Fukushima: Tepco Sends In The Raccoon

Fukushima: Tepco Sends In The Raccoon

A robot vacuum cleaner dubbed the Raccoon is to tackle contamination within Fukushima Daiichi 2 in preparation for workers re-entering the building.

From 28 November Tepco will begin a trial of the powerful remote-controlled washer unit. This will move around the floor of the reactor building’s first level, scrubbing and jet washing the concrete surface in an attempt to bring down radiation levels. If successful, this method could be used throughout the building.

Unit 2 is the only one of the four stricken reactors at the site that did not experience a hydrogen explosion and so remains basically airtight without the need for a secondary cover. Most of the radioactive material given off by the damaged core was retained within the building and is now distributed around its internal surfaces, putting it off-limits for workers.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Masked artist makes sticky issue out of radiation in Japan

(Reuters) - With his face hidden behind sunglasses and a white surgical mask, the artist is almost as invisible as the radioactive contamination he is protesting against - yet his stickers are graphic reminders of the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Known as 281 Antinuke, Japan's answer to Banksy has covered Tokyo streets in images depicting politicians as vampires and children being shielded from radioactive rain to highlight the consequences of a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant after an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

The disaster and the response by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T) (Tepco) stoked anti-nuclear sentiment and the biggest public protests in Japan since the 1960s, but the movement has since lost momentum.

"Perhaps because everyone believes people telling them on television that everything is fine, they don't seem so worried," 281 Antinuke told Reuters.

"I hope by leaving my art I can remind people that we're not safe at all ... and that they will do something to protect themselves."

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Great Graph

Fukushima fallout: Should the West Coast be concerned?

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit, the strongest ever recorded in Japan. And then from our televisions, we watched a monstrous tsunami annihilate the most prepared country in the world.

I saw, firsthand, the enormous devastation: Entire towns wiped out, and piles of rubble 30 feet high.

But the third part of this disaster has the potential to be the worst of all, yet the damage is almost invisible. The Fukushima nuclear power plant continues to spew radiation. It's 5,300 miles from Los Angeles -- and still not far enough.  

(FULL ARTICLE AND VIDEO---LINK)

Stuck with Radiation

Stuck with Radiation Video--LINK

Emperor Akihito receives delivery of Fukushima rice upon his request

Emperor Akihito receives delivery of Fukushima rice upon his request

(Note: Emperor Akhito is 80 years old, a prostate cancer victim already, so it is unlikely that 80 year old Emperor Akhito will be affected by this. A younger individual may be tempting fate however since the dangers inherent in radioactive food is cancer a decade or two or three down the road.)

To probably show the world that there is no danger from products that come out of the Fukushima Prefecture, Emperor Akihito requested that a portion of the rice harvested from Fukushima be delivered to the Imperial Palace. The rice was initially given to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last October, as a gift from the farmers of Hirano.

(FULL ARTICLE--LINK)

Typhoons spreading Fukushima fallout

Typhoons spreading Fukushima fallout

Typhoons that hit Japan each year are contributing to the spread of radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster into the country's waterways, researchers say.

A joint study by France's Climate and Environmental Science laboratory (LSCE) and Tsukuba University in Japan shows contaminated soil gets washed away by the high winds and rain and deposited in streams and rivers.

"There is a definite dispersal towards the ocean," LSCE researcher Olivier Evrard said Wednesday.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Thanks to brave men on Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Message from Arnie Gunderson

New on the Voice of Russia: Research Findings Indicate a Higher Risk of Cancer Among Children Born After the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

New on the Voice of Russia: Research Findings Indicate a Higher Risk of Cancer Among Children Born After the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project Spoke with the Voice of Russia about the Startling Post-Fukushima Statistics

NEW YORK — After the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, little attention was paid to how the radiation leaks can affect the health of children living in the U.S. Joseph Mangano, epidemiologist and Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project research group, spoke to the Voice of Russia about the study that showed that kids born after 2010 have some 26% percent higher risks of rare cancers and birth defects.

After the study by the Radiation and Public Health Project research was made public there was little response or reaction in the U.S. Although, Joseph Mangano expects to hear from people more as there are great concerns about the safety of food in water, even in the U.S., from Fukushima.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

What is the future of Fukushima??

