Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Fukushima in the last 9 days

2011 – April 20th. Japanese Government to introduce legal sanctions against those entering the 20 kilometre evacuation zone.
2011 – April 20th. Japan nuclear agency finally admits fuel has melted in reactors 1, 2 & 3
2011 – April 19th. Radiation at No. 2 spent fuel pool millions of times above normal & thousands of times higher than troubled No. 4 pool
2011 – April 19th. Chernobyl still leaking radiation. The current concrete “shield now has cracks, raising fears that 95% of the original nuclear material remaining inside the reactor could escape. Radiation levels directly over the sarcophagus are too high for the [new steel] arch to be built over it”
2011 – April 18th. Reports that hot radioactive fuel is being bulldozed into the ground.
2011 – April 18th. Hamaoka nuclear power plant must shut down. The reactors sit right above the spot where a massive Tokai region earthquake is predicted to strike.
2011 – April 18th. “"What is most serious is that even a month after the accident, we see no prospects of getting radioactive leakages under control," North Korean media reports.
2011 – April 19th. Clouds of radioactive steam rising from Fukushima reactors 1,3 and 4 at 6am.
2011 – April 18th. The Surrey Nuclear Power Plant in Virginia Forced to Shut Two of its Reactors after Tornado.
2011 – April 19th. A pair of thin robots on treads sent to explore buildings inside Japan's crippled nuclear reactor came back Monday with disheartening news: Radiation levels are far too high for repair crews to go inside.
2011 – April 18th. US Congressman Markey alleges that the head of the NRC told everyone not to write down risks they find from an earthquake greater than 6.0 (the Indian Point nuclear plant was only built to survive a 6.0 earthquake) 79
2011 – April 16th. Japan asks Brazil to ease food import rules (radiation-contaminated food). Brazil is considering the request.
2011 – April 16th. EU Raises Level Of Japan Nuclear Radiation Allowed On Ships, Cargo By 300%. Has already raised the amount of allowable radiation in food 20 fold.
16th April 2011: Japan Nuclear Radiation In San Francisco Milk Exceeds Infant Dose In Less Than 3 Gallons ….US FDA tolerates a much higher level of radiation contamination of food than does the US EPA. “FDA’s limit for Cesium-137 in a single liter of milk is 47 times higher than EPA’s annual maximum for human exposure…. There have already been allegations that EPA plans to relax radiation standards. In the wake of this conflict of agencies, expect someone to try to relax the MCL for radionuclides.”
2011 – April 17th. Breaking news on NHK at 7pm ET: Smoke/steam rising from ALL 4 reactor units — Workers evacuated
2011 – April 16th. Radiation in groundwater at the Number 2 reactor has increased 17-fold in a week
2011 – April 16th. “2 Days ago the waterlevel in no6 went down to zero (core barely covered) and the temp went up. A few hours later that data disappeared…. The waterlevel in all 3 (1, 2 and 3) reactors is much too low; the cores are "partially" exposed, meaning the upper half of the rods have melted down and the rubble is at the bottom: http://atmc.jp/plant/water/”
2011 – April 15th. Running for our lives. “so far the winds have blown most of the danger out to sea and onto the northern American continent. If the winds turn and blow to the south for any length of time it could mean curtains for Tokyo…. Life goes on as before and if you want evidence for that just look at your newspaper, Yahoo news summaries or your television to see. But sorry, that is not the truth—not true at all as a tragedy on a civilization-size scale silently falls down on us in the form of nuclear mists of fine very dangerous particles.” “Part of the world ended a month ago in terms of the total destruction of parts of northern Japan and it is true of energy production and industrial capacity, which are collapsing in Japan and around the world like dominoes….” When I saw the videos of explosions on the atomic power station in Japan I knew immediately it was a great catastrophe, and that information is being withheld on an unimaginable scale.”
2011 – April 15th. Dr Christopher Busby estimates that about 400,000 people within 200 kilometres of Fukushima will get cancer from this accident.
2011 – April 15th. Nuclear fuel has melted in three reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and fallen to the lower sections of their container vessels, raising the specter of overheated material compromising a container and causing a massive radiation release, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan said in a report released on Friday.
What Really Happened Webmaster's Commentary
THE FULL ARTICLE: “Fuel in the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors has made contact with air, while the No. 3 reactor's rods have remained underwater, the group said…. Tokyo Electric Power indicated it could drop sandbags filled with zeolite into the nearby ocean as soon as Friday to help curb the spread of radioactive contaminants… Workers earlier this week transferred roughly 660 tons of radiation-tainted water out of an underground passage, but fluid flooding the area reached its original depth by Friday morning, …Contaminated water has hindered efforts to restore cooling mechanisms needed to help prevent additional radioactive material from escaping the site… A nuclear waste treatment area intended to receive the water was still undergoing inspection for possible weak points in pipelines.”
