Just the bare 6,700 times higher than the legal limit – Fukushima’s latest radioactive spill
Water 6,700 times more radioactive than legal limit spills from Fukushima By Arata Yamamoto and Alexander Smith, NBC News TOKYO 4 Oct 13 — Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has suffered yet another leak, spilling out 430 liters of contaminated water thousands of times more radioactive than legal limits, its operator said Thursday. Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said the water which spilled from the storage tanks had radiation readings as high as 200,000 becquerels per liter — almost 6,700 times higher than the legal limit of 30 becquerels.
Although sandbags have been placed to prevent further spread of the leak, some of that water may have already reached the plant’s harbor on the Pacific Ocean through a drainage trench, TEPCO said.
The leak comes one day after Japanese fast food company Yoshinoya Holdings announced plans to grow vegetables on a farm just 60 miles from the nuclear plant…… http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/03/20797895-water-6700-times-more-radioactive-than-legal-limit-spills-from-fukushima?lite
Japan’s Nuclear Regulator not happy with Fukushima Plant’s Operator
Japanese Nuclear Agency Scolds Fukushima Plant’s Operator NYT, By MARTIN FACKLER October 4, 2013TOKYO — In an unusually public scolding, Japan’s nuclear watchdog agency criticized the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Friday for making mistakes that allowed radioactive water to leak into the Pacific Ocean, and ordered it to quickly fix the problems. The agency, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, summoned the president of the operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, to explain the accidents and spills that have plagued the cleanup of the Fukushima Daiichi plant since it suffered a triple meltdown two years ago……
In a public hearing, an official at the regulatory agency, Katsuhiko Ikeda, dressed down Tepco’s president, saying the problems raised serious questions about the company’s ability to operate its other nuclear plants, like the huge Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, which Tepco wants to restart……
Critics have faulted the government for leaving the plant in the hands of the same operator that many blame for failing to sufficiently fortify it before the huge earthquake and tsunami that struck in March 2011, knocking out vital reactor cooling systems. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/world/asia/fukushima-nuclear-plant-in-japan.html?_r=0
AUDIO: discussion on Japan’s non reporting of stillborns and birth defects
AUDIO: Arnie discusses Fukushima Daiichi on WBAI’s Morning with Michaelhttp://fairewinds.org/media/radio/arnie-discusses-fukushima-daiichi-wbais-morning-michael
Gundersen: Deformities, stillbirths not being reported after Fukushima — Officials withholding truth about health effects — Gov’t suppressing studies on deformed animals (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/gundersen-deformities-stillbirths-kept-secret-after-fukushima-officials-not-being-honest-with-public-about-health-effects-govt-suppressing-studies-on-deformities-in-animals-audio
Title: Arnie Gundersen discusses Fukushima Daiichi
Source: WBAI’s ‘Morning with Michael’
Date: October 2, 2013
Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Engineer: We’re constantly frustrated — We have scientists contacting us, doctors contacting us, telling us that their patients are suffering from radiation induced injuries, or they’re noticing deformities in animals and plants, but yet the Japanese government is trying to put the heat on them to prevent those studies from moving forward.
Morning with Michael, Host:: E[NE]News, the website, they talk about 100 babies with polydactyl situation — they have 6 fingers — this kind of exotic, strange, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ kind of thing’s happening here. There’s an x-ray picture on their website of a hand with 6 digits. Have you heard about that?
Gundersen:: Yes — ENENews is a great source; I check it a couple times a day — We’ve seen that and we’ve also seen the thyroid cancers. The deformities, the stillbirths, and the increased morbidity is not being reported by the Japanese. They used to publish a report every year that had a prefecture-by-prefecture breakdown […] of deformities and stillbirths and things like that. Well, they stopped publishing that report. They did say in 2011 there was an increase stillbirths and deformities, but they’re not providing scientists with the prefecture-by-prefecture breakdown. So that’s bad news for science, and clearly they would rather have the Olympics than be honest with their own people about the health effects they’re facing.
