Meet the nuclear cattle of Fukushima
(CNN)Some families have at least one relative who’s either odd or eccentric. Others boast family members of a more unusual kind.
That’s what one filmmaker discovered in 2011 when he heard of a group of former farmers in Fukushima‘s nuclear exclusion zone, fighting to keep their radiation-affected cows alive, though they brought them no profit.
“The farmers think of these cows as family. They know that these cows can’t be sold, but they don’t want to kill them just because they’re not worth anything,” Tamotsu Matsubara, who made a film called ‘Nuclear Cattle’ (Hibaku Ushi) on their plight, told CNN.
It costs around 2,000 dollars to maintain each cow for a year. The farmers featured in Matsubara’s film are among those who refused to obey the Japanese government’s initial requests to euthanize cows in the exclusion zone.
“[These farmers] really want them to serve a greater purpose for humans and for science,” explained Matsubara.
Nuclear Cattle
On March 11 2011, a 15-meter tsunami triggered by a 8.9-magnitude earthquake, disabled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, causing a nuclear accident.
Residents within a 20 km radius of the facility were forced to evacuate their homes and leave behind their livelihoods and possessions.
Before leaving, some farmers released their cows so they could roam free and survive in the nuclear fallout-affected area. 1,400, however, died from starvation, while the government euthanized 1,500 more.
Since 2011, Matsubara has documented both the relationship six farmers have with their surviving herds as well as an ongoing study examining the effects radiation has on large mammals.
A greater scientific purpose
A cow from within Fukushima’s 20 km exclusion zone with an abnormal white spot outbreak.
The farmers — who return two or three times a week to their former farms — initially kept their cows alive just out of love. But since 2013, Keiji Okada, an animal science expert at Iwate University, has been carrying out tests on them.
Okada established the Society for Animal Refugee & Environment post-Nuclear Disaster, a non-profit with researchers from Kitazato, Tohoku and Tokyo university. The researchers are funded through their universities, and say their project is the first to look into the effects of radiation on large animals.
“Large mammals are different to bugs and small birds, the genes affected by radiation exposure can repair more easily that it’s hard to see the effects of radiation,” Okada, told CNN.
“We really need to know what levels of radiation have a dangerous effect on large mammals and what levels don’t,” he added.
A mountain of black bags filled with contaminated soil sits piled on a roadside in Tomioka, Fukushima. A massive national project to remove topsoil and vegetation contaminated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster will produce at least 22 million square meters of radioactive waste.
Colossal quantities of contaminated material have been collected from the Fukushima site and surrounding area. What will be done to dispose them still remains to be seen.
One of hundreds of temporary storage sites for contaminated material.
A giant, 780-meter sea wall under construction near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is designed to prevent contaminated water on the site from seeping into the ocean
Tetrapods piled up at Udedo port in Namie, Fukushima, waiting to be used for a 7 meter high, 3 kilometer long breakwater along the coast line.
Prior to the wall’s construction, radioactive water and materials readily seeped into the ocean, threatening local fishing stocks and causing potentially irreversible damage to the sea floor.
So far, the cows living within the exclusion zone haven’t shown signs of leukemia or cancer — two diseases usually associated with high levels of radiation exposure. Some, however, have white spots on their hides. Their human minders suspect that these are the side-effects of radiation exposure.
Keiji Okada, associate professor of veterinary medicine and agriculture at Iwate University, examines a cow at Ikeda Ranch in Okuma town, 5 kilometers (3 miles) west of Japan’s crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
As Japan continues to confront its nuclear past, present and future, Okada said his group’s study would keep the country prepared in the event of another disaster.
“We need to know what levels of radiation are safe and dangerous for large mammals, and have that data ready so that the euthanization of livestock can be kept to the minimum,” added Okada.
The ‘cows of hope’
Elderly farmers feeds their radiation-affected cows in the exclusion zone.
Since 2011, the Japanese government has taken measures to decontaminate radiation-affected zones within Fukushima by stripping surface soil from contaminated zones and by cleansing asphalt roads and playgrounds.
Evacuation notices have also lifted on some towns in Fukushima. Taichi Goto, a spokesperson from the Ministry of the Environment’s Office for Decontamination told CNN that Namie, a town currently in the exclusion zone, was scheduled to be decontaminated by March 2017. Yet critics point that the state’s measures still aren’t enough.
Matsubara acknowledged the government’s decontamination work but asserted that it was impossible for them to clear the mountainous areas west of the exclusion zone.
While some farmers have slowly started to rebuild their lives by starting new businesses in decontaminated areas in Fukushima, the campaign to keep alive irradiated cows within the exclusion zone continues.
“These cows are the witnesses of the nuclear accident,” Masami Yoshikawa, who lives in Namie town in the heart of the exclusion zone, states in Nuclear Cattle.
“They’re the cows of hope.”
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/27/asia/japan-fukushima-nuclear-cows/index.html
Fukushima ice wall failing to deliver on promise
This Feb. 9 photo shows the crippled No. 3 unit of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
TOKYO — Six months since the work began, the “ice wall” has failed to produce its intended results as groundwater continues to flow in and out of damaged facilities at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
An encircling wall of frozen soil, created by pumping a subzero coolant through underground pipes, is getting closer to completion, the Japanese government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings reported Tuesday at a meeting of experts convened by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The ocean-facing side of the wall is nearly finished, though gaps remain on the inland side, officials reported. Some of the expert panelists questioned the basis for determining such progress.
Groundwater runs down from the highland and seeps into the damaged reactor buildings, where it becomes tainted with radioactive material before flowing out into the ocean. The frozen wall has been built to stop this flow. But the problem was exacerbated by heavy rains starting around mid-August, as northern Japan was swept by multiple typhoons. This resulted in massive amounts of groundwater rushing into plant buildings, making it difficult to assess the wall’s effectiveness.
The operator, Tepco, thinks the inflows are concentrated at seven unfrozen sections on the inland side. Kunio Watanabe, an associate professor of environmental science at Mie University, blames the utility for having “fallen behind in its responses to address problems” at the Fukushima plant.
“If dealing with the contaminated water takes too long,” warns Masashi Kamon, professor emeritus at Kyoto University, “the entire decommissioning process may be set back.”
More than five and a half years have gone by since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that crippled Fukushima Daiichi.