Fukushima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl...the big three when one thinks of meltdowns.  Chernobyl happened in 1986.  That was twenty-seven years ago and like Fukushima Chernobyl cast it's deadly poisons all across the Northern Hemisphere.  To stop it's flow of radiation a temporary sarcophagus was constructed that was intended to last until 2006.  It is now crumbling and is in the process of being replaced. The work is slow and it is not clear whether the reactor can be torn down and if it is where does one put the waste. All reactors create huge piles of waste that cannot be disposed of. They are extremely messy and the waste left behind remains deadly for centuries...eons really.  Here are links to a few articles about Chernobyl.  This was one reactor not three and Chernobyl had very little spent fuel lying around as it was practically new when it exploded. The tragedy that is Fukushima will likely last until the last man on earth has drawn his last breath.

Chernobyl's arch: Sealing off a radioactive sarcophagus

Chernobyl is surrounding by a forest of radioactive trees. A fire in this forest will send deadly radiation spreading across the continent once again. "If ignited, one expert likens the potential effect to setting off a nuclear bomb in Eastern Europe. Wind could carry radioactive smoke particles large distances, not just in Ukraine, but right across the continent."

Chernobyl's radioactive trees and the forest fire risk

Great Britain is a relatively small country compared to say Russia or the United States. Reactors create waste and no suitable way has yet been found in any country to safely store or get rid of this waste. Experiments have been done in the past to "burn up" or repurpose fuel.  These experiments have gone badly and this is why each reactor has a graveyard of spent fuel sitting in pools by their plant. Fuel that must be kept cool and unexposed to air for thousands of years.  Here is an article explaining  the UK's idea to "burn up" this fuel. Left over after this would be a stew of Strontium and other substances that must still be stored for a long long time. 

Revealed: UK Government's radical plan to ‘burn up’ UK’s mountain of plutonium

 

Japan mulls more than $100 mln new spending on Fukushima water-crisis - sources

Japan mulls more than $100 mln new spending on Fukushima water-crisis - sources

(Reuters) - Japan is considering more than $100 million in extra government spending to handle contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, boosting the budget allocation by at least a fifth, government officials familiar with the matter said.

The additional budget allocation of between 10 billion and 15 billion yen aims to accelerate work on containing leaks and decontaminating the water, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism

Japan Reacts to Fukushima Crisis By Banning Journalism 

Japan – Like the U.S. – Turns to Censorship

2 weeks after the Fukushima accident, we reported that the government responded to the nuclear accident by trying to raise acceptable radiation levels and pretending that radiation is good for us.

We noted earlier this month:

Japan will likely pass a new anti-whistleblowing law in an attempt to silence criticism of Tepco and the government:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government is planning a state secrets act that critics say could curtail public access to information on a wide range of issues, including tensions with China and theFukushima nuclear crisis.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK) 

Unprecedented die offs and odd life form behavior on the U.S. west coast

Unprecedented die offs and odd life form behavior on the U.S. west coast

A rise in terrible sounding diseases like bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease has wildlife biologists upset. According to a Nov. 18 article in the Missoulian, the rise in mass die-offs has affected birds, bats, mammals and reptiles from Wyoming and Montana to the rest of the western U.S....The culprits could be climate change, Fukushima radiation exposure, hazardous man-made toxins or alien species infestation. These unprecedented events will continue to receive attention, if not frantic measures to save many lifeforms from decimation or extinction.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

FUKUSHIMA IS CONTAMINATING THE ENTIRE PACIFIC AND NORTHERN HEMISPHERES-

Fukushima ☢ Beyond Urgent ☢ November 2013

Fukushima is collapsing - the worst is coming...

Fukushima Fear: Radiation rises, 'nobody really knows how to dodge disas...

‘We Are Suffering A Slow-Motion Nuclear War’ – Interview

...As staff member of the Hiroshima Peace Institute you are first-rank witness of the severest nuclear catastrophe of modern times. Fukushima typifies several dangers of all things nuclear: The difficulties to control the technology, the recklessness of administrations, both private and public, and the fact that radioactivity does not respect national borders. How do you see the catastrophe?

RJ: I see the catastrophe as absolutely horrifying and ongoing. There is no discernible end in sight to this tragedy, radiation will continue to seep into the Pacific Ocean for decades. I think that there were many instances of negligence that facilitated the disaster. The design of the reactors and site was bad. The maintenance of the plant was neglected for decades. Adequate emergency procedures were never designed or enacted. In many ways, this highlights the problems not just of nuclear power but especially of privately run, for profit, nuclear power plants. In this case profits are raised by lowering costs, a process which both facilitated and accelerated the disaster. TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) notoriously has neglected its nuclear plants in honour of increasing profitability.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Fukushima Is Out Of Control – Again

The surest evidence of a censured and compromised media is the absence of honest coverage on what is happening in Fukushima Japan. Did you know that the core in at least one reactor has breached all manmade containments and is burning its way slowly into the earth? When it hits a water table, the likelihood of an explosion underground many times more powerful than the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in the second world war is all but assured.  

