Many evacuees still in temp housing

1,000 days on, occupancy rate at 85% in three prefectures

SENDAI – The occupancy rate for makeshift housing units set up after the March 2011 mega-quake and tsunami is still at more than 85 percent in the three hardest-hit prefectures as Wednesday marked 1,000 days since the twin disasters struck.

The figure — much higher than in the comparable period after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 — is believed to stem from slow progress in clearing highland to construct homes and a poor rate of building public housing.

There are no signs that the situation in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima will improve anytime soon.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Humanity at the Crossroads

All around us, we can see evidence of abuse on nature — disappearing species, contaminated water, stripped land, wasted resources. As a result, Indigenous Elders and Medicine Peoples gathered for the first time and released a unified statement asking the global community to wake up and start investing in planetary health.

Since humans have ignored “warnings from both Nature and the People of the Earth,” the Elders express that we have driven ourselves on a path of self-destruction. “This self destructive path has led to the Fukushima nuclear crisis, Gulf oil spill, tar sands devastation, pipeline failures, impacts of carbon dioxide emissions and the destruction of ground water through hydraulic fracking.”

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

FULL COUNCIL STATEMENT

Please sign as a supporter of this statement.

Who’s Nuking Your Food? Orwellian Irradiated “Franken-Foods” Are The New Normal

Who’s Nuking Your Food? Orwellian Irradiated “Franken-Foods” Are The New Normal

In this age of nuclear power and weapons, we’re told that the harmless ‘happy atom’ is all around us and might be dangerous but because we can’t see him this then means, “Oh, just relax. There’s really nothing to worry about. It’s all completely safe.”

All we can say to that is, if you are willing to trust your government and nuclear power companies, then you are putting yours and your family’s life in their hands. 

...Food that is pulled out of a radioactive environment, like seafood – is one thing. Yes, it’s dangerous, but more than likely fisherman had no idea their catch was contaminated. Risks posed by the Fukushima nuclear meltdown to the Pacific seafood stocks are just now coming into view. But imagine if the fisherman dosed their catch with radiation before they sent it to your local supplier? That’s also happening, but the irradiation of foods is much more widespread than people think…

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

FUKUSHIMA RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL SPREADS FASTER DUE TO TYPHOONS: STUDY

FUKUSHIMA RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL SPREADS FASTER DUE TO TYPHOONS: STUDY

The fact that Japan is hit every year by typhoons helps spread radioactive substances from the Fukushima site into the country’s waterways, according to a study made by Japanese and French scientists.

Contaminated soil gets washed away by the high winds and rain and deposited in streams and rivers, a joint study by France’s Climate and Environmental Science laboratory (LSCE) and Tsukuba University in Japan showed.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

TEPCO planning to restart all Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear reactors by 2016

TEPCO planning to restart all Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear reactors by 2016

Aside from being the operator of the disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) is also the operator of the world’s largest nuclear power facility at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa. Recently, TEPCO and the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund (NDF) have decided to outline a comprehensive special business plan in which the beleaguered utility will be able to restart all of the seven reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant by around fiscal 2016 to improve its earnings.

Under the newly revised business plan, TEPCO will issue corporate bonds to stabilize its cash flow. If there are prospects for the restoration of the utility’s finances and if the NDF makes profits from selling its holdings of TEPCO shares, the fund will consider setting aside an amount to reduce TEPCO’s debts. Nevertheless, there is still no guarantee that the rehabilitation scenario – including the early restart of the reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa – will be executed as planned. ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Japan food scandals cloud export hopes

REUTERS

Shoppers browsing in supermarkets around the world would once have been reassured by a “Made in Japan” tag.

But a wave of problems such as a recent mislabeling controversy and festering worries over nuclear contamination have tainted the nation’s reputation as a food safe-haven.