The government and Tepco hope to complete the wall soon. But some outside experts at a meeting held by Japan’s nuclear regulator last month declared the effort a failure.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Japan-Update/Fukushima-ice-wall-failing-to-deliver-on-promise/
Tokyo Responsibility to Reveal Truth of Fukushima
We already know what is Tokyo definition of “truth”: five years and half of continuous deception, lies and cover-ups, tidbits of truth released only when forced to do so….
More than five years after the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, the legacy of the accident continues, characterized by constant radiation exposure and an ever-lasting sense of fear, not only in this island country but also beyond its territory.
Numerous reports about nuclear radiation and its damage to human bodies have been filed since the Fukushima disaster. An Asahi Shimbun article in 2014 revealed that high levels of accumulated radioactive cesium had been detected in the mud of 468 reservoirs outside of the Fukushima evacuation zone.
But more discouraging news awaits. According to a recent report by The Mainichi, an Environment Ministry survey found that high concentrations of radioactive cesium have been accumulating at the bottom of 10 major dams 50 kilometers away from Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, yet officials were quoted as saying that “it is best to contain cesium at those dams.”
It is the inaction that is most depressing. As people’s physical health is exposed to possible risks, the psychological fallout from the accident is worrying as well. As nuclear radiation reports are always published, people affected by the nuclear leak are fearful.
The aftermath of the Fukushima disaster that concerns the lives of millions has failed to prompt the Japanese government to assume responsibility actively on a massive scale.
Earlier this month, former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi accused current leader Shinzo Abe of lying to the international community that the situation at the nuclear power plant is under control.
Those in a position of Japanese authority should release information about Fukushima-related contamination once and for all. The government should also set up a mechanism which can inform the country and the international community of new findings in a timely manner.
As a neighbor of Japan, China has also felt uneasy with the radiation from the disaster. Years after the meltdown of the Fukushima reactors, Chinese travelers are still asking if it is safe to go to Japan. In terms of food safety, despite a ban by Chinese authorities on food imports and agricultural products from Fukushima and 11 other Japanese regions affected by nuclear contamination since the accident, potentially radiation-tainted seafood from Fukushima smuggled to China poses health threats to the Chinese people.
Since a large number of Chinese travelers are going to Japan, related information is indispensable. Therefore, China should also come up with solutions such as assigning experts to monitor the situation in Japan and offer credible advice to the anxious public. This “nuclear war without a war” will attest to the responsibility of a government to its people.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1008771.shtml#.V-sabiwjxlg.facebook
Tokyo Electric Power : Financial Assistance from the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation
On September 23, we received a funding grant of 104.1 billion yen from the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (hereinafter referred to as NDF) based on the revision of the Special Business Plan which was approved on March 31, 2016.
This financial assistance was given in response to the 56th request we made in order to cover the compensation payouts due by the end of October 2016. The amount of the payouts to be paid by that time had been estimated to exceed the sum of the compensation we had received in accordance with the ‘Act on Contract for Indemnification of Nuclear Damage Compensation’ (188.9 billion yen) and the financial assistance that the NDF has provided (6,229.9 billion yen).
With financial assistance from the NDF, we are determined to continue to pay the compensation with courtesy and compassion to all of those who have been afflicted by the nuclear damage.
Debris recovery operation in sea carried out for first time since Fukushima nuclear disaster
The Japan Today article cites it as tsunami debris but it would also include debris from the reactor explosions at the plant. Pieces from these explosions have been found as far inland as Naraha. Why this work had not been done sooner was not mentioned.
Japan performs tsunami debris cleanup off Fukushima 1st time since nuclear disaster
Local fisheries have begun a debris cleanup near the Fukushima plant for the first time since the tsunami-triggered nuclear disaster. However a plan to start trial fishing next year may face a setback as a nearly-completed ice wall is failing to halt water contamination.
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan at 2:46pm local time, unleashing a deadly tsunami. Less than an hour after the earthquake, the first of many tsunami waves hit Japan’s coastline. The tsunami waves reached heights of up to 39 meters (128 feet) at Miyako city and reached as far as 10 km (6 miles) ashore in Sendai, destroying everything in its wake. More than 15,000 people died.
At the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the tsunami caused a cooling system failure resulting in a nuclear meltdown and the release of radioactive materials. The waves forced the failure of electrical power and backup generators, leading the plant to lose its cooling capabilities. The retreating water sucked a vast amount of rubble into the depths of the Pacific Ocean, contaminating the traditional fishing grounds of the local companies.
Five years after the disaster a cleanup effort to remove the debris has finally been launched by collectives of local fishermen, who aim to start trial fishing expeditions within the area from 5 kilometers (3 miles) to 20 km (12 miles) off the wrecked plant.
On Monday Soma-Futaba Fisheries Cooperative Association send out 32 fishing boats to recover debris from the ocean floor. That fleet is focusing their efforts on the North side of the nuclear power plant.
On Tuesday, the Iwaki City Fisheries Cooperative Association also sent in their fleet to help with the cleanup efforts of the southern side of the contaminated segment.
Once the debris is pulled out and delivered to shore, the unloading of the waste is handled by the industrial waste treatment company. The rubble is then sent to a temporary storage facility where after an inspection for radioactive reading, cleared waste is disposed of in an industrial manner. It is as of yet unclear how the contaminated waste will be treated.
The cleanup work of the seabed endorsed by the Fisheries Agency is scheduled to last at least until February of next year. Fishing on a trial basis can start as early as March.
However such a prospect seem problematic as the recently-completed ice wall around the crippled station has failed to meet expectations, with contaminated groundwater still seeping into the sea.
The $320 million Land-Side Impermeable Wall was built to halt an unrelenting flood of groundwater into the damaged reactor buildings and consequent flow of the contaminated water into the ocean.
But on Tuesday the Japanese government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported that 1.5 km (1 mile) barrier frozen barrier failed to produce the intended results, Nikkei reported.
While gaps still remain in some sections of the ocean-facing side of the wall, TEPCO believes that the inflows that penetrate the contaminated reactor are concentrated at seven unfrozen sections on the inland side.
A similar concern was voiced last month by the operator which claimed that 99 percent of the wall’s is mostly solid and frozen. However, a remaining one percent showed temperatures of the barrier above the freezing point, meaning that the contamination is not fully contained.