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Can we risk another Fukushima?

Tom Burke expresses his disgust at those who downplay the enormity of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, and asks: is the world willing to tolerate repeat nuclear disasters? If not the answer is simple - an end to nuclear power.

An accident anywhere is an accident everywhere. It is not hard to imagine the public reaction globally to another nuclear accident on the Fukushima scale. There would be calls everywhere for reactor shut downs.

One of the more opportunistic responses to the meltdown at Fukushima was that of nuclear advocates claiming that since there were no shots of anyone dying on TV public anxiety about nuclear power was misplaced and environmentalists opposition to nuclear power unjustified.

Reducing a multidimensional energy policy issue to a body count - nuclear kills less people than coal so it’s OK - is not an argument of profound analytic integrity. On this logic no-one should make a journey by road if there is an option to fly since traffic accidents kill more people every year than aviation.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Crippled Fukushima: dangerous operation to remove fuel rods from reactor begins

Workers at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have started removing fuel rods from the storage pool near the roof of the plant’s fourth reactor that suffered a series of hydrogen explosions in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The unprecedented and extremely risky operation is supposed to last almost a year during which TEPCO, the plant’s operator, plans to remove more than 1,500 spent fuel rods assemblies from a damaged cooling pool situated 18 meters above ground with packing radiation thousands of times higher than normal. Each assembly is 4.5 m long and weighs about 300 kg.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_11_26/Crippled-Fukushima-dangerous-operation-to-remove-fuel-rods-from-reactor-begins-3210/

State secrecy bill could have a chilling effect on reporting

SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES – The state secrecy bill before the Diet could have a powerful chilling effect on news reporting in Japan. Prior LDP governments have repeatedly proposed laws creating broad secrecy powers, but dropped them in the face of popular opposition. The current bill has been condemned by news organizations, ad hoc groups of university professors, the national federation of bar associations, labor unions and other citizen groups, and even by United Nations special rapporteurs and some international organizations like the PEN Club....

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK) 

Japan cracks down on leaks after scandal of Fukushima nuclear power plant

In April 2011, while Fukushima’s fires still smouldered, journalists scrambled to find sources who could shed any light on the nuclear crisis. 

In a car park 25 miles south of the plant, a nervous maintenance worker on a rare break told The Independent that conditions onsite were chaotic and dangerous. Workers were exhausted; nobody at the top seemed to know what they were doing.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Effects of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns on environment and health March 9th, 2012

Effects of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns on environment and healthMarch 9th, 2012

...Conclusions:

• The damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant leading to the emission of

radioactivity was caused primarily by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Further damage was

incurred by the ensuing tsunami. Overheating of the core due to total power failure then

caused separate nuclear meltdowns in reactors 3 and the spent fuel pond of reactor 4

• Atmospheric emissions of more than 30 radioactive isotopes occurred through the explosions

in reactors 1-3 and the spent fuel pond of reactor 4, smoke from the ensuing fires, deliberate

venting of the reactors to relieve pressure as well as the evaporation of massive amounts of

water used for cooling the reactors

• Total emission of iodine-131 in the first three to four days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster

amounted to about 20% of the total iodine-131 emissions of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Total emission of caesium-137 in the first three to four days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster

amounted to about 40-60% of the total caesium-137 emissions of the Chernobyl nuclear

disaster

• While iodine-131 and caesium-137 are the most prominent radioactive isotopes emitted by

Fukushima, strontium-90, xenon-133, plutonium-239 and more than two dozen more

radioactive substances were spread throughout the region as radioactive fallout.

• Marine and groundwater contamination was caused by backflow and deliberate discharge of

radioactive waste water from the plant. With approximately 15-27 PBq of radioactive marine

discharge, the Fukushima nuclear disaster constitutes the single worst radioactive

contamination of the oceans ever recorded. Dilution and dispersion effects may reduce the

amount of contamination in the vicinity of the plant, but only causes the long-lived radioactive

isotopes to spread out over a larger area, exposing an even greater population to the effects

of radioactive contamination.

