Thousands of years for the oceans to recover from climate change
the abrupt fluctuations offer a glimpse at the duration of the effects of climate change driven by human activity pumping more planet-warming gases into Earth’s atmosphere, Moffitt said.
“What this shows us is that there are major biomes on this planet that are on the table, that are on the chopping block for a future of abrupt climate warming and unchecked greenhouse gas emissions,” Moffitt said. “We as a society and civilization have to come to terms with the things that we are going to sacrifice if we do not reduce our greenhouse gas footprint.
Oceans might take thousands of years to recover from climate change, study suggests, SMH, April 2, 2015 Geoffrey Mohan Naturally occurring climate change lowered oxygen levels in the deep ocean, decimating a broad spectrum of seafloor life that took some 1,000 years to recover, according to a study that offers a potential window into the effects of modern warming.
Earth’s recovery from the last glacial period, in fact, was slower and more brutal than previously thought, according to the study, published online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers deciphered that plotline from a 30-foot core of sea sediments drilled from the Santa Barbara Basin off the coast of California containing more than 5,000 fossils spanning nearly 13,000 years.
“The recovery does not happen on a century scale; it’s a commitment to a millennial-scale recovery,” said Sarah Moffitt, a marine ecologist at the University of California, Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory and lead author of the study. “If we see dramatic oxygen loss in the deep sea in my lifetime, we will not see a recovery of that for many hundreds of years, if not thousands or more.”………
beginning around 13,500 years ago, the seafloor community began a slow recovery with the rise of grazers that fed on bacterial mats. Recovery eventually was driven by a fluctuation back toward glaciation during the Younger Dryas period, a cooling sometimes called the Big Freeze.
“The biological community takes 1,000 years to truly recover to the same ecological level of functioning,” Moffitt said. “And the community progresses through really interesting and bizarre states before it recovers the kind of biodiversity that was seen prior to the warming.”……..
The climate changes chronicled in the study arose from natural cycles involving Earth’s orbit of the sun, and the oxygen declines that ensued were more extreme than those that have occurred in modern times, the study noted.
Still, the abrupt fluctuations offer a glimpse at the duration of the effects of climate change driven by human activity pumping more planet-warming gases into Earth’s atmosphere, Moffitt said.
“What this shows us is that there are major biomes on this planet that are on the table, that are on the chopping block for a future of abrupt climate warming and unchecked greenhouse gas emissions,” Moffitt said. “We as a society and civilization have to come to terms with the things that we are going to sacrifice if we do not reduce our greenhouse gas footprint.” http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/oceans-might-take-thousands-of-years-to-recover-from-climate-change-study-suggests-20150401-1md7qk.html
Plutonium-241 from Fukushima nearly 70,000 times more than atomic bomb fallout in Japan.
Fukushima: Uranium and Plutonium Contamination of Large Areas of Oceans, Ground-water, Soils.By Edmondo Burr Global Research, March 29, 2015 Your News Wire Scientists have raised concern over the rate of radioactive contamination of the Pacific, due to the Fukushima nuclear accident.
- Expert : Plutonium-241 from Fukushima nearly 70,000 times more than atomic bomb fallout in Japan.
- Officials : Molten fuel now ‘particle-like’, contains ‘special’ nuclear materials.
- Gov’t Labs : Large areas of oceans contaminated by plutonium from events such as Fukushima; Build-up in biosphere expected; Considerable hazard to humans.
Energy News statement :
Detection of long-lived plutonium isotopes in environmental samples by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) — Plutonium isotopes 239Pu, 240Pu and 242Pu are anthropogenic radionuclides emitted into the environment by nuclear activities. Pu is accumulated in the human body and hence, poses a considerable hazard to human health. Due to the long half-lives, these isotopes are present in the biosphere on large time scales and a build-up can be expected. Therefore it is important to study the contamination pathway of Pu into the drinking water… a method to detect long-lived Pu isotopes by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is being developed. AMS requires only few milligrams of sample material… Consequently, more samples from different locations can be taken which is essential when searching for locally increased Pu concentrations as in the Pacific Ocean after the Fukushima accident… Samples from different locations in the Pacific Ocean and from the snow-hydrosphere are planned…
Statement by: Taeko Shinonaga, head of Radioanalytical Laboratory at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen (research institution founded jointly by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education & Research and Bavaria’s Finance Ministry), scientists from Technische Universitat Munchen (Germany), Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft 2013 meeting (emphasis added)
Presentation by: Taeko Shinonaga, head of Helmholtz radioanalytical lab (pdf), Nov 2014: Comparison of activity between [nuclear bomb testing] fallout Pu particle and Fukushima origin Pu particle:…..http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushima-uranium-and-plutonium-contamination-of-large-areas-of-oceans-ground-water-soils/5439271
It’s getting serious when nuclear pollution threatens the wine industry
A 2012 report prepared for the Washington State Wine Commission indicates that the state is the “second largest wine producer in the U.S., after California.” Internationally, Washington State is the third-largest exporter of food and agricultural products, according to state officials, with leading products including fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy products, and seafood.
