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Close to Tokyo, an increasingly radioactive lake

Japan Times: Time bomb in Tokyo metropolitan area — Experts warn of accumulating Fukushima contamination http://enenews.com/japan-times-time-bomb-tokyo-metropolitan-area-experts-warn-accumulating-fukushima-contamination
  Title: The muddy issue of cesium in a lake 
Source: Japan Times
Author: By TOMOKO OTAKE
Date: Nov 18, 2012
Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture is facing an environmental threat that has essentially turned it into a time bomb ticking away 60 km northeast of Tokyo.

Experts warn that Japan’s second largest lake with a surface area of 220 sq. km is quietly but steadfastly accumulating radioactive cesium […]

[It] is not only rich with fishery resources but whose water is used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and even for consumption as drinking water for 960,000 people in Ibaraki Prefecture. Furthermore, no one knows how and by how much the problem has worsened over the months, except for one obvious thing: it hasn’t gone away. […]

[Atsunobu Hamada, former director of the government-affiliated Ibaraki Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute maintains] that the inevitable solution would be to release Kasumigaura’s cesium into the Pacific Ocean via the Tone River […]

“We have a potential disaster waiting to happen,” [Hiroshi Iijima, director general of the nonprofit organization Asaza Fund in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture] said. “This is a lake in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the second-largest lake in Japan, and we are sitting idly by, letting it get contaminated.”

Katsuhiko Sato, official at the Environment Ministry’s water environment section: The current levels of contamination pose no health risk for the area’s residents, because radiation in the lake and the rivers is shielded by water – (Shielding? See above:  “Water is used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and even for consumption as drinking water for 960,000 people in Ibaraki Prefecture”)
Asahi Source: Locations in Chiba came under heavy nuclear fallout; Borders Tokyo — Contamination has potential to affect ecosystems

November 22, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Cesium levels in mushrooms have risen in several Japanese prefectures

[Asahi] Cesium levels in mushroom have also risen in various areas compared with last year http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/11/asahi-cesium-levels-in-mushroom-have-also-risen-in-various-areas-compared-with-last-year/
 by Mochizuki on November 21st, 2012 ·  
<Quote> [Asahi]
・・・

As of Nov. 16, officials said 93 municipalities in 10 prefectures, including Fukushima, had a shipment restriction in place. For five prefectures–Aomori, Saitama, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka–wild mushrooms constitute the only produce for which a shipment ban is in effect.

Cesium levels have also risen in various areas compared with last year.
According to tests requested by the central government, the highest levels recorded this year were 120 becquerels in Aomori Prefecture, up from only 60 becquerels last year; 2,100 becquerels in Nagano Prefecture (1,320 becquerels last year); and 3,000 becquerels in Tochigi Prefecture (134 becquerels last year).

Yasuyuki Muramatsu, a chemistry professor at Gakushuin University who specializes in radiation effects on ecology, said, “While the detailed mechanism is still unclear, mushrooms can more easily absorb cesium in comparison to plants because they are fungi.” As for why cesium levels are higher this autumn, Muramatsu said, “There is the possibility that radioactive materials that were attached to the trunks and leaves of trees last year were washed away by the rain and entered the soil into which mushrooms extend their fungal filament.”

Muramatsu cautioned that some types of wild mushroom may have high cesium levels next year as well, which will require continued testing.

November 22, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

High radiation levels on orchid island, Taiwan

Japanese professors detect high radiation on island in Taiwan Japan Times, Kyodo TAIPEI, 20 Nov 12,  — Two Japanese scholars say they have detected high levels of radiation on Orchid Island, a temporary underground storage site of low-level radioactive nuclear waste off Taiwan’s southeastern coast.TAIPEI — Continue reading →

November 22, 2012 Posted by | environment, Taiwan | Leave a comment

Ocean food chain irreparably damaged by Fukushima radiation

The ocean, food chain, and Japan’s fishing industry have all been irreparably damaged by the Fukushima crisis, and that damage is still ongoing. The Japanese government and TEPCO’s excuses are only wasting time that should be put towards finding a solution.

