Unforgettable photography of the world’s most radioactive places
PHOTOGRAPHY, Ten Most Radioactive Places on Earth Mapped Out [GRAPHIC], CV News November 24, 2013 by Jim Lee ”……While the 2011 earthquake and worries surrounding Fukushima have brought the threat of radioactivity back into the public consciousness, many people still don’t realize that radioactive contamination is a worldwide danger. Radionuclides are in the top six toxic threats as listed in the 2010 report by The Blacksmith Institute, an NGO dedicated to tackling pollution. You might be surprised by the locations of some of the world’s most radioactive places — and thus the number of people living in fear of the effects radiation could have on them and their children.For years, there have been allegations that the ‘Ndrangheta syndicate of the Italian mafia has been using the seas as a convenient location in which to dump hazardous waste — including radioactive waste — charging for the service and pocketing the profits. An Italian NGO, Legambiente, suspects that about 40 ships loaded with toxic and radioactive waste have disappeared in Mediterranean waters since 1994. If true, these allegations paint a worrying picture of an unknown amount of nuclear waste in the Mediterranean whose true danger will only become clear when the hundreds of barrels degrade or somehow otherwise break open. The beauty of the Mediterranean Sea may well be concealing an environmental catastrophe in the making.
Mafia sinks toxic waste ships in the Mediterranean
8. The Somalian Coast
Nuclear Waste Dumping at Sea “paid” – Somalia
7. Mayak Chemical Combine, Russia
6. Sellafield, UK Continue reading
Japan’s mafia gangs exploiting homeless people in Fukushima nuclear cleanup
TV: Mentally disabled are working at Fukushima Daiichi, says journalist — Many men forced to go to plant — Homeless treated like ‘disposable people’ (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-journalist-says-theres-mentally-disabled-workers-at-fukushima-many-men-forced-to-work-at-plant-homeless-treated-like-disposable-people-video
Atomic Mafia? Yakuza cleans up Fukushima, neglects basic worker
RT News, , Nov. 20, 2013: Homeless men employed cleaning up the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, including those brought in by Japan’s yakuza gangsters, were not aware of the health risks they were taking and say their bosses treated them like “disposable people.” […] While some workers voluntarily agreed to take jobs on the nuclear clean-up project, many others simply didn’t have a choice […] many of the workers were brought into the nuclear plant by Japan’s organized crime syndicates, the yakuza. […] Although a special task force to keep organized crime out of the nuclear clean-up project has been set up, investigators say they need first-hand reports from those forced to work by the yakuza […]
Anonymous former Fukushima worker: We were given no insurance for health risks, no radiation meters even. We were treated like nothing, like disposable people — promised things, and then kicked us out when we received a large radiation dose.
Tomohiko Suzuki, journalist who worked at Fukushima plant: The government called Tepco to take urgent action, Tepco relayed it to subcontractors — and they, eventually, as they had a shortage of available workers, called the Yakuza for help. […] They were given very general information about radiation and most were not even given radiation meters. They could have exposed themselves to large doses without even knowing it. Even the so-called Fukushima 50 […] at least three of them were enrolled by the yakuza.
Aleksey Yaroshevsky, RT: : There are 25% more openings for jobs at Fukushima plant than applicants, according to government data. Gaps filled, says Suzuki, by the homeless, the desperately unemployed and even those with mental disabilities. Watch the broadcast here
Ice wall around Fukushima – a 10,000 year science fiction story?
TV: Work at Fukushima plant to go on for 10,000 years? Nuclear Expert: “It’s longer than human history” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-work-at-fukushima-plant-could-go-on-for-next-10000-years-nuclear-expert-its-longer-than-human-history-video
Arirang’s ‘Prime Talk’,, August 30, 2013 (at 1:45 in):
Dr. Suh Kune-yull, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Seoul National University: [Freezing the soil around Fukushima reactors] sounds more like a sci-fi story, science fiction. We call this permafrost — frosting the soil — for 50 years and as long as 10,000 years. It’s longer than human history, it’s just unrealistic.