[Note: The report of 100 polydactyl babies was not on ENENews, it was posted by ‘Fukushima Appeal’ (link: Fukushima: 100 babies with polydactyly are on the waiting list for operation)]
Full interview here
Fukushima’s latest radioactive water leak
New leak of radioactive water at Fukushima nuclear plant may have flowed into Pacific Ocean: TEPCO Radio Australia 3 October 2013, 13:50 AEST By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, wires
More radioactive water is leaking at Fukushima and it may be flowing into the Pacific.The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant says it has found a new leak of radioactive water that might have flowed into the Pacific Ocean.
The leak from the 450-tonne storage tank is the second of its kind in as many months, and involved water with high concentrations of radioactive strontium and caesium.
Fukashima operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) says it does not know how much water leaked, adding that it could have flowed from an adjoining drainage ditch into the sea.
TEPCO has apologised for causing anxiety…….http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2013-10-03/new-leak-of-radioactive-water-at-fukushima-nuclear-plant-may-have-flowed-into-pacific-ocean-tepco/1199662
Japan’s Environment Minister, and former PM speak out against nuclear power
Former Japanese PM And Current Environment Minister Speak Out Against Nuclear Power
Climate progress, BY ARI PHILLIPS ON OCTOBER 3, 2013 This week both Japan’s environment minister, Nobuteru Ishihara, and former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a popular national figure, spoke out against nuclear power.
Ishihara said the country’s target to cut greenhouse gas emissions should be based on a scenario with no nuclear power generation…….. in a speech to a pro-nuclear audience of business executives, Koizuma went against the grain by saying that Japan should “should rid itself of its atomic plants and switch to renewable energy sources like solar power.”
Koizuma went on to say that “there is nothing more costly than nuclear power. Japan should achieve zero nuclear plants and aim for a more sustainable society.”
Japan’s last operating nuclear reactor was halted for maintenance in September, leaving the nation without nuclear energy for the first time since July 2012…….http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/03/2722531/japan-nuclear-power-leaks/
Fukushima’s 83,000 nuclear refugees will never go home?
Japan’s Nuclear Refugees, Still Stuck in Limbo Near Fukushima, a Human Crisis Quietly Unfolds: The 83,000 refugees evacuated from the worst-hit areas around the nuclear power plant are still unable to go home, two and a half years after the disaster. NYT, By MARTIN FACKLER October 1, 2013 NAMIE, Japan — Every month, Hiroko Watabe, 74, returns for a few hours to her abandoned house near the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant to engage in her own small act of defiance against fate. She dons a surgical mask, hangs two radiation-measuring devices around her neck and crouches down to pull weeds……
“In my heart, I know we can never live here again,” said Ms. Watabe, who drove here with her husband from Koriyama, the city an hour away where they have lived since the disaster. “But doing this gives us a purpose. We are saying that this is still our home.”
While the continuing environmental disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has grabbed world headlines — with hundreds of tons of contaminated water flowing into the Pacific Ocean daily — a human crisis has been quietly unfolding. Two and a half years after the plant belched plumes of radioactive materials over northeast Japan, the almost 83,000 nuclear refugees evacuated from the worst-hit areas are still unable to go home. Some have moved on, reluctantly, but tens of thousands remain in a legal and emotional limbo while the government holds out hope that they can one day return. Continue reading
Fukushima’s small level of radiation in fish can still cause cancers
the radiation detected can still cause cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s cancer-risk formula, a leading international standard for forecasting cancer risks from radiation.
Cancer risk linked to radiation levels in fish species after Fukushima http://www.straight.com/life/497651/cancer-risk-linked-radiation-levels-fish-species-after-fukushima
In July this year, a sea bass caught in Japan had 1,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium—10 times Japan’s ceiling of 100 becquerels per kilo in food. It was the second-highest amount found in a sea bass since the disaster occurred. Continue reading
Japan’s Nuclear Regulator’s doubt Tepco’s radiation measurements
JP Gov doubts the reliability of Tepco’s radiation measurement / Nuclear Regulatory Agency to send inspectors http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/10/jp-gov-doubts-the-reliability-of-tepcos-radiation-measurement-nuclear-regulatory-agency-to-send-inspectors/ by Mochizuki on October 1st, 2013 Following up this article..
On 9/30/2013, Nuclear Regulation Authority commented they are planning to send inspectors to Tepco’s radiation measurement site in the working group meeting for the contaminated water in Fukushima nuclear plant.
