Like the canary in a coalmine, birds tell real story of Fukushima
Like a canary in a coalmine, birds are a good indicator of the quality of an environment. A study has found that Fukushima prefecture has not been friendly to our feathered friends since that fateful day four years ago, and things are not getting better.
Using animals as environmental indicators is not a new idea, particularly when it involves studying the after effects of radiation. The flora and fauna in and around the site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster have been studied for years.
Now it is Fukushima’s turn to be studied. Starting a few months after March 11, 2011, when the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant disaster occurred, University of South Carolina biologist Tim Mousseau and his colleagues have been monitoring the avian population in and around the Fukushima plant.
Lasting three years, and studying the populations of bird species at over 400 sites around Fukushima, Dr. Mousseau’s team found that half the populations of 57 species of birds had suffered declines. But what they discovered is very interesting. The populations have continued to decline, even though the radiation threat has dropped.
“There are dramatic reductions in the number of birds that should be there based on the overall patterns,” Mousseau told CBS News. “In terms of barn swallows in Fukushima, there had been hundreds if not thousands in many of these towns where we were working. Now we are seeing a few dozen of them left. It’s just an enormous decline.”
Not only have barn swallows been hit hard, but so have the great reed warbler, Japanese bush warbler, and the meadow bunting. Researchers are working to pinpoint the exact cause of the continuing decline.
Earlier field work by Dr. Mousseau showed the nuclear disaster had severe effects on a wide range of species, causing genetic damage to butterflies, monkeys, and other creatures.
Disputing the results of Mousseau study
In 2000, Robert Baker and Ron Chesser of Texas Tech University published a paper saying the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site had turned into a marvelous “game preserve,” thanks to the absence of humans.
Both men assert that in the long term, biodiversity and the abundance of species at Chernobyl and Fukushima are not being affected by radiation. “Despite our best efforts, post-accident field studies aren’t sufficient to give us a clear picture,” says Chesser. “They offer no good controls because we aren’t working with data from before the accident.”
Mousseau found patches of bleached-white feathers on many of the birds he captured at Fukushima, and this told an important story. “The first time I went to Chernobyl in 2000 to collect birds, 20 percent of the birds [we captured] at one particularly contaminated farm had little patches of white feathers here and there—some large, some small, sometimes in a pattern and other times just irregular,” said Mousseau.
The white patches are believed to be due to radiation-induced oxidative stress. This stress depletes the bird’s reserves of the antioxidants that control the color of feathers and other body parts. It was also found and documented that birds suffered other abnormalities from radiation exposure, including cataracts, tumors, asymmetries, developmental abnormalities, reduced fertility and smaller brain size.
Mousseau thinks the studies at both Chernobyl and Fukushima are evidence of the cumulative effects of prolonged radiation exposure on wildlife at different stages after a nuclear disaster. Jim Smith, the editor and lead author of Chernobyl: Catastrophe and Consequences, says he doesn’t believe the white patches have anything to do with radiation because the levels are considered “low-dose.” He remarks, ” This would mean the white feather patches—and perhaps the overall bird declines—are being caused by something other than radiation.”
But Mousseau is sticking to his belief that something is, indeed going on. He says, “The relationship between radiation and numbers started off negative the first summer, but the strength of the relationship has actually increased each year. So now we see this really striking drop-off in numbers of birds as well as numbers of species of birds. So both the biodiversity and the abundance are showing dramatic impacts in these areas with higher radiation levels, even as the levels are declining.”
The question on many people’s minds is this: If radiation isn’t causing the decline in the bird populations at Fukushima, then what is causing the decline?
Dr. Tim Mousseau’s paper was published in the Journal of Ornithology, March 17, 2015, under the title: Cumulative effects of radioactivity from Fukushima on the abundance and biodiversity of birds
India’s government action may force Greenpeace to close there
Greenpeace India could close within a month due to government crackdown Guardian, Adam Vaughan, 6 May 15 Organisation faces 340 job losses in what would be the only forced closure since it was founded in 1971 because Indian government has frozen its bank accounts Greenpeace India will be forced to close within a month with the loss of 340 jobs because of a government crackdown on its funding, the organisation’s chief has warned.
The Indian home ministry froze seven bank accounts connected with the organisation last month, the latest in a series of moves against the NGO since Narendra Modi’s government came to power.
