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Unsafe radiation levels in Kanto region, beyond Fukushima

The story also alludes to the strength of alternative information networks in the wake of the March crisis – after announcing her daughter’s test results on Twitter, the mother’s number of followers jumped from a number of close acquaintances to 700 people asking for details and advice about how to have their own children tested…..

While airborne radiation has lessened as emissions from the Fukushima Daiichi plant have decreased, there are concerns across the Kanto region of radioactive buildup in the soil….

Readings in one area of Saitama were over 900,000 Bq – a level greater than that which resulted in forced relocation after Chernobyl 

Contamination Outside Fukushima, JapanFocus, Sep. 04, 2011 Matthew Penney The extent of radioactive contamination in Fukushima Prefecture is at the center of important debates as some scientists, NGOs, and citizen’s groups argue that the Japanese government has not gone far enough in dealing with the fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi accident and has deliberately downplayed the potential health effects of radiation. With so much attention focused on Fukushima, however, there has been less consideration of the impact of the crisis, ongoing since March 11, on other parts of Japan. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

How USA’s Department of Energy carefully doesn’t investigate health near nuclear sites

Science can send people to the moon, clone sheep, and genetically engineer tomatoes, but it can’t yet determine if the toxic mix of substances released from the nation’s nuclear weapons production sites made anyone around them sick. 

The Isolation of Victims to control the Survey Outcomes – Will they cook the books at Fukushima?, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog,  A PROTOTYPE FOR CONTROLLING THE HEALTH STATISTICS. 6 Sept 11

The Tennessean Special Report – An Investigation into illnesses around US Nuclear Weapons Sites. DOE Survey and programs frustrate the sick. 2006. Energy Department officials say they have tried to help the ill near the nation’s nuclear weapons and research facilities. But some of those attempts have frustrated and infuriated the ill they’re intended to help. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

A start to addressing the scandal of Navajo radiation contamination from uranium mining

The cleanup at the Skyline Mine represents not only a reduced risk of exposure for Begay and her family, but marks the first significant remediation of a mine on the country’s largest American Indian reservation where such sites number in the hundreds.

Tests have found gamma radiation activity greater than two times the background level at 80 locations on the site. In the traditional Navajo home where Begay once lived with two of her sons, the radiation levels were up to 100 times the acceptable level. The two sons have died — one of lung cancer and the other from a tumor.

Navajo woman helps prompt uranium mine cleanup, Houston Chronicle, FELICIA FONSECA,   September 5, 2011 MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah (AP) — The stretch of high desert on the Arizona-Utah border gives way to towering rock formations that resemble huge mittens, chimney spires and castles. But to the west of Monument Valley lies a reminder of what has been blamed for much heartache and tragedy in Elsie Mae Begay‘s family: A mesa stained with a gray streak where uranium was mined decades ago. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | indigenous issues, USA, women | Leave a comment

Nuclear bomb testing – a horror that is hard to ban

Perhaps because its people understand firsthand the horrors of living with the effects of nuclear testing, Kazakhstan has fully supported efforts to ban nuclear testing and nuclear weaponry, and has given up its nuclear arsenal. 

Politics Clouds Efforts to Ban Nuclear Testing, By Elizabeth Whitman, UNITED NATIONS, Sep 5, 2011 (IPS) – On Aug. 29, 1949, the Soviet Union conducted the first of 456 nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk in Eastern Kazakhstan, at the site where it ultimately held over two-thirds of all Soviet nuclear tests without warning inhabitants of the region of the impact of exposure to these tests.On Aug. 29, 1991 the site closed, yet the devastating health and environmental effects continue to plague the region to this day. Continue reading →

September 6, 2011 Posted by | Kazakhstan, politics international | Leave a comment

Nuclear Summit in Seoul with safety as top priority

Safety to top Seoul nuclear summit agenda, 2011-09-05,The Korea Herald, By Shin Hae-in  “…Some 50 state leaders will also deal with North Korea uranium issue Following Japan’s nuclear crisis at Fukushima, next year’s nuclear security summit in Seoul will focus on how to improve safety in atomic energy, organizers said Monday…..
Among leaders attending the Seoul summit will be heads of five nations in the six-party talks, including U.S. President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The talks involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110905000686

September 6, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, politics international | Leave a comment

Still no way to monitor radiation in Mayapuri scrap market

No radiation detectors still in Mayapuri scrap market – Hindustan Times, 6 Sept 11, Even 16 months after it was hit by radiation, leaving one person dead and eight seriously injured, the Mayapuri market in west Delhi, the biggest scrap market in India, still does not have a regulatory body. In April 2010, radioactive Cobalt 60 from a Delhi University (DU) laboratory thatwas auctioned off found its way to the market.

Although six professors were charge sheeted by the Delhi Police on Friday, the scrap dealers are still on the edge, as there is no mechanism to detect hazardous materials.

“The market is not equipped with detectors, even though it is common practice in steel recycling factories in other countries. The presence of toxic heavy metals and harmful chemicals threatens people living in the area,” said Deepak Jain, who suffered radiation injuries in the crisis last April.

Sharad Sinha, a scrap dealer, said, “We have been facing an acute shortage of workers after the incident. Ever since the incident, no one wants to come and work here.”  No radiation detectors still in Mayapuri scrap market – Hindustan Times

September 6, 2011 Posted by | India, safety | Leave a comment

Libya lied about nuclear weapons – documents reveal

MI6 caught Libyans lying about nuclear weapons, documents reveal MI6 caught the Libyans lying about their stock of nuclear weapons after uncovering a secret network of arms supplies from Pakistan, documents found in Tripoli reveal.Telegraph, By , and Richard Spencer 05 Sep 2011…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8743226/MI6-caught-Libyans-lying-about-nuclear-weapons-documents-reveal.html

September 6, 2011 Posted by | Libya, weapons and war | Leave a comment