What is not on the Tri-Cities website, however, is a copy of the DOE report released last year that indicated trace amounts of the radioisotope tritium were found in wine samples collected near Hanford in 2013 “that could have potentially originated from the Hanford Site.” Tritium is considered one of the least-threatening radioisotopes because it generally passes from the body quickly, but it still can increase cancer risk because it releases radiation
ATOMIC WINE Wine Country’s Nuclear Threat, The Daily Beast , Bill Conroy. 03.28.15 A nuclear facility in Washington state’s prime wine country is leaching radioactive groundwater and is one natural disaster away from Fukushima 2.0. The Hanford Site, a former nuclear-weapons production facility located in southeastern Washington State near the Oregon border, is one natural disaster away from a Fukushima-like catastrophe, according to environmental groups who also claim the site—which sits near some of the state’s best vineyards—is leaking radioactive groundwater into the nearby Columbia River. Continue reading
Plutonium at 1,000,000 Bq/m3 detected in ocean off Fukushima
Gov’t Report: Plutonium at 1,000,000 Bq/m3 was detected in ocean off Fukushima — “Contaminated waters will be transported rapidly to east” across Pacific — This is “the most important direct liquid release of artificial radioactivity into sea ever known” — Scientists: “Remember, its not just cesium that’s released” http://enenews.com/govt-report-1000000-bqm3-plutonium-detected-ocean-fukushima-contaminated-waters-transported-rapidly-east-across-pacific-fukushima-crisis-important-direct-liquid-release-artificial-radioactivity?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Comparison between modelling and measurement of marine dispersion, environmental half-time and 137Cs inventories after the Fukushima Daiichi accident, Pascal Bailly du Bois (IRSN), Pierre Garreau (IFREMER), Philippe Laguionie (IRSN), Irène Korsakissok (IRSN), 2014:Contamination of the marine environment following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) represents the most important influx of artificial radioactivity released into the sea ever recorded… The direct liquid releases from FDNPP represent the largest influx of artificial radioactivity into the sea ever occurring over a short period of time on a small spatial scale… Although controlled releases of liquid effluent from the Sellafield reprocessing plant can be compared in terms of total quantities, they have occurred over several years (1970-1980) instead of days, weeks and months as in the case of the FDNPP accident… [W]hatever the detailed current direction at the time of the accident is, water mass fluxes were governed by the generally strong Kuroshio and Oyashio currents that are stable at this scale… Contaminated waters will be transported rapidly to the east… Contamination of the marine environment following the accident at the FDNPP represents the most important direct liquid release of artificial radioactivity into the sea ever known…
Supplementary material for study: Database of seawater measurements (.xls spreadsheet)
Ken Buesseler (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and Mitsuo Uematsu (Univ. of Tokyo)(pdf): Remember, it’s not just cesium isotopes that were released… What about plutonium?… Surface ocean in June 2011 see slightly elevated Pu – from direct discharge?
Radioactive cesium in Fukushima’s soil
Soils retain, contain radioactivity in Fukushima Science Daily, March 24, 2015 Source: American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA)
Radiocesium dissolves easily in water, allowing it to spread quickly. However, different soils have the ability to retain various toxins and prevent them from spreading or entering the food chain. The authors measured the ability of a large number of soil samples collected from Fukushima to intercept radiocesium. They found success depends on various factors.
One key factor is the presence of rough or weathered edges of certain minerals, such as mica, in the soil. These rough edges catch the radiocesium and prevent its movement. This is the frayed edge site (FES) concentration. Nakao explains, however, that “quantification of the FES with a simple experiment has proven difficult.” A “surrogate” measurement used by soil scientists is the radiocesium interception potential (RIP). This measurement is time-consuming and requires specialized facilities, preventing its measure at local institutes.
