoor play time.

"No discernible changes in future cancer rates and hereditary diseases are expected due to exposure to radiation as a result of the Fukushima nuclear accident," it UNSCEAR said in a statement accompanying its nearly 300-page study.

"DON'T BE SCARED"

The thyroid - a gland in the neck that produces hormones that regulate vital bodily functions - is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there. Children are deemed especially vulnerable.

UNSCEAR said the normal thyroid cancer risk for young children was very low.

"The occurrence of a large number of radiation-induced thyroid cancers as were observed after Chernobyl can be discounted because doses were substantially lower," it said.

In Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, the countries most affected by Chernobyl, more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer had been reported by 2005 in children and adolescents who were exposed at the time of the accident, UNSCEAR says on its website.

UNSCEAR said about 35,000 children aged up to five lived in districts where the average absorbed dose to the thyroid was between 45 and 55 milliGrays (mGy), a radiation measurement.

But doses varied considerably among individuals, from about two to three times higher or lower than the average.

LOW RISK

UNSCEAR "considered that fewer than a thousand children might have received absorbed doses to the thyroid that exceeded 100 mGy and ranged up to about 150 mGy," the report said.

"The risk of thyroid cancer for this group could be expected to be increased," it said.

UNSCEAR's press statement made clear it was still not seen as a big risk, however, with a headline saying: "Low risk of thyroid cancer among children most exposed."

Weiss said his message to the families would be: "The risk is low. Continue life. Don't be scared. But if you have the feeling that you need support, consult a physician who is specialized on this type of question."

UNSCEAR said 80 leading scientists had worked on the report - "Levels and effects of radiation exposure due to the nuclear accident after the 2011 great east-Japan earthquake and tsunami" - and that the material was reviewed by its 27 member states.



http://news.yahoo.com/fukushima-meltdown-unlikely-lead-large-number-cancers-u-083550604.html

[thorfourwinds]

Canadian 10th Grader Discovers Radioactive Imported Seafood Long After Government Stopped Testing | EcoWatch

Alberta student's science project finds high radiation levels in grocery-store seafood | Metro

Radioactive seafood isn't foreign to Canadian grocery stores, but we have no research and development professionals to thank for that information—just a 10th grader from Alberta.

Alberta high-school student Bronwyn Delacruz loves sushi, but became concerned last summer after learning how little food inspection actually takes place on some of its key ingredients.

The Grade 10 student from Grande Prairie said she was shocked to discover that, in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) stopped testing imported foods for radiation in 2012.

So, she decided to carry out her own tests.

Grande Prairie high-school student Bronwyn Delacruz with her award-winning science project, titled,
'Is Radioactive Contamination Reaching Store Bought Edible Seaweed?'

Bronwyn Delacruz of Grande Prairie Composite High School in Alberta made her discovery with the help of a $600 Geiger counter her father purchased and the need to complete a science project. She told Metro Canada that she decided to test the radioactivity of seafood—mostly seaweed—because she was shocked to learn that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) stopped testing imported foods in that manner the year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

"Some of the kelp that I found was higher than what the International Atomic Energy Agency sets as radioactive contamination, which is 1,450 counts over a 10-minute period," she said.

"Some of my samples came up as 1,700 or 1,800."

Delacruz said the samples that "lit up" the most were products from China that she bought in local grocery stores.

Since the Canadian stopped testing seafood for radiation, an Alberta teenager took matters into her own hands. (Photo credit: AP / Ahn Young-joon)


According to the Daily Herald Tribune , Bronwyn tested more than 300 seaweed samples, including 15 brands exported from Japan, China, California, Washington, New Brunswick and British Columbia. Her work earned her gold honors at a regional science fair in Peace River, Alberta. In May, she will compete nationally in Ontario.

"I'm kind of concerned that this is landing in our grocery stores and that if you aren't measuring it, you could just be eating this and bringing home to your family," Bronwyn said.

The CFIA's website says that it found more than 200 seafood samples in 2011 and 2012 that were "found to be below Health Canada's actionable levels for radioactivity." That was enough to lift the country's enhanced import controls.

"No additional testing is planned," the site reads.

The CFIA states online that it "continues to monitor events in Japan" but has no immediate plans to resume regular radiation testing, noting "Japanese controls on the sale of contaminated product remain intact."

The agency did extensive testing on a variety of foods for a year and a half after the nuclear disaster in Japan but found no cause for concern at that time.

"More than 200 food samples were tested and all were found to be below Health Canada's actionable levels for radioactivity," the CFIA states in a February 2014 posting on its website.

"As such, enhanced import controls have been lifted and no additional testing is planned."

26 February 2014

Fukushima radiation hit B.C. earlier than expected - Nova Scotia - CBC News

Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has reached parts of the north and west coasts of Alaska.

Radiation from Japan nuclear plant arrives on Alaska coast - North - CBC News

02 November 2013

Scientists at the University of Alaska are concerned about radiation leaking from Japan's damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, and the lack of a monitoring plan.
...
"The general concern was, "is the food supply safe?"

And I don't think anyone can really answer that definitively.

Published on Mar 5, 2014
With help from fisherman and citizen scientists, researchers in Japan and the U.S. are tracking the nucleotides in the ocean creatures who swim in the plume of water tainted with radiation from Fukushima. Their research is part of a long-term effort to figure out when — if ever — certain fish will be safe to eat. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports.

According to our (Rabun County) friend Miles O'Brien, it's the same scenario in the U.S.

One of his recent PBS reports revealed that scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute were turned down after requesting minimal federal support by five agencies. There are no federal agencies conducting comprehensive, on-the-ground analyses of how much Fukushima radiation has made its way into the air and oceans of the U.S.

