An open letter to TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu (by Jim Stone) ……
An open letter to Tepco President, Masataka Shimizu
I apologize for not being able to speak your language; pehaps you speak mine.
Illusions can own us, and the truth can free us. I believe right from the beginning that you believed you were telling the truth, because you were speaking from within the realm of what is technically possible. No doubt you had your nuclear engineers advising you as to what was technically possible at Fukushima Diiachi. They were right.
When I heard of the type of apology you made, it hit my heart, and accelerated my search for the truth. At present I believe you are a victim of misinformation with regard to what really happened at Fukushima Diiachi. As far as your responsibility for what happened there, advisors within your company are probably right. There was no way this could have happened.
The disaster is exponentially worse than anything you know of, because you are still entrapped within the mindset of what is technically possible. But let me introduce a new perspective, which goes beyond the technical.
What if it was sabotage? What if an enemy nation triggered the earthquake and tsunami with a nuclear weapon in the deepest part of the ocean off the coast of Japan? What if people you trusted from outside your nation sabotaged the control systems with a virus, and over the year they were there, managed to rig the place with explosives, one of them nuclear? Does this not make more sense? Why was reactor 4 destroyed by an explosion? I have verified that you were truthful about reactor 4, it really was disassembled.
Do you realize that the people you trusted with the security of your facility maintained an internet datalink into the containment of reactor 3 until that massive explosion, and have actually told the Israeli press? Did you tell them they could have one, or are you still unaware?
The only thing that makes sense with how much went wrong is that the destruction was precisely managed from start to finish. It positively could not have been worse. That alone is suspicious. Reactor 3 is missing. Your employees may not think so, because the control room is still telling them it is there.
I have a question.
What if those people you trusted with security are still using that data connection to fool the instrumentation readouts? Think about that.
My heart goes out to the Fukushima 50. Indeed they do not know how bad this is. How hopeless this is, how damning this is.
I will never believe as long as I live that this incident was the fault of you, your employees, or the Japanese people. You did the honorable thing and apologized even in the face of the unknown, I know you have laid awake at night thinking and questioning over and over and over if this is real; honor is a top priority of Japanese culture, and this is all so impossible.
It was an act of war. Why did the containment of reactor 4 explode? How did hydrogen gas mixed with air atomize concrete? Atomizing concrete requires intense and focused explosive force, a force which cannot be achieved with an open air gaseous mix. Look for other answers. Trust your security to no one other than your own people. Never underestimate the evil other cultures are capable of. Don’t go through your life in a state of self blame.
I spent two years investigating the culture that did this to you, with the intention of being one of them. Two years with an inside perspective. I attended over a hundred meetings, read a lot of their literature, and after concluding that it is a culture capable of ANY type of evil, I left them. Consider that.
Your people have suffered an injury from their attack which I believe over time will prove itself to be the worst your nation has ever experienced. My heart goes out to the Japanese people, and I encourage them to look outward, not inward, for the answer to what happened at Fukushima.
I stand with you,
Jim Stone.
some of the evidence here :
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Fukushima : Unit 3 MOX likely melted through ……………
http://search.japantimes.co.jp
Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011
MOX fuel that was believed to have been kept cool at the bottom of one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant after its core melted is believed to have breached the vessel after melting again, a study said Monday.
The study by Fumiya Tanabe, an expert in nuclear safety, said most of reactor 3′s mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel may have dribbled into the containment vessel underneath, and if so, the current method being used to cool the reactor will have to be rethought. This could force Tokyo Electric Power Co. to revise its schedule for containing the five-month-old disaster.
Tepco earlier said that the cores of reactors 1 to 3 are assumed to have suffered meltdowns, although the melted fuel was believed to have been kept at cool enough to solidify at the bottom of each pressure vessel after water was injected.
After analyzing data made public by Tepco, Tanabe argues it became difficult to inject coolant water into the pressure vessel after the pressure rose early March 21. He says the fuel at the bottom overheated and melted again over a four-day period.
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Gundersen On Nuclear Fallout Cover Up: Time To Stop Minimizing Information And Start Minimizing Radiation Exposure ………….
http://dprogram.net
July 21st, 2011
(HigginsBlog) – Arnie Gunderson says it is time for to stop minimizing information and start minimizing radiation exposure in the wake of Japan’s radioactive beef scandal which is being blamed on “Black Rain”.
As I previously reported Japan has finally issued a ban on radioactive beef after allowing it to be shipped all over the country and to be sold on store shelves.
Japan Issues Belated Ban On Radioactive Fukushima Beef After Allowing To Be Sold In Stores
After Highly Radioactive Beef Was Detected Over A Week Ago, The Shipped All Over The Country And Sold In Supermarkets All Over The Country, Japan Finally Issues A Ban On Radioactive Fukushima Beef.
As I previously reported, beef in Japan has been detected with high levels of radioactivity.
But that didn’t stop Japanese officials from lying to the public about the threats of the radiation risks and continuing their mind control campaigns to control the masses, such as forcing school children to clean radioactive dirt from swimming pools and telling the public if they keep smiling radiation will not affect them.
Even after it made international news headlines that companies had detected high levels of radiation in their beef the government pretended like nothing was happening and allow radioactive beef to be shipped all over the nation and sold to unsuspecting consumers on store shelves.
Apparently, the government didn’t think the public would find out.
Finally after radiation was in beef on store shelves hundreds of miles away and consumers have eaten it all week, Japan has issued a belated order to ban the sale of all Fukushima beef.
EX-SKF gives us the latest updates on the Japan beef scandal pointing out radioactive beef was sold on Japanese bullet trains after consuming radioactive rice. The highest level of radioactive cesium in the rice hay was found in Motomiya City in Fukushima Prefecture, and it was 690,000 becquerels/kg. Motomiya City is located about 57 kilometers west of Fukushima I Nuke Plant.
In another post it is pointed out 1,458 meat cows possibly contaminated from radioactive rice have already been sold and hundreds of children from multiple schools were fed radioactive beef.
Now nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen is chiming in the scandal and discusses the officials explanation for the spread of radioactive beef across the country.
He says it is time for government officials to stop minimizing the information being released to the public about the disaster and to start minimizing the radiation exposure.
Ex Japanese Nuclear Regulator Blames Radioactive Animal Feed on “Black Rain” from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Ex Japanese Nuclear Regulator Blames Radioactive Animal Feed on “Black Rain” from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
While many radioactive cattle have been discovered large distances from Fukushima, what is more important is where their feed is coming from. “It’s not only about the radioactive cattle in Fukushima Prefecture; its also about the radioactive straw the cattle eat that was grown elsewhere”. Straw found 45 miles from Fukushima is highly contaminated with radioactive cesium, which is an indication that radiation has contaminated large portions of Northern Japan. More than half a million disintegrations per second in a kilogram of straw are comparable to Chernobyl levels. This proves that the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission was correct when it told Americans to evacuate beyond 50 miles and that the Japanese should have done the same. An Ex-Secretariat of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission blames this contamination on “Black Rain”. Rather than minimize the information the Japanese people receive, Gundersen suggests minimizing their radiation exposure.
Source: Higgins Blog
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Is Fukushima Act Of War Or Accident – Jim Stone Feet 2 Fire
i posted this a while ago …. lol .
Benjamin Fulford: TSUNAMI ATTACK ON JAPAN PLANNED
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Land around Fukushima now resembles target struck by atomic bomb
http://www.infowars.com
Mike Adams
NaturalNews
May 31, 2011
It is nothing short of astonishing that the nuclear catastrophe we’ve all been told was “no big deal” has now escalated into the worst nuclear disaster in the history of human civilization. It’s so bad now that soil samples taken from outside the 12-mile exclusion zone (the zone considered safe enough by the Japanese government for schoolchildren to attend school there) are higher than the 1.48 million becquerels a square meter limit that triggered evacuations outside Chernobyl in 1986.
In other words, the radiation level of the soil 12 miles from Fukushima is now higher than the levels considered too dangerous to live in near Chernobyl. This is all coming out in a new research report authored by Tomio Kawata, a fellow at the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan. That same report also reveals that radiation from Fukushima has spread over 230 square miles.
What we’re facing here, folks, is a Fukushima dead zone where life will never return to its pre-Fukushima norms.
Radiation levels similar to nuclear bomb test site
Bloomberg is now reporting, “Tetsuya Terasawa said the radiation levels are in line with those found after a nuclear bomb test, which disperses plutonium. He declined to comment further.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-…)
One soil sample taking 25 kilometers away from Fukushima showed Cesium-137 exceeding 5 million becquerels per square meter. This level, of course, makes it uninhabitable by humans, yet both the Japanese and U.S. governments continue to downplay the whole event, assuring their sheeple that there’s nothing to worry about. By their logic, since all the people are sheeple anyway, as long as the area is safe enough for sheep, it’s also safe enough for the human population.
Both Japan and the U.S. have made huge efforts to raise the limits of allowed radiation exposure in foods and beverages. This was, of course, a deceitful tactic to try to reclassify radiation contamination as somehow magically being “safe” by redefining it.
The outright lying and tactics of deception that have been used to try to downplay the severity of the radioactive fallout from Fukushima are nothing less than despicable. In a time when radiation threatens the safety and food supply of hundreds of millions of people, we are getting nothing but a Fukushima whitewash.
