Nuclear power “too cheap to meter”!
On April 12, Japan’s nuclear safety agency raised the Fukushima meltdown to level 7, the highest category on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Level 7 was created expressly for the Chernobyl disaster, consisting of “a major release of radiation with a widespread health and environmental impact”.
A recent study was prepared for Greenpeace Germany by international nuclear safety expert Dr. Helmut Hirsch. Dr. Hirsch’s assessment, based on data published by the French government’s radiation protection agency (IRSN) and the Austrian government’s Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) found that the total amount of unstable radionuclides Iodine-131 and Caesium-137 released between March 11 and March 23 has been so high that the Fukushima crisis already equates to three INES 7 incidents.
Release of radiation from the stricken reactors has reached 10,000 teraBequerels (10,000 trillion Bequerels) per hour, measured for radioactive Iodine-131.
YouTube: “President Obama: ‘We Do Not Expect Harmful Levels of Radiation to Reach the U.S.’”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpAqiGSp29c
Radiation in milk in Hawaii is now at least 2,033% above Federal drinking water safety limits. The US safety limit is 3 pCi/l (picoCuries per litre). Note this is the minimum percentage found over EPA requirements. This figure is reached by adding together the Caesium-134 (800%); −137 (633%); and Iodine-131 (600%) levels found in milk.
http://theintelhub.com/2011/04/11/japan-nuclear-radiation-in-hawaii-milk-2033-above-federal-drinking-water-limits/ .
It should be noted the testing was performed on samples of organic milk.
Increased radiation has been reported in the municipal drinking water of at least 14 US cities. These are not restricted to the west coast of North America but have occurred in the US midwest and east coast. Where measured, rainwater in every US state and Canadian province have elevated radioactivity. In California, Geiger counter activity has trebled, from 7.5 to 22.5 clicks per minute.
Rainwater samples taken in San Francisco April 6 measured an increase of 18,100% above Federal standards and included measures of radioactive caesium and Tellurium-132. The west coast Canadian city of Vancouver ordered suspended all mobile radiation testing until further notice after levels of 10,000% safe levels of Iodine-131 were detected. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency refused to test British Columbia milk for radiation.
On April 4, Japanese government also has requested the Japan Meteorological Society and Japanese universities not to release data from radiation measurement to avoid “public panic”. Rainwater samples have all demonstrated elevated concentrations of radioactive Tellurium-02, Ruthenium-04 and Technetium-04.
280 sensors to measure radiation release from atomic bomb testing were established under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996. These sensors are detecting levels equivalent to Chernobyl releases. One scientist, Gerhard Wotawa, noted, “I’ve never seen data like this in my career.”
So how do we deal with disaster? Austria, Germany, Canada and Australia have banned eight episodes of Matt Groening’s US anime series, The Simpsons, dealing with nuclear crisis. The Simpsons, now in its 24th season with 480 episodes, has been one of the few outlets to show the greed of nuclear operators, grovelling toadies and a complacent public to a mainstream television audience. Meltdowns caused by jelly doughnuts! See http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Springfield_Nuclear_Power_Plant
Kopp Online, Xander News and other non-English news agencies are reporting that the EU implemented a secret “emergency” order without informing the public which increases the amount of radiation permitted in food by up to 20 times previous food standards.
According to EU bylaws radiation limits may be raised during a nuclear emergency to prevent food shortages.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/04/03/eu-secretly-implements-large-increases-food-radiation-limits-informing-public-13636/
Japan itself has now restricted rice planting in soil with more than 5,000 Becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium, the first time maximum radiation levels have been set for soil anywhere. The Fukushima prefectural government announced on April 6 that rice paddies 20-30 kilometers from the nuclear plant have shown as much as 15,031 Becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium.
It would appear TEPCO dumped 11,500 tons of radioactive runoff into the ocean, 100 times the permissible amount. Although the diplomatic corps was informed beforehand and the Japanese foreign minister stated the release does not violate international law, Iodine-131 was found in seawater at 7.5 million times and radioactive Caesium at 1.1 million times the legal limit. 60,000 tons of radioactive water remain.