TEPCO, Japanese government denying Fukushima radiation reaching ocean
fish http://japandailypress.com/tepco-japanese-government-denying-fukushima-radiation-reaching-ocean-fish-2018691 By Adam Westlake  /   November 20, 2012 In what must the most dumbfounding state of denial seen in modern times, both the Japanese government and utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) are disputing the recent study that showed radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant is leaking into the ocean.

18 months after the March 2011 nuclear disaster, the U.S.’s Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a respected research group, reported that 40% of the fish caught off the
coast of Fukushima were still testing positive for radioactive contamination above the government’s safety own limits. Continue reading →

November 21, 2012 Posted by | Japan, oceans, spinbuster | 1 Comment

Call for INDEPENDENT radiation monitoring in Lanyu (Orchid Island)

Thirty years after the storage facility was built without prior consultation and communication with Lanyu residents, the government has yet to conduct a complete investigation of nuclear radiation on the island

The council was accused of malpractice concerning nuclear waste repackaging in Lanyu last month.

Groups urge Lanyu radioactivity checks, Taipei Times, 20 Nov 12, DODGY TESTS:The Atomic Energy Council said that the devices used in previous radioactivity checks by Japanese experts had been affected by electromagnetic waves By Chris Wang and Lee I-chia   Staff reporters Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers and several academics yesterday told a press conference that the nuclear radiation level in Lanyu (蘭嶼), also known as Orchid Island, was a serious concern and demanded a complete investigation into potential radiation threats on the island. Continue reading →

November 21, 2012 Posted by | environment, Taiwan | Leave a comment

Podcast: Tokyo’s highly radioactive soil

Podcast Gundersen: Tokyo soil so hot it should be sent to nuclear waste dump — Really severe releases hit city  http://enenews.com/gundersen-tokyo-soil-hot-be-shipped-radioactive-dump    http://www.fairewinds.com/content/fairewinds-podcast
November 19th, 2012  
Fairewinds Podcast, Nov. 18, 2012:
Nuclear Expert Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Energy Education: : Our readers may remember when I came back from Tokyo back in February, I had 5 samples of dirt that I had taken just randomly around the city. They were all over 7,000 disintegrations per second in a two pound bag (Bq/kg). What that told me was that the releases from the accident were really severe even as far away as Tokyo. And I said then that if this were contaminated ground at a nuclear power plant it would have to be considered as nuclear waste. Well, we took a lot flack for that on the Fairewinds site, but we were right on the mark.

What happened just last week was that in a suburb of Tokyo another sample was taken by citizens and they brought it to the attention of the government that then sampled it. But basically they had a hot spot that was in excess of 10,000 disintegrations per second per kilogram of their sample. So here we are 9 months after I took my samples and citizens are still finding hot spots all over the Tokyo area. I think it speaks to one, the magnitude of the initial release. This was a serious release, not just for Fukushima Prefecture but for Tokyo and its suburbs as well. […]

So if Tokyo could be highly contaminated to the point where its soil should be shipped to a nuclear waste dump […] if Tokyo can have soil so hot that it should be shipped to a radioactive dump, what might happen to our nation’s capitol, the biggest city in the United States, or to L.A. in the event of a nuclear accident? We’re really not prepared. Our policy makers at the NRC have not even envisioned that as a possibility.

November 21, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan, Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Chinese serious radiation problem, uranium ash from coal mining

The environmental hazards caused by radioactive ash has been kept quiet.

Coal mines near uranium deposits spoiling value of nuclear fuel.  Experts say many coal and uranium deposits are co-located and that extraction of the fossil fuel first is ruining the value of the nuclear fuel South China Morning Post, 18 November, 2012,   Stephen Chen “…… And as China’s nuclear and coal sectors battle over the sites where the radioactive heavy metal lies buried, experts say the uranium is accidentally ending up in coal-fired power stations
– creating radioactive ash that is falling on surrounding cities.

