Mutations found in sea life along US West Coast — Deformed spines, brains, hearts, eyes reported by
September 22, 2015
>PHOTOS: Mutations found in sea life along US West Coast — Deformed spines, brains, hearts, eyes reported by officials — Malformations include extra brain lobes, hunchbacks, parts of face missing, unusual limbs
NOAA Fisheries https://archive.is/WZTtr , Apr 2, 2015 (emphasis added): Here is an unusual sea star collected during last year’s bottom trawl survey on the chartered West Coast fishing vessel… (Top Comment: Hmm… mutation, clearly; etiology is – what?)
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium – Local Environmental Observer https://archive.is/2dcwU , Jun 21, 2015: Deformed fish – Tununak, AK… I caught a halibut with… part of its nose and upper lip part appears missing… [Dr. Ted Meyers, State Fish Pathologist said] “The abnormality appears to be an upper and lower jaw deformity, and possibly a deformity of the eyes… The right eye is sunken and has thickened peri-orbital tissue, likely another developmental anomaly. Most likely the jaw deformity is congenital, possibly occurring during embryogenesis… Eye deformities are usually congenital as well.”
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium – Local Environmental Observer https://archive.is/2dcwU , Feb 27, 2015: Deformed fish – Toksook Bay, AK… This is blackfish that has either a growth or dislocation on the left side of the fish. It looks more like a growth to me. There’s small tannish colored on top of the bump. On top of the head is white-ish colored streak… LEO Comment: … this is probably not cause for concern, although certainly worth posting as a LEO observation. If however, you observe several fish with the same condition, we begin to question if there is some kind of illness or environmental cause that would require further investigation… [Dr. Ted Meyers said] “This fish looks like a developmental deformity… There could be a neoplastic growth underneath the tissues causing the linear deviation but more likely there was either a defect during embryogenesis or a traumatic injury early after hatching…”
The Marine Mammal Center https://archive.is/O5OfS , Apr 2012: A modern day health problem! Congenital defects in elephant seals, such as spinal deformities and cleft palates… [A]n elephant seal pup, has… a deformity, or birth defect, which gives her a “hunchback”… why are elephant seals so prone to birth defects? The answer may lie with this pinniped’s brush with near extinction hundreds of years ago… potentially causing the present-day problems of congenital defects such as cleft palates, spinal deformities and heart, brain and eye deformities… researchers plan on comparing the spines of these and other recent patients…
SF Chronicle https://archive.is/fLNFV , Apr 19, 2012: With her dewy brown eyes, velvety fur and glossy whiskers, TVA is a lovely specimen of an elephant seal. Except for the hunchback. The month-old pinniped [was] rescued in… Marin County… [She] has an extra vertebra in her spine, bulging into a pronounced hump… Several of her compatriots at the center also have birth defects – cleft palates, scoliosis, extra brain lobes… Scientists are seeing signs of weakened physiologies – specifically, emaciation – this spring at the Marine Mammal Center. (CAPTION: … Many of the baby elephant seals that turn up at the Center all have the same defect – curvature of the spine.)
Behind the Scenes / Proving negligence in TEPCO case daunting
August 22, 2015
>On July 31, the Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution announced its decision that former Tokyo Electric Power Co. Chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 75, and two other former company executives “should be indicted” in connection with the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster.
>In this case the “will of the people” has spoken to counter the prosecutor’s decision not to indict, but proving culpable negligence in an accident associated with a natural disaster will be difficult. The prosecution’s designated lawyer is expected to face an uphill battle to convict the three men.
>Concrete recognition
>“The decision clearly states that [TEPCO] should’ve been able to foresee the onslaught of the tsunami,” said Hiroyuki Kawai, lawyer for the Complainants for the Criminal Prosecution of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, at a press conference held in Tokyo following the decision to indict. “The prospects for the trial are bright.”
>The inquest committee and the prosecution, however, are far apart over whether the three individuals accused could “foresee” the likelihood of a massive tsunami and the ensuing disaster.
