Japan Nuclear Meltdown Thread

[deepdown]

chud wrote:
The japanese nuclear plants are not a threat to the USA. And not as big a threat to Japan as the ignorant media is making it out to be.
The real tragedy here is the earthquake and tsunami.

NO! It is Nuclear most of Japanese are concerned and disturbed now.

[Michael]

Agency French Press
Apr 14, 2011 05:17 AM US/Eastern

Sony mulls two-week summer break to save energy


Japan's electronics giant has said it was considering having all its employees in Japan take two-week summer vacations to save energy, amid power shortages in the aftermath of the March 11 disasters.

Sony said on Thursday it was considering having all its employees in Japan take two-week summer vacations to save energy, amid power shortages in the aftermath of the March 11 disasters.

By shutting down offices, air conditioners, elevators, and other facilities, the electronics giant believes it could save up to 25 percent of the power it normally consumes during the peak summer months, said a Sony spokesman.

"We hope efforts like this will significantly reduce our power consumption," he said.

The decision, if made official, would affect 16,000 Japan-based workers, he said, adding that many of its factories are run by subsidiaries and might continue normal operations.

The government is set to order major firms to cut their power consumption by 25 percent this summer, when power use peaks in part due to air conditioner use, as the region served by Tokyo Electric Power faces shortages of at least 20 percent of demand.

The 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami battered the northeast coast on March 11, prompting 11 of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors to shut down automatically and knocking out cooling systems at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Three reactors were already idle at the world's largest nuclear power plant at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa on Japan's western coast due to a 2007 earthquake, and the recent disaster also damaged several thermal power plants.

Sony's summer leave might be broken into a series of off-duty days, rather than a one-time extended vacation, the spokesman added.

The Japanese giant is also considering bringing its normal business hours forward from the usual 9:00 am or 9:30 am start to 8:00 am, enabling offices to close earlier, he said.

Sony may also open its offices at weekends and close on normal business days, he said.

Among many energy-saving schemes, major manufacturers have discussed taking turns to close their factories to save electricity.

Analysts have warned of the likely slowdown of the economy through this summer, as manufacturers are forced to limit production due to the power shortfall.

[Michael]

Selected quotes copied below. —M.

Daily Mail
By Richard Shears
Last updated at 1:03 PM on 14th April 2011

102-year-old man in Japan's nuclear fall-out zone kills himself rather than leave home


Deserted: The 102-year-old man lived in the village of Litate, Fukushima (pictured) which is 25 miles from the stricken nuclear plant. He killed himself when faced with being evacuated from his home

A 102-year-old Japanese man killed himself because he did not want to leave his home in the extended radiation zone.

The centenarian lived in the village of Iitate, which until earlier this week was declared safe from radiation leaking from the crippled nuclear plant at Fukushima.

'I'm not leaving,' he told his family. 'I'd rather die than leave my home.'

The old man's name and details of his self-inflicted death have not been revealed.

Municipal officials said the man was upset as he discussed evacuation plans with his family and told them that he saw little point in leaving his home at this stage of his long life.

Threat: The reading on a radiation meter in Litate shows dangerously high levels of nuclear activity

'It may be difficult to completely remove the contaminated water and so allow work to proceed (in restoring power to the cooling pumps). We may need to think of other options,' said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear Industry and Safety Authority.

Nishiyama said there was 20,000 tonnes of contaminated water in the basement and a tunnel under reactor No. 2.

'We will transfer the water next to the central radiation disposal building. We do not have a plan beyond that,' he said.

Engineers are also concerned that some spent fuel rods were damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and could be emitting high levels of radiation.

Stricken: Engineers were this week sill battling to cool the six crippled reactors at the power plant which has has leaked radiation into the atmosphere

[Michael]

Daily Mail
By Richard Shears
Last updated at 9:53 AM on 13th April 2011

Girl, 8, among tsunami victims denied help after fears they could spread radiation to other survivors

* Tests needed before people made homeless are allowed into shelters
* Thousands suspected of contamination told 'don't come near'

An eight-year-old girl is among scores of people refused medical help or shelter in Japan because of fears they could be contaminated by radiation and could pass it on to others.

People who have been made homeless as a result of the leakage of radiation at the Fukushima nuclear plant, 135 miles north of Tokyo, have to be screened and then given an 'all clear' certificate.

If they do not have a certificate, they are being told they cannot be allowed into evacuation centres amid fears that they might be a 'hibakusha' - a person contaminated by radiation.


Shelter: Evacuees live in partitioned 'rooms' at a shelter for people evacuated from the Fukushima region - but they will not be allowed in until they have the 'all clear'

The ban is a reminder of the discrimination suffered by irradiated survivors of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Misguided rumours suggested they could make other people ill.