NRA has been doubting the reliability of Tepco’s nuclide analysis. Also, in mid September, Tepco discharged the “rainwater” retained in the tank areas due to the Typhoon. However, they took only 5 minutes to analyze Cesium-134/137 of the sample to check if it’s really rainwater, which NRA found questionable about the quality.
NRA commented the inspectors from Nuclear Regulatory Agency are going to see them analyzing the samples actually. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8eT6fe8WSk
Japanese firm very keen to sell nuclear technology to Britain
Toshiba wants majority stake in British nuclear consortium: CEO By Sophie Knight and Maki Shiraki TOKYO | Thu Oct 3, 2013
(Reuters) – Toshiba Corp wants a majority stake in British nuclear consortium NuGen and aims to decide on the matter before the end of the year, its chief executive said, as it seeks its first order for a nuclear reactor since the Fukushima crisis in 2011.
Hisao Tanaka told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that the company was confident about securing orders for 29 new nuclear reactors by March 2018 and that he sensed post-Fukushima anti-nuclear sentiment had begun to thaw……http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/03/us-toshiba-nuclear-idUKBRE99204I20131003
Children in Kanto (Includes Tokyo) – 70% have radioactive cesium in their urine
Weekly Asahi: 70% of children tested in Kanto (Includes Tokyo) have radioactive cesium in their urine -Journalist #Fukushima http://enenews.com/weekly-asahi-70-of-children-tested-in-kanto-region-including-tokyo-had-radioactive-cesium-in-their-urine-journalist
October 1st, 2013
Title: Slight rise in birth defects in post-meltdown Japan; more study needed
Source: Jake Adelstein
Date: Sept. 26, 2013
[…] This week the Weekly Asahi (週刊朝日）published a report that in urine samples from children living in Kanto, 70% of those tested, contained cesium, a radioactive element that results in internal exposure […]
Increasing health effects in Japan following Fukushima nuclear catastrophe
AP: Fukushima unleashed radiation that will affect region’s health for decades — Book: Effects seem to be rapidly increasing http://enenews.com/ap-fukushima-disaster-unleashed-radiation-will-affect-regions-health-decades-book-effects-be-increasing-rapidly-large-numbers-spontaneous-abortions-congenital-malformations-sudden-heart-failure-chi
September 30th, 2013
Hiroshima to Fukushima,a, Science Policy Reports (2014): Incidences of adverse health effects seem to be increasing rapidly at the time of writing (March 2013), 2 years after the accident. Thyroid anomalies among children are now widespread and observed all over Japan. Sudden heart failure seems to be increasing among the young, too. Chronic fatigue syndrome is also becoming prevalent. All kinds of infectious diseases are increasing, very likely due to weakening of the immune systems in many people […] No official data are yet available, but a large number of cases of adverse health effects have been reported, such as severe nose bleeding, hair loss, severe fatigue syndrome, acute heart failure, acute lymphatic leukemia, systemic collagenosis, spontaneous abortion, and congenital malformation.
Associated Press, Sept. 26, 2013: […] the March 2011 Fukushima disaster unleashed radiation that will affect the region’s health for decades. […] it is impossible to know what the health toll will ultimately be. Only recently has the government acknowledged that much more radioactive water is leaking into the sea than it had previously believed. […] Some medical experts are worried about sickness that may emerge in coming years […] Shuntaro Hida, 96, was among the doctors who treated the people of Hiroshima […] He said Hiroshima never fully faced up to the effects of internal radiation, and that same mistake is being repeated in Fukushima.
Japan’s public does not trust the government on Fukushima’s safety
there is widespread distrust of Japanese officials, belonging to the nuclear establishment or the government, in that country. A recent poll by the Asahi Shimbun showed that 94% of Japanese believe that the Fukushima accident has not been brought under control. Prime Minister Abe’s strong claims about there being no problems at Fukushima, and his emphatic reassurances that there are no health effects only increase the levels of distrust. Regaining that trust is going to take both full transparency and openness as well as a complete overhaul of Japan’s “nuclear village”. There is little evidence of either of these happening anytime soon.