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002338557
https://web.archive.org/web/20150825001005/http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002338557
Japan’s Nuclear Gypsies: The Homeless, Jobless and Fukushima
August 21, 2015
>The cleanup efforts in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in northern Japan have revealed the plight of the Japanese unemployed, marginally employed day laborers and the homeless. They are called the “precariat,” Japan’s proletariat, living precariously on the knife-edge of the work world, without full employment or job security. They are derided as “glow in the dark boys,” “jumpers” (one job to another) and “nuclear gypsies.” They have even been dubbed “burakumin,” a hostile term for Japan’s untouchables, members of the lowest rung on the ladder in Japanese society.
>They are unskilled and virtually untrained and are the nuclear decontamination workers recruited by Japanese gangsters, Yakuza, to make Fukushima in northern Japan livable again. These jobs are some of the most dangerous and undesirable jobs in the industrialized world, a $35 billion, taxpayer-funded effort to clean up radioactive fallout across an area of northern Japan larger than Hong Kong. Reuters and the L.A. Times have both described the project as an unprecedented effort.
>Reuters made a direct comparison between Fukushima and the Chernobyl “incident.” Unlike Ukraine and the 1986 nuclear “accident” at Chernobyl, where authorities declared a 1,000 square-mile no-habitation zone, resettled 350,000 people and allowed radiation to take care of itself, Japan is attempting to make the Fukushima region livable again.
Continues in the article.
Sendai Reactor Has Condenser Malfunction, Volcano Risk Increases
August 21, 2015
>The only operating reactor in Japan has developed a problem with its condenser system. Detection of conductivity was found in the secondary loop system indicating sea water was leaking from the condenser. In pressurized water reactors of the type at Sendai there is a middle piping loop to transfer heat so that the sea water is never in direct potential contact with the reactor water.
>Currently the demineralizer system has been able to remove the salt leaking into the secondary loop. Kyushu power says they will hold the reactor at 75% power until the condenser leak can be investigated. Depending on the extent of the problem they may be able to continue operating or defer repairs until the next refueling outage.
>Meanwhile at the nearby Sakurajima volcano concerns for a major eruption have escalated. The Showa vent on the volcano has plugged up with debris and now the volcano is seeing increasing pressure.
>“The vent has almost been blocked up, and explosive power is increasing as a result of heightened pressure inside the vent,” said Masato Iguchi, the scientist who heads the Kyoto University’s Sakurajima Volcano Research Center. Iguchi joined the aerial survey undertaken by the Japan Meteorological Agency on Aug. 19 to study the situation.”
>The Minamidaki vent area has seen the land expand 16cm on the east and west sides. This change indicates that magma is rising in the Showa vent.
http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=14986
https://web.archive.org/web/20150825000439/http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=14986
Scientists stunned as 3 rare giant oarfish found dead off Los Angeles in recent weeks
August 20, 2015
>Los Angeles Times, Aug 17, 2015 (emphasis added): https://archive.is/yDSjP Biggest oarfish seen at Catalina Island in years washes ashore… marking a rare sighting of the deep-sea creature… [It] was 24 feet long when it was alive, said Annie MacAulay, a marine biologist… its tail [was] severed off — which oarfish have been known to do to shed weight and save energy, she said… The one found Monday had an empty pocket in its stomach, which MacAulay said could mean it recently stopped eating, a potential sign of distress or sickness… a handful of oarfish [have] washed up on California’s coasts in recent years.
>New York Daily News, Aug 17, 2015: https://archive.is/ktO16Stunned scientists fished for clues Monday to explain the origin of the giant oarfish that washed up on the shores of Catalina — the third massive marine oarfish found on the island in two years’ time [see articles below for additional finds]… The sleek silver fish was missing its pectoral fins and tail… perplexed researchers are looking for a reason why. Dr. Misty Paig-Tran from California State University Fullerton collected tissue samples… to determine whether it had any toxins in its system. But questions still remain as to why these fish are dying… The conservationist also speculated that water pollution could be to blame.
Japan utilities spent 1.4 trillion yen to maintain idled nuclear plants
August 18, 2015
>TOKYO (Kyodo) – Nine Japanese utilities had to spend a total of about 1.4 trillion yen ($11.3 billion) last fiscal year to maintain their idled nuclear power plants, financial statements showed Monday, revealing costs that led to higher electricity charges in the country.