Thus, Nakao’s study looked for and found that other, more easily measured soil properties to predict the radiocesium interception potential (RIP) of a soil. “These findings may be useful in screening soils that are particularly vulnerable to transferring radiocesium to plants grown in them,” Nakao says. “However, the amounts of radiocesium transferred to plants are normally negligible, because most of the radiocesium is strongly fixed on the frayed edge site.”……..http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150324101006.htm
Radioactive waste produced by fracking for gas
Fracking Radiation– North Dakota Considers Weaker Landfill Rules, Less Oversight , CounterPunch, MARCH 19, 201 by JOHN LaFORGE
Radioactive waste produced by hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is making headlines all over gas land, particularly in North Dakota’s booming Bakken gas and oil field.
National news coverage of the scandalous illegal dumping of radioactive filter “socks” there — on Indian Reservations no less — has led North Dakota’s legislature to consider changes to its radioactive waste laws so that fracking’s contaminated wastes can be dumped in ordinary landfills.
One current bill would permit fracking’s radioactive waste in state landfills to be contaminated with 10 times the radioactivity that state law now allows — as long as it’s covered with 10 feet of dirt. Radioactive fracking waste that’s not being illegally discarded — no Victoria, mobster dumping probably hasn’t ended — is supposed to be being trucked out of state.
ND House Bills 1113 and 1114 — reportedly requested by the State Health Department — are being contested by some law makers and journalists who question the right of the department to set its own rules.
The ND Newspaper Association and the ND Broadcasters Association complained that one bill eliminates mandatory public hearings about landfill rule changes and instead permits them “when appropriate.” The bill also cancels public notification of the permitting process for disposition of radioactive materials.
Dave Glatt of the State Health Department told the Bismarck Tribunethat his agency commissioned Argon National Laboratory in Chicago to study the issue and make recommendations. The department wanted to know “radiation limits that would be safe for workers and the public.” Glatt forgets that there are no safe radiation doses, only legally permitted ones.
Locals are Worried
“We don’t want to have, when this oil and coal is gone, nothing left here, a wasteland, and I’m afraid that’s what might happen,” said Underwood farmer Gene Wirtz to KXNET news reporter Ben Smith in January. Wirtz is worried about the increased radioactivity in local landfills. “Any amount of radiation beyond what you’re already getting is not a good thing,” he said.
Radioactive isotopes that contaminate fracking industry waste and its machinery include radon, radium-226, uranium-238, and thorium-232. According to the Health Department’s website, these long-lived radioactive pollutants come in six forms:
* “Produced water” which is injected underground but later brought to the surface as waste;
* “Sulfate scales,” which are hard, insoluble deposits that accumulate on frack sand and inside drilling and processing equipment;
* Contaminated soil and machinery;
* Filter socks, contaminated by filtering “produced water”;
* Synthetic “proppants” or sand; and
* Sludge and “filter cake” solids of mud, sand, scale and rust that precipitate or are filtered out of contaminated “produced water. They build up in “filter socks,” and in waste water pipes and storage tanks that can leak.http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/03/19/fracking-radiation/
Fish and wild foods still showing radioactivity in Fukushima area
The decline in contamination has been very slow among bottom fish, including karei flat fish and ainame greenling caught off Fukushima. The same is true of freshwater fish, including iwana, caught from rivers, lakes and ponds in Fukushima, Miyagi, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures.
As for mushrooms and wild vegetables, samples from 11 prefectures, including Fukushima, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka, exceeded the threshold between April 1 last year and March 1, according to the data.
Produce worries easing but some fish, wild foods still a problem in wake of Fukushima meltdowns, Japan Times BY MIZUHO AOKI STAFF WRITER MAR 12, 2015 The public panic over the threat of radioactive food has subsided in the four years since the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant experienced three reactor core meltdowns and spewed massive amounts of fallout, but worries persist.
Seikatsu Club, a mail-order food delivery co-op, maintains an online database that includes more than 700,000 results of radiation tests on food items. Page views have fallen to about one-tenth of their peak in 2012, said Hiroshi Tsuchida, a quality management division chief with the co-op, but there are people who still visit the site almost daily.
“For such members, we are continuing testing and disclosing all the data on our website,” Tsuchida told The Japan Times. “In Ukraine, there are screening devices at markets where people check food even today, nearly 30 years since the (start of the Chernobyl) nuclear disaster. I believe we should do the same.”