In fact, very soon after Fukushima began to blow, President Obama assured the world that radiation coming to the U.S. would be minuscule and harmless. He had no scientific proof that this would be the case. And as O'Brien's eight-minute piece shows all too clearly, the "see no evil, pay no damages" ethos is at work here. The government is doing no monitoring of radiation levels in fish, and information on contamination of the ocean is almost entirely generated by underfunded researchers like Buesseler.

O'Brien's first piece took us on a terrifying "post apocalyptic" tour inside Fukushima. His third and final piece will air Tuesday, March 11, the third anniversary of the beginning of the Fukushima disaster.

But PBS has now penetrated where ordinary journalists may not tread—the interior of the most radioactive place on Earth. PBS reporter Miles O'Brien shows us for the first time some of the visual reality of what has actually happened to a six-reactor facility that has turned into a trillion-dollar catastrophe.

Given the "State Secrets Act" banning Japan's citizens from criticizing the government, O'Brien's footage may be the last we see inside Fukushima for quite some time.

Despite 150,000 signatures delivered to the United Nations asking for a global takeover, Fukushima's builders and mis-managers remain firmly in charge. In fact,

the clean-up has become a major profit center for Tepco,
which showed a multi-billion-dollar windfall in 2013
while putting the entire planet in peril.

TEPCO reports Y616.1 billion first-half profit ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

TOKYO —The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday logged a first-half net profit with its results boosted by a government bailout and electricity rate hike....

Sales climbed to 3.22 trillion yen, up from 2.88 trillion yen, owing to a government-approved electricity rate hike, it said.

TEPCO was effectively nationalised last year with a huge injection of government money to keep it afloat as it faces massive compensation and clean-up costs after the 2011 nuclear disaster.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/the-world-community-must

[zorgon]

So, she decided to carry out her own tests.

Grande Prairie high-school student Bronwyn Delacruz with her award-winning science project, titled,
'Is Radioactive Contamination Reaching Store Bought Edible Seaweed?'

So  we reported that radiation was contaminating the kelp bedss of CA back in 2012
Fukushima radiation found in California kelp

The largest concentration was about 250 times higher than levels found in kelp before the accident.

"Basically, we saw it in all the California kelp blades we sampled," said Steven Manley, a CSU Long Beach biology professor who specializes in kelp.


http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Fukushima-radiation-found-in-California-kelp-3466414.php

[thorfourwinds]

Canopy-Forming Kelps as California's Coastal Dosimeter:
Iodine-131 from Damaged Japanese Reactor Measured in Macrocystis pyrifera -
Environmental Science & Technology

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, damaged by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 released large amounts of Iodine-131 into the atmosphere, which was assimilated into canopy blades of Macrocystis pyrifera sampled from coastal California.

The specific activity calculated to the estimated date of deposition/assimilation ranged from 0.6 to 2.5 Bq gdwt–1, levels greater than those measured from kelps from Japan and Canada prior to the release. These Iodine-131 levels represent a significant input into the kelp forest ecosystem.

Canopy-forming kelps are a natural coastal dosimeter that can measure the exposure of the coastal environment to Iodine-131 and perhaps other radioisotopes released from nuclear accidents.

An organizational mechanism should be in place to ensure that they are sampled immediately and continuously after such releases.

[thorfourwinds]

In this Nov. 18, 2013 file photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), workers try to remove radioactive fuel rods from the Unit 4 building at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Eyeing dozens of aging reactors at home and hundreds of others worldwide that eventually need to be retired, Japanese industry sees a profitable market for decommissioning expertise. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co., File)


Nuclear officials see future business in Fukushima decommissioning

9 March 2014

TOKYO - There is something surprising in the radioactive wreck that is the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: opportunity. To clean it up, Japan will have to develop technology and expertise that any nation with a nuclear reactor will one day need.

Eyeing dozens of aging reactors at home and hundreds of others worldwide that eventually need to be retired, Japanese industry sees a profitable market for decommissioning expertise.

It may sound surprising, given all the ongoing problems with the coastal Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, including massive leaks of contaminated water and other mishaps that followed its devastation by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

But many experts and industry officials say the experience and technology such as robotics being developed can be used in any decommissioning in the future. That could represent new opportunities for Japan Inc., which has lost some of its global clout to competitors from countries such as South Korea, China and the U.S.

"There is decommissioning business here beyond Fukushima and it's a worldwide business," said Lake Barrett, a former U.S. nuclear regulator who headed the Three Mile Island cleanup. "I think it's an exciting new area," he said. "Japan can be a world leader again."

Japan's government hopes an offshoot will a boom in the country's nuclear technology exports].

Only in a world truly gone mad...

Japan endorses reactor exports even as it debates nuclear policy at home - The Washington Post

Japan To Export Nuclear Technology Despite Domestic Safety Concerns


Japan on Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters known as 3.11 that killed 15,884 people and left 2,636 unaccounted for in vast areas of its northern coast.

The country has struggled to rebuild tsunami-hit communities and to clean up radiation from the nuclear crisis, and has earmarked 25 trillion yen ($250 billion) for reconstruction through March 2016. About 50,000 people from Fukushima are still unable to return home due to concerns over radiation.

Despite the Fukushima meltdowns that experts say are far more challenging to deal with than the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is eager to sell Japan's nuclear plants and technology overseas. He boasts that Japan can offer the world's highest safety standards that reflect lessons learned from Fukushima.

Full Size Image

World distribution of NPPs (Data source: World Nuclear Association 2011. Map by UNEP.)

