Sunday 18 May 2014

Fukushima update - 05/17/2014

Just because you ignore a problem for a while it doesn't go away!!

Will Fukushima Daiichi Kill Vast Swathes of Life in the Pacific Ocean?



11 Janury, 2014


(Hat tip: The argument outlined here was suggested in a careful assemblage of Enenews headlines, particularly this one:



The nuclear village is prepped for the propaganda war.

Nuclear scientists are lined up ready with their research to minimize the impact. Even non-biased scientists may grossly underestimate Fukushima contamination by relying on flawed models.

We see this concerted trivialization of potential Fukushima effects at online sites such as Deep Sea News, which has recently committed to “combat misinformation about the presence of high levels of Fukushima radiation…” with articles such as:
                            

These articles attempt to debunk radiation as a cause by logic rather than empirical data. What are missing from the Deep Sea analyses are actual empirical measurements of radiation levels. Lack of empirical data calls into question Deep Sea’s conclusions.

Scientists predicting ocean contamination from Fukushima based on samples taken in 2011 and 2012 may be grossly under-estimating the volume of total releases occurring across time.

For example, one study estimated total releases of strontium based samples analyzed in 2012. So, the samples were either taken in 2011 or 2012.

N. Casacuberta, P. Masqu´e, J. Garcia-Orellana, R. Garcia-Tenorio, and K. O. Buesseler (2013) 90Sr and 89Sr in seawater off Japan as consequence of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident Biogeosciences Discuss., 10, 2039–2067

Here we calculated the release of 90Sr by using the 90Sr/137Cs ratio data obtained from the analyzed samples (Buesseler et al., 2012), once corrected for background concentrations (1.2 and 2.5 Bqm−3 for 90Sr and 137Cs, respectively) (IAEA, 2005) (Fig. 7).

This study does not anticipate a sharp increase in the volume of strontium released by Fukushima Daiichi across time in its estimates of total releases, although it does acknowledge direct discharges of cooling water into the ocean:

Thus, the inventory of 90Sr Fukushima-derived in the oceans from 19±6 to 265±74 Bqm−3, respectively. While the occurrence of 89Sr is an evident signal of Fukushima-derived releases, the activities of 90Sr measured in some stations reached values two orders of magnitude higher than the background levels reported in this area (i.e. 1.2 Bqm−3). The 90Sr/137Cs ratio has been calculated to be 0.0265±5 0.0006 (in May–June 2011) although it may have varied, especially after a significant leakage of contaminated waters that occurred in December 2011. This ratio is unique and significantly different than that of the global atmospheric fallout produced by nuclear weapon tests, which was 0.63 and it may be used in future studies to track waters coming from Fukushima. Results of the samples analyzed here evidenced a much 10 stronger influence of direct discharges of cooling water into the sea and the oceanic background concentration, rather than atmospheric deposition. Direct discharges have been quantified on the basis of the estimates of 137Cs discharges and the 90Sr/137Cs ratio, resulting in a range between 90 and 900 TBq of 90Sr.

This study’s results for total releases will not be valid if strontium contamination increases exponentially.

It appears that strontium contamination is increasing exponentially. Radiation levels in fresh and sea water sampling have been rising steadily since the summer of 2013:

Record radiation levels detected in well at Fukushima nuke plant Dec 14 2013, The Asahi Shimbun, 

A record 1.8 million becquerels of beta-ray sources per liter of water were detected at a monitoring well at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Dec. 13. The reading concerns strontium and other beta-ray sources. The water was sampled at a monitoring well in an area close to the sea near the No. 2 reactor building on Dec. 12. The well is located close to trenches holding highly radioactive water. TEPCO said the reading apparently spiked after highly radioactive water seeped into the surroundings through failed parts of the trenches

Fukushima Diary analyzed TEPCO’s December 2013 data and reported unprecedented levels of  strontium:

1,900,000,000 Bq/m3 of all β nuclide on seaside of reactor2 / Keeps increasing for a month. Posted by Mochizuki on December 23rd, 2013 http://fukushima-diary.com/2013/12/1900000000-bqm3-of-all-%CE%B2-nuclide-in-groundwater-on-seaside-of-reactor2-keeps-increasing-for-a-month/

Significantly high level of all β nuclide (including Strontium-90) is detected in groundwater on the seaside of reactor2, and it’s breaking the highest records every time Tepco analyzes. This is the groundwater sampled from one of the borings between reactor2 and the sea. From Tepco’s own data, the density has been increasing at least since 11/25/2013. The latest reading is 1,900,000,000 Bq/m3, which is measured on 12/19/2013. This is approx. as double as the one of 11/25/2013.