The 2020 Olympics, Fukushima and Trust http://www.epw.in/postscript/2020-olympics-fukushima-and-trust.html Oct 5 2013 The recent leaks from the Fukushima nuclear plant demonstrate that the accident that started on 11 March 2011 is by no means over.
M V Ramana (ramana@princeton.edu) is at the Nuclear Futures Laboratory & Program on Science and Global Security, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, the US.
When the announcement about Tokyo being selected for the 2020 Olympics came – after the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a strong pitch to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – one of my acquaintances on Facebook reacted with a three-letter acronym that is not used in polite language (Hint: the third letter corresponds to a four-letter word that starts as “Fukushima” does!) What else can one say to the kind of assurances that Prime Minister Abe had offered to the IOC. Witness, for example, his answers to questions by Norwegian IOC member Gerhard Heiberg about the recent leaks in Fukushima as well as the 2011 accident. According to Yahoo News, Prime Minister Abe said (in Japanese, of course): “It poses no problem whatsoever…There are no health-related problems until now, nor will there be in the future…I make the statement to you in the most emphatic and unequivocal way.” Continue reading
Rapid increase in thyroid cancer in Fukushima kids – cover-up of causes
Fukushima Cover-Up: Extraordinary amount of kids have thyroid cancer — Officials say NOT caused by Fukushima since Chernobyl’s cancers took 4-5 yrs to appear — Yet data shows it started soon after ’86 meltdown… number of cases still rising 25 years later http://enenews.com/fukushima-cover-up-extraordinarily-high-thyroid-cancer-rates-in-kids-officials-not-related-to-nuclear-disaster-since-it-took-4-or-5-years-to-show-up-after-chernobyl-yet-data-shows-it-appe
September 29th, 2013
Kyodo,, June 5, 2013: Researchers at Fukushima Medical University […] said they do not believe that the most recent cases are related to the nuclear crisis. They point out that thyroid cancer cases were not found among children hit by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident until four to five years later. […]
Asahi Shimbun, August 21, 2013: A Fukushima prefectural government official said, “It is likely (the 44 children) developed tumors or lumps before the nuclear accident.” […] In the case of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, thyroid cancer cases started to soar four to five years later […] A number of residents have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the Fukushima prefectural government over its interpretation of the effects of radiation exposure, the accuracy of its thyroid testing and the way it discloses information.
Wikipedia:: As of August 2013, there have been more than 40 children newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer and other cancers in Fukushima prefecture as a whole, but these cancers are not attributed to radiation from Fukushima […] if Chernobyl is anything to go by the increase in thyroid cancer rates won’t begin until approximately 4–5 years after the accident.
Thyroid cancer found in 18 Fukushima children NHK WORLD English
Hiroshima to Fukushima – Data on Fukushima,, Eiichiro Ochiai (2014): “12 out of 174.000 children” […] is much higher than that seen in the Chernobyl incident […] If 15 more likely cases were taken account of, the thyroid cancer incident rate among Fukushima children would be about 7.8/100.000/year, extraordinarily a high rate. (Note: this number is still an underestimate. This number would he 21/100,0110/y if the data is more properly analyzed). The authority denies that they were caused by the radiation released from the TEPCo NPP on the basis that thyroid cancer would emerge only 4-5 years after such an incident. However, the data on the Chernobyl incident show that thyroid cancer did show up even just one year later (see Fig. 14.4) […]
Hiroshima to Fukushima – Data on Chernobyl, Eiichiro Ochiai (2014): […] a few cases of thyroid cancer seem to have occurred almost immediately within 1 year. In children, the incidence […] has kept increasing, even after 25 years. A similar trend has been observed for the groups aged 15 years or more (Ukraine report 2011). This continuous rise suggests that radiation sources other than the short-lived I-131, such as I-129 and Cs-137 may also be involved. In a highly contaminated area. Gomel of Belams, the annual incidence of thyroid cancers among children 2-18 years of age in 1998 was 58 times higher than that in 1973 […]
See also: Japan Professor: Fukushima crisis is leading to surge in thyroid cancers… First signs of health catastrophe — NHK: Trend seen in new cancer tests is ‘suspicious’ (VIDEO)
Acute danger of huge radiation release in TEPCO’s work on Fukushima Nuclear reactor no 4
A Mistake Now Could Release 14,000 Times More Radiation than Hiroshima http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/A-Mistake-Now-Could-Release-14000-Times-More-Radiation-than-Hiroshima.html By James Burgess | Sat, 28 September 2013 Lately the bad news emanating from Japan is that the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been leaking thousands of gallons of water ever since the earthquake that struck it in 2011. There is a high chance that the radioactive water could hit Korea, China, and the West Coast of North America, and it is only likely to get worse with time as Tepco, the Japanese utility and operator of the power plant, is unsure how to stop the leaks.
