Fukushima the beginning

By now everyone must know of the terrible events in March 2011 and the subsequent problems at the Fukushima nuclear power stations. Since then, not a lot of attention has been paid to it and in the mainstream media it seems to be an old story. I do not think it is an old story, I think it is perhaps an ongoing story. I spent 6 months researching and worrying. Below is what I found: However, worry might be the name of the game, so I gave it up. I also real eyes d that disinformation is big on just about every subject.

To set the scene, let me say this. Chernobyl - I was living in Nicosia at the time of Chernobyl, because we were informed, I stayed out of the garden for a while and made sure fruit and veg was washed. Using the same level of contamination (555,000 becquerels or higher of cesium-137) that was used to issue compulsory evacuation orders in the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 (1), then much more of Japan should have been evacuated. Instead, they decided to 'up' the allowable dose. The limit laid down is :  For Radiation Users and "members of the public" the  limit is 1 mSv (100 mrem) per year. (2) however the guiding principle of all radiation work is: the dose should be As Low As Reasonably Achievable, economic and social factors being taken into account. This is called the "ALARA Principle" and is central to all radiation safety. Tokyo Electric Power Company said on the 19th March 2011 that some workers at the Fukushima Daiichi plant have already been exposed to more than 100 mSv (10,000 mrem) and that the company, citing the unprecedented nature of the crisis, has raised the limit to 150 mSv (15,000 mrem) for some outdoor workers. "This is a considerable amount of radiation," said G. Donald Frey, a medical physicist and professor of radiology at the Medical University of South Carolina. "The limit for radiation workers in the United States is 50 millisieverts per year, but we try to keep them to less than 5 millisieverts per year." (3) So that is already considerably more in some days than the allowable amount in a year. Bearing in mind that TEPCO (The company monitoring and cleaning up their own criminal incompetence) are cheats and liars (Sue me) as is shown in this tidbit:  Shimahashi was in charge of maintaining and checking measuring instruments inside the nuclear power plant as a subcontract employee, His radiation exposure monitoring databook, which was returned to his family six months after his death, showed that more than 30 exposure figures and other listings had been corrected in red ink and stamped with personal seals. Even after he was diagnosed with leukemia, the data book had a stamp indicating permission for him to engage in a job subject to possible radiation exposure and a false report on his participation in nuclear safety education while he was in reality in hospital. He died in 1991 aged 29. (After exposure to 50.8 mSv)  If I had heard it was 'dangerous,' I would not have sent Nobuyuki to the nuclear power plant," Michiko Shimahashi said. "The workers who have done nothing wrong should not die. (This was 10 years before this emergency) The emergency upper limit should be cut immediately." (4) The Ministry of Education advised schools in Fukushima that 20msv/(20,000 mrem) year is the level that children can go out to play in the playground. Having removed the topsoil the rate is measured using a Geiger counter which goes over the limit of reading capability. Remember above where it says members of the public should not be exposed to more than 1msv/ (100mrem) year - and that is for an adult - children are far more susceptible. (Experts consider children to be 10 to 20 times more vulnerable to contracting cancer from exposure to ionizing radiation than adults), On April 12th 2011 According to the Daily Youmiri, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) announced that between 10 and 17 million curies (270,000- 360,000 TerraBq) of radioactive materials were released to the atmosphere before early April, a great deal more than previous official estimates.   April 13th 2011. One of the largest U.S. monitoring systems run by the EPA shut their system off!  Arnie Gunderston from Fairwinds had this report in April. Fukushima Accident Severity Level Raised to '7': Gundersen Discusses Lack of US Radiation Monitoring Data On April 19, the Japanese government sharply ramped up its radiation exposure limit to 2,000 millirem per year (20 mSv/y) for schools and playgrounds in Fukushima prefecture. Japanese children are now permitted to be exposed to an hourly dose rate 165 times above normal background radiation and 133 times more than levels the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows for the American public. (5)   May 6th 2011 The following published data was prepared based on results obtained from April 6th to the 29th using a small airplane and two helicopters, totaling 42 flights. Their altitudes were from 150m to 700m above ground.The air dose rate at the ground surface, is the averaged value of air dose rates in a roughly 300m to 1500m diameter circle (varies by flight altitude) below the aircraft, so even these figures it seems are a bit of a hash up. See the Map and document here It shows a belt of contamination, with 3 million to 14.7 million Becquerel's of cesium-137 per square meter, spread to the northwest of the nuclear plant. After the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, those living in areas with more than 555 thousand Becquerel's of cesium-137 per square meter were forced to relocate. However, the latest map shows that accumulated radioactivity exceeded this level at some locations outside the official evacuation zones, including the village of Iitate and the town of Namie. The maximum they went out was 80km. "I am surprised by the extent of the contamination and the vast area it covers," said Tetsuji Imanaka, assistant professor of nuclear engineering at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute.     