Modern industrial society is a fanatical religion. We are demolishing, poisoning, destroying all life-systems on the planet. We are signing IOUs our children will not be able to pay...We are acting as if we were the last generation on the planet. Without a radical change in heart, in mind, in vision, the earth will end up like Venus, charred and dead. – Jose Antonio Lutzenberger, Brazilian Minister for the Environment
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Fukushima Radiation Hits US West Coast
FROM: Liberty Voice
The meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is nearing its third anniversary and the disaster and radiation are still being felt around the globe, most recently in the North American west coast where the hit is being felt by Canadians, Mexicans and US citizens alike.
It is believed that an area of ocean as far as ten miles distant from the nuclear power plant was contaminated by the disaster in March of 2011. With ocean tides and sea life which is by no means confined to only miles within the ocean, that contamination was easily spread. It presents its most dangerous form in radioactive seafood and fish, which can be caught nearly anywhere and brought to the table in various countries. Surprisingly, seafood captured on the Pacific coast may be far more likely to contain radionuclides from the disaster than seafood from the Sea of Okhotsky, which is actually much closer to Japan. The world ocean currents are said to be responsible for this trend.
According to the Global Research Report, recent tests in California have unearthed contaminated blue-fin tuna in nearby coastal waters. It is believed that the contaminated water has finally reached the western coastline due to the growth of radioactive iodine levels which are now 200 times what they were two years ago. In addition, the caesium-137 level has also gone up along the California, Oregon and Washington coasts, discovered in local mushrooms and berries. Residents have also noted that the number of bird deaths has risen. In Alaska, the sockeye salmon population has declined apparently due to radionuclides as well.
Checking an entire catch of fish for radiation is nearly impossible according to the Eco-Protection International environmental group, which is what makes the hit of radiation contaminated water from Fukushima so dangerous for the US West Coast.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Fukushima contaminated water triggers local fear
From: CCTV. Com
(...)
(...)
After days of denial, Tokyo Electric admitted that some of 300 tons of contaminated water leaked into the ocean, drawing anger from local fishermen.
"What can we tell the younger generation about what happened to our ocean?"
"It is not acceptable to say the water has accumulated and unfortunately some of them slipped into the sea."
Residents fear the situation may be uncontrollable.
(...)
Fukushima and the Madness of Dominating Mother Earth Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/27/heresy-dominating-nature-nuclear-power
From: Indian Country
Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/27/heresy-dominating-nature-nuclear-power
In 1947, former U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier published his bookIndians of the Americas, in which he spoke of American Indians having “what the world has lost.” He was referring to “this power to live,” “the ancient, lost reverence and passion for the earth and its web of life.” “This indivisible reverence and passion is what the American Indians almost universally had; and representative groups of them have it still,” said Collier.
“Not many years are left,” warned Collier, “to have or have not, to recapture the lost ingredient.” He continued: “This is not merely a passing reference to World War III or the atom bomb—although the reference includes these ways of death, too. These deaths will mean the end if they come—racial death, self-inflicted because we have lost the way, and the power to live is dead.”
“What the world had lost, the world must have again lest it die,” Collier cautioned. His statements seem prescient (future sighted) today, especially in light of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima Japan, which has unleashed massive amounts of radiation into the ecosystems of Mother Earth, particular into the Pacific Ocean, the largest ocean on the planet.
Collier’s mention of the “atom bomb” as a potential way of death, “self-inflicted because we have lost the way” has a special resonance now. Clearly, a worst case scenario is unfolding at Fukushima, and only time will tell how bad it will get, and how catastrophically it will affect all life on Mother Earth.
Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/27/heresy-dominating-nature-nuclear-power
Fukushima salmon industry in peril with hatcheries stuck in evacuation zone
FROM: The Asahi Shimbun
NARAHA, Fukushima Prefecture--Hideo Matsumoto stares at the surface of the Kidogawa river here, a quiet, tree-lined waterway where salmon have been caught for centuries. A forlorn expression forms on his face.
“I want fishing to make a full comeback soon,” says Matsumoto, the 65-year-old head of the Kidogawa river fishermen’s cooperative. “If we don’t resume fishing, the river won’t have many salmon coming up it.”
Unfortunately, Japan’s greatest salmon runs could see a huge drop in returning fish in two or three years’ time, putting the entire salmon business in Fukushima Prefecture in jeopardy.
Fishermen have been unable to hatch eggs or release young fish on five rivers in the prefecture because the hatcheries are located within the evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Nuke plant on the edge
FROM: The Adobe Press.com
To the Editor:
I pray you are not jumping the gun reporting that Diablo Canyon operated safely during 2013. There are still a few more days left in 2013.
For most of my life, like many residents of this county, I never imagined that a catastrophic nuclear event could happen close to me. Fukushima taught me about hubris and false assumptions. Fukushima taught me that even the unimaginable is possible.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. keep talking about lessons from Fukushima, but either they are not paying attention or they are the slowest learners ever. The real lesson from Fukushima is we need to shut it all down. The only reason why the entire world is not in a panic over the continuing disaster across the Pacific is that we cannot see radiation. Unlike oil spills, we don’t have pictures of tar-covered or suffocating marine life.
What we have is so much worse, and if one could see it, the nuclear power industry would most likely be dead.