TEPCO has been repeatedly facing criticism for the handling of the Fukushima crisis. Despite the ongoing problems encountered following the meltdowns, the company has set 2020 as the goal for ending the plant’s water problem.
The problem of water contamination however is just one of many surrounding the dismantling and decommissioning of the Fukushima plant debris which is estimated to take at least 40 years.
“We will continue to move forward with the decommissioning and contaminated water management in a transparent way, visible to the world, and will also share with the international community the lessons learned from this accident,” Hirotaka Ishihara, state minister of the cabinet office of Japan, told the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 60th General Conference earlier this week.
“We are also making ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of food produced in Japan,” he added. “Recognizing that many countries have already lifted restrictions on food imports from Japan, we encourage the international community to implement import policies based on scientific evidence.”
https://www.rt.com/news/360879-fukushima-fishery-cleanup-debris/#.V-s-7I2uaW0.facebook
Debris recovery operation in sea carried out for first time since Fukushima nuclear disaster
FUKUSHIMA — For the first time since the 2011 nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the removal of debris in seawater located up to 20 km from the plant site has finally started.
The recovery operation, which began Monday, focuses on the removal of rubble in seawater within 5 to 20 km of the wrecked plant, Sankei Shimbun reported.
Five and a half years after the disaster, fishing has yet to be carried out in these waters while tsunami debris on the ocean floor near the Fukushima plant has remained untouched.
With an aim to start trial fishing operations within this targeted cleanup area, the Soma-Futaba Fisheries Cooperative Association employed 32 fishing boats to recover debris such as driftwood and gill nets on Monday.
Following suit, from Tuesday, the Iwaki City Fisheries Cooperative Association started debris removal operations and will continue the cleanup efforts until February of next year.
Fukushima Radioactive Contamination of Tap Water in Eastern Japan
The measures quoted in this article are from the Japan Nuclear Regulatory Agency.
As every measure given by the Japanese government agencies and Tepco during the past 5 and half years, we have the right to question their exactitude and therefore the true numbers could be actually higher than the ones published.
still the fact remains that they do recognize a certain contamination of the tap water in many prefectures of Eastern Japan.
Radioactivity testing of tap water in June 2016
According to the radioactivity test of tap water, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency announced in June 2016 that there is some radioactivity contamination from Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in the tap water of Miyagi Prefecture, Yamagata Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, where radioactive cesium has been slightly detected.
(The detection limit value of White Food: 0.5 Bq / kg).
For Tokyo traces of both Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 were detected, proving with certainty that they are from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident.
As a result, we make sure it is not detected by the detection limit value of 0.0001 Bq / kg. So we have to check the non-detection in strontium inspection that is only carried out in the mineral water industry.
We believe that the one of the products that you sould really worry is the water that you drink every day.
Information Source: Nuclear Regulatory Agency (→ link http://radioactivity.nsr.go.jp/ja/list/194/list-201606.html)
Readings of radioactivity level in drinking water by prefecture (January-March, 2016）
1.本データは、１Bq/LをBq/kgとみなす [1.These figures are estimated as 1Bq/liter = 1Bq/kg]
2.原子力規制委員会が各都道府県等からの報告に基づき作成 [2.The table was made by Nuclear Regulation Authority, based on the reports from prefectures.]
3.検出下限値は、 I-131、Cs-134、Cs-137すべて0.001Bq/kg未満 [3.The detection limits of I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 are less than 0.001Bq/kg]
（参考）水道水中の放射性物質に係る指標の見直しについて（厚生労働省）における水道水中の新たな目標値 放射性セシウム（セシウム134及び137の合計） ：10Bq/kg [（Ref.）[Document created by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare］ [Radioactive cesium (The sum of cesium134 and 137) ：10Bq/kg]
情報元 ： 原子力規制庁（→リンク http://radioactivity.nsr.go.jp/ja/list/194/list-201606.html）
Cesium level is highest in Tokyo tap water
https://news.whitefood.co.jp/news/foodmap/7290/
East Japan Soil Measurement Project of Minna no Data, Dec.2015 to Sept. 2016
Source: http://www.minnanods.net/soil/pref17_colored/map17.html
East Japan Soil Measurement Project of Minna no Data Site
About This Project
It’s time to cooperate
When we started up MDS (Minna no Data Site, Everyone’s Data Site) we constructed inclusive and shared system on measuring data of food as the first stage, as there were many people who were concerned about food intake.
However, we planned to launch the measuring data of soil as a second stage after intensively equipped the system on food.
In autumn 2014, after one year from opening of MDS, we start up to platform soil measurement data. We, as citizens, try to start to map the status of soil contamination spread over East Japan.
The following is the reason why we stand up to start the East Japan Soil Becquerel Measurement Project. Objectives, outline and methodology of the project is explained.
Outline
In the Project, the method of collection is standardized in order to make comparison of data from multiple measurement laboratories. The Manual for Collection is developed by considering the easiest method of measurement within the limits of keeping accuracy, because many citizens conduct collection and measurement by themselves.
Collected soil is measured by the participating measuring laboratories of MDS. The result becomes open to the public and the report is sent to the collector.
Objectives
Radioactivity contamination by the accident of Tepko Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is long term lasting.
The soil contamination map of broader areas is needed to understand contamination of neighborhood by measurement and comparison of data.
Though central and local governments conduct soil researches, those researches are insufficient because the value is lower by measuring deep place, or they measure only air dose.
As they decide the spot of measurement by mesh, the data what citizens want to know is lacking.
In our Project, we aim to grasp status of contamination where citizens make living every day. For example, place where children frequently play, where people pick wild grass, or where farmers work is being measured.
The Project aims that people can access necessary information as much as possible by utilizing data and database and by accumulating information which one can find at a glance and can search at ease.
We hope the result would be used as a tool for action for everyone.
Methodology
■ The depth of collection is from 0 to 5 cm, because most of cesium stays within 5 cm from surface of the earth.
Collection of soil should be conducted when it does not rain for several days, in order to avoid weight error caused by water. Less than 10 percent of moisture content is desirable.
■ Spot for collection is set at higher dose spot by measuring rate of air dose (1m、5cm).
The extreme high spot such as micro hot spots and concentrated environment are excluded.
■ Collection is made by a method to compare results of each place.
■ Samples are measured at the participating laboratories of MDS.
・Measurement accuracy of those laboratories is ensured by the MDS original examination.
・The results are accumulated in the common database.