The international group said that if it was forced to close the Indian operation, it would be the first time since it was founded in 1971 that one of its national organisations was forcibly closed down………http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/05/greenpeace-india-could-close-within-a-month-due-to-government-crackdown
more intensive medical examinations needed – for Fukushima’s children
74% chance of lymph node metastasis Not only is the number of thyroid cancers large, but also the symptoms are serious. Last year Fukushima Medical University published 55 cases of thyroid cancer in Fukushima: 2 of them were anaplastic carcinoma, and 74% of them lymph node metastasis. Normally, the prognosis of thyroid cancer among adults is good: little metastasis and slow progression. But this is not true of thyroid cancer found in Fukushima.
The Government Must Expand Medical Examinations for Victims of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster http://www.foejapan.org/en/energy/doc/150310.html 10 March 2015
117 children in Fukushima have been suspected of having thyroid cancer: the second round of medical examination found 8 children. On February 12, 2015, the Oversight Committee for Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey held a meeting. According to the committee, the total number of children suspected of thyroid cancer reached 117. Of them, 86 already went through surgery and were confirmed to have suffered thyroid cancer. Since April 2014, the second round of medical examination has been conducted on 75,311 children. 8 of them had shown “no abnormality” at the first round, but they were newly suspected of thyroid cancer after the second round. One of them went through surgery and indeed had thyroid cancer.Every time a child in Fukushima was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, Fukushima Medical University and the Japanese government insisted on “screening effects” – namely, an early ultrasound scan simply detected thyroid cancer that would have been otherwise found much later. The university and the government also argue that thyroid cancer develops slowly: Since the number of paediatric thyroid cancers began to increase only five years after the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, the cases of paediatric thyroid cancers in Fukushima so far are unlikely to have be caused by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster. But if their argument had been correct, they would not have found any thyroid cancer after the second round of medical examination. Nonetheless, Hokuto Hoshi, chairman of the oversight committee, stated, “Of course, we cannot completely preclude the possibility of causal relationship between the nuclear disaster and thyroid cancer. But, given the results of medical examinations, we don’t think it’s necessary to change our position, that is, the causal relationship is unlikely.”
74% chance of lymph node metastasis Not only is the number of thyroid cancers large, but also the symptoms are serious. Last year Fukushima Medical University published 55 cases of thyroid cancer in Fukushima: 2 of them were anaplastic carcinoma, and 74% of them lymph node metastasis. Normally, the prognosis of thyroid cancer among adults is good: little metastasis and slow progression. But this is not true of thyroid cancer found in Fukushima. Moreover, the nuclear fallout contaminated not only Fukushima but also adjacent prefectures, as suggested by UNSCEAR’s report. In light of the real extent of nuclear pollution, the government must expand the coverage of medical examinations for areas outside of Fukushima Prefecture.
Treatment for other diseases than thyroid cancer
While we tend to focus on thyroid cancer, we also should keep in mind the necessity of systematic medical examinations for thyroid malfunction and other illnesses. According to longitudinal surveys on A-bomb survivors, radiation dose exceeding 1 mSv (with regard to a particular organ) is statistically correlated with the increased likelihood of uterine fibroid, thyroid diseases, cataract, kidney and ureteral stones (among men), hypertension, and heart attack. The national report, published by the Ukraine government 25 years after the Chernobyl disaster, also describes thyroid malfunction and many other illnesses related to immune, respiratory, and digestive systems.
Problems with MOE’s “Expert Committee” and “Current Policy”
Victims of the nuclear disaster and NGOs demanded the government to (1) improve medical examinations and (2) extend them to municipalities outside of Fukushima Prefecture. The Ministry of Environment (MOE), responsible for the health of disaster victims, established the “Expert Committee” in November 2013. The committee is chaired by Shigenobu Nagataki, emeritus professor at Nagasaki University, one of the longstanding defenders of the “radioactivity-is-safe” ideology who helped to underestimate health effects of the Chernobyl disaster. The committee also includes members who received monetary contributions from the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, sit on radioactivity, nuclear safety, and emergency response commissions, and are responsible for the failures to distribute potassium iodine tablets and use SPEEDI in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster. Put another way, those who helped to create disaster victims deliberated on policy for victims’ health management.