Instead, it’s still clunking along, churning out more deadly waste that has nowhere to go but sit there on our fragile coast. Devil’s Canyon, indeed. Only the evil one could claim that this is safe.
Carole Hisasue
Mothers for Peace
Los Osos
Posted Friday December 27 2013
TO COMMENT GO TO THE ORIGINAL POSTING --- LINK
To the Editor:
I pray you are not jumping the gun reporting that Diablo Canyon operated safely during 2013. There are still a few more days left in 2013.
For most of my life, like many residents of this county, I never imagined that a catastrophic nuclear event could happen close to me. Fukushima taught me about hubris and false assumptions. Fukushima taught me that even the unimaginable is possible.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. keep talking about lessons from Fukushima, but either they are not paying attention or they are the slowest learners ever. The real lesson from Fukushima is we need to shut it all down. The only reason why the entire world is not in a panic over the continuing disaster across the Pacific is that we cannot see radiation. Unlike oil spills, we don’t have pictures of tar-covered or suffocating marine life.
What we have is so much worse, and if one could see it, the nuclear power industry would most likely be dead.
Instead, it’s still clunking along, churning out more deadly waste that has nowhere to go but sit there on our fragile coast. Devil’s Canyon, indeed. Only the evil one could claim that this is safe.
Carole Hisasue
Mothers for Peace
Los Osos
Posted Friday December 27 2013
TO COMMENT GO TO THE ORIGINAL POSTING --- LINK
Impact of Fukushima radiation disaster: 5,000 kids could be diagnosed with cancer - scientist
FROM: The Voice of Russia
Slowly, the world is waking up to the realities of Japan's nuclear catastrophe: this disaster is real. USS Reagan and Fukushima cancer levels are miles above comparative levels. Anna Sablina, cancer researcher, Assistant Professor of the University of Leuven and group leader of Flanders Institute of Biotechnology, discussed the danger of Fukushima disaster impact in an interview with the VoR.
What is the dependence and correlations between cancer and radiation?
Usually cancer is coming due to accumulation of mutation in certain genes and you need at least 5-7 different mutations that are really necessary to trigger cancer development. And any factor that is triggering mutation can of course increase a probability of cancer development. So of course in case of such high radioactive dose and exposure it obviously can increase a probability of cancer development especially thyroid cancer and leukemia.
Is it possible to develop mass cases of cancer due to the radiation exposure?
Yes, obviously yes.
Thyroid Cancers Surge Among Fukushima Youths
From: Zero Hedge
It seems US sailors aren't the only ones who three short years after the Fukushima disaster are being stricken by cancers and other radiation-induced diseases. For once, the media blackout surrounding the Japanese nuclear power plant tragedy appears to have crumbled, and at least a portion of the truth has been revealed. Hong Kong's SCMP reports that fifty-nine young people in Fukushima prefecture have been diagnosed with or are suspected of having thyroid cancer. Notably, all of newly diagnosed were younger than 18 at the time of the nuclear meltdown in the area in March 2011. They were identified in tests by the prefectural government, which covered 239,000 people by the end of September.
And while it is not rocket surgery to put two and two together, now that the data is in the public domain, here come the experts to explain it away.
On one hand, there are those who seemingly have not been bribed by the Abe government to "bend" reality just a bit in the name of confidence. People such as Toshihide Tsuda, a professor of epidemiology at Okayama University who has called upon the government to prepare for a possible increase in cases in the future. "The rate at which children in Fukushima prefecture have developed thyroid cancer can be called frequent, because it is several times to several tens of times higher," Japan's Asahi Shimbun quoted him as saying.
He compared the figures in Fukushima with cancer registration statistics throughout Japan from 1975 to 2008 that showed an annual average of five to 11 people in their late teens to early 20s developing cancer for every 1 million people.
And then come those who probably would still be touting the great job Tepco is doing in containing the worst nuclear catastrophe in history, even though Tepco itself has now admitted the exploded nuclear power plant is out of control.
2 More Spent Fuel Transfers From Unit 4 Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO announced December 24, 2013 that two more fuel transfers have been completed from unit 4 to the common pool.
A total of 132 assemblies have been removed from the pool over 6 transfer trips.
Completion status of transfer from Unit 4 to Common Pool
- ◯Breakdown of transffered assemblies by kind
Spent fuel110 assemblies/1,331 assemblies
Unirradiated (New) fuel22 assemblies/ 202 assemblies - ◯Number of times of cask transportation:
6 times
as of Dec.24,2013
Completion status of transfer will be updated every Monday.
(If the holiday falls on a Monday, it will be updated on the next working day
(If the holiday falls on a Monday, it will be updated on the next working day
Post-Fukushima energy production: Russia turns to safe reactors, US enriches uranium
FROM: The Voice of Russia
As of today, 437 nuclear power plant units are currently operational in 31 countries of the world. They account for every tenth kilowatt-hour (kwh) of electricity generated world-wide. However, this proportion may change soon, some experts say. And the Fukushima Nuclear Power disaster, which occurred nearly three years ago, has served as a reason for that.
(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_26/Post-Fukushima-energy-production-Russia-turns-to-safe-reactors-US-enriches-uranium-2121/
As of today, 437 nuclear power plant units are currently operational in 31 countries of the world. They account for every tenth kilowatt-hour (kwh) of electricity generated world-wide. However, this proportion may change soon, some experts say. And the Fukushima Nuclear Power disaster, which occurred nearly three years ago, has served as a reason for that.