■ The result sof measurement are open to public on MDS. MDS has Japanese and English site.
■ Mapping of data is planned after gathering enough results.
■ Trial calculation of amount of radioactivity by a square meter is planned to be conducted. (Becquerel/ Kg →Becquerel /square meter)
Target areas：17prefectures in east-Japan
Tohoku : Aomori Iwate Akita Miyagi Yamagata Fukushima
Kanto : Ibaragi Tochigi Gunma Saitama Chiba Tokyo Kanagawa
Chubu : Yamanashi Nagano Shizuoka Nigata
* In Iwate, the Soil Project Iwate had implemented measurement at more than 300 spots in 2012 and 2013.
The project activity will be made starting from requested districts. Individuals, groups and any organization such as school and daycare can participate in measurement of proposed spots. Proposing more than 5 spots are desirable.
The measurement spots will be decided after consultation basically in the same municipality.
★ How to support us：
Collection of samples, payment of 2,000yen for measurement of one sample, payment of actual postage for samples.
★ How to feed back :
Sending result of measurement of the spots including spectrum, Reading and downloading data at MDS.
Support our site and project!
To those of you who are viewing this site from overseas, Thank you for visiting ”Minna no Data Site” (Combined Database of Independent Radioactivity Measurement Labs) .
MDS has stacked the data measured by the independent radioactivity measurement laboratories in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, As of September 2014, the number of the food data became nearly 10,000.
For the benefit of those who worry about radioactive contamination of Japan from overseas, we opened the English site. We have started “East Japan soil measurement project” since October 2014 in addition to the food data.
From the fact that government has not done the adequate soil contamination survey for the citizens, this project promotes measuring soils of the places like parks, vacant lots, and educational facilities which are closely related to children’s daily life.
This project is based on the method of “Iwate soil measurement project “(2012- 2013) by citizens of Iwate Prefecture. If the method for collecting the soil is different, the results of monitoring vary greatly.
By using an easy-to-understand manual of the standardized method, you are able to compare, review and analysis the data from different locations. We will publish the measurement results of soil on this site.
We record the status of the radioactive contamination of Japan carefully from the standpoint of citizens, and hope that it will help people who are living with anxiety. For the people overseas, we are preparing the English version of data to show where and how much radioactively contaminated.
To run this project, big budget for measurement cost and update cost of web systems are required. There are 300 locations in each 17 prefectures in Eastern Japan, and each place costs about 4,000 yen.
Although it is planned to reduce costs and to ask for volunteers as much as possible, still the costs such as measurement costs, project management costs and Web systems costs are expected to some extent also.
It is a project of the scale that no one even challenged yet. We rely on your generosity to help funding for this project. We would appreciate your support from abroad. Thank you for your cooperation and support.
The information page of “East Japan soil measurement project” is currently in preparation. It will be published shortly.
◎Donate by the bank transfer
Postal Transfer:
Postal Transfer Account : 10090-85754261
Account Name: Minna no data site Unei Iinkai
Bank Account
Yuucho Bank Branch : Zero Zero Eight (Branch 008):
Interim : 8575426
Account Name: Minna no data site Unei Iinkai
Remittances in either USD or EUR can be made from overseas banks,.
Please note that remittances to Japan cannot be made from certain financial institutions.
For details, please ask your local bank.
http://en.minnanods.net/#mds_indx_srch
http://en.minnanods.net/soil/soil_support.html
High levels of radioactive cesium pooling at dams near Fukushima nuke plant
Once radionuclides enter the eco-system, they move around carried by wind and water. They can’t “go away.” They can’t be “decontaminated.” They can only be moved, the biggest force moving them is nature, not clean up crews.
Ogaki Dam in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, as seen from a Mainichi Shimbun helicopter in July 2016, contains high concentrations of radioactive cesium exceeding the limit set for designated waste.
High levels of radioactive cesium pooling at dams near Fukushima nuke plant
High concentrations of radioactive cesium have been accumulating at the bottom of 10 major dams within a 50-kilometer radius from the disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, a survey by the Environment Ministry has found.
Radioactive cesium emanating from the 2011 nuclear disaster is pooling at those dams, which are used to hold drinking water and for agricultural use, after the substances flew into there from mountains, forests and rivers. The radiation levels at the bottom of those dams top those set for designated waste at over 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.
While the Environment Ministry plans to monitor the situation without decontaminating the dams on the grounds that radiation levels in dam water is not high enough to affect human health, experts are calling for the ministry to look into measures to counter any future risks.
The ministry began a monitoring survey on those dams and rivers downstream in September 2011 to grasp the moves of radioactive substances flowing into them from mountains and forests that are not subject to decontamination work. The survey samples water at 73 dams in Tokyo, Iwate and seven other prefectures about once every several months.
Among them, there were 10 dams in Fukushima Prefecture where the average concentration of cesium in the surface layer of bottom soil measured between fiscal 2011 and 2015 topped the regulated levels for designated waste. Those dams include Ganbe Dam in the village of Iitate with 64,439 becquerels per kilogram of cesium, Yokokawa Dam in the city of Minamisoma with 27,533 becquerels, and Mano Dam in Iitate with 26,859 becquerels.
Meanwhile, the surface water at those 10 dams contained 1-2 becquerels per liter of cesium, which is below the drinking water criteria at 10 becquerels.
While the total amount of cesium deposited at the bottom of those dams is unknown from the environment ministry’s survey, a separate study conducted at Ogaki Dam in the town of Namie by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ Tohoku Regional Agricultural Administration Office estimated in December 2013 that there was a combined 8 trillion becquerels of cesium 134 and cesium 137 at the dam. The figure came about after estimating the amount of accumulated cesium every 10-meter-square area based on cesium levels in sedimentary soil sampled at 110 locations at the bottom of the dam, which is for agricultural use.
The National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, will shortly begin a full-scale survey on cesium concentrations at several dams.
“At the moment, it is best to contain cesium at those dams. If we dredge it, the substance could curl up and could contaminate rivers downstream,” said an Environment Ministry official.
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160926/p2a/00m/0na/007000c
Anxiety soars as cesium builds up in Fukushima dams
Dams surrounding the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) have become de facto storage facilities for high concentrations of radioactive cesium as the element continues to accumulate.
With no effective countermeasures in sight, the government insists that water from the dams is safe, but to local residents, the government’s stance comes across as the shelving of a crucial problem.