Fukushima is now far worse than Chernobyl ever was and yet we’re all being told it’s no problem and that the government has it all under control. I ask: How is 5 million becquerels per square meter not a problem? It’s amazing that we even got this information, considering how frequently TEPCO claims its sensors and meters aren’t working (basically any time they get a reading that’s “too high”).
The Japanese government can’t wait to corral the sheeple back onto the radioactive soil, by the way. “Basically, the way in which the current zones have been drawn up aren’t a concern in terms of the impact on health,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. “Using Mr. Kawata’s report as a guide, we want to do what we can to improve the soil, so people can return as soon as possible.” (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-…)
Stock up with Fresh Food that lasts with eFoodsDirect (Ad)
Barely two weeks ago, TEPCO finally admitted Fukushima suffered multiple core meltdowns in the hours following the tsunami strike (http://www.naturalnews.com/032378_n…) (http://www.naturalnews.com/032437_F…). This was the first time TEPCO openly admitted to something the alternative media had been reporting for months.
What has become perfectly clear in the reporting on Fukushima is that:
• Governments lie to the people
• Mainstream media lies to the people
• Only the alternative media was correct in reporting the severity of the core meltdowns and the release of radioactive material into the environment.
That’s why more and more people are turning away from traditional sources of (mis)information and instead relying on the alternative media to get accurate information about world events.
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Release of radioactive water made at request of U.S.: Cabinet adviser
http://search.japantimes.co.jp
SEOUL — Japanese playwright Oriza Hirata, who serves as a special adviser to the Cabinet, claimed in a recent lecture given in Seoul that the dumping of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean followed a “strong request” from the United States, a person who attended the lecture said Wednesday.
The release of the water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last month generated anxiety about the possible spread of radioactive contamination from the seaside power station.
The Japanese government had apparently given its permission for the release of the water after receiving a report from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Hirata’s remarks, made Tuesday, that the release was not carried out based on Tokyo’s independent judgment but rather on a request from Washington is likely to ignite a debate.
South Korea and other neighboring countries have protested the lack of prior notification of the discharge.
Hirata’s lecture in Seoul was titled “Earthquakes and the Revitalization of Japan.” In response to a question at the venue, he called Japan’s failure to give advance notification a communication error.
While acknowledging that the release of the water caused concern in South Korea, he said the thousands of tons of water were not highly radioactive.
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Was Fukushima a China Syndrome?
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com
Posted by Eben HarrellMonday, May 16, 2011 at 2:00 pm
The China Syndrome refers to a scenario in which a molten nuclear reactor core could could fission its way through its containment vessel, melt through the basement of the power plant and down into the earth. While a molten reactor core wouldn’t burn “all the way through to China” it could enter the soil and water table and cause huge contamination in the crops and drinking water around the power plant. It’s a nightmare scenario,the stuff of movies. And it might just have happened at Fukushima.
Last week, plant operator Tepco sent engineers in to recalibrate water level gauges in reactor number 1. They made an alarming discovery: virtually all the fuel in the core had melted down. That means that the zirconium alloy tubes that hold the uranium fuel and the fuel itself lies in a clump—either at the bottom of the pressure vessel, or in the basement below or possibly even outside the containment building. Engineers don’t know for sure, though current temperature readings suggest that fission inside the reactor core has definitely ceased for good (i.e. there will be no further melting).
Anecdotal evidence doesn’t bode well for how far the fuel melted: Tepco has been pumping thousands of tons of water onto reactor 1 to try to cool it—yet the water level in the containment vessel is too low to run an emergency cooling system. That means the water is escaping somewhere on a course cut by molten fuel–probably into the basement of the reactor building, though it’s also possible it melted through everything into the earth.
Many experts say a full-blown China syndrome is unlikely in large part because the fuel from the type of reactors at Fukushima is designed in such a way that it probably won’t sustain “recriticality” once meltdown occurs. What’s more, boron, which slows nuclear reactions, was pumped into the cooling water of the reactor after the initial accident to prevent the core from going “critical” again.
But assuming a worst case scenario hasn’t occurred, having so much highly radioactive water sloshing around the basement is going to make cleanup even more difficult. Tepco says it will come up with a new plan to stabilize the reactor by Tuesday—and their main task will be to find a way to suck up the water and store it while simultaneously ensuring the reactor core remains cool. It’s unclear how this will be achieved, but according to press reports, a giant water-storage barge – a Megafloat – has been dispatched to Fukushima as a possible storage site for contaminated water, and will arrive at the end of the month.
Tepco also said that it has started preparatory work for the construction of a cover for unit 1′s reactor building, which had its roof blown off by a hydrogen explosion on March 12. The cover is to be built as a temporary measure to prevent the release of radioactive substances until further measures can be put in place, Nature News reported.
Meanwhile, around 5,000 residents in two towns, Kawamata and Iitate, some 30 km from the power plant—well beyond the the 20 km exclusion zone–were evacuated on Monday. More evacuations are expected in the coming days as Tepco continues to struggle with the crisis. Around 3,400 cows, 31,500 pigs and 630,000 chickens will soon be slaughtered inside the Fukushima exclusion zone as feeding them has proven to be impossible.
It’s difficult to say for sure just how bad things are at the plant itself—high radioactive levels mean that engineers can’t get close to the reactor cores themselves and can only make inferences, deductions and guesses about the extent of the damage. As Alexis Madrigal of the Atlantic has pointed out, we’ve faced this uncertainty—and troubling surprises— before. Eight months after the Three Mile Island accident, “an Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientist declared, ‘Little, if any, fuel melting occurred, even though the reactor core was uncovered. The safety systems functioned reliably.’ A few years later, robotic sorties into the area revealed that half the core — not ‘little, if any’ — had melted down.”
I and TIME’s Kiev-based stringer recently published a piece for TIME from Chernobyl in Ukraine, where clean-up efforts continue a full 25 years after the accident. Whatever the end game at Fukushima, get your head around this, folks: it is going to be a huge mess for a long time yet.
Arnold Gundersen : ‘Fukushima – gross miscarriage of radiation science’
The Feds hide the truth about the japan nuclear reactor disaster with doublespeak !
Fukushima : Plutonium and Uranium (MOX) Reactor No. 3 Explosion (Video)
here the Russian TV Video
Explosions At Fukushima Were Nuclear Atomic Explosions Not Hydrogen Says Russia Today and Japanese Congressman
http://dprogram.net
(Higgins) – A few days ago ex-skf published an online translation of a Japanese congressman’s claim that the explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were not hydrogen explosion, but something much worse.
Fukushima I Nuke Plant: MP Alleges It May Not Have Been a Hydrogen Explosion on March 12(Correction: Tokuda is from Kagoshima, not from Fukushima.)
If what Takeshi Tokuda, Member of the Lower House (House of Representatives) in the Japanese Diet, says is true, the explosion that blew up the Reactor 1 building roof and side walls may not have been an hydrogen explosion as the government has insisted, but something decidedly more serious.
From his April 17 blog entry (original in Japanese):
[Tokuda is writing about his day on April 15, including a visit to Minami-Soma City, which has been designated as "planned evacuation zone". He visited the Minami Soma City General Hospital and spoke with Dr. Oikawa, and the following is what he heard from Dr. Oikawa.]
Then I heard a startling story from Dr. Oikawa.
n the first hydrogen explosion on March 12 [Reactor 1], broken pieces [of...??] and small stones [from the explosion] landed in Futaba-machi, 2 kilometers away from the Plant.
When the hospital checked the radiation level on the people who escaped from around the nuke plant after the explosion, there were more than 10 people whose radiation level exceeded 100,000 cpm [counts per minute], beyond what could be measured by the geiger counter the hospital had.
[100,000 cpm is the new level that the Japanese government set that requires decontamination. Before the Fukushima accident, the level was 6,000 cpm, and on March 12 it was still 6,000 cpm.]
It is the level that threatens the secondary radiation contamination.
However, it has never been disclosed by the government that it was such a serious situation.
Some people, without stopping by at the hospital and without knowing that they had been exposed to high radiation, may have gone home and hugged their children.
So I re-read the transcript of the press conference given by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano two hours after the explosion.
He said that there was a hydrogen explosion, but it was confirmed that the Containment Vessel was not damaged.
It was not the explosion within the Containment Vessel, therefore no large amount of radioactive materials would be released, Edano said.
In his March 13 press conference, he announced that 9 people who had evacuated from Futaba-machi by bus may have been exposed to radiation.
4 of them had the low dose of 1,800 cpm, the highest dose was 40,000 cpm, he said.
Edano also said that according to the experts there would be no serious negative effect on health as long as such matters [radioactive materials] stay on the surface.
Did the government not know about this serious situation at Minami-Soma City General Hospital where more than 10 people were found to have been exposed to high radiation levels?
If the government didn’t know, that would cast doubts on the capability of the Prime Minister’s Office to gather information, and would be problematic from the point of crisis management; if they knew but decided to suppress the information, that would be the manipulation of information by the government, almost a criminal act.
Source: EX-SKF
Due to speculative nature of the story with no indication of what was meant by “something decidedly more serious” than a hydrogen explosion and no other reports on this story I did not run, even thought “something decidedly more serious” implies a nuclear explosion.
Today, a Russia Today report stated today that there are in fact reports that the explosion was a nuclear explosion.
Russian TV Host: There are reports that one of the Fukushima explosions was not actually a gas blast but a “nuclear reaction” (VIDEO)
Busby: ‘Can’t seal Fukushima like Chernobyl — it all goes into sea’, RT, April 25, 2011:
Host:
There have been reports… that one of the explosions at Fukushima was not actually a gas blast… but a nuclear reaction in one of the reactor vessels.