Now however there is worse news that could prove dangerous to much of the world, and again Tepco could be responsible.
At Fukushima, used nuclear fuel rods are stored in pools and, especially at reactor 4, some of these pools are damaged and at risk of completely breaking open in the event of another earthquake. If one of the pools were to collapse or catch fire, then the impacts would affect the world. Arnie Gunderson, a nuclear expert, and Helen Caldicott, a physician, have even suggested that if this occurs then people should evacuate the Northern Hemisphere. And Akio Matsumura, a former advisor for the UN, has called the situation “an issue of human survival.”
Tepco could be responsible for unleashing this devastation on the world as starting in November they have decided to begin an operation to remove 400 tonnes of fuel rod assemblies, on their own. Aworkforce of thousands is preparing to work on the fuel rod pools at the instable reactor 4 in order to relocate them to a safer location.
The spent fuel, which contains plutonium, one of the most deadly substances in the universe, will prove to be a very delicate procedure. If a fuel rod is broken, cracked, or dropped whilst being removed, then it could cause an explosion, a meltdown, or a fire; all of which would release radionuclides into the atmosphere, and result in the evacuation of Tokyo and much of Japan.
The more than 1,300 fuel rod assemblies tightly packed into the building at reactor 4 contain enough radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the radiation released during the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Each fuel rod assembly weighs close to 300kg and measure 4.5 metres long. The reactor 4 building contains 1,331 of spent assemblies and 202 unused assemblies.
Working completely underwater, the fuel assemblies will be pulled off their racks where they are currently stored, and then inserted into a heavy steel chamber, which shields the radiation. Then they will be removed from the pool, lowered to ground level and transported across the plant to a storage pool in an undamaged building.
Toshio Kimura, a former technician at Tepco, said that “previously Previously it was a computer-controlled process that memorized the exact locations of the rods down to the millimeter and now they don’t have that. It has to be done manually so there is a high risk that they will drop and break one of the fuel rods.”
Whilst aware of the inherent dangers, Tepco is confident that it can carry out the operation safely.
Tepco doesn’t measure radiation accumulated on the bottom of the sea
Tepco doesn’t measure radiation accumulated on the bottom of the sea http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/09/tepco-doesnt-measure-radiation-accumulated-on-the-bottom-of-the-sea/ by Mochizuki on September 29th, 2013 Following up this article.. Tepco “We don’t see Tokyo bay contamination” [URL]
Regarding the Pacific contamination, Tepco stated they analyze seawater but they take the samples only from the surface of the sea on 9/27/2013.
They commented when they collect seawater samples outside of Fukushima nuclear plant port, the samples are not taken from near the bottom of the sea.
Cesium-134/137 is assumed to be accumulated on the bottom of the sea, but Tepco doesn’t and is not planning to analyze it.
Even inside of the plant port, they collect the seawater samples mostly from the surface of the sea.
Tepco explained the measurement means was not decided by only Tepco, but also with the Fisheries Agency, Fukushima prefectural government and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Also, Strontium-90 is water-soluble, so even if they analyze only the surface water, they can detect the marine contamination level.
According to Tepco and Japanese government, they don’t measure high level of radiation in their sampling points of the Pacific.
1 This Month
Read the Public Inquiry Report, the Commissioners’ report, Surrendering Australia: The AUKUS Deception is available to download for free at aukuspublicinquiry.com. Or just watch the replay of the National Press Club Luncheon.
19 November – Webinar – The Reality of Reprocessing
Time: 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) / 2:00 PM Eastern / 7:00 PM UK / 8:00 PM CET
Register for the Zoom Event Here
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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