The timeline above is just the beginning, well not quite - what no one seems to have noticed at the beginning was this: Japan has 54 nuclear reactors - Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant (the most quickly constructed nuclear power plant in the world ) the 11th March earthquake damaged the turbines after a fire broke out, it was then shut down. On March 13, 2011, levels of radiation on this site reached 21μSv/hour, a level at which Tohoku Electric Power Company were mandated to declare state of emergency, and they did so at 12:50, declaring the lowest-level such state. The level reduced after 10 minutes to under EMERGENCY level and so The Japanese authorities assumed the temporarily heightened values were due to radiation from the Fukushima I nuclear accidents and not from the plant itself. I looked at them both on the map, they are 120 km away from each other. So, for the radiation to have spiked in Onagawa from the Fukushima plant, they KNOW that the radiation monitored had travelled 120km. The energy radiates (i.e., travels outward in straight lines in all directions) from its source. (not on the wind)  High-energy neutrons can travel great distances in air and typically require hydrogen rich shielding, such as concrete or water, to block them. Gamma rays, which are highly energetic photons, penetrate deeply and are difficult to stop. They can be stopped by a sufficiently thick layer of material, where stopping power of the material per given area depends mostly (but not entirely) on its total mass, whether the material is of high or low density. However, as is the case with X-rays, materials with high atomic number such as lead or depleted uranium add a modest (typically 20% to 30%) amount of stopping power over an equal mass of less-dense and lower atomic weight materials (such as water or concrete). 11 April A journalist made a film about going into the exclusion zone, where he took readings. He was surprised that some of the most dangerous places were further away (remember, this is before full meltdown) which suggests that the distribution was driven other than as a blanket radiating outwards. (film and article may viewed from here)(13) April 20th 2011  Agency admits 'melting' of N-fuel. (Note that this title and headline DO NOT contain the words Nuclear or Tepco or Fukushima) (6) The agency had previously only described the nuclear fuel as having been at least 3 percent "damaged." Damage to reactors can be described in three phases of increasing severity. In the first phase of initial damage to a reactor's core, the metallic casing surrounding the fuel pellets are damaged but the pellets remain intact. The second phase involves some melting of nuclear fuel. In the third phase, what is known as a meltdown, all the fuel pellets melt and accumulate at the bottom of the containment vessel. The agency said it now believes the fuel pallets have melted because of the high levels of radiation detected at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors. Melting fuel pellets also likely led to a hydrogen explosion at the No. 1 reactor, Nishiyama said. (6) TOKYO, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Radiation readings that are 100-1,000 times the normal level have been found on the Pacific seabed near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, local media reported Tuesday. The high levels of radioactive materials were detected from samples taken Friday from the seabed at points 20-30 meters deep, Kyodo News reported, citing the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (7) The Highest reported level during the Fukushima accident: 266 Sv/h for the gas/steam inside the primary containment (drywell) of reactor unit 1 on July 3rd, 2011. Measurements taken after Fukushima accident: Greater than 10 Sv/h for the Ventilation shaft between reactors I and II (equipment used could only read up to 10 Sv/h) ! One wonders why, if they had the equipment to measure up to 266Sv/h why there were subsequently using a machine with a maximum of 10 ! May 9, 2011 The utility firm opened the main access points to the reactor and in doing so released 500 million becquerels of radioactive substances into the atmosphere, TEPCO is currently mulling ideas to protect its workers -- some who have only had a single medical check since the March 11 triple disasters and many who have been exposed to levels of radiation far exceeded legal levels -- such as constructing a metal tunnel for people to walk through, or using lead sheeting to provide increased protection against radioactive substances and increase safer mobility for the workers moving around in high-radiation areas. (It later transpired hat they have lost 143 or 148 of these worker, as they didn't bother to keep their details. Does that mean these poor people are walking mini nuke stations themselves?) The nuclear agency and the Environment Ministry on Monday also began taking readings from highly contaminated rubble from the vicinity of the stricken No. 1 nuclear plant and remove some of the debris and bring it back to laboratories in Tokyo for further tests. The radioactive rubble continues to emit radiation into the atmosphere, the ministry said.  (Notice they dont say how much radiation!)(7) Wednesday 8 June 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant may have suffered 'melt-through', Japan admits Fuel rods have probably breached containment vessels – a more serious scenario than core meltdown – according to report . Molten nuclear fuel in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is likely to have burned through pressure vessels, not just the cores, Japan has said in a report in which it also acknowledges it was unprepared for an accident of the severity of Fukushima. (8) June 20th, 2011 1.6 BILLION becquerels of radioactive materials released from Reactor No. 2 late Sunday, says TEPCO TEPCO also began late Sunday to release air containing radioactive substances from the building of reactor 2 by opening its doors. An estimated 1.6 Billion becquerels of radioactive materials were released, compared with 500 million becquerels when the double doors of the building of reactor 1 were opened in May, July 4th 2011 China has discovered 100,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean waters, at distances up to 800 kilometers from Fukushima, with Cesium radiation levels up to 300 times normal and Strontium radiation levels up to 100 times normal. China says a study conducted by its State Oceanic Administration has found widespread levels of highly radioactive contamination throughout Pacific Ocean. China’s State Oceanic Administration said the tests shown that the polluted area is far wider than the areas released by the Japanese government. According to the study the radiation survey found over 252,000 kilometers, or just shy of 100,000 square miles, of Pacific ocean waters was contaminated by the time the study was completed on July 4th. July 7th 2011       Faked: Japan nuke company caught using employees to ask questions during televised hearing — Told to impersonate private citizens who want reactors restarted.(11) July 13th 2011 I live in japan 135 miles / 220 Km south of Fukushima, in Kashiwa. I had the soil in Kashiwa professionally tested here are the official results for the levels of Cesium-137 and 134 and Iodine-131 only. No lab in Japan offers testing for any of the other dangerous radioactive elements like Plutonium / Strontium / Tellurium or Curium, all elements that were released in the explosion Use these results as you see fit, yes I know the results are nothing less than horrifying, what is even more terrifying is that the soil sample was taken from the side of the street where children walk everyday and not from where the elements could accumulate. This is the Cesium-137/134 and Iodine-131 levels of the soil in Kashiwa, that I had sent in and officially tested by a lab here in Japan. (16) I thought this summed it up quite well: Understanding ionizing radiation can also help you understand that many of these of particles have been around the atmosphere for many years. The quantities in which they are currently being released from Fukushima poses a risk to everyone human on this earth. So if for one moment you thought moving to South America would allow you to avoid the risk, think again. Nuclear reactors are covering our entire planet they are all releasing radioactive particles on a daily basis. The real question now is how clean is nuclear energy? It’s obvious it’s the dirtiest form of energy on the planet. It’s responsible for deaths every single day and there is no way of stopping the damage once these plants have been created as no man on this planet has discovered a way to dispose of this waste. All this said, there is no way we can avoid Cesium-137 in our food chain.  It’s already here and will continue to accumulate until they are able to stop the leak at Fukushima. In the short term Iodine-131 is a concern, but with healthy eating and higher levels of iodine in your diet, you should be able to avoid some of these risks. I believe it’s important that we pay attention to the levels of Strontium-90 and Cesium-137 in the years to come. (12) 17th August 2011 At last, a mainstream news channel allowing a voice of dissent, well maybe not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzDg4O9dkw A report from the European Committee on Radiation Risk (a body sponsored by the European Green Party) claims that the World Health Organization, together with most other international and national health bodies, has marginalized or ignored, perhaps purposely, the terrible consequences of the Chernobyl fallout to protect the vested interests of the nuclear industry.  It is being done again- BIG time. Please, the more people who demand the facts about things, because we are not, we are served up edited opinion, if not downright lies and half truths. It is happening everywhere and most do not have the time to find the real news. Revealed: British government’s plan to play down Fukushima, Guardian, June 30, 2011: British government officials approached nuclear companies to draw up a co-ordinated public relations strategy to play down the Fukushima nuclear accident just two days after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and before the extent of the radiation leak was known.  