The selection of committee members, as well as the way the committee’s deliberation was framed, was therefore meant to defend the foregone conclusion, not to expand the current medical examinations for disaster victims. Indeed, the mid-term report published by the expert committee in December 2014 not only failed to offer epidemiological analysis of thyroid cancer and other illnesses in Fukushima Prefecture, not to mention case studies, but also concluded that the level of radiation exposure outside the prefecture is too low to warrant any medical examination. Given this report, MOE announced its “current policy” on February 28, 2015, to promote “nationwide cancer registration” as well as “risk-communication projects” to educate citizens with “accurate” information about health effects of radioactivity, instead of expanding medical examinations for disaster victims inside and outside of Fukushima.
Conclusion
Article 13.2 in the Act on the Protection and Support for the Children and other Victims of the TEPCO Disaster guarantees lifelong medical examinations for victims residing in areas where radiation doses are estimated to exceed a certain level, whereas Article 13.3 promises to subsidize medical expenses for illnesses related to the nuclear disaster. However, these measures are yet to be implemented. At this rate, we are concerned that adequate investigation and prevention of thyroid cancer and other illnesses, both inside and outside of Fukushima, will not take place. We therefore demand that the government effectively implement the Act, given that our knowledge of health effects of radioactivity is very much incomplete at present.
| Details of the 8 children suspected of thyroid cancer after the second roundSex: 4 boys and 4 girls Age: 6 to 17 at the time of the disaster Size of tumour: 6-17.3 mm Residence: Namie, Date, Tamura, Ōkuma, Fukushima Estimated dose: less than 1 mSv (2), 2.1 mSv maximum, unknown (2) First-round results: A1 (5), A2 (3) |
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VIDEO: Fukushima nuclear plant shaken by Mag 5 earthquake
Breaking* Strong Mag 5 Quake Strikes Fukushima Nuclear Plant- 5/3/15 http://investmentwatchblog.com/breaking-strong-mag-5-quake-strikes-fukushima-nuclear-plant-5315/
M5.0 – 45km E of Namie, Japan
IV
DYFI?
Location
Data Source US1
Map showing extent (w,s,e,n) = (136.5151, 32.4929, 146.5151, 42.4929)
37.493°N 141.515°E depth=42.4 km (26.4 mi)
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquake…
Occurred at (JST) Latitude
(degree) Longitude
(degree) Depth Magnitude Region Name
13:03 JST 03 May 2015 37.5N 141.6E 40 km 4.8 Fukushima-ken Oki
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/2015050…
It would appear Youtube is further censoring me by not allowing thumbnails for my videos.
Japan’s earthquake risk to nuclear reactors is being ignored, says seismic expert
Japan Earthquake Expert Says Nuclear Watchdog Ignoring Risk, Bloomberg, byYuriy Humber 3 May 15 Japan’s nuclear regulator ignored earthquake risk and its own rules in approving the safety of a nuclear power plant on the western island of Kyushu, said Kobe University professor and seismologist Katsuhiko Ishibashi.
Ishibashi, well-known in Japan for books and papers on earthquake threats that later became reality, said he has filed a formal complaint to the Nuclear Regulation Authority challenging the legality of its decision………
Ishibashi has seen his warnings of earthquake dangers come true in devastating fashion at least twice in a country that accounts for about 10 percent of the world’s quakes.
In a 1994 book “A Seismologist Warns” he said building codes were putting Japan’s cities at risk. The following year, the Kobe earthquakebuckled bridges, highways, and brought down buildings, killing more than 6,000 people.
Then in 1997, he wrote a report in Japan’s Science Journal where he coined the term “nuclear earthquake disaster.” The paper was written about 14 years before the Fukushima catastrophe, yet reads like a post-mortem of what happened: A major quake knocks out external power to the plant’s reactors and unleashes a tsunami that overruns its defenses, leading to loss of cooling and meltdowns.
Nuclear Restarts
Ishibashi says he doesn’t want his forecasts to play out again………Amid pressure from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to process applications for nuclear plant restarts to help the economy, the NRA is under pressure to give utilities a pass, Ishibashi said. That makes the watchdog less rigorous in examining the safety assessments of utilities’ reactors, he said…..
Sendai Case
In the case of the Sendai plant, the NRA has allowed the operating company to ignore the risk of an earthquake in the tectonic slab underneath Kyushu, the seismologist said.
