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Unemployed Japanese tricked into dangerous jobs at Fukushima

exclamation-flag-japan‘Nuclear Slaves’ at Fukushima: Workers have debts paid off, forced to stay as ‘indentured servants’ — Foreign workers may soon be needed at plant, official reveals http://enenews.com/nuclear-slaves-at-fukushima-workers-have-debts-paid-off-forced-to-stay-as-indentured-servants-foreign-workers-may-soon-be-needed-at-plant-reveals-tepco-vp

Voice of Russia, Oct. 27, 2013: “Nuclear slaves” discovered at Fukushima […] An in-depth journalistic investigation uncovered that thousands of unemployed Japanese were tricked into working underpaid and highly dangerous jobs on the site of Fukushima’s nuclear disaster. […] Yakuza act as enforcers who keep the “nuclear slaves” from complaining or leaving their jobs. […] Reuters reports that “labor brokers” […] resort to “buying” laborers by paying off their debts and then forcing them to work in hazardous conditions until their debt to the “labor broker” is paid off. Such “employment schemes” are commonly referred to as “indentured servitude”  and are a form of slavery […] Lake Barrett, a former US nuclear regulator and an advisor to Tepco, told the news agency that existing practices won’t be changed for Fukushima decontamination: “There’s been a century of tradition of big Japanese companies using contractors, and that’s just the way it is in Japan. You’re not going to change that overnight just because you have a new job here, so I think you have to adapt.”

Asahi Oct. 28, 2013: TEPCO President Naomi Hirose […] explained that it is getting difficult for the utility to secure sufficient manpower at the plant and that it was grappling with tasks the company was not familiar with.

AP,, Oct. 28, 2013: Hirose acknowledged that TEPCO is having trouble finding a stable pool of workers at the plant […] TEPCO Vice President Zengo Aizawa said […] that uncertainty remains over the long-term decommissioning process. “We are not sure about our long-term staffing situation during the upcoming process of debris removal, which requires different skills,” Aizawa told a news conference. Asked if the company may have to consider hiring foreign workers, he said TEPCO is open to that idea even though it’s not an immediate option. […] [Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the NRA] called on Hirose to implement sweeping steps to safeguard workers from high doses of radiation and other troubles […]

UPDATE: Fukushima Worker: I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2012, now stomach and intestinal cancers found recently — Each developed independently, not from one spreading — Worked at plant for just 4 months in 2011

October 30, 2013 Posted by | civil liberties, employment, Fukushima 2013, Japan, Reference | 1 Comment

Tepco’s ‘institutionalized lying’ might prevent restart of huge nuclear power plant

secret-agent-SmTEPCO must address ‘institutionalized lying’ before it restarts world’s biggest nuclear power plant – governor Rt.com October 28, 2013 Tokyo Electric Power Co must give a more thorough account of the Fukushima disaster and address “institutionalized lying” in the company, before it will be permitted to restart the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant, according to a local governor.

flag-japan“If they don’t do what needs to be done, if they keep skimping on costs and manipulating information, they can never be trusted,” Niigata Prefecture Governor Hirohiko Izumida told Reuters on Monday, adding that these limitations need to be overcome before the plant is restarted.  It is up to Izumida to approve plans to restart the reactor at the TEPCO-run Kashiwazaki Kariwa – the world’s biggest nuclear complex, located on the Japan sea coast, north-west of Tokyo. His personal commission would examine both the causes and handling of the disaster at Fukushima and lay them alongside existing regulatory safeguards to ensure a similar crisis could not reoccur. 

If Japanese nuclear safety regulators do lend their approval to the restart plans, Izumida remains able to essentially block TEPCO’s plans for the plant as the facility requires the backing of local officials, allotting Izumida some leverage. …….

Izumida suggested that TEPCO should be fully stripped of responsibility for decommissioning the destroyed Fukushima reactors, and the company subjected to a taxpayer-funded bankruptcy program. Presently, the company remains primarily concerned with funding the process, along with the frequently-occurring and very immediate issue of contaminated water leaking rather than overall nuclear safety. 

“Unless we create a situation where 80-90 percent of their thinking is devoted to nuclear safety, I don’t think we can say they have prioritized safety,” he said. ……..

In September, a senior utility expert at Fukushima, Kazuhiko Yamashita, said that the plant was “not under control.” TEPCO downplayed his comments, saying that he had only been talking about the plant’s waste water problem – not the facility as a whole. … http://rt.com/news/tepco-address-lying-governor-879/

October 30, 2013 Posted by | Japan, politics, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

UK govrenment’s sham presentation of the dodgy new nuclear power plan

No wonder the private sector has declined to take this opportunity.