>One of them restarted a reactor last week despite strong public opposition, adding to the view the utilities are trying to reactivate their idled plants as soon as possible to help rehabilitate their balance sheets, also damaged by rising fuel costs for alternative power generation.
>All of the country's commercial reactors remained offline in fiscal 2014, which ended March 31, amid heightened safety concerns following the 2011 nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi complex.
>Tokyo Electric spent the most (548.6 billion yen) due mainly to the Fukushima Daini nuclear complex – located about 10 kilometers south of the Fukushima Daiichi – as well as the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant it hopes to reactivate.
>Kansai Electric Power Co., which relied heavily on nuclear power in its business before the Fukushima disaster, spent 298.8 billion yen, while Kyushu Electric Power Co. spent 136.3 billion yen.
>Last week, a reactor owned by Kyushu Electric became the first to come back online under upgraded regulations introduced after the Fukushima meltdowns.
>Five of the nine companies – Tohoku Electric Power Co., Tokyo Electric, Chubu Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co. and Kansai Electric – also had to pay some 130 billion yen to Japan Atomic Power Co., even though their reactors remained idled.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150818p2g00m0bu011000c.html
Official: “Thousands of Millions” of fish wash up dead in Alaska
August 18, 2015
>Alaska Dispatch News, Aug 13, 2015 (emphasis added): Warm water killing fish in Mat-Su and Anchorage… killing salmon in the Matanuska and Susitna valleys… Arctic char… have also gone belly up… “It will have some impact but in the long term for species that return multiple age classes, I wouldn’t characterize it as a disaster,” said Mike Bethe, Mat-Su area manager for the Habitat Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game… dead salmon have been found near the [Knik River's] weir… Dead fish have been turning up in other Mat-Su streams…
http://www.adn.com/article/20150813/warm-water-killing-fish-mat-su-and-anchorage
>Juneau Empire, Aug 7, 2015: Herring mystery… dead baby herring in the algae-filled empty squares of the Statter Harbor breakwater. “It’s hard to know why, but there’s a lot of them,” Juneau-based marine ecologist Michelle Ridgway] said. “It’s fairly dramatic.”
http://juneauempire.com/outdoors/2015-08-07/photos-herring-mystery
>KUCB, Aug 17, 2015: Dead herring… on Unalaska shorelines… “Hundreds of herring floating in the water,” Caleb Livingston [said] “But what really got my attention was the few that drifted on the beach were not being eaten by the eagles, or seagulls or terns.” Scientists have been receiving reports of dead and dying whales, birds and the small fish… “Their fins are deteriorated while their eyes are intact,” [Melissa Good, Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks] said. “I think it’s probably bait fish that got dumped.” Even so, Good said she will send herring… to an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation lab…
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/08/17/dead-herring-poison-mussels-found-on-unalaska-shorelines/
>Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Feb 24, 2015:
>26:45 — Moses Tcheripanoff, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium geographer: If you wouldn’t mind sharing with us a little about what’s going on here, it’s a really interesting observation.
>27:30 — Roderick Phillip, Environmental Coordinator for the Native Village of Kongiganak, AK: Needlefish, thousands of millions [i.e. billions] of needlefish… For about a mile there was needlefish and smelts. Dead needlefish… It was just millions of needlefish, piles of them… and also smelts. Last year… same situation… It was the first time we heard of needlefish and smelts being flooded out of the river.
>29:30 – M. Tcheripanoff: How did all those fish die? … I’m trying to understand what exactly happened to cause the fish die-off… You haven’t ever seen this kind of thing happen before, other than last year?
>30:45 — R. Phillip: I talked to the local board and elders, they haven’t heard about this [happening before].
http://anthc.adobeconnect.com/p1au00mqfew/
>Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Local Environmental Observers Network, Feb 20, 2015: Fish die-off… Kongiganak, Alaska… This is unusual for our community to see thousands of fish dead… like last year we are starting to see this happen. I have not seen anything like this ever since I could remember for the past 35 years. Last years fish die off was the first and recently a lot more fish died off in a larger scale.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zVlWCHOsZb5g.ktm1dV2miUaE
Whales continue to die off in Pacific Ocean; scientists suspect Fukushima radiation at fault
July 11, 2015
>Whales have been dropping like flies in the Gulf of Alaska. Approximately nine whale carcasses were sited in late May and early June. Now, fisherman have spotted five more decomposing whales, a fin whale and four humpbacks, to add to the death toll.