“It’s best to leave it as it is,” an official from the Ministry of the Environment says, with the knowledge that in 10 dams in Fukushima Prefecture, there is soil containing concentrations of cesium over the limit set for designated waste — or over 8,000 becquerels per kilogram.
According to monitoring procedures carried out by the ministry, the levels of radioactive cesium detected in the dams’ waters, at 1 to 2 becquerels per liter, are well below the maximum amount permitted in drinking water, which is 10 becquerels per liter. The air radiation doses in the dams’ surrounding areas are at a maximum 2 microsieverts per hour, which the ministry says “does not immediately affect humans, if they avoid going near the dams.” This information is the main basis behind the central government’s wait-and-see stance. For the time being, the cesium appears to have attached itself to soil and is collected at the bottom of the dams, with the water above it blocking radiation from reaching and affecting the surrounding areas.
In a basic policy based on a special law, passed in August 2011, on measures for dealing with radioactive material following the onset of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Environment Ministry stipulates the decontamination of areas necessary from “the standpoint of protecting human health.” The ministry argues that as long as high concentrations of cesium at the bottom of multiple dams in Fukushima Prefecture do not pose imminent danger to human health, there are no legal problems in the ministry refraining from taking action.
“If the dams dry up due to water shortages, we just have to keep people from getting close to them,” the aforementioned ministry official says. “If we were to try to decontaminate the dams, how would we secure water sources while the work is in progress? The impact of trying to decontaminate the dams under the current state of affairs would be greater than not doing anything.”
This stance taken by the central government has drawn protests from local residents.
“The Environment Ministry only says that it will monitor the dams’ water and the surrounding areas. They say, ‘We’ll deal with anything that comes up,’ but when asked what they plan to do if the dams break, they have no answers. It’s painful to us that we can only give town residents the answers that the Environment Ministry gives us,” says an official with the revitalization division of the Namie Municipal Government. The central government is set to lift evacuation orders for a part of the Fukushima Prefecture town of Namie in spring of 2017.
According to a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries survey, Ogaki Dam, an agricultural dam in Namie, was estimated to have sediment totaling approximately 8 trillion becquerels of cesium as of December 2013. The agriculture ministry plans to re-survey the dam’s accumulated cesium amounts and water safety before the water is used for agricultural purposes. Agricultural and fishery products from Fukushima Prefecture are tested to ensure that radioactive substances that they contain are below the maximum permissible amounts stipulated by law before they are shipped for distribution.
Still, one town official worries how revelations of high levels of radioactive material in local dams will affect consumers. “No matter how much they are told that the water is safe, will consumers buy agricultural products from Namie, knowing that there is cesium at the bottom of local dams?”
A 57-year-old vegetable farmer from Namie who has been evacuated to the Fukushima Prefecture city of Iwaki says, “The central government keeps on emphasizing that the dams are safe, but doesn’t seem to be considering any fundamental solutions to the problem. If this state of affairs persists, we won’t be able to return to Namie with peace of mind, nor will it be easy to resume farming.”
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160926/p2a/00m/0na/011000c
Records of Diet’s Fukushima investigation still under wraps
Kiyoshi Kurokawa, chairman of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, presents the final report to Lower House Speaker Takahiro Yokomichi, right, in July 2012.
Five years after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the Diet is still sitting on a trove of raw documents and testimonies of more than 1,100 individuals who were on the front lines during the crisis.
The cache was compiled by the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, which released a report of its findings that totaled about 600 pages in July 2012.
The documents collected by that commission, including the testimonies of 1,167 individuals, have still not been released to the public more than four years after its disbandment.
Yasunori Sone, a political science professor at Tokyo’s Keio University, said the documents should, in principle, be released to the public because the investigation was conducted by the Diet on behalf of the people.
“The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission was the first established in the Diet with the authority to carry out a thorough investigation,” Sone said. “Disclosure rules should be decided on quickly because it will serve as a precedent for future commissions.”
However, the documents submitted to the commission by the central government as well as Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the Fukushima plant, remain in storage at the National Diet Library, along with more than 900 hours of questioning of the 1,167 individuals, many of whom worked to bring the accident under control.
Some of the testimony was given on condition that it would not be released.
For that reason, after the commission disbanded, the rules and administration committees of the two chambers of the Diet were to have established rules for disclosing the commission records.
The commission had left behind a record of its investigation as well as the source of the documents it had accumulated because it felt that it would be helpful when the documents were eventually released.
“It will be possible to learn about the background to the nuclear accident from new reports or books that are written based on the documents,” said Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, who chaired the commission. “A fundamental point to not repeating mistakes is to learn from one’s past errors.”
Discussions within the rules and administration committees were disrupted when then Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the Lower House in November 2012 and called a snap election.
The December election brought the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, back in control of government.
A multiparty group of lawmakers who were seeking to end dependence on nuclear energy asked that the rules and administration committees resume work on establishing disclosure rules. However, a subcommittee held one session that focused on presenting the opinions of members.
“Both the ruling and opposition parties are hesitant about releasing the documents because there is the possibility that they contain contents that are disadvantageous to the LDP, which had pushed nuclear energy, and the then Democratic Party of Japan, which had to deal with the nuclear accident,” said a member of that multiparty group.
The disclosure of the documents is not the only area in which the Diet has been less than aggressive.
In its report, the commission included seven recommendations, including the establishment of a new independent investigation committee, made up mainly of experts from the private sector, to conduct further studies into unanswered questions about the accident.
However, the rules and administration committees have yet to discuss the possibility of establishing such an investigative committee.
The commission also recommended the establishment of special committees in both chambers of the Diet to oversee the nuclear regulatory structure.
In 2013, a Special Committee for Investigation of Nuclear Power Issues was established separately in the two chambers.
However, those special committees have been turned into venues to promote nuclear energy. For example, committee members who were originally from labor unions of the electric power companies or who represented districts where nuclear plants were based criticized the Nuclear Regulation Authority for its strict standards regarding the resumption of operations at nuclear plants.
In a similar manner, the special committees also asked for a review of the rule that limited nuclear plants to a maximum 40-year operating life.
Tomoko Abe, a Democratic Party member who serves as secretary-general of the multiparty group seeking zero nuclear power generation, said, “Although there are some issues regarding the nuclear accident that have become clearer with the passage of time, the arena for looking into those issues has been closed off. It is the responsibility of the legislative branch to set up a structure that will continue to examine the nuclear accident.”