(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_26/Post-Fukushima-energy-production-Russia-turns-to-safe-reactors-US-enriches-uranium-2121/
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Echo of Fukushima reaches the US
FROM: The Voice of Russia
The Fukushima NPP continues to disturb the general public even almost three years after the accident. New leaks of radioactive water beyond the protective dam took place recently due to heavy rain. People give less and less credence to nuclear experts’ assurances that the sea was not polluted.
Meanwhile, the US newspaper The Cape Cod Times reports that toxic leakage from the NPP is approaching the US west coast. Seventy sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan that took part in the rescue operation after the accident are going to sue Tepco, the Fukushima NPP operator. The sailors claim that the company did not warn them about all risks that the crew could face.
The aircraft carrier spent a month in the offing at the distance of ten miles from the NPP in a spot of radioactive fallout. The crew desalinated overboard water and drank it and used it for cooking, which caused cases of cancer and even blindness.
Oceanic pollution within 10 miles around the NPP is understandable. The main part of nuclear disintegration products got into the water and not into the air like in Chernobyl. Ocean currents carry harmful substances far away. Even in other parts of the world fish and seafood drawn from contaminated streams can be dangerous for humans, Maxim Shingarkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Natural Resources says.
"Currents in the World Ocean are so structured that the areas of seafood capture near the US north-west coast are more likely to contain radioactive nuclides than even the Sea of Okhotsk which is much closer to Japan. These products are the main danger for mankind because they can find their way to people’s tables on a massive scale."
Contaminated fish can swim anywhere, so fishing is not absolutely safe in any region of the world any more.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_12_26/Echo-of-Fukushima-reaches-the-US-1162/
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_12_26/Echo-of-Fukushima-reaches-the-US-1162/
(...)
TEPCO readies new revamp plan
FROM: Gulf Times
Tokyo Electric Power yesterday submitted a fresh restructuring plan to a Japanese government-backed fund that envisages the creation of a special unit to dismantle the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
TEPCO president Naomi Hirose pledged thorough implementation of the plan, once approved by the government as expected next month.
The utility’s board Tuesday approved a draft plan that would see the creation of a holding company with several sub-units dedicated to separate tasks, including one that would be solely responsible for decommissioning the battered reactors.
The plan, which includes a cost-cutting round of early retirements, assumes the giant utility will be allowed to restart some of its idled nuclear reactors.
Supporters say this is necessary to reduce the inflated fuel bills caused by the switch back to fossil fuels in the aftermath of the disaster in March 2011.
“As the government takes a step forward (to help TEPCO), Tokyo Electric wished to demonstrate that we are taking three steps and four steps forward,” Hirose told reporters of the plan, according to national broadcaster NHK.
TEPCO submitted the plan to the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund, which gave its broad approval.
Christmas radioactive present from Fukushima: tons of toxic water leak, contaminate soil
FROM: The Voice of Russia
Bad news keep on coming from crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station. Apparently it continues to bring harm on the environment. Up to 225 tons of radioactive water likely leaked from two more storage tank areas, seeping into the surrounding soil, Tokyo Electric Power Compoany (TEPCO) reported on Christmas Eve.
The two areas are located to the west of the No. 4 reactor building. Water levels have dropped inside walled areas in which storage tanks for radioactive water are located, indicating that up to 225 tons of tainted water may have seeped into the ground, TEPCO officials said.
The utility said this appears to be the largest amount of radioactive rainwater escaping to date from the barriers around tanks holding contaminated water.
Water samples collected Friday contained 20 becquerels of strontium-90 per liter in one of the two areas and 440 becquerels in the other, higher than Tepco’s provisional limit of less than 10 becquerels for water that can be released from storage tank areas.
(...)
Fifty-nine young people in Fukushima prefecture have been diagnosed with or are suspected of having thyroid cancer, but experts are divided about whether their illness is caused by nuclear radiation. All of them were younger than 18 at the time of the nuclear meltdown in the area in March 2011. They were identified in tests by the prefectural government, which covered 239,000 people by the end of September.
Seafood imports from Japan indicate radiation contamination
FROM: The Island
Sri Lanka is not subject to any direct impact on its marine environment due to radioactive releases from the Fukushima accident, according to a comprehensive study. But radiation levels, particularly in seafood items imported from Japan, had noticeably increased an expert said.
Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) National Project Coordinator, Director Life Sciences Head Wijeya A. Waduge said yesterday the study had been carried out with technical know-how from the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA).
Following the study, Sri Lanka had successfully established baseline data for marine radioactivity around it, he said, noting that Sri Lanka had not reached the radiation danger zone, but it was time for all relevant stakeholders to be on the alert. Investigations were conducted to ascertain the varying radiation levels that already exist in the country.
Waduge said that radiation levels, particularly in seafood items imported from Japan, had noticeably increased. He attributed the high level to the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daichi Nuclear Plant.
‘Fukushima fish ends in garbage’: Radioactive fears blight Japan’s seafood industry
FROM:RT
Due to radiation fears, Fukushima Prefecture fishermen have to dump most of their catch. Two years into the nuclear disaster, the world is growing weary of Japan’s seafood, with South Korea even banning Japanese fish and seafood imports.
Fish has traditionally not only been an integral part of Japanese food culture, but also one of its prized exports. In 2011, before the Fukushima disaster, Japan maintained one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounted for almost 15 percent of global catches, according to Forbes.