>The first two whale deaths reported in May sparked a flurry of attention from government agencies, including the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
>No one knows what caused the death of the whales; however, scientists are narrowing in on the kernel of truth as they weed out possibilities. What scientists do know is that all the whales appear to have died around the same time.
>Warmth-induced algae blooms theory debunked
>The Gulf of Alaska waters have been warm lately. A working hypothesis was that the whales were dying from domoic acid, which is a toxin produced by warmth-induced algae blooms. This did not seem entirely implausible, since the whales share similar eating habits. Nevertheless, this hypothesis was ruled out after test results taken from a partially decomposing whale fin carcass came back negative.
>Samples have only been taken from one whale carcass so far. Researchers are still awaiting the results on two others tests for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and cesium-137.
>“We do not have conclusive evidence to link their mortality to algal blooms but continue to sample water/plankton/shellfish with a network of folks statewide,” Kate Wynne, a marine mammal specialist investigating the whale deaths, told sources in an email.“Hopefully, by monitoring current conditions and tracking/recording carcasses, we will be quicker to note and respond to a future event if it happens.”
http://globalnews.ca/news/2105266/whale-deaths-in-gulf-of-alaska-puzzle-scientists/
http://www.adn.com/article/20150710/more-whales-found-dead-southern-alaska-waters
Fukushima Power System Failure Takes Down Ice Wall & Nitrogen Injection
July 28, 2015
>The power system to operate the freezing of the ice wall and also the nitrogen interting system for the damaged reactors failed early in the morning of July 28th. https://archive.is/8q22I Ten hours later NHK reported that the two systems were back online using a different power system. https://archive.is/YKmR7 The frozen wall takes a longer time frame to begin thawing out. It isn’t clear yet if the halt of nitrogen injection impacted the reactors.
>TEPCO now reports that a landscaping pin was the cause of the power failure. http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150728_06-j.pdf
Gov’t Official: Chilling report from Pacific Ocean… “Silence on the seas”
July 21, 2015
>Gov’t Official: Chilling report from Pacific Ocean… “Silence on the seas” — “Quite literally, there isn’t any fish” — Japan Professor: Fukushima posing reproduction risk to marine life, ongoing concern over bio-accumulation of radioactive material (VIDEOS)
>Senator Penelope Wright, Parliament of Australia, Mar 5, 2015 (emphasis added): “Like many others, I read an article in 2013 by Ivan Macfadyen called ‘The ocean is broken‘ https://archive.is/z1dFP. It was published in The Sydney Morning Herald… He is an experienced sailor, so he had the ability to compare his experience then with… other trips. It was chilling. It was heartbreaking really. He had noticed changes in the last years. Basically, he was confronted by the silence that he heard, the silence on the seas, and he realised that this was attributable to the fact that [ ] they saw very, very few birds. They also caught very few fish… two fish.”
>Interview with Ivan Macfadyen, Talk Radio Europe, May 24, 2015 https://youtu.be/aQujxNTyO3Q?t=855 (at 14:30 in): “The reality was… if I would have had no spare dry food on the boat — relying on fish this time around — we would have starved to death — because, quite literally, there isn’t any fish. There’s vast tracks where they’re just all gone. Where you could fish reliably, they’re just not there… I used to fish here on exactly the same course, at exactly the same time of year… the same ocean, on the same course, into the same place — and I could catch fish everyday, and for some reason now 10 years later they’re all gone.”
>Though not discussed in the above interview, https://archive.is/Y9dA9 Macfadyen has attributed his statement “The ocean is broken” to the impact of Fukushima:
>-Host: What about sea birds and all of that?
>-Macfadyen: As you get closer up to Japan they’re all gone, they’re not there anymore… Everything’s all gone, it’s just like sailing in a dead sea… there’s nothing…
>-Host: After Japan you headed [to] America, did you see any impact from…Fukushima?