In fact, such dumping clearly violates 1972 international law, the ”Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter”. As Natural News puts it, “Fukushima has become the dirty bomb of the Pacific.”
Fish in nearby waters are now being measured at 4,000% above the Codex Alimentarius limits for Iodine-131 and 447% of Caesium-137. Radioactive caesium has a half-life of 30 years. Radiation levels for the isotope are not considered “safe” for 10 to 20 times longer. The caesium released today will remain dangerous six centuries from now.
When one takes into account the conveyor currents of the north Pacific, all seafood will become contaminated. Radioactive seaweed has been found in Puget Sound. Goodbye, sushi!
We’re poisoning the mother of all life on Earth.
The nuclear operator has offered $12 each in compensation to nearby residents. This paltry offer was refused. Economists at Tyler Durden has reported an inevitable economic collapse for Japan following a plunge from 52.9 to 46.4 in private mortgage insurance.
However, what we’re seeing, according to the American NGO Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is the application of new standards which will drastically raise the levels of radiation allowed in food, water, air and the general environment. Access to internal US Environmental Protection Agency communications has revealed a 1,000% increase for exposure to Strontium-90; a 3,000-100,000% rise for Iodine-131; a 25,000% rise for Nickel-63 in drinking water.
Any radiation has no safety threshold for human exposure and the EPA’s own numbers state that 25% of people exposed to these “new acceptable levels” would develop cancers. The EPA is not required to make its deliberation public or debated by Congress; all that is required to make this Federal regulation is simple publication of the changes in the US government gazette, the Federal Register. http://www.collapsenet.com/free-resources/collapsenet-public-access/item/723-fallout
This is being accomplished, of course, to protect the nuclear lobby and its stakeholders from threats to its financial health.
In addition to cancers, any radiation exposure correlates to an increase in immune system disorders. Thyroid diseases, diabetes, asthma, AIDS, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, myalgic encephalomyelitis and a huge spectrum of non-specific neurological conditions are expected in the human population. Radioactive iodine attacks thyroid function while radioactive caesium mimics potassium uptake.
The ‘Petkau effect’ for ingestion of beta and alpha particles, discovered by Atomic Energy of Canada scientist Dr. Abram Petkau in 1972, draws ominous conclusions for human exposure. Dr. Petkau found that lower doses of ionising radiation are actually more efficient at disrupting human cell activity.
Uranium-234, previously unreported, has been detected in Hawaii, southern California and Seattle. This is likely to be a product of the alpha decay of the Plutonium-238 found in the Fukushima reactors but Plutonium-238, −239 and −240 have already been released into the atmosphere at Fukushima. Uranium-234 has a half-life 245,500 years, which means that radioactivity will be detectable for half a million years. There will certainly be no people to measure it! South Korea closed 130 schools starting April 7 due to radioactive rain at levels only 1/10 of California’s.
A further Richter 7.1 aftershock on April 8 in Japan, the largest since the March 11 9.0 earthquake, negatively affected at least a further five Japanese nuclear power facilities to varying degrees but some with loss of power. Will Japan become a new Atlantis?
International shipping has also already been affected with many shipping lines avoiding Japan to prevent radioactive contamination. However, further reports indicate that some irradiated ships have been found in European ports. Japanese cars imported into Russia have been found to have high levels of radiation.
Some scientists have already declared northern Japan, including Tokyo, uninhabitable and recommended its evacuation. Radiation in Tokyo has been doubling every day since March 11. Video report: http://vimeo.com/22003275 and http://vimeo.com/22003021. Evacuated to where, exactly?
On March 15, Germany bowed to enormous public protest and announced it will continue to phase out nuclear power and shut down, temporarily, seven of its oldest reactors. However, the final shutdown is not planned until 2020.
On April 12, China announced it was suspending all nuclear construction for 20 months, until December 2012. China had been expected to become the world’s largest user of nuclear power, supporting 40% of new development.
Thank you but this is both too little and, obviously, too late. Nuclear power must be legislated out of existence now or the robber barons and their politician friends will just be waiting until we get lazy and forget.