The father of an eight-year-old girl said she was refused treatment for a skin condition in a hospital in Fukushima city because she did not have a screening certificate.

Mr Takayuki Okamura told the Mainichi Daily newspaper: 'I am worried already with my life as an evacuee. It was a real shock to have (mydaughter's) appointment refused.'


Safety: A woman who has been tested for radiation sits inside the tent which has become her new home

And a woman from Fukushima who decided to evacuate her family to an area north of Tokyo wrote on a blog that a hotel in Saitama prefecture had refused to accept them as guests.

But officials running evacuation centres said that anyone who had been living within 19 miles of the crippled plant must produce certificates to show they have not been contaminated by radiation.

'If they don't have them, they will need to be screened at the site,' said one official.

'It's so that the rest of the evacuees can feel safe. It's a matter of peace of mind.'

The clearance certificates are being issued by the Fukushima prefectural government, which says they are the only way they can set the minds of others at ease.

'Although evacuees normally shouldn't have to prove they have been screened in order to enter an evacuation centre, the situation is that there are some shelters that require them,' said Kosuke Yamagishi, of the prefecture's medical services division.

'People are simply over-reacting and sadly this could lead to discrimination.

'Unless they are plant workers, ordinary people aren't dangerous.'

The certificates carry the words 'screening approved' written above an official stamp with the person's name, sex and date of birth.

'Since the people were not able to enter the evacuation centre, we were forced to issue these certificates to help out,' said Mr Yamagishi.


Disaster: A sampling building near a water drain at the Fukushima nuclear power plant burns yesterday after yet another fire broke out



Ruined: The world's largest concrete pump mounted on a truck removes contaminated water from from Unit 4 of the plant, while right, smoke billows from the number 3 reactor

The girl who who was turned away from a hospital was from Minamisoma city, part of which was added to the evacuation zone this week.

'Even the youngest and most vulnerable are affected by the ban at the centres,' said an official from Minamisoma.

Miss Sadayasu Abe, a secretary for the mayor of Minamisoma confirmed that children had been rejected from evacuation centres.

'It's really sad for them to be told "Don't come near, don't come near.'"

Distrust has continued to spread, even though only three plant workers out of 17,000 people who were screened had shown to be at risk.

[Michael]

Daily Mail
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:16 PM on 13th April 2011

Toyota suspends production at its UK plants for eight days due to parts shortages after Japan tsunami and earthquake

Toyota has become the third Japanese car maker to announce production cutbacks in UK factories as a result of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The firm announced today that it would suspend production at its two sites in this country over the Easter holiday period in order to conserve parts.


Halted: Toyota say they are suspending production in Europe for eight days due to a shortage of parts following the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Both the vehicle factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire and the engine plant in Deeside, north Wales will have a non-production day on April 21 and will shut down on April 22 and remain closed for the three days between Easter Monday and the Royal Wedding Public Holiday on April 29, returning to work on May 3.

There will also be reduced production volumes in May. Specific details of production volumes and operation will be decided after consultation with employee representatives and other stakeholders.

The car maker said: 'This decision is necessary as a result of forecasted parts supply difficulties and at the moment no decision has been made regarding production beyond the month of May.'

No decision has yet been made regarding production beyond May.

The company said it would continue to evaluate its supply chain and make plans based on the situation.

Tony Walker, deputy managing director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK said: 'We very much appreciate the strong support of our members in helping us manage this difficult situation.

'Similar steps to slow production and conserve parts are being taken at Toyota's vehicle manufacturing plants, in France (Toyota Motor Manufacturing France), Turkey (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey) and engine plant in Poland (Toyota Motor Industries Poland).'

Honda and Nissan have also announced production cuts at their UK sites.


Down tools: Production at the Toyota plant in Burnston, Derbyshire, will be affected by the parts shortage

The move underscored how the supply crunch in the wake of the March 11 twin disasters is affecting Toyota's operations beyond Japan. The world's No. 1 automaker announced last week it would suspend car production in North America in April.

The magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11 destroyed auto parts factories in northeastern Japan, causing severe shortages for Toyota and other automakers.

Toyota said it will resume car production at all its plants in Japan at half capacity from April 18 to 27, but production will then stop from April 28 to May 9, a period that includes Golden Week holidays when factories would normally close.

Toyota spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said Wednesday it remained unclear when the company would return to full production in Japan. Toyota hasn't decided production plans for after May 9.

Production in Japan alone accounts for 43 percent of Toyota's global production last year.

In North America, where Toyota produces nearly 20 percent of its total output, the company said it would impose a series of one-day shutdowns at its North American plants from April 15-25.

