Report From Japan: No News Is Good News?
Report From Japan: No News Is Good News?
Testing marine contamination along Fukushima coast. Caption and photo source: ©Greenpeace
Excerpts; By David Wagner
Controlling information flow in a crisis is crucial to its outcome. So it should come as no surprise that much information received about how the crisis at Fukushima unfolded has been kept away from traditional and social media as long as possible. In the end, however, the truth does (eventually) come out.
One of my favorite truths this week was the acknowledgment by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) that 69 workers who worked at reactor #1 at the Daiichi Fukushima nuclear power plant in March “cannot be found.” This means that these individuals, who may have been exposed to high doses of radiation, cannot be located for testing. Was this a case of “sloppy paperwork” or something else? Either way, one wonders how long and why this was kept from the public eye.
While many are no longer surprised to see this sort of thing occurring, it becomes even less palatable when it happens on the global stage. Take the case of International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) recent decision to hold talks about the Fukushima disaster behind closed doors.
The Fukushima meetings will be closed “because of the highly detailed and technical nature of the drafting work” but summaries of the discussions will be made public. Well, that’s good. But why not make the proceedings public in the first place?
The picture emerging after three months of radiation release is concerning. The June 17th edition of Science magazine reports that radioactive cesium (both 134 and 137) has spread over 100 miles from the plant and now affects an area southwest of the reactors with a large pocket of contamination further south to the outskirts of Tokyo.
Safety concerns are not appeased by a lack of clarity. Calls for transparency continue to grow.
The government in Fukushima prefecture will begin conducting health checks on two million residents starting at the end of June.
This is the result of strong condemnation from residents in the region resulting from limited information since the March 11th quake as to radiation exposure for those living near the stricken facility….
Read Full Article, in Huffington Post
Japanese Government must immediately investigate seaweed contamination: Greenpeace Reports
By Greg McNevin, Greenpeace International
Initial findings from our radiation sampling team working on the coast near Fukushima are in and the news is not good. The results showed levels of contamination far beyond allowed limits for seaweed. Contaminated seaweed could become a threat as fishermen along the coast will begin harvesting the seaweed to sell for public consumption in the coming weeks. Caption and photo source: ©Greenpeace
Greenpeace, May 12th, urged the Japanese authorities to undertake comprehensive radiation testing of seaweed along the Fukushima coast, after initial results from marine radiation monitoring carried out by the international environmental organisation showed levels of contamination far beyond allowed limits.
Initial tests of the 22 seaweed samples collected by Greenpeace along the coast North and South of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and up to 65km out to sea by its flag ship Rainbow Warrior registered significantly high levels of radioactive contamination. Ten samples show levels over 10,000 Bq/kg, while the official safety limits for seaweed are 2,000 Bq/kg for Iodine-131 and 500 Bq/kg for Caesium-137.
“From May 20, fishermen along the coast will begin harvesting seaweed for public consumption, our research indicates a significant risk that this seaweed will be highly contaminated,” said Ike Teuling, Greenpeace radiation expert. “As both TEPCO’s sediment samples and our own preliminary research shows, radioactive contamination is accumulating in the marine ecosystem that provides Japan with a quarter of its seafood, yet the authorities are still doing the very little to protect public health.”
“For the coastal communities trying to rebuild lives and get back to work after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, radioactive contamination of the marine food web is exacerbating an ongoing tragedy,” said Wakao Hanaoka, Greenpeace Japan Oceans Campaigner.
“It is crucial that the government immediately undertakes a study of seaweed contamination off Fukushima to protect the health and safety of fishermen and consumers, and so full compensation is given to communities affected by this ongoing nuclear disaster.”
Greenpeace is now conducting detailed analysis of fish, seawater, and seaweed collected outside of Japan’s 12 mile territorial waters, as well as fish, shellfish and seaweed samples collected from the Fukushima coast. A selection of samples have been sent to independent laboratories for further analysis, full results are expected to be released next week.
Marine life soaking up radiation along Fukushima coast
Japan c says:
I’m currently living in Japan, 300 clicks south in Aichi-ken.
I am finding it very hard to get information from anywhere.
It’s not like the Japanese teachers are coming to school saying, ‘On the news last night there was a story about Cesium here or Cesium there’ because quite frankly I don’t think that kind of story is making it to the news.
Any internet search I do brings up very little beyond stories from the very immediate aftermath of the triplicate disaster.
Should I stay or should I go swims around my mind daily.
I tend to avoid buying anything grown in Japan, from anywhere in Japan, instead buying frozen vegetables from China or rice that was most definitely harvested pre-disaster, indeed, even my tofu comes from Canada now, whereas before I’d certainly buy local. I’ve sworn off dairy products and will only eat meat from abroad, mostly Aussie.
I would love more information on what’s going on but it’s just now out there so thank you for this article.
I guess seaweed is off the menu, too, unless from China.