Fukushima Children Fund
Some people ask me how they can help the Fukushima victims, and especially the children not evacuated and condemned to live in highly contaminated environment.
You may help with a donation the Fukushima Children’s Fund.
Fukushima Children’s Fund has promoted the movement of collecting donations and of donating food radiation measuring instruments and whole-body radiation detectors (whole-body counters).
F.C.F. has also undertaken a recuperation project for the children living in radioactive contamination areas. We hope this recuperation in a radiation-free place will help the children to decrease their internal radiation exposure and strengthen their immune system.
Any amount will be greatly appreciated.
About Fukushima Children’s Fund
F.C.F. was established in June in 2011 about three months after the outset of the Fukushima nuclear incident.
For the Fukushima nuclear incident victims, F.C.F. as a sister group of the Chernobyl Children’s Fund, Japan is now trying to make the most of its twenty years of experience with the Chernobyl nuclear incident victims.
| Chief Secretary | Shin’ichi Kurobe (a pediatrician / a medical adviser of the C.C.F.J.) |
| Organizers | Yukiko Mukai (an organizer of the C.C.F.J.) and others |
The Profile of Shin’ichi Kurobe
Mr. Kurobe, born in Tokyo in 1941, graduated with a degree in medicine from Keio University. He worked as a pediatrician at Saitama National Hospital, at Fukiage Kyoritsu Clinic, and at Horinouchi Clinic. Since 2012 he has worked as the director of the Suzushiro Clinic.
He started the movement of reducing medical radiation exposure and achieved one of his goals, the abolition of chest x-ray exams at elementary and junior-high schools in Japan. It was because he saw many people who unnecessary exposed to radiation as a result of careless x-ray exams. Hearing about his achievement, C.C.F.J. asked him to be its adviser.
After the March 2011 nuclear incident, he became the head of Fukushima Children’s Fund in order to support the Japanese children.
Recovery Project in Southern Japan, in Kumi-no-sato, Kumejima Island, Okinawa
“Voices from mothers”
We have become healthy both physically and mentally, and I have realized the splendor of Kumi-no-sato. I felt as if I gradually got out of my shell which I had shut myself up in since the Fukushima nuclear incident. Kumi-no-sato is a sacred place of healing. I now realize that we are so lucky to receive loving kindness from everyone.
In Fukushima prefecture, people under the age of 18 started receiving medical care for free, the development of hospitals and inpatient facilities is underway after the nuclear power incident. Even more important than that, I am convinced in order to protect the children from diseases, facilities such as Kumi-no-Sato are necessary.
Since the nuclear power incident, I live in constant fear and I feel that I cannot overcome such fear. Last year my children often fell ill as well; my eldest son has recently complained about chest pain. I am concerned about the influence of long-term low-dose exposure on the children’s health. We took part in this activity because I wanted to allow my children to maintain their health, away from contaminated areas.
Warm climate, blue sky, the beautiful sea — my heart was uplifted from the moment of our arrival at Kumejima Airport. I was impressed so much by the welcoming faces of volunteer workers. Great people got together for us and we were treated very well.
During our days in Kumi-no-Sato, mothers from the area prepared our meals with love and care, helping us to feel that we were getting better. The children happily played outside, taking walks, picking up stones and leaves, and they ran barefoot in the grass; we mothers were happy to hang laundry outside. I felt more than ever the gratitude of having clean air, earth and water. What bliss to watch the children play with joy! It was a happy time.
At Kumi-no-sato Mr. Hirokawa, a photo journalist/the founder of this initiative, talked to us about episodes based on his experiences. His story eerily rang exactly true in my mind. I was moved by his strength of dedication, trying to “protect children”. I felt that sharing the truth and accepting the truth is important.
At the thyroid screening during our stay, I was at first told for my own part that my thyroid was perfect. Then my 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons were diagnosed with many cysts.” I unwillingly acknowledged it as true, being painfully aware of the harshness of reality.
One day I was asked by my second son “Am I going to die soon?”
It is not just a matter of thyroid problem; there are various concerns and health hazards.
I want to leave Fukushima if possible, but my husband has no intention of ending his business that he inherited from his grandfather. If it comes to evacuation, it will be only the children and me. I cannot decide to leave because it would tear my family apart. I have often asked myself if it is really safe for us to keep living in Fukushima Pref. though.
Already I feel as if Kumi-no-sato is a second home for us. I would like to thank the people of Kumejima for their generosity and hospitality. We hope a lot of children from Fukushima can visit Kumi-no-Sato and become healthy in those lovely surroundings. We would like to ideally visit once every six months to maintain our health.
We need the continued support of everyone and even more people in the future. I hope you will cooperate with us and support us. I am thinking of starting a fundraising campaign of my own. Without having to sacrifice our children’s bright futures, I want to be creative in the process of doing this. Thank you very much.
Abe Emi (Iwaki City, Fukushima Pref.)
We’d at least like to take our kids to recuperate regularly
I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality. I was able to take my children who have been having health problems such as asthma since last year to recuperate, and I would like to thank those who supported us.
In an environment where we didn’t have to worry about playing, touching, and eating, we never imagined being so happy in our ordinary lives.
It’s been more than a month since we came back from Kumi-no-sato. Now in Fukushima Pref., I go out with a Geiger counter (dosimeter) in my hand and check where the food comes from. I was getting used to it, but then remembered that it’s not normal to live this way.
In Iwaki City where I live, there are the mountains and the sea. We used to go on a picnic in spring, swimming in the sea and the river and catching insects in summer, gathering acorns/chestnuts and harvesting potatoes in fall…, but because of the nuclear incident, we can’t do that anymore. Every spring, we used to look forward to harvesting strawberries and bamboo shoots in our garden. However, nowadays we should limit the time with a portable Geiger counter in hand even when playing in the park.
In Kumejima, we spent time outdoors, without checking the clock from morning until evening, swimming in the sea, lying in the grass, and touching all manner of living things. The children were all so happy throughout our stay there, and I felt so satisfied to raise my kids in nature.
I am glad to have met and talked to the volunteer workers of Kumi-no-sato, as well as the mothers from Fukushima, whom I still keep in touch with. In particular, the meeting with Mr. Hirokawa was very important to learn the facts. Hardly ever has the truth been revealed neither on TV nor in the newspapers, and I wasn’t sure how much to believe on the internet. But after talking to Mr. Hirokawa, I felt more at ease with myself.