Internal emails seen by the Guardian show how the business and energy departments worked closely behind the scenes with the multinational companies EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse [...] Officials stressed the importance of preventing the incident from undermining public support for nuclear power. Here are a few revelations from the internal emails obtained by the Guardian A British official told Areva: “We need to quash any stories trying to compare this to Chernobyl.” A British official wrote: “We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it. We really need to show the safety of nuclear.” There was a meeting where the aim was “to discuss a joint communications and engagement strategy aimed at ensuring we maintain confidence among the British public on the safety of nuclear power stations and nuclear new-build policy in light of recent events at the Fukushima nuclear power plant”. According to one former regulator, who preferred not to be named, the degree of collusion was “truly shocking”. 18 August 2011 "The government and TEPCO have not reported the total amount of the released radioactivity yet," said Kodama, who believes things are far worse than even the recent detection of extremely high radiation levels at the plant. There is widespread concern in Japan about a general lack of government monitoring for radiation, which has caused people to begin their own independent monitoring, which are also finding disturbingly high levels of radiation. When on August 2nd readings of 10,000 millisieverts (10 sieverts) of radioactivity per hour were detected at the plant, Japan's science ministry said that level of dose is fatal to humans, and is enough radiation to kill a person within one to two weeks after the exposure. 10,000 millisieverts (mSv) is the equivalent of approximately 100,000 chest x-rays. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), that took the reading, used equipment to measure radiation from a distance, and was unable to ascertain the exact level because the device's maximum reading is only 10,000 mSv. Caldicott said people around the world should be concerned about the ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Radiation that continues to be released has global consequences. More than 11,000 tonnes of radioactive water has been released into the ocean from the stricken plant. Scientists warn that tuna caught off the Pacific coastal prefecture in northern Japan are now at risk of being radioactive [EPA] "Those radioactive elements bio-concentrate in the algae, then the crustaceans eat that, which are eaten by small then big fish," Caldicott said. "That's why big fish have high concentrations of radioactivity and humans are at the top of the food chain, so we get the most radiation, ultimately." (15) 22/8/11 There are now cracks in the ground, steam is coming out of those cracks. Chunks of fuel from inside the REACTOR has been found 1.5 miles from the site. The first thing to be controlled in these accidents is the information. 150 days into the crisis there is still a media blackout. Is it being controlled from Japan or elsewhere ?  It is a GLOBAL nuclear industry. 2018 - this video is gone. September 1st 2011 By way of comparison, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986 in the Ukraine, Russia- heretofore the worst nuclear disaster on record- burned for 10 days and cumulatively killed an estimated 1 million people worldwide. The Fukushima, Japan nuclear disaster has 5 nuclear reactors burning, 2 in partial meltdown and 3 in full meltdown- and they’ve ALL been uncontrollably burning since March 11th. Its been over 3 months and this nuclear disaster remains completely out of control. In fact, some industry estimates cite the possibility that these meltdowns will be contained (optimistically) in 1-3 years, at the very earliest. The amount and intensity of the radioactive fallout from this particular nuclear disaster will assuredly kill hundreds of millions of people worldwide over time. Japan itself is, of course, the epicentre of this radioactive contamination that has spread out from these reactors. (17) 6th October 2011 I watched a program on the BBC recently which was saying that there will be 0 deaths from Fukushima, it also said that 106 people fall out of bed and die each year, so nuclear energy is safer than going to bed. These Japanese people don't think so 2018 - This video is also gone   19/11/11 Disturbing readings from one of Radiation Station Central's HEPA filters after just 30 days of use: 308% of normal background higher. Alpha and beta radiation captured by the filter can be attributed to the triple Fukushima Japan meltdowns, melt-throughs and melt-outs and the decision to begin burning 550,000 tons of radioactive debris in Tokyo from October to March, sending a double dose of radioactive fallout on the Jet Stream over the Pacific to land on America, Canada and beyond. Finding this high a level of radiation is considered dangerous by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Ingested alpha particles can be up to 1,000 times more dangerous than their beta and gamma counterparts. location : Saint Louis, Missouri date : 11/18/2011 1200 noon CST 349.5 CPM (counts per minute) = 3495 over the course of 10 minutes. (first test was 250+ CPM over 5 min - not on camera -- several more tests over the next few days forthcoming) By all accounts, 100 CPM is the alert level for "high radiation". This means we are far over alert levels when it comes to small radioactive particulate matter in the air. This boldly contradicts previous findings from cross country measurements.. highest levels cross country were in Colorado @ 80-100 CPM   November 28th 2011 At least the information is beginning to flow, not in the mainstream media yet, but for example: A joint study by Kyoto University and the University of Tsukuba, among other entities, estimated that water at the mouth of the Abukumagawa river running through the prefecture was contaminated with cesium levels over 50 billion becquerels a day !  