More than 400 nuclear reactors are already in operation in more than 30 countries, with dozens more under construction. More new reactors are expected, including hundreds planned in China alone by 2050.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility that runs Fukushima Dai-ichi, is setting up a separate company in April to clean up the plant.

Tentatively called the Decommissioning Company, it is overseen by the government's economic ministry and could evolve into a decommissioning organization for other plants at home and abroad. Academics, construction giants, electronics makers and risk management firms are rushing to get on the bus.

Japan also created the government-funded International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, or IRID, last year. It brings together nuclear plant operators, construction companies and organizations of nuclear experts to promote research and development of nuclear decommissioning technologies, as well as co-operation between international and domestic organizations.


IRID has received 780 proposals for funding from around the world for ideas and technologies related to the treatment and management of contaminated water, as well as 220 others about retrieving the three melted cores.

Japanese companies including Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi have been developing robots that can monitor radiation, decontaminate, remove contaminated debris or repair damage, and some of them have been mobilized at the plant.

Standard decommissioning has been largely carried out by human workers. IRID Managing Director Kazuhiro Suzuki said the robotics technologies being developed to probe and remove Fukushima's melted fuel could benefit ordinary decommissioning, not just severely damaged reactors.

"Decommissioning of aging reactors is an imminent task that all nuclear plant operators face," he said.

Reactors cut out of nuclear submarines and stored on the Hanford reservation DOE site in Washington State USA. (Photo by Fred Dawson)


Another Environmental Consequence:

...
Currently, there are nearly 150 reactors still operating that are over 30 years old, 13 of which are over 40 years old (IAEA 2011). These figures do not include military and research reactors. In the coming years, many reactors will be scheduled for decommissioning due to their advanced age, adding to the already large number of inactive reactors.
[...]
In 1991 approximately 200 decommissioned nuclear submarines existed in Russia. By 2003, half of these had actually been dismantled. However, many of the reactors from these ships had been dumped in the sea or were still floating in buoys near the shipyards (Webster 2003).

In the UK, a site for decommissioning out-of-service submarines has not yet been selected, and fifteen submarines are currently awaiting dismantling or being prepared for "afloat storage" (Environment Agency UK 2011). Fears have been raised over the creation of nuclear hot spots in oceans and seas (Aumento and others 2006).

Use of robotics and other advanced technologies not only helps to reduce worker radiation exposure but also could make a cleanup faster and cheaper, said Barrett, the Three Mile Island expert who now advises TEPCO and IRID.

Experts in Japan are eying a British model, the National Decommissioning Agency, founded in 2005 to be in charge of decommissioning and cleanup of nuclear plants and radioactive waste management.

TEPCO is decommissioning four reactor units crippled by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and will later scrap the remaining two that survived. Three suffered meltdowns and one was damaged by hydrogen explosions. The decommissioning of the four would take about 40 years.

The total cleanup cost for the severely damaged Fukushima reactors could be as high as 10 times a standard decommissioning that normally costs about 70 billion yen ($700 million) per reactor, Suzuki said.

Having completed decommissioning of 10 regular reactors and the Three Mile Island cleanup, the U.S. government and nuclear industry see a profitable market too.

In February, representatives of 26 American companies came to Tokyo for presentation and business talks with 50 Japanese companies during a two-day decommissioning and remediation forum, co-sponsored by the governments of Japan and the U.S.

"We can work together and do so much more," said Austin Auger, an executive at CB&I, which worked with Toshiba to assemble one of the earliest treatment units for contaminated water at Fukushima.

[thorfourwinds]

TEPCO : Regarding Certain Overseas Reports on Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

10 January 2014

Announcements?Regarding Certain Overseas Reports on Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
Some overseas press outlets are reporting that steam is being generated from Unit 3 at Fukushima Daiichi NPS and its condition is dangerous, releasing radioactive material, and that there were two underground nuclear explosions at the site.

However, such information is incorrect, and we have found no change in the status of the plant.


Steam generation on the operating floor at Unit 3, and the detection of highly concentrated radioactive material at groundwater observation holes etc., have been pointed out as the basis for the overseas reports. We respond to these as follows.

- Steam-like gas generated on the operating floor at Unit 3 in Fukushima Daiichi NPS

Since July 2013, steam-like gas has been intermittently observed on the operating floor at Unit 3. The steam-like gas is estimated to emerge via the following sequence:

1) Accumulated hygroscopic moisture, such as rainwater, exists below the shield plug (a lid made of concrete).

2) The hygroscopic moisture is heated by the heat radiated from the top of the Primary Containment Vessel (PCV).

3) The heated hygroscopic moisture is released onto the operating floor via the gap of the shield plug.

4) The released moisture is cooled down by the cool atmosphere, giving it the appearance of a steam-like gas.

We found no abnormalities in the measured values (indicating the temperature and condition of the Reactor Building), or in the value of the monitoring post (monitoring the amount of radiation), even when the steam-like gas was being generated, therefore we are certain that there has been no influence on the outside.

In addition, we measured the amount of radiation at the point from which steam-like gas was generated, and found that its amount was almost the same as for the other neighboring points.

- Highly-concentrated radioactive material found at the observation holes
We have been monitoring the groundwater sampled at the observation holes established to investigate the contamination status of groundwater, for the purpose of investigating the effects of the leak of contaminated water from the contaminated water storage tanks in August 2013.

At the end of 2013, the measurement value for Tritium, one of the radioactive materials in the water sampled at the observation hole near the tank that suffered leakage, increased from 34,000Bq/L (on December 28) to 450,000Bq/L (on January 1).