Amid concern over a prolonged production suspension, Moody's Investors Service warned last week that it may downgrade its credit rating for Toyota.

The news didn't rattle shares in Toyota, which were up 0.6 percent to 3,260 yen in early trading on the Nikkei 225.

Burnaston, Derbyshire assembles cars. The first car off the production line was a Carina on 16 December 1992. Since then production has included Avensis, Corolla and Auris models. An engine manufacturing factory is located on Deeside, North Wales.

[Michael]

This map does not include the 1959 meltdown and other nuclear radiation catastrophes at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory 20 miles north of Los Angeles, California, USA in the town of Simi Valley, which was covered up for decades in spite of massive health problems for its workers.

[Michael]

Russia Today
Published: 15 April, 2011, 13:36

Fukushima operator to start compensation payouts with $600 million


Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant

TEPCO will pay up to $12,000 to each of over 50,000 families residing in the 30km evacuation zone around the disaster-stricken nuclear plant.The company has also decided to dispense a radiation absorbing mineral along the coastline near the facility.

­Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the operator of the Fukushima-1 nuclear plant, announced on Friday it will advance up to one million Yen of urgent compensatory damages to every household within the 30km evacuation zone around the plant. Families will be entitled to the whole sum, while single residents will receive 750,000 Yen each ($9,000).

The final compensation packages are yet to be defined and the current payouts will not be regarded as a settlement of the damages claims, said TEPCO president Masataka Shimizu, as reported by NHK news agency.

The decision was taken by the company after Banri Kaieda, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, voiced his recommendation to swiftly provide short-term living expenses to those who have been ordered to evacuate from the hazardous zone or to stay indoors. Most people who chose to flee from the area are now staying in emergency centers and have lost their jobs, according to ITAR-TASS news agency.

TEPCO also shared its intention to drop bags with Zeolite, a mineral that absorbs radiation, into the ocean near the water scoops of Fukushima-1 reactors 2 and 3. The operation, which is aimed at reducing the level of contamination in the seawater, will start as soon as the weather permits.

Meanwhile, the construction of a steel wall in the sea in front of reactor 2 is still underway. The wall will prevent further leakage of radioactive water into the ocean. The contaminated water is still penetrating the drainage system of the reactor and is being collected into the tank of the condensing system.

Despite the efforts, the level of contaminated water in the reactor buildings is not going down. The radiation level in the lower units of the reactor has increased 17 times since April 8, according to Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. On Friday, the radiation probe taken at the reactor showed 1,000 millisieverts per hour.

Contaminated water has also been accumulating in reactors 1 and 3, says the agency. It believes the leakage might be caused by cracks in the basement of the reactors’ buildings.

The high radiation levels are hindering reconstruction efforts.

The Atomic Energy Society of Japan published its own report on Friday. According to the document, nuclear fuel inside reactors 1 and 3 at the plant has partially melted and settled at the bottom of pressure vessels in the shape of grains. A large buildup of melted nuclear fuel could become a molten mass hot enough to damage the containers and eventually leak huge amounts of radioactive material.

The report also says that the fuel rods in reactors 1 and 3 have been damaged and apparently exposed.

Japan’s National Police continues its daily updates of the number of dead and missing after the earthquake and tsunami which hit the country on March 11. As of Friday, over 13,500 people are listed as dead, more than 14,500 people are still missing and 4,920 are reported injured.

[Interloper]

A lousy $12k isn't going to do much for any of those families.

[Michael]

Maybe it's just meant to be a short-term cash injection for hotel bills and food, or other immediate costs related to living in shelters? I hope so since obviously it's not enough to be any kind of remedy to each family's total losses.

[Michael]

Associated Press
Apr 16, 8:45 AM (ET)
By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Radioactivity rises in sea off Japan nuclear plant


Japanese police officers carry a body during a search and recovery operation for missing victims in the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, Friday, April 15, 2011. In the background is part of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.

TOKYO (AP) - Levels of radioactivity have risen sharply in seawater near a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant in northern Japan, signaling the possibility of new leaks at the facility, the government said Saturday.

The announcement came after a magnitude-5.9 earthquake jolted Japan on Saturday morning, hours after the country's nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake preparedness systems to prevent a recurrence of the nuclear crisis.

There were no reports of damage from the earthquake, and there was no risk of a tsunami similar to the one that struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant March 11 after a magnitude-9.0 earthquake, causing Japan's worst-ever nuclear plant disaster.

Since the tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems, workers have been spraying massive amounts of water on the overheated reactors. Some of that water, contaminated with radiation, leaked into the Pacific. Plant officials said they plugged that leak on April 5 and radiation levels in the sea dropped.