Source: Energy News
As world marks the Chernobyl anniversary, many say that the world has failed to learn the lessons on nuclear safety that the tragedy provided. RT talks to Professor Christopher Busby, Scientific secretary of the European Committee on radiation risks, for a little more insight on 21st century’s most serious nuclear crisis at Fukushima.
This is particularly bad news because we have already confirmed plutonium and strontium from the nuclear plant have been raining on the US west coast since March 18th. An analysis by Lucas WhiteField Hixson of the high resolution photos of the power plant provide that the plutonium MOX fuel was ejected into the atmosphere during the explosion.
Clearly the destruction shown in the hi-res photos prove the plutonium pool was severely damaged during the explosion. It has also been confirmed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that nuclear fragments, including the deadly MOX fuel, have been shot up to 1 mile from the nuclear power plant.
These latest reports that the explosion was nuclear, and not hydrogen makes the situation much worse.
Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
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Radioactive Iodine In Phoenix Arizona Milk 1600% Above EPA Drinking Water Limits
http://www.sott.net
Japan nuclear radiation in Phoenix, Arizona milk samples show radioactive Iodine contamination levels up to 1600% above EPA drinking water limits. To make matters worse those contamination levels of radiation do not even include Caesium or other radioactive isotopes which were not even reported in the Arizona tests.
An anonymous tip points me to Phoenix Arizona Japan Nuclear Radiation tests for radioactive Iodine-131 has been detected in milks samples at levels up to 1600% above federal EPA drinking water standards. These are the highest known levels of nuclear fallout in tests to date for Iodine radiation in any milk samples.
Tip: much higher than the major news have reported.
From the PDF of the Phoenix Arizona Milk Tests for Japan Nuclear Radiation:
The Arizona Department of Agriculture and the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency routinely monitor Arizona milk supplies. Following the nuclear incident in Japan, trace amounts of Iodine 131 have been found in different samples. These types of findings are to be expected in the coming days and are far below levels of public health concern, including for infants and children. Please note that all findings at this point are far below the FDA Derived Intervention Level of 4,600 pCi/L. Iodine-131 has a very short half-life of approximately eight days, and the level detected in milk and milk products is, therefore, expected to drop relatively quickly. State officials will continue to test and closely monitor for radiation levels.
Milk Samples from the Phoenix Area
Collected Iodine-131/pCi/L % Of EPA Drinking Water Limit Error range Lower Limit of Detection 3/21/2011
3/23/2011
3/25/2011
3/25/2011
3/29/2011
3/30/2011
3/31/2011
4/01/2011
4/01/2011
4/01/2011
4/05/2011 1.8
7.1
12
2.6
LLD
48.0
8.9
19.0
44.0
22.0
9.1 n/a
236%
400%
86%
n/a
1600%
296%
633%
1466%
733%
303% +/-0.21
+/-0.36
+/-0.50
+/-0.21
n/a
+/1.4
+/-0.39
+/-2.4
+/-2.5
+/-2.1
+/- 0.43 0.66
0.66
0.66
0.48
0.66
0.48
0.48
5.3
4.0
5.0
0.64Note: U.S. Derived Intervention Level is 4,600 pCi/L for milk. LLD is Lower Limit of Detection
Note the government is still pushing the “levels of radiation” are safe misnomer by quoting the FDA limits of 4,600 pCi/L for milk. However, as I have previously noted, as has Forbes and many experts, the FDA limit is set to allow cancer in 1 in 2,200 peopleand FATALITIES FROM CANCER IN 1 OUT OF 4,400 people where the EPA drinking water limit allows for cancer fatalities for 1 in 1 million people. I have also pointed out that Iodine has a half-life of 100 days inside the body. Since we are talking about milk that is the half-life we should be discussing here, not the 8 day half-life outside of the body.
[...]
FDA tolerates a higher mortality rate.
In Hawaii, where milk from Hilo contained the highest levels seen so far, Environmental Health administrator Lynn Nakasone suggested the EPA’s standard is irrelevant to milk contamination.
“It’s like drinking two liters of water for 70 years to get (the EPA’s) limit,” Nakasone told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “So if you extrapolated to milk, you’d have to drink two liters of milk for 70 years to get that limit.”
Nakasone prefers the FDA’s standard. But here’s what Nakasone isn’t telling Hawaiians:
- The EPA’s level is calculated so that in a population of one million people, the radiation will result in no more than one additional cancer fatality.
- The FDA standard, on the other hand, accepts two extra cancer fatalities in a population of 10,000.
Why does the FDA tolerate more radiation, and more mortality, than the EPA? I posed a question Wednesday morning to FDA spokesman Siobhan Delancey, who said:
Let me check with my experts and get back to you, okay?”
[...]
In other words, the FDA’s DIL is set at the point at which a single liter of milk is so radioactive, you should take protective action.
The EPA’s MCL Goal, by contrast, is “the level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expected risk to health.”
[...]
To arrive at that level of tolerance, FDA has to accept a higher mortality rate. But why would it?
I suspect it has something to do with the cost/benefit analysis that some regulatory agencies are required to conduct when they set standards.
EPA’s mandate is to protect public health while avoiding a “significant economic impact” to industry. If EPA finds high levels of radionuclides in a municipal drinking water system, the water can be cleaned relatively cheaply. Depending on the specific contaminant, the water can be treated with reverse osmosis, activated carbon, ion exchange, or better: all three.
If FDA finds high levels of radionuclides in milk, that milk can’t go to market. That cow can’t be implemented with a treatment system. And that dairy farmer faces a significant economic impact.
So the FDA observes a much more tolerant standard, and the impact is transferred to those theoretical two people in 10,000.
Source: Forbes
As Truth Out reports:
DILs provide agencies like the FDA with guidelines – not mandates – as to when the government should take action to keep food contaminated by radioactive material out of the hands of consumers. A DIL “does not define a safe or unsafe level of exposure, but instead a level at which protective measures would be recommended to ensure that no one receives a significant dose,” according to the FDA web site.
“[DILs are] a guidance as to when an emergency action should be taken to intervene, but these are in no way to be considered safe levels,” Hirsch said.
Hirsch said that DILs are “very inflated” and meant for emergency situations like the detonation of a dirty bomb or a nuclear meltdown. DILs help officials with “triage” during an emergency.
Hirsch and other nuclear critics agree that there is no safe level of exposure to radiation, and even small doses can cause cancer, a position that is backed up by a 2005 report by the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: Truth Out
Another point to mention here is while I have previously reported levels of radiation in Hawaii milk to be 2033% above the EPA federal drinking water limit those levels were from the combined radioactive contamination of Iodine and two Caesium isotopes combined. Yes, just like wine, alcohol and vodka all contribute to blood alcohol content levels radionuclides are also combined toward the EPA limit of 4 millirems per year in drinking water.
With the Phoenix Arizona milk samples, however, we simply have levels of Iodine along being reported at up 1600% above the EPA drinking water limit. Caesium and other radioactive isotopes were not reported. We usually do see the levels of each caesium isotope to be somewhere near the levels of Iodine contamination in milk meaning in reality we are most likely looking at actual radioactivity in the Phoenix milk samples somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000% above the EPA federal drinking water limit.
If these levels are in milk alone, think about what is in the cow and the produce coming from the area. Collecting all of these different sources of radiation will add up.
Update: 5:18 PM EST April, 20th 2011
Energy news tips us off to new UCB Milk samples showing the highest levels of Cesium radiation yet in San Francisco Milk at over 13 pCi/l.
Ironically, Energy news points how UCB describes the latest milk samples:
“The store-bought milk levels of I-131, Cs-134, and Cs-137 are showing definite signs of leveling off.”
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Radioactive Fukushima Plutonium And Strontium Bombarding US West Coast Since March 18th
http://dprogram.net
April 22nd, 2011
Lucas Hixton Whitefield tips us off to the fact that the EPA has been detecting Plutonium and Strontium along the entire US West Coast since March 18th.
Submitted by Lucas Whitefiel… on Thu, 04/21/2011 – 19:09
EPA RADnet Reports Show Plutonium in US since March 18th
We found a more complete RADnet dataset for various radioactive isotopes we had previously not encountered.
[...]
Recently while searching the EPA RADnet database for radiation reports, we found a link to the main database. It included the RADNet monitoring data for many isotopes not released in the public reports.
Notice that:
- RADnet began monitoring for Plutonium from Day 1
- Plutonium was found from Alaska. to San Francisco California. and down into Guam from 03/18/2011
- Strontium was detected in the United States on 03/18/2011
- Isotopes found not released in public reports Plutonium, Strontium and Cesium
- What do the negative values mean in the results column?
Plutonium Results
Update 12:01 EST April, 22nd 2011
Here are the results for Plutonium.
All results were detected by actinides extraction chromatography as part of either the RadNet Radiation Network Alert or the Fukushima deployables.
To fit the data on the web page I have moved some redundant columns .
I removed the half-life column which the EPA results report as 24131 years for Plutonium-239 and for 87.75 years for Plutonium-238.