>-Macfadyen: It’s dead. That’s where I coined the phrase, ‘The ocean’s broken’ – because, for thousands of miles, there’s nothing. No birds, no fish, no sharks, no dolphins, no turtles… they’re not there… all those beautiful creatures, they’re just all gone… We’d seen a whale, round about probably 1,000 miles [off] Japan, just lying on the surface with like a big tumor… just behind its head… it looked like it was going to die… it didn’t try to get away, it didn’t flap its tail, it didn’t do anything… It had such a profound effect on me… Just talking about it makes me feel like I want to cry.
>Prof. Yukari Takamura, Nagoya Univ., Aug 25, 2014: On March 11 2011 [there was] an extremely severe nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant… According to the report of the French government… it is estimated that 27.1 thousand terabecquerels of radioactive cesium-137 had leaked into the ocean by July 2011, causing significant marine pollution. Even in July 2013, TEPCO announced that contaminated ground water in the area of Fukushima Daiichi NPP had been leaked into the plant port. There is ongoing concern that some of the radioactive material may be bio-accumulating in fish and marine animals… [A]n enormous amount of radioactive substances were emitted into the environment… Some research demonstrates the existence of a potential ecological risk… particularly for reproduction. The knowledge about a long-term radiological risk to the ecosystem is still very limited… environmental monitoring and increased knowledge is a key that will allow us to evaluate the ecological impact… The 1996 Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage… covers some damage to the environment by including recovery for the costs of measures of reinstatement of impaired environment, as well as for loss of income derived from an economic interest in any use or enjoyment of the environment.
>Watch Sen. Wright’s speech here https://youtu.be/giNR3lP4Z4Y
Tepco finally admitted irregular sinking in Fukushima plant
July 23, 2015
>On 7/21/2015, Tepco announced Fukushima plant area has irregularly sunk since 311.
>It has been known that the reference point sank by 709 mm but Tepco has not reported the height above the sea level of each building.
>The report reads Reactor 1 turbine building sank by 730 mm, Reactor 2 by 725 mm, Reactor 3 by 710 mm, Reactor 4 by 712 mm. However the readings of reactor buildings were not published for some reason.
>The buildings can be inclining due to this irregular sinking but the inclining degree has not been announced either. http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/handouts/2015/images/handouts_150721_08-j.pdf
Fukushima Daiichi Decommissioning: Follow The Money (Vimeo)
July 17, 2015
>Are the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi over? The answer is no. In Fairewinds’ latest video, Chief Engineer and nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen updates viewers on what’s going on at the Japanese nuclear meltdown site, Fukushima Daiichi.
>As the Japanese government and utility owner Tokyo Electric Power Company push for the quick decommissioning and dismantling of this man-made disaster, the press and scientists need to ask,
>“Why is the Ukrainian government waiting at least 100 years to attempt to decommission Chernobyl, while the Japanese Government and TEPCO claim that Fukushima Daiichi will be decommissioned and dismantled during the next 30 years?”
>Like so many big government + big business controversies, the answer has nothing to do with science, and everything to do with politics and money. To understand Fukushima Daiichi, you need to follow the money.
Massive debris removal project to get underway in Alaska
July 12, 2015
>JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A massive cleanup effort is getting underway in Alaska, with tons of marine debris — some likely sent to sea by the 2011 tsunami in Japan — set to be airlifted from rocky beaches and taken by barge for recycling and disposal in the Pacific Northwest.
>Hundreds of heavy-duty bags of debris, collected in 2013 and 2014 and stockpiled at a storage site in Kodiak, also will be shipped out. The barge is scheduled to arrive in Kodiak by Thursday, before setting off on a roughly one-month venture.
http://news.yahoo.com/massive-debris-removal-project-underway-alaska-153231933.html
Cesium-134/137 measured over 200 percent of safety level from Fukushima rice
July 15, 2015
>According to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, excessive amount of Cs-134/137 was detected from two unpolished rice samples produced in Fukushima city.
>The rice was experimentally produced but not distributed, the farmer states. The highest reading was 220 Bq/Kg in total of Cs-134/137. The safety limit is supposed to be 100 Bq/Kg.
>The sample was brought to Fukushima Agricultural Technology Centre this July.
