Fukushima Update: 11/11/2013

The testimony of a Fukushima Evacuee

Top nuclear official blocks interviews with people over Fukushima exposures

• Only allowed to talk to “friendly” gov’t leaders 
• Reuters: “No matter how hard they try, radiation isn’t going down” - Resident

ENENews,
11 November, 2013

The Mainichi, Nov. 11, 2013: NRA chairman blocks interviews with Fukushima residents over exposure doses [...] NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka intervened to limit such interviews to friendly local government leaders, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned. Tanaka’s action is igniting a chorus of protests from members of the NRA’s expert panel [...] The panel under NRA Commissioner Kayoko Nakamura’s leadership started deliberations in September by inviting five outside experts, including those in charge of emergency radiation medicine. [...] However, when NRA Chairman Tanaka learned of the proposal in late October he rejected it [...] Masafumi Yokemoto, professor of environmental policy at Osaka City University [...] criticizes NRA Chairman Tanaka for meddling in the expert panel’s deliberations and blocking interviews with evacuees to draw a foregone conclusion that the repatriation of evacuees is the only viable option. […]

Reuters, Nov. 11, 2013: [...] Some had hoped the decontamination project employing thousands of temporary workers to strip trees, spray roads and remove topsoil would be enough [...] 90 percent of the projected reduction in radiation comes from natural decay of radioactive particles over time.[...] “No matter how hard they try to decontaminate, radiation isn’t going down. So even though we have decided to go back, we can’t,” said Keiko Shioi, a 59-year-old housewife from Naraha, near the nuclear plant. […]

NHK WORLD, Nov. 11, 2013: Experts call for change in radiation measuring [...] A panel of experts is urging the Japanese government to change the way it measures radiation exposure for evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear accident when they return home. [...] To date, officials have estimated exposure based on radiation levels in the environment. But the panel says they should measures exposure by equipping individuals with radiation monitors called dosimeters. Radiation measurements made by dosimeters tend to be one-third to one-seventh of readings estimated through environmental monitoring. [...] The panel also calls for assigning local government officials and health nurses as advisors in each community. […]

Jiji Press, Nov. 11, 2013 (h/t Anonymous tip): [...] The proposal comes at a time when the government is aiming to lift the evacuation advisory for areas where annual radiation doses are estimated at 20 millisieverts or lower. [...] The new method is expected to help promote returns of evacuees as well as reduce costs for decontaminating areas tainted by radioactive fallout.

NHK Newsline, Nov. 11, 2013 (at 0:45 in): Readings on such devices [personal dosimeters] tend to be one-third to one-seventh lower than estimates based on environmental monitoring. [...] Radiation measurements made by dosimeters tend to be one-third to one-seventh of readings estimated through environmental monitoring. [...] “Individual monitor readings don’t necessarily reflect different radiation levels in a household.” -Fukushima evacuee

Watch NHK’s broadcast here

Japan Physician: I hope 

adults will leave Tokyo, not 

just children

• Strange things happening
• Medications don’t seem to work
• Rare diseases increasing dramatically 

ENENews,

11 November, 2013

Source: Mama Revo Magazine (Mom’s Revolution)
Translated by World Network For Saving Children From Radiation
Date: Nov. 11, 2013

Children

Dr. Shigeru Mita, Mita Clinic in Tokyo: Our patients mostly come from Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, and other Northern Kanto areas.

The pediatricians’ general textbook says that reference value of neutrophil [the most abundant type of white blood cells, essential part of immune system] for healthy children (6-12 years old) is [...]  4000, but it has shifted to 2500. It is lower than the threshold value of 3000. I think this points at a serious problem. [...]

In the summer of 2011, there were many children with bloodshot eyes; and what we saw most were children with dark circles under the eyes. [...] we are seeing more cases of sinusitis accompanied with mild case of asthma continuing for longer periods. And when these children spend some time in the West, they get better. If at all possible, I would like them to move away from East Japan. [...]