Majia here: Ok so strontium levels in the ground water and in ocean samples have been spiking massively. That is why TEPCO has been withholding readings:

TEPCO withheld Fukushima radioactive water measurements for 6 months (2014, January 9) The Asahi Shimbun http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201401090060

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has withheld 140 measurements of radioactive strontium levels taken in groundwater and the port of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant between June and November last year. TEPCO has been releasing the combined levels of all radioactive substances, including strontium, that emit beta rays, at the crippled nuclear plant. But strontium levels exceeded the all-beta readings in some instances, leading the utility to decide they were “wrong” and to withhold them from public releases, TEPCO officials said Jan. 8. Previously, TEPCO officials said they had not released the data because the numbers were not confirmed.

Majia here: So, from these rising contamination levels we can conclude that the published research studies predicting total strontium contamination of the ocean are going to grossly under-estimate actual total contamination.

What we need is a model that predicts trends in strontium contamination under the conditions found at the Daiichi site.

First, what conditions are found at Daiichi? TEPCO admitted in May of 2011 that core melt-throughs had occurred at the Daiichi site. Melted fuel has breached containment and is in direct contact with water at the site.

The Daiichi site is very, very wet because it was built on the site of an old river bed, which was diverted for construction. The river has returned to its historical course under the Daiichi site.

This explains why site liquefaction is occurring at the Daiichi site. So, we need a model of strontium contamination based on a water-logged melt-through scenario. 

Enenews reported on a German study that roughly uses these parameters, although the German model was less water-saturated

Study finds giant strontium-90 release into body of water begins around 1,000 days after reactor meltdown — 1,000 days after 3/11 = December 2013 — Graphic shows very high levels discharged for tens of thousands of days http://enenews.com/study-finds-giant-strontium-90-release-into-body-of-water-begins-around-1000-days-after-meltdown-dec-5-2013-is-a-thousand-days-after-311-graphic-shows-very-high-levels-being-discharged-for-u

The German simulation found that strontium-90 levels in ground water would likely spike dramatically 1,000 days after a meltdown. The study was published in the 1990s but has relevance for Fukushima’s melt-throughs. I read the article and this passage stood out: 
The highest radionuclide concentration of approx. 10 to the tenth power Bq/m3 is reached by Sr-90 after 5000 days. The effective equivalent dose for an adult is above 10 the second power Sv/a.


After a prolonged period of about 10,000 days, Cs-137 reaches a maximum of about 10 to the eight power Bq/m3. The effective equivalent dose for this radioncuclide is approximately 1 sv/a.

A. Bayer, W. Tromm, & I. Al-Omari. Dispersion of Radionuclides and Radiation Exposure After Leaching by Groundwater of a Solidified Core-Concrete Melt. http://www.irpa.net/irpa8/cdrom/VOL.1/M1_97.PDF

Majia here: This study may lend insight into TEPCO data on spiking strontium contamination.

The study’s model best fits the data on spiking contamination levels, providing more conceptual and empirical evidence that at least one of the units at Fukushima Daiichi experienced full melt-through, known in popular jargon as ‘China Syndrome.’The Pacific Ocean is going to be hammered with Strontium-90 for years and years.


Majia here: Hideo Yamazaki, a marine biologist at Kinki University, believes the site will continue to contaminate the ocean for years until massive structural repairs are made: ‘The current levels of contamination in the fish and seafood from the Fukushima coast will continue for a while, perhaps more than 10 years, judging from the progress in the cleanup process’. [i] 

Marine animals at the top of the food chain and birds that feed on marine life will become highly contaminated under these conditions. Bioaccumulation and biomagnification are inevitable and I believe they will be devastating to Pacific life. 

Bioaccumulation of cesium has been studied more widely than strontium because the former is easier to detect. In August of 2012, Jiji Press reported that ‘25,800 Becquerels of Cesium Detected in Fish Caught off Fukushima.’[ii] In March 2013, a fish measuring 740,000 Bq/kg was caught off of Fukushima.[iii] In April 2012 the Japanese media reported: ‘Cesium up to 100 times levels before disaster found in plankton far off nuke plant.’[iv]

More recently:
Fish with very high levels of cesium found near Fukushima January 11, 2014 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201401110029
A fish contaminated with extremely high levels of radiation was found in waters near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant…The Fisheries Research Agency said Jan. 10 the black sea bream had 12,400 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium, 124 times the safety standards for foodstuffs. The fish was caught at the mouth of the Niidagawa river in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 17. The site is 37 kilometers south of the stricken power plant….The research institute said it will study the fish further to try and determine when it became contaminated with such high levels of radioactive cesium.

