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Fukushima

Government Incompetence: No standardized airborne radiation monitoring in Japan, radiation levels higher than officially reported

After many citizens complained of faulty radiation readings by local governments, Japan is now testing for airborne radiation at one meter (3.2 feet) high, and at more than one location per city/town.

What happened was that citizens groups were conducting radiation readings on their own (you see; never trust the government).  Their readings were much worse than many official readings by local governments.  The citizens were taking readings closer to the ground.  In Tokyo, air borne radiation readings were being taken at only one location, on top of a 19 meter (62 feet) tall building.  Many cities across Japan varied their testing height from 1.5 meters to as high as 80 meters off the ground.

Today, 15 June 2011, Japan’s science ministry started taking readings at one meter high, in 100 locations across Japan.  The results are important: Already they’ve found, in several prefectures, that radiation levels, taken at one meter in height, are twice the levels taken at higher sampling sites.

Citizen groups pointed out that air borne radiation testing should be done at a height where humans activity takes place.  Looks like the People are correct.

 

Fukushima

Plutonium in more soil samples!

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that their May soil samples are positive for plutonium-238.

The sample was taken on the compound of the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, on 30 May 2011.  The samples were taken 500 meters away from Reactor 1 building.

This follows claims by university students who found plutonium as part of a class project.

Fukushima

Radiation spreading in Japan, thanks to Mother Nature

NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) discovered, through random interviews with local officials throughout Japan, that cesium is showing up all over, thanks to rain.

22 of Japan’s 47 prefectures (states, or glorified counties) have been testing their soil.  16 found their soil is contaminated with cesium.  Some areas are as far south as Osaka, which is about 350 miles away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Local officials believe the cesium is being spread by clouds that sweep through the Fukushima area then rain on other parts of Japan.

The area with the highest cesium levels, in their soil, is Fukushima, currently at 447,000 becquerels per kilogram.  Tokyo has 55,000 becquerels.

NHK reported that Japan has no guidelines for dealing with radiation contamination in soil.

 

Fukushima

Strontium 90 in ground water & Pacific Ocean

For the first time, Tokyo Electric Power Company says strontium 90 is contaminating ground water, and the Pacific Ocean.

Water samples that were taken on 16 and 18 May, 2011, are positive for strontium.  Sample testing takes three weeks for results.

Three ocean inlets were tested on 16 May.  The lowest reading was 53 times safe limits.  The highest, 240 times, was taken at reactor 3 inlet.

Ground water samples were taken on 18 May.  The highest reading was 6,300 becquerels per liter near reactor 2.

Strontium 90 is created during nuclear fission. It has a half life of 29 years and causes bone cancer.

Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi radiation levels continue to climb, workers exposed to high levels!

Stabilization work at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been temporarily halted, once again, because of high radiation levels.

Reactor 3 began emitting levels above 100 millisieverts per hour.  The government raised the safe limit from 100 to 250 millisieverts per hour, but workers at the damaged nuke plant refused to implement the higher limit.

Tokyo Electric Power Company sent nine workers into Reactor 3 on 10 June 2011.  TEPCo said they are trying to limit workers to just 9 millisieverts per hour.  After only 20 minutes the radiation levels far exceeded the original 100 millisieverts limit!

High radiation levels have made stabilization work almost impossible.  TEPCo has acknowledged that it will take much longer to get the plant under control.

Two workers have tested positive for as much as 678 millisieverts of radiation.  The National Institute of Radiological Sciences confirmed the exposure.  The two men were in the control rooms of reactors 3 & 4, when Reactor 1 blew up on 12 March 2011.  A third man is undergoing testing.

Fukushima

Cesium contamination building in Japan, tea harvests contaminated!

In Shizuoka Prefecture, about 300 km (186 miles) away from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, cesium contamination has continued to build up.  Now tea production has been halted.

On 10 June 2011, cesium levels on tea leaves hit 679 becquerels per kilogram.  The official limit is 500 becquerels.  The local government ordered a halt to tea shipments.  Tea is Shizuoka Prefecture’s main industry.

Last month cesium levels were 460 becquerels.  The latest readings show cesium is continuing to be spewed by the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant.

 

 

Fukushima

Strontium 90 more widespread than first thought!

Japanese Science Ministry has finished a survey of Fukushima Prefecture.  They were looking for evidence of strontium 90, they found plenty.

Strontium 90 is created during nuclear fission.  It has a half life of 29 years, and can cause bone cancer.

Samples were taken at 11 locations, all 11 tested positive.  The furthest location from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, that tested positive, is Fukushima City at 60 km (37 miles) away.  The highest reading was 250 becquerels per kilogram, at Namie City.

Fukushima

Radiation spreading in Japan, Evacuation Zone could be expanded

Two Japanese cities outside the current evacuation zone, now have radiation levels above safe limits.

Date and Minamisoma cities show increasing radiation levels, prompting calls for evacuation by the residents.  Government officials say they are working quickly on the possible expansion of the evacuation zone.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Diesel Fuel usage new Canary in the Coal Mine, Recovery is Dead

“I was optimistic we’d have a better month, but it looks now like the recovery ended last summer, which means we’re just idling.”-Ed Leamer, University California Los Angeles economist

If you use diesel fuel you might have noticed that the price has been slowly going down.  That’s good for those of use who pay at the pump, but for the economy as a whole it’s a Canary in the Coal Mine of worse to come for our economy.

Diesel fuel prices are dropping because of a huge drop in demand.  That drop has been ongoing since last year, and in the past four months has been picking up speed.

Most users of diesel are transportation industries.  They ship products all over the country, but shipments of new products have dropped so much in eight of the past 12 months, that trucks, ships and aircraft are sitting idle.

According to the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index, the drop in diesel fuel demand is proof any economic recovery that might have been, is over.

Ed Leamer says the two main reasons demand is down: Low wages/lack of jobs and high debt.  Notice they’re the two things our elected officials, across the board from local leaders to the White House, can’t seem to deal with.

Leamer also says such a drop in demand, in the U.S., is a first in world history: “U.S. demand has been such a key for the rest of the world for so long. This is sort of uncharted territory.”

 

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Greenpeace & IAEA say radiation levels in Pacific Ocean too high

The nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi has resulted in hundreds of thousands of tons of radioactive water being spilled into the Pacific Ocean, and it hasn’t stopped.

Greenpeace says they’ve found ocean species with unsafe levels of radiation, 50 km (31 miles) from the nuke plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency announced they will begin monitoring the Pacific Ocean for radiation contamination.  Australia, South Korea and Indonesia will make up a team that will sample water from the Pacific Ocean, and the East China Sea.  They expect the process to take four years.

The contamination of the Pacific Ocean would not have reached this level, if Tokyo Electric Power Company, and the Japanese government, took the nuclear disaster more seriously at the beginning.  Chernobyl was handled in a matter of weeks, not ongoing after many months like Fukishima Daiichi.