However, there are serious concerns now, although the industry seems to be on a slow, but sure recovery route.
TEPCO says additional radioactive leaks found in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
FROM: JDP
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the utility operator of the crippledFukushima Daiichi nuclear plant announced on Tuesday that it had found additional leaks at the No. 1 reactor. This is in addition to the previous ones discovered last December 21 and 22.
They suspect the leaks in two areas around the storage tanks that contain contaminated water because the water levels were lower upon inspection. One of the bounded areas had 12 centimeter deep water on December 20, but by the 24th it was reduced to 5 centimeters. The other area also had 12 centimeters on the 20th but by the 24th had only 1 centimeters of water. These areas are separate from the two areas that had water leaks the previous week.
The latest incident may have leaked around 225 tons of radioactive water...
Fukushima Rescue Mission Lasting Legacy: Radioactive Contamination of Americans
FROM: News Room Jersey
THURSDAY, 31 JANUARY 2013
THURSDAY, 31 JANUARY 2013
The Department of Defense has decided to walk away from an unprecedented medical registry of nearly 70,000 American service members, civilian workers, and their families caught in the radioactive clouds blowing from the destroyed nuclear power plants at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan.
The decision to cease updating the registry means there will be no way to determine if patterns of health problems emerge among the members of the Marines, Army, Air Force, Corps of Engineers, and Navy stationed at 63 installations in Japan with their families. In addition, it leaves thousands of sailors and Marines in the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group 7 on their own when it comes to determining if any of them are developing problems caused by radiation exposure.
Testimony by a Voluntary Evacuee from Fukushima: A Mother Reveals Health Issues She and Her Children Had
FROM: Fukushima Voice
Testimony by a Voluntary Evacuee from Fukushima: A Mother Reveals Health Issues She and Her Children Had
Anonymous testimony of a Fukushima single mother made during the December 4, 2013 press conference by the Fukushima Collective Evacuation Trial Team, and transcribed by Kiiko here. It was translated into English with permission of the woman, a voluntary evacuee to Yamanashi, who gave the testimony. She strongly feels stories like hers should be heard by others so that the severe reality faced by some Fukushima residents can be recognized.
*****
Testimony by a mother with two daughters and a grade-school age son who is the youngest.
I was born and raised in Fukushima Prefecture. I was living in Fukushima at the time of Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear accident. This summer, I decided to voluntarily evacuate to Yamanashi Prefecture due to health issues experienced by me as well as my children. I would like to describe how I came about deciding to evacuate and how things changed after the evacuation.
At the time of the earthquake and tsunami, the lifeline was disrupted. In order to obtain food and necessary goods, my family walked to a store we would normally drive to. We had to wait in line for hours to shop. The news of the nuclear accident came in the midst of it. I still remember how it was very hard for me and my children to breathe due to strange smell and difficulty taking a breath.
Every day the government and specialists said on TV, "There is no worry." and "There is no immediate health effect." Despite feeling anxious, I took those words as is, and we ate local vegetables and drank tap water.
My children had restrictions on outside activities at school. They could not play outside, and those were difficult days. We were just living a day-to-day life, and I was too busy with work and didn’t have time to research radiation and radiation exposure. Time went by, and there was a thyroid ultrasound examination as part of Fukushima Health Management Survey one year after the accident.
When the results came in mail. Two children who were examined both had nodules and were classified as "A2," and "No need for a follow-up until the examination in two years." I was in shock.
There were no ultrasound images, and I had no idea what kind of condition they were in. It was just a piece of paper, and I was full of mistrust.
I thought about evacuating from Fukushima then, but voluntary evacuation was not guaranteed to get financially compensated. As a single mother living with my parents, I had no courage or money to leave home to support my children, so I gave up.
I wanted to get thyroid ultrasound examinations on my own, but I had been told "No local hospital would conduct thyroid examinations." Time simply passed by while my worries continued.
When the new year came, I tried to get my children life insurance policy as I thought "anything could happen from now on." I reported the thyroid ultrasound examination results in the application form, and I was told later on that they were "unable to attach any special policy regarding cancer." I asked for reevaluation and managed to get policies, but this experience made me realize that "The fact that the insurance company came up with such a result is because they decided the (cancer) risk was that high." I was worried and tormented, and this made me begin to collect information regarding radiation and radiation exposure.
Later on I found a hospital that would conduct thyroid ultrasound examination. We all underwent the examination including the daughter who did not qualify for the thyroid examination by Fukushima Health Management Survey, and it turns out we all had thyroid cysts which were recommended to be followed up every 6 months.
I couldn't trust the whole body counter (WBC) examination conducted by Fukushima City or Fukushima Prefecture, we were tested by a non-profit organization. All of us had previous WBC test results below the detectable limit, but two of the children had cesium 137 six months later. I had no idea what to do. I cried every day, hiding from my children.
From that time on, I began to have dry coughs of unknown etiology. When I went to a hospital, I was told "An increasing number of people had the same symptom." As my cough would subside during a convalescent stay outside Fukushima Prefecture, I asked the doctor, "Do you think this is the effect of radiation?" I was simply told, "We have no such reports, so we don't know."
My son in grade school began to complain of bone pain in the sole of his feet. Furthermore, many others around us, at all ages, also complained of bone pain in the soles of their feet.