Kyushu Electric has also not factored in the risk from a so-called Nankai trough earthquake, Ishibashi said. A Nankai quake is one that could originate in the seas south of Japan’s main island, an eventuality that’s considered high-risk and constantly monitored by the government.
“Kyushu Electric was allowed to select their own criteria for quakes that could hit the plant and they ignored several as outliers — including a Nankai one,” Ishibashi said. “Taking the Nankai trough earthquake into account is indispensable” in modeling the dangers facing the Sendai plant, he said.
In terms of impact, a Nankai trough quake would cause tremors and ground motion that would last almost ten times as long as Kyushu Electric’s estimates applied for its Sendai plant assessment, Ishibashi said.
The government’s billing of the NRA, formed in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, as the world’s most stringent nuclear regulator is simply not true, Ishibashi said. The regulator feels beholden to government policy, which is pro-nuclear and supports restarts, he said.
“The NRA certainly seems to be feeling the pressure from the current administration,” Ishibashi said. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-30/japan-earthquake-expert-says-nuclear-watchdog-ignoring-risk
Large amount of radioactive cesium in Fukushima water purification center
Nearly 6,000 Bq/kg of Cs-134/137 detected from melted slag of water purification center in Fukushima Fukushima Diary, On 4/30/2015, Fukushima prefectural government announced 5,645 Bq/Kg of Cesium-134/137 was detected from melted slag of a water purification center.The sampling date was 3/12/2015. Because it contains 1,383 Bq/Kg of Cs-134, it is certainly from Fukushima nuclear plant.
The second highest reading of this March was 3,786 Bq/Kg. This water purification center is located in Koriyama city.
Cs-134/137 have been measured from melted slag of this purification center everyday since the beginning of this year…….http://fukushima-diary.com/2015/05/nearly-6000-bqkg-of-cs-134137-detected-from-melted-slag-of-water-purification-center-in-fukushima/
Chinese nuclear companies keen to market reactors overseas
Chinese Nuclear Firms Compete Abroad for Exports and for Market Share at Home, Energy Collective Two giant rival Chinese state-owned nuclear firms are pulling out the stops to achieve success with exports and increased market share of the restarted domestic reactor construction program. The so-called Hualong One, a 1000 MW PWR type reactor, is being hawked by both firms, but with significant enough design differences that potential customers worry about supply chain issues……..
Moving Inland from the Coast
Up to now China has been building its reactors at coastal sites. The reasons include the available seawater for cooling the units and the ability to deliver very large reactor components by barge. However, the China National Energy Administration is now looking at inland sites again. Following the Fukushima earthquake, the agency suspended consideration of new construction starts away from coastal regions.
The main issue was consideration of adequate cooling water supplies in an emergency. At issue is a 100% fail safe supply of water in regions which may have some areas which may have inadequate freshwater resources even without the demand of a new power plant………http://theenergycollective.com/dan-yurman/2223861/chinese-nuclear-firms-compete-abroad-exports-and-market-share-home
Japan, despite its pacifist constitution, agrees to USA military expansion
Japan Agrees to New Military Cooperation Plan with United States Despite Its Pacifist Constitution, Democracy Now, 1 May 15 As peace activists gather in The Hague, Japan is moving toward taking a more active military role internationally despite having a pacifist constitution. On Tuesday, President Obama hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a White House state dinner. The two nations have just unveiled new guidelines for military cooperation. We examine Japan’s growing military role with Kozue Akibayashi, the newly elected president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She also discusses opposition to the presence of some 25,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Okinawa. “The U.S. military has been granted almost diplomatic immunity to whatever they do. Crimes are committed, but they are not punished. They get away.”
Nuclear weapons and the USA’s militarisation of Asia-Pacific
Obama Threatens China with Nuclear Weapons. Militarization of Asia-Pacific By Stephen Lendman Global Research, May 01, 2015 Last Friday, National Security Council senior Asian affairs director Evan Medeiros said John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter would meet their Japanese counterparts in New York on Monday.