This increase in the value could be attributed to 1) the contaminated water that previously leaked from the tank soaking into the nearby ground, or 2) the effects of the water pumping* (*we have been pumping up the contaminated groundwater at the nearby observation holes, however the amount being pumped up was temporarily decreased at the end of 2013).

The value decreased to 17,000Bq/L on January 8. Highly concentrated Tritium (almost equivalent concentration level) was found in this observation hole in the past, and the highest concentrated tritium 790,000Bq/L was also found here on October 17, 2013.


- Earthquake on December 31, 2013?Some overseas press outlets reported that underground nuclear explosions caused several quakes with magnitudes of 5.1 and 3.6.
According to the Japanese Meteorological Agency, 13 earthquakes (with a maximum magnitude of 5.4) occurred and originated in the north part of Ibaraki Prefecture on December 31 2013. None of these earthquakes was caused by Fukushima Daiichi NPS.

We also found no accidents or trouble etc. in Fukushima Daiichi NPS.

And a big round of applause and a hearty 'Thank-you' to TEPCO.   

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/the-world-community-must

[thorfourwinds]

Public attention needs to be directed to the reactors that are IDENTICAL to the ones that exploded and suffered triple melt-throughs at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.

The following Facing South-created map, based on an NIRS release [pdf], locates the 23 GE Mark 1 reactors in the U.S. Click on the red pin marker for details, including the reactor's location, date it began operating and license renewal status. Note the proximity of several of the reactors -- including the two at Progress Energy's Brunswick plant in North Carolina -- to the Atlantic Coast.

Problematic design of Japan's imperiled nuclear reactors common in U.S.

23 US Nuclear Plants use same GE Fukushima reactors

January 26, 2014
With residents of western North America in a near panic over reports of ever-increasing radiation from Fukushima, critics have shifted their complaints to something even more feared. Some are accusing the Obama administration of downplaying the dangers from Japan in order to avoid the fact that 23 reactors in the US are the same allegedly faulty General Electric model that failed in Fukushima.

Locations of the 23 GE Mark I nuclear reactors in the US, the same model that failed in Fukushima. (Image courtesy of EmeraldEcocity)

Until now, it's been somewhat of a secret that General Electric designed the six nuclear reactors that were damaged and melted down in Fukushima in 2011.

In fact, GE actually manufactured three of the six, while Toshiba built two and Hitachi produced one. The design that five of the six reactors were manufactured to were the GE Mark I model, while the sixth was the later GE Mark II version. Both models have been criticized since their inception in the 1960's as having a faulty design.


Obama, General Electric and nuclear catastrophe

Journalist and Editor of The Daily Sheeple, Chris Carrington, published a story recently that revealed quite a bit of information connecting the nuclear meltdowns in Japan to radiation denials by President Obama, and onto GE CEO Jeff Immelt.

GE and Immelt have been longtime donors to and supporters of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. It seems every time GE needs a $139 billion bailout like it did in 2008, a regulatory law change, exemption or other government favor, Democratic elected officials get a generous contribution and then return the favor.

President Obama and fellow Democrats have been so appreciative of Jeff Immelt's financial help, Obama named the General Electric CEO as the country's Jobs Czar after his first election in 2008. At the same time, Immelt and GE were accepting an emergency $139 billion taxpayer-backed bailout to save its GE Capital financial division. Critics like us here at Whiteout Press were incensed at that appointment. Historically speaking, GE and Jeff Immelt are one of, if not thee, worst outsourcer of American jobs in US history.

President Barack Obama and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt visit the birthplace of the General Electric Co.,
in Schenectady, N.Y., to showcase a new GE deal with India and to announce a restructured presidential advisory board Friday.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP/File

Obama launches new push for US jobs, tapping GE's Immelt to help - CSMonitor.com

Almost immediately after President Obama announced Immelt's appointment to government Czar, the powerful CEO announced GE was closing its entire X-Ray technology headquarters and moving the jobs to China, where Immelt commonly brags is the corporation's, "other home." GE's X-Ray headquarters had proudly operated in Waukesha, Wisconsin for 115 years. Read the 2011 Whiteout Press article, 'White House Jobs Czar sends Jobs to China' for more information.

So when The Daily Sheeple featured an article by Chris Carrington suggesting a cover-up of the dangers posed to Americans over their own GE-designed nuclear reactors, many took notice.

The author also laid quite a bit of blame on Japanese, American and GE officials spanning the past 40 years for their own cover-up of the dangers posed by the General Electric reactors – dangers that came to fruition in 2011.

"We all know that the radiation from the stricken Fukushima plant has spread around the globe and is poisoning people worldwide," Carrington writes,

"We all know that the West Coast of the United States is being polluted with radioactive debris and that the oceans, the beaches that border them, and even the air is becoming more polluted by radioactivity as time goes on.

You have to ask yourself why the government won't admit this.

It's not like a disaster half a world away is their fault, is it?"

White House silence

Carrington and The Daily Sheeple suggest that President Obama's silence on the topic is due to his fear that someone might mention the fact that there are currently 23 GE Mark I nuclear power reactors operating in the United States.

"Any admission that radiation has spread across the Pacific Ocean and contaminated American soil is an admission that the technology was flawed, and that same flawed technology is being used in the United States," Carrington says.

"The government does not want anyone looking closer at the situation. They don't want people poking around asking questions about why the radiation got out in the first place - it's too close to home."

The article goes on to ask,

'Nothing has been published regarding the increased rates of miscarriage and childhood thyroid cancers. Why is that?'

The author has a point. Hypothyroid disease is a mandatory test in babies here in the US. Test results since the Fukushima disaster show an increase in newborns testing positive for the radiation-induced disease throughout America's western states. But the scientific community has been eerily silent on the anomaly for three years now while the US President publicly insists it's untrue.