A Japanese worker gets on his earthmover in the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the town of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Friday, April 15, 2011.

But the government said Saturday that radioactivity in the seawater has risen again in recent days. The level of radioactive iodine-131 spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit, according to samples taken Friday, up from 1,100 times the limit in samples taken the day before. Levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly fourfold. The increased levels are still far below those recorded earlier this month before the initial leak was plugged.

The new rise in radioactivity could have been caused by the installation Friday of steel panels intended to contain radiation that may have temporarily stirred up stagnant waste in the area, Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told reporters. However, the increase in iodine-131, which has a relatively short eight-day half life, could signal the possibility of a new leak, he said.

"We want to determine the origin and contain the leak, but I must admit that tracking it down is difficult," he said.

Authorities have insisted the radioactivity will dissipate and poses no immediate threat to sea creatures or people who might eat them. Most experts agree.

Regardless, plant workers on Saturday began dumping sandbags filled with zeolite, a mineral that absorbs radioactive cesium, into the sea to combat the radiation leaks.


A member of Japan Self-Defense Force stands in the area devastated by March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the town of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Saturday, April 16, 2011.

Meanwhile, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported, without citing its sources, that a secret plan to dismantle Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the radiation-leaking Fukushima plant, was circulating within the government. The proposal calls for putting TEPCO, the world's largest private electricity company, under close government supervision before putting it into bankruptcy and thoroughly restructuring its assets. Most government offices were closed Saturday, and the report could not be immediately confirmed.

In the wake of the nuclear crisis, the government ordered 13 nuclear plant operators to check and improve outside power links to avoid earthquake-related outages that could cause safety systems to fail as they did at the Fukushima plant, Nishiyama told reporters late Friday. The operators, including TEPCO, are to report back by May 16.

Power outages during a strong aftershock on April 7 drove home the need to ensure that plants are able to continue to operate crucial cooling systems and other equipment despite earthquakes, tsunamis and other disasters, Nishiyama said.

Utility companies were ordered to reinforce the quake resistance of power lines connected to each reactor or to rebuild them. They also must store all electrical equipment in watertight structures. Earlier, the nuclear agency ordered plant operators to store at least two emergency backup generators per reactor and to install fire pumps and power supply vehicles as further precautions.

The massive 46-foot (14-meter) wave that swamped Fukushima Dai-ichi last month knocked out emergency generators meant to power cooling systems. Since then, explosions, fires and other malfunctions have compounded efforts by TEPCO to repair the plant and stem radiation leaks.


Protesters march in a street during an anti-nuclear power plant demonstration in Tokyo, Saturday, April 16, ,2011. More than 1,000 people took to the street for the rally. After the March 11 tsunami swamped Fukushima Dai-ichi knocked out emergency generators meant to power cooling systems. Since then, explosions, fires and other malfunctions have compounded efforts by TEPCO to repair the plant and stem radiation leaks.

TEPCO said Saturday it had moved power sources for some of the reactors at the stricken plant to higher ground by Friday evening in order to avoid another disastrous failure in the event of a tsunami.

Goshi Hosono, an adviser to the prime minister and member of the nuclear crisis management task force, said the damaged reactors were much more stable than they had been earlier in the crisis and TEPCO was preparing to unveil a plan for restoring cooling capacity to the ailing reactors "soon."

"Problems are still piled up and we are far from the end of crisis," he told a TV news program, citing radioactive water as one of the biggest headaches. "I expect there will be more mountains that we have to climb over."

The crisis at the Fukushima plant has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area, while radiation leaks have contaminated crops and left fishermen unable to sell their catches, adding to the suffering of communities already devastated by earthquake and tsunami damage.

Government officials fanned out across the affected areas to explain their decisions and calm nerves.


A protester performs in front of a showroom of Tokyo Electric Power Co., (TEPCO) during an anti-nuclear plant demonstration in Tokyo, Saturday, April 16, 2011. More than 1,000 people took to the street for the rally. After the March 11 tsunami swamped Fukushima Dai-ichi knocked out emergency generators meant to power cooling systems. Since then, explosions, fires and other malfunctions have compounded efforts by TEPCO to repair the plant and stem radiation leaks.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama apologized for the uncertainty and confusion to residents in Iitate village, parts of which the government recommended be evacuated because of the nuclear crisis.

"Everyone in the village must be extremely troubled, uncertain and worried," he said, promising to provide temporary housing and financial support for the residents, many of them farmers.

In the city of Inawashiro, Hiroshima University Professor Kenji Kamiya, who has been appointed a health risk adviser to Fukushima prefecture, met with about 250 education officials to explain that radiation levels in the area do not pose an immediate or significant threat to the public.