I have also removed the unit column as all amounts reported are pCi/m3 or picocuries per cubic meter.
| CITY | STATE | COLLECT END | RESULT DATE | ANALYTE NAME | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GUAM | GU | 3/19/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-239 | 0.000012 |
| SAIPAN | CNMI | 3/21/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-239 | 0.000009 |
| SAN FRANCISCO | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-239 | 0.0000065 |
| NOME | AK | 3/20/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-238 | 0.0000035 |
| SEATTLE | WA | 3/18/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-238 | 0.0000025 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/15/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-238 | 0.0000013 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/15/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-239 | 0.0000013 |
| SAIPAN | CNMI | 3/21/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-238 | 0 |
| SAIPAN | CNMI | 3/24/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-239 | 0 |
| NOME | AK | 3/20/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-239 | 0 |
| SEATTLE | WA | 3/18/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-239 | -0.0000013 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/15/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-239 | -0.0000015 |
| DUTCH HARBOR | AK | 3/19/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-239 | -0.0000023 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/15/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-238 | -0.000003 |
| SAN FRANCISCO | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Plutonium-238 | -0.0000037 |
| KAUAI | HI | 3/21/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-239 | -0.0000043 |
| DUTCH HARBOR | AK | 3/19/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-238 | -0.0000069 |
| SAIPAN | CNMI | 3/24/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-238 | -0.000008 |
| GUAM | GU | 3/19/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Plutonium-238 | -0.000008 |
Strontium Results
Update 1:07 EST April, 22nd 2011
Strontium-89 and 90 were detected in Environmental Matrices.
Again the half-life column has been removed to fit the data on this page. The EPA reports the half-life for the Strontium-89 is 50.55 years and the half-life for the Strontium-90 at 28.6 years.
All Strotium detections were from the RadNet Radiation Alert Network.
Agian all units reported are pCi/m3 or picocuries per cubic meter.
| CITY | STATE | COLLECT END | RESULT DATE | ANALYTE NAME | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | 0.0008 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | 0.0008 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | 0.0008 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | 0.0008 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | 0.00011 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | 0.00011 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | 0.00011 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | 0.00011 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | -0.00013 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | -0.00013 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | -0.00013 |
| RIVERSIDE | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-89 | -0.00013 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | -0.00036 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | -0.00036 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | -0.00036 |
| ANAHEIM | CA | 3/18/2011 | 3/18/2011 | Strontium-90 | -0.00036 |
Cesium Results
Update 1:29 EST April, 22nd 2011
I will be posting the cesium results in 3 seperate tables – Air, Milk and Rain so the data can be fit here.
All Cesium samples were detected using Gamma Spectrometry.
Cesium Air Result
All units for cesium air samples are pCi/m3.
| CITY | STATE | COLLECT END | RESULT DATE | ANALYTE NAME | AMOUNT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOME | AK | 3/24/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Cesium-134 | 0.144 | PCI/M3 |
| NOME | AK | 3/24/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.1261 | PCI/M3 |
| KAHUKU | HI | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.116 | PCI/M3 |
| NOME | AK | 3/24/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.115 | PCI/M3 |
| KAHUKU | HI | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-134 | 0.0929 | PCI/M3 |
| KAHUKU | HI | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.0915 | PCI/M3 |
| DUTCH HARBOR | AK | 3/22/2011 | 3/22/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.0876 | PCI/M3 |
| KAUAI | HI | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.086 | PCI/M3 |
| KAUAI | HI | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-134 | 0.0788 | PCI/M3 |
| KAUAI | HI | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.0752 | PCI/M3 |
| DUTCH HARBOR | AK | 3/22/2011 | 3/22/2011 | Cesium-134 | 0.072 | PCI/M3 |
| SAIPAN | CNMI | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-134 | 0.068 | PCI/M3 |
| DUTCH HARBOR | AK | 3/19/2011 | 3/19/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.0625 | PCI/M3 |
| BOISE | ID | 3/23/2011 | 3/23/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.0618 | PCI/M3 |
| LAS VEGAS | NV | 3/24/2011 | 3/24/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.058 | PCI/M3 |
| DUTCH HARBOR | AK | 3/22/2011 | 3/22/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.053 | PCI/M3 |
| DUTCH HARBOR | AK | 3/19/2011 | 3/19/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.053 | PCI/M3 |
| LAS VEGAS | NV | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-134 | 0.0516 | PCI/M3 |
| LAS VEGAS | NV | 3/21/2011 | 3/21/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.0477 | PCI/M3 |
Cesium Milk Results
All amounts are pCi/L.
| CITY | STATE | COLLECT END | RESULT DATE | ANALYTE NAME | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HILO | HI | 4/4/2011 | 4/4/2011 | Cesium-134 | 24.3 |
| HILO | HI | 4/4/2011 | 4/4/2011 | Cesium-137 | 19.1 |
| MONTPELIER | VT | 3/30/2011 | 3/30/2011 | Cesium-137 | 1.91 |
| RENO | NV | 4/4/2011 | 4/4/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| BUFFALO | NY | 4/1/2011 | 4/1/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| DOVER | DE | 4/1/2011 | 4/1/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| ATHENS | TN | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| CINCINNATI | OH | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| CLEVELAND | OH | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| KNOXVILLE | TN | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| PITTSBURGH | PA | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| RENO | NV | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| TRENTON | NJ | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| BALTIMORE | MD | 3/30/2011 | 3/30/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| CHARLESTON | WV | 3/30/2011 | 3/30/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| DALLAS | TX | 3/30/2011 | 3/30/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| JEFFERSON CITY | MO | 3/30/2011 | 3/30/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| LITTLE ROCK | AR | 3/30/2011 | 3/30/2011 | Cesium-137 | |
| LOUISVILLE | KY | 3/30/2011 | 3/30/2011 | Cesium-137 |
Cesium Rain
All amounts are pCi/L.
| CITY | STATE | COLLECT END | RESULT DATE | ANALYTE NAME | AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOISE | ID | 3/27/2011 | 3/27/2011 | Cesium-134 | 42 |
| BOISE | ID | 3/27/2011 | 3/27/2011 | Cesium-137 | 36.4 |
| BOISE | ID | 3/27/2011 | 3/27/2011 | Cesium-137 | 35.6 |
| BOISE | ID | 3/27/2011 | 3/27/2011 | Cesium-134 | 34.3 |
| BOISE | ID | 3/22/2011 | 3/22/2011 | Cesium-137 | 11.6 |
| BOISE | ID | 3/22/2011 | 3/22/2011 | Cesium-134 | 11.2 |
| OAK RIDGE/Y12 E | TN | 4/4/2011 | 4/4/2011 | Cesium-137 | 2.1 |
| JACKSONVILLE | FL | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-134 | 1.45 |
| SALT LAKE CITY | UT | 3/28/2011 | 3/28/2011 | Cesium-134 | 1.45 |
| OAK RIDGE/Y12 E | TN | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | 1.44 |
| OAK RIDGE/MELTON | TN | 3/28/2011 | 3/28/2011 | Cesium-137 | 1.42 |
| OAK RIDGE/MELTON | TN | 3/28/2011 | 3/28/2011 | Cesium-134 | 1.33 |
| OAK RIDGE/Y12 E | TN | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-134 | 1.28 |
| OAK RIDGE/K25 | TN | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | 1.21 |
| LANSING | MI | 4/4/2011 | 4/4/2011 | Cesium-137 | 1.15 |
| JACKSONVILLE | FL | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | 1.09 |
| SALT LAKE CITY | UT | 3/28/2011 | 3/28/2011 | Cesium-137 | 1.09 |
| OAK RIDGE/MELTON | TN | 3/31/2011 | 3/31/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.87 |
| LITTLE ROCK | AR | 3/28/2011 | 3/28/2011 | Cesium-137 | 0.6 |
I have put a Google Docs Spreadsheet of the Plutonium, Strontium, And Cesium Seperated By Air, Rain, And Milk online which is basically the tables above.
Lucas has also put a Google spreadsheet of his EPA radnet search showing where Plutonium, Strontium, and Cesium have been detected online with all of the original columns from the EPA data.
I will update this post with a more user-friendly view of the EPA result data.
In the mean time, you can get to the EPA data yourself, though it is rather confusing.
- Start here: Final step of the advanced custom EPA Radnet data search here.
- Then simply enter 3/11/2011 as the start date and today’s date as the end date.
- Scroll down click the radionuclides to include in the results, for example plutonium.
- Finally click search database to view the results or download to CSV to save the results on your PC.
Again h/t to Lucas for making the original discovery that the EPA had hidden this data from the public results they have been compiling.
Help get the Corporate media to report on this story.
Please visit this page and click spot it.
related news :
FUKUSHIMA = 2,000 Atomic Bombs
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Radiation Spreads Worlwide. The Poisoning of Mother Earth
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by Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)
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Global Research, April 13, 2011
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Nuclear power “too cheap to meter”!