Despite the lingering fears, however, overall contamination levels of farm produce and seafood from Fukushima and neighboring prefectures have declined significantly……..
But concern remains over fish, wild vegetables and wild game. Between April 1 last year and March 1, around 292,000 such samples were tested for radioactive cesium and 502, or 0.17 percent, exceeded the safe threshold, the health ministry said. In fiscal 2012, that ratio stood at 0.85 percent. Continue reading
Sea stars should be tested for plutonium, not just for radioactive cesium
Given this research by Nicholas Fisher on Americium and Ken Buessler’s Ph.D. on plutonium testing, one would think that they would test for this at Fukushima. They apparently decided to test for Caesium, instead. The following was an important, taxpayer funded (seemingly DOD) research grant, which is apparently NOT being put to good use
Sea Stars: Sentinels for Radionuclides-Nuclear Waste, Mining Awareness 14 Mar 15 Over 20 years ago, the US government gave money to researchers to study the impact of long-lived radionuclides, which might leak from Russian nuclear waste in the Arctic. It was determined that sea stars could be bioindicators of 241 Americium.
Depleted uranium for Utah – mind boggling scenario
Will Utah bury nation’s leftover depleted uranium? The Utah Department of Environmental Quality just received this week additional information from EnergySolutions related to potential erosion and other “deep time” problems suspected to impact its Tooele County disposal site, pushing back the start of a public review to April 13.
Helge Gabert, project manager for the state on the depleted uranium issue, said the requested information was about a month late. It was submitted Wednesday for review. It will be incorporated into a subsequent analysis or safety evaluation that the agency will release for public comment about a week beyond its earlier time frame.
In addition, a pair of public meetings will be held the week of May 4, with a decision on disposal due July 1 from Rusty Lundberg, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control.
To take the nation’s leftovers of 750,000 metric tons of depleted uranium, EnergySolutions has to first convince Utah regulators that its site will be safe for 10,000 years. Beyond that, it has to prove that the threat to public health will be minimal in the advent of a return of a Lake Bonneville or other “deep time geologic events” over 2.1 million years.
It is a mind boggling scenario, planning for all manner of circumstances that could play out, modeling time and performance over such an extended period that it is difficult to grasp.
EnergySolutions must account for the farmer who wanders onto the disposal site, unaware of the radiological hazard underneath his feet. Or the burrowing rodent that could cause vulnerabilities to the at-grade disposal site.
The company must try to figure out how the wind will deposit the sand, how dunes will form and when the lake returns — as some say it inevitably will — how the water might disperse the radiological hazard from an anticipated breach of the disposal barrier.
Such planning is something Utah is requiring because of the unique nature of depleted uranium, which is the byproduct of the uranium enrichment process for nuclear fuel. While depleted uranium has commercial applications, such as antitank armaments, demand for it is far outpaced by the amount that is generated. The U.S. Department of Energy has responsibility for its disposal.
Depleted uranium gets more radioactive as its isotopes try to get back to their natural state, and as these “daughter products” break down, they not only multiply, but increase in intensity.
The instability that occurs in the decay process occurs over 2.1 million years, with what was once classified as “low-level” radioactive waste breaching Utah-imposed limits on what is allowed to be buried in the state.
Gabert said there is no question that by 40,000 years, depleted uranium will violate the state’s prohibition on anything “hotter” than Class A waste, so it becomes a policy issue for current regulators to decide if its disposal is acceptable in the here and now.
“You could argue why does not the state just make the decision based on the science, but we have not made that. We are willing to hear out what the facility has to say,” Gabert said.
The deep time analysis looks in particular if the threat will be mitigated enough — if the doses of radioactivity would be diluted to the degree that even exposure to a higher “category” of waste would not cause harm.
Critics of the EnergySolutions’ proposal to dispose of the depleted uranium say no amount of assurances or analysis can safeguard human health given the sheer amount of unknowns.
32 million people in Japan are exposed to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster
The 2015 Fukushima Report is available for download in English at http://www.greencross.ch/en/news-info-en/case-studies/fukushima-report.html.
As with the Chernobyl nuclear accident, which impacted 10 million people, Japan is expected to see increased cancer risk and neuropsychological long-term health consequences. The stress-related effects of evacuation and subsequent relocation are also of concern. The evacuation involved a total of over 400,000 individuals, 160,000 of them from within 20km of Fukushima. The number of deaths from the nuclear disaster attributed to stress, fatigue and the hardship of living as evacuees is estimated to be around 1,700 so far.