(…)
Fisheries ‘shocked’ at silence over water leak at wrecked Fukushima No. 1 plant
February 25, 2015>Fishermen in Fukushima Prefecture slammed Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Wednesday after it emerged that water containing cesium and other radioactive isotopes has been draining into the Pacific near the Fukushima No. 1 plant and that Tepco did nothing to prevent it despite learning of the leak last May.
https://archive.today/LJhRe
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/02/25/national/tepco-admits-failed-disclose-cesium-tainted-water-leaks-since-april/
Fukushima cleanup fails to convince as just 10 to 20% of evacuees seek return
February 25, 2015>Less than one-fifth of evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear disaster say they want to return to their homes, despite government efforts to speed up reconstruction in areas with lower radiation levels.
>The finding came from a survey by the Reconstruction Agency conducted between August and October last year that covered about 7,100 evacuee households in Namie; 2,400 in Futaba; 4,000 in Okuma; and 5,600 in Tomioka.
https://archive.today/QRivp
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201502250050
Veneer Peels Off Fukushima Disaster
February 26, 2015https://archive.today/EffeO
>The carefully crafted veneer of recovery from the Fukushima nuclear disaster by the government is peeling in many ways.
>Protesters who have been camped out in front of the METI agency office since 2011 were told by a court to pay about $240,000 for their protest.
>The encampment has been a thorn in the side of the agency who was without a way to disperse the group of protesters and no interest in hearing their grievances.
>The Tokyo district court claimed the protesters were illegally occupying state owned (aka: public) land.
>News reports didn’t cite what law they were apparently breaking or if ordering citizens to pay for protesting is a normal legal action in Japan.
>Either way real estate prices in Tokyo are quite high.
>Little mentioned in the Japanese press as UK’s Prince William is touring select parts of Japan, is the protest of nuclear evacuees.
>Many accuse the tour as a stunt by PM Abe to try to create PR to help his effort to restart nuclear reactors in Japan.
>The tour appears to be a series of carefully crafted photo ops for the government while ignoring the reality for many in the region.
https://archive.today/EffeO
http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=14507
Busted! Fukushima Operator Concealed Radioactive Leak for Nearly a Year
February 26, 2015>Tokyo Electric Power Co., TEPCO, has been slammed by fishermen, for knowingly allowing radioactive substances to flow freely into the sea for ten months.
>Operators of the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant admitted that a drainage ditch allowed highly-contaminated water to flow into the sea, and that the leak was first detected back in May 2014.
>Fishermen were shocked to hear such confession, voicing disappointment in the company that has been criticized for the cleanup of the Fukushima disaster that happened four years ago.
https://archive.today/BC577
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150226/1018799566.html
Four years on, Tohoku towns still waiting for schools, homes, answers
March 1, 2015>“Inquiry” may be a buzzword in education these days, but for Tohoku students and parents, there are too many questions without answers.
>A month before the anniversary of the March 11, 2011, triple disaster, I traveled from Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, to Rikuzentakata and back to Tokyo, via Minamisoma in Fukushima.
>As I drove through Natori, on the Miyagi coastline, and past the no-go zone surrounding the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant on my way back south, pile after pile of black waste bags stretched out before me, each seemingly begging its own unanswered question.
https://archive.today/4pMo0
COVER-UP: US Navy sailors disappear as government, doctors bury truth about Fukushima radiation
March 10, 2015>(NaturalNews) U.S. Navy sailors exposed to radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster have been falling ill, even as the Defense Department insists that they were not exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Many of the sailors have now joined in a class action lawsuit against Fukushima operators and builders Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), Toshiba, Hitachi, Ebasco and General Electric.
>Even if they wanted to – which many do not – the sailors would be unable to sue the Navy. According to a Supreme Court ruling from the 1950s known as the Feres Doctrine, soldiers cannot sue the government for injuries resulting directly from their military service.
https://archive.today/uhL5l
Starving Sea Lions Washing Ashore by the Hundreds in California - The New York Times
March 13, 2015>CAPISTRANO BEACH, Calif. — By the time Wendy Leeds reached him, the sea lion pup had little hope of surviving.
>Like more than 1,450 other sea lions that have washed up on California beaches this year, in what animal experts call a growing crisis for the animal, this 8-month-old pup was starving, stranded and hundreds of miles from a mother who still needed to nurse him and teach him to hunt and feed. Ribs jutted from his velveteen coat.