• Radioactive fallout occurred mainly above the Northern Pacific (79%), with about 19% of the

fallout contaminating Eastern Honshu island, including the Tokyo Metropolitan area and

leaving an area of more than 1000 km2 highly contaminated with radioactive isotopes

• 200,000 people were forced to leave their homes as a 20 km2 zone around the plant was

evacuated indefinitely

• 70,000 people remained in more than 870 km2 of highly contaminated land outside of the

evacuation zone, where they were exposed to an external radioactivity 100 times higher than

the normal background radiation in the first year after the catastrophe.

• The risk of developing cancer and other radiation-induced diseases increased proportionally to

the amount of radioactive exposure. There is no lower threshold, as even the slightest amount

of radioactivity can cause harmful tissue damage and genetic mutations.

• Radioactive contamination has been detected in all kinds of fruits and vegetables grown in the

affected regions as well as in meat of animals grazing on contaminated land. Radioactivity has

also been detected in milk, tea and tap water, even in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Eating just

500g of contaminated vegetables can cause internal exposure to more than 100 times the

normal annual amount of radioactive food content for adults and more than 200 times for

children.

• Fish and seafood caught in the North Pacific are highly contaminated, with a clear

accumulation of radioactivity in animals higher up the food-chain in the months after the

disaster. Washout and bioaccumulation will continue to cause radioactive contamination of

marine animals for many years.

• Children are most severely affected by radioactivity, as their bodies have a higher sensibility

and as their natural habits expose them to greater dosage. Raising the permissible radioactive

dose level to 20 mSv per year and withholding iodine tablets has led to a high exposure of

children in Fukushima prefecture.

• It is too early and too little data exists in order to estimate the extent of health effects caused

by the nuclear disaster. Large-scale epidemiological studies are required in order to determine

the effect and the extent of health consequences for the population. It is important that this

research is performed by independent groups not associated with the nuclear industry, such

as TEPCO, JAEA, the IAEA or affiliated organizations.

• Claims by scientists affiliated with the nuclear industry that no health effects are to be

expected are unscientific and immoral.

FULL REPORT CAN BE FOUND HERE--LINK

Fukushima nuclear disaster causes cancer and birth defects in US newborns – epidemiologist

Fukushima nuclear disaster causes cancer and birth defects in US newborns – epidemiologist

After the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, little attention was paid to how the radiation leaks can affect the health of children who live in the US. Joseph Mangano, epidemiologist and Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project research group, speaks with the Voice of Russia about the study that showed that kids born after 2010 have some 26% percent higher risks to have cancer and birth defects. But the US keep silent on the problem.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_11_26/Fukushima-nuclear-disaster-causes-cancer-and-birth-defects-in-US-newborns-epidemiologist-1487/

Japan may yet need outside help to deal with Fukushima disaster

Nations take pride from emerging stronger from dire adversity. That need not include refusing expert outside help. In the case of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, it is debatable whether some aspects of the clean up are any less dangerous than the events on March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown of three of the six reactor cores. But Japan is going it alone with the work.

The most difficult and risky task since the tsunami is under way - the removal of spent uranium and plutonium fuel rods from an unstable storage pool in a reactor building. What would normally be a routine operation will be dangerous because of conditions created by the disaster. Should the rods touch each other or be exposed to air, highly radioactive gases will be released or, worse, there could be a catastrophic explosion.  (FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Fukushima's Nuclear Plume Is Heading Toward My SoCal Beach

Fukushima's Nuclear Plume Is Heading Toward My SoCal Beach

Not a lot of good news has been coming out of Japan lately. This week at the United Nations COP 19 climate talks meeting in Warsaw it was announced thatJapan will renege on its carbon emissions pledge. This means that instead of lowering its emissions of greenhouse gases by 2020 its emissions will actually increase based on 1990 levels. The reason Japanese officials give is because of the shutdown of its fifty nuclear power plants, which will mean more reliance on fossil fuels to meet its energy needs.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/11/25/fukushimas-nuclear-plume-heading-toward-my-socal-beach

U.N. nuclear agency begins review of Japan's Fukushima plant

Mari SaitoReuters

4:00 a.m. CST, November 25, 2013

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear experts arrived in Japan on Monday to assess the decommissioning of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and the operator's progress in removing fuel rods from a destroyed reactor building and minimizing leaks of contaminated water.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.'s watchdog for nuclear power, is conducting its second review of plans for decommissioning that may take four decades after the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

