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Radiation gradually accumulating in marine life beyond Fukushima

More radiation worries for Japan’s fishing industry – Fishupdate.com, 31 may 11, MORE trouble appears to be on the horizon for Japan’s beleaguered fishing industry, following the country’s disastrous earthquake two months ago.

Greenpeace has said that the radioactive leaks are continuing to seriously affect fish and other marine life.  According to fresh information released by the environmental group high levels of contamination have been found in fish, shellfish, and seaweed from samples taken 12 miles off the coast of the Fukushima plant.

Analysis by laboratories in France and Belgium found high levels of radioactive iodine and radioactive cesium in seafood, according to Greenpeace. Contamination levels were highest in seaweed samples, which contained radiation 50 times higher than official limits…..Greenpeace Radiation spokesman Jan Van Putte said: “Our data shows that significant amounts of contamination continue to spread over great distances from the Fukushima nuclear plant.  Radioactive hazards are not decreasing through dilution or dispersion, but the radioactivity is instead accumulating in marine life.”… More radiation worries for Japan’s fishing industry – Fishupdate.com

May 31, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Long lasting radioactive contamination of the sea, from Fukushima disaster

for all the focus on land-based contamination, the continuing flood of radioactive materials into the ocean at Fukushima could have the most problematic long-term impacts. ….for centuries to come, at least some radioactive materials dumped into the sea at Fukushima will find their way into the creatures of the sea and the humans that depend on them. …… 

Is Fukushima Now Ten Chernobyls into the Sea? | Common Dreams, May 26, 2011  by Harvey Wasserman New readings show levels of radioisotopes found up to 30 kilometers offshore from the on-going crisis at Fukushima are ten times higher than those measured in the Baltic and Black Seas during Chernobyl.

“When it comes to the oceans, says Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceonographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, “the impact of Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl.”  Continue reading →

May 27, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Radioactivity increasing in marine life around Japan

Greenpeace: Japan nuclear plant radiation accumulating in marine life –  CNN.com 27 May 11, Radiation from Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is accumulating in marine life off Japan’s coast above legal limits for food contamination, Greenpeace said Thursday. The environmental group said its findings run counter to Japanese government reports that radiation from the Fukushima plant, damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is being diluted as time passes.“Despite what the authorities are claiming, radioactive hazards are not decreasing through dilution or dispersion of materials, but the radioactivity is instead accumulating in marine life,” Greenpeace radiation expert Jan Vande Putte said in a press release. Continue reading →

May 27, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

AREVA neglecting France’s old radioactive uranium mining sites

Today, the site is the responsibility of Areva, a majority state-owned French multinational that builds nuclear power stations and manages uranium mines around the world……

France’s respected Independent Research and Information Commission on Radioactivity (CRIIRAD).  is similarly critical of the situation. “These exposures are totally unjustified and levels should be reduced by properly redeveloping the site and removing radioactive material,”

Radiation fears surround France’s old uranium mines, Google News, By Simon Coss (AFP)  27 May 11, ROSGLAS, France — It looks like any other another leafy woodland path in Brittany, but campaigners say ramblers on this particular trail may face levels of radiation at least 10 times higher than normal. Continue reading →