“Our local presence and ongoing activities to help the communities impacted by radioactive contamination in Chernobyl and Fukushima gives us first-hand experience of the human and environmental consequences of nuclear disasters,” said Adam Koniuszewski, Chief Operating Officer of Green Cross International, who recently shared the stage with former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan for a conference on nuclear power. “This is why we are demanding more transparency and better governance around nuclear power and the risks involved, and a better assessment of its mounting costs. The management of nuclear waste in increasingly burdensome and the cost of decommissioning plants is escalating. In the meantime, renewable energy solutions are getting cheaper. Over the last five years the cost for utility scale solar has declined by 78 per cent, and by for wind by 58 per cent.”……….
About Green Cross International:
GCI is an independent non-profit and nongovernmental organization founded in 1993 by Nobel Peace Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev. It addresses the interconnected global challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation through global advocacy and local projects. GCI is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has a network of national organizations in 27 countries http://www.gcint.org/
For further information, please contact:
Green Cross International (GCI)
Etienne Lacombe-Kishibe
Communications Coordinator
Phone: +41 22 789 08 13
Mob: +41 78 839 79 03
Email: etienne.lacombe(at)gci(dot)ch
Website: http://www.gcint.org http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/03/prweb12577655.htm
The hazard of Fukushima nuclear radiation in the seafood chain
Is seafood totally free from Fukushima radiation?http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?monthyear=&day=13&id=75191&l=e&special=&ndb=1%20target=Friday, March 13, 2015,
A new report on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan raises concerns as to seafood safety given the radioactivity levels in tuna and other fish.
The 2015 Fukushima Report was prepared under the direction of Professor Jonathan M. Samet, Director of the Institute for Global Health at the University of Southern California(USC), as a Green Cross initiative.
“Our local presence and ongoing activities to help the communities impacted by radioactive contamination in Chernobyl and Fukushima gives us first-hand experience of the human and environmental consequences of nuclear disasters,” pointed out Adam Koniuszewski, Chief Operating Officer of Green Cross International.
“This is why we are demanding more transparency and better governance around nuclear power and the risks involved, and a better assessment of its mounting costs. The management of nuclear waste in increasingly burdensome and the cost of decommissioning plants is escalating. In the meantime, renewable energy solutions are getting cheaper. Over the last five years the cost for utility scale solar has declined by 78 per cent, and by for wind by 58 per cent,” Koniuszewski added.
The radiation released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was largely concentrated in Japan and over the Pacific Ocean.
According to estimates, 80 per cent of the released radiation was deposited in the ocean and the other 20 per cent was mostly dispersed within a 50 km radius to the northwest of the power plant in the Fukushima Prefecture.
While the expected cancer risk to humans caused by the radiation released over the Pacific Ocean are small, trace amounts of radiation have already reached the North American continent, in particular parts of the North West Coast of the United States.
In addition to the radioactive material initially released in the ocean, water leakage at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant remains a problem four years after the accident.Reports of pipes breaking and water escaping from containment tanks in the months and years since the accident are a source of worry for workers and the public. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) reported that radioactive material had been released as late as May of 2013.
Green Cross is committed to phasing out nuclear energy worldwide. The organisation is also concerned about the effects military use of nuclear materials can have on the environment and health. Because of the worldwide effects of climate change and nuclear disasters, it is urgently necessary for the global community to work together on developing and using renewable energies, boosting energy efficiency, and pursuing a controlled, global end to the production of nuclear power.
The 2015 Fukushima Report is available to download in English at: Fukushima Report.
Worldwide effect of Fukushima radioactive plume
UCLA Researchers: Fukushima “not only affecting that local area, but also worldwide” — Gov’t Expert: “Immediately the Iodine-131 plume moved eastward reaching US West Coast [then] covering entire northern hemisphere… Significant concern on the safety of the population and environment worldwide” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/ucla-researchers-fukushima-only-affecting-local-area-worldwide-govt-expert-immediately-iodine-131-plume-moved-eastward-reaching-west-coast-covering-entire-northern-hemisphere-early-april-posing-sig?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29 8 March 15
In the Fukushima Disaster Zone with UCLA researchers, Mar 3, 2015: Four years after Fukushima disaster, some areas remain untouched, clocks recording the exact time that the tsunami swept through. Access is highly restricted but two UCLA researchers were recently given permission to document the disaster zone. — at 3:45 in — “With this study I think that’s what we’re trying to explore — is that once a nuclear catastrophe strikes, it’s not only affecting that local area, but also worldwide.”
