| Australia,
Japan, and Other Asian Countries
2011-06-03 (for this date) Consequences
of the Fukushima Daiichi Accident in Japan: A substantial and
long-lasting contamination (pdf), by Bruno Chareyron,
nuclear physics engineer, Head of the CRIIRAD laboratory
"The CRIIRAD institute went on a mission in Japan from
May 24th to June 3rd, 2011. The present document gives account
of the findings from the first analysis results. The radioactive
cesium deposits on the soils have been of great magnitude. They
generate, and will continue to do so for a long time to come,
a flux of gamma radiation causing the irradiation of populations
in widespread areas. Due to this external exposure and in the
absence of protective measures, several hundreds of thousands
of people will receive radiation doses far above the limit of
1 mSv/year. Must be added, the internal exposure (due to ingestion
of contaminated foods) and doses received since March 12th that
were extremely elevated
during the first week from the level of contamination and the
lack of protective measures...
1 / Scope of the contamination at over 60 km from the
NPP : the case of Fukushima City
External irradiation leads to an unacceptable risk
level
Survey field measurements and soil analyses carried out by
the CRIIRAD laboratory in the city of Fukushima,
located 60-65 km from the nuclear power plant, indicate that
the cesium 134 and 137 radioactive fallouts are several hundreds
of thousands of Bq/m2 : 490 000 Bq/m2 on the lawn of the Moriai
primary school and over 700 000 Bq/m2 in the Watari district.
When decaying, cesium atoms emit very penetrating gamma radiations.
They can travel over 60 meters in the airstream. This is what
allowed the Americans to plot charts on the fallouts using heliported
probes. These radiations can also penetrate through walls and
windows and irradiate people within their homes.
At the end of May 2011, the dose rates collected by the CRIIRAD
in Fukushima city, at 1 meter above ground in the outside, was
typically over 10 times, even over 20 times above normal (more
than 1 and 2 µSv/h versus a normal level of 0,1 µSv/h).
The irradiation is still measurable within buildings floors.
Measurements carried out on the 4th floor of a building showed
a radiation excess that increases when getting close to the
windows (even when shut). Inside a home located in the Watari
district, the CRIIRAD measured a dose rate over 3 times above
normal on the tatami of the children’s bedroom (0,38 µSv/h)
and 6 times over at 1 meter above ground in the living room
(0,6 µSv/h). In front of the house, measurement was 2,2
µSv/h in the garden and 2,9 µSv/h on the lawn of
a nearby school (measurement taken at 1 meter above ground).
This irradiation will only decay very slowly. This is due principally
to the cesium 137 and 134 that have long physical periods (30
years and 2 years respectively). This means that the cesium
137 radioactivity will be divided by half in 30 years. We can
estimate that within the next twelve months, the cesium 134
radioactivity will decline by only 30 % and the cesium 137 by
3%.
If nothing is done, the Fukushima city inhabitants could
be exposed to an external irradiation of several milliSieverts
within the next twelve months. The dose, above which
cancer lethal risk is considered as inacceptable by the ICRP
(International Commission for Radiological Protection) is 1
milliSievert per annum, which corresponds to 5 deaths for 100
000 persons exposed to this effective dose..."
2011-05-31 Fukushima
meltdown – Caldicott says Japan may become uninhabitable
– media silent, by David Donovan, independentaustralia.net.
...MEDIA SILENCE
Fukushima may end up being one of the worst disaster the world
has seen, we are yet to know its full impact as Japanese authorities
struggle to contain the fallout. Yet, if you weren’t reading
Independent
Australia, listening closely to a small handful of
other Australian media sources, such as Crikey,
or Mark
Willacy on ABC radio, or reading the international press,
it is likely that you would have missed the meltdown and would
have no comprehension about the full scale of the disaster.
In other words, the vast majority of Australians who get their
news from newspapers or commercial television or radio have
no idea about the severity of the Fukushima nuclear disaster,
or the danger to human health posed by this ongoing crisis.
Something similar is going on in Japan and the US. In Japan,
the nuclear industry has been actively promoted by the Government
since inception in the interests of Japanese nuclear security.
The nuclear regulator is almost entirely made up for former
Tepco employees and is described as being almost an arm of the
power company. Criticism of nuclear power has long been strongly
suppressed in Japan.
Dr Norris again:
[Japanese journalist] Uesugi also notes that at TEPCO press
conferences, which are now being held at company headquarters,
foreign correspondents and Japanese freelancers regularly
ask probing questions while mainstream journalists simply
record and report company statements reiterating that the
situation is basically under control and there is nothing
to worry about. One reason for this, Uesugi suggests, is that
TEPCO, a giant media sponsor, has an annual 20 billion yen
advertising budget. “The media keeps defending the information
from TEPCO!” “The Japanese media today is no different
from the wartime propaganda media that kept repeating to the
very end that ‘Japan is winning the war against America,’”
Uesugi exclaimed.
Clearly, there is a concerted effort by Japanese authorities
to downplay the significance of the disaster to ensure the future
sustainability of the nuclear power industry. But what about
the similar silence in the US?
Dr Norris says the issue should be front page news everywhere:
“Why is this not on the front page of every single
newspaper in the world? Why are official agencies not measuring
from many places around the world and reporting on what is
going on in terms of contamination every single day since
this disaster happened? Radioactivity has been being released
now for almost two full months! Even small amounts when released
continuously, and in fact especially continuous exposure to
small amounts of radioactivity, can cause all kinds of increases
in cancers.”
In the US and Japan, where the nuclear industry is a powerful
lobby group, perhaps it is understandable that the nuclear industry
have managed to suppress information about this devastating
crisis. But here in Australia, where we have no nuclear power
industry? The reality is that Australia, with its huge natural
reserves of uranium and strong mining industry, is deeply entrenched
in the nuclear cabal. Independent Australia has
reported before about plans for the world’s nuclear
waste to be shipped to Australia and the fact this agreement
with the US was actively suppressed by the Australian media,
perhaps because some media proprietors have strong vested interests
in the nuclear industry. It seems that Australia’s overly
concentrated media industry is not only a crisis for our
democracy, but can potentially even threaten our children’s
health.
Dr Caldicott said that the media here are failing in their
duty to the people of Australia.
“The media need to be brought down to Earth,” said
Dr Caldicott.
“President Jefferson said an informed democracy will
make reasonable decisions.”
“The media are failing to inform, so the people can’t
make reasonable decisions.”
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"I
mowed the lawn on Memorial Day, and wore the N95 dust mask shown
in the video. After roughly 2 hours in the backyard mowing,
the Geiger counter readings of the mask showed radioactive contamination
as high as 0.03 mR/hr. Normally I would call that 3X background,
but background levels were a little more variable the day of
the test making the reading less precise. To be conservative,
the contamination readings from the mask varied from 1x to 2x
background radiation. The grass was dry to the touch in the
yard, but slightly damp in the bag. No visible dirt or dust
was kicked up from the mowing. I have performed the same test
a few times over the last several weeks, and there has been
indications of radioactive contamination every time."
patterns used by "