Watch the broadcast here
Arirang’s ‘Prime Talk’, ’, August 30, 2013 (at 1:30 in):
Dr. Suh Kune-yull, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Seoul National University: I call this permafrost which [is] really freezing the soil but to me sounds more like a science fiction because they have to be doing this for work at least 50 years and as long as 10,000 years. So I think they were probably going to give this up one of these months. […]
Nuclear fuel removal underway at Fukushima, amidst grave safety concerns
NHK: Fuel removal at Unit 4 underway — BBC: Concern casks not watertight, rods would contact air — WSJ: Exposure to air can cause sustained nuclear reaction — AFP: Tokyo evacuations if uncontrolled nuclear conflagration? AP: Rods contain plutonium, experts concerned quake to hit during process http://enenews.com/nhk-fuel-removal-at-unit-4-has-begun-bbc-concern-casks-not-watertight-allowing-rods-to-contact-air-wsj-exposure-to-air-could-result-in-sustained-nuclear-reaction-afp-tokyo-evacuations-if
NHK,, Nov. 18, 2013: The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has begun removing nuclear fuel from a storage pool at a damaged reactor building. Workers placed a special fuel transport container in the storage pool […] At around 3PM on Monday, the workers started to hoist the unused fuel units into the steel container […] debris in the pool of the Number 4 reactor building could obstruct the work. […] The removal work requires extreme caution, as any damage to the units could release high-level radiation.
WSJ, Nov. 18, 2013: “We plan to begin the removal process from around 3 pm today, and work until around 7 pm,” said Tepco spokesman Tsuyoshi Numajiri. […] The units are kept in a pool of cool water to prevent exposure to air, which can cause the radioactive material to heat up and could trigger a sustained nuclear reaction.
BBC,, Nov. 18, 2013: [It’s a critical issue] whether the casks remain watertight so the rods have no contact with air.
AFP,, Nov. 18, 2013: Each rod contains uranium and a small amount of plutonium. If they are exposed to the air […] they would start to heat up, a process that, left unchecked, could lead to a self-sustaining nuclear reaction – known as “criticality”. […] Sceptics say with so many unknowables in an operation that has never been attempted under these conditions, there is potential for a catastrophe. Government modelling in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima disaster […] suggested that an uncontrolled nuclear conflagration at Fukushima could start a chain reaction in other nearby nuclear plants. That worst-case scenario said a huge evacuation area could encompass a large part of greater Tokyo […]
AP,, Nov.18, 2013: […] [Experts] raised concern about a major earthquake hitting during the removal work. Japanese nuclear engineers were on Monday preparing to move uranium and plutonium fuel rods at Fukushima […] Experts have warned that slip-ups could quickly cause the situation to deteriorate. […]
Kyodo News, , Nov. 18, 2013: Nuclear Regulation Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka has said the work requires “great prudence” because the pools are strewn with small pieces of rubble […] “The fuel has to be handled very carefully. There is a need to make sure that a fuel assembly is not pulled out (from the fuel rack) by force when it gets stuck because of the rubble,” he said.
Clean -up programme at crippled Fukushma nuclear plant is really in a mess
TV: Fukushima workers “fear for their own safety” — “The truth is astonishing… I don’t dare wash my hands, even after using toilet” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-fukushima-workers-fear-for-their-own-safety-the-truth-is-astonishing-i-dont-dare-wash-my-hands-even-after-using-toilet-video
NTD Television, Nov. 13, 2013: According to reports by one of the major newspapers in Japan, Mainichi Shimbun, the decontamination workers used to throw the contaminated waste or water into nearby rivers. Mr. O also confirms that improper disposal of contaminated waste is seen every day at the site.
CCTV News, Nov. 14, 2013:
Exclusive: workers say decontamination work in Fukushima ineffective
CCTV correspondent Matt Stuttard: Two of the decontamination workers at Fukushima, they’ve taken a big risk, being interviewed about their daily work. They say workers received no detailed training before starting the job and no advice. […] the workers say they were given no information on how the handle the material. […]
Worker: Sometimes we don’t have enough plastic bags. So we find a place and dig a pit, and throw all the polluted soil into it […]
CCTV: The workers say they fear for their own safety, and that of the whole team.