(FULL ARTICLE--LINK)

Fish stocks threatened by Fukushima leaks

Fish stocks threatened by Fukushima leaks

For more than two years, tons of radioactive water has been seeping daily into the ocean from Japan's crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima. Experts examine the impact on fish stocks and how the leaks could be stopped. (FULL ARTICLE--LINK)

Why TEPCO is Risking the Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods. The Dangers of Uncontrolled Global Nuclear Radiation

Why TEPCO is Risking the Removal of Fukushima Fuel Rods. The Dangers of Uncontrolled Global Nuclear Radiation

After repeated delays since the summer of 2011, the Tokyo Electric Power Company has launched a high-risk operation to empty the spent-fuel pool atop Reactor 4 at the Dai-ichi (No.1) Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

The urgency attached to this particular site, as compared with reactors damaged in meltdowns, arises from several factors:

-         over 400 tons of nuclear material in the pool could reignite

-         the fire-damaged tank is tilting badly and may topple over sooner than later

-         collapse of the structure could trigger a chain reaction and nuclear blast, and

-         consequent radioactive releases would heavily contaminate much of the world.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Poor TEPCO! Upset That News Media Reported Fuel Cask Transfer

Poor TEPCO! Upset That News Media Reported Fuel Cask Transfer

TEPCO sent out this press release today complaining about the press, for reporting news. (FULL ARTICLE--LINK)

Doctor Talks Dangers of Fukushima Fallout

                           Stephen Hosea Expounds on the Problems with Nuclear Power

Dr. Stephen Hosea believes he might have picked a bad time to switch his diet from meat and potatoes to fish and vegetables. The Santa Barbara physician discussed the dangers of nuclear power plants at a lunchtime conference packed with health-care professionals at Cottage Hospital last week.

Studies indicate cesium levels in bluefin tuna caught off the West Coast is a lingering result from the nuclear plant meltdown of Fukushima in March 2011, Hosea explained. Over two years after the Japanese nuke plant was struck by an earthquake-induced tsunami, the level of radioactive material discovered in these fish is greater than the level prior to the Fukushima disaster. American officials originally stated this waste would dilute in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, but that has not been the case, Hosea said. Though cesium levels found in these species are lower than government regulations, he went on, there is no safe dose of radiation. Further, information from the government about the dangers of radioactivity is largely unavailable.  (FULL ARTICLE--LINK)

About Dr. Hosea

Thousands protest in Japan against new state secrets bill

Don't rely on the Japanese government to tell you what is happening at Fukushima. This situation is so out of control they are "digging in" and preparing to imprison any journalists who leak information considered "secret". This seems to be a knee jerk reaction to the Fukushima 

disaster.

Thousands protest in Japan against new state secrets bill

...The adoption of the law, proposed by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would enable the authorities to put civil servants responsible for information leaks behind bars for up to 10 years.

This would seriously threaten the freedom of the press, as Japanese media would face serious problems gathering information on burning issues, because state employees would be reluctant to share information for fear of prosecution.

That’s why a group of Japanese journalists gathered at the Nagatacho District, close to the country’s parliament, to protest the proposed bill.

Currently, long prison terms for whistleblowers only apply to those Japanese citizens who leak classified data that came from the US military.

“The definition of what will be designated as secrets is not clear, and bureaucrats will make secrets extremely arbitrarily,” TV journalist Soichiro Tahara told Japan Daily Press. (FULL ARTICLE--LINK)

Fukushima’s Nuclear Casualties

Two Years Later, the Battle for Truth Continues

Fukushima’s Nuclear Casualties

by JOSEPH J. MANGANO

Exactly two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, perhaps the most crucial issue to be addressed is how many people were harmed by radioactive emissions.

The full tally won’t be known for years, after many scientific studies. But some have rushed to judgment, proclaiming exposures were so small that there will be virtually no harm from Fukushima fallout.

This knee-jerk reaction after a meltdown is nothing new. Nearly 12 years after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, there were no journal articles examining changes in local cancer rates. But 31 articles in publications like the Journal of Trauma and Stress and Psychosomatic Medicine had already explored psychological consequences.

Eventually, the first articles on cancer cases showed that in the five years after the accident, there was a whopping 64% increase in the cancer cases within 10 miles of Three Mile Island.  (FULL ARTICLE--LINK)

Fukushima fallout: WHOI senior scientist studies irradiated water

Fukushima fallout: WHOI senior scientist studies irradiated water

By Cynthia McCormick

cmccormick@capecodonline.com

November 24, 2013

WOODS HOLE — Sloshing with Japanese sea water, the 5-gallon plastic jugs crowding Ken Buesseler's laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution contain evidence of an ongoing nuclear crisis.