Behind the nuclear smoke and mirrors http://www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/2134515/behind_the_nuclear_smoke_and_mirrors.html Tom Burke 26th October 2013   There is an important question to be asked of Mr Davey. If there is no public subsidy for Hinkley C why are you having to make an application to the Brussels for state aid clearance?

UK-subsidy

The most important decision in this issue is EDF’s decision to order the major components for Hinkley. Only when that has happened will it become too expensive not to go ahead.

If that has not been done, no deal has actually been made. All that has happened is that the price the British Government will pay for the output from Hinkley has been announced.

It is very unlikely that any such order will be made until after state aid clearance has been granted.

As far as I can see the following is what the combination of Osborne and Davey’s announcements adds up to:-

Two Chinese companies will take a minority stake in EDF’s proposed nuclear power station at Hinkley point.

At some future point Chinese companies may be allowed to take a majority stake in other nuclear power stations if they are built.

Under the current levy control cap there is no money even to build the second EDF station let alone any Chinese stations.

The Chinese simply bought – for nothing – an option to participate in something that may never happen. Continue reading →

October 29, 2013 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

AUDIO: Japan’s new Bill to restrict freedom of information

Hear-This-wayAUDIO: Japanese secrets legislation prompts rights concerns Radio Australia,  28 October civil-liberty-2sm2013,  A legislative push by Japan’s government to clamp down on intelligence leaks is set to pass the country’s parliament, sparking major concerns about Freedom of Information. Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party has given cabinet approval for a State secrets bill, which will give government departments free reign to classify information if they deem it sensitive. Continue reading →

October 29, 2013 Posted by | civil liberties, Japan, Resources -audiovicual | Leave a comment

Corruption scandals in S Korea make nuclear power future uncertain

Scandal may cause South Korea to abandon nuclear power http://www.salon.com/2013/10/28/scandal_may_cause_south_korea_to_abandon_nuclear_power/singleton/  BY  Amid a safety scandal in which 100 people have been indicted for corruption and that has shut down three of the country’s 23 nuclear generators, South Korea is reconsidering its reliance on nuclear power, Reuters reports. The shift from nuclear, which currently provides nearly a third of the country’s power while only accounting for about 3-4 percent of its energy costs, could cost tens of billions of dollars a year in imports of liquified natural gas, oil or coal.

At a congressional hearing today, politicians estimated that the scandals have already cost the country’s nuclear operator $2.8 billion. From Reuters: The chaos in the industry comes as a government working group recommended on October 13 a cut in South Korea’s reliance on nuclear power, pointing to a drop in public confidence in safety that has been exacerbated by Japan’s Fukushima disaster.

The study recommended nuclear power capacity be kept between 22 and 29 percent of the total by 2035, well below existing plans to grow the sector to 41 percent in less than 20 years.

The government will hold public hearings to decide whether to back the recommendation before finalizing its energy policy in December.

Consumers may be asked to shoulder much of the estimated fivefold increase in energy costs by 2030, according to local media reports — or just start using less electricity.

October 29, 2013 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, South Korea | Leave a comment

The devil in the detail of the Trans Pacific Partnership

texy-TPPArticle 12.8 gives rights holders the right to demand personal information about customers of Internet Service Providers – or other service providers – on a mere accusation. . This is a fundamental attack on the privacy of the citizens of all signatory countries. There is nothing to stop rights holders going on extensive fishing expeditions, searching through millions of users, looking for people to sue. This power is not granted to law enforcement without due process. Handing such powers to corporations without any requirement to show a breach has occurred is an attack upon the process of law. We have a right to not be placed under surveillance by companies based upon their word that illegal activity has occurred

Pirate Party Australia’s Presentation to Trans-Pacific Partnership Stakeholders Meeting in Melbourne  March 4, 2012 Here is the speech that was presented by Pirate Party Australia President David Campbell at 11.45am at the TPPA stakeholders meeting in Melbourne. Thanks to Simon Frew (Deputy President) for authoring the speech and Mozart Palmer (Media Relations) for his contributions.