If we evacuate outside Fukushima Prefecture, can we make a living under such conditions? I was so worried about my children getting used to the new schools and a new life that I was not able to make a decision on evacuation. However, I finally decided when someone told me,"Your health and life take precedence over such little matters." I began to look for a place to evacuate to and eventually settle.
Most of the government-assisted evacuation arrangements had ended at the end of last year. The only option was to rely on a private group making evacuation arrangements. As I wanted to move to the west of Tokyo, we ended up evacuating to Yamanashi Prefecture.
Health of all the family members quickly deteriorated during the period awaiting evacuation. My work had necessitated me to walk around a high-radiation district a lot for several months. My dry cough got so bad to the point of nearly choking in the middle of the night.
Beginning with the soles of my feet, bone pain extended to arms and legs. Parts of arms and legs exposed to air had stingy pain and itchiness. Stuffy throat and phlegm gradually worsened.
There were occasions when a sudden episode of fatigue temporarily immobilized me in a car. The arm bone pain was so bad that I could barely open and close doors. I got so scared that I stopped walking the particular district, and soon the bone pain subsided.
My grade school age son continued to have nausea and headache upon awakening in the morning. When he went to the hospital, they found blood in his urine. His allergies had tripled what he already had. Doctors diagnosed allergies as the potential reason for not feeling well.
However, no medication relieved nausea and headache, and he often had diarrhea. I also began to have continuing nausea, headache and diarrhea.
When we went to a different hospital, we were told the symptoms were psychological, and the etiology remained unknown. At this point, my son's blood pressure had gone down to 82/50.
My son's health gradually deteriorated with the dark circles under his eyes expanding. He could barely go to school during the three months before evacuation.
Air dose level immediately outside the house was 0.8 μSv/h, but there were some spots with air dose level of 1.5-2.0 μSv/h inside the property boundaries. Even inside the house it was 0.3-0.5 μSv/h. That was the condition we lived in.
I discussed with the school principal the thyroid issues in my children and the anxiety I felt about my children walking to school through some areas with high radiation, but all I got back was an unbelievable answer, "I think even 5 mSv annually is fine. You can't live anywhere if you are worked about such matters.
When I checked the air dose levels at school on my own, there were multiple spots that were right around 1.5 μSv/h. However, the school would not release such data.
Then the school swimming pool reopened for swim classes after two years of closure. I was at a loss for word when the release form stated, "Any students who cannot participate in swim classes are required to turn in a medical certificate from a hospital."
My daughter already had a skin ailment of unknown etiology, which got much worse than ever. My son sensed abnormality of his ill health and sometimes would cry in bed asking, "Something like this never happened to me before. Why is it happening now?"
First week after we evacuated to Yamanashi, we had nausea, headaches, diarrhea and fatigue. We also had badly stuffed throat and phlegm. But gradually the frequency of theses symptoms decreased from every two days, every three days, and so on. I could tell the dark circles under my son's eye was gradually lightening up and disappearing.
Soon after that, my children and I went to a hospital in Tokyo for thyroid examination. We were surprised to hear the results later, as all of us had results which were totally different from the results in Fukushima
My son continued to have blood in urine. We were told to "take him to a specialist as the blood test results are concerning." When I took him to a hospital in Yamanashi, he was diagnosed with "autonomic nervous system disorder."
However, the diagnosis was not convincing enough, considering his symptoms and my own ill health. I came to distrust hospitals, and we quit going to doctors.
About one month after evacuating, my children and I felt much better, and my son was able to go to school.
Although we don't feel well occasionally, we no longer have abnormal symptoms we used to get in Fukushima. It was only when our health improved that we realized that "we were in a scary place," and recognized how scary radiation could be.
After we evacuated, we returned home to Fukushima twice. Each time our health worsened.
More people who remained in Fukushima are suffering from the same symptoms as mine. More people have died. There are more children who got leukemia, who began to have bloody noses and who have thyroid cancer. Children with thyroid cancer and their mothers are really suffering. Many parents want "at least children" to survive, but parents need to be healthy to be able to raise the children.
I wish both adults and children would be evacuated from high radiation areas as soon as possible.
Many evacuees, including me, are full of regrets that they didn't "evacuate sooner." I don't want any more people to feel the same way, regretting that they "could not fully protect the children."
I would like the government and TEPCO to reveal the truth and own up their responsibilities and do what they need to do.
In addition, they should get to know more about how we are burdened with double and triple suffering due to radiation even before our psychological damages are healed.
Thank you for listening.
*****From the Q/A session:
Question: You said the thyroid examination results in Tokyo were different from those in Fukushima. How so?
Answer: In Fukushima, my son's thyroid ultrasound examination showed two cysts. When we went to another clinic, it still showed two cysts. When I took him to a hospital in Tokyo, he had not only cysts but also nodules; he was given a diagnosis of thyroid adenomatous goiter. In addition, he had lymphadenopathy with over 10 lymph nodes involved.
*****
Testimony by a mother with two daughters and a grade-school age son who is the youngest.
I was born and raised in Fukushima Prefecture. I was living in Fukushima at the time of Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear accident. This summer, I decided to voluntarily evacuate to Yamanashi Prefecture due to health issues experienced by me as well as my children. I would like to describe how I came about deciding to evacuate and how things changed after the evacuation.