Atmospheric dispersion of Iodine-131 released after the Fukushima event, by Giuseppe A. Marzo, ENEA (Italian National agency for new technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development), 2014: From March 12, 2011, a significant amount of radioactive material… discharged into the atmosphere… Total emission of 131I has been estimated in [128** petabecquerels (PBq)], while 133Xe, and 137Cs total emissions have been estimated in [15,300 PBq and 36.6 PBq], respectively. In this work the global atmospheric dispersion of 131I released by the Fukushima accident is carried out, focusing on this specific radionuclide due to its radiological relevance in terms of consequences on the human health… Figure 1 summarizes the simulation results. It illustrates the radioactivity concentration due to 131I released into the atmosphere at specific times and integrated over the total atmospheric column. Immediately after the initial release on March 12, the plume moved eastward reaching the United States west coast on [March 15 at 10:00p PST]… In early April the plume extended over the entire northern hemisphere… A significant accidental event occurred at the Fukushima NPPs… volatile radionuclides such as 131I were transported away from the source posing significant concern on the safety of the population and the environment worldwide… the atmospheric dispersion of 131I [was] covering the entire northern hemisphere by early April…
**According to a document released by TEPCO, “Our result shows a higher I-131 amount (500PBq) compared to the result obtained from a thirdparty organization (120-200PBq).”
Japan should not be complacent about Tokyo’s risk of another nuclear catastrophe
The ongoing fallout from Japan’s nuclear meltdown, East Asia Forum 7 March 2015 Simon Avenell, ANU
Four years after the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, Japan’s leaders and citizens still face many complex challenges. Among these, none is more complicated than the issue of nuclear power.
Concerns remain about the containment of radioactive waste and the progress of decommissioning the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant. Periodic media reports of radioactive water spilling into the Pacific Ocean have not inspired confidence. Instead, they directly undermine Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strong desire to restart Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors, which have been offline since the disaster.
There is still controversy about how to dispose of contaminated topsoil and other radioactive material scattered around Fukushima. Locals want their land decontaminated and habitable, and very few communities want a stockpile of radioactive waste in their backyard.
The level of uncertainty was patently obvious when the Science Council of Japan proposed that the radioactive waste material be stored at an above-ground facility for 50 years while officials and citizens devised a better option. But it has been difficult to find a locality willing to accept this material even in the short-term. Only in late February 2015 did Fukushima Governor Masao Uchibori finally agree to establish interim storage facilities in the towns of Futaba and Okuma. The radioactive waste is to be permanently disposed of ‘outside the prefecture’ in 30 years’ time……..
Farmers whose lands were contaminated with radioactive fallout must make difficult decisions. Cleaning contaminated topsoil and foliage is an expensive undertaking and does not guarantee the elimination of radioactive hotspots. Some farmers are retooling and moving into other forms of agriculture (such as greenhouse production), but this can be costly and time-consuming and is not easy for elderly, established farmers. Younger farmers with families must also weigh up the health risks of taking their children back into areas deemed decontaminated.
But even if agricultural operations begin to revive, convincing consumers that Fukushima produce — rice, fruit, and seafood — is safe will not be easy. Advertising campaigns publicising the rigorous testing procedures for Fukushima produce run the risk of fuelling consumer concern rather than mitigating it.
Community rebuilding and restoration challenges also remain. In late 2014, around 90,000 people whose homes were destroyed in the disaster were living in temporary housing. A similar number were living in public and privately owned apartments financed by municipal governments, taking the total number of displaced persons to around 180,000……..
now scientists are predicting a similar calamity for the Tokyo region.
If such a disaster were to occur, the knock-on effects for the economy and society could be catastrophic. Tohoku certainly proved that even seismologists can miss the ‘big one’, but it’s the after effects that have demanded a serious rethinking of Tokyo’s disaster preparedness. Scientists are saying there is a 70 per cent chance that a magnitude 7.0 or higher quake will hit Tokyo by 2016 and a 98 per cent chance it will hit in the next 30 years.
Whether or not this eventuates, Tohoku and the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi should be a warning about the dangers of complacency.