On April 12, Japan’s nuclear safety agency raised the Fukushima meltdown to level 7, the highest category on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Level 7 was created expressly for the Chernobyl disaster, consisting of “a major release of radiation with a widespread health and environmental impact”. A recent study was prepared for Greenpeace Germany by international nuclear safety expert Dr. Helmut Hirsch. Dr. Hirsch’s assessment, based on data published by the French government’s radiation protection agency (IRSN) and the Austrian government’s Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) found that the total amount of unstable radionuclides Iodine-131 and Caesium-137 released between March 11 and March 23 has been so high that the Fukushima crisis already equates to three INES 7 incidents. Release of radiation from the stricken reactors has reached 10,000 teraBequerels (10,000 trillion Bequerels) per hour, measured for radioactive Iodine-131. YouTube: “President Obama: ‘We Do Not Expect Harmful Levels of Radiation to Reach the U.S.’” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpAqiGSp29c Radiation in milk in Hawaii is now at least 2,033% above Federal drinking water safety limits. The US safety limit is 3 pCi/l (picoCuries per litre). Note this is the minimum percentage found over EPA requirements. This figure is reached by adding together the Caesium-134 (800%); −137 (633%); and Iodine-131 (600%) levels found in milk. It should be noted the testing was performed on samples of organic milk. Increased radiation has been reported in the municipal drinking water of at least 14 US cities. These are not restricted to the west coast of North America but have occurred in the US midwest and east coast. Where measured, rainwater in every US state and Canadian province have elevated radioactivity. In California, Geiger counter activity has trebled, from 7.5 to 22.5 clicks per minute. Rainwater samples taken in San Francisco April 6 measured an increase of 18,100% above Federal standards and included measures of radioactive caesium and Tellurium-132. The west coast Canadian city of Vancouver ordered suspended all mobile radiation testing until further notice after levels of 10,000% safe levels of Iodine-131 were detected. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency refused to test British Columbia milk for radiation. On April 4, Japanese government also has requested the Japan Meteorological Society and Japanese universities not to release data from radiation measurement to avoid “public panic”. Rainwater samples have all demonstrated elevated concentrations of radioactive Tellurium-02, Ruthenium-04 and Technetium-04. 280 sensors to measure radiation release from atomic bomb testing were established under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996. These sensors are detecting levels equivalent to Chernobyl releases. One scientist, Gerhard Wotawa, noted, “I’ve never seen data like this in my career.” So how do we deal with disaster? Austria, Germany, Canada and Australia have banned eight episodes of Matt Groening’s US anime series, The Simpsons, dealing with nuclear crisis. The Simpsons, now in its 24th season with 480 episodes, has been one of the few outlets to show the greed of nuclear operators, grovelling toadies and a complacent public to a mainstream television audience. Meltdowns caused by jelly doughnuts! See http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Springfield_Nuclear_Power_Plant Kopp Online, Xander News and other non-English news agencies are reporting that the EU implemented a secret “emergency” order without informing the public which increases the amount of radiation permitted in food by up to 20 times previous food standards. According to EU bylaws radiation limits may be raised during a nuclear emergency to prevent food shortages. Japan itself has now restricted rice planting in soil with more than 5,000 Becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium, the first time maximum radiation levels have been set for soil anywhere. The Fukushima prefectural government announced on April 6 that rice paddies 20-30 kilometers from the nuclear plant have shown as much as 15,031 Becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium. It would appear TEPCO dumped 11,500 tons of radioactive runoff into the ocean, 100 times the permissible amount. Although the diplomatic corps was informed beforehand and the Japanese foreign minister stated the release does not violate international law, Iodine-131 was found in seawater at 7.5 million times and radioactive Caesium at 1.1 million times the legal limit. 60,000 tons of radioactive water remain. In fact, such dumping clearly violates 1972 international law, the ”Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter”. As Natural News puts it, “Fukushima has become the dirty bomb of the Pacific.” Fish in nearby waters are now being measured at 4,000% above the Codex Alimentarius limits for Iodine-131 and 447% of Caesium-137. Radioactive caesium has a half-life of 30 years. Radiation levels for the isotope are not considered “safe” for 10 to 20 times longer. The caesium released today will remain dangerous six centuries from now. When one takes into account the conveyor currents of the north Pacific, all seafood will become contaminated. Radioactive seaweed has been found in Puget Sound. Goodbye, sushi! We’re poisoning the mother of all life on Earth. The nuclear operator has offered $12 each in compensation to nearby residents. This paltry offer was refused. Economists at Tyler Durden has reported an inevitable economic collapse for Japan following a plunge from 52.9 to 46.4 in private mortgage insurance. However, what we’re seeing, according to the American NGO Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is the application of new standards which will drastically raise the levels of radiation allowed in food, water, air and the general environment. Access to internal US Environmental Protection Agency communications has revealed a 1,000% increase for exposure to Strontium-90; a 3,000-100,000% rise for Iodine-131; a 25,000% rise for Nickel-63 in drinking water. Any radiation has no safety threshold for human exposure and the EPA’s own numbers state that 25% of people exposed to these “new acceptable levels” would develop cancers. The EPA is not required to make its deliberation public or debated by Congress; all that is required to make this Federal regulation is simple publication of the changes in the US government gazette, the Federal Register. http://www.collapsenet.com/free-resources/collapsenet-public-access/item/723-fallout This is being accomplished, of course, to protect the nuclear lobby and its stakeholders from threats to its financial health. In addition to cancers, any radiation exposure correlates to an increase in immune system disorders. Thyroid diseases, diabetes, asthma, AIDS, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, myalgic encephalomyelitis and a huge spectrum of non-specific neurological conditions are expected in the human population. Radioactive iodine attacks thyroid function while radioactive caesium mimics potassium uptake. The ‘Petkau effect’ for ingestion of beta and alpha particles, discovered by Atomic Energy of Canada scientist Dr. Abram Petkau in 1972, draws ominous conclusions for human exposure. Dr. Petkau found that lower doses of ionising radiation are actually more efficient at disrupting human cell activity. Uranium-234, previously unreported, has been detected in Hawaii, southern California and Seattle. This is likely to be a product of the alpha decay of the Plutonium-238 found in the Fukushima reactors but Plutonium-238, −239 and −240 have already been released into the atmosphere at Fukushima. Uranium-234 has a half-life 245,500 years, which means that radioactivity will be detectable for half a million years. There will certainly be no people to measure it! South Korea closed 130 schools starting April 7 due to radioactive rain at levels only 1/10 of California’s. A further Richter 7.1 aftershock on April 8 in Japan, the largest since the March 11 9.0 earthquake, negatively affected at least a further five Japanese nuclear power facilities to varying degrees but some with loss of power. Will Japan become a new Atlantis? International shipping has also already been affected with many shipping lines avoiding Japan to prevent radioactive contamination. However, further reports indicate that some irradiated ships have been found in European ports. Japanese cars imported into Russia have been found to have high levels of radiation. Some scientists have already declared northern Japan, including Tokyo, uninhabitable and recommended its evacuation. Radiation in Tokyo has been doubling every day since March 11. Video report: http://vimeo.com/22003275 and http://vimeo.com/22003021. Evacuated to where, exactly? On March 15, Germany bowed to enormous public protest and announced it will continue to phase out nuclear power and shut down, temporarily, seven of its oldest reactors. However, the final shutdown is not planned until 2020. On April 12, China announced it was suspending all nuclear construction for 20 months, until December 2012. China had been expected to become the world’s largest user of nuclear power, supporting 40% of new development. Thank you but this is both too little and, obviously, too late. Nuclear power must be legislated out of existence now or the robber barons and their politician friends will just be waiting until we get lazy and forget. |
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| Global Research Articles by Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)
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Inside report from Fukushima nuclear reactor evacuation zone
found on : http://www.theintelligence.de
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Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More US Cities, Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk
http://www.commondreams.org
Radiation from Japan has been detected in drinking water in 13 more American cities, and cesium-137 has been found in American milk—in Montpelier, Vermont—for the first time since the Japan nuclear disaster began, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency late Friday.
Radiation has reached the EPA’s maximum contaminant level in some milk samples (Royalty-free image collection via flickr) Milk samples from Phoenix and Los Angeles contained iodine-131 at levels roughly equal to the maximum contaminant level permitted by EPA, the data shows. The Phoenix sample contained 3.2 picoCuries per liter of iodine-131. The Los Angeles sample contained 2.9. The EPA maximum contaminant level is 3.0, but this is a conservative standard designed to minimize exposure over a lifetime, so EPA does not consider these levels to pose a health threat.
The cesium-137 found in milk in Vermont is the first cesium detected in milk since the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear accident occurred last month. The sample contained 1.9 picoCuries per liter of cesium-137, which falls under the same 3.0 standard.
Radioactive isotopes accumulate in milk after they spread through the atmosphere, fall to earth in rain or dust, and settle on vegetation, where they are ingested by grazing cattle. Iodine-131 is known to accumulate in the thyroid gland, where it can cause cancer and other thyroid diseases. Cesium-137 accumulates in the body’s soft tissues, where it increases risk of cancer, according to EPA.
Airborne contamination continues to cross the western states, the new data shows, and Boise has seen the highest concentrations of radioactive isotopes in rain so far.
A rainwater sample collected in Boise on March 27 contained 390 picocures per liter of iodine-131, plus 41 of cesium-134 and 36 of cesium-137. EPA released this result for the first time yesterday. Typically several days pass between sample collection and data release because of the time required to collect, transport and analyze the samples.
In most of the data released Friday the levels of contaminants detected are far below the standards observed by EPA and other U.S. agencies.
But the EPA drinking-water data includes one outlier—an unusually, but not dangerously, high reading in a drinking water sample from Chatanooga, Tennessee.
The sample was collected at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah nuclear plant. A Tennessee official told the Chatanooga Times last week that radiation from Japan had been detected at Sequoyah but is “1,000 to 10,000 times below any levels of concern.” The 1.6 picocures per liter reported by the EPA on Friday is slightly more than half the maximum contaminant level permitted in drinking water, but more uniquely, it is many times higher than all the other drinking water samples collected in the U.S.