Worker: I used to have no idea if the water we use to wash our hands was polluted. I used to wash my hands before eating. I’m now wondering how much radioactive substances have gone into my body. Now I know the truth, I don’t dare to wash my hands, even after using the toilet. The truth is astonishin
VIDEO: Nuclear Establishment would push all evacuees back into irradiated areas
Belarus has all the information Japan needs
Fukushima evacuees returning to areas of high level radiation
TV: “It’s a crime what’s happening at Fukushima” — People resettling areas 10 to 15 km from plant with “radiation levels still very, very high and even lethal in some cases” — Hotspots 60 to 70 km away same level as ghost towns in Chernobyl (VIDEOS) http://enenews.com/tv-its-a-crime-whats-happening-at-fukushima-people-resettling-areas-10-to-15-km-from-plant-with-radiation-levels-still-very-very-high-and-even-lethal-in-some-cases-ho
RT,, Nov. 7, 2013 — Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear: Well, that’s a great tragedy that the Japanese government is allowing this [resettling near Fukushima] to happen. To within the closest 12.4 miles of the devastated nuclear power plant obviously the landscape is contaminated, the food supplies are contaminated. As your reporter said, it’s up to individual private citizens to try to figure out how bad the contamination is. The environmental groups are trying to help them. So, it’s beyond tragic, it’s a crime what’s happening at Fukushima Daiichi.
Abby Martin’s ‘Breaking the Set‘ with RT reporter Alexey Yaroshevsky, Nov. 8, 2013 (at 26:30 in): What struck me the most, and I’m saying that as a person who’s been in the Chernobyl exclusion zone […] The cities and towns which are located just 10-15 km from the nuclear power station where obviously radiation levels are still very, very high and even lethal in some cases. So those town have been reopened for settlers, we literally saw people rebuilding their houses in these areas and this is creating a huge concern in Japan […] In some other areas 60-70km from the nuclear power station, the areas which have never been included into an exclusion zone, which have never been under lockdown, raditional levels, the ones we’ve encountered, some hotbeds, hotspots of radiation we encountered have 3 microsieverts per hour. And this is the same level as the ghost town of Pripyat in the exclusion zone in the Ukraine, the level which would not allow humans to live in this area. Watch the report here
AUDIO: Saskatchewan’s Uranium Companies and their Pact with the Devil
AUDIO: Pact with the Nuclear Devil: Saskatchewan’s Uranium Companies Derogate Metis Land Rights http://www.globalresearch.ca/pact-with-the-nuclear-devil-saskatchewans-uranium-companies-derogate-first-nations-land-rights/5356579
Interview with Activist Dale Smith. Global Research News Hour Episode 43
Click to download the audio (MP3 format)
Dale Smith is a Métis resident of Pinehouse, a community in the Boreal forest 500 kilometres north of Saskatoon in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Pinehouse is one of those Northern Saskatchewan communities targeted by the nuclear industry for its proximity to uranium deposits and to a site for the dumping of nuclear waste from Ontario.
In the fall of 2012, news of a Collaboration Agreement between the community of Pinehouse and uranium companies Cameco and Pinehouse began to surface. Community members like Smith became outraged not only by the lack of meaningful consultation, but by the terms of the agreement.
Confidentiality Clause
A summary of the Collaboration Agreement Term Sheet became available to community members at a November 13, 2012 public village meeting. The text directly implies that the village residents would effectively be subjected to a gag order:
Summary of the Collaboration Agreement Term Sheet Made Among Cameco Corporation, Areva Resources Canada Inc. and Pinehouse (“Term Sheet”)
October 12, 2012
Section G: Other Promises
Urgent need to remove nuclear fuel rods from unsteady reactor No.4
Nuclear Expert: Fuel rods are “in a jumble” at Fukushima Unit 4 pool; Unclear if they are cracked — US pressing Japan on removal, fears terrorist activity at plant (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/nuclear-expert-fuel-rods-are-in-a-jumble-at-fukushima-unit-4-pool-unclear-if-they-are-cracked-us-pressing-japan-on-removal-fears-terrorist-activity-at-plant-video
Telegraph,, Nov. 6, 2013: “Did you ever play pick up sticks?” asked a foreign nuclear expert who has been monitoring Tepco’s efforts to regain control of the plant. “You had 50 sticks, you heaved them into the air and than had to take one off the pile at a time. “If the pile collapsed when you were picking up a stick, you lost,” he said. “There are 1,534 pick-up sticks in a jumble in [sic] top of an unsteady reactor 4. What do you think can happen? I do not know anyone who is confident that this can be done since it has never been tried.” Even now, it is not clear whether any of the rods, containing transuranic and transplutonic elements, are cracked, he said. […]
Others have issued even more dire warnings, with Charles Perrow, a professor emeritus at Yale University, warning: “The radiation emitted from all these rods, if they are not continually cool and kept separate, would require the evacuation of surrounding areas, including Tokyo. Because of the radiation at the site, the 6,375 rods in the common storage pool could not be continuously cooled; they would fission and all of humanity will be threatened, for thousands of years.”