"I hope people understand that the levels we are seeing are fairly low. Even in the most impacted areas, we have screened more than 1,000 children for radiation abnormalities in their thyroids and have found none at all," he said.

Kamiya has been giving almost daily lectures in an effort to prevent people from overreacting to the possible danger.

"People fear things that they don't understand. We were even afraid before of the rain, because we just didn't know if it was safe," said Takaaki Kobayashi, a father of two grade school children. "I feel more comfortable now about sending kids to school. It helps to understand."

[Michael]

Selected quotes from the article. —M

Newsmax
Tuesday, 15 Mar 2011 12:24 AM
By Jim Meyers and Ashley Martella

Dr. Blaylock: Japanese Radiation Could Pose Risk to US

video download link 6:22, 30 MB

If a radiation cloud from Japan’s damaged nuclear reactors eventually reaches the western United States, it could pose a threat to American crops and the people who eat them, nationally known neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., tells Newsmax.

Dr. Blaylock also says the radiation could pose a cancer risk, and explains steps to take to protect against the damaging effects of radiation exposure.

“Of course people near the site face the greatest danger,” he responds.
“Anything over 150 rads [a measurement of radiation] is going to produce radiation sickness. And they’re getting close to that level, from what I understand.

“The safety level is set at 5 rads per year. They’re getting this dose within a short period of time.

“At about 100 to 400 rads you drastically increase death risk. Once you get above 600 rads, about 95 percent of people are going to die within two weeks. This is what they’re worried about.”

“Most of the health risks are not going to be due to acute radiation poisoning,” he tells Newsmax. “It’s going to be a risk of increased cancer.

“When we look at Chernobyl, most of West Germany was heavily contaminated. Norway, Sweden. Hungary was terribly contaminated. The radiation was taken up into the plants. The food was radioactive. They took the milk and turned it into cheese. The cheese was radioactive.

“That’s the big danger, the crops in this country being contaminated, the milk in particular, with Strontium 90. That radiation is incorporated into the bones and stays for a lifetime.”

If radiation does arrive in the United States, people would need “to change their diet. They need to stop eating Western farm products,” Dr. Blaylock says.

They might also need to take several supplements that can protect against the effects of radiation, he suggests.

“Taking these supplements not only protects you against radiation but a lot of other diseases including cancer, brain degeneration.”

Among the supplements he cited, Iodine can protect the thyroid gland if taken before the exposure to radiation.

Gingko biloba can be protective even after exposure to radiation. Beta-glucan protects the bone marrow. Curcumin also can offer protection after exposure, particularly against breast cancer. He also suggests garlic extract, ginger, melatonin and magnesium.

[Steve James]

Does "nationally known" mean anything? I was wondering, especially since his specialty is/was neurosurgery. Anyway, googling his name led to http://www.skepdic.com/blaylock.html fwiw. At any rate, the headline is not backed up by anything in Blaylock's statements. True, "if" high enough levels of radiation reach the US, people there would have to be careful. However, it's obvious that any radiation that would reach the west coast would ultimately reach the east. And, I think anyone who is really concerned would not depend on garlic extract or ginger to counteract the results of radiation exposure or decrease the risk of cancer. ...Of course, that is if one could find any that wasn't radiation contaminated, since both are grown in soil.

[Michael]

You and others have asked what people can do about the problem of radiation leakage from the Fukushima disaster and Dr. Blaylock is telling you some natural, helpful, and easy to obtain items and now you dismiss it without giving any reasons. Is this just a blind appeal to orthodox marketing propaganda from the medicine and pharmaceutical industries? Most of their products are synthesized from the herbs and plants you dismiss, but their industrial versions made in China are ineffective at healing, cause massive side-effects, and also cause between 100,000 - 300,000 deaths per year (depending on which study you choose) in the USA patients who are following the manufacturers and doctors' instructions.

BTW, regarding your statement about radiation on the West Coast reaching the East, not all of it will because some fall-out (precipitaion) occurs during the 3000 mile journey, which means the concentrations will be higher in the West, and that's why Dr. Blaylock mentioned being careful about Western farm products.

[Michael]

Democracy Now
April 13, 2011

Expert: Despite Japanese Gov’t Claims of Decreasing Radiation, Fukushima a "Ticking Time Bomb"


Dr. Micho Kaku

Expert: Despite Japanese Gov’t Claims of Decreasing Radiation, Fukushima a "Ticking Time Bomb"

The Japanese government is trying to calm fears about radiation levels and food safety in the region around the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, even as it has raised the severity rating of the crisis to the highest possible level. "Radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors. The situation is not stable at all," says Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York and the City College of New York. "The slightest disturbance could set off a full-scale meltdown at three nuclear power stations, far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl." [includes rush transcript]

Guest:
Dr. Michio Kaku, a Japanese American physicist and bestselling author. He is a professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York. His new book is Physics of the Future: How Science Will Change Daily Life by 2100.