[UPDATE: EPA released new data Saturday revealing higher levels than reported here in Little Rock milk and Philadelphia drinking water]
The EPA released this new data through a new interactive open-data system it quietly launched on the EPA website Wednesday. The new interface is to be regularly updated, replacing EPA’s periodic news releases and pdf data charts. Here are more details of the data released Friday:
Drinking Water
Radioactive Iodine-131 was found in drinking water samples from 13 cities. Those cities are listed below, with the amount of Iodine-131 in picocuries per liter. The EPA’s maximum contaminant level for Iodine-131 in drinking water is 3 picocuries per liter.
- Oak Ridge, TN collected 3/28: 0.63
- Oak Ridge, TN collected at three sites 3/29: 0.28, 0.20, 0.18
- Chatanooga, TN collected 3/28: 1.6
- Helena, MT collected 3/28: 0.18
- Columbia, PA collected 3/29: 0.20
- Cincinatti, OH collected 3/28: 0.13
- Pittsburgh, PA collected 3/28: 0.36
- East Liverpool, OH collected 3/30: 0.42
- Painesville, OH collected 3/29: 0.43
- Denver, CO collected 3/30: 0.17
- Detroit, MI collected 3/31: 0.28
- Trenton, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
- Waretown, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
- Muscle Shoals, AL collected 3/31: 0.16
Precipitation
In the data released Friday, iodine-131 was found in rainwater samples from the following locations:
- Salt Lake City, UT collected 3/17: 8.1
- Boston, MA collected 3/22: 92
- Montgomery, Alabama collected 3/30: 3.7
- Boise, ID collected 3/27: 390
As reported above, the Boise sample also contained 42 pC/m3 of Cesium-134, and 36 of Cesium-137.
Air
In the most recent data, iodine-131 was found in air filters in the following locations. In the case of air samples, the radiation is measured in picoCuries per cubic meter.
- Montgomery, AL collected 3/31: 0.055
- Nome AK collected 3/30: 0.17
- Nome AK collected 3/29: 0.36
- Nome AK collected 3/27: 0.36
- Nome AK collected 3/26: 0.46
- Nome AK collected 3/25: 0.26
- Juneau AKcollected 3/26: 0.43
- Juneau AK collected 3/27: 0.38
- Juneau AK collected 3/30: 0.28
- Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/30: 0.14
- Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/29: 0.11
- Dutch Harbor AK colleccted 3/26: 0.21
- Boise, ID collected 3/27: 0.22
- Boise, ID collected 3/29: 0.27
- Boise, ID collected 3/28: 0.32
- Las Vegas NV collected 3/28: 0.30
- Las Vegas, NV collected 3/30:: 0.088
- Las Vegas, NV collected 3/29: 0.044
No other types of isotopes were found in the most recent data from air samples, even though EPA is also on the lookout for barium-140, cobalt-60, cesium-134, cesium-136, cesium-137, iodine-132, iodine-133, tellurium-129, and tellurium-132.
In older samples, isotopes of cesium and tellurium were found in Boise; Las Vegas; Nome and Dutch Harbor; Honolulu, Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii; Anaheim, Riverside, San Francisco, and San Bernardino, California; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida; Salt Lake City, Utah; Guam, and Saipan on the Marina Islands.
Some of these locations had not been previously reported in EPA news releases.
The EPA has said it will continue to monitor radiation levels in air, precipitation, drinking water, and milk even if the budget impasse shuts down the government next week.
There is more discussion of maximum contaminant levels and health concerns in the related links below and their associated comments:
Related Posts:
How To Remove Iodine-131 From Drinking Water
Three Sites Where You Can Monitor U.S. Radiation Levels
First US Drinking Water Samples Show Radiation from Japan
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EPA to Help Mainstream Media Obscure The Truth About Radiation Exposure to Americans
http://www.sott.net
Activist Post
As Americans focus on March Madness and Dancing With the Stars instead of the radioactive plume spreading all across the country, the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is attempting to make the mainstream media cover up of the Fukushima cloud a bit easier.
The agency now notorious for its infamous claim that the air was safe to breathe after 9/11 is now seeking to raise the PAGs (Protective Action Guides) to levels vastly higher than those at which they are currently set allowing for more radioactive contamination of the environment and the general public in the event of a radioactive disaster.
PAGs are policies established by the EPA that guide the agency in enforcing the various environmental laws such as the Clean Air and Water Act in the invent of a radioactive emergency such as a nuclear/dirty bomb or factory meltdown like that occurring in Japan.
The EPA had already established PAGs in this area in 1992. They can be found here. However, the agency now plans to amend and revise these standards this year.
Because regulatory agencies form their own policies (although they can be directed by either the President or the Congress), there is no requirement to seek Congressional approval for these changes. All that is required is that the agency place the proposed changes in the Federal Register for public comment before it finalizes its draft into legal policy.
According to PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the new standards would drastically raise the levels of radiation allowed in food, water, air, and the general environment. PEER, a national organization of local, state, and federal employees who had access to internal EPA emails, claims that the new standards will result in a “nearly 1000-fold increase for exposure to strontium-90, a 3000 to 100,000-fold hike for exposure to iodine-131; and an almost 25,000 rise for exposure to radioactive nickel-63″ in drinking water. This information, as well as the emails themselves were published by Collapsenet on March 24.
In addition to raising the level of permissible radiation in the environment, PEER suggests that the standards of cleanup after a radioactive emergency will actually be reduced. As a result, radioactive cleanup thresholds will be vastly lowered and, by default, permissible levels of radiation will be vastly increased in this manner as well.
As Michael Kane writes for Collapsenet, the current EPA numbers, as well as those generally agreed upon in the international radiation assessment community, all point to the fact that these increases in permissible levels would create a level of radiation where approximately 1 in 4 people would contract cancer from exposure to them.
The changes to the 1992 PAGs are not a new attempt by the EPA. The agency attempted similar changes in 2009 but the revisions were stopped largely by a barrage of FOIA requests and a lawsuit filed by PEER. However, in 2009 there was no massive radiation disaster the EPA needed to cover up as there is at the current time. In 2009, the EPA could afford to back off, regroup, and try again at a later date. Unfortunately, it is not likely to react the same way this time around.
As of the time of this writing, a toxic cloud of radiation has not only reached the US West Coast, but has spread all the way across the country to states like South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Massachusetts. Both the US government and the mainstream media have largely denied any risk associated with the radiation and have actively engaged in covering up the extent to which it has spread across the country.
In the event of any real journalism, the revelation of the danger and scale of the Japanese radiation cloud could be disastrous for those who hide the truth from the people who are sure to suffer the consequences. Indeed, the revelation that a toxic cloud of cancer-causing particles is littering the United States (especially in real time) might even be too much for the average television- and sports-obsessed American to handle.
However, the lowering of safety standards for radiation contamination would be a major victory for those wishing to cover it up. After all, the talking heads would then be able to claim that the radiation levels are within the safety range set by the EPA.
No cause for worry.
Regardless of the motivation behind these new changes, they must be actively opposed. We cannot allow the veil to be pulled even further over the eyes of the American people. At the very least, we cannot allow an agency charged with protecting both the environment and the people who live in it to set standards alleviating itself of that responsibility.
Dr. Michio Kaku: Reactor #3 Has Been Breached: “There Are Now Three Major Nuclear Meltdowns In Progress”
found on : http://dailybail.com
Video – ABC News – Mar. 29, 2011
Fukushima reactor number #3 has been breached.
Japan’s government says nuke plant operator made series of mistakes; radioactivity rising
By ERIC TALMADGE and MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press /source
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SENDAI, Japan (AP) — Japan’s government revealed a series of missteps by the operator of a radiation-leaking nuclear plant on Saturday, including sending workers in without protective footwear in its faltering efforts to control a monumental crisis. The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, rushed to deliver fresh water to replace corrosive salt water now being used in a desperate bid to cool the plant’s overheated reactors.
Government spokesman Yukio Edano urged Tokyo Electric Power Co. to be more transparent, two days after two workers at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi plant suffered skin burns when they stepped in water that was 10,000 times more radioactive than levels normally found near the reactors.
“We strongly urge TEPCO to provide information to the government more promptly,” Edano said.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, or NISA, said TEPCO was aware there was high radiation in the air at one of the plant’s six units several days before the accident. And the two workers injured were wearing boots that only came up to their ankles – hardly high enough to protect their legs, agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said.
“Regardless of whether there was an awareness of high radioactivity in the stagnant water, there were problems in the way work was conducted,” Nishiyama said.
NISA warned TEPCO to improve and ensure workers’ safety, and TEPCO has taken measures to that effect, Nishiyama said, without elaborating.
TEPCO spokesman Hajime Motojuku declined to comment.
The government’s admonishments came as workers at the plant struggled to stop a troubling rise in radioactivity and remove dangerously contaminated water from the facility, which has been leaking radiation since a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out the plant’s key cooling systems. Officials have been using seawater to try to cool the plant, but fears are growing that the corrosive salt in the water could further damage the machinery inside the reactor units.
TEPCO is now rushing to inject the reactors with fresh water instead, and to begin extracting the radioactive water, Nishiyama said.
Defense Minister Yoshimi Kitazawa said late Friday that the U.S. government had made “an extremely urgent” request to switch to fresh water. He said the U.S. military was sending water to nearby Onahama Bay and that water injections could begin in the next few days.
The U.S. 7th Fleet confirmed that barges loaded with 500,000 gallons of fresh water supplies were on their way.
The situation at the crippled complex remains unpredictable, Edano said Saturday, adding that it would be “a long time” until the crisis ends.