May 27, 2011 Posted by | environment, France, Uranium | Leave a comment

Japanese rice contaminated with plutonium

Media Silent About Plutonium Contamination of Japanese Rice, Global Tech, 23 May 11
The Japanese Business Press reported on May 14 that a rice field more than 50 kilometers away from the Fukushima nuclear plant has tested for high levels of deadly plutonium. A “certain food manufacturing company” conducted the independent test that reported data different from data the Japanese government released, according to a translation of the news article
The corporate media outside of Japan did not mention the test or the increased radiation affecting the staple crop. Since the start of the disaster, the corporate media has parroted statements from TEPCO and the Japanese government in its coverage of the worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl. In addition, the corporate media has all but ignored extremely high levels of nuclear radioactive contamination recently detected in Japan. “The latest joint US and Japan survey shows extremely high levels of nuclear radioactive contamination, with radiation levels higher than Chernobyl evacuation limits, now span over 800 kilometers in Japan,” writes Alexander Higgins
The total area contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is estimated at about 800 square kilometers, or about 40 percent the size of Tokyo, according to a radiation map created by the science ministry and U.S. Department of Energy,” reports Asahi. “The report uses the same level of contamination (555,000 becquerels or higher of cesium-137) that was used to issue compulsory evacuation orders in the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.” It is not likely the corporate media missed the news. Asahi has alliances with the International Herald Tribune, which is owned by the New York Times. According to the map  about 800 square kilometers are contaminated with accumulated cesium-137 of 600,000 becquerels or higher per square mete

May 24, 2011 Posted by | environment, Japan | Leave a comment

A legal win for Namibia’s groundwater against uranium mining

issue is the question of who has the legal standing to go to court to ask for protection for the environment, which is unable to speak for itself…plan to extract large quantities of water from an underground water source in such a dry, environmentally sensitive and hitherto unspoilt area.

Uranium company loses desert water plan appeal, the Namibian, 20 May 11, By: WERNER MENGES  A LEGAL challenge to a Canadian-owned mining company’s plan to use underground water to set up a uranium mine in the Namib Desert south-west of Usakos is heading back to the High Court after an appeal judgement that was given in the Supreme Court yesterday.

An issue that has never before had to be decided by a Namibian court is expected to be at the core Continue reading →

May 21, 2011 Posted by | Legal, Namibia, water | Leave a comment

Uranium mining could poison Roanoke River for generations

“This uranium operation would generate millions of tons of toxic, cancer-causing waste,” said Peter Raabe of American Rivers. “We’re talking about a radioactive legacy that would last for generations.”

The General Assembly banned uranium mining soon after the uranium was discovered more than 25 years ago.

Possible uranium mining puts Roanoke River on nation’s ‘most endangered’ list, The Washington Post, By Anita Kuma, 18 May, The mere threat of possible uranium mining in Southside Virginia has landed the Roanoke River on a list of the nation’s most endangered waterways.The conservation organization American Rivers said the possibility of lifting a statewide ban on uranium mining would threaten the river and other rivers as well as drinking water supplies in the region. Continue reading →

May 19, 2011 Posted by | environment, USA | Leave a comment

Dead radioactive nuclear reactors will NOT be transported through Great Lakes

the controversial shipment,..would have essentially seen 1,600 tonnes of radioactive waste transported across the lakes for the first time..…

Bruce Power scraps plans to ship generators through Great Lakes, Vancouver Sun,  By Mark Iype, Postmedia News May 16, 2011  Ontario utility company Bruce Power has withdrawn its request for approval from the U.S. to transport 16 decommissioned nuclear reactors across the Great Lakes for recycling, despite permission from Canadian regulators, according to a Michigan state lawmaker. Continue reading →

May 17, 2011 Posted by | Canada, environment | Leave a comment

World’s biggest uranium hole and mountain of radioactive wastes planned

“This Environmental Impact Statement shows the company has designed Olympic Dam to leak up to eight million litres of liquid radioactive waste per day.  BHP Billiton plans to dump radioactive tailings on the surface and leave them there forever, rather than pay to isolate the toxic waste from the environment.”


BHP Billiton has released a multi-phonebook-sized environmental impact statement to support its proposal to make Olympic Dam the world’s largest uranium project, but the EIS does not address the risks that go along with Australian uranium when it is used in nuclear reactors overseas.

The Australian Conservation Foundation has challenged the company to re-do its environmental assessment to take account of disasters like Fukushima. Continue reading →

May 16, 2011 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, environment | Leave a comment

Like Ukraine’s Pripyat Iitate becomes Japan’s nuclear ghost town

Fukushima village on way to becoming ghost town. By DAVID MCNEILL.  The Japan Times, 14 May 11, IITATE, Fukushima Pref. — Sleepy, idyllic and dangerously irradiated, the village of Iitate is preparing to evacuate. The junior high school is closed, its children bused every day to nearby towns. Tractors sit idle, and weeds poke through rice and cabbage in the fields. Half-empty shelves greet customers at the A-Coop supermarket.