One Canadian firm that declined to be interviewed has built a plant near one coal-fired power station in Yunnan to collect the uranium from the ash….. Continue reading →

November 19, 2012 Posted by | China, environment | Leave a comment

Japan Experts: Contamination from Fukushima “is almost irreversible” in coastal sediments http://enenews.com/japan-experts-contamination-is-almost-irreversible-in-coastal-sediments November 17th, 2012
Title: Sedimentation and remobilization of radiocesium in the coastal area of Ibaraki, 70 km south of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant
Authors: Shigeyoshi Otosaka and Takuya Kobayashi, Research Group for Environmental Science, Japan Atomic Energy Agency
Date: 13 November 2012

[…] it can be inferred that dissolved radiocesium advected southward from the region adjacent to the 1FNPP and was deposited to the sediment of the study area in the early stage after the accident. The incorporation of radiocesium into sediments was almost irreversible, and higher concentrations of 137Cs were obtained from the finer-grained fraction of sediments. […]

137Cs levels in sediment decreased considerably between June and August, and then remained at the same level until January 2012. This trend indicates that the initial deposition of 137Cs to the sediment had almost ceased by August, and that the incorporation of 137Cs into sediments was almost irreversible. […]

In conclusion […] it can also be inferred that the remarkable decrease in 137Cs level between June and August 2011 (Table 3) was not caused by dissolution of labile 137Cs but by a physical transport (export) of irreversibly bound 137Cs.

[…] Most of radiocesium in the coastal sediments is incorporated into lithogenic fractions, and this incorporation is almost irreversible. Accordingly, the biological availability of sedimentary radiocesium is relatively low, but continuous monitoring of radiocesium inmarine biota is highly recommended because significant amounts of radiocesium have been accumulated in the sediment.

November 19, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, oceans | Leave a comment

Highly radioactive trout caught in Fukushima river

Kyodo: Radioactive trout over 100 times gov’t limit caught in Fukushima river http://enenews.com/kyodo-radioactive-trout-over-100-times-govt-limit-caught-in-fukushima-river  November 16th, 2012
 (Subscription Only)  Title: Fukushima trout log radioactivity level over 100 times gov’t limit 
Source: Kyodo
Date: Nov. 17, 2010

A mountain trout caught in a Fukushima Prefecture river [Niida River in Minamisoma city] returned a radioactive cesium reading of 11,400 becquerels per kilogram, more than 100 times the government-set limit for food items, a survey by the Environment Ministry said Friday. […]

The survey conducted in June and July also found 4,400 becquerels of radioactive cesium in a smallmouth bass and 3,000 becquerels in a catfish in Mano Dam in Iitate village, another municipality heavily affected by the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant run by Tokyo Electric Power Co. […]
See also: Asahi: Gov’t worried about highly radioactive fish — Why are radiation readings still 100s of times over official safe

November 17, 2012 Posted by | environment, Fukushima 2012, Japan | Leave a comment

Radiation levels not decreasing in seas around Fukushima


Radiation Still High Around Fukushima http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/33275/title/Radiation-Still-High-Around-Fukushima/,   
Continued leaks, run off from land, and contaminated sediment on the ocean floor are causing radioactivity levels to remain high in the seas around Fukushima. By Dan Cossins | November 15, 2012 Levels of radiation in the seas surrounding the ruined Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan are showing no signs of dropping off as expected, according to new data presented last week (November 12-13) at a conference   in Tokyo. Scientists believe that continued leaks from the plant in addition to run off from contaminated land and radiation-soaked sediment on the sea floor are responsible. Continue reading →

November 16, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, Japan, oceans | Leave a comment

Highly radioactive fish in seas near Fukushima

Asahi: Gov’t worried about highly radioactive fish — Why are radiation readings still 100s of times over official safe limits? http://enenews.com/asahi-govt-worried-about-highly-radioactive-fish-why-are-radiation-readings-still-100s-of-times-over-official-safe-limit
 November 13th, 2012
(Subscription Only) Title: Worries over highly radioactive fish prompt study
Source: Asahi
Author: HIROSHI ISHIZUKA
Date: November 13, 2012

Persistently high radioactivity in some fish caught close to the Fukushima nuclear plant has sparked a government investigation into the physiological basis for contamination and why radiation readings in some specimens remain hundreds of times over the official safe limit.