The point the author was trying to make wasn't so much that the GE-designed reactors are faulty or that the governments and scientific communities in America and Japan are covering up the world's exposure to the radiation emanating from Fukushima.


The point is that there are 23 nuclear reactors of the same design operating in the US.
23 reactors with spent fuel rod cooling ponds suspended 100 feet in the air.
23 reactors located in states susceptible to earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, or all three.
23 Fukushima's waiting to happen in the United States.
That's what nobody wants to talk about.

For more information, read the report from The Daily Sheeple.

The President of the United States knows that the radiation from Fukushima is worse than it would have been had the reactors used at the plant been of a different design.

The President of the United States knows that the delicate and hazardous task of removing and storing the spent fuel rodsis going to take years and that one mistake can exacerbate the problems ten-fold.

The President of the United States knows that 23 sites in America are using the same flawed reactors and he is doing nothing about it.

The President of the United States is holding the lives of tens of millions of Americans in his hands and he refuses to even admit there is a problem.

The President of the United States needs to understand that the people of the West Coast are not just pawns in his political game.

The President of the United States should be explaining what is causing all the fish die-offs if it is unconnected to radiation.

The President of the United States, Obama knows that millions of American citizens are being poisoned due, in part, to a failure of American technology. I recognize that the earthquake and tsunami were forces of nature, but the damage sustained could have been reduced considerably by not using the Mark 1.

I understand that these reactors were not installed on his watch, but he's there now.
He's the one that can make the difference now.

It is he who can look into the nuclear power stations on American soil in the hope of preventing a meltdown here. Our nuclear power stations are old, past their sell by date in some cases. It's not just the reactors that are the problem either.

Hanford, right on the Columbia River in Washington state, as one example, constantly leaks radioactive liquid into the ground, and possibly the groundwater.

The situation at fukushima is still far from stable, and it will be years before/ stability is even on the horizon.
Something has to be done before one of our aging power stations starts Fukushima Part ll.


Contributed by Chris Carrington of The Daily Sheeple.
Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple. Wake the flock up!

Lest we forget:

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]

On the third anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe

By Karl Grossman

With the third anniversary of the start of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe coming next week, the attempted Giant Lie about the disaster continues—a suppression of information,

an effort at dishonesty of historical dimensions.

It involves international entities, especially the International Atomic Energy Agency, national governmental bodies—led in Japan by its current prime minister, the powerful nuclear industry and a "nuclear establishment" of scientists and others with a vested interest in atomic energy.

Deception was integral to the push for nuclear power from its start. Indeed, I opened my first book on nuclear technology, Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power, with:

"You have not been informed about nuclear power. You have not been told. And that has been done on purpose.

Keeping the public in the dark was deemed necessary by the promoters of nuclear power if it was to succeed. Those in government, science and private industry who have been pushing nuclear power realized that if people were given the facts, if they knew the consequences of nuclear power, they would not stand for it.

If people knew that the kind of accidents that happened at Three Mile Island, at the Fermi Reactor, at Browns Ferry, at Windscale, at "SL-1," among others -- the sort of huge catastrophes which have been only barely avoided -- are to be expected, they'd be damned upset and would insist a stop be put to nuclear power."

more

About the author



Karl Grossman, Investigative Reporter and Professor of Journalism
Website

Karl Grossman is the professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury. Karl is also the author of Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power and other books on nuclear technology, as well as hosting numerous TV programs on the subject including Chernobyl: A Million Casualties, Three Mile Island Revisited and The Push to Revive Nuclear Power.

Uploaded on Mar 26, 2011
This powerful documentary challenges the claims of the nuclear industry and government that no one died as a result of the core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania. It utilizes the testimony of area residents and scientific findings to reveal that deaths, especially from cancer and birth defects in children, have been widespread since the 1979 accident.

Indeed, it notes that Three Mile Island's owner has been quietly settling numerous damage cases brought by persons seriously impacted by the accident. Winner of the Worldfest Silver Award, Houston International Film Festival. Winner of the Director's Citation, Black Maria Video and Film Festival. Chosen for screening at the 1993 Earth Peace International Film Festival. ?Produced by EnviroVideo in 1993.

Watch Chernobyl: A Million Casualties

Chernobyl: A Million Casualties. A million people have died so far as a result of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident, explains Dr. Janette Sherman, toxicologist and contributing editor of the book Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment.

Published by the New York Academy of Sciences, the book, authored by Dr. Alexey Yablokov, Dr. Vassily Nesterenko and Dr. Alexey Nesterenko, examined medical records now available--which expose as a lie the claim of the International Atomic Energy Commission that perhaps 4,000 people may die as a result of Chernobyl.

Putting the 'banana vs. becquerels comparison' to radioactive contamination to bed once and for all.   

Watch Enviro Close-Up #613 "Nukespeak"

Enviro Close-Up #613 "Nukespeak"
Of the books written about nuclear technology through the years, Nukespeak is a classic. A new 30th anniversary edition of Nukespeak has just been published and co-author Rory O'Connor speaks about it. The new edition of Nukespeak has been updated -- with four new chapters -- and added to its title is: The Selling of Nuclear Technology from the Manhattan Project to Fukushima. It tells how nuclear promoters have been -- and continue -- using Orwellian language to try to hide the truth about the deadly dangers of nuclear technology.?

Book Description
Publication Date: October 4, 2011

A language of euphemism and distortion—a language like "newspeak" from George Orwell's 1984—has profoundly shaped public debate about nuclear technology since its inception. After World War II, nuclear developers used information-management techniques, including official secrecy and public relations, to promote what one called the "sunny side of the atom"—energy "too cheap to meter" that would supposedly power a new Golden Age.