[...] radioactive substances coming from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have reached Tokyo, and huge amounts of contaminated waste is being burned here as well, I cannot deny the possibility that we are inhaling radioactive substances contained in the air. Again, let me repeat that after the nuclear accident, enormous amounts of nuclear substances were released in the environment. Therefore, if we see an increase in symptoms that are different from the ones we’ve seen before, we physicians should “first consider the effects of radioactivity.” [...]

Adults

Mita: [...] But my real hope is to have not just children but also adults move away from Tokyo.

[...] [The adult] conditions are definitely different compared to how it was before the nuclear accident.

With elderly people, it takes more time for asthma to heal. The medication doesn’t seem to work. We also see more patients with diseases that had been rare before; for example, polymyalgia rheumatica [...] Before 3.11, we had one or less patient per year. Now, we treat more than 10 patients at the same time. [...]

I think doctors who knew their patients well should become aware of the strange things that were happening to them. […]

Full interview available here

How Dangerous Is Fukushima To The World?

Japan Expert: “All I can do is pray nothing goes wrong” at Fukushima Unit 4

• Concern over “dangerous chain of events”
• TV: “At least evacuate nearby residents”
• NYTimes: No external supervision of Tepco; To start within 10 days

ENENews,

11 November, 2013

New York Times, Nov. 10, 2013:

The Process

[...] In the next 10 days [Tepco] is set to start the delicate and risky task of using a crane to remove the fuel assemblies from the pool, a critical step in a long decommissioning process that has already had serious setbacks. Just 36 men will carry out the tense operation [...] A separate team will work overnight to clear any debris inside the pool that might cause the fuel to jam when a crane tries to lift it out, possibly causing damage. [...] the work will be carried out by a Tepco-led team and without external supervision. [...] Underwater cameras will help engineers search for debris, left from the original explosion, that might jam the assemblies, and a robotic arm will be used to try to remove any debris that does get in the way. The crane is designed to hold its load if power is lost, and Tepco said it has doubled the cabling that will lift the cask, which could weigh as much as 90 tons when filled. The biggest fear is that an earthquake or tsunami will disrupt the fuel assembly transfer. […]

The Risks

[...] The attempt to remove the fuel rods underscores the complicated, potentially hazardous work that lies ahead at the plant [...] it is still dangerous to have the fuel high up in a damaged structure that could collapse in another quake, experts warn. [...] An accident could expose the rods and — in a worst-case scenario, some experts say — allow them to release radioactive materials beyond the plant. [...] some experts [are] wondering whether the company is up to the task. [...] The worst-case scenario of a breach in the pool, leaving the fuel rods uncovered, has not happened […]

Shunichi Tanaka, the head of Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority: “There are potentially very big risks involved”

Yasuro Kawai, former nuclear plant engineer who now heads a group that is independently monitoring the decommissioning process: “All I can do is pray that nothing goes wrong” [...] He said much depends on whether the assemblies were damaged during removal — for example, if the casks carrying them were to accidentally fall to the ground, exposing the rods — and whether such damage was severe enough to force workers to evacuate. “If they drop the rods, will the situation be easily contained, or do we need to worry about a more dangerous chain of events? There are just too many variables involved to say for sure.”

Lake H. Barrett, special adviser to the president of Tepco and former U.S. Department of Energy official: When the job is done, [he] said, the overall danger will be reduced. This fuel “really needs to come back down to a ground-level pool that is not damaged. That’s going to improve the risk situation.”

France 24, Nov. 11, 2013 — Misa Redwolf, Metropolitan Coalition against Nuclear Power (at 5:30 in): “What if they drop this spent fuel? It wold release massive amounts of radiation. This is an unprecedented operation, so it’s hard to imagine what could happen. I think they should at least evacuate nearby residents before hand.”

Watch the France 24 broadcast here

Coast To Coast Am - November 9 2013 - Fukushima Special

As mainstream media continues to ignore the seriousness of the Fukushima situation which John B. Wells has been following closely, we are now finding out it is definitely much worse than anyone ever imagined. Joining John will be four experts (Arnie Gundersen, David Blume, Dr. John Apsley, Steven Starr) who will unravel the truth about Fukushima.