By the end of the month, this mountainous farming village of 7,000 people in Fukushima Prefecture, recently voted one of Japan’s most beautiful places, will join the Ukrainian ghost town of Pripyat on the planet’s short list of nuclear casualties….. Continue reading →

May 15, 2011 Posted by | - Fukushima 2011, environment, Japan | Leave a comment

Toxic radioactive effects of thorium, uranium in rare earths

Environmental groups have long criticised rare earths mining for spewing toxic chemicals and radioactive thorium and uranium into the air, water and soil, which can cause cancer and birth defects among residents and animals…..

China pays price for world’s rare earths addiction, By Allison Jackson (AFP) – Google News, 7 May 11, BAOTOU, China — Peasant farmer Wang Tao used to grow corn, potatoes and wheat within a stone’s throw of a dumping ground for rare earths waste until toxic chemicals leaked into the water supply and poisoned his land.Farmers living near the 10-square-kilometre expanse in northern China say they have lost teeth and their hair has turned white while tests show the soil and water contain high levels of cancer-causing radioactive materials. Continue reading →

May 8, 2011 Posted by | China, environment, health | Leave a comment

Nuclear reactors are the biggest water guzzler

Heat Waves Putting Pressure on Nuclear Power’s Outmoded Cooling Technologies, REUTERS By Lisa Song at SolveClimate,  May 4, 2011 “……Climate change studies published in research journals such as Science and the Journal of Climate project longer and more intense heat waves over the next century worldwide, adding constraints to water-intensive power systems.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, thermoelectric generation in the U.S. from coal, natural gas and nuclear withdraws more freshwater per year than the entire agricultural sector. Overall, nuclear plants consume up to 25 percent more water than fossil fuel plants…..http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/idUS163919996420110504

May 5, 2011 Posted by | USA, water | Leave a comment

Uranium mining threatens Grand Canyon’s water, and itseconomic viability

Polluting the Grand Canyon with uranium mines and radioactive tailings would have a drastic, negative effect on the area’s economic viability.

Uranium mining and Grand Canyon, Salt Lake Tribune, BY WALKER MACKAY 1 May 11, “……..Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon area will have a huge impact on the area’s watershed. The uranium excavation process known as “breccia pipe-type” results in ore and waste rock being piled on the land’s surface, where precipitation and run-off waters can transport it into the Grand Canyon via aquifers, springs, and drainages. There is a real potential for uranium contamination to occur in the creeks, seeps, and other tributaries that supply water to Grand Canyon National Park. Continue reading →

May 2, 2011 Posted by | Uranium, USA, water | Leave a comment

India’s Environmental Body Urges Delay in Nuclear Power Program

the Environment Appraisal Committee said the data provided by India’s state-run monopoly nuclear power producers, NPCIL, were from 2004 and hence dated.

“Due to various environmental problems including the adverse impact on the marine life, the present proposal is not acceptable,”

India green panel recommends deferment of nuclear plant plans, By Krittivas Mukherjee, NEW DELHI, April 28 , (Reuters) – A panel backed by India’s environment ministry has suggested holding off green approvals for four proposed nuclear reactors on concerns over coastal degradation and safety that intensified after last month’s nuclear disaster in Japan. Continue reading →

April 29, 2011 Posted by | environment, India | Leave a comment

Jaitapur nuclear project threatens rich agricultural region

is it fair to label the fears of the people of Jaitapur as anti-national because they do not want radioactive nuclear waste in their backyard?

Different rules for different people, Bahar Dutt, Hindustan Times, April 27, 2011 “……the problems for the people in Jaitapur are far more complex: a thriving vibrant economy, rich in natural resources, is being destabilised and only a handful of people have been offered employment……. Continue reading →

April 28, 2011 Posted by | environment, India | Leave a comment

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