Infinite Unknown

- Radioactive water problems at Fukushima nuke plant force rethink (Kyodo News, April 20, 2013):

TOKYO – The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. will present broad new thinking in May on ways to prevent radioactive water from increasing at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Friday.

Motegi made the remarks during a meeting to discuss the decommissioning process of the plant’s stricken reactors, as TEPCO continues to grapple with water leaks found recently at several underground storage tanks at the site.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority released an estimate the same day that the leaks could lead to the density of radioactive strontium in groundwater exceeding the legal limit in about 10 years in the coastal area of the plant.

…

Tags: Contamination, Environment, Fukushima, Government, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Politics, Radiation, Strontium 90, Water

- Fukushima Watch: Dead Rodents Cause Another Cooling System Halt at Stricken Plant (Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2013)

Tags: Fukushima, Global News, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors

- [Food contamination] Cs-137 measured from milk powder produced in Tokyo sold in western Japan (Fukushima Diary, April 20, 2013)

Tags: Babies, Children, Food, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Milk, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation

- ‘Irreparable’ safety issues: All US nuclear reactors should be replaced, ‘Band-Aids’ won’t help (RT, April 9, 2013):

All 104 nuclear reactors currently operational in the US have irreparable safety issues and should be taken out of commission and replaced, former chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory B. Jaczko said.

The comments, made during the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, are “highly unusual” for a current or former member of the safety commission, according to The New York Times. Asked why he had suddenly decided to make the remarks, Jaczko implied that he had only recently arrived at these conclusions following the serious aftermath of Japan’s tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daichii nuclear facility.

“I was just thinking about the issues more, and watching as the industry and the regulators and the whole nuclear safety community continues to try to figure out how to address these very, very difficult problems,” which were made more evident by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, he said. “Continuing to put Band-Aid on Band-Aid is not going to fix the problem.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Fukushima, Global News, Government, Gregory Jaczko, NRC, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Politics, U.S.

- Deadly levels of radiation found in food 225 miles from Fukushima: Media blackout on nuclear fallout continues (Natural News, April 8, 2013):

New data released by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) shows once again that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is far from over. Despite a complete media blackout on the current situation, levels of Cesium-137 (Cs-137) and Cesium-134 (Cs-134) found in produce and rice crackers located roughly 225 miles away from Fukushima are high enough to cause residents to exceed the annual radiation exposure limit in just a few months, or even weeks.

According to Fukushima-Diary.com, which posts up-to-date information about the Fukushima disaster, rice crackers and tangerines produced in the Shizuoka prefecture are testing high for both Cs-137 and Cs-134. Rice crackers, according to the data sheet, tested at 3.7 Becquerels per kilogram (Bq/Kg) of Cs-137, while tangerines tested at 1.46 Bq/Kg of Cs-134 and 3.14 Bq/Kg of Cs-137.

The Shizuoka prefecture is located about 80 miles southwest of Tokyo, which is highly concerning as it is actually farther away from Fukushima than Tokyo. This suggest that potentially deadly levels of radiation are still affecting large population centers across Japan, including those that are not even in close proximity to the Fukushima plant.

Continue reading »

Tags: Contamination, Environment, Food, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation, TOKYO

- New Radioactive Leak Found At Fukushima After Rat Causes Second Cooling System Failure (ZeroHedge, April 7, 2013):

The Fukushima farce continues: a month after a rat (no really) caused the cooling system at the exploded Japanese nuclear power plant to fail, history repeats itself, leading to the second cooling failure in a month. As the NYT reported, “Workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant who were installing wire nets Friday to keep rats away from a vital cooling system instead tripped that system, causing it to fail for the second time in weeks. Cooling was restored by late evening on Friday, and there was no imminent danger to the 566 nuclear fuel rods stored in the pool, according to the company. It would have taken at least two weeks for the pool to have risen above the safe level of 149 degrees Fahrenheit, Tepco said.” Of course, TEPCO would certainly tell the truth to all those it lied to for weeks in March 2011, the same TEPCO where a rat is the weakest link in its meltdown avoidance planning. Continue reading »

Tags: Contamination, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation, TEPCO

- Fukushima cooling system fails for second time in a month (Guardian, April 5, 2013):

The cooling system for a fuel storage pool at one of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant has failed, Japanese regulators have said.

There was no immediate danger from the failure, the second at the plant in a month, they said.

Continue reading »

Tags: Fukushima, Global News, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors

- Fukushima reservoir tank may have leaked contaminated water (Kyodo News, April 6, 2013):

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that up to 120 tons of contaminated water may have leaked into soil from one of the seven underground reservoir tanks at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Around 13,000 cubic meters of contaminated water remain in the tank, with TEPCO having begun transferring it to other tanks nearby on Saturday morning, the utility said.

It will take roughly two weeks to complete the transfer, TEPCO added.

Tags: Contamination, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation, TEPCO

- Study: 28% Increase In Thyroid Problems In Babies Born After Fukushima in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington (ZeroHedge, April 3, 2013):

Infants are much more vulnerable to radiation than adults. And see this.However, radiation safety standards are set based on the assumption that everyone in the world is a healthy man in his 20s.

Now, a medical doctor (Janette D. Sherman, M. D.) and epidemiologist (Joseph Mangano) have released a study showing a 28% increase in thyroid problems in babies born in Hawaii and America’s West Coast after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Janette Sherman, M.D. worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (forerunner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) at the University of California in Berkeley, and for the U.S. Navy Radiation Defense Laboratory in San Francisco. She served on the EPA’s advisory board for 6 years, and has been an advisor to the National Cancer Institute on breast cancer. Dr. Sherman specializes in internal medicine and toxicology with an emphasis on chemicals and nuclear radiation.

Joseph J. Mangano is a public health administrator and researcher who has studied the connection between low-dose radiation exposure and subsequent risk of diseases such as cancer and damage to newborns. He has published numerous articles and letters in medical and other journals in addition to books, including Low Level Radiation and Immune System Disorders: An Atomic Era Legacy.

Their new study – published in the Open Journal of Pediatrics – is entitled “Elevated airborne beta levels in Pacific/West Coast US States and trends in hypothyroidism among newborns after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.”

Common Dreams notes:

[The study found that] children born in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington between one week and 16 weeks after the meltdown began are 28 percent more likely to suffer from congenital hypothyroidism (CH) than were kids born in those states during the same period one year earlier.

Continue reading »

Tags: Alaska, Babies, California, Children, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Hawaii, Iodine-131, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, Radiation, Thyroid

- NRC: Fukushima reactor’s containment leaked at 300% per day — Assumed only 1% (VIDEO) (ENENews, March 26, 2013)

Tags: Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors