Cancer rates near Diablo Canyon

High cancer rates near Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant

A report by the World Business Academy that details negative health trends in the area surrounding the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County was released Monday.

Cal Coast News,

4 March, 2014

Stephen W. Hosea, MD, the associate director of Internal Medicine Education at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, concluded after reading the report that those living near Diablo have higher cancer risks.

“The data contained in this report support a remarkable predisposition of persons living within a 15 mile radius of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant to have a significantly increased incidence of various cancers, including thyroid, breast and melanoma,” Hosea said. “Exposure to radiation is well known to result in an increased risk of developing cancer. Until an alternative plausible explanation is provided, the overwhelmingly logical conclusion must be that the exposure to radiation as a direct consequence of living within a 15 mile radius of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant results in an increased risk of developing cancer.”

The report listed the following major findings about local health patterns:

1. Since the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant opened in the mid-1980s, San Luis Obispo County has changed from a relatively low-cancer to a high-cancer county.

2. Due to increases in the San Luis Obispo County cancer rate during 2001-2010, an additional 738 people were diagnosed with cancer.

3. Cancer incidence in San Luis Obispo County rose from 0.4 percent below to 6.9 percent above the average for the state of California during the time period of 1988-1990 to 2003-2010. The current cancer rate is the highest of all 20 counties in southern California.

4. After Diablo Canyon began operating, significant rapid increases occurred for the incidence of thyroid and female breast cancer in San Luis Obispo County, both highly radiosensitive cancers.

5. After Diablo Canyon began operating, infant mortality in San Luis Obispo County rose significantly.

6. After Diablo Canyon began operating, child/adolescent cancer mortality in the county rose rapidly.

7. Melanoma incidence in San Luis Obispo County soared from 3.6 percent above to 130.2 percent above the state incidence rate during the period from 1988-1990 to 2003-2010, and is now the highest of all California counties.

8. Cancer mortality for people of all ages in San Luis Obispo County rose from 5.1 percent below to 1.4 percent above California from 1988-1990 to 2008-2010, making SLO the 25th highest county in the state (up from 43rd highest).

9. The ratio of babies born at very low-weight (below 3 pounds, 4 ounces) rose 45.0 percent higher in the nine San Luis Obispo County zip codes closest to Diablo Canyon, versus the other more distant 10 county zip codes.

10. The ratio of all-cause mortality rose 47.9 percent higher in the nine San Luis Obispo County zip codes closest to Diablo Canyon, versus the other more distant 10 county zip codes.

11. In the 10 zip code areas in Santa Barbara County closest to Diablo Canyon, there was a greater rise in the rates of infant mortality (61.7 percent), low weight births (40.2 percent) and total mortality (19.1 percent), than in the five zip codes areas in the city of Santa Barbara, located approximately 90 miles from the reactors.

12. The major findings of this report show increases in various rates of disease and death in San Luis Obispo County, as compared to the state of California, since the 1980s (before plant start up and during its early years of operation). This includes increases in infant mortality, child/adolescent cancer mortality, cancer incidence for all ages (especially thyroid, female breast, and melanoma), and cancer mortality for all ages.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

While many factors can affect disease and death rates, the official public health data presented in this report suggest a probable link between the routine, federally-permitted emissions of radioactivity from the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and elevated health risks among those infants, children and adults living closest to the reactors.

These findings strongly suggest that federally-permitted radiation releases pose a health risk to the public, especially to people living near Diablo Canyon in California.

These data also correspond with earlier studies showing significant declines in local disease and death rates after the shutdown of the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant in Sacramento County in 1989.

Nuclear Hotseat #141: Shocking Cancer Stats @Diablo Canyon w/Dr. Jerry Brown

Listen to podcast HERE

Dumping nuclear waste

This documentary was shown on German and French TV but not in England. For obvious reasons the English don't want anyone to see it.

Radioactive waste: Dumped and Forgotten

This documentary was shown on German and French TV but not in England. For obvious reasons the English don't want anyone to see it. 

This is the English version which we hope you will mirror and call attention to. It discusses the effects of sea dumping of radioactive waste on the health of people living on the local coasts, like the Irish Sea and the Baltic Sea, which is the most radioactive sea in the world. 

The documentary focuses on the British sea dumping in the English Channel Hurd Deep about 12 miles north of the Channel Island of Alderney. Alderney is also subject to releases to the sea from the French Nuclear Reprocessing Plant at Cap de la La Hague 12 miles East of the small island. 

Prof Chris Busby who was consulted on the health effects of this marine radioactive pollution visits the island with the producers and makes measurements of contamination on the beach. Busby originally visited the island in 1998 with Jersey MP Stuart Syvret and found an excess of brain tumours and also general cancer mortality which was written up as a Green Audit paper and became part of a BBC news story at the time. 

They were both chased off the island.
Manfred Ladwig manages to get Dr John Cooper, head of the UK radiological protection organisation, the HPA, to admit that they balance childhood cancer cases against the advantages of cheaply disposing of nuclear waste. 

Cooper also agrees that his position involves a conflict of interest since he is head of HPA which takes advice on radiation protection from ICRP. Cooper is on the ICRP committee. He therefore takes advice from himself. 

We also hear from Prof Richard Wakeford, ex head of research for Sellafield, but now an "independent" expert, also on ICRP, who tells us the coastal child leukemias were caused by "population mixing". 

How long do we have to be subject to advice from these clowns?


Prof Busby asks the youtube to kindly leave this alone since he was part of the production and has the right to upload it.
Published on May 25, 2013 by Professor Chris Busby ‪

Nuclear incident at Fukushima

Officials: Level 1 nuclear incident today at Fukushima plant — “Extremely high radiation levels” found leaking near Unit 4

ENENews,

19 August, 2013

NHK, Aug 19, 2013: [...] The officials said on Monday about 120 liters of highly-radioactive water had leaked from a tank near the number 4 reactor. They detected 100 millisieverts per hour of radiation on the surface of puddles near the tanks. The maximum annual exposure limit for nuclear plant workers is 50 millisieverts. [...] Officials from the Nuclear Regulation Authority assessed the problem as a level one incident on an 8-point international scale.

Kyodo News, Aug 19, 2013: Highly toxic puddles found near water tanks at Fukushima plant [...] extremely high radiation levels have been found [...] The NRA released a preliminary assessment of a level 1 incident on an eight-point international scale, defined as an “anomaly.” […]

AFP, Aug 19, 2013: [...] TEPCO denied that toxic water had flowed into the adjacent Pacific ocean, but the Nuclear Regulation Authority ordered the utility to study the possibility that it had escaped into the sea through nearby drains. The NRA released a preliminary assessment that the incident was a level one incident on an eight-point international scale […]

Fukushima may eclipse Chernobyl as the worst nuclear disaster in history

Two years after the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown, the disaster is still causing problems, and the Japanese government is looking at new ways to address the issue.

Fukushima may be eclipsing Chernobyl as the greatest nuclear disaster in history. Public sentiment appears to be against the continuing reliance on nuclear power in Japan, but the government has been slow to move in that direction.

Aileen Mioko Smith, the Director of Green Action, joined Senior Producer Kate Zickel to talk about the current state of affairs in Japan regarding the Fukushima clean up.

To hear interview GO HERE

Tritium Measurement In Fukushima Bay Highest Ever As TEPCO Admits 40 Trillion Becquerels Have Spilled Into Pacific

Zero Hedge,

19 August, 2013

Over the weekend we posted an in-depth narrative of what may happen in a theoretical worst case scenario in Fukushima, one in which the government continues to do nothing and pretends all is well, and where the end casualties are millions of innocent Japanese (and other) citizens, whose only crime is believing their government. Sadly, with every passing day the theoretical is becoming all too real, and moments ago reality struck again, when the Nikkei newspaper reported that readings of tritium in seawater taken from the bay near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has shown 4700 becquerels per liter.

This was the highest tritium level in the measurement history.

RT has more:

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has detected the highest radiation level in seawater collected in the harbor of the crippled nuclear plant in the past 15 days, Nikkei reports.

 

TEPCO said the highest radiation level was detected near reactor 1. Previous measurements showed tritium levels at 3800 becquerels per liter near reactor 1, and 2600 becquerels per liter near reactor 2. The concentration of tritium in the harbor’s seawater has been continuously rising since May, according to Nikkei. 

 

Also on Monday, a leak of highly contaminated water was discovered from a drain valve of a tank dike located on the premises of the nuclear plant, according to Fukushima’s operator responsible for the clean-up.

 

The level of radiation at the site was estimated at 100 millisieverts per hour, while the safe level of radiation is 1-13 millisieverts per year, according to ITAR-TASS news agency.  The plant’s operator is currently investigating reasons for the leak, TEPCO said in  statement.

We don't know if simply raising the "safety threshold" again will do it this time, but we do know that trillions of becquerels flowing into the Pacific is a lot to quite a lot:

Earlier, Tepco admitted that an estimated 20 to 40 trillion becquerels of tritium may have flowed into the Pacific Ocean since the nuclear disaster.

Tritium, which slowly but surely is making its way to the United States. But one can't blame TEPCO of doing nothing. Oh wait. One can.

Protective barriers installed to prevent the flow of toxic water into the ocean have failed to do so. The level of contaminated water has already risen to 60cm above the barriers, which has been a major cause of the daily leak of toxic substances, TEPCO admitted.

 

Japan’s Ministry of Industry recently estimated that around  300 tons of contaminated groundwater has been seeping into the Pacific Ocean on a daily basis. TEPCO has promised to reinforce protective shields to keep radioactive leaks at bay.

And if that fails, TEPCO will simply "freeze" the exploded nuclear reactor in an inverted igloo in its latest idiotic MacGuyverian contraption, one which unlike Hollywood, does not have a happy ending when everything goes up, quite literally, in radioactive smoke again.

Fukushima

Tongue-in-cheek comments -

Tepco: "300 tons of radioactive water a day into the Pacific. Or maybe it's 400. Nothing is real, however. It's all conjecture."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: "Tepco and the government has admittedly fucked up and kept secrets for the past two years. Trust me, however, because I'm pro-business and I am now the government. As in the Superman movie, we're going to create an Ice Fortress. If that doesn't work, we'll use Kryptonite. If none of those two options work, I'll make use of Halliburton. Oh, and I want to start-up all the rest of our country's nukes as soon as the good people of Japan let me."

- M.G

Japanese government to help halt nuke leak

Radioactive water is seeping past barriers

the Spokesman Review,

8 August

TOKYO – The government said it will step in and take “firm measures” to combat leaks of radioactive water at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant, including possibly funding a costly containment project.

The announcement Wednesday came a day after the operator of the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi plant said some of the water was seeping over or around an underground barrier it created by injecting chemicals into the soil that solidified into a wall.

“There is heightened concern among the public, particularly about the contaminated water problem,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a government nuclear disaster response meeting at his office. “This is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed. The government will step in to take firm measures.”

The latest problem involves water that accumulated over the last month since the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., began creating the chemical barrier to stop underground leaks after detecting radiation spikes in water samples in May.

Government officials said Wednesday that an estimated 300 tons of radioactive water has been leaking into the sea each day since early in the crisis, which was caused by the March, 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.

Since a major leak occurred from a maintenance pit a month after three reactors at the plant melted following the disasters, TEPCO had denied any further leaks of radioactive water into the sea, despite repeated warnings by experts, until finally acknowledging them last month.

The underground barrier on the coastal embankment has slowed the leaks somewhat, but has caused underground water to swell. To prevent an overflow above the surface, which is feared to happen within weeks, TEPCO will start pumping out about 100 tons of underground water from coastal observation wells this week. Later this month, TEPCO will remove old contaminated water from trenches near the coast – a time bomb that it had left untouched despite repeated prodding from the government.

Shinji Kinjo, an official at the Nuclear Regulation Authority, said faster-than-expected swelling of the underground water following the installation of the chemical barriers accelerated the emergency caused by TEPCO’s delays.

