Studying the Fukushima Aftermath: 'People Are Suffering from Radiophobia' How dangerous are low doses of exposure to radioactivity to humans? This question is heatedly debated within the scientific community. But it is not an easy time to convey details of that debate to the people in Japan living near the Fukushima nuclear plant who have now been exposed to the dangers of radiation. Radiation-protection specialist Shunichi Yamashita, 59, has made significant contributions to what is known about the effects of radioactive radiation. He has studied the survivors of the World War II atomic bombing of Nagasaki as well as the consequences of the 1986 reactor accident at Chernobyl, which he has visited nearly 100 times as part of a Japanese scientific envoy. SPIEGEL interviewed Yamashita about the expected effects of exposure in Fukushima and his plans to conduct one of the largest scientific studies even undertaken in the region.
SPIEGEL: The government of the Fukushima prefecture has invited you to inform people in the affected region about radiation risks. Dissémination des radionucléides. Concentration of Radiocesium in the Wild Japanese Monkey (Macaca fuscata) over the First 15 Months after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster. Concentration of Radiocesium in the Wild Japanese Monkey (Macaca fuscata) over the First 15 Months after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Shin-ichi Hayama mail, Sachie Nakiri, Setsuko Nakanishi, Naomi Ishii, Taiki Uno, Takuya Kato, Fumiharu Konno, Yoshi Kawamoto, Shuichi Tsuchida, Kazuhiko Ochiai, Toshinori OmiPublished: July 03, 2013 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068530 Abstract Following the massive earthquake that struck eastern Japan on March 11, 2011, a nuclear reactor core meltdown occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company, and was followed by the release of large amounts of radioactive materials.
Citation: Hayama S-i, Nakiri S, Nakanishi S, Ishii N, Uno T, et al. (2013) Concentration of Radiocesium in the Wild Japanese Monkey (Macaca fuscata) over the First 15 Months after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster. Copyright: © 2013 Hayama et al. Results. Une école de Koriyama protège ses élèves avec le système D. Des bouteilles d’eau pour protéger les élèves en salle de classe. Cliché site de l’école Une école élémentaire à Koriyama City, (situé dans la préfecture de Fukushima quelque 34 miles à l’ouest de la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima Daiichi) utilise des bouteilles d’eau pour protéger les élèves du rayonnement provenant de la cour et d’autres zones autour des bâtiments scolaires.
Les bouteilles sont remplies d’eau et placés dans des casiers empilés autour des salles de classe. Selon l’école le rayonnement à l’intérieur est réduit de 1/ 3 Les habitants de Koriyama ville sont préoccupés par les grandes quantités de matières radioactives qui ont été trouvés autour de leur ville. Parce que Koriyama City est en dehors de la zone d’évacuation, le gouvernement a à peine effectué des activités de décontamination. Sources:Le site de l’écolele site Enformable. 300k Fukushima refugees still living 'in cages' in makeshift camps. Japanese Government offers dosimeters — not decontamination — for Fukushima evacuees.
This article originally appeared in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Japan. The original link is : Thanks to Nelson at for the full text. A Cabinet Office official shows a new-type dosimeter at a meeting with residents of Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, on June 23 by Miki Aoki After failing to reach its radiation decontamination target, the government proposed that evacuees from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster return to their homes and take responsibility for their own safety. The residents called for continued clean-up efforts, but government officials offered them dosimeters instead. According to an audio recording of the June 23 meeting obtained by The Asahi Shimbun, evacuees urged government officials to continue the decontamination work until the radiation target is met. Like this: Cesium concentrations vary in river, lake sand around Fukushima. Concentrations of radioactive cesium at the bottoms of rivers and lakes vary widely, but include some with the potential to affect ecosystems, according to Environment Ministry studies on water systems.
The ministry released the full results on the studies on radioactive fallout from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on surrounding water systems. The surveys were conducted between August and January at 725 locations in Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata, Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Chiba and Iwate prefectures. The results showed concentrations of waterborne radioactive cesium mostly remained below 1 becquerel per liter, with a maximum of 7 becquerels per liter detected in a river in Fukushima Prefecture. But the sand beneath the water contained considerably varying concentrations of cesium, including levels potentially harmful to food chains. The distribution of cesium depends not only on the amount of radioactive fallout but also on topography. 201112058 19530..19534 - 207.pdf. Radio-protective Substances.