Editor's note: download links for today's show begin with Dr. Kaku, but also include other topics:
Approximately 13 minutes
MP3 Download
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Youtube video of only the Dr. Kaku interview
Dr. Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist: Fukishima Daiichi Nuclear Facility is a "Ticking Time Bomb"



AMY GOODMAN: Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan tried Tuesday to calm fears about radiation levels and food safety in the region around the heavily damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. His comments came after Japan raised the severity rating of its nuclear crisis to the highest possible level, heightening concerns about the magnitude of the disaster.

Speaking at a news conference to mark one month since the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated the northeastern coast of the country, Japanese Prime Minister Kan said produce from the region around the Fukushima plant is safe to eat despite radiation leaks.

PRIME MINISTER NAOTO KAN: [translated] From now on, people should not fall into an extreme self-restraint mood, and they should live life as normal. To consume products from the areas that have been affected is also a way in which to support the area. We should enjoy the use of such products and support the areas that have been affected. I ask you to do this.

AMY GOODMAN: A spokesperson for the International Atomic Energy Agency said the latest food sample data indicates levels of contamination are below the limits set by domestic authorities. Denis Flory, IAEA spokesperson, also said yesterday Japan’s nuclear crisis was not comparable to Chernobyl.

DENIS FLORY: The mechanics of the accidents are totally different. One happened when a reactor was at power, and the reactor containment exploded. In Fukushima, the reactor was stopped, and the containment, even if it may be somehow leaking today—and we do not know—the containment is here. So this is a totally different accident.

AMY GOODMAN: Japanese officials said they raised the severity level to 7 because of the total release of radiation at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, not because of a sudden deterioration in the situation. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster is the only other nuclear accident rated at the highest level, 7, on a scale developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency to assess nuclear accidents. But officials insist so far the power plant in Japan has released one-tenth as much radioactive material as Chernobyl.

To discuss the situation in Japan, as well as his latest book, we’re joined by Dr. Michio Kaku, a Japanese American physicist, a bestselling author, professor of theoretical physics at City University of New York and the City College of New York. His brand new book is Physics of the Future: How Science Will Change Daily Life by 2100.

Welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to see you again.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Glad to be on the show, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: So, talk about this raising of the category level to 7, on a par with Chernobyl.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Well, Tokyo Electric has been in denial, trying to downplay the full impact of this nuclear accident. However, there’s a formula, a mathematical formula, by which you can determine what level this accident is. This accident has already released something on the order of 50,000 trillion becquerels of radiation. You do the math. That puts it right smack in the middle of a level 7 nuclear accident. Still, less than Chernobyl. However, radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors. The situation is not stable at all. So, you’re looking at basically a ticking time bomb. It appears stable, but the slightest disturbance—a secondary earthquake, a pipe break, evacuation of the crew at Fukushima—could set off a full-scale meltdown at three nuclear power stations, far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about exactly—I mean, as a physicist, to explain to people—exactly what has taken place in Japan at these nuclear power plants.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Think of driving a car, and the car all of a sudden lunges out of control. You hit the brakes. The brakes don’t work. That’s because the earthquake wiped out the safety systems in the first minute of the earthquake and tsunami. Then your radiator starts to heat up and explodes. That’s the hydrogen gas explosion. And then, to make it worse, the gas tank is heating up, and all of a sudden your whole car is going to be in flames. That’s the full-scale meltdown.

So what do you do? You drive the car into a river. That’s what the utility did by putting seawater, seawater from the Pacific Ocean, in a desperate attempt to keep water on top of the core. But then, seawater has salt in it, and that gums up your radiator. And so, what do you do? You call out the local firemen. And so, now you have these Japanese samurai warriors. They know that this is potentially a suicide mission. They’re coming in with hose water—hose water—trying to keep water over the melted nuclear reactor cores. So that’s the situation now. So, when the utility says that things are stable, it’s only stable in the sense that you’re dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails. And as the time goes by, each fingernail starts to crack. That’s the situation now.

AMY GOODMAN: What about the food, the level of contamination of the food? They are increasingly banning food exports.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: The tragedy is, this accident has released enormous quantities of iodine, radioactive iodine-131, into the atmosphere, like what happened at Chernobyl, about 10 percent the level of Chernobyl. Iodine is water soluble. When it rains, it gets into the soil. Cows then eat the vegetation, create milk, and then it winds up in the milk. Farmers are now dumping milk right on their farms, because it’s too radioactive. Foods have to be impounded in the area.