Collecting samples off the coast where the Fukushima nuclear power plant was damaged in a March 2011 earthquake, the WHOI senior scientist measured higher than normal radiation levels long after the original disaster.

OFF THE CHARTS

The Fukushima disaster resulted in an unprecedented release of radioisotopes to the ocean, according to the spring edition of Oceanus, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution publication. It says the amount of cesium-137 isotopes in surface ocean waters off Fukushima was 10,000 to 100,000 times greater than amounts entering the ocean after Chernobyl or from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the 1960s.

"It was very concerning," Buesseler said during a recent interview in his lab, dubbed "Cafe Thorium," after the naturally occurring radioactive metal.

"It dropped off, but it never went back to pre-Fukushima levels," he said. Buesseler, along with a team from WHOI, made the first of his three visits to the Fukushima area in June 2011, suspected groundwater flowing through the reactor site was carrying radiation into the sea.

After denying that scenario for months, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Japanese utility that operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, admitted in August that there have been spills at the site and that irradiated groundwater is coursing through the Fukushima property on a daily basis.

Leaks from hastily constructed storage tanks holding contaminated water used by cleanup workers to cool down the reactor site also are contributing to the ongoing radioactivity. (FULL ARTICLE----LINK)

Huge area around Fukushima to be waste disposal site

TOKYO, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The Japanese government said it plans to buy 9.3 square miles of land surrounding the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant for a waste storage facility.

The area the government plans to acquire spans three towns surrounding the nuclear power station that melted down after a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The massive plot the government plans to buy includes a buffer zone surrounding plant officials have deemed uninhabitable because of sustained radiation levels, Kyodo News said Saturday.  (FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Jellyfish and Radiation

Jellyfish and Radiation

When all is said and done and man has completely raped the planet destroying as much life as he possibly can it is theorized only the cockroaches will be left. Just Google cockroaches and radiation and you will see what I mean. But cockroaches can only go as far as the beach so it is the spineless, boneless jellyfish that will essentially be the cockroach of the sea. Jellyfish for some reason are drawn in huge numbers to radioactive hot spots and some have even begun to grow in massive proportion and in huge numbers as a result, especially off the coast of Japan. I list below just a few of the best articles and videos about how jellyfish are thriving in our ever more irradiated oceans.

Jellyfish In Oceans Are Reaching Problematic Proportions

So long humans.

And thanks for all the jellyfish.

If the oceans are indeed in steep decline, it may just be a triumph of the brainless -- namely, the humble jellyfish.

"The number of case studies is increasing," Lucas Brotz of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre told the Huffington Post, "And it certainly seems we are having a severe impact on the oceans that is making them less favourable for fish and more favourable for jellyfish in some places."

So far, the most direct impact -- aside from swimming into a cloud of the critters -- is being felt at the world's nuclear reactor sites.

Remember that backed-up nuclear site in Sweden last week?

Oskarshamn, one of the world's biggest nuclear plants, had to shut down for days after the intake pipes were found to be completely clogged.

The culprit?

"We had a huge invasion of jellyfish," plant spokesman Torbjorn Larsson told the Wall Street Journal. "Our staff calculated over a tonnne."

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Attack of the jellyfish: Sea creatures shut down ANOTHER power station amid claims population surge is due to climate change

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Jellyfish force Torness nuclear power station closure

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Jellyfish can cause a nuclear power plant meltdown

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7/6/2011 (Video) Jellyfish invade Israeli power plant

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4/28/2012 Strange jellyfish-like creatures shut down Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor.

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Huge cluster of jellyfish forces one of the world's largest nuclear reactors to shut down

• Swedish nuclear plant Oskarshamn was forced to close a reactor

• Jellyfish had blocked the pipes cooling down the plant's turbines

• After three days of cleaning reactor O3 reopened on Tuesday

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Jellyfish Invasion Paralyzes Swedish Reactor

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Large outbreak of jellyfish swarm Japan’s only restarted nuclear plant — May delay full operation of reactor

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The giant jellyfish invasion mystery

As jellyfish ‘blooms’ become common, scientists are divided about what’s happening. How it’s resolved will affect anyone with a stake in the marine world.