ANCHOR: Fukushima continues to spew radiation, 5,300 miles from LA. Dozens of 9fish0 species labeled too rad’ to eat. An enormous problem that is getting bigger. Deep See Research One, rad will reach
ANCHOR: Fukushima continues to spew radiation, 5,300 miles from LA. Dozens of 9fish0 species labeled too rad’ to eat. An enormous problem that is getting bigger. Deep See Research One, rad will reach this month.
AM: several hundred tons of radioactive water are pouring into the ocean at the site every day.
ANCHOR M says radiation will be diluted. And levels on the West Coast are very low and not considered dangerous.
AM I think we should be doing better monitoring of food. I don’t think FDA and EPA are doing a good enough job./”
DR. JIMMY HARA, Prof. of Clinical Family Medicine, UCLA, & Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Rep.: “The fox is guarding the chic ken coop”
ANCHOR: Fukushima is potentially the biggest ticking time bomb in human history. The damaged plant is in no condition to withstand another massive earthquake or tsunami. The plant’s defenses today are far less than in March 2011. Just last week Dr. David Suzuki stunned an audience when he described what would happen if a massive quake did hit today:
Dr. DAVID SUZUKI “Bye Bye Japan and everybody on the West Coast of North America should evacuate.”
MAKHAJANI, OCT. 31, 2013 (ON KPFA RADIO – RE FUEL ROD REMOVAL: WHAT IS THE RISK?)
AM: Biggest is that spent fuel contains much more cesium-137 than was released at Chernobyl. If there were a disaster, something that triggered a fire would cause very, very great amounts of radiation that would dwarf Chernobyl. It’s not simple to remove spent fuel from a pool that has suffered an earth quake and where fuel rods may not be properly in their original position.
AM: Our lack of confidence in Tepco comes is. Not sure how new regulator is overseeing the operation. It’s not very reassuring. I hope there’s been some level of independent scrutiny of the plan and how the fuel is sitting in the pool. The lack of independent on site advisors is troubling. There is a risk of another severe earthquake. There was a 7.0 quake off the east coast recently. If the spent fuel pool is destroyed the consequences. There is no low risk scenario.
AM: We should not have the IAEA both promoting and regulating nuclear energy. French Co. AREVA – I am no fan of AREVA – has a not of expertise. Helped build the filtering plant after 3/11/11. But the decommissioning plan is decades long — that’s far too long. Conflict exists