Pirate Party Australia, like many other attendees at the intellectual property section of this Agreement negotiation, first became aware of the proposed intellectual property provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement when the United States negotiating position was leaked last year.[1]

Much of the content of the leak is a wish-list for old media corporations who refuse to adapt to the Internet and instead pay massive “donations” to their government in order to push their legislative agenda against the interests of modern society. This wish-list echoes that of the intellectual property segments of the Stop Online Piracy Act – known as SOPA – and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – known as ACTA. The US TPPA provisions have been nicknamed “the son of ACTA”. The proposed solutions to online file-sharing will fundamentally change the operation of the Internet, to its detriment.

The extreme position of the leaked United States’ Intellectual Property chapter is highlighted by the unprecedented request for the negotiating texts to remain secret for four years after the agreement is signed. This secrecy is a perversion of democracy. The public would not be given a chance to oppose such a draconian attack on both the Internet and the civil liberties of citizens in all of the signatory countries. All of this to protect the corporate interests of a small sector of one industry? What about the cost to our democratic rights?…….. Continue reading →

October 29, 2013 Posted by | 2 WORLD, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Japan’s government moves to gag press freedom

6ceed-japan-government-officially-censors-truth-about-fukushima-nuclear-radiation-disasterflag-japanFuk-‘hush’-ima: Japan’s new state secrets law gags whistleblowers, raises press freed.om fears Rt.com.  October 25, 2013   Many issues of national importance to Japan, probably including the state of the Fukushima power plant, may be designated state secrets under a new draft law. Once signed, it could see whistleblowers jailed for up to 10 years……. Under the new legislation a ministry may classify information for a five-year term with a possibility of prolongation to up to 30 years. After that a cabinet ruling would be needed for the secret to be treated as such, but there is no limit for how long information may be kept under a lid.

“Basically, this bill raises the possibility that the kind of information about which the public should be informed is kept secret eternally,” Tadaaki Muto, a lawyer and member of a task force on the bill at the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, told Reuters.

“Under the bill, the administrative branch can set the range of information that is kept secret at its own discretion.”

Media watchdogs in Japan fear the bill would allow the government to cover up serious blunders, like the collusion between regulators and utilities, which was a significant factor in the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. …… http://rt.com/news/japan-state-secrets-law-712/

October 26, 2013 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Organised crime syndicates run Fukushima labour rackets

Criminalflag-japanRadiation, desperation and gangsters: Inside the hidden tragedy of Fukushima The Globe and Mail , 25 Oct 13 ANTONI SLODKOWSKI AND MARI SAITO  IWAKI — Reuters , Oct. 25 2013  “…….The yakuza connection The complexity of Fukushima contracts and the shortage of workers have played into the hands of the yakuza, Japan’s organized crime syndicates, which have run labour rackets for generations.

Nearly 50 gangs with 1,050 members operate in Fukushima prefecture dominated by three major syndicates – Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai, police say. Continue reading →

October 26, 2013 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | 1 Comment

Call to France to end secrecy about the state of Mururoa Atoll

Mururoa-test-1971Paris Urged To Release Information On Moruroa Atoll http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2013/October/10-25-08.htm
French Polynesia Greens want to know about risks of collapse WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Oct. 24, 2013) – The Greens in French Polynesia are urging Paris to give information about the risks of Moruroa atoll collapsing.

The former nuclear weapons test site is a no-go zone, which France has kept despite promising to return it to French Polynesia after the end of the testing regime in 1996.

France is refusing access to independent monitors while saying the chance of a collapse is practically nil.

A spokesperson for the Greens in Tahiti, Olivier Champion, says France has a record of lying about the tests and their effects, and many fear a Fukushima-like disaster is possible.”Transparency, of course, and another thing, a plan what to do in case of… if the reef barrier of Moruroa and Fangataufa is collapsing, what is the plan? What can we do? How can we react?”

Olivier Champion says the chain of command via France is so long that a possible tsunami would hit nearby atolls before a local warning is issued.

He says nuclear contamination could imperil the livelihood of vast areas of the Pacific. Radio New Zealand International: www.rnzi.com

October 26, 2013 Posted by | OCEANIA, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Conspiracy theorists working hard against United Nations

flag-UN-Sm“Here’s the simple truth. The U.N. does not do anything that its member countries don’t want to do. Period. There is no such thing as the U.N. being a super-national authority imposing anything on governments. It just doesn’t exist…..All the U.N. does is provide a platform for conversations and an exchange of views.… But there’s no such thing as the U.N. imposing any regulation.”

conspiracyDebunking the U.N. Climate-Change Conspiracy, http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/debunking-the-u-n-climate-change-conspiracy-20131021 By 

The United Nations Climate-Change Conspiracy Theory—the idea that human-caused global warming is a false construct invented by the U.N. to justify government control of economies and people’s daily lives—is alive and well in the United States.