At the time of the earthquake and tsunami, the lifeline was disrupted. In order to obtain food and necessary goods, my family walked to a store we would normally drive to. We had to wait in line for hours to shop. The news of the nuclear accident came in the midst of it. I still remember how it was very hard for me and my children to breathe due to strange smell and difficulty taking a breath.
Every day the government and specialists said on TV, "There is no worry." and "There is no immediate health effect." Despite feeling anxious, I took those words as is, and we ate local vegetables and drank tap water.
My children had restrictions on outside activities at school. They could not play outside, and those were difficult days. We were just living a day-to-day life, and I was too busy with work and didn’t have time to research radiation and radiation exposure. Time went by, and there was a thyroid ultrasound examination as part of Fukushima Health Management Survey one year after the accident.
When the results came in mail. Two children who were examined both had nodules and were classified as "A2," and "No need for a follow-up until the examination in two years." I was in shock.
There were no ultrasound images, and I had no idea what kind of condition they were in. It was just a piece of paper, and I was full of mistrust.
I thought about evacuating from Fukushima then, but voluntary evacuation was not guaranteed to get financially compensated. As a single mother living with my parents, I had no courage or money to leave home to support my children, so I gave up.
I wanted to get thyroid ultrasound examinations on my own, but I had been told "No local hospital would conduct thyroid examinations." Time simply passed by while my worries continued.
When the new year came, I tried to get my children life insurance policy as I thought "anything could happen from now on." I reported the thyroid ultrasound examination results in the application form, and I was told later on that they were "unable to attach any special policy regarding cancer." I asked for reevaluation and managed to get policies, but this experience made me realize that "The fact that the insurance company came up with such a result is because they decided the (cancer) risk was that high." I was worried and tormented, and this made me begin to collect information regarding radiation and radiation exposure.
Later on I found a hospital that would conduct thyroid ultrasound examination. We all underwent the examination including the daughter who did not qualify for the thyroid examination by Fukushima Health Management Survey, and it turns out we all had thyroid cysts which were recommended to be followed up every 6 months.
I couldn't trust the whole body counter (WBC) examination conducted by Fukushima City or Fukushima Prefecture, we were tested by a non-profit organization. All of us had previous WBC test results below the detectable limit, but two of the children had cesium 137 six months later. I had no idea what to do. I cried every day, hiding from my children.
From that time on, I began to have dry coughs of unknown etiology. When I went to a hospital, I was told "An increasing number of people had the same symptom." As my cough would subside during a convalescent stay outside Fukushima Prefecture, I asked the doctor, "Do you think this is the effect of radiation?" I was simply told, "We have no such reports, so we don't know."
My son in grade school began to complain of bone pain in the sole of his feet. Furthermore, many others around us, at all ages, also complained of bone pain in the soles of their feet.
If we evacuate outside Fukushima Prefecture, can we make a living under such conditions? I was so worried about my children getting used to the new schools and a new life that I was not able to make a decision on evacuation. However, I finally decided when someone told me,"Your health and life take precedence over such little matters." I began to look for a place to evacuate to and eventually settle.
Most of the government-assisted evacuation arrangements had ended at the end of last year. The only option was to rely on a private group making evacuation arrangements. As I wanted to move to the west of Tokyo, we ended up evacuating to Yamanashi Prefecture.
Health of all the family members quickly deteriorated during the period awaiting evacuation. My work had necessitated me to walk around a high-radiation district a lot for several months. My dry cough got so bad to the point of nearly choking in the middle of the night.
Beginning with the soles of my feet, bone pain extended to arms and legs. Parts of arms and legs exposed to air had stingy pain and itchiness. Stuffy throat and phlegm gradually worsened.
There were occasions when a sudden episode of fatigue temporarily immobilized me in a car. The arm bone pain was so bad that I could barely open and close doors. I got so scared that I stopped walking the particular district, and soon the bone pain subsided.
My grade school age son continued to have nausea and headache upon awakening in the morning. When he went to the hospital, they found blood in his urine. His allergies had tripled what he already had. Doctors diagnosed allergies as the potential reason for not feeling well.
However, no medication relieved nausea and headache, and he often had diarrhea. I also began to have continuing nausea, headache and diarrhea.
When we went to a different hospital, we were told the symptoms were psychological, and the etiology remained unknown. At this point, my son's blood pressure had gone down to 82/50.
My son's health gradually deteriorated with the dark circles under his eyes expanding. He could barely go to school during the three months before evacuation.
Air dose level immediately outside the house was 0.8 μSv/h, but there were some spots with air dose level of 1.5-2.0 μSv/h inside the property boundaries. Even inside the house it was 0.3-0.5 μSv/h. That was the condition we lived in.
I discussed with the school principal the thyroid issues in my children and the anxiety I felt about my children walking to school through some areas with high radiation, but all I got back was an unbelievable answer, "I think even 5 mSv annually is fine. You can't live anywhere if you are worked about such matters.
When I checked the air dose levels at school on my own, there were multiple spots that were right around 1.5 μSv/h. However, the school would not release such data.
Then the school swimming pool reopened for swim classes after two years of closure. I was at a loss for word when the release form stated, "Any students who cannot participate in swim classes are required to turn in a medical certificate from a hospital."
My daughter already had a skin ailment of unknown etiology, which got much worse than ever. My son sensed abnormality of his ill health and sometimes would cry in bed asking, "Something like this never happened to me before. Why is it happening now?"