2011 – April 15th. Nuclear firm says it has no blueprint to resolve crisis. Sydney Morning Herald seems to be trying to paint a rosier picture.
2011 – April 14th. Edano forced to retract PM saying Fukushima permanently uninhabitable. Fukushima milk being sold to Japanese.
2011 – April 14th. Japan considering relocating Government out of Tokyo
2011 – April 13th. Radiation from Japan shows up in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, Fiji, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea). “To date, more than 35 radionuclide stations that are part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) have provided information on the spread of radioactive particles and noble gases from the Fukushima accident.”
[A history of the global dispersal of radiation from the Japan nuclear emergency. 12th March – 3rd April 2011]
2011 – April 13th. First time radioactive cesium found in spinach, arugala and kale in the San Francisco Bay area.
2011 – April 12th. Japanese computer models for March 14th – 16th showed very heavy emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium. This month old assessment resulted in an upgrade of the nuclear disaster to Level 7 on 12th April 2011. Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission said that the government delayed issuing data on the extent of the radiation releases.
2011 – April 12th. Elevated levels of radiation found in Ontario
2011 – April 12th. “It’s been a month since the 9.0 Earthquake, tsunami, and the first of a series of explosions at the Daiichi reactors. Since that time, Japan has received 980 earthquakes and aftershocks: a number so staggering that it is almost incomprehensible. Numerous explosions have occurred as well, and every day it seems the Japanese nuclear and government official reveal a little more about the true nature of the on-going tragedy at Fukushima.”
2011 – April 12th. "The troubled nuclear plant… is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable,” according to a confidential NRC assessment.
2011 – April 12th. Radioactive Seaweed Detected In Puget Sound
2011 – April 12th. Secret weapons program inside Fukushima nuclear power plant?
2011 – April 11th. Strongest radioactive cloud covers Vietnam and dispersed on April 9th and 10th.
2011 – April 11th. Reporting has ceased on the dry well radiation readings of reactor number one. Have the nuclear fuel rods breached their containment core? “Japan now appears to have an abundance of radioactive sea salt that's unfortunately caked on top of the spent fuel rods and actually preventing much more water from reaching those rods. In a sense, spraying salt water on spent nuclear fuel rods is sort of like spraying them with a slow-acting insulation. It's only a matter of time, it seems, before that insulation make it impossible for water to keep the rods below meltdown temperatures.”
2011 – April 11th. Fukushima radiation taints US milk supplies at levels 300% higher than EPA maximums (figures from 2 weeks ago) + What’s wrong with the ‘science’ being used by the EPA.
2011 – April 11th. Meanwhile, a French Research Body On Radioactivity (CRIIRAD ) has broken stride with the corporate controlled media/experts and released a stern warning: “The risks associated with iodine-131 contamination in Europe are no longer “negligible.” Pregnant women and infants are advised against drinking fresh milk and eating vegetables with large leaves.
2011 – April 11th. Breaking News: New Quake Hits Japan, Fire At Fukushima Nuclear Reactor #4 Follows
2011 – April 11th. Extremely high levels of radiation in Japan. University researchers challenge official data.
2011 – April 11th. Russia to send back radioactive cars from Japan
2011 – April 11th. Yukio Edano: “"There are some places where cumulative levels of radiation are increasing depending on climate and geographical conditions, even outside of the 20-kilometre radius circle,". Japan added to the 20 kilometre evacuation zone … on Monday, as a powerful aftershock rattled the nation a month after its biggest recorded earthquake wrought devastation. The move to restricts pockets (only) beyond the current 20-kilometre evacuation area.” + The high priests of this kind of world tell us not to worry as they raise the limits of what is considered “safe” as they did in Japan—the water is now “safe” to drink in Tokyo because they moved the goal posts and raised the limits of what is “safe.” + “, the Japanese authorities have found that the areas beyond 20 km radius could be exposed to over 20mSv during the course of the next one year, approximately until next March…” 139
50 millisieverts (50,000 microsieverts) is the safety standard for evacuation. It assumes emissions are temporary. “We are discussing how best to issue evacuation orders based on data and standards for accumulative radiation.”