The flames of the theory were freshly fanned last month after the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a landmark report concluding with 95 percent scientific certainty that burning fossil fuels are warming the planet, with dangerous consequences.

The report “proves that the U.N. is more interested in advancing a political agenda than scientific integrity,” said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., author of the book The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. Inhofe is far from alone. Around the country, Republican lawmakers, bloggers, and even some local TV weathercasters panned the report as further evidence of the U.N.’s plans to use allegedly false climate data to justify a global takeover.

So what do the U.N.’s top officials make of this?….. Continue reading →

October 26, 2013 Posted by | 2 WORLD, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA | Leave a comment

‘Criminal situation’ as Japan hides seriousness of Fukushima radiation

Japan Journalist: Plutonium and uranium escaped Fukushima reactors as gas, it was a colossal 9,000ºF inside — Can’t be detected by a Geiger counter — Terrible things are looming for the children, they must be evacuated yet nothing’s done… This is a “criminal nation” — I am worried (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/japan-journalist-plutonium-and-uranium-escaped-from-fukushima-reactors-as-a-gas-temperature-was-9000of-cant-be-detected-by-a-geiger-counter-children-must-be-evacuated-yet-nothing-is-d
Title: Takashi HIROSE
Source: Yonaoshi 3.11
Date: Mar. 8, 2013

Transcript Excerpts

Hirose Takashi, journalist/former engineer: As we speak, radioactive material is seeping through Fukushima’s ground. It makes its way underground, reaches the ocean, to finally end up in the sky.

This kind of fact does not make the news, so everyone forgets about it. If that was talked about every day in the news, the Japanese population couldn’t ignore it. […] In my opinion mass media bear most of the responsibility for it. […] Incidents happen because mass media never take the problem seriously.

The problem with contamination is that we can only measure it within items surrounding us, in the soil, the ground. A lot of people today own a Geiger counter, but it can only report airborne particles, it only measures Gamma rays. In fact, when researching the radioactive content out from the reactors, and its dispersion, we do not find everything.

It was about 5,000ºC [~9,000ºF] inside the reactors. This was a temperature of colossal magnitude. The uranium and plutonium took on a gas form to escape. I can find all that based on my calculations, but none of this can be detected using strontium 90a Geiger counter […]

No one even measures the strontium level. The strontium is the scariest of all. It penetrates and stays resident in bones, causing leukemia. This is particularly dangerous for the growth phase of children exposed today.

For children living near contaminated areas like Fukushima, we have to immediately set up a plan for their evacuation. […]

Before Japan lost the war, we organized group evacuations. We managed the escape of children from dangerous areas […]

This is something that must be done now. But the country does not do anything about it. For that I am calling this country a criminal nation. If we do not act, terrible things are looming for those children. I am worried.
Watch the clip of Hirose here

October 17, 2013 Posted by | Fukushima 2013, Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

World Health Organisation now distancing itself from dodgy report on Iraq birth defects?

there are signs that the WHO has sought to distance itself from the findings. The interim report, which was published on September 11th, is unsigned by its authors and, while published on the WHO’s website, is apparently the sole responsibility of the Iraqi WHO-and-IAEAMinistry of Health.

Fresh revelations cast doubt over reliability of Iraq birth defect study http://www.bandepleteduranium.org/en/fresh-doubts-over-reliability-iraq-study 16 Oct 13  Trust in the findings of a study into rates of congenital birth defects in Iraq, undertaken by the WHO and Iraqi Ministry of Health, has continued to decline after interventions from three former UN officials. ICBUW continues to argue that full transparency is the only way for the WHO and Iraqi Ministry of Health to rebuild the study’s credibility. Continue reading →

October 17, 2013 Posted by | Iraq, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Confusion and deception over Fukushima radiation

Fukushima Farmer: Plutonium was detected “all over” village 25 miles from plant — Professor: “Something terrible, dreadful happening” — Mayor: Please don’t tell this to the residents (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/fukushima-farmer-plutonium-detected-all-village-professor-terrible-dreadful-happening-radiation-levels-high-mayor-please-dont-residents-video

Kenichi Hasegawa, Farmer from Iitate Village in Fukushima Prefecture, Canberra Forum, March 13, 2013   After the nuclear accident, all over Iitate village, plutonium and strontium were detected [40km from nuclear plant]. […] And then something unbelievable happened. Authorities started bringing many [hygienists or dentists?] to the village […] these doctors started doing this local safety campaign. They kept telling us, “It’s OK, it’s safe, there’s nothing to worry about.” […] The day before the evacuation order was announced, the professor from Kyoto University called Professor Imanaka came to the village and did a thorough research monitoring of the radiation levels.