First week after we evacuated to Yamanashi, we had nausea, headaches, diarrhea and fatigue. We also had badly stuffed throat and phlegm. But gradually the frequency of theses symptoms decreased from every two days, every three days, and so on. I could tell the dark circles under my son's eye was gradually lightening up and disappearing.
Soon after that, my children and I went to a hospital in Tokyo for thyroid examination. We were surprised to hear the results later, as all of us had results which were totally different from the results in Fukushima
My son continued to have blood in urine. We were told to "take him to a specialist as the blood test results are concerning." When I took him to a hospital in Yamanashi, he was diagnosed with "autonomic nervous system disorder."
However, the diagnosis was not convincing enough, considering his symptoms and my own ill health. I came to distrust hospitals, and we quit going to doctors.
About one month after evacuating, my children and I felt much better, and my son was able to go to school.
Although we don't feel well occasionally, we no longer have abnormal symptoms we used to get in Fukushima. It was only when our health improved that we realized that "we were in a scary place," and recognized how scary radiation could be.
After we evacuated, we returned home to Fukushima twice. Each time our health worsened.
More people who remained in Fukushima are suffering from the same symptoms as mine. More people have died. There are more children who got leukemia, who began to have bloody noses and who have thyroid cancer. Children with thyroid cancer and their mothers are really suffering. Many parents want "at least children" to survive, but parents need to be healthy to be able to raise the children.
I wish both adults and children would be evacuated from high radiation areas as soon as possible.
Many evacuees, including me, are full of regrets that they didn't "evacuate sooner." I don't want any more people to feel the same way, regretting that they "could not fully protect the children."
I would like the government and TEPCO to reveal the truth and own up their responsibilities and do what they need to do.
In addition, they should get to know more about how we are burdened with double and triple suffering due to radiation even before our psychological damages are healed.
Thank you for listening.
*****From the Q/A session:
Question: You said the thyroid examination results in Tokyo were different from those in Fukushima. How so?
Answer: In Fukushima, my son's thyroid ultrasound examination showed two cysts. When we went to another clinic, it still showed two cysts. When I took him to a hospital in Tokyo, he had not only cysts but also nodules; he was given a diagnosis of thyroid adenomatous goiter. In addition, he had lymphadenopathy with over 10 lymph nodes involved.
Did the NSA conceal Fukushima meltdown from military sent into area?
From: The Washington Times
WASHINGTON, December 24, 2013 – As over fifty US Navy sailors who served about the USS Ronald Reagan and other Navy ships responding to the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan report falling ill to cancer and other radiation-linked diseases, it is critical to ascertain if the NSA intercepted telephone and email communications from the Tokyo Electric Power Company.
The question of whether the spy agency already knew that TEPCO was covering up the multi-reactor meltdown at the time the Pentagon ordered sailors into harm’s way during “Operation Tomodachi” needs to be answered.
It would be hard to imagine that the NSA, the embattled spy agency which has been caught eavesdropping on the Pope, among other heads of state, was not using all available surveillance technology and Japanese translators to monitor the unfolding TEPCO catastrophe, continually providing the Obama Administration with frequent updates on the unfolding situation.
A king without a crown: Chinook vulnerable to ocean forces
FROM: Alaska Journal of Commerce
Editor’s note: This is the ninth in the Morris Communications series “The case for conserving the Kenai king salmon.”
Alaska’s long-lived monarch — the king salmon — has fallen from its throne. (...)
Fukushima
Since 2011, when a large-scale earthquake off the coast of Japan sent a tsunami of devastating proportions careening into the country’s coastline, the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant has been leaking nuclear waste into the Pacific Ocean. Current reports from news outlets around the world have said leakage continues today, with some indicating the waste is as prolific as ever.
In August of 2013, the Juneau Empire penned an editorial that took a surface look at what may be happening in the Pacific surrounding to the flow of currents and the migration patterns of marine life. In short, they urged officials, as well as state and federal agencies “to be proactive about conducting research and monitoring our salmon species.”
When asked about the potential impact Fukushima may be having on king salmon stocks in the Gulf of Alaska and elsewhere in the state, Orsi would not comment.
“I’ve been told to refer you to the (Environmental Protection Agency),” he said, “Because I’m not an expert on the topic.”
Calls and emails to the EPA were not returned and digging on the federal agency’s site revealed no current information on radiation from the Fukushima disaster; the last posted monitoring results occurred in June of 2011. In a report issued by the EPA after the disaster, the agency stated the “Japanese sand lance is only fish that exceeded radiation standards — does not migrate … Migratory patterns of North American Pacific salmon most commonly do not reach the coastal or offshore waters of Japan … The majority of Alaska salmon spend most of their ocean residence in the Gulf of Alaska.”
In a September 2013 update from the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA stated it “has no evidence that radionuclides from the Fukushima incident are present in the U.S. food supply at levels that would pose a public health concern. This is true for both FDA-regulated food products imported from Japan and U.S. domestic food products, including seafood caught off the coast of the United States.”
The notice went on to state the FDA is not advising consumers to alter their consumption of particular foods “imported from Japan … including seafood.”
So while it appears seafood is safe to eat, it remains unclear if there are factors negatively and specifically affecting Alaska’s king salmon production.