Inside Japan’s stricken Fukushima unit four nuclear reactor
Nikkei, Nov. 7, 2013: [Tepco] will begin removing spent nuclear fuel from the storage pool at the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s No. 4 reactor this month, a company official said at a press corps gathering at the site Wednesday. […] The U.S. and other countries have been pressing Japan to securely store the spent fuel, fearing another earthquake or terrorist activity. […] the upper part of the No. 4 reactor building was severely damaged, causing a large amount of rubble to fall into the pool. Concerns have arisen that the fuel may be damaged, making it even less certain whether the work will proceed smoothly.
Watch Bloomberg’s report on Unit 4 here
The murder of former Palestinian leader Arafat, by radioactive polonium
10 Worst Cases of Radiation Poisoning ABC News, By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES (@SusanDJames) Nov. 7, 2013 This week, former Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat’s death was in the news in a case of suspected radiation poisoning. Swiss scientists announced they had found 18 times the normal levels of polonium in Yasser Arafat’s rib, pelvis and in soil stained with his decaying organs, concluding that he was poisoned…….
Medical Report: Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with polonium
UNSCEAR falsified estimations of medical effects of Fukushima radiation
U.N. cover-up of Fukushima exposed on TV — Medical Doctor: There’s now many more cancer cases than we expected from Fukushima, UNSCEAR report has falsified estimations (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-investigation-details-u-n-cover-up-of-fukushima-medical-doctor-theres-now-many-more-cancer-cases-than-we-expected-from-fukushima-unscear-report-has-falsified-estimations-video
Title: Medical experts criticize UNSCEAR report for playing down consequences of Fukushima nuclear accident
Source: 3sat (German language public TV network)
Captions: World Network For Saving Children From Radiation
Date Published: Nov. 5, 2013
Dr. Alex Rosen, Medical Doctor and radiation specialist: There is now a much higher number of thyroid cancer cases than we expected. […]
Narrator: According to Dr. Alex Rosen, there are various falsified estimations in the UNSCEAR [United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation] report. […]
Professor Wolfgang Hoffman, professor of epidemiology at Geifswald University: It is certain that we will have an elevated level of cancer. […]
Marc Molitor, journalist with Belgisher TV (Belgium): A certain member within UNSCEAR told me that the report was written to play down the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear accident. Moreover, he also said that the members pretend not to learn the lesson from Chernobyl. There was seemingly a discussion on it.
[UNSCEAR Report:t: “No discernible increased incidence of radiation-related health effects are expected among exposed members of the public or their descendants. The most important health effect is on mental and social well-being”]
Film “Utopia” shows Australia’s history of oppression of Aboriginal people
John Pilger’s film Utopia, about Australia, is to be released in British cinemas on 15 November and in Australia in January
In the lucky country of Australia apartheid is alive and kicking John Pilger The Guardian, Wednesday 6 November 2013 “…….The parliament stands in Barton, a suburb of Canberra named after the first prime minister of Australia, Edmund Barton, who drew up the White Australia Policy in 1901. “The doctrine of the equality of man,” said Barton, “was never intended to apply” to those not British and white-skinned.
Barton’s concern was the Chinese, known as the yellow peril; he made no mention of the oldest, most enduring human presence on Earth: the first Australians. They did not exist. Their sophisticated care of a harsh land was of no interest. Their epic resistance did not happen. Of those who fought the British invaders of Australia, the Sydney Monitor reported in 1838: “It was resolved to exterminate the whole race of blacks in that quarter.” Today, the survivors are a shaming national secret…….
According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth report, Australia is the richest place on Earth.
Politicians in Canberra are among the wealthiest citizens. Their self-endowment is legendary. …… Continue reading
Films show Navajo and Pueblo victims of uranium ndustry
Navajo Pueblo Nuclear Holocaust Focus of International Uranium Film Festival Southwest By Brenda Norrell Censored News, 5 Nov 13 The International Uranium Film Festival will feature two films focused on the Navajo and Pueblo areas where both Navajos and Pueblos were — and are — victims of Cold War uranium mining and radioactive tailings left behind.
Navajos and Pueblos were sent to their deaths without protective clothing, even though the US government and mining companies knew of the dangers of radiation.