Alarmed by the leaks, a fisheries cooperative in nearby Iwaki city decided to indefinitely postpone a test catch planned for September.

Government officials said Wednesday they were considering funding a separate, multibillion-dollar project to surround the reactor buildings with a wall of frozen ground to block underground water from entering the contaminated buildings. The project, announced in May, is scheduled for completion in July 2015.

Similar methods have been used to build tunnels, but building a wall that surrounds four reactor buildings and their related facilities is “unprecedented anywhere in the world,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. “We believe it is necessary that the country steps forward to support its construction,” he said.

Abe Joins Greenpeace in Signal Tepco Not Up to Cleanup

Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made an unlikely companion with environment protection campaigner Greenpeace as both indicated Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) isn’t up to the task of containing the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Bloomberg,

7 August, 2013

Greenpeace’s comments were blunt, Abe’s less so, though they both agreed on the seriousness of revelations that radioactive groundwater is gushing into the Pacific Ocean from the crippled coastal atomic station north of Tokyo.

At least 300 tons of water laced with strontium and other radioactive particles is getting into the ocean each day, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at a briefing in Tokyo yesterday. The leaks may have been happening for two years, though not at the same rate, said Tatsuya Shinkawa, who heads a division at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy helping handle the accident.

“The worsening leaks of contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear plant prove Tepco is incapable of dealing with the disaster,” Greenpeace International said in a statement, referring to Tokyo Electric. “Japan’s authorities must now step in and ensure action is finally taken to stop the leaks.”

Abe did just that yesterday, telling a ministerial meeting the government will draw up a strategy to tackle the problem.

“It is an urgent problem,” Abe said. “We will not leave this to Tepco.”

Back Burner?

Activist groups in Japan will be pressing a similar case today in a meeting with the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

The groups include citizen activists from Fukushima, where as many as 160,000 people had to evacuate to escape airborne radiation when buildings exploded and reactors melted down at the atomic station in March, 2011.

The activist groups argue the NRA is dedicating its already slim resources to checking that applications by utilities to restart reactors closed for inspections after Fukushima comply with new safety standards, Kyoto-based organizer Green Action said in a release.

“The bulk of the Nuclear Regulation Authority’s human resources is being used to examine electric utility nuclear power plant restart applications,” Green Action director Aileen Mioko Smith said in the release. Dealing with the Fukushima accident is on the “back-burner at the NRA.”

Not Fast

All but two of Japan’s 50 reactors are idled for safety checks after Fukushima. The NRA, which was set up after the disaster to independently review the nuclear industry, has accepted applications from three utilities for safety inspections at four separate plants.

The regulator has also indicated growing alarm about the water leaks.

Radioactive water leaks are getting out of control and “creating a state of emergency,” said Shinji Kinjo, citing comments made by NRA Chairman Shinichi Tanaka in a meeting last week. Kinjo leads a Fukushima disaster task force for the regulator.

More funds will be made available to help stem the flow of contaminated water, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference in Tokyo yesterday.

“I believe Tepco is doing all it can,” Suga said. “But from the point of view of those in the disaster zone and the people of Japan, it does not seem to be progressing very fast.”

Nuclear electric failure in Brazil

Blackout occurs at Brazilian nuclear power station

Brazil’s nuclear power station located in the southeastern state of Rio de Janeiro has reported an electric failure, causing a blackout in one of its two reactors, according to official sources Friday.

NZ Week,

20 April, 2013

Brazil’s state-owned Eletrobras, which is in charge of the nuclear power station, said the blackout occurred Thursday and the cause of the incident is being investigated.

Electrobras said the affected reactor of Angra dos Reis 1 will only be reconnected once it’s fully guaranteed that the station will operate normally.

The nuclear power station, with Angra dos Reis 1 and 2 reactors in Angra dos Reis city, produces three percent of the country’s total electricity.

Electrobras affirmed the blackout did not cause any risk for the population.

A recent report from an expert committee has recommended several improvements in Angra dos Reis nuclear station to avoid possible problems in case of flooding, earthquakes or other natural disasters.