I often think of seeking refuge somewhere. If we were to evacuate, it would be for 15 years until our kids turn 20. Families who are split and living in two different places may have difficult lives. Then, with my husband, starting a new life in a new place may involve some big risks. Most probably we both would have to work to make ends meet. In an area with no relatives close by, we are not sure if we can both keep working. For many different reasons, there are many families who can’t leave Fukushima. For those reasons, we would at least like to take our kids to recuperate regularly.
I am worried that the nuclear incident in Fukushima will be forgotten. But I get encouraged from people all over Japan who support and think of Fukushima’s children. I strongly wish more and more people will look at this problem.
K. H. (Iwaki City, Fukushima Pref.)
- 10,000 yen for special members
- 3,000 yen for regular members
- 2,000 yen for student members
- BENEFICIARY’S BANK/ACCOUNTBANK ：
- THE BANK OF TOKYO-MITSUBISHI UFJ, LTD
- 3－7, KAGURAZAKA, SHINJYUKU-ku, TOKYO 162-0825, JAPAN
- BENEFICIARY’S BRANCH：
- KAGURAZAKA BRANCH
- SWIFT/BIC：
- BOTKJPJT
- ACCOUNT NAME：
- Fukushima Children’s Fund
- c/o Mukai residence Tate 2-3-4 409 Shiki City Saitama Pref. 353-0006, JAPAN
- ACCOUNT NUMBER：
- 052 － 0064011
- Official name： Fukushima Children’s Fund（Mirai-no Fukushima Kodomo Kikin）
- Purpose： Publicity and fund-raising for Fukushima nuclear victims
- Membership fees： 10,000 yen for special members, 3,000 yen for regular members, 2,000 yen for student members *
- Executives： F.C.F. has a chief secretary and several organizers. An accountant and an auditor are chosen amongst organizers.
- Each member is to promote their activities independently and creatively.
- Our activities are announced through publicity such as printing, emails, internet.
- The general meeting is held once a year to report about our activity and give the annual financial report.
-
- Office：
- c/o Mukai residence Tate 2-3-4-409 Shiki City, Saitama Pref. 353-0006, Japan
- How to make inquiry：
- E-Mail fromcherno0311@ yahoo.co.jp
- History： F.C.F. was established on June 1st, 2011. (the fiscal year starts on June 1st and ends on May 31st.)
Fukushima Possibly Turning into Another “Exotic” Tourist Destination
Just like Chernobyl before it, the radioactive exclusion zone surrounding the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is starting to attract tourists, possibly turning into another of the world’s “exotic” tourist destinations.
Unlike the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which happened over 30 years ago, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant catastrophe is practically a recent event. On March 11, 2011 a tsunami that followed the Tohoku earthquake smashed into the plant, causing several meltdowns and the release of radioactive material resulting in the second nuclear disaster in history to be given the Level 7 event classification of the International Nuclear Event Scale.
Yet even though the scars left by this disaster are still fresh, it seems that there are already people who consider the radioactive zone surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant a tourist attraction.
The first project aimed at transforming the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into a tourist attraction was presented to the Japanese authorities in 2012, only a year after the disaster, by philosopher Hiroki Azuma, the author of the Chernobyl Dark Tourism Guide, and his group of fellow enthusiasts.
According to Azuma’s vision, people should’ve been allowed to visit the area and see the process of the Fukushima plant’s decontamination with their own eyes; and by 2036 visitors should be able to approach the plant without the need to wear protective suits
Unfortunately, the prefectural administration torpedoed the idea, arguing that the word ‘tourism’ should never be applied to the catastrophe site.
But even though Azuma’s project was not to be, there are already plenty of companies organizing tours in the disaster area.
Hiroshi Miura, head of one such enterprise called NPO Nomado, told Sputnik that he first started working as a tour guide for people visiting his home city of Minamisoma, located 16 miles north of the Fukushima nuclear plant, back in 2012.
“In October 2012 I established a non-commercial organization Nomada and continued my business by creating a ’20 Kilometers Away From Fukushima-1′ tour. By 2014, just by myself, I had over 5,000 clients. In 2015 other guides and volunteers started working with me, and over 10,000 people participated in our tours,” he said.
Miura also added that the current situation at the nuclear plant is barely discussed by the media, except for the local prefectural outlets, and that the place where he used to live, located only 12 kilometers away from Fukushima Daiichi, remains in the same state as it was right after the tsunami, as no decontamination or recovery operations were conducted there.
Yuta Hirai, another tour guide working in Fukushima, also told Sputnik that there are people from all walks of life interested in visiting the site of the tragedy: scientists, students, former residents, and a considerable number of foreign tourists.
He also believes that tourism could play an important role in helping the Fukushima prefecture to recover from the ordeal of 2011.
“I believe it is important for the prefecture residents to understand that people from without are paying attention to them. They have mixed feelings about the incident, like ‘I want to forget but I don’t want to be forgotten.’ If we learn our lesson from what happened, if we understand that it must not happen again, then it could help the people of Fukushima to believe in themselves. There’s a tendency to pay greater attention to opinions from without rather than to opinions from within. So if more people from other prefectures see the situation with their own eyes, feel it and talk about it, then perhaps the current depressing situation in Fukushima may change for the better,” he said.
Canada activist found guilty of harassing scientists over Fukushima fallout
Dana Dunford has sensationalized on Youtube for lucrative reasons the Pacific ocean contamination from Fukushima to the American public, having found that making the buzz was quite a good mean to raise donations from people .
He did threaten those scientists with physical violence on his Youtube videos, calling his fans to carry out “justice”.
Though those scientists studies and research depending on funding from government and corporations may be subjected to their influence, I do not believe that threats of violence are proper nor acceptable.
I personally believe that exaggeration, sensationalism, to not talk about insult and personal threat are absolutely counterproductive to our antinuclear cause.
Only truth will set us free from nuclear. Only stating facts with solid reliable proofs will help us to inform adequately the people to become able to get this dangerous, harmful, obsolete industry stopped. Furthermore, any wild exaggeration can be later used by the nuclear lobby to discredit our antinuclear cause, such as in this present occurence.