The growing list of food scandals could dent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to boost exports of high-end products such as Kobe beef, organic sake and even gimmicky square watermelons. ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Fukushima Watch: Draft Plan Sees Minimal Water Risks in 7 Years

Fukushima Watch: Draft Plan Sees Minimal Water Risks in 7 Years

Risks posed by the heavily contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will be minimal in about seven years if the current water-processing equipment operates as planned, a government-appointed expert panel said Tuesday in a draft report.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Marin officials eye Japanese nuclear plant plume

Marin officials eye Japanese nuclear plant plume

Concern that a radioactive plume is headed for the West Coast from the crippled Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant has prompted Marin County officials to monitor the situation.

Although no one knows for sure what perils if any may be in store, fears about toxic pollution have prompted supervisors Susan Adams and Steve Kinsey to ask that public safety, health and coastal staff track the issue.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Japanese Gov't Proposes More Work to Store Contaminated Water

TOKYO (AP) - A government panel is proposing additional measures to lessen the contaminated water crisis at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant.

The panel said Tuesday the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant could run out of water storage within two years if current plans are not fully workable.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Tepco Split Looms as Utility Lacks Motive to Fix Fukushima

More than 30 months after an earthquake triggered the world’s worst nuclear disaster in a quarter of a century, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is being told by his own party that Japan’s response is failing.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) alone isn’t up to the task of managing the cleanup and decommissioning of the atomic station in Fukushima. That’s the view of Tadamori Oshima, head of a task force in charge of Fukushima’s recovery and former vice president of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party.

...“We’ve seen over time that Tokyo Electric has put most of its effort and investments into ensuring business continuity,” Mabuchi, a lawmaker with the now opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said. “It’s been very reluctant to spend the kind of money that’s needed to resolve this accident. If we allow the situation to continue, it’ll never be resolved.” ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

France’s 58 Nuclear Pools Must Be Safer, Watchdog Says: Energy

...France’s pools are similar to those in any atomic nation: after searing hot rods are removed from the reactor, they’re submerged in water for as long as two years to cool their temperature and provide a shield from release of dangerous radiation emissions. Should their cooling systems falter and pools overheat, as happened in a Fukushima reactor pool, an unprecedented accident is possible.  ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Fukushima two years on: a dirty job with no end in sight

Fukushima two years on: a dirty job with no end in sight

The tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has led to the toughest nuclear cleanup ever. Radioactive water is still poisoning the sea – and it could take 40 years to fix the mess. Is Japan up to the challenge?

...But the work at reactor four is only the start. Once the fuel is removed to a safer place, workers will turn their attention to a further 1,573 fuel rod assemblies held in similar pools in the buildings for reactors one, two and three. All were running when the tsunami struck; all suffered meltdowns. The radiation in these buildings is still intense, and access inside is limited.

Though delicate and painstaking, retrieving the fuel rod assemblies from the pools is not the toughest job the workers face. More challenging by far will be digging out the molten cores in the reactors themselves. Some of the fuel burned through its primary containment and is now mixed with cladding, steel and concrete. The mixture will have to be broken up, sealed in steel containers and moved to a nuclear waste storage site. That work will not start until some time after 2020.

To fully decommission Fukushima Daiichi might take 40 years and no one expects a cakewalk. Independent researchers point to the litany of mishaps that has blighted the cleanup. They doubt the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) is up to the task, and want a global team of experts to take over. Even high-level advisers signed up by Tepco describe the decommissioning project as an "unprecedented" challenge. At stake is Tepco's reputation, the health and livelihoods of local communities, and the future direction of the industry worldwide. ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Norway fund leaves Tepco due to Fukushima

Norway fund leaves Tepco due to Fukushima

Oslo — Norwegian investment fund KLP said Monday it had sold its shares in Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, due to its handling of the disaster. ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Gov't to earmark 48 bil. yen for Fukushima cleanup in extra budget

...The government is trying to compile by the end of the year "preventive and multilayered measures" after seeing plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. rush to take measures only after radioactive water leaks and other troubles occurred.  ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

“281_Antinuke” Risks Death Threats and Arrest in His Fight Against TEPCO, Japanese Government

Described by many as the “Japanese Banksy,” 281 spreads his political messages through graffiti.