Such euphoric visions set the stage for one of the most extraordinary public-relations efforts in history: the selling of nuclear technology to the American public.

The original edition of Nukespeak, published by Sierra Club Books in 1982, was conceived in the wake of the first great nuclear plant accident at Three Mile Island. Breaking through the linguistic filter of the nuclear mindset, it carefully documented how nuclear developers confused their hopes with reality, covered up damaging information, harassed and dismissed scientists who disagreed with official policy, and generated false or misleading statistics to bolster their assertions.

Sadly, these developers also failed to learn from their mistakes—as this updated 30th anniversary edition of the book makes abundantly clear.

Examining the critical events of the last three decades—including Chernobyl; nuclear proliferation thanks to the fiction of "Atoms for Peace"; the campaign to re-brand nuclear power as a clean, green solution to global warming; and the still-unfolding disaster at Japan's Fukushima power plant—the new edition argues persuasively that "nukespeak" and the nuclear mindset continue to dominate public debate about nuclear weapons and nuclear power in a continuing attempt to seduce us into accepting the unthinkable.

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]

Cover-up?
What cover-up?

20 August 2013

Study shows Fukushima nuclear pollution becoming more concentrated as it approaches U.S. West Coast — Plume crosses ocean in a nearly straight line toward N. America — Appears to stay together with little dispersion (MODEL)

Title: An ensemble estimation of impact times and strength of Fukushima nuclear pollution to the east coast of China and the west coast of America?Source: Science China Earth Sciences; Volume 56, Issue 8, pp 1447-1451?Authors: GuiJun Han, Wei Li, HongLi Fu, XueFeng Zhang, XiDong Wang, XinRong Wu, LianXin Zhang.

[...]  On March 30, 2011, the Japan Central News Agency reported the monitored radioactive pollutions that were 4000 times higher than the standard level. Whether or not these nuclear pollutants will be transported to the Pacific-neighboring countries through oceanic circulations becomes a world-wide concern. [...]

[...] The time scale of the nuclear pollutants reaching the west coast of America is 3.2 years if it is estimated using the surface drifting buoys and 3.9 years if it is estimated using the nuclear pollutant particulate tracers. [...]

The half life of cesium-137 is so long that it produces more damage to human. Figure 4 gives the examples of the distribution of the impact strength of Cesium-137 at year 1.5 (panel (a)), year 3.5 (panel (b)), and year 4 (panel (c)). [...]


It is worth noting that due to the current near the shore cannot be well reconstructed by the global ocean reanalysis, some nuclear pollutant particulate tracers may come to rest in near shore area, which may result in additional uncertainty in the estimation of the impact strength.

[...] Since the major transport mechanism of nuclear pollutants for the west coast of America is the Kuroshio-extension currents, after four years, the impact strength of Cesium-137 in the west coast area of America is as high as 4%.

From: Study: All of Western US and most of East Coast, Midwest, Canada covered in airborne particles on March 20, Fukushima plume model shows — Based solely on Reactor No. 1 explosion (PHOTO), March 2, 2012.

If only real world fallout from Fukushima were color-coded like on my "Aerial Dance of Mass Death and Genetic Destruction" map series. Instead, it is colorless, odorless, and tasteless, and in the words of British physicist Dr. Chris Busby, "Is like invisible snakes" that bite.

As it steadily accumulates in the body, it gradually degrades the immune system and exacerbates every pathological condition known to man, ranging from cancer to heart disease to reduced IQs to birth defects to reduced resistance to viral diseases -- the list is endless.

Just because a large percentage of the U.S. population is in ignorance or denial does not mean that they will not pay a terrible price in the decades to come.

Below, sample projection map of Neptunium 239 and Plutonium 239 over North America listed on the same 20-26 March 2011 radiation projection page as the illustration above. North America also got plastered with radioactive Iodide 131, Cesium 137, Strontium 90, and a whole witches brew of other radioactive particles. Virtually no one in North America was warned by either their governments or mainstream media about the extremely serious nature of these threats or the urgent need to take precautions.

Modeling the Dispersion of Radioactive Releases Internationally produced by the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety and Meteo France. From 3-12 to 3-25, Caesium 137, 20m to 500m elevation. Source web page Here.


Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown


Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism


NRC worried about US National Labs "chomping at the bit" to help with Fukushima Radiation analysis – Call lab directors and say "Knock it off"

FOIA documents

N. Pacific Seafood To Exceed Radiation levels 1,000 Bq/kg

'Environmental Radiation: What Do We Know and What Should We Know for Assessing Risks'

Event: SETAC North America 32nd Annual Meeting, October 4, 2011

      Abstract: The Fukushima nuclear emergency [...] emerged as a high priority looming threat due to the risk of radioactive contamination in the global ocean and biodiversity. [...] we assessed the bioaccumulation potential of 137Cs by testing steady state and time-dependent bioaccumulation models in an offshore food web that included fish-eating, resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) as one of the major top predators of the marine ecosystems in British Columbia, Canada.

      Steady State Bioaccumulation Model: "Concentrations of 137Cs predicted in the male killer whale were approximately three orders of magnitude higher relative to its major prey, Chinook salmon, and 13,000 times higher compared to phytoplankton." Time-Dependent Bioaccumulation Model:

       "After 30 days of radioactive spillage, the 137Cs concentrations accumulate gradually over time in high trophic level organisms (salmon and killer whales), which exhibited low concentrations likely driven by slow intake rates, while it bioaccumulates at faster uptake rates in low trophic level, gill ventilating organisms (phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates and planktivorous fish), exhibiting concentration about one to two orders of magnitude greater than that in killer whales.