And Professor Imanaka, he was just astonished, “Something terrible, dreadful is happening. The radiation level was so high; I can’t believe people are still living here.” […] So Professor Imanaka brought his data to the mayor and said, “You guys should evacuate immediately.” But the mayor’s response was, “Please do not disclose this data to the public.” Instead he said, “Is there any way to live with this radiation?” The village authorities only were interested in protecting the village itself, not the people.

We wanted to protect the children and we suggested to evacuate the children, but they didn’t listen. And the day before the evacuation order, exclusion zone, was announced, the day before, a different professor from ??? University visited the village and he called all the parents to the town hall, and then gave a safety lecture, “Your kids can go out and play, your kids don’t have to wear masks just to play outside.” But the very next day the evacuation order was announced.

Japan physician who volunteered at a Minamisoma evacuation center soon after 3/11Feb. 19, 2013 (at 54:00 in): What happened at that time was systematic effort by the prefecture government, […] as well as the Japanese central government, tried to minimize the amount of radiation. […] Primary concern […] for Fukushima Minpo [newspaper] was losing business […] For the prefecture government, losing the people means less revenue, less positions.

Watch the farmer’s presentation here

October 17, 2013 Posted by | Fukushima 2013, Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Yassa Arafat murdered by radioactive polonium

Yasser Arafat: The Dark History of Polonium http://www.livescience.com/40448-history-of-polonium-yasser-arafat.html By Marc Lallanilla, Assistant Editor   |   October 15, 2013 Little did scientists Marie and Pierre Curie suspect, when they discovered polonium in 1898, that the radioactive element would go on to have one of the darkest and most intriguing histories of any known substance.

In 2004, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died of uncertain causes in Percy Hospital in Paris. He complained of nausea and stomach pain, suffered liver and kidney failure, and eventually lapsed into a coma before dying. In 2012, Arafat’s remains were exhumed because of persistent rumors that he was the victim of an assassination that used poloniumas a deadly weapon.

A report published last week in the medical journal The Lancet confirmed that traces of polonium were found on Arafat’s toothbrush, underwear and other personal items, fueling reports that he was assassinated. And Arafat isn’t the first person who’s believed to have been murdered by polonium.

October 17, 2013 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Cover-up by World Health Organisation, of Iraq birth defects?

IAEA-and-WHOThe publication of this ‘summary document’ on the World Health Organisation’s website has raised questions from independent experts and former United Nations and WHO officials, who question the validity of its findings and its anonymous authorship.

“There is definitive evidence of an alarming rise in birth defects, leukaemia, cancer and other carcinogenic diseases in Iraq after the war. Looking at the stark difference between previous descriptions of the WHO study’s findings and this new report, it seems that someone, somewhere clumsily decided that they would not release these damning findings, but instead obscure them.”

How the World Health Organisation covered up Iraq’s nuclear nightmare http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/oct/13/world-health-organisation-iraq-war-depleted-uranium by Nafeez Ahmed  Ex-UN, WHO officials reveal political interference to suppress scientific evidence of postwar environmental health catastrophe

Last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) published a long awaited document summarising the findings of an in-depth investigation into the prevalence of congenital birth defects (CBD) in Iraq, which many experts believe is linked to the use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions by Allied forces. According to the ‘summary report’:

“The rates for spontaneous abortion, stillbirths and congenital birth defects found in the study are consistent with or even lower than international estimates. The study provides no clear evidence to suggest an unusually high rate of congenital birth defects in Iraq.”

Jaffar Hussain, WHO’s Head of Mission in Iraq, said that the report is based on survey techniques that are “renowned worldwide” and that the study was peer reviewed “extensively” by international experts.

Backtrack

But the conclusions contrasted dramatically from previous statements about the research findings from Iraqi Ministry of Health (MOH) officials involved in the study. Earlier this year, BBC Newsspoke to MOH researchers who confirmed the joint report would furnish “damning evidence” that rates of birth defects are higher in areas experiencing heavy fighting in the 2003 war. In an earlypress release, WHO similarly acknowledged “existing MOH statistics showing high number of CBD cases” in the “high risk” areas selected for study. Continue reading →

October 16, 2013 Posted by | Iraq, Reference, secrets,lies and civil liberties | 1 Comment

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