The poisoning of the people did not end there. The dust from the uranium mines blew across their food drying in the sun. The women washed clothes filled with radioactive soot. The runoff poisoned both the wildlife, including the deer that was food, the waterways, and the people.
The legacy of death continues today, as radioactive tailings remain scattered across this region of Pueblos and the Navajo Nation, between Albuquerque, New Mexico and Flagstaff, Arizona. In the Navajo communities of Cove and Red Valley, near Shiprock, N.M. every family had members stricken with respiratory diseases, cancer and other rare diseases. One elderly Navajo woman in her 80s was living in a radioactive hogan, built with radioactive stones.
The film, Dii’go To Baahaane Four Stories about Water, in Dine’ (Navajo) with English subtitles, and the film Tailings, will be shown at the Uranium Film Festival in Albuquerque. Schedules are still being prepared for the festivals in Santa Fe, and in Window Rock on the Navajo Nation……. http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/navajo-pueblo-nuclear-holocaust-focus.html
Fukushima clean-up an “unprecedented challenge” says shocked USA Energy Secretary Moniz
US Energy Secretary “shocked” and “stunned” after being at Fukushima plant — “Unprecedented” and “daunting” task ahead for Japan — America has “direct interest” in Tepco doing things safely (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/energy-secretary-shocked-stunned-after-being-fukushima-plant-unprecedented-daunting-task-ahead-japan-america-direct-interest-tepco-doing-safely-video
Statement from U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz Regarding Fukushima, Nov. 1, 2013 “On Friday, I made my first visit to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It is stunning that one can see firsthand the destructive force of the tsunami even more than two and a half years after the tragic events.[…] TEPCO President Hirose, and his dedicated staff […] face a dauntingtask in the cleanup and decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, one that will take decades and is being carried out under very challenging conditions. The TEPCO workforce is facing unprecedented challenges and is clearly focused on devising and implementing solutions. […] It appears that spent nuclear fuel will begin to be removed from Unit 4 as scheduled in mid-November. […] As Japan continues […] the cleanup at the Fukushima site […] the United States stands ready to continue assisting our partners in this daunting yet indispensable task […]“
NHK WORLD, (removed from Internet) Oct. 31, 2013: Ernest Moniz […] in his speech in Tokyo on Thursday […] said the success of the cleanup of areas around the Fukushima plant and decommissioning of reactors have global significance. Moniz said the US has a direct interest in seeing the next steps are done efficiently and safely.
Fukushima to Remove Tritium, IAEA To Send “Help” Update 11/2/13
AP, Nov. 2, 2013: In a speech Thursday in Tokyo, [Moniz] said “the success of the cleanup also has global significance. So we all have a direct interest in seeing that the next steps are taken well, efficiently and safely.”
NHK,, Nov. 2, 2013: Ernest Moniz spoke to NHK on Saturday in Tokyo, one day after visiting the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Moniz said he was shocked to see the scale of the damage that remains more than 2 and half years after the tsunami disaster and the nuclear accident. He said he also sensed how difficult work at the plant is with workers required to wear full face masks and other protective gear.
Watch the NHK interview here (removed from Internet
The smallest slip up could trigger nuclear catastrophe
VIDEO and AUDIO Fukushima decommissioning slip-up could trigger monumental chain reaction, expert warns One slip-up in the latest step to decommission Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant could trigger a “monumental” chain reaction, experts warn. ABC NewsWithin days, Fukushima nuclear plant operators will begin what is being described as the most dangerous phase of the decommissioning process so far.
In an operation never before attempted, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) will start removing 1,331 highly radioactive used fuel assemblies from a deep pool which sits high above the ground in a shattered reactor building.
The Fukushima nuclear plant’s reactors were sent into meltdown by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 in the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Experts around the world have warned ever since that the fuel pool is in a precarious state – vulnerable to collapsing in another big earthquake.Yale University professor Charles Perrow wrote about the number 4 fuel pool this year in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.He said one pool contains 10 times the amount of radioactive caesium present in the Chernobyl disaster and warned one slip-up with the removal could trigger a chain reaction.
“This has me very scared,” he told the ABC. ”Tokyo would have to be evacuated because [the] caesium and other poisons that are there will spread very rapidly. ”Even if the wind is blowing in the other way, it’s going to be monumental.”….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-31/fukushima-nuclear-meltdown-tepco-tokyo/5059514
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