      At 9125 days (25 years), the predicted concentrations of 137Cs accumulate in a higher degree in killer whales, being >2 orders of magnitude greater than that predicted in Chinook salmon and 10,000 times higher relative to phytoplankton.

      The levels of 137Cs predicted in biota (shellfish and fish) exceeded well above the 137Cs action level for commercial food/beverage of 1000 Bq/kg established by the Canadian Guidelines for Consumption following a Nuclear Emergency (emphasis added)."


New Forecast Released: 'Most' Fukushima nuclear particles will move east across Pacific

Gov't model shows airborne radioactive plume covering entire west coast of US & Canada on Mar 22, 2011... 10 times more radioactive than plume coming from Fukushima plant on same day — Radiation levels in some plumes had no discernible decrease after crossing Pacific (VIDEO)

Fukushima Radioactive Aerosol Dispersion, NOAA: The [HYSPLIT] model was developed by NOAA to follow the transport and dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere. In HYSPLIT, the computation is composed of four components: transport by the mean wind, turbulent dispersion, scavenging and decay.

A large number of pollutant particles, which by convention are called "particles" but are just computational "points" (particles or gases), are released at the source location and passively follow the wind. [...]

March 11th [...] by 16:36 a nuclear emergency was reported. By the early morning hours of March 12th, radioactive emissions were occurring [...]

The simulation from NOAA's HYSPLIT model shows a continuous release of tracer particles from 12-31 March at a rate of 100 per hour representing the Cesium-137 emitted from Fukushima Daiichi. Each change in particle color represents a decrease in radioactivity by a factor of 10.

Notable Features

   •   Particles with the highest radioactivity were released around March 15th [See also: UN: Fukushima Unit 2 reactor "burst" on March 15th after fuel melted — Radiation doses soon hit highest levels of crisis for many places across region]

   •   Particles caught in clockwise circulations are embedded in fair weather high pressure systems and their radioactivity will persist for longer periods

   •   In general, radioactivity reaching the United States showed air concentrations over 1000 times smaller than areas near Japan

The March 22, 2011 NOAA model (above right) shows the West Coast of US and Canada covered in red particles, while the Fukushima site — and all of Japan — are under orange particles.  According to the NOAA above a "change in particle color represents a decrease in radioactivity by a factor of 10"


Watch NOAA's Fukushima airborne plume simulation here
      

      

Journal of Ocean University of China, April 2014:

'A study of transport and impact strength of Fukushima nuclear pollutants in the North Pacific surface'

Abstract
   •   Based on the statistics of surface drifter data of 1979–2011 and the simulation of nuclear pollutant particulate movements simulated using high quality ocean reanalysis surface current dataset, the transport pathways and impact strength of Fukushima nuclear pollutants in the North Pacific have been estimated. The particulates are used to increase the sampling size and enhance the representativeness of statistical results.
      
   •   [...] most pollutant particles move eastward and are carried by the Kuroshio and Kuroshio-extension currents and reach the east side of the North Pacific after about 3.2–3.9 years
      
   •   [...] the impact strength of nuclear pollutants at these time scales can be estimated according to the temporal variations of relative concentration combined with the radioactive decay rate. For example, Cesium-137, carried by the strong North Pacific current, mainly accumulates in the eastern North Pacific and its impact strength is 4% of the initial level at the originating Fukushima area after 4 years. [...]

Excerpt
   •   The incident has been listed as the biggest ever release of radioactive materials into the oceans
      
   •   [...] The transport of nuclear pollutants is mainly controlled by surface ocean current.
      
   •   [...] as a result of oceanic advection and diffusion the cesium-I37 concentrations decreased to less than 10 BqL [10,000 Bq/m3] in the simulation domain by the end of May 2011.
      
   •   [...] most of  the nuclear material in the ocean would be slowly transported northeast of Fukushima and reach 150°E in 50 [days] [...] the nuclear debris in thc ocean would be confined to a narrow band [...]

We know we are being lied to about Fukushima.

Even amateurs with little academic training in reading equipment know that the levels of radiation hitting Alaska are in excess of those experienced in the cold war era of the 1960s. The radiation in the North Pacific due to above ground nuclear testing were regarded as fairly high. The levels being experienced now is higher than that, at least as measured by local residents.

In July of 2013, the Representatives in the Japanese Diet learned that the amount of radiation from the Fukushima was 20 times the amount of radiation of Hiroshima every day. The situation in Japan has become worse rather than better, and that is having an impact on radiation levels in Alaska.

The NRC Knew Possibility of Elevated Thyroid Dose in Midway Island and Alaska By March 22nd

Is Fukushima the greatest environmental disaster of all time?

Every single day, (only) 300 (so TEPCO says) tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific Ocean.

The radioactive material that is being released will outlive all of us by a very wide margin, and it is constantly building up in the food chain.

Nobody knows for sure how many people will eventually develop cancer and other health problems as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, but some experts are not afraid to use the word "billions".

It has been well over three years since the original disaster, and now they are telling us that it could take up to 40 more years to clean it up.

It is a nightmare of unimaginable proportions, and there is nowhere in the northern hemisphere that you will be able to hide from it.


Officials in Japan admit that 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima is entering the Pacific Ocean every 24 hours.

According to a professor at Tokyo University, 3 gigabecquerels of cesium-137 are flowing into the port at Fukushima Daiichi every single day...