...281 was also forced to cancel an appearance at a Tokyo art show opening event in June due to concerns for his safety – despite organizers devising a back-door escape plan through the venue’s kitchen.

With the first Japanese reactor set to restart in July 2014, sightings of 281’s protest art, stuck to lampposts and alleyway walls around Tokyo, is bound to continue – unless the police or ultra-nationalists get to him first. ...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Living with diasaster: Jolt that shook Japan and the world

Living with disaster: Jolt that shook Japan and the world

...The plant's embattled operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, meanwhile remains at the centre of a never-ending public furore over its bungled handling of the crisis.

Fresh outrage came when the company recently confirmed contaminated water may have flowed into the Pacific Ocean.

Tepco has now begun the year-long recovery of 400 tonnes of highly irradiated spent fuel from a damaged reactor building, while the Government commits billions of yen to getting displaced residents back to Fukushima.

All the while, calls are growing for Prime Minister Abe to end nuclear power in Japan as the Government faces the controversial question over how many of its 50 undamaged reactors will be restarted.

The anti-nuclear movement was last month given weight with the backing of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"Leakage is contributing to increased environmental awareness and this is something we see every day on the news," said Hideyuki Ban, secretary-general of Japan's Citizens' Nuclear Information Centre.

Mr Ban said about 26,000km of land had been contaminated as a direct result of the nuclear accident.

The shoddy handling of the issue has also put a dent in public trust in the government.  ...

(FULL ARTICLE --- LINK)

Gov't Proposes More Steps to Store Fukushima Water

A government panel proposed additional measures to lessen the contaminated water crisis at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant, saying Tuesday that current plans are not enough to prevent the risk of a disaster.

Officials on the Industry Ministry's contaminated water panel also said that the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant could run out of storage for contaminated water within two years if current plans are not fully workable.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Tepco expects 1,700 to quit by March

By the end of next March, Tokyo Electric Power Co. expects 1,700 workers will have taken voluntary retirement since the 2011 start of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant calamity, amid uncertain business prospects and pay cuts, according to Tepco documents.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Radiation level in Fukushima observation well reportedly 36,000 times higher than normal

Radiation level in Fukushima observation well reportedly 36,000 times higher than normal

The Japanese media on Tuesday said that the level of radiation detected in an observation well at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has soared to an all-time high. Plant operator TEPCO said that 1.1 million becquerels of beta ray-emitting radioactive material had been detected per liter in water samples taken on November 28th. The figure is 36-thousand times higher than the normal level of 30 becquerels per liter, and is more than the previous record-high of 910-thousand becquerels per liter detected on November 25th.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO VIDEO

Korea and world fear Fukushima’s radiation

Korea and world fear Fukushima’s radiation

Despite being the nation nearest to Japan, Korea remained relatively calm after the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

But more than two years after the nuclear plant’s meltdown, the fear of radiation has increased in Korea after a series of revelations about contaminated water flowing into the Pacific.

The Korean government is trying to say that consumer anxiety over the safety of Japanese products in particular is being whipped up by irresponsible postings on the Internet and through social network services. 

Prime Minister Chung Hong-won even said he would direct severe punishment at people who spread unfounded, radiation-related rumors. 

But fear continued to rise and fish consumption fell regardless of where the fish came from, affecting local fishermen and fish retailers.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Director turns to crowdfunding to make Japanese anti-nuclear film

Director turns to crowdfunding to make Japanese anti-nuclear film

Japanese film director Takafumi Ota had a problem. He needed studio financing for a film that was harshly critical of the nuclear industry in the aftermath of Fukushima, but no one was interested in funding his project the traditional way.

Large sections of Japan’s movie industry wanted nothing to do with it, and he was told that influential sponsors did not want to be associated with anything that criticized the powerful atomic sector.