The substances listed below have shown radio-protection in test animals to one degree or another. Some are toxic at useful levels. Some have demonstrated radio-protection during trials in which animals have been subjected to radiation exposures in the lethal range. Radio-protection in these cases being seen in the extended life span of the protected animals compared to unprotected animals. The extent of life extension of the protected animals being limited to periods of days extra suffering time as they progressed to inevitable death. The benefit of many radio-protectives at chronic low dose exposure to ionising radiation is, in my personal opinion, untested. It is surely far better to have access to clean food and water. In fact, the timing of administration of some chemical radio-protectives was shown to be critical in early trials. Nitric Oxide is an important radical used by the body in maintaining health and in fighting disease. These are things I think about.
Abstract. L'étendue des dommages de la catastrophe de Fukushima selon le rapport de la commission d’enquête. « Des mesures doivent être prises en priorité pour la santé publique. Malheureusement, nous voyons peu de signes en ce sens. » Décidément, cette commission indépendante est très critique mais aussi très réaliste. Non seulement elle dénonce des ordres d’évacuation chaotiques et un manque criant de préparation au désastre nucléaire, mais elle met aussi en évidence l’absence de formation du public sur les effets de la radioactivité sur la santé. « Ce que le gouvernement doit faire, c'est offrir une information détaillée aux habitants et leur fournir des éléments pour une prise de décision informée. » Oui, 16 mois après la catastrophe, il est grand temps que la population sache ce qu’elle risque en vivant dans des territoires contaminés. Mais revenons au Japon avec la traduction de la quatrième partie du résumé des conclusions de la commission d’enquête, correspondant aux pages 37 à 41 du rapport de 88 pages édité en anglais.
(traduction : Guy Fargette) 4. Des ordres d'évacuation chaotiques. The Bioaccumulation of contamination in plankton, US Armed Forces, 1955. Quote (emphasis added) “Page 59. The problem of radioactive particles falling into the ocean raises the question of their availability to this portion of the biosphere. Plankton normally found in sea water are consumed in large quantities by fish. These plankton concentrate mineral elements from the water, and it has been found that radioactivity may be concentrated (Page 60) in this manner by as much as a thousand fold. Thus, for example, one gram of plankton could contain a thousand times as much radioactivity as a gram of water adjacent to it.
The radioactivity from these plankton which form a portion of fish diet tends to concentrate in the liver of the fish, and, if sufficiently high levels of contamination are encountered, could have a marked effect upon the ecology of an ocean area. end quote J Radiat Res. 1994 Dec;35(4):213-21. End quote. Apr 21, 2011. Record radioactivity found in Fukushima fish. Le monde après Fukushima. US sailors sue Japan's TEPCO for post-quake radiation exposure. Nicholas A. Groesch / Reuters file Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan wash down the flight deck to remove potential radiation contamination while operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance in support of Operation Tomodachi on March 22, 2011.
By Kari Huus, NBC News A group of U.S. Navy personnel involved in the humanitarian effort after Japan's March 2011 earthquake and tsunami have filed a lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Co. for more than $200 million in compensation, punitive damages and future medical costs for exposure to radiation that leaked from the damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant at the time.
The plaintiffs include eight troops serving on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier — one of whom was pregnant at the time of the alleged exposure — and her daughter. "The carrier was less than two football fields away from the Fukushima Daiichi when it released a cloud of radiation," said Garner, speaking to NBC News on Thursday.
Au Japon la peste radioactive tue par centaines. Fukushima. Réévaluation des dégâts jusqu’à 100 milliards d’euros - Catastrophe. Le coût du traitement de l’accident de Fukushima, intégrant la décontamination et les dédommagements des victimes, pourrait atteindre 10 000 milliards de yens (100 milliards d’euros), selon la compagnie gérante de la centrale nucléaire ruinée par le tsunami du 11 mars 2011. Coût doublé « Nous devons discuter avec le gouvernement des besoins selon plusieurs scénarios », a répondu mercredi le président de Tepco, Kazuhiko Shimokobe, à un journaliste l’interrogeant sur le risque d’un doublement du montant de 5 000 milliards de yens précédemment évoqué par le groupe.
Tepco précise par ailleurs dans un document qu’une rallonge du même ordre de grandeur sera nécessaire en cas de décontamination d’une zone plus étendue que celle définie initialement et pour la construction de sites de stockage temporaires de détritus radioactifs. Incapable d’assumer le coût Elle insiste en outre sur la nécessité de repenser le schéma actuellement prévu pour financer la résolution du désastre. Fukushima: le coût de l'accident pourrait atteindre 100 mds EUR. Science of The Total Environment - Tracking the complete revolution of surface westerlies over Northern Hemisphere using radionuclides emitted from Fukushima. Abstract Massive amounts of anthropogenic radionuclides were released from the nuclear reactors located in Fukushima (northeastern Japan) between 12 and 16 March 2011 following the earthquake and tsunami.