In an Oct. 24 article the New York Times reported emissions from the damaged plant are such that oceanographer Michio Aoyama believes "radioactive cesium 137 may now be leaking into the Pacific at a rate of about 30 billion becquerels per day, or about three times as high as last year. He estimates that strontium 90 may be entering the Pacific at a similar rate. … scientists suspect that the new releases are having measurable effects beyond the harbor.” (...)
Fukushima's cancer epidemic: the reality revealed
FROM: Ecologist
USS Reagan & Fukushima cancer levels are miles above comparative levels, according to John Ward. Slowly, the world is waking up to the realities of Japan's nuclear catastrophe: this disaster is real.
The media blackout surrounding the Japanese nuclear power plant is slowly imploding.
We have seen strong evidence of poor build quality in the original General Electric construction at Fukushima. We have seen example after example of covered up seriousness and urgency by both Tepco the plant owners, and the Tokyo government keen to keep its ownership of the 2020 Olympic Games.
Now evidence is coming through to flatly contradict Establishment reassurances about cancer levels both among Fukushima residents, and on board USS Ronald Reagan - the US aircraft carrier that sailed offshore from Fukushima after the 2011 tsunami to bring aid and relief to a stricken population.
Before we get going, the good news is that California-based lawyer Charles Bonner (see below) has confirmed to me that he is still heavily involved in the case of 70+ US navy personnel currently attempting to get redress for various illnesses that have all the hallmarks of radiation sickness.
Fukushima: before the accident
FROM: The Voice of Russia
The catastrophe at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant forced us to recall other accidents in the area of civilian nuclear power. A lot of nuclear and radiation accidents have taken place over the half a century's worth of history. To classify these accidents in 1990 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) introduced the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, INES.
The catastrophe at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant forced us to recall other accidents in the area of civilian nuclear power. A lot of nuclear and radiation accidents have taken place over the half a century's worth of history. To classify these accidents in 1990 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) introduced the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, INES.
The scale has seven levels. Every next level is meant to classify incidents, the intensity of which is ten times higher than the preceding one – it is similar to the magnitude of earthquakes scale. Naturally, the rating is approximate as one can differently interpret the seriousness and intensity of such events. The INES scale was developed for the civilian nuclear power, although it can be used for extraordinary situations with military equipment to obtain plutonium, nuclear warheads and nuclear submarines.
The IAEA assigned the top seventh level to two accidents: in Fukushima in 2011 and in Chernobyl in 1986. The similarity between the two is in the horrific scale and the consequences. There is no direct similarity, explains Nikolai Kukharkin, an advisor to the director of the Kurchatov Institute:
"The scenarios were different. Chernobyl was a purely reactor accident, its causes were in the reactor. While Fukushima was a natural catastrophe. The important thing there was that there was a tsunami, which poured water on the equipment at the station. The reactors are of different types. There was an overheating. But in Chernobyl the causes were internal related to the incorrect regime of reactor use. There was an experiment underway there and the reactor was put into a different mode. In Fukushima there was a catastrophe, a wave. The power supply was cut off, the active zone started heating up, it was destroyed and radiation was discharged".
Fukushima evacuees to go home for holiday season
FROM: The Economic Times
TOKYO: Some Fukushima residents who fled their homes near the crippled Japanese nuclear plant are temporarily returning home during the New Year season, officials said Wednesday.
But fewer than 10 per cent of more than 27,000 people eligible for the temporary repatriation programme are taking part, amid fears of high radiation.
TOKYO: Some Fukushima residents who fled their homes near the crippled Japanese nuclear plant are temporarily returning home during the New Year season, officials said Wednesday.
But fewer than 10 per cent of more than 27,000 people eligible for the temporary repatriation programme are taking part, amid fears of high radiation.
Fukushima is worse than Chernobyl: radiation affects fish, World Ocean, West Coast - experts
FROM: The Voice of Russia
Three years on, the general public is still nervous about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster of March 2011. Heavy rain has caused more contaminated water leaks over the protection dike recently. The Japanese are increasingly distrustful of atomic scientists' claims that the contaminated water has failed to make it to the ocean. Meanwhile, The Cape Cod Times US newspapers reports that the Fukushima toxic waste is reaching the US West Coast, while 70 crewmembers of the US Ronald Reagan aircraft-carrier, involved in the relief operation in the wake of the disaster, are filing a lawsuit against the TEPCO Fukushima operator company, claiming the Japanese company had failed to warn them of all the risks that they were running during the operation.
USS Ronald Reaganwas riding athwart in the radioactive discharge plume 10 miles away from the crippled Fukushima plant. The crew desalinated seawater to use it in cooking, with some crewmembers developing cancerous diseases and/or becoming blind as a result.
The contamination of the ocean within the 10-mile zone of the nuclear power plant is due to the fact that some of the reactor nuclear decay products made it to the ocean, rather than to the air, as was the case in Chernobyl in 1986. Currents take harmful agents to great distances, so the seafood and fish that are caught in the contaminated currents even in other parts of the world may still prove a health hazard, says the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Natural Resources,Maxim Shingarkin.
"Because of the World Ocean currents, the seafood that's caught off the US Pacific coast is more likely to contain radionuclides than the seafood in the Sea of Okhotsk, which is by far closer to Japan. It is these marine products that may find their way to the tables of different countries' residents that pose the gravest danger," he said.
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