November 9, 2014
By carol wolman, MD
World attention needs to focus on Fukushima Daiichi. It's more threatening to the biosphere than climate change, Ebola, or the Republicans. TEPCO is making progress on the spent fuel pools, and is addressing the groundwater contamination, but the radioactive site remains out of control. International intervention is needed. Please sign and disseminate the two petitions.
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http://www.thepetitionsite.com/352/112/859/radioactive-tokyo-resign-as-host-of-2020-olympics/
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/STOP_FUKUSHIMA_RADIATION_UN_ACTION_NEEDED/
Dear Friends,
The good news is that TEPCO is making progress on cleaning up the site at Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear reactors wrecked by the earthquake/tsunami of March 2011. The first three links below give some details- most noteworthy is that the appallingly precarious fuel pool atop unstable reactor 4 has been emptied of used fuel rods, on schedule. This is a huge relief. The next two articles speak of technologies that have not yet been applied, but seem hopeful.
The bad news falls into several categories.
1) The site itself is far from under control. No one knows where the melted cores of reactors 1, 2, and 3 are located. What's clear is that they have burned through their containers, and are in immediate contact with groundwater. This water is now heavily contaminated with radioactive isotopes, including plutonium, strontium 90, and other life-threatening elements. It flows freely into the ocean and connects with nearby aquifers that supply drinking water to northern Japan, including Tokyo. The recent typhoons made this problem worse, and the site is in a high earthquake and typhoon zone, so will continue to be damaged by nature.
2) Japan continues to suppress information about health consequences and spread of radiation. The new secrecy law, which gives steep penalties for breaches of national security- undefined, but including information about Fukushima- hasn't gone into effect yet- this happens next month. It's scary to think of what will happen to brave Japanese doctors and journalist who speak out once it's implemented.
3) The creatures of the Pacific ocean are sick or missing altogether- radiation from Fukushima must play a major role. If life in the oceans dies, what happens to life on dry land?
TEPCO's efforts are laudable, but inadequate. International resources must be mobilized to stop the flood of radiation issuing daily from Fukushima Daiichi. Please sign and spread these two petitions:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/352/112/859/radioactive-tokyo-resign-as-host-of-2020-olympics/
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/STOP_FUKUSHIMA_RADIATION_UN_ACTION_NEEDED/
Peace, Carol Wolman, MD
GOOD NEWS
http://www.tcetoday.com/latest news/2014/november/kurion begins test to treat fukushima tritium.aspx#.VF4-IWc0-3O
http://rt.com/news/202367-fukushima-spent-fuel-removed/
The first of four sets of spent nuclear fuel rods has been removed from a damaged reactor building at Japan's Fukushima power plant, scoring a major success in an effort to dismantle the quake and tsunami-wrecked facility.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141103005379/en/Kurion-Selected-Japan's-Ministry-Economy-Trade-Industry#.VF9wh2c0-3M
November 03, 2014 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time IRVINE, Calif. & TOKYO & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kurion, Inc., an innovator in nuclear and hazardous waste management, announced that it received a grant of one billion Japanese Yen (approximately 10 million USD) from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to demonstrate the company's cost-effective tritium-removal technology for possible deployment at Fukushima. (This is significant, because until now, TEPCO has not even attempted to remove tritium from the wastewater.)
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201411080026
UOZU, Toyama Prefecture--A machinery maker here has developed a "crawling" robot capable of penetrating hard-to-reach areas for decontamination work at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. (no mention of its ability to withstand radiation or heat).
BAD NEWS
1) SITE PROBLEMS
http://enenews.com/senior-scientist-fukushima-reactor-cores-burned-containment-vessels-pretty-close-approximation-china-syndrome-scenario-material-ended-below-reactor-structures-mixing-groundwater-essentially-mach
Nuclear Expert: Fukushima is a pretty close approximation of The China Syndrome; Melted fuel cores burned through containment vessels and material is below reactor structures mixing with groundwater. Essentially it' s a machine that's washing radioactivity into the sea.
http://enenews.com/radiation-levels-surge-fukushima-plant-100000-previous-record-high-tv-officials-dont-typhoon-be-blame-video
[TEPCO] says it has found high levels of radioactive cesium in groundwater in the compound. Officials at TEPCO say a recent typhoon may be the cause. TEPCO officials say water taken on Wednesday from a well had 460,000 becquerels of cesium per liter (Bq/l). another well contained 424,000 becquerels. Officials say those levels are 800 to 900 times the previous peak. The wells are several meters west of the No. 2 reactor. The utility plans to treat the tainted groundwater and discharge it into the ocean, but local people strongly oppose the plan.