Strontium contamination is ultimately going to be far more concentrated than cesium contamination. However, unless scientists go out and actually sample sea life across time they will not be able to predict cumulative strontium contamination levels. 

Unfortunately, strontium is more difficult to test for than cesium. Scientists might well test only for cesium and then excluded all radionuclides as causing undiagnosed disease syndromes in sardines and starfish, for example, based on strontium-cesium ratios predicted in research studies such as the one examined above by Casacuberta, et al (2013).

Strontium is very nasty biologically. I recommend reading these two posts by Optimal Prediction and Nuke Pro (who is anti-nuke):


Strontium, the Bogeyman exists, a Wicked One Two Punch  http://nukeprofessional.blogspot.com/2013/03/strontium-bogeyman-exists-wicked-one.html

One of the unpleasant things I learned about strontium is that can enter the brain’s calcium-ion channels and be stored there as an analogue of calcium. Imagine having radionuclides decaying inside your brain’s neural networks. Read about it here http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2014/01/living-in-radiation-contaminated-zone.html

Bioaccumulation and biomagnification are typically much faster in the ocean than on land. However, we too will bio-accumulate strontium, as well as other radioisotopes across time and we will transmit damage to our children via our radiation-mutated germ line cells.

We will breath strontium in the air and consume it in our food, particularly in seafood but no doubt in other food sources that tend to be high in calcium.

Strontium will continue to be dispersed atmospherically directly at the plant in the form of radioactive steam releases and the strontium in the ocean will be cycled through evaporation and bio-magnification. It is indeed likely that Fukushima contamination will kill great swathes of life in the Pacific, particularly because that life was already stressed by ocean contamination, acidification, and declining food stocks. Fukushima contamination is, I argue, a likely global tipping point.

NOTES


[i]   ‘Cesium Levels in Fish off Fukushima Not dropping’ (26 October 2012), The Asahi Shimbun, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201210260047, date accessed 27 October 2012.
[ii] ‘25,800 Becquerels of Cesium Detected in Fish Caught Off Fukushima’ (21 August 2012), Jiji Press, http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2012082100864, date accessed 22 August 2012. See also ‘Radiation 258 Times Legal Limit Found in Fish off Fukushima’ (22 August 2012), The Asahi Shimbun, http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201208220077, date accessed 23 August 2012.
[iii] ‘TEPCO (15 March 2013), Jiji, http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2013031501020, date accessed 17 March 2013.
[iv] ‘Cesium up to 100 Times Levels Before Disaster Found in Plankton Far off Nuke Plant’ (3 April 2012), The Mainichi, http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120403p2a00m0na009000c.html, date accessed 3 April 2012.

RESOURCES 

Introduction to Majia's Blog and Index of Posts Herehttp://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/break-from-bloging.html 



October 2013 Interview with James Fetzer about my book, Fukushima and the Privatization of Risk (Palgrave, 2013)






PowerPoint of data examining reports of conditions at the plant and evidence of criticalities, which can be seen here http://www.academia.edu/4314657/Fukushima_Update_Aug_2013  or herehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/11xz1zjgwcsbpo0/Fukushima%20Update%20Aug%202013.pptx


GENETICS, HUMAN HEALTH AND RADIATION


















Enenews headlines


10:03 AM EST on May 16th, 2014 | 205 comments
‘Mystery disease’ on Pacific coast of Alaska — Livers ‘crumble’… Hearts enlarged, pale… Yellow lymph nodes… Blood-filled lungs (PHOTOS) — Professor: Worrying there’s no answers, big public health concern — Testing carcasses for Fukushima radioactivity (AUDIO)

03:14 PM EST on May 15th, 2014 | 120 comments
New study reveals deaths and mutations ”increased sharply’ from exposure to Fukushima contamination, “especially at low doses” — ‘Small’ levels of cesium may be ‘significantly toxic’ — Smithsonian: “In other words, things don’t look good for the animals living around Fukushima”