Source 18 Iodine - It is reccomended to use nascent Iodine - 3 drops a day in water on an empty stomach. The idea being that you fill your thyroid with ok iodine rather than the radioactive fallout. Are you fed up yet ? Fed up of being given wrong information with which to make your decisions? If this worries you, even if only the degree of collusion in incompetence - start questioning the rest. Also check out kelp, apple pectin and turmeric - these are the 'protectors' of your body in times like these. And times like these are here. 23/04/13 Obama Approves Raising Permissible Levels of Nuclear Radiation in Drinking Water. Civilian Cancer Deaths Expected to Skyrocket globalresearch.ca/obama-approves-raising-permissible-levels-of-nuclear-radiation-in-drinking-water-civilian-cancer-deaths-expected-to-skyrocket/5331224 2018, what a surprise, Error 403 2 for the above dead link.   The White House has given final approval for dramatically raising permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents,” such as nuclear power-plant accidents and dirty bombs. The final version, slated for Federal Register publication as soon as today, is a win for the nuclear industry which seeks what its proponents call a “new normal” for radiation exposure among the U.S population, according Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, the radiation guides (called Protective Action Guides or PAGs) allow cleanup many times more lax than anything EPA has ever before accepted. These guides govern evacuations, shelter-in-place orders, food restrictions and other actions following a wide range of “radiological emergencies.” The Obama administration blocked a version of these PAGs from going into effect during its first days in office. The version given approval late last Friday is substantially similar to those proposed under Bush but duck some of the most controversial aspects: In soil, the PAGs allow long-term public exposure to radiation in amounts as high as 2,000 millirems. This would, in effect, increase a longstanding 1 in 10,000 person cancer rate to a rate of 1 in 23 persons exposed over a 30-year period; rest at link..........   Conspiracy section. There is a disturbing conspiracy theory, with interesting facts and deep but plausible connections which explains a possible scenario concerning the company who installed the monitoring equipment. It could certainly be an engrossing novel and as the chap who wrote it has been harassed, it may even be so - his facts are impeccable.  For those interested it is here The great mass of people ... will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one. What luck for rulers that men do not think.” — Adolf Hitler (1889 –1945) “Only the small secrets need to be protected. The big ones are kept secret by public incredulity.” One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge – even to ourselves – that we’ve been so credulous.” — Carl Sagan (1934–1996)

As I don't have an axe to grind, or agenda to follow, I present above links to the articles and information for you to read and think about. I also put a précis and will comment at the end with my personal opinion..

1) theintelhub.com/2011/05/14/radiation-levels-higher-than-chernobyl-evacuation-limits-span-over-800-km-in-japan/  (no longer there, but the site is.) 2) mcgill.ca/ehs/radiation/manual/3/  (The page you requested does not exist.) 3) http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/18/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?eref=edition 4) forum.gloresis.com/2011/07/30/nuclear-plant-workers-developed-cancer-despite-low/ citing original Japanese story (2018 now gone) 5) .nuc.berkeley.edu/node/3919 (2018 The requested page could not be found.) 6) yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110419004267.htm (Gone, now a Japanese redirect)) 7) news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/03/c_13857379.htm (Gone!) news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/09/c_13866296.htm  (gone)  and enenews.com/radiation-in-no-1-reactor-building-far-exceeded-expected-levels-reaching-700-millisieverts-per-hour-500-million-becquerels-released-after-opening-entry-way (Gone) 8) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/fukushima-nuclear-plant-melt-through  9)enenews.com/happening-now-1-6-billion-becquerels-of-radioactive-materials-released-from-reactor-no-2-late-sunday-says-tepco the Jiji Press agency reported, citing TEPCO. (2018 Gone) 10) news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/09/c_13866296.htm (Guess) 11) enenews.com/japan-nuke-company-caught-employees-ask-questions-during-televised-hearing-told-impersonate-private-citizens-reactors-restarted (Gone) 12) radiationfears.com/ Gone 13) http://rt.com/news/japan-fukushima-zone-radiation/ 14) http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/30/british-government-plan-play-down-fukushima 15) http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/08/201181665921711896.html 16) blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/07/13/52547-bqkg-cesium-radiation-soil-tokyo-135-miles-south-fukushima-34691/ ( 2018  - 404 error) 17) blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/09/01/fukushima-continually-blasting-high-levels-cesium-strontium-plutonium-slowly-kill-millions-years-66941 ( 2018  - 404 error) 18) enformable.com/2011/11/river-near-fukushima-daiichi-found-contaminated-with-over-50-billion-bq-of-cesium-a-day (2018 - crappy warning)

More may be added, however it is telling  that so many references have been removed.   Do unto others is probably the best you can do, so do it.