And let’s be blunt about this: would you buy food that says "Made in Chernobyl"? And the Japanese people are also saying, "Should I buy food that says 'Made in Fukushima'?" We’re talking about the collapse of the local economy. Just because the government tries to lowball all the numbers, downplay the severity of the accident, and that’s making it much worse.

AMY GOODMAN: What do you think has to be done now? I mean, one of the biggest problems is secrecy, both with the Tokyo company that runs the plants and also the government, the constant downplaying from the beginning. And yet, there are so many people who have been evacuated, who are demanding compensation. There was just a major protest at TEPCO with the people in the area who have been evaluated—no jobs, no money—saying, "We demand compensation."

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Well, TEPCO is like the little Dutch boy. All of a sudden we have cracks in the dike. You put a finger here, you put a finger there. And all of a sudden, new leaks start to occur, and they’re overwhelmed.

I suggest that they be removed from leadership entirely and be put as consultants. An international team of top physicists and engineers should take over, with the authority to use the Japanese military. I think the Japanese military is the only organization capable of bringing this raging accident under control. And that’s what Gorbachev did in 1986. He saw this flaming nuclear power station in Chernobyl. He called out the Red Air Force. He called out helicopters, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and buried the Chernobyl reactor in 5,000 tons of cement, sand and boric acid. That’s, of course, a last ditch effort. But I think the Japanese military should be called out.

AMY GOODMAN: To do...?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Because of the fact that the radiation levels are so great, workers can only go in for perhaps 10 minutes, 15 minutes at a time, and they get their year’s dose of radiation. You’re there for one hour, and you have radiation sickness. You vomit. Your white corpuscle count goes down. Your hair falls out. You’re there for a day, and you get a lethal amount of radiation. At Chernobyl, there were 600,000 people mobilized, each one going in for just a few minutes, dumping sand, concrete, boric acid onto the reactor site. Each one got a medal. That’s what it took to bring one raging nuclear accident under control. And I think the utility here is simply outclassed and overwhelmed.

AMY GOODMAN: And yet, these workers are in for much longer periods of time.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: That’s right. And we don’t even know how much radiation levels they’re getting, because many areas around the site have no monitors. So we don’t even know how much radiation many of these workers are getting. And that’s why I’m saying, if you have access to the military, you can have the option of sandbagging the reactor, encasing it in concrete, or at least have a reserve of troops that can go in for brief periods of times and bring this monster under control.

AMY GOODMAN: What about the evacuation zone? Is it big enough?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: It’s pathetic. The United States government has already stated 50 miles for evacuating U.S. personnel. The French government has stated that all French people should consider leaving the entire islands. And here we are with a government talking about six miles, 10 miles, 12 miles. And the people there are wondering, "What’s going on with the government? I mean, why aren’t they telling us the truth?" Radiation levels are now rising 25 miles from the site, far beyond the evacuation zone. And remember that we could see an increase in leukemia. We could see an increase in thyroid cancers. That’s the inevitable consequence of releasing enormous quantities of iodine into the environment.

AMY GOODMAN: What has to happen to the plant ultimately?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Well, in the best-case scenario—this is the scenario devised by the utility itself—they hope to bring it under control by the end of this year. By the end of this year, they hope to have the pumps working, and the reaction is finally stabilized by the end of this year.

AMY GOODMAN: Oddly, it’s sounding a little bit like BP when they were trying to plug up the hole.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Right.

AMY GOODMAN: "It will happen. It will happen."

DR. MICHIO KAKU: They’re literally making it up as they go along. We’re in totally uncharted territories. You get any nuclear engineering book, look at the last chapter, and this scenario is not contained in the last chapter of any nuclear engineering textbook on the planet earth. So they’re making it up as they go along. And we are the guinea pigs for this science experiment that’s taking place. Then it could take up to 10 years, up to 10 years to finally dismantle the reactor. The last stage is entombment. This is now the official recommendation of Toshiba, that they entomb the reactor over a period of many years, similar to what happened in Chernobyl.

AMY GOODMAN: Entomb it in...?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: In a gigantic slab of concrete. You’re going to have to drill underneath to make sure that the core does not melt right into the ground table. And you’re going to put 5,000 tons of concrete and sand on top of the flaming reactor.

AMY GOODMAN: Should people be concerned about any food that says "From Japan"?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Not from Japan. But remember, in the area, the sea, we’re talking about levels that are millions of times beyond legal levels found right there. However, as you start to get out further, radiation levels drop rather considerably.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to talk about policy in this country. I mean, we are now seeing happening in Japan this horrific event. Japan was the target of the dawn of the Nuclear Age, right?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Mm-hmm.

AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Your own family mirrors the history of the Nuclear Age. Can you talk just briefly about that, before we talk about current U.S. policy?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Yeah, first of all, I have relatives in Tokyo, and they’re wondering about evacuation. In fact, some of my relatives have already evacuated from Tokyo. They have little children. And radiation has already appeared in the drinking water in Tokyo. And so, people are wondering, you know, especially for young children, for pregnant women, should they leave. People are voting with their feet now. A lot of people are voluntarily evacuating from Tokyo, because they simply don’t believe the statements of the utility, which have consistently lowballed all the estimates of radiation damage.

AMY GOODMAN: And, though, in the past, in terms of your own family’s history, your parents, being interned in the Japanese American internment camps?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: That’s right. In California, my parents were interned in the relocation camps from 1942 to 1946, four years where they were put essentially behind barbed wire and machine guns, under the supervision of the United States military.

AMY GOODMAN: And yet, you became a nuclear physicist, interestingly enough, and you worked with the people who made the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Yeah. In fact, my high school adviser was Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb. And he arranged for me to get a scholarship to Harvard, in fact, and that began my career as a nuclear scientist. And Edward Teller, of course, wanted me to work on the Star Wars program. He put a lot of pressure and said, "Look, we’ll give you fellowships, scholarships. Go to Los Alamos National Laboratory, Livermore National Laboratory. Design hydrogen bombs." But I said no. I said, "I cannot see my expertise being used to advance the cause of war."

AMY GOODMAN: And you’ve been very outspoken when it comes to nuclear power in the United States. This, of course, has raised major issues about nuclear power plants around the world, many countries saying they’re not moving forward. President Obama is taking the opposite position. He really is very much the nuclear renaissance man. He is talking about a nuclear renaissance and has not backed off, in fact reiterated, saying this will not stop us from building the first nuclear power plants in, what, decades.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Well, there’s something called a Faustian bargain. Faust was this mythical figure who sold his soul to the devil for unlimited power. Now, the Japanese government has thrown the dice with a Faustian bargain. Japan has very little fossil fuel reserves, no hydroelectric power to speak of, and so they went nuclear. However, in the United States, we’re now poised, at this key juncture in history, where the government has to decide whether to go to the next generation of reactors. These are the so-called gas-cooled pebble bed reactors, which are safer than the current design, but they still melt down. The proponents of this new renaissance say that you can go out to dinner and basically have a leisurely conversation even as your reactor melts down. But it still melts. That’s the bottom line.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, what do you think should happen? Do you think nuclear power plants should be built in this country?

DR. MICHIO KAKU: I think there should be a national debate, a national debate about a potential moratorium. The American people have not been given the full truth, because, for example, right north of New York City, roughly 30 miles north of where we are right now, we have the Indian Point nuclear power plant, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has now admitted that of all the reactors prone to earthquakes, the one right next to New York City is number one on that list. And the government itself, back in 1980, estimated that property damage would be on the order of about $200 billion in case of an accident, in 1980 dollars, at the Indian Point nuclear power station.

AMY GOODMAN: No private corporation could even build a nuclear power plant: you have to have the taxpayers footing the bill.

DR. MICHIO KAKU: You have to have what is called the Price-Anderson Act, having the United States government guarantee the insurance. Nobody will guarantee—nobody will sell an insurance policy for a nuclear power plant, because who can afford a $200 billion accident? That’s why the United States government has underwritten the insurance for every nuclear power plant. So the Price-Anderson Act is an act of Congress that mandates the U.S. government, the taxpayers, will underwrite the insurance, because nuclear power stations are not insurable.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Dr. Michio Kaku. We’re going to go to break, and when we come back, we want to ask him about, well, his new book, Physics of the Future: How Science Will Change Daily Life by 2100. What would be a day in the life of the future? Is it possible that, oh, the internet can be in your contact lens, that cars will drive themselves? Just what we’ll ask Dr. Kaku when we come back. Stay with us.

[Michael]

Russia Today
April 13, 2011

Prof. Chris Busby: 400,000 to develop cancer in 200 km radius of Fukushima

Uploaded by RussiaToday on Apr 13, 2011
5:43

Engineers at Japan's Fukushima plant continue work on emptying highly radioactive water from one of the nuclear reactors. The latest tests show that radiation levels in the sea near the damaged facility have spiked. On Tuesday, Japan raised the level of nuclear alert at the plant to the maximum of seven, putting it on a par with the Chernobyl disaster. Recovery efforts came under threat as series of powerful aftershocks hit the area near the power station. It came a month after the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated the country, leaving over 13 thousand people dead. Monitoring stations around the world have been picking up small amounts of radioactive particles spreading from Fukushima.