[…] The overall trend has been a decline in detected amounts of radioactive cesium.

However, in August, two greenlings caught 20 kilometers north of the Fukushima plant were found to have cesium levels of 25,800 becquerels per kilogram, the highest level ever measured in fish since the nuclear accident. The government standard for food is 100 becquerels per kilogram.

And in March, tests recorded a level of 18,700 becquerels per kilogram
in freshwater salmon in the Niidagawa river near Iitate […]

[…] cesium in freshwater salmon and char caught since March has not been decreasing, leading to restrictions on the shipment […]

The forthcoming study will analyze cesium levels in the fish’s otolith, a part of the inner ear. The otolith is widely used in such research because it is an organ where trace elements tend to accumulate over the animal’s lifespan, leaving a growth record that can be likened to the rings of a tree. […]

November 15, 2012 Posted by | Japan, oceans, Reference | Leave a comment

Japan’s desperate, endless battle with nuclear radiation

Top Nuclear Official: Japan in “desperate, seemingly endless battle with radiation” — “Seemingly infinite damage to the daily life of residents” http://enenews.com/top-nuclear-official-japan-desperate-seemingly-endless-battle-radiation-seemingly-infinite-damage-daily-life-residents
   November 12th, 2012 
Source: Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B; Vol. 88 (2012) No. 9 p. 471-484Title: (1.7MB pdf) Accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Stations of TEPCO —Outline & lessons learned

Author: Shunichi Tanaka, Chairman Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority
Date: Nov. 9, 2012
The severe accident that broke out at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power stations on March 11, 2011, caused seemingly infinite damage to the daily life of residents. Serious and widespread contamination of the environment occurred due to radioactive materials discharged from nuclear power stations (NPSs). […]

The accident has seriously contaminated the environment, such as houses, farmland, forests and seacoasts, resulting in significant radiation exposure to residents. After one year, there seems to be no concrete program to recover from the damage to the environment and to nuclear power applications, while the nation is forced to struggle with a desperate, seemingly endless battle with radiation. […]

November 15, 2012 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Wind and solar energy have the advantage, as water becomes scarcer


Water scarcity could drive push towards wind and solar REneweconomy By Giles Parkinson   14 November 2012 In 2010, more water – 583 billion cubic metres – than is discharged each year by the mighty Ganges River in India was used to meet the world’s growing energy needs.

It’s an interesting statistic, but why should that matter? Well, if the world continues on its merry way, power capacity – particularly with water-hungry energy technologies such as coal and nuclear – and water-dependent extractive techniques such as coal, shale gas and tar sands, are going to grow quickly, and, according to the International Energy Agency, the world’s demand for water will grow at twice the pace, putting pressure on increasingly scarce water resources. Continue reading →

November 15, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, Reference, water | Leave a comment

Uranium dust used as pesticide in Tanzania: urgent need to stop this

Action needed’ on uranium use in Tanzania, DW 11 Nov 12, Reports say Tanzanian farmers have used uranium dust as a pesticide. Immediate inspections are needed, says Ute Koczy, a member of the German parliament and Green Party spokeswoman on development issues. Continue reading →

November 12, 2012 Posted by | AFRICA, environment | 2 Comments

The nightmare of the Marshall Islands nuclear bomb tests

PARADISE WITH AN ASTERISK, OUTSIDE MAGAZINE,  OCTOBER 17, 2012 Bikini Atoll, a tiny ring of islands halfway between Hawaii and Australia, is a world-class diving destination and home to one of the Pacific’s last great fishing grounds. So where are all the tourists? Welcome to heaven on earth, where the vestiges of hell lie just below the surface. Continue reading →

November 6, 2012 Posted by | environment, OCEANIA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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