>The pup had lain on the beach for hours, becoming the target of an aggressive dog before managing to wriggle onto the deck of a million-dollar oceanfront home, where the owner shielded him with an umbrella and called animal control. In came Ms. Leeds, an animal-care expert at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which like other California rescue centers is being inundated with calls about lost, emaciated sea lions. “It’s getting crazy,” she said.
>Experts suspect that unusually warm waters are driving fish and other food away from the coastal islands where sea lions breed and wean their young. As the mothers spend time away from the islands hunting for food, hundreds of starving pups are swimming away from home and flopping ashore from San Diego to San Francisco.
https://archive.today/Dauak
9K Billion Yen financial support from JP Gov to Tepco / Over 30 years to refund
March 29, 2015>On 3/23/2015, Board of Audit of Japan reported the financial support from the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation to Tepco sums up to 9K billion (9,000,000,000,000 / 9 Trillion in US way) Yen by now. The Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation is invested by Japanese government and other power companies.
>The corporation plans to collect the fund from Tepco’s profit and sales profit of Tepco’s company stock. However the company stock is only valued at approx. 1K Billion Yen. From their simulation, it may take over 30 years to collect the entire fund, but they admit it can take longer than that. Unless they boost the stock price of Tepco, they would not be able to collect the fund.
https://archive.today/jTEam
Significant amounts of Fukushima radiation detected on west coast
May 9th, 2015
>VIDEO: Significant amounts of Fukushima radiation detected on west coast — Nuclear Expert: Levels are 30 times worse than predicted… “and it’s just the beginning of the onslaught”; Scientists have no clue about what’s coming, their real goal was downplaying damage to Pacific
>Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Energy Education, World Uranium Symposium — Fukushima Workshop https://vimeo.com/127077218 , April 2015 (emphasis added):
>*At 7:30 in — Last week, Woods Hole announced a study that showed that about… 7 becquerels per cubic meter [has reached the west coast of North America].
>*They called it ‘trace amounts’. I don’t call 7 Bq/m^3 a ‘trace amount’… that’s significant and measurable, and it’s just the beginning of the onslaught.
>*There was a study in 2012 that predicted how much radiation was going to get to the west coast of B.C. … [It] was 29 times lower than what [Woods Hole] actually measured.
>*So scientists have no clue how to measure what’s transporting through the ocean. Studies two years ago are already wrong by essentially a factor of 30.
>*The scientists’… real goal was to downplay the significance of the damage to the Pacific Ocean. It is in fact 29 times worse than predicted.
Experts: Plutonium levels 10,000,000 times normal in water below Fukushima reactors
July 10th, 2015
>Experts: Plutonium levels 10,000,000 times normal in water below Fukushima reactors — Plutonium hit record high off coast in 2014 — “Has been transported relatively long distances” – Every sample taken from rivers flowing into Pacific had Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241,and Pu-242 from plant
Scientists from Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Hirosaki University, and Peking University (pdf), May 2015 (emphasis added): Pu Distribution in Seawater in the Near Coastal Area off Fukushima… the amount of Pu isotopes directly released into the marine environment remains unknown. In the high level radioactive accumulated water collected at the FDNPP after the accident, high level radioactivities of Pu isotopes (ca. 10-3 Bq/mL) were detected. These values were 6 to 7 orders of magnitudes [1,000,000 – 10,000,000 times] higher than that of the seawater in the western North Pacific. In addition, a new study on Pu isotopes… suggested there was a potential sediment-borne Pu supply from Fukushima coastal rivers to the Pacific Ocean. Thus more attention should be paid to the contamination situation of Pu isotopes in the marine environment off Fukushima since the FDNPP accident… Pu isotopes in seawater… needs to be routinely investigated… There are two sampling sites close to the FDNP… 239+240Pu concentrations in seawater were reported in 2012-2014 and the range was from detection limit to 14 mBq/m3 except 31 mBq/m3 observed at T-2-1 site on 10 April 2014.