Canada activist found guilty of harassing scientists over Fukushima fallout
A Canadian environmental activist who waged a sustained online campaign against two prominent marine scientists was found guilty of criminal harassment by a court in Victoria, British Columbia, on Thursday.
The court heard that Dana Durnford, 54, threatened violence against Jay Cullen, of the University of Victoria, and Ken Buesseler, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, and accused them of underplaying the extent of damage to Pacific ecosystems from the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Durnford was sentenced to three years’ probation.
“I expected and was pleased with the judge’s ruling,” Cullen said after the verdict. “Mr. Durnford, on many occasions, threatened physical violence against scientists and others who have focused their attention and expertise to better understand how the Fukushima nuclear disaster has affected the marine environment and human health. Such behavior is criminal.”
Buesseler also welcomed the ruling. Threatening violence is “never an appropriate response to scientific findings you might disagree with,” he said.
Durnford, a former professional diver, has a large online presence.
His unscripted videos, recorded in a mock television studio, present what he purports to be research that contradicts mainstream scientific findings.
He alleges collusion between the global scientific establishment and the nuclear industry over the dangers presented by the nuclear industry and, in particular, the Fukushima debacle.
Durnford, of Powell River, British Columbia, did not respond to phone calls and an email for comment on Friday.
In a video apparently recorded shortly before the trial began this week, he alluded to trouble meeting court-related costs.
“They bankrupted us in these court proceedings in order to silence us,” he told viewers.
Cows in Fukushima Radiation Zone Find New Purpose: Science
NAMIE, Japan — In an abandoned Japanese village, cows grazing in lush green plains begin to gather when they hear the familiar rumble of the ranch owner’s mini-pickup. This isn’t feeding time, though.
Instead, the animals are about to be measured for how they’re affected by living in radiation — radioactivity that is 15 times the safe benchmark. For these cows’ pasture sits near Fukushima, a name now synonymous with nuclear disaster.
The area was once a haven for agriculture with more than 3,500 cattle and other livestock. Ranchers who refused a government order to kill their cows continue to feed and tend about 200 of them. The herds won’t be used as food; now science is their mission.
Researchers visit every three months to test livestock living within a 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius of the Fukushima plant, where three reactors had core meltdowns after the facility was swamped by a tsunami in 2011. It is the first-ever study of the impact on large mammals of extended exposure to low-level radiation.
The ranchers are breeders, as opposed to those raising cattle to sell for beef, and tend to be attached to their animals. They treat them almost as if they were children, even giving them names. The research gives them a reason to keep their beloved cows alive, and to hope that someday ranching might safely return here.
Under a drizzling rain, doctors and volunteers wearing blue Tyvek protective suits draw the cows into a handmade pen of aluminum pipes. Five to six cows line up in the cage and are tied with a rope around their head and through their nose ring for solid support, so they won’t be hurt when the needle draws blood from their neck.
The gentle beasts moo from discomfort. The doctors work swiftly, drawing blood, collecting urine and checking for lumps or swollen lymph nodes. The check-up takes five minutes or less per cow.
Namie, 11 kilometers (7 miles) northwest of the plant, is a ghost town with no prospect of being habitable for years. But 57-year-old Fumikazu Watanabe comes every day to a ranch to feed 30 to 40 cows owned by seven farmers.
“What is the meaning of slaughtering the cows?” Watanabe said at a worn-out barn where healthy cows used to spend the night tending to their calves. The bones of animals that have died litter the ground outside.
“Keeping the cows alive for research purposes means that we can pass on the study to our next generation instead of simply leaving a negative legacy,” he said.
The research team, made up of veterinary and radiation experts from Iwate University, Tokai University and Kitasato University, was established a year after the meltdowns. They formed a nonprofit group called Society for Animal Refugee & Environment post Nuclear Disaster. Members volunteer to take the blood and urine samples and test them.
In 2012, the Japanese government ordered all livestock in the restricted area killed for fear that the breeding cows would continue to reproduce, and that cows exposed to radiation would have no sale value.
Keiji Okada, associate professor of veterinary medicine and agriculture at Iwate University, said the government considered it pointless to study the animals, since it couldn’t determine how much radiation they were exposed to immediately after the disaster.
Okada disagrees. He said the data will help researchers learn whether farmers can eventually work in affected zones.
“There are no precedent studies of animals being exposed to low-dose radiation, and we have no idea what results we are going to get,” he said. “That is exactly why it needs to be monitored.”
So far, the animals’ internal organs and reproductive functions have shown no significant abnormality particularly linked to radiation exposure, Okada said, but it’s too early to draw conclusions about thyroid cancer and leukemia.
Radiation could cause leukemia, but so could mosquitoes, which have infected cattle around the world with bovine leukemia virus.
“Even if we detect leukemia in the cows, we don’t know whether it’s caused by radiation or if it’s a bovine leukemia from a virus,” Okada said. “It is this year’s objective to be able to differentiate the two.”
Many cows have died during the study period, but food shortages have played a role, making it all the more difficult the doctors to determine causes. The dead cows are dissected and the radiation dosage in their organs is measured.
Is radiation killing the cows, or making them sick? Okada said the research team is working toward reaching a conclusion by March. The team worries that the study results could spark overly broad fears that the region will no longer be habitable or fit for agriculture.
Ultimately, Okada said, the team believes that further monitoring of the animals will show under what conditions it is safe to raise livestock exposed to low-level radiation, and how best to deal with such a leak should it happen again.
Yukio Yamamoto, owner of the large Yamamoto Ranch surrounded by a mountain, a river and a vast plain, travels three hours roundtrip from his temporary home to feed his remaining cows.
Yamamoto initially followed government orders to kill his cattle. He watched a mother cow being killed while a calf was still suckling on its milk, and then the calf following that.
“The cows are my family. How do I dare kill them?” Yamamoto said. “If there is a God, I’m sure some day we would be rewarded for the sacrifice we are making.”
He hopes one day to see his barn come to life again, filled with a hundred cows and calves cared for by his children and grandchildren.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/09/22/world/asia/ap-as-japan-fukushima-cows.html?_r=0
Radioactivity Measuring From Hirono to Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture
As a result of the measurement of radioactivity from the town of Hirono to the town of Okuma.
Measurements and vido from Tarachine Medical Center, a citizen organized radiation measuring center located in Iwaki city, Fukushima Prefecture.
Credit to tarachine Medical Center
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