“It wasn’t only major film distribution companies but also DVD companies — who usually get interested in investing in films to share copyright — who showed no interest in my plan,” said the 52-year-old Ota, whose previous work includes the critically acclaimed 2006 film “Strawberry fields,” which screened at the Cannes International Film Festival.

“A senior film director told me ‘Don’t do this. You’ll never be able to make commercial films.’“

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

TEPCO forced to shut down contaminated water processing system at Fukushima Daiichi again

Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are working around the clock to cool reactors and spent fuel pools.  They are accumulating massive amounts of highly contaminated water from the cooling operations and running out of space to store it on-site.

The troubled Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, which TEPCO has placed so much responsibility for helping process highly radioactive water to prepare it for storage, has broken down once again during trial operations.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

The Uranium Story You Haven’t Heard

...Barron’s piece inspired me to write to you today. As a long-term investor, I am not tempted — at all — by the apparent bargain in uranium stocks.

I want to preface what follows by saying I get the bullish case for uranium and nuclear power. I was a bull for a time and took positions in uranium stocks in February 2010, just before they started to lift.

“Trading as if the world is always poorly managed and you can’t figure it out is right almost all the time…”

The incident at Fukushima made me reverse course. We sold our uranium stocks in March 2011, shortly after the disaster. We took a 70% gain on Kalahari and saved a slim 7% profit on Paladin Energy. Kalahari got bought out and no longer trades. But Paladin, which I recommended selling at $3.29, is today 39 cents. In my Capital & Crisis newsletter, I also saved a 10% gain on Cameco and sold at $30. Today, it’s $20.

As good as the uranium story sounds, I think there are bigger reasons to avoid the stocks as anything other than trades.

First, because the disaster at Fukushima could easily have an Act II that could be worse than anything we’ve seen so far...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Japan’s Secrets Bill Turns Journalists Into Terrorists

The buzz in Japanese cyberspace is that Chinese President Xi is wagging the dog by declaring a controversial “air-defense identification zone” across the East China Sea. The move has drastically ramped up tensions with Japan and the U.S., both of which have blatantly disregarded Beijing’s unilateral edict. According to one prevailing theory, Xi is whipping up an international storm to change the subject domestically away from income inequality, official corruption and China’s blackening skies.

The leader benefiting most from the controversy, though, may be Japan’s Abe. With his own populace furious over China’s unilateral decree, the prime minister is seizing the opportunity to rush a chilling official-secrets bill into law.

The entire process has echoes of George Orwell. If enacted, the secrecy law would allow government ministries to declare just about anything they want classified....

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Tainted grub: Japan food scandals cloud export hopes

Tainted grub: Japan food scandals cloud export hopes

 Scandals hurt country's reputation as food safe-haven

* Worries over contamination fester in wake of Fukushima

* Controversies could dent PM's push to export premium foods

* Critics blame lack of oversight, limited funding

By James Topham and Naveen Thukral

TOKYO/SINGAPORE, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Shoppers browsing in supermarkets around the world would once have been reassured by a 'Made in Japan' tag.

But a wave of problems such as a recent mislabelling controversy and festering worries over nuclear contamination have tainted the nation's reputation as a food safe-haven.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

How to Reduce Your Risk of Radiation from Fukushima

Is There Anything We Can Do to Reduce Radiation Risks?

Doctors in Hawaii and the West Coast of North American are being bombarded with questions about how to protect ourselves from radiation from Fukushima.

This essay provides an introduction to some of the main concepts on reducing the risk from radiation. It is broken into the following sections:

Note: Each link will take you to these sections in "Washington's Blog"

I.    Step 1: Reduce Exposure
II.  Certain Minerals Can Reduce Absorption of Harmful Radiation
III. Other Vitamins and Minerals Which Protect Against Radiation Damage
IV.  Antioxidants: Helpful Weapons Against Radiation Damage
V.   Other Things Which Offer Some Radiation Protection
VI.  What To Do If Exposed to Extremely High Doses of Radiation

Note: The article mentions "Prussian Blue" for Cesium exposure. This is effective but a compound of Chlorella and Cilantro with apple pectin was just as effective after Chernobyl and is not  damaging to the digestive system. Prussian Blue is essentially a dye substance that can trap the cesium particles in the intestine. This is effective only if the cesium particles have not yet passed into the body. If time has passed Zeolite (Clinoptilolite), and other substances can help pull the particles from body tissues.  A little web research can yield some good result. Amazon has several good books on the subject and Dr. Sircus has excellent resources. 

