News from Fukushima

Hundreds of trillions of becquerels of radioactive strontium leaked into sea

Highly radioactive water gushes into a pit inside the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in this photograph taken on April 2. (Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

Asahi Shimbun,

19 December, 2011

At least 462 trillion becquerels of radioactive strontium have leaked to the Pacific Ocean since the March disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, making it one of the world's most severe such cases of marine pollution, according to calculations by The Asahi Shimbun.

The Fisheries Agency is doing its own sampling survey to assess the accumulation of radioactive materials in marine life.

The newspaper based its calculations on data released by the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., and other sources.

For article GO HERE

Few believe assertion that Fukushima crisis is over

Asahi Shumbun,17 December, 2011

In a rush to fulfill a pledge to the international community to bring the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant under control, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may have jumped the gun in his announcement on Dec. 16 declaring the crisis is over.

Noda's declaration has been met with skepticism both in Fukushima Prefecture and abroad, with even some members of his own ruling Democratic Party of Japan criticizing it as "fiction."

Noda's promise at an international conference, shortly after becoming prime minister in September, to bring the Fukushima nuclear accident under control before the end of the year was meant to respond to sustained mistrust of the Japanese government's handling of the situation.

For article GO HERE