12:47 PM EST on May 14th, 2014 | 353 comments
CNN: “Problem from hell at Fukushima” — Tons of ‘highly radioactive’ liquid pouring out of Reactor 2 each day — Mysterious explosive bang “deep inside” — 3 areas at bottom may be ruptured — Caroline Kennedy at Plant: US will help with the leaks; 21 y/o son 3-hr Tepco tour (VIDEO)

09:33 PM EST on May 13th, 2014 | 93 comments
Former official posts pics of bloody tissues after daily nosebleed: “You can no longer live in Fukushima”… many suffer due to radiation — Fukushima U. Prof.: Impossible to make it so people can live here — Top Govt Spokesman: Nosebleeds & nuclear disaster NOT related (PHOTOS)

03:28 PM EST on May 13th, 2014 | 185 comments
Medical Expert: Hundreds ill after Fukushima nuclear plant rubble burned in major Japanese city — Suffering nosebleeds, problems with eyes, throats and skin — Gov’t: Radiation levels were ‘low enough’ to be safe (PHOTO)

08:06 PM EST on May 12th, 2014 | 119 comments
HBO: ‘Genetic passports’ for major population exposed to nuclear radiation? “It has deformed their genes, sorry it’s a bit of a bummer” — Twins attached by organs growing outside body, ’1-eyed cyclops’, babies with giant heads… “they respond to the people around them” (GRAPHIC PHOTOS & VIDEO)

10:54 AM EST on May 12th, 2014 | 152 comments
‘Bizarre creature’ turned 50 miles of California coast into graveyard in summer 2011 — Gov’t Biologist: Die-off like this never seen here — “Abalone massacre… carcasses of urchins, starfish, other mollusks” — Experts find “alterations in 30 genes, some unknown to science” — “Suddenly proliferating… killing wildlife” (PHOTO)

01:25 AM EST on May 12th, 2014 | 136 comments
VICE: Japan mother may be jailed for “tweet critical of nuclear lobbyist” — Fukushima police travel 1,000 miles to interrogate her, examine computer — Officer: We only go outside prefecture for “potentially dangerous criminal” — “May be held without bail… without right to see lawyer”

04:10 PM EST on May 11th, 2014 | 72 comments



Press Conference by Former Official: I’m bleeding from nose every day, many in Fukushima have similar symptoms — Author: My nose bled for days, it wouldn’t stop; Staff had same problem… Do people want me to lie? I can only write truth — Gov’t: The nosebleeds aren’t caused by nuclear crisis (PHOTO)

How a Single Tweet Could Land a Japanese Nuclear Activist in Jail


12 May, 2014


In 2012, more than 15,000 people living near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant filed a criminal complaint at the Fukushima prosecutors’ office. They alleged that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the Japanese central government were criminally negligent for the March 2011 Fukushima meltdown and the way in which the resulting cleanup was handled.

The Fukushima police, however, declined to investigate. And prosecutors quietly dropped all charges against TEPCO, arguing that it was too difficult to prove criminal negligence even though several third-party watchdogs found that TEPCO and government officials had failed to carry out measures necessary to prevent the disaster despite knowing that a devastating earthquake could potentially strike near the plant. Even an independent investigative commission set up by the Japanese National Diet had concluded, "The meltdown was a manmade disaster."
          
Meanwhile, Fukushima police and prosecutors have set their sites on a 47-year-old single mother named Mari Takenouchi because she wrote a tweet critical of a nuclear lobbyist. Takenouchi may go to jail for it.

* * *
Fukushima police and prosecutors are currently investigating Takenouchi for criminal contempt; if found guilty, she could face a month in jail. Prosecutors confirmed they will be flying to Okinawa, where Takenouchi lives, to question her on May 13. Police have already traveled from Fukushima to Okinawa to interrogate her — an unusual occurrence.    

“We only send police officers from one prefecture to another if the subject is really a potentially dangerous criminal,” Fukushima police spokesman Lieutenant Tadashi Terashima told VICE News.

Takenouchi, the potentially dangerous criminal in question, is a journalist and blogger who fled her hometown of Tokyo with her infant son days after the disaster, hoping to avoid fallout from Fukushima. (She was too late; radiation had already reached Tokyo.) Today, she reports on the health of children in Fukushima. This is the translation of the tweet that has authorities flying across the country to interrogate her:

世紀の罪人2人に共通項→日本に原発導入した中曽根康弘「2011年の日本がこんなにくたびれているとは思わなかった。」福島で人体実験エートスを主催する（御用）市民活動家、安東量子「戦後67年かけて辿り着いたのが、こんな世界とかや。」ー長崎の日にて


The translation:

There's a common point between the 2 criminals of the century. Yasuhiro Nakasone, who introduced nuclear plants in Japan, said: "I didn't expect Japan in 2011 to become such a battered country." Ryoko Ando, a (pro-establishment) citizen activist who hosts Ethos' human experiments in Fukushima, said: "Is this the kind of world we've arrived at over the 67 years since the end of World Ward Two?" Written on Nagasaki Day."