7 comments:

Barkley Rosser said...

And so far not a single person dead due to the radiation leaks. However, all these stories have changed public opinion in the US so that now a majority of the population does not want to build any more nuclear reactors. We will do natural gas and coal instead, with thousands more dead per year as a result.

Hope you are happy with that one, Brenda, which raises the question as to what is really the worst result of this disaster in Japan (and it is a disaster).

Myrtle Blackwood said...

Re: "so far not a single person dead due to the radiation leaks"

How can this statement be verified, Barkley? How is the Japanese government monitoring and deciphering all of the causes of death post March 11th? How can the public know what the true state of events is when the Government is (and has been) involved in extraordinary levels of censorship from day one one ??

People flying from Japan to other countries have been getting off the plane and going straight to hospital with radiation sickness. This began to occur since the first day of Fukushima's massive explosions. The official statements are that a person has to be exposed to 1,000 millisieverts of radiation before such a thing happens. 1,000 millisieverts is 1000 times a thousand microsieverts. With 1-3 microsieverts apparently representing normal background radiation in a year. So, for the passengers to alight in China from Japan with radiation illness suggests exposure to a million-fold increase in radiation in one or two days.

Even the 'science' presented to the public is extremely questionable. 'Normal' background radiation does not include plutonium, for example. [A speck of plutonium in the lungs, then what?]

I sincerely hope that individuals and businesses will do as much as they possibly can to avoid the use of fossil fuels. There is no hope there either.

Myrtle Blackwood said...

Correction: "suggests exposure to a million-fold increase in radiation in one or two days."

Should have read "suggests exposure to a million-fold increase in radiation - for the ENTIRE YEAR - in one or two days."

ajsutter said...

[Apologies if this is repetitive: I've tried to leave roughly this comment, without apparent success:]
"People flying from Japan to other countries have been getting off the plane and going straight to hospital with radiation sickness": Where are you getting your information? I have been here in Tokyo continuously since the March 11 quake. I'm not sick, my wife isn't sick and nobody we know is sick, or has mentioned that anyone *they* know is sick -- including our family members who live in Touhoku. My sister-in-law, an MD-PhD clinician who has been dispatched to the areas affected by the Fukushima plant and the tsunami, hasn't mentioned anything about radiation sickness. Present your sources, please.

Myrtle Blackwood said...

Reports of radiation sickness:

Customs officials said that no aircraft entering the U.S. has tested positive for harmful levels of radiation. Travelers who show signs of radiation sickness are being referred to health authorities for proper treatment...

“Radiation From Japan Detected At O’Hare Airport,” posted on CBS Chicago’s news site
As quoted by 'Voice of Reason' :
March 17, 2011 at 3:16 pm
At:
Pentagon Cover-up of Data on Fukushima Disaster
Kurt Nimmo, Infowars.com, March 17, 2011
http://www.infowars.com/pentagon-cover-up-of-data-on-fukushima-disaster/

I believe there were other (similar) reports that came through. I will attempt to find them as time permits.

Myrtle Blackwood said...

"Two Japanese travellers have been hospitalised in China with “severe” radiation levels after they arrived on a commercial airliner from Tokyo, China’s safety watchdog said..."

China detects 10 cases of radiation, 2 People Hospitalized With Severe Radiation Poisoning. 3rd April 2011.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/04/03/china-detects-10-cases-radiation-2-people-hospitalized-sever-radiation-poisoning-13515/

ajsutter said...

Thanks for the sources. However, neither reference mentions that people actually had radiation sickness. The first one describes a policy for people showing symptoms. The second mentions that China had sequestered 2 travelers with elevated radiation *levels* -- not symptoms of poisoning. I just spent the last week in Touhoku, including visiting areas much closer to the Fukushima plant than Tokyo. No evidence of anyone having become ill from radiation. The human tragedy from the tsunami, on the other hand, and from the forced evacuation as a result of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, are far beyond what one can imagine from television.