They’d “announce some historic changes to the way US-Japan alliance operates” ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Washington visit this week. Continue reading
Despite the USA’s nuclear lobby – solar power is winning in Japan
I predict, because solar is rising so rapidly in the land of the rising sun, that Japan will never restart any of its nukes – even though the U.S. media is demanding Japan restart one of its nukes. Let us pray that the solar home owners in Japan win this race against nuclear power. Our lives too depend on solar winning
Four years after Fukushima, Japan is solar-powered Bay View by Theresa Coleman and Paul Kangas, 29 Apr 15 In the week before the March 11, 2011, earthquake at Fukushima, one person, Prime Minister Naoto Kan, did an extraordinary act that set Japan’s energy course in history for the next 100 years. He was able to convince the Japanese Parliament to pass a solar payment policy (SPP), that required big utilities in Japan to pay solar home owners $0.53 kwh for 20 years.
This is amazing. One, because the rate is very attractive to solar home owners and two, because he even made the effort.This one policy shift is now making Japan one of the leading solar powered nations on earth – far ahead of California or the U.S.
Number one in solar generation in 2014 was Germany. The same year they won the World Cup in soccer. They are on a roll.It is going to be interesting to see if China becomes No. 2 in 2015. It is a tight three-way race between Japan, Germany and China. Who will win?
The really big question is: “What inspired Prime Minister Naoto Kan to introduce this solar payment policy to the Japanese Parliament the day before Fukushima? Was it Chernobyl?
Apparently Kan had read the book “Solar Economy” by Hermann Scheer the year before. It got him to thinking about how solar policy could actually be drafted to shut down all the nuclear power plants in Japan over the next 50 years……….
This one policy shift is now making Japan one of the leading solar powered nations on earth – far ahead of California or the U.S. Number one in solar generation in 2014 was Germany.
Clean energy set to beat nuclear in Japan
Japan Sees Clean Energy Edging Out Nuclear Power in 2030, Bloomberg, Chisaki Watanabe and Emi Urabe 28 Apr 15 Clean energy sources will supply as much as 24 percent of Japan’s electricity in 15 years, while atomic power will account for as much as 22 percent, according to a draft report from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on what Japan’s electricity mix should look like by 2030……
If all 24 nuclear reactors currently under review for a restart by the country’s nuclear watchdog are allowed to switch back on, they would still not be able to generate more than 16 percent of Japan’s power, Greenpeace estimates. At least 10 more reactor units need to resume operations to reach the government’s target for nuclear, the group said.
Such a mass-scale restart is unlikely, according to Shaun Burnie, a nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Germany.
“The scale of the challenges facing the nuclear industry are such that generation from reactors is likely to collapse during the coming decade,” Burnie said in the statement. “Many reactors will never restart, and most reactors over the coming years will be too old to operate.”…..http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-28/japan-expects-renewable-energy-to-edge-out-nuclear-power-by-2030
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe muzzling critics in Japan’s media
Effort by Japan to Stifle News Media Is Working, NYT By MARTIN FACKLER APRIL 26, 2015 TOKYO — It was an unexpected act of protest that shook Japan’s carefully managed media world: Shigeaki Koga, a regular television commentator and fierce critic of the political establishment, abruptly departed from the scripted conversation during a live TV news program to announce that this would be his last day on the show because, as he put it, network executives had succumbed to political pressure for his removal.
“I have suffered intense bashing by the prime minister’s office,” Mr. Koga told his visibly flabbergasted host late last month, saying he had been removed as commentator because of critical statements he had made about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Later in the program, Mr. Koga held up a sign that read “I am not Abe,” a play on the slogan of solidarity for journalists slain in January at a French satirical newspaper.
The outburst created a public firestorm, and not only because of the spectacle of Mr. Koga, a dour-faced former top government official, seemingly throwing away his career as a television commentator in front of millions of viewers. His angry show of defiance also focused national attention on the right-leaning government’s increased strong-arming of the news media to reduce critical coverage.
Mr. Abe’s efforts have had a chilling effect on coverage at a time when he is pushing ahead with a conservative agenda to dismantle the nation’s postwar pacifist consensus and put forth more positive portrayals of Japan’s World War II-era behavior. Experts warn that muzzling the press makes it easier for the government to make big changes that might not enjoy broad popular support, such as rewriting the pacifist Constitution, or even restarting the nation’s stalled nuclear industry.