Scientists from Japan, Belgium, and French gov’t (pdf), 2015: Tracing the dispersion of contaminated sediment with plutonium isotope measurements in coastal catchments of Fukushima Prefecture — The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident led to important releases of radionuclides into the environment, and trace levels of plutonium (Pu) were detected in northeastern Japan… In this study, we measured Pu isotopic ratios in recently deposited sediments along rivers draining the most contaminated part of the inland radioactive plume… Results showed that the entire range of measured Pu isotopes (i.e. 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, and 242Pu) were detected in all samples, although in extremely low concentrations. The 241Pu/239Pu atom ratios measured in sediment deposits (0.0017 – 0.0884) were significantly higher than the corresponding values attributed to the global fallout (0.00113 – 0.00008 on average in the Northern Hemisphere between 31-71 N)… These results demonstrate that this radionuclide has been transported relatively long distances… and deposited in rivers representing a potential source of Pu to the ocean.
View from Inside Fukushima Prefecture: Vastly Different from Govt. Pronouncements
July 8th, 2015
Because of Japan’s unconscionable open-ended new secrecy law, it is very likely journalism in the nation has turned tail, scared of its own shadow. Nevertheless, glimmers of what has happened, of what is happening, do surface when brave people come forward.
On May 22nd 2015 Hiromichi Ugaya, a photojournalist who is well-informed, insightful, and engaging, was interviewed about what he witnessed in the aftermath of one of the world’s most horrendous disasters.
Hiromichi Ugaya was born in Kyoto City, Japan in 1963. He is an accomplished photojournalist with experience in both Japan and the United States, receiving his bachelor’s degree at Kyoto National University and his master’s degree at Columbia University.
Naïveté of Public
Hiromichi first visited Fukushima within two weeks of the disaster, and he has returned nearly 50 times to photograph scenes. His is a personal mission because the tragedy does not receive adequate media coverage. According to him, very few journalists cover the aftermath; television in Japan has lost interest; the public is blasé and dangerously naïve; Japanese publishers do not entertain stories about Fukushima, and the mainstream media in Japan ignores the impact of the aftermath.
Curiously, it’s as if a news blackout has been covertly instituted, and maybe it has. What people do not see, do not hear becomes invisible, out of sight out of mind, similar to the after-affects of radiation exposure, which are not felt, not smelled, not tasted, not physically recognized by people, until it’s too late, until it’s too late, until it’s too late.
media silenceThen again, maybe The Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, Act No. 108 promulgated on December 13, 2013 is quelling public opinion?
According to a leading Japanese newspaper, the law “almost limitlessly widens the range of what can be considered confidential,” and the new secrecy law allows bureaucrats and politicians to “designate state secrets to their liking,” Nobuyuki Sugiura, Managing Editor, Tokyo Head Office, Asahi Shimbun will continue to respond to the public’s right to know, The Asahi Shimbun, December 7, 2013.
Those who leak state secrets face up to 10 years in prison.
And, repeating that standardized rule: Bureaucrats and politicians can “designate state secrets to their liking.” Is this a world’s first? Does this mean that bureaucrats and politicians can determine the fate of anybody and/or everything?
In the face of cowardly authoritarianism, history teaches lessons of harsh reality, for example, Chernobyl is an example of the long-term tragedy associated with nuclear accidents, thirty years later, nearly one million dead (source: Alexey V. Yablokov, Center for Russian Environmental Policy, Moscow, Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment, The New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 1181, December 2009).
Chronicling the first four years of Fukushima, Hiromichi Ugaya composed a photo book about the tragedy as a personal countermeasure to widespread public apathy: Portrait of Fukushima: 2011-2015: Life After Meltdown, which is a treasure trove of over 200 unpublished photos, telling the story from the beginning to the present.
Regions of Fukushima persist ghostlike: “America Tonight journeyed to the affected areas, which are separated into zones of higher and lower radiation risk. In the hardest-hit area, known as the “exclusion zone,” the streets remain virtually empty, eerily silent and frozen in time at the moment residents fled the quaking earth and incoming sea. The garbage and debris that litter the area defy the kempt and pristine neighborhoods for which Japan is famous,” Michael Okwu, Inside Fukushima’s Ghost Towns, Aljazeera America, Jan.6, 2014.
>Continues in the article.
Arnie Gundersen presents Fukushima workshop at the World Uranium Symposium in Quebec City
May 7th, 2015