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Widespread radiation contamination being monitered by Japanese civilians

Shinzo Kimura, the radiation expert who quit the Health Ministry. Mr. Kimura has since done extensive testing to see if Mrs. Okoshi’s readings were right. He says they are — and that is bad news.

Doubting Assurances, Japanese Find Radioactivity on Their Own,  NYTimes.com, 1 August 11,   “……. starting in April, Mrs. Okoshi began using her dosimeter to check nearby forest roads and rice paddies. What she found was startling. Near one sewage ditch, the meter beeped wildly, and the screen read 67 microsieverts per hour, a potentially harmful level. Mrs. Okoshi and a cousin who lives nearby worked up the courage to confront elected officials, who did not respond, confirming their worry that the government was not doing its job.

With her simple yet bold act, Mrs. Okoshi joined the small but growing number of Japanese who have decided to step in as the government fumbles its reaction to the widespread contamination, which leaders acknowledge is much worse than originally announced. Continue reading →

August 1, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | 1 Comment

The huge extent of the nuclear radiation costs at Fukushima Prefecture

The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition Koide Hiroaki Introduction and translation by Sakai Yasuyuki and Norimatsu Satoko,1 August 11,“…….The government has also been forcing plant workers and local residents to sacrifice without making clear who is responsible. They have raised the radiation dose limit for the workers at Fukushima Daiichi. They have also raised radiation dose limits for local residents in deciding on compulsory evacuation.

Are they really allowed to do such things? I find myself at a loss when I think about the true scale of the damage caused by the Fukushima Daiichi accidents.If we apply the current Japanese law strictly, we would have to abandon an area that would be as large as the whole prefecture of Fukushima.

The only way to avoid this is to raise the radiation dose limit for residents, and that would mean forcing increased radiation exposure on residents.I think that primary industry will suffer tremendously. Agriculture and fishery among others will have difficulty selling their produce and their catch. Residents will be forced out of their homeland and their lives will be shattered.

Some say we should make TEPCO pay proper compensation. But no matter what they pay, or even if they pay to the extent that they go bankrupt, it will not be sufficient. Even if TEPCO goes bankrupt multiple times, it will not be enough. The damage from the accident will be so enormous that even the whole country of Japan going bankrupt might not pay for it. This of course is if they are really going to pay for the damage.
The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition :: JapanFocus

August 1, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

Nuclear free future is looking like a better commercial option for Japan

a welcome step toward moving away from reliance on centralised nuclear power production to a model of dispersed electricity producers linked by a high-tech “Smart Grid”…..

 “The vested interests dominate a lot of the political process, but we are seeing a challenge from the local government level,” said Rikkyo University professor Andrew DeWit, adding that Son was also attracting interest from a range of companies and non-profits.

Sticking with nuclear could be costlier Japan option, By Linda Sieg, TOKYO  Jul 26, 2011, TOKYO (Reuters) – Can Japan afford to go nuclear-power-free? The country’s atomic power industry and many big business clients say “No”, arguing the step would boost electricity bills and pollution and hasten the hollowing out of Japanese manufacturing.

But the Fukushima nuclear disaster is galvanising a coalition of safety-conscious voters and future-minded companies who increasingly believe that Japan cannot afford to stick with the status quo if it wants to be globally competitive. Continue reading →

August 1, 2011 Posted by | business and costs, Japan | Leave a comment

Environmental impacts of uranium mining in Colorado for DOE study

DOE opens large-scale review of uranium mining, By Matthew Beaudin, Editor of the Telluride Daily Planet, July 31, 2011 The U.S. Department of Energy will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impacts of uranium mining and milling in southwestern  Colorado after much prodding from environmental groups.

Until now, the DOE reviewed the mining operations piecemeal rather than addressing the cumulative impacts of increased production in the region, which it made possible in 2008 with the renewal of its leasing program in the Uravan Mineral Belt, awarding or renewing 31 leases for mining-related activities over 25,000 acres between Naturita and Moab, Utah.
News : DOE opens large-scale review of uranium mining (Montrose, CO)

August 1, 2011 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

Japanese govt hid the radiation risks from the public

The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition Koide Hiroaki Introduction and translation by Sakai Yasuyuki and Norimatsu Satoko, 1 August 11,”.……I believe disclosing accurate information is the only way to avoid panic. That way people would trust the administration and the government. However, the Japanese government acted in the opposite way. They consistently hid information, repeatedly saying that the situation was not critical. The government spent more than 10 billion yen in the last 25 years to develop the radiation dispersion simulation system called SPEEDI (the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information), but they hid the simulation results from the public and did not let local residents know the risks….”
The Truth About Nuclear Power: Japanese Nuclear Engineer Calls for Abolition :: JapanFocus

August 1, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Complexities of radiation in medical nuclear technology

How Nuclear Recoil Damages DNA  – Technology Review, 1 August 11, The recoil of a nucleus during radioactive decay can do more damage than the alpha particle it emits, according to a new study. Thorium-232 is a silvery, radioactive metal that is particularly good at absorbing X-rays. In the early days of X-ray imaging, doctors routinely injected patients with thorium dioxide because it produced high contrast images. Between the 1930s to the 1950s, some 10 million people received these doses…..

What doctors didn’t appreciate at the time were the long term effects on the body. Once injected, Thorotrast settles in various organs where it tends to stay. The biological half life of the stuff is 22 years. Continue reading →

August 1, 2011 Posted by | health, Uranium | Leave a comment

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