Ominous Thyroid Cancer Spike in Fukushima Youth

Ominous Thyroid Cancer Spike in Fukushima Youth

When Japan’s Fukushima reactor began to experience trouble in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, the world watched in growing horror as the island nation desperately tried to avoid a nuclear disaster.

Almost from the start, efforts seemed plagued with problems, in a combination of unpreparedness, poor facility maintenance and unavoidable incidents that compounded the problems at Fukushima, creating a growing radiation zone that endangered citizens, livestock and the earth itself. Now, more than two years after the horrific events of March 2011, the nation is still struggling with the fallout: quite literally, in the case of an alarming medical trend emerging among Japanese minors.

Since June of this year, six children who were minors at the time of the Fukushima disaster have beendiagnosed with thyroid cancer, which is an unusually high rate, especially when paired with a suspected 10 additional cases. 44 cases in total have been diagnosed since the start of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, though the overall baseline rate of thyroid cancer in Japanese children remains at one to two in a million.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Evolution of radioactive dose rates in fresh sediment deposits along coastal rivers draining Fukushima contamination plume

Evolution of radioactive dose rates in fresh sediment deposits along coastal rivers draining Fukushima contamination plume.

Measurement of radioactive dose rates in fine sediment that has recently deposited on channel bed-sand

provides a solution to address the lack of continuous river monitoring in Fukushima Prefecture after

Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) accident. We show that coastal rivers of Eastern

Fukushima Prefecture were rapidly supplied with sediment contaminated by radionuclides originating

from inland mountain ranges, and that this contaminated material was partly exported by typhoons to the

coastal plains as soon as by November 2011. This export was amplified during snowmelt and typhoons in 2012. In 2013, contamination levels measured in sediment found in the upper parts of the catchments were almost systematically lower than the ones measured in nearby soils, whereas their contamination was higher in the coastal plains. We thereby suggest that storage of contaminated sediment in reservoirs and in coastal sections of the river channels now represents the most crucial issue.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident led to the release of large radionuclide quantities into the atmosphere1,2 and to the formation of a soil contamination plume across Fukushima Prefecture, in northeastern Japan3,4. As radionuclides are strongly sorbed by fine particles, they are likely to be redistributed within the landscape and supplied to the rivers, in association with the mobilization and transport of soil and sediment particles by erosion processes and runoff 5.

(FULL REPORT---LINK)  THIS OPENS AS A .PDF FILE.

Core Meltdown Study

CORE MELTDOWN STUDY

RADIOACTIVE GROUNDWATER AT FUKUSHIMA NEARS PACIFIC

TOKYO (AP) — Deep beneath Fukushima's crippled nuclear power station, a massive underground reservoir of contaminated water that began spilling from the plant's reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been creeping slowly toward the Pacific.

Now, 2 1/2 years later, experts fear it is about to reach the ocean and greatly worsen what is fast becoming a new crisis at Fukushima: the inability to contain vast quantities of radioactive water. ...

...experts believe the underground seepage from the reactor and turbine building area is much bigger and possibly more radioactive, confronting the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., with an invisible, chronic problem and few viable solutions. Many also believe it is another example of how TEPCO has repeatedly failed to acknowledge problems that it could almost certainly have foreseen — and taken action to mitigate before they got out of control.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Secrecy law protests ‘act of terrorism’: LDP secretary-general

Citizens demonstrating against the controversial state secrets bill are committing “an act terrorism,” according to Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba.