Nakasone was an influential Japanese politician for much of the second half of the 20th century — he served as Prime Minister in the 1980s — who championed Japan's exploration of nuclear power in the 1950s. Ando is the Japanese head of Fukushima Ethos, a project led by French NGO the Center of Studies on the Evaluation of Protection in the Nuclear Field (CEPN) and funded by the French nuclear energy lobby. Fukushima Ethos encourages residents to continue living in contaminated areas as long as decontamination procedures and radiation measurements continue to be done. "Human experiments," in Takenouchi's opinion.

“Ryoko Ando blocked me on Twitter and rejected my offer to engage in an open debate with a mediator," Takenouchi told VICE News, "and instead filed a criminal accusation against me."

* * *
After the tweet appeared, Ando reported it to the Fukushima Prefectural Police, accusing Takenouchi of either criminal defamation or criminal contempt. This past January 29, Takenouchi received a telephone call from Fukushima police, notifying her that Ando had filed a complaint against her. Two weeks later, Takenouchi said police came to her apartment in Okinawa and examined her computer.

She was also asked to attend an interrogation at the Naha City police station. During the interrogation, Fukushima police asked her about her background as a reporter, her career as an anti-nuclear activist, and why she used the words “human experiment" in the tweet.
'If all debates about nuclear energy in this country are going to become grounds for criminal investigations, freedom of speech will vanish.'
So far, Takenouchi's legal fees have totaled about $5,000, which she's been paying with the help of donations. “I'm affected by this accusation to the point that I cannot sleep at night, but I would like to keep fighting for protecting our freedom of speech and for protecting the health of the children of Fukushima,” she said.

Ando, meanwhile, acknowledged to VICE News that she'd filed the complaint, but despite repeated requests to clarify her position and the position of Fukushima Ethos, she said she would not comment on the investigation until it's concluded.

The charge of criminal contempt is very different from a charge of libel in the US. Takaaki Hattori, a Japanese legal expert and co-author of Modern Media and The Law, says the charge is inappropriate. "It's unprecedented for the police to launch a contempt investigation against a journalist for a single tweet, made in the public interest," he said. "If all debates about nuclear energy in this country are going to become grounds for criminal investigations, freedom of speech will vanish. The fact that police even sent the case to the prosecution is disturbing."

Still, this isn’t the first time those with ties to the nuclear industry have used the law in an attempt to silence criticism in Japan. In 2012, the president of nuclear power safety company New Tech brought a $600,000 lawsuit against investigative journalist Minoru Tanaka, who exposed links between the Japanese mafia, politicians, and the Japanese nuclear industry.

The prosecutor’s office will decide by July whether to indict Takenouchi. If they go ahead with the case, she may be held without bail until her trial, as is often the case in Japan, without a right to see a lawyer or have one present during questioning. Police told VICE News they would not comment on the case "due to privacy matters."

* * *

The investigation of Takenouchi is an unusual but not unique example of an ever-increasing crackdown on freedom of the press in Japan. Earlier this year, Reporters Without Bordersissued a statement condemning "the censorship and self-censorship that continues to prevail in discussion of nuclear energy in Japan three years after the disaster… [and] the treatment of independent journalists and bloggers who are critical of the government and the nuclear energy lobby."


In Reporters Without Borders' press freedom rankings for 2013, Japan fell to a new low of 59th place, due in part to the Special Secrets Act passed in the middle of the night in December, and “the ban imposed by the authorities on independent coverage of any topic related directly or indirectly to the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.” Amid these discouraging trends, Takenouchi waits to learn her fate.


“We are still considering whether to prosecute or not," a prosecutor's office 
spokesperson said. "We’re not aware of past cases in which tweets were found to be the basis for criminal contempt, but the law is the law."


Follow Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky on Twitter: @NathalieStucky
Jake Adelstein contributed additional reporting to this article.


Fukushima News 5/16/14; Melted Nuke Fuel- Robot Locates Radioactive Water Leak Source


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