Yoichiro Tateiwa, NHK reporter: [Professor Jota] Kanda argues government statistics don't add up. He says a daily leakage of 300 tons doesn't explain the current levels of radiation in the water.

Jota Kanda, Tokyo University professor: According to my research there are now 3 gigabecquerels [3 billion becquerels] of cesium-137 flowing into the port at Fukushima Daiichi every day. But for the 300 tons of groundwater to contain this much cesium-137, one liter of groundwater has to contain 10,000 becquerels of the radioactive isotope.

NHK: Kanda's research and monitoring by Tepco puts the amount of cesium-137 in the groundwater around the plant at several hundred becquerels per liter at most. He's concluded that radioactive isotope is finding another way to get into the ocean. He's calling on the government and Tepco to identify contamination routes other than groundwater.

The Iodine-131, Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 that are constantly coming from Fukushima are going to affect the health of those living the the northern hemisphere for a very, very long time.


Just check out what Harvey Wasserman had to say recently...

Iodine-131, for example, can be ingested into the thyroid, where it emits beta particles (electrons) that damage tissue. A plague of damaged thyroids has already been reported among as many as 40 percent of the children in the Fukushima area.

That percentage can only go higher. In developing youngsters, it can stunt both physical and mental growth. Among adults it causes a very wide range of ancillary ailments, including cancer.

Cesium-137 from Fukushima has been found in fish caught as far away as California. It spreads throughout the body, but tends to accumulate in the muscles.

Strontium-90's half-life is around 29 years. It mimics calcium and goes to our bones.

Sadly, the true horror of this disaster is only starting to be understood, and most people have absolutely no idea how serious all of this is.  What fallout researcher Christina Consolo told RT the other day should be very sobering for all of us...

We have endless releases into the Pacific Ocean that will be ongoing for not only our lifetimes, but our children's' lifetimes. We have 40 million people living in the Tokyo area nearby. We have continued releases from the underground corium that reminds us it is there occasionally with steam events and huge increases in radiation levels.

Across the Pacific, we have at least two peer-reviewed scientific studies so far that have already provided evidence of increased mortality in North America, and thyroid problems in infants on the west coast states from our initial exposures.

We have increasing contamination of the food chain, through bioaccumulation and biomagnification. And a newly stated concern is the proximity of melted fuel in relation to the Tokyo aquifer that extends under the plant.

If and when the corium reaches the Tokyo aquifer, serious and expedient discussions will have to take place about evacuating 40 million people from the greater metropolitan area.

As impossible as this sounds, you cannot live in an area which does not have access to safe water.


The operation to begin removing fuel from such a severely damaged pool has never been attempted before. The rods are unwieldy and very heavy, each one weighing two-thirds of a ton. But it has to be done, unless there is some way to encase the entire building in concrete with the pool as it is.

I don't know of anyone discussing that option, but it would seem much 'safer' than what they are about to attempt...but not without its own set of risks.

And all this collateral damage will continue for decades, if not centuries, even if things stay exactly the way they are now. But that is unlikely, as bad things happen like natural disasters and deterioration with time...earthquakes, subsidence, and corrosion, to name a few.

Every day that goes by, the statistical risk increases for this apocalyptic scenario. No one can say or know how this will play out, except that millions of people will probably die even if things stay exactly as they are, and billions could die if things get any worse.

The area immediately around Fukushima is already permanently uninhabitable, and the truth is that a much wider area of northern Japan should probably be declared off limits for human habitation.

But this just isn't about Japan.

The cold, hard reality of the matter is that this is truly a disaster that is planetary in scope. 

The nuclear material from Fukushima is going to be carried all over the northern hemisphere, and countless numbers of people are going to become seriously ill as a result.

And remember, this is a disaster that is not even close to being contained yet.  Hundreds of tons of radioactive water continues to enter the Pacific Ocean every single day making the disaster that we are facing even worse.

May God have mercy on us all.

Day 1124, Tuesday 7 April 2014

[zorgon]

Tourism in Japan

[zorgon]

Going for a Hike in the Woods...

[zorgon]

[Fruitbat]

All these pretty pictures are lovely (although they take an annoyingly long time to load on my computer here in the new third world) but are they being posted elsewhere?

And given that we might be expected to be a bit more concerned and active than the average sheeple, may I ask, have ANY OF YOU changed your behaviours in any way post fukushima?

Thought not.

FB.

(Sorry if my post offends anyone, but I am sick of hearing people who complain but take no action. I see it ALL the time about EVERYTHING).

In the case of fukushima, we need to be bumping off nuclear apologists and nuclear industry leaders. They are doing it to us without consequence. Until we pay them back in the same coin nothing will change. And that isn't going to happen because we are the nice people... So there's nothing can be done except to carry on breathing and ingesting radionucleides, and hoping that someoen else will take action.

Tell me that I am wrong, Go on.

[thorfourwinds]

Fukushima Day 1066 - A Pro-Active Request - Fukushima To Spew Cesium & Strontium for 5 Decades - YouTube

[PLAYSWITHMACHINES]

No you're not wrong, but if we do tht, or even TALK about doing it, they will shut us down, and many fine threads will go POOF...

First, the sheeple need to know that there IS a problem, pretty pictures work good on sheeple and yes they are being posted elsewhere, i plan to dump a whole bunch of them on Farcebook.

Then we need to show them WHAT the problem is, i think the massive amounts of info & links here proves that.

THEN we tell them that they need to take action, and yes i sign petitions all the time. Some of them actually work.

We also tell them that there are MANY alternatives, and not just windmills & solar panels but much, much more...............
And yes we do need to get cheap geigers out there, THAT will help A LOT.
Let's talk sometime, you know where to find me when i'm in the cave