I'm working on a presentation on Fukushima's nuclear refugees and the violation of human rights to health in Japan and I was reviewing old materials I collected.
I found this excerpt from 2011 that is worth re-visiting:
Hiroko Tabuchi and Andrew Pollack Japan Is Struck by Powerful Aftershock
New York Times (April 7, 2011) ... Flashes of extremely intense radioactivity have become a serious problem, [a western nuclear executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect business connections in Japan] said. Tokyo Electric’s difficulties in providing accurate information on radiation are not a result of software problems, as some Japanese officials have suggested, but stem from damage to measurement instruments caused by radiation, the executive said.
Broken pieces of fuel rods have been found outside of Reactor No. 2, and are now being covered with bulldozers, he said. The pieces may be from rods in the spent-fuel pools that were flung out by hydrogen explosions....
Majia here: What exactly was meant by "flashes of extremely intense radioactivity"?
Notice also confirmation that fuel rods were found outside reactor no 2 and were bulldozed. It is not clear which pool they were projected from but I'm guessing it was reactor unit 3's pool.
Reuters had reported just a few days previously that plutonium from unit 3's spent fuel pool was found in the soil at the site.
Reuters 3/28 Plutonium found, problems mount at Japan nuke plant http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/28/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110328Majia here: These two articles offer support for the hypothesis that plutonium from Fukushima unit 3 was blown into the Pacific ocean in the initial explosion and/or leached into the ocean subsequently in the form of contaminated ground water.
"Plutonium found in soil at the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm on Tuesday over Japan's lengthy battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years—believed to come from #3’s spent fuel rods.
TEPCO never reported any data for plutonium contamination that I saw, but the company did report that up to 20 trillion becquerels of cesium-137, 10 trillion becquerels of strontium-90 and 40 trillion becquerels of tritium entered the ocean via groundwater, Between May 2011 and August 2013 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-20/tepco-says-new-leak-of-radioactive-water-found-at-fukushima-site.html
However, I'm not sure anyone should believe TEPCO's figures given the company's proven tendency to withhold and manipulate data. For example,
TEPCO withheld Fukushima radioactive water measurements for 6 months because of rising strontium levels (2014, January 9) The Asahi Shimbun http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201401090060NHK has suggested that there is an additional source of contamination outside of the port area as well, perhaps stemming from the subterranean journey of ground water running under Daiichi site and emptying ultimately into the Pacific Ocean, after encountering highly radioactive waste bulldozed under debris and/or into the ocean, in addition to the uncontained and melted nuclear fuel under the site.
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.
For background see NHK documentary also suggests an additional source of water contamination: Fukushima Daiichi's Hidden Crisis: http://vimeo.com/8559542
I have not seen any research on plutonium bioaccumulation in ocean life.
Yet plutonium has been proven to bioaccumulate in aquatic life, and Americium even more so.
I would like to see full spectrum analysis of whale and sea lion organs, with researchers providing readings for all radioactive isotopes of carbon, iodine, cesium, silver, strontium, uranium, plutonium, americium, etc, etc. etc.
Those readings should read in tandem with data on bioaccumulation of lead, arsenic, and mercury in those same organs.
Let us have a full spectrum analysis and we will see truly how contaminated ocean life has become.
PREVIOUS POSTS ON BLACK DIRT AND PLUTONIUM
Aug 22, 2012
(Jiji
Press)--Plutonium believed to originate from Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s
crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has been detected at 10
locations in four municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture, the science
ministry ...
Jul 30, 2012
Plutonium
is a special concern because it poses significant biological health
risks as an alpha emitter. All forms of ionizing radiation – gamma,
beta, and alpha – pose serious health risks, but alpha emitters such as
uranium ...
Jul 03, 2012
[Yablokov]
We are seeing something that has never happened – a multiple reactor
catastrophe including one using plutonium fuel as well as spent fuel
pool accidents, all happening within 200 kilometers of a metropolis of
30 ...
May 20, 2012
According
to Arjun Makhijani and Scott Saleska in The Nuclear Power Deception: A
Report of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research "the
classification of plutonium according to grades is somewhat arbitrary"
(p.
Mar 15, 2012
Unfortunately,
we may be getting to experience more of plutonium. I've pasted in the
original post plus a brief update: Today's news: Enenews reports "Gov't:
Highest plutonium concentration found almost 20km away from ...
Apr 01, 2012
Researchers
examining the area within a roughly 20-mile radius of the damaged plant
found levels of radioactive plutonium were about double those from
residual fallout from U.S. and former Soviet Union above-ground ...
Mar 16, 2011
In
addition, plutonium is a particularly long-lived and toxic material.
The half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,000 years, so if it escaped in
smoke from a burning reactor and contaminated soil downwind, it would
remain hazardous ...
Aug 02, 2011
Plutonium
Contamination In Japanese Rice Field 50 k from Fukushima. Media Silent
About Plutonium Contamination of Japanese Rice
http://www.globaltechfirm.com/mediasilentaboutcontamination.html. Hat
tip CaptD at ...
Sep 26, 2012
I
recently posted about the highly radioactive black soil/dirt/mold or
whatever it is being found in
Japan.http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/update-on-black-substance-in-japan.html.
Paul Langley, who writes the incredibly ...
Sep 24, 2012
Bobby1
of Optimal Predication has found a Japanese spectroscopic analysis of
the mysterious and highly radioactive black "dirt" in Japan:
http://optimalprediction.com/wp/radioactive-isotopes-in-the-japanese-black-substance
...
Sep 05, 2012
[Translated
excerpt] Black powder (statement, Sat-black substance) from 950 micro
sievert per hour seems to be detected in Minamisoma, Fukushima
Prefecture. You can ... Another Update on Radioactive Black "Dirt" in Japa.
Pretty good article by dennis cimino about fukushima
ReplyDeletehttps://fukushimaupdate.wordpress.com/2015/06/09/hello-world/
Very provocative and interesting article.
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