http://enenews.com/tv-officials-extremely-high-radiation-levels-will-keep-pouring-fukushima-problem-be-fundamentally-solved-gundersen-plutonium-leaking-groundwater-essentially-pieces-nuclear-fuel-parts-plant-overflow
These typhoons come along and dump 10 inches of rain in a very short time. In addition to the 300 tons [a day] that s normally leaking, now there s a lot more. All of the trenches that connect different parts of the plant are now overflowing and leaking into the ground. The plant is continuing to bleed directly into the Pacific, day in and day out. Whenever you get an excessive rainfall, essentially it pops an artery and flows even more 100s of tons into the Pacific. It 's not a problem that s going to go away. Fukushima is so radioactive; no one has gotten near [the reactor cores] yet. We don' t even know where the nuclear reactor core is, " let alone try and stop it leaking into the groundwater. It s a real mess.. It s not just cesium, cesium is bad enough. but because the nuclear cores melted down, what we' ve got now is strontium, which is a really bad chemical " it s a bone seeker that causes all sorts of cancers " but also plutonium. The nuclear reactor has breached and we re getting plutonium in the groundwater. essentially pieces of the nuclear fuel. the reactor has been breached and the reactor containment has been breached. Most of that breach is in the form of liquid radiation leaking out.
http://enenews.com/watch-international-experts-confront-japanese-scientist-iaea-fukushima-reactors-be-active-long-after-nuclear-fuel-melted-completely-change-picture-about-happened-very-surprised-about-extremel
International Expert #2: The basic question is the following: several weeks after Chernobyl it was crystal clear there were no more releases of Iodine. If that i s not crystal clear at Fukushima, this means several weeks or months after the accident there were fission reactions. That is the question. This question was presented, as my colleague said, at several meetings of the IAEA and that was never made clear? That is an important question because it would change the composition of the releases.
http://enenews.com/experts-warn-volcano-destroying-japan-time-making-country-extinct-millions-buried-lava-hours-risk-eruptions-increased-311-quake-nuclear-plants-be-devastated-continue-spread-radioactive-materi
Experts warn of volcano destroying Japan at any moment, causing nation' s extinction. Millions buried by lava in minutes, hopeless for 120,000,000 people Reactors would be devastated and spread nuclear waste worldwide. Gov t: Volcano near nuke plant is shaking, tremor 7 minutes long. Stay away " Increased eruption risk due to 3/11 quake
http://nuclear-news.net/2014/10/30/fuel-removal-from-fukushima-reactor-to-be-delayed/
The Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company are to revise the timetable for decommissioning the No.1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
2) JAPANESE SECRECY AND COVERUP
http://enenews.com/frightening-doctors-being-threatened-telling-patients-illnesses-related-fukushima-radiation-strange-tumors-kids-dying-pets-dying-higher-incidences-range-health-problems-being-reported-experts
Much higher incidences of a whole range of illnesses than they had in 2010, the year before the accident. We're also working with doctors in Japan, and some brave doctors are saying that they've been threatened, that their hospital rights have been threatened. if you tell your patient this illness is radiation related you' ll lose your right to practice and things like that. So there' s enormous pressure on the medical community to tell the patients that what they' re experiencing is not at all related to radiation.
http://nuclear-news.net/2014/10/30/tepco-covered-up-the-truth-about-fukushima-disaster/
Journalist Jun Hori has quit NHK, the Japanese state broadcaster saying that his network restricted what he could say about the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and moved more slowly than others to report how far the radiation was spreading.
http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/japans-state-secret-law-unmolested/
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided on Tuesday to approve the guidelines for the state secrecy law, which was passed last December. The law, which will take effect on December 10, allows the government to designate information as a state secret under four broad categories: foreign affairs, defense, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. The law is controversial among Japanese media and civil society, although perhaps not as much as the Cabinet' s decision to reinterpret the Constitution' s stance on collective self-defense. However, it is yet another example of legislation that the ruling LDP has managed to carry through the Diet relatively uncontested, as Japan' s opposition parties remain weak, fractured, and hopelessly outnumbered.
3) IMPACT ON THE PACIFIC
http://enenews.com/sailor-fukushima-impact-dead-thousands-miles-pacific-ocean-between-japan-talking-about-makes-feel-like-cry-birds-fish-sharks-dolphins-turtles-theyre-all-gone-audio
Authors Website: http://www.paracove.com
Authors Bio:
Carol S. Wolman, MD is a psychiatrist in Northern California. A lifelong peace activist, she is helping to distribute a Peace Plan for the Holy Land- email her for a copy. She also a film producer with Paradise Cove Productions, currently producing HOTEL REFINEMENT- a feature film noir with a subtheme about torture, Guantanamo, and killing Arabs.