In a blog post Friday, he wrote: “If you want to realize your ideas and principles, you should follow the democratic principles, by gaining as much support as you can. I think the strategy of merely shouting one’s opinions at the top of one’s lungs is not so fundamentally different from an act of terrorism.”

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Abe Support Falls Below 50% for First Time Amid Secrecy Drive

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s public support dropped below 50 percent for the first time amid a campaign to strengthen Japan’s secrecy laws, a decline that risks eroding his political capital to enact economic reforms.

The cabinet’s approval rating fell to 49 percent, according to a Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 survey by the Asahi newspaper, down 4 percentage points from a month earlier. It showed 50 percent of those surveyed opposed a bill passed by the Diet’s lower house last week that boosts penalties for leaking confidential government information. The upper house may vote this week.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

NOTE:  A PETITION TO STOP THIS SECRECY LAW, WHICH WOULD PRETTY MUCH END ANY OUTFLOW OF REPORTING ON THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR DISASTER, WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON.  WATCH THESE POSTINGS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. 

Should experts decide everything for us?

“Ask the expert” is the dictum which all of us are told to obey for successfully negotiating an increasingly complex world. There used to be a time when there were fewer experts around to ‘help’ us make decisions which we did without any fuss. The knowledge explosion of the past several decades has broken down domains into cocoons of specialisation. It is true that skill and scholarship in any area are acquired only through dedicated study and research. But punditry has acquired an esoteric dimension which is debatable. ...

...Japan’s famed nuclear safety experts could not anticipate that an earthquake and a tsunami would occur simultaneously. The experts had an alibi for not anticipating the Fukushima nuclear disaster — the accident was a Black Swan — a highly improbable event with enormous consequences. But the fact that a few precautions like a water-proof backup generator could have mitigated the fallout was lost on the pundits. Such precautions do not need expertise, only an application of the mind which has become an endangered activity in the age of the Internet.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

NUCLEAR NATION Official Trailer

Suzuki - Schindler - Fukushima - Extended Clip

Water decontamination system in trouble at Japan's Fukushima

A trouble-prone system used to decontaminate radioactive water at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant was switched off Sunday because of a chemical leak, the plant's operator said.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

They myth of "Background" Radiation

Below is a seven minute video giving a depiction of all of the nuclear tests that have occurred on our planet from 1945-1998.  While it is true there is natural background radiation in the environment there is also radiation remaining in our environment from the one-thousand plus nuclear bombs that have been exploded. Since there was no extensive background testing prior to the nuclear age it is not really known what part is normal and natural and what part is man-made but what is known is that there is a great deal of health-sapping man-made radioisotopes, such as cesium, plutonium and strontium, that would not exist without nuclear bombs and power plants. Watch all seven minutes below. It is very telling.

Fukushima is Here--Pacific Ocean Current Fukushima Radioisotope Delivery System

500 people assembled on October 19, 2013 on Ocean Beach in San Francisco to form the words "Fukushima is Here". Credit for photo and more information: FukushimaResponse.org

Pacific Ocean Current Pattern

Global Warming vs Global Nuclear Radiation: Climate Scientists Dismiss Fukushima, Lobby for Nuclear Energ

Global Warming vs Global Nuclear Radiation: Climate Scientists Dismiss Fukushima, Lobby for Nuclear Energy

Four climate scientists have made a public statement claiming nuclear power is an answer to global warming.

Before they proceed, they should visit Fukushima, where the Tokyo Electric Power Company has moved definitively toward bringing down the some 1300 hot fuel rods from a pool at Unit Four.

Which makes this a time of global terror.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Fukushima a possible reason for starfish ‘melting’ along US West Coast

Sunflower starfish is found literally melting in the waters of Washington state’s Puget Sound and along Canada’s west coast....

....Another stranger and disturbing fact is that the threatening symptoms have only been detected in the US and Canada coastal area. Though the reason has not been found yet, many suggest they should be looked for in Japan, or more precisely, in the Fukushima disaster, which is still leaking 300 tons of highly radioactive water into the ocean daily.

