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1. Pro-nuclear LDP is poised to win the upper house elections. They’ve said local government will get a say in whether or not to restart atomic power plants, but their ideological and out of touch approach makes this hard to trust. Let’s demand a clear statement that local authorities will be able to say no to nuclear in their area.

   70% of citizens want a nuclear-free Japan, but the party isn’t listening. Policy Research Council chair Sanae Takaichi is so keen to turn on nuclear power that she even claimed that the Fukushima nuclear disaster did not directly lead to any deaths. With this fanaticism, it is hard to trust the LDP will be genuine in implementing its vague manifesto promise to win the understanding of local communities for restarting nuclear plants. Now, before the election, is when we have the loudest voice — so let’s push for an LDP promise that local communities can stop the nuclear restart in their areas.

   The election is coming up fast and a decision by the Nuclear Regulation Authority could see reactors turned on in just days! Click to sign and when 20,000 of us join the call, Avaaz will deliver the message straight to the LDP’s office.

   http://www.avaaz.org/en/ldp_nuclear_free_japan/?bAhlEcb&v=26758

   Comment by arclight2011part2 | July 13, 2013 | Reply

2. Urine tests say nothing about WHERE IN the body are radionuclides and HOW MUCH. You need Whole Body Counters which start with ZERO to XXXXXX…. The officials are to blame, no one knows these devices, and that they are nowhere! To blame the only existing technology is also wrong. Phoswich Detectors in Partial body counter can measure internal emitters such as Americium 241 (decay prodcut of Plutonium 241), Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239, these are low-energy measurements. Measuring takes usually 35 Minutes. Costs: 400 – 500+ USD. http://bibliothek.fzk.de/zb/abstracts/7238.htm
   Whoie Body Counters can measure radionuclides in human bodies like Cesium 134 & 137, Strontium 90, potassium 40, Iodine 131, http://biophys.urcrm.ru/sich/index.html#Kozheurov

   Comment by Chernobyl Children Fukushima Children | July 13, 2013 | Reply

3. The information given above has some errors. The instrument shown is the FASTSCAN whole body counter, supplied by CANBERRA Japan KK (www.canberra.com/jp). The detection limit for Caesium-137 is typically < (less than) 300Bq in the whole body of the person being monitored, within a counting time of 1 minute. The actual value of the detection limit depends on the background radiation level. If we take a fairly small adult, weighing 60kg, the detection limit of this instrument is typically <5Bq/kg for Caesium-137. This is an extremely low level compared with the dose limits recommended for members of the public by the International expert bodies. Usually these instruments are calibrated with gamma radiation sources over the energy range from 88keV to 1480keV, which covers the broad mixture of fission products produced in nuclear accidents, together with natural radioactive potassium-40, which is present in everyone. The average person has more than 100Bq/kg of natural radioactivity in their body, so about 6000Bq total for a 60kg person. It is correct that whole body counters cannot detect pure alpha and pure beta-emitting radioisotopes, although most (but not all) radioisotopes also emit some gamma radiation or x-rays. However, in a nuclear reactor, there is nearly always a mixture of many radionuclides together. Once the short-lived activity has decayed away, the mixture is dominated by Caesium-137. It means that if the level of Caesium-137 in a person being monitored is below the 300Bq detection limit, then any other artificial radioisotopes can only be present in miniscule amounts. Almost all food (not contaminated) contains naturally-occurring radioactivity (potatoes, bananas, nuts, grains, beer (!)) and this has been true for ever. For people worried about nuclear power stations, we must remember that a typical coal-fired power station releases about 400 kilogrammes of radioactive uranium into the environment every single day, as well as noxious gases and heavy metals. Using fossil fuels to make electricity causes pollution which is responsible for many deaths. We must be economical with energy, however it is generated. Don't worry, there is no conspiracy. The doctors in Japan, as well as all of the experts organising monitoring programmes are very professional and dedicated to the welfare of the local people.

   Comment by Jonathan Coleman | November 5, 2014 | Reply

4. Hi Jonathon, thanks for your reply and clarification. Is Strontium the elephant in the room? Also if there is no conspiracy, then why are the USS Ronald Regan sailors able to move ahead with their legal claim against TEPCO, Htachi, GE etc concerning the health effects that they suffered? evidence for this is on this weeks update on the legal situation on the Nuclear Hotseat podcast.. There are health effects and the Japanese secrecy law was designed to cover up the health effects by stopping health statistics getting out.. this information is given to the IAEA and not published .. there is much more questions I have but these are a start for now .. Looking forward to your reply .. Peace
   Sean

   Comment by arclight2011part2 | November 6, 2014 | Reply

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