“We seem to be keeping the situation from turning worse,” he said. “But we still cannot be optimistic.”
Efforts to get the nuclear plant under control took on fresh urgency this week when nuclear safety officials said they suspected a breach in one or more of the plant’s units – possibly a crack or hole in the stainless steel chamber around a reactor core containing fuel rods or the concrete wall surrounding a pool where spent fuel rods are stored.
Such a breach could mean a much larger release of radioactive contaminants.
Radioactivity was on the rise in some units, Nishiyama said Saturday.
“It is crucial to figure out how to remove contaminated water while allowing work to continue,” he said, acknowledging that the discovery would set back delicate efforts to get the plant’s cooling system operating again.
Workers have begun pumping radioactive water from one of the units, Masateru Araki, a TEPCO spokesman, said Saturday.
Plant officials and government regulators say they don’t know the source of the radioactive water. It could have come from a leaking reactor core, connecting pipes, or a spent fuel pool. Or it may be the result of overfilling the pools with emergency cooling water.
But a breach in the chamber surrounding the reactor core seemed “more likely,” Nishiyama said.
TEPCO said late Saturday that a trace of radioactive water had leaked from the Unit 2 reactor building into a sewage line. It was not clear if the source of the water was the same as the other leakage. TEPCO said officials were investigating.
Radiation has been seeping from the plant since the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami struck more than two weeks ago. Since then, it has made its way into milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips.
Tap water in several areas of Japan, including Tokyo, has shown higher-than-normal levels of radiation. In the capital, readings were at one point two times higher than the government safety limit for infants, who are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine.
But levels have fallen steadily since peaking Wednesday, and Tokyo metropolitan officials said Saturday that tap water was safe for babies to drink.
Just outside a reactor at the coastal nuclear plant, radioactivity in seawater tested about 1,250 times higher than normal, Nishiyama said. He said the area is not a source of seafood and the contamination posed no immediate threat to human health.
However, tests conducted 18 miles (28 kilometers) offshore found radioactive iodine-131 at levels nearing the regulatory limit set by the Japanese government, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. The tests also detected another radioactive substance, cesium-137, at lower levels.
IAEA experts said the ocean will quickly dilute the worst contamination. Radioactive iodine breaks down within weeks but cesium could foul the marine environment for decades.
The nuclear crisis has added to the misery and uncertainty facing Japan in the wake of the disastrous earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese soldiers and U.S. Marines were clearing away debris so they could keep searching for bodies and bury the dead. The official death toll was 10,418 Saturday, with more than 17,000 listed as missing, police said. Those lists may overlap, but the final death toll was expected to surpass 18,000.
Overwhelmed by bodies along the coast, government officials conducted more mass burials Saturday. In Yamamoto, relatives wailed and yelled their farewells as the first 11 caskets were buried in one end of a long mass grave in a vegetable patch, with at least 400 more burials planned in the coming days.
In Higashimatsushima, soldiers lowered plywood coffins into a ditch dug at a recycling plant as freezing rain fell on mourners weeping quietly under umbrellas. Funerals in Japan are a highly formalized Buddhist ceremony, and the mass burials are yet another tragedy for the hard-hit coastal towns.
The misery has extended to the hundreds of thousands whose homes were destroyed, many of whom now sleep on crowded school gymnasium floors with few comforts. Those living within a 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius of the plant have been evacuated.
Life was also tough in the ghost towns inside a larger voluntary evacuation zone, with most residents choosing to flee and wary truckers refusing to deliver goods.
In Minamisoma, a city of 71,000 about 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of the plant, all but one or two shops shut their doors because of a lack of goods and customers, city official Sadayasu Abe said.
“Commercial trucks are simply not coming to the city at all due to radiation fears,” he said.
Military troops and some private companies took up the task of delivering rice, instant noodles, bottled water and canned foods to eight central spots in the city, Abe said.
He said the city was urging the 10,000 or so still remaining to leave since the situation at the plant remains precarious.
“Life is very difficult here,” he told The Associated Press by telephone. “We have electricity, gas and running water, but no food.”
Muneyuki Munakata, a 58-year-old firefighter who was evacuated from his home near the plant, has been living in a shelter about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of the nuclear complex for 15 days. Evacuees have plenty of instant noodles, but not enough rice or fuel for the stove, he said.
“People here are all exhausted,” he said. “We all talk about when we can go home, but I don’t know when because of uncertainty over the nuclear disaster.”
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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo, as did Associated Press writers Shino Yuasa, Kristen Gelineau, Jeff Donn, Mayumi Saito and Joji Sakurai. Jay Alabaster contributed to this report from Yamamoto.
First pictures emerge of the Fukushima Fifty as they battle radiation poisoning to save Japan’s stricken nuclear power plant
http://www.sott.net
These first images of inside the stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant reveal the terrifying conditions under which the brave men work to save their nation from full nuclear meltdown.
The Fukushima Fifty – an anonymous band of lower and mid-level managers – have battled around the clock to cool overheating reactors and spent fuel rods since the disaster on March 11.
Despite sweltering heat from the damaged reactors, they must work in protective bodysuits to protect their skin from the poisonous radioactive particles that fill the air around them.
But as more radiation seeps into the atmosphere minute by minute, they know this job will be their last.
Five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.
The original 50 brave souls were later joined by 150 colleagues and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation spewing from over-heating spent fuel rods after a series of explosions at the site. They were today joined by scores more workers.
Japan has rallied behind the workers with relatives telling of heart-breaking messages sent at the height of the crisis.
A woman said her husband continued to work while fully aware he was being bombarded with radiation. In a heartbreaking email, he told his wife: ‘Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.’
One girl tweeted in a message translated by ABC: ‘My dad went to the nuclear plant, I’ve never seen my mother cry so hard. People at the plant are struggling, sacrificing themselves to protect you. Please dad come back alive.’
But it is becoming even more pressing that the Fukushima succeed after it was revealed today that Tokyo’s tap water has been contaminated by unusual levels of radiation.
The government have issued a warning to all mothers urging them not to let babies drink the tap water.
The warning came after it emerged last night that radioactive particles have reached Europe and are heading towards Britain in the wake of the catastrophe that officials say could cost up to £190billion – making it the costliest natural disaster in history.
And fresh safety concerns arose today as black smoke was spotted emerging from Unit 3 of the plant, prompting a temporary evacuation of all workers from the complex, operators Tokyo Electric Power company said.
Tokyo Water Bureau officials said levels of radioactive iodine in some city tap water contained 210 becquerels per litre of iodine 131 – two times the recommended limit for infants.
They warned parents not to give babies tap water, although they said it is not an immediate health risk for adults.
Nearly two weeks after the twin March 11 disasters, nuclear officials were still struggling to stabilise the damaged and overheated Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which has been leaking radiation since the disasters knocked out the plant’s cooling systems.
Radiation has seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater in the areas surrounding the plant.
Meanwhile, officials in Iceland have detected ‘minuscule amounts’ of radioactive particles believed to have come from Fukushima, the site of the worst nuclear accident in 25 years.
Last night the British Government said radiation from Japan had not been detected by the UK’s network of monitoring stations set up after the 1986 Chernobyl explosion. A spokesman said any signs of radiation were not expected in the next few days.
However, France’s nuclear agency said tiny amounts were likely to arrive in the country by today.
The traces of radioactive iodine are being measured by a network of 63 monitoring stations as they spread east across the Pacific, over North America and into the North Atlantic.
Radiation from nuclear accidents and explosions is monitored by the UN’s Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation, based in Vienna.
A source said several stations had detected particles believed to have been released from Fukushima in the days after it was hit by the earthquake and tsunami.
‘Reykjavik is the first in Europe,’ the source added. The levels are about one millionth of the natural background radiation, and pose no threat to the public, experts said.
‘We are not expecting it to be detected in Britain in the next few days,’ a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.
Japanese officials said the health risk was low outside the plant, but were yesterday chastised by the International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog over a lack of information about how much radiation had been emitted.
Levels in Tokyo rose ten-fold in the days after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake earlier this month, and tiny traces have been detected in California and Washington DC.
The IAEA lacks data on the temperatures of the spent fuel pools of reactors 1, 3 and 4 at Fukushima.
It has been claimed the plant was storing more uranium than it was designed to hold, and had repeatedly missed mandatory safety checks.
The official death toll in Japan has exceeded 9,400. At least 13,200 people are still missing and 350,000 are in shelters.
Yesterday firemen connected electric cables to the plant in the hope of restarting cooling systems. Although hundreds of tons of water have been blasted into two of the damaged reactors, smoke and steam continue to pour out.
U.S. halts food imports from affected areas of Japan
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it will halt imports of dairy products and produce from the area of Japan where a nuclear reactor is leaking radiation.
The FDA says that those foods will be detained at entry and will not be sold to the public. The agency previously said it would just step up screening of those foods.
Other foods imported from Japan, including seafood, will still be sold to the public but screened first for radiation.
Japanese foods make up less than 4 percent of all U.S. imports, and the FDA has said it expects no risk to the U.S. food supply from radiation.
Germany Set to Abandon Nuclear Power for Good
http://www.commondreams.org/
BERLIN — Germany is determined to show the world how abandoning nuclear energy can be done.