There’s massive evidence of Fukushima’s effect on the West Coast despite the silence from most western media, according to investigative journalist Michael Snyder. For example, earlier this month, Canadian authorities found massively high radiation levels in sea bass, with one fish showing 1,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.

Added to that, plankton tested from Hawaii to the West Coast also contained high levels of cesium – 137, while California scientists detected same isotopes in 15 out of 15 Bluefin Tuna tested.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

(NOTE: At this point there is inconclusive evidence as to what is causing all of the freak incidents in the Pacific Ocean and it's bays and inlets but they are numerous and they are mostly without precedent or logical explanation. Anecdotal evidence has all of the fingers are pointing to Fukushima but scientific evidence takes time so officially it is inconclusive. For this reason I have avoided posting articles about these incidents since it is easily argued there is no proof. That is true but that tide seems to be shifting and this one specifically mentioned Fukushima as a possible cause.  One thing to keep in mind is that sea-life rapidly bio-accumulates toxins because little fish eat microscopic things and the little fish are then eaten by bigger fish and so on up the chain condensing the contamination. Fish and sea mammals also cross back and forth across the ocean traveling through the plume of radioisotopes and the fact that Fukushima's plume has not yet reached the West Coast is not a good argument. (TEPCO and the Japanese government have not been honest about the true amount released but it is massive even at the levels they have admitted to and no end is in sight for a a very long time.) Add to this the fact that ships cross the Pacific Ocean and the barnacles on the hull ingest this contamination and release it later. Ships also fill their bilges with contaminated water and dump it later. In short...radioisotopes can travel in many ways...not just on the currents. It is not inconceivable that the wildlife on the West Coast is being affected by Fukushima.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_30/Fukushima-a-possible-reason-for-starfish-melting-along-US-West-Coast-3984/

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_30/Fukushima-a-possible-reason-for-starfish-melting-along-US-West-Coast-3984/

TEPCO Downplays Huge Risks Involved in Removing Fukushima Fuel Rods

What Is The ACTUAL Risk for Pacific Coast Residents from Fukushima Radiation?

What Is The ACTUAL Risk for Pacific Coast Residents from Fukushima Radiation?

“[The Odds of] Longer Term Chronic Effects, Cancer Or Genetic Effects … Cannot Be Said To Be Zero”

It is very difficult to obtain accurate information on the dangers from Fukushima radiation to residents of the West Coast of North America and Hawaii.

On the one hand, there is fear-mongering and “we’re all going to die” type hysteria.

On the one hand, there is a tendency for governments to cover up the truth to avoid panic and deflect blame for bad policy. Japan is poised to pass a bill which would outlaw most reporting on Fukushima.   And the U.S. government is not even monitoring radiation levels in the waters off the U.S. coast...

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

Scanner measures radiation in babies

University of Tokyo researchers and radiation measurement equipment maker Canberra Japan have jointly developed a device to measure internal exposure to radiation in babies, following the outbreak of the crisis at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011.

...Until now, infants’ internal exposure has been measured with equipment for adults, leading to some errors. In addition, as such equipment requires the subject to remain standing for about two minutes, babies in principle cannot take the test.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

The $38 billion nuclear waste fiasco

Doing nothing often has a cost — and when it comes to storing the nation’s nuclear waste, the price is $38 billion and rising.

That’s just the low-ball estimate for how much taxpayers will wind up spending because of the government’s decades of dithering about how to handle the radioactive leftovers sitting at dozens of sites in 38 states. The final price will be higher unless the government starts collecting the waste by 2020, which almost nobody who tracks the issue expects.

(FULL ARTICLE---LINK)

NOTE: Japan has no program to dispose of the waste from their fifty plus nuclear reactors. This is why there is hundreds of tons of waste sitting all around Japan (and the US) out in the open air. Japan is the size of California. Space is a supreme issue. Each ounce of stored nuclear waste has the possibility of going critical at any moment if it is not kept cool and out of the open air. This article represents the financial cost of doing nothing but there is a potential human toll to be paid as well.