Fukushima ghost towns struggle to recover amid high radiation levels

The Guardian ^ | 1 January 2014 11.21 EST | Simon Tisdall

[Texas Fossil]

Post-tsunami reconstruction and radiation cleanup could take 10 years, but officials say something has been permanently lost

Nearly three years after a major earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation leak devastated coastal and inland areas of Japan's Fukushima prefecture, 175 miles north-east of Tokyo, Namie has become a silent town of ghosts and absent lives.

Namie's 21,000 residents remain evacuated because of continuing high radiation levels, the product of the March 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, six miles to the south. Homes, shops and streets are deserted except for the occasional police patrol or checkpoint.

[Texas Fossil]

There have been reports of venting of steam from the #3 reactor off an on for the past few weeks. There are some videos of that. No news has been released by the Japanese Government about it, nor by TEPCO which runs the plant.

There are groups warning about large radiation leaks that could cross to the West Coast of the US. I am sceptical about the accuracy of that reporting due to the primary sources.

We should be watching this event.

[holden]

No news from Tepco? Au contraire.

Tepco (translation), Dec. 27, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 27, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated.

HF

[kingu]

I really miss actual media and investigative reporters. There was a time when the Guardian wouldn't even think about printing this story without actually sending a reporter to the area and conduct actual measurements to see if they match the stated exposure levels.

Or translate the danger in the supposed exposure levels. In the ‘Zone 3’ where still no one is allowed to stay overnight, the up to 20 microsevert exposure is just slightly above the regular exposure that everyone in the city of Denver has each year from natural radioactive sources.

The second zone is the same exposure as such cities as Vail Colorado where up to 50 microseverts of radiation exposure happens annually.

The first zone, the ‘highest’ of radiation exposure, is the same background radiation experienced in many parts of Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

I'll gladly take any property in the evacuated town, and live there, grow my food there, fish and raise animals, knowing that the actual ‘danger’ to myself is low enough to be considered background radiation in many cities around the world, but the only difference here is that groups are fully intending on demonizing and eliminating all Japanese nuclear power.

[Texas Fossil]

Thanks for the perspective. There have been no real news coverage of this event. I have been sceptical about the Leftie sources because of past lies.

But a nuke power plant meltdown is not without it’s risks. The Russians are a good example.

In the absence of reporting of radiation level readings it is impossible for me to know what is real and what is not.

Thanks again.

[kingu]

There’s massive differences between the Japan and Russian events; effectively the nuclear pile in Russia melted down into the carbon blocks, and then burned as a fire for weeks, even well after they smothered the carbon blocks with millions of pounds of concrete.

The amount of nuclear material that melted was seventeen times the total amount of nuclear material at the Japan site, all in one containment building, vs the 4 reactor buildings and 4 containment ponds.

Almost all of the nuclear release in Japan was secondary contamination - IE: water that was used in containment vs the actual fuel the plant uses. Vs Russia which was almost entirely primary contamination, the fuel itself spreading around the world.

In all, the ENTIRE radioactive release from Japan so far has not exceeded the amount of material released in ONE above ground US nuclear bomb test. Almost all of Japan’s material went into the pacific ocean, vs above ground tests in the US which entirely contaminated the ground from Nevada all the way to the eastern seaboard.

Mind, modern radiation detectors are incredibly sensitive, nearly 600,000 times as sensitive as the detectors used in the 1970s. It is easy to produce ‘shocking levels of radioactive detection.’ One small radioactive mineral sample, a common item sold in chemistry kits, would peg most of these new detectors rather than giving the scant indication of the old units.

And none of these common sense comparisons is featured anywhere in the media, because a) it isn’t scary enough. b) It doesn’t make Japan’s government and nuclear power industry look bad, and finally c) it would degrade the anti-nuclear’s holding of Japan upon their holy pedestal as the only ‘victim’ of nuclear bombs used in combat.

[familyop]

Interesting. Many of us in the USA grew up downwind of many nuclear weapons tests including cratering devices (much fallout from those), and more of us are living longer than our ancestors.

[Texas Fossil]

I have thought about what you previously stated.

Is it possible the reason they will not let the people back in their homes is not the radiation, but the potential for further discharges of material. Proximity to the site?

I understand why they are staying quiet about the status. I do not trust the Leftie anti-nuke crowd at all. They have been the most vocal on this. That and the Leftie English press.

[kingu]

I would not offer to take over any property in the area if there was the slightest chance of any danger, as I have to assume that the idiots who continue to pressure the power plant will ensure that every roadblock possible is placed before them in actually containing the danger.

The town is six miles away from the power plant. If it was a mile away, I would be slightly concerned.

Here’s the biggest hint: the design of the nuclear power plant had a minimal containment building. Nuclear engineers ALWAYS over engineer their plants. Everything worked EXACTLY as designed; the plant scrammed within 40 seconds of a major earthquake, halting the reaction process. It took a massive (not major) earthquake combined with a catastrophic tsunami to actually disable this plant. The petrochemical spill from the tsunami is more dangerous than that plant ever will be six miles away.

[angcat]

Should we start a Ping list about this problem?

[Jackie222]

PING............

[angcat]

lol since the media is ignoring it I am only reading it on Freeper. I wonder how this story would play out if Bush was President? They would be blaming him.

[Jackie222]

I sure do enjoy reading the debates about this problem. It is lofty talk that rarely filters now to my level but they give me lots of references to help know what is going on.........maybe.

ping list is welcome.