Simon Avenell is Associate Professor in History and an Australian Research Council Fellow at The Australian National University.http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2015/03/07/the-ongoing-fallout-from-japans-nuclear-meltdown/
Radionuclides from Fukushima found in fish at long distances
Report: Fukushima fallout detected in U.S. fish — Dose equal to samples caught 100 miles from plant — Persistently high levels detected in marine life offshore “not anticipated… orders of magnitude” more than expected — “Measurements needed… along predicted plume trajectory” http://enenews.com/report-fallout-japan-reactors-detected-freshwater-fish-radioactive-dose-equivalent-fish-caught-100-miles-fukushima-reactors-ongoing-measurements-needed-along-predicted-plume-trajectory
Excerpts from ‘Radiological Dose Rates to Marine Fish from the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: The First Three Years Across the North Pacific’, includes authors from Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences and Oregon St. Univ., 2015 (emphasis added):
- A more complete record is emerging of radionuclide measurements in fish [from]across the Pacific… Fish 100–200 km east of [Fukushima], coastal fish in the Aleutian Islands… and trans-Pacific migratory species, all had increased dose rates as a consequence of the FDNPP accident.
- FDNPP produced the largest single-event influx of radioactive cesium isotopes into the Pacific [137Cs up to 90 PBq; Chernobyl total: 70-85 PBq].
- Dose rates to the most impacted fish species near the FDNPP have remained above benchmark levels for potential dose effects at least three years longer than was indicated by previous, data-limited, evaluations.
- [Strontium-90] was estimated to contribute up to approximately one-half of the total 2013 dose rate to fish near the FDNPP.
- Evaluations… suggested that the dose rates to fish near the FDNPP… only briefly remained above the benchmark levels for potential harmful effects… However, subsequent data have indicated highly elevated and persistent accumulation of Cs.
- Maximally exposed fish near the FDNPP [had] an increase of more than six orders of magnitude… The elevated activity concentrations were not isolated to one sample, or one species. In 2013, activity concentrations of 134,137Cs exceeding [100,000 Bq] kg were measured in more than 100 fish from ten species sampled from FDNPP port… concentrations in [some species] are orders of magnitude higher than predicted.
- Some of the released radionuclides are being carried long distances…
- At Amchitka Island [in Alaska] the 134,137Cs dose rates to [greenling and rockfish] were only slightly higher than pre-event levels… The increase… appears to be due to atmospheric transport from Fukushima as 134Cs was measured… in freshwater fish[11 Bq/kg in trout].
- Detections of 134Cs in California water samples gathered in August 2014… suggest incremental dose rate increases to resident fish.
- Fish at 100–200 km east of the FDNPP, coastal fish in the Aleutian Islands, and trans-Pacific migratory species all had increased dose rates.
- Persistence of the radionuclides in fish was not anticipated by existing models…ongoing measurements are needed at locations near the FDNPP and further along the predicted plume trajectory… Some areas that have experienced air deposition in 2011 (e.g. Aleutian Islands), should continue monitoring as they may experience a second arrival of 134,137Cs in subsequent years via an oceanic plume.
- This study was in collaboration with the… IAEA
Conservationist question Vogtle Nuclear’s plan for water release to Savannah River
In December, the EPD issued a permit to Southern Nuclear to draw up to 74 million gallons of water daily from an intake site on the river. Southern Nuclear was required to install oxygen injection systems, commonly called “bubblers,” in the Savannah Harbor to offset concerns about oxygen levels.
“This will affect other dischargers and those using the waters, including the harbor and the lakes,” said Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus. “We have permits that are expired and have not been renewed, and this one is being put forward prematurely.”…….Environmentalists underscored that the Vogtle project is nearly three years behind schedule and said the EPD should take more time to consider the potential damage to the river and the Savannah Harbor.
In December, the EPD issued a permit to Southern Nuclear to draw up to 74 million gallons of water daily from an intake site on the river. Southern Nuclear was required to install oxygen injection systems, commonly called “bubblers,” in the Savannah Harbor to offset concerns about oxygen levels.
“This will affect other dischargers and those using the waters, including the harbor and the lakes,” said Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus. “We have permits that are expired and have not been renewed, and this one is being put forward prematurely.” http://chronicle.augusta.com/latest-news/2015-03-03/conservationists-nuclear-proponents-comment-vogtle-hearing
1 This Month
26 September – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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