In this March 18, 2011 photo, a traffic sign stands next to the nuclear power plant of Biblis, Germany. Germany stands alone among the world’s leading industrialized nations in its determination to abandon nuclear energy for good because of the technology’s inherent risk. Europe’s biggest economy is betting billions on expanding the use of renewable energies to meet its demand instead. The transition was supposed to happen slowly over the next 25 years, but now it is being accelerated in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima disaster. Chancellor Angela Merkel said the ‘catastrophe of apocalyptic dimensions’ irreversibly marks the start of a new era. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) The world’s fourth-largest economy stands alone among leading industrialized nations in its decision to stop using nuclear energy because of its inherent risks. It is betting billions on expanding the use of renewable energy to meet power demands instead.
The transition was supposed to happen slowly over the next 25 years, but is now being accelerated in the wake of Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster, which Chancellor Angela Merkel has called a “catastrophe of apocalyptic dimensions.”
Berlin’s decision to take seven of its 17 reactors offline for three months for new safety checks has provided a glimpse into how Germany might wean itself from getting nearly a quarter of its power from atomic energy to none.
And experts say Germany’s phase-out provides a good map that countries such as the United States, which use a similar amount of nuclear power, could follow. The German model would not work, however, in countries like France, which relies on nuclear energy for more than 70 percent of its power and has no intention of shifting.
“If we had the winds of Texas or the sun of California, the task here would be even easier,” said Felix Matthes of Germany’s renowned Institute for Applied Ecology. “Given the great potential in the U.S., it would be feasible there in the long run too, even though it would necessitate huge infrastructure investments.”
Nuclear power has been very unpopular in Germany ever since radioactivity from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster drifted across the country. A center-left government a decade ago penned a plan to abandon the technology for good by 2021, but Merkel’s government last year amended it to extend the plants’ lifetime by an average of 12 years. That plan was put on hold after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami compromised nuclear power plants in Japan, and is being re-evaluated as the safety of all of Germany’s nuclear reactors is being rechecked.
Germany currently gets 23 percent of its energy from nuclear power – about as much as the U.S. Its ambitious plan to shut down its reactors will require at least euro150 billion ($210 billion) investment in alternative energy sources, which experts say will likely lead to higher electricity prices.
Germany now gets 17 percent of its electricity from renewable energies, 13 percent from natural gas and more than 40 percent from coal. The Environment Ministry says in 10 years renewable energy will contribute 40 percent of the country’s overall electricity production.
The government has been vague on a total price tag for the transition, but it said last year about euro20 billion ($28 billion) a year will be needed, acknowledging that euro75 billion ($107 billion) alone will be required through 2030 to install offshore wind farms.
The president of Germany’s Renewable Energy Association, Dietmar Schuetz, said the government should create a more favorable regulatory environment to help in bringing forward some euro150 billion investment in alternative energy sources this decade by businesses and homeowners.
Last year, German investment in renewable energy topped euro26 billion ($37 billion) and secured 370,000 jobs, the government said.
After taking seven reactors off the grid last week, officials hinted the oldest of them may remain switched off for good, but assured consumers there are no worries about electricity shortages as the country is a net exporter.
“We can guarantee that the lights won’t go off in Germany,” Environment Ministry spokeswoman Christiane Schwarte said.
Most of the country’s leaders now seem determined to swiftly abolish nuclear power, possibly by 2020, and several conservative politicians, including the chancellor, have made a complete U-turn on the issue.
Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle said Wednesday “we must learn from Japan” and check the safety of the country’s reactors but also make sure viable alternatives are in place.
“It would be the wrong consequence if we turn off the safest atomic reactors in the world, and then buy electricity from less-safe reactors in foreign countries,” he told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.
But Schuetz insists that “we can replace nuclear energy even before 2020 with renewable energies, producing affordable and ecologically sound electricity.”
But someone will have to foot the bill.
“Consumers must be prepared for significantly higher electricity prices in the future,” said Wolfgang Franz, head of the government’s independent economic advisory body. Merkel last week also warned that tougher safety rules for the remaining nuclear power plants “would certainly mean that electricity gets more expensive.”
The German utilities’ BDEW lobby group said long-term price effects could not be determined until the government spells out its nuclear reduction plans. Matthes’ institute says phasing out nuclear power by 2020 is feasible by better capacity management and investment that would only lead to a price increase of 0.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
In Germany, the producers of renewable energy – be it solar panels on a homeowner’s rooftop or a farm of wind mills – are paid above-market prices to make sure their investment breaks even, financed by a 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour tax paid by all electricity customers.
For a typical German family of four who pay about euro1,000 ($1,420) a year to use about 4,500 kilowatt-hours, the tax amounts to euro157 ($223).
The tax produced euro8.2 billion ($11.7 billion) in Germany in 2010 and it is expected to top euro13.5 billion ($19.2 billion) this year. The program – which has been copied by other countries and several U.S. states such as California – is the backbone of the country’s transition toward renewable energies.
“Our ideas work. Exiting the nuclear age would also be possible in a country like the U.S.,” Schuetz said.
Another factor likely to drive up electricity prices is that relying on renewable energies requires a huge investment in the electricity grid to cope with more decentralized and less reliable sources of power. Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle just announced legislation to speed up grid construction but gave no cost estimate.
And even if non-nuclear power is more expensive, Germans seeing images daily of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear complex seem willing to pay the higher price.
Ralph Kampwirth, spokesman for Lichtblick AG, Germany’s biggest utility offering electricity exclusively from renewable sources, said since the Fukushima disaster it has been getting nearly three times more new clients than normal, up from 300 to more than 800 per day, despite prices slightly above average.
Sticking with nuclear power would also have its costs and require public funds.
The only two new nuclear reactors currently under construction in Europe, in France and in Finland, both have been plagued by long delays and seen costs virtually doubling, to around euro4 billion ($5.7 billion) and euro5.3 billion ($7.5 billion) respectively.
The disposal of spent nuclear fuel is also a costly problem, but it has no set price tag in Germany because the government has failed to find a sustainable solution.
Many decades-old reactors are highly profitable as their initial cost has been written off, but they now face higher costs as regulators push for safety upgrades in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. One of the most pressing – and costly – requirements is likely to be a mandatory upgrade to reinforce all nuclear power plants’ outer shell to withstand a crash of a commercial airliner.
Utility EnBW pulled the plug for good on one reactor temporarily shut down by the government because the new requirements made operating it “no longer economically viable.”
But even if Germany abandons nuclear energy, some of Europe’s 143 nuclear reactors will still sit right on its borders.
Since France and other nations are firmly committed to nuclear power, shutting down all reactors across Europe won’t happen, but Merkel is now pushing for common safety standards. The topic will be discussed at the European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
Merkel said the 27-nation bloc, which has standardized “the size of apples or the shape of bananas,” needs joint standards for nuclear power plants.
“Everybody in Europe would be equally affected by an accident at a nuclear power plant in Europe,” Merkel said.
Update: Fire burns at reactor 3 and food contamination concerns rise
http://www.greenpeace.org
The Fukushima/Daiichi nuclear crisis continues, marked by confusion and a lack of information and transparency. Today, our team of nuclear experts and monitors followed reports of grey smoke coming out of the spent fuel pool of the nuclear plant’s reactor 3 for at least two hours. Authorities reported that they could not identify the cause of the smoke or what was burning but assured that radiation levels had not increased. All workers were apparently evacuated from the immediate area, and as far as we can observe, work was stopped overnight. From official monitoring reports our team of experts later concluded that radiation levels around the plant did increase significantly during the fire.
While the “Faceless 50″ – the heroic workers who are risking their health to contain the crisis – made news over the weekend, it now seems that as many as 700 workers have been working close to the site in order to restore power and cooling capacity and have probably received high doses of radiation.
Reactor 3 had already caused alarm on Sunday, when the plant’s owners, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) unsuccessfully fought rising pressure inside the reactor pressure vessel. Later on Sunday, NISA made assurances that relieving pressure by venting radioactive steam and air into the atmosphere was unnecessary and would not happen, claiming that the pressure rise was due to their increased pumping of seawater into the reactor.
Later statements from TEPCO said that the temperature of reactor 3 had been very high, reaching up to 385 Celcius, indiciating very high pressure inside the reactor close to its the design pressure. The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) reported that the pressure in reactor 3 was now ‘unknown’ instead of ‘stable’ as in Sunday’s report. This hardly reassuring either.
Also on Monday, reports came of a “white smoke” pouring from the building that houses reactor 2. TEPCO said that it “believed” that the smoke was “water vapour” and “probably did not originate from the reactor itself or the spent fuel pool”. This is yet another unclear situation – very little information has been available, but will keep monitoring.
Food safety
A World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman was quoted as saying that contaminated food in Japan is a “serious situation” and that food contamination is no longer just a localised problem, as previously thought. Over the weekend, The WHO had called import screening unnecessary, saying there is no problem. Today, WHO changed its view, saying that “it’s a lot more serious than anybody thought in the early days when we thought that this kind of problem could be limited to 20 to 30 kilometers”. Japan’s government has issued orders for four prefectures to stop shipments of milk and two kinds of vegetables.
Meanwhile, radiation levels in the rest of Japan have stayed at roughly the same elevated levels as in previous days, although traces of radioactive substances have been detected in water in nine prefectures.
According to a TEPCO report, radioactive cesium and iodine many times higher than normal had been detected in seawater near the Fukushima plant. It is still too early to assess the contaminated seawater’s impact on fisheries.
Further information: To help you decipher the complex information around radiation and health we have created a radiation guide covering effects, safety and basics of the Fukushima 1 radiation releases.
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