Ground level air radioactivity was monitored around the globe immediately after the Fukushima accident. This global effort provided a unique opportunity to trace the surface air mass movement at different sites in the Northern Hemisphere. Based on surface air radioactivity measurements around the globe and the air mass backward trajectory analysis of the Fukushima radioactive plume at various places in the Northern Hemisphere by employing the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model, we show for the first time, that the uninterrupted complete revolution of the mid-latitude Surface Westerlies took place in less than 21 days, with an average zonal velocity of > 60 km/h.
Highlights Keywords Fukushima; 134Cs; Atmosphere; Air masses; Westerlies; Northern Hemisphere. Antonio Pagnotta : photographier la « douce apocalypse »
Radiations. Santé. Sunflowers Fail To Remove Radiation in Fukushima. An experiment to test the power of sunflowers to absorb toxic radiation has failed to prove effective near the site of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, Japan. The Asahi Shimbun reports that the sunflowers removed only .05 percent of the radioactive cesium in the ground, while the removal of just over an inch (3 centimeters) of topsoil along with grass removed up to 97 percent of the radioactive cesium.
It was hoped that sunflowers would concentrate radioactive waste and could then be removed more easily than the wholesale “scraping” of soil and compost that it seems will be required. In the meantime scientists are studying ways to decontaminate the forests near the nuclear accident site. According to the Japan Times, the prefecture (county) where the plant is located is 70% forested, and efforts to date have focused on decontaminating urban areas. Whether the radiation is removed by scraping soil or removing plant matter, the radioactive waste still needs to be safely stored. High dosage of cesium found in soil outside Fukushima no-go zone. Radioactive cesium found on S. Korean streets. SEOUL -- South Korean authorities began digging up streets in Seoul’s Nowon Ward on Nov. 4, after high radiation levels were detected on the asphalt. Employees of the government-affiliated Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety on Nov. 4 dug holes to collect samples of the road surface at intervals of about 5 meters along a 200-meter stretch of a shopping street in the Weolgye-dong district.
Radiation levels of 2.7 microsieverts per hour on the road surface and 1.8 microsieverts per hour at a height of 1 meter above the ground were measured near the front gate of the Induk industrial high school, which is on the road. Officials said it was likely that the radiation source was cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years. It is suspected that the aggregate used to make the asphalt may have been contaminated with the radioactive material. "I use this street many times a day. It's a part of life," said a female customer at a beauty salon facing the street. Tokyo est contaminée comme le pire endroit de Tchernobyl ! Why the Fukushima disaster is worse than Chernobyl - Asia, World. Now living in a refugee centre in the ruined coastal city of Soma, Mr Ichida has mourned the 100 local fishermen killed in the disaster and is trying to rebuild his life with his colleagues. Every morning, they arrive at the ruined fisheries co-operative building in Soma port and prepare for work.
Then they stare out at the irradiated sea, and wait. "Some day we know we'll be allowed to fish again. We all want to believe that. " This nation has recovered from worse natural – and manmade – catastrophes. But it is the triple meltdown and its aftermath at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 40km down the coast from Soma that has elevated Japan into unknown, and unknowable, terrain.
Some scientists say Fukushima is worse than the 1986 Chernobyl accident, with which it shares a maximum level-7 rating on the sliding scale of nuclear disasters. Slowly, steadily, and often well behind the curve, the government has worsened its prognosis of the disaster. Fukushima: les rejets en mer trois fois plus importants qu’estimé. Le cumul des substances radioactives rejetées en mer par la centrale nucléaire accidentée de Fukushima serait environ trois fois plus important que ne le pensait l’opérateur du site, a affirmé vendredi la presse nippone.
Des chercheurs japonais évaluent à présent à 15.000 térabecquerels la quantité d’éléments radioactifs dispersés dans l’océan Pacifique entre mars et avril, à la suite des explosions d’hydrogène et autres avaries survenues à Fukushima Daiichi, complexe atomique endommagé par le séisme et le tsunami du 11 mars dans le nord-est de l’archipel. L’opérateur de la centrale, Tokyo Electric Power (Tecpo), avait estimé auparavant à 4.700 térabecquerels le total d’iode et césium radioactifs rejetés dans la mer, en fonction de prélèvements effectués début avril. Selon les chercheurs, les particules radioactives sont arrivées en mer par divers canaux et d’autres, rejetées dans l’atmosphère, sont retombées dans l’eau de l’océan. De la radioactivité dans les eaux californiennes Like this: News: All the sensors non-functional. Centrale nucléaire de Fukushima Daiichi : toutes les données sur les réacteurs et les combustibles.