“The Abe government is showing an obsession with the media that verges on paranoia,” said Keigo Takeda, a former editor in chief at Newsweek Japan who is now a respected freelance journalist. “I have never seen this level of efforts to micromanage specific newspapers and TV programs.”…..http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/world/asia/in-japan-bid-to-stifle-media-is-working.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1
One of world’s largest floating solar plants opened in Japan
JAPAN OPENS MEGA FLOATING SOLAR POWER PLANT, CLIMATE GROUP, 26 APR 15 LONDON: JAPAN HAS JUST OPENED ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST FLOATING SOLAR POWER PLANTS, SIGNALLING INCREASING ADOPTION OF THE EFFICIENT AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY IN THE COUNTRY, WHICH IS DUE PARTLY TO LACK OF SPACE ON LAND.
As highlighted in a report released this week by The Climate Group, regions with more land space, specifically the UAE with its huge solar resources, are primed to benefit from the fast-growing low carbon economy.
The giant plant in Japan was inaugurated last March but has only just opened, as announced by Kyocera and Ciel et Terre International, two manufacturers that are heavily investing in this technology. The system is made up of two solar parks, at Nishihira Pond and Higashihira Pond in Kato City in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, with a capacity of 1.7 megawatts (MW) and 1.2 MW respectively.
CLEAN TECHNOLOGY
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is becoming more wide-spread in Japan, driven in part by the closure of the country’s fleet of nuclear plants following the Fukushima disaster – even if there are some concerns about the possibility the country could soon reopen them.
… total solar PV capacity has moved from just 19 MW in 1992 to 13,532 MW in 2013 –more than double the previous year.
FLOATING SOLAR
However, with a landmass slightly smaller than California and a population density closer to India, this expansion in PV collides with the lack of space. Thankfully, Japan is surrounded by sea and has many water reservoirs to cater for its seasonal variation in rainfall levels, so is experimenting more frequently with floating PV systems.
Not only is floating solar more convenient, it is also more energy efficient. A study by Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) claims the technology is more efficient because it has a lower temperature during the day when compared to overland PV modules. This should be achieved due to the reflection of light from the water surface, which keeps the PV modules cooler………http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/japan-opens-mega-floating-solar-power-plant/
Arrest of anti nuclear protestor who landed drone on Shinzo Abe’s office
Man arrested for landing drone on Shinzo Abe’s office in nuclear protest, Guardian, 25 Apr 15
Yasuo Yamamoto charged over landing of drone with tiny amount of radiation in apparent protest against use of nuclear power after Fukushima disaster. A Japanese man has been arrested for landing a drone on the prime minister’s office with a minuscule amount of radiation in an apparent protest against the use of nuclear power, four years after the Fukushima disaster.
Unemployed Yasuo Yamamoto, 40, who lives in Fukui Prefecture in western Japan, was arrested on Friday and charged with obstruction of official business, police said.
The maximum penalty is three years in prison or a 500,000 yen (£2,770) fine.
Media reported that Yamamoto turned himself in at a police station in Fukui and said he landed the drone as a protest against nuclear power…..A drone marked with a radioactive sign was found on the roof of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s office on Wednesday. The radiation was so low it was not harmful to humans.
Yamamoto said he put radioactive sand that he got from Fukushima in a container on the drone, media reported…….http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/25/man-arrested-for-landing-drone-on-shinzo-abes-office-in-nuclear-protest
High levels of radiation in children’s playground – Tokyo park closed
Tokyo park closed over dangerous radiation Sky News, , 24 April 2015 Extremely high levels of radiation have been discovered in a playground in Tokyo, officials said Friday, fanning fears for the health of children in the area.
Soil underneath a slide at the park in the northwest of the Japanese capital showed radiation readings of up to 480 microsieverts per hour, the local administrative office said.
Anyone directly exposed to this level would absorb in two hours the maximum dose of radiation Japan recommends in a year. “Many children play in the park daily, so the ward office should explain the situation,” Kyodo News quoted a 62-year-old local woman as saying.
The radiation level is over 2000 times that at which the national government requires soil cleaning in areas around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where reactors melted down after the March 2011 tsunami…….
The park has been sealed. http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/asiapacific/2015/04/24/tokyo-park-closed-over-dangerous-radiation.html#sthash.1X8diUzn.dpuf–
1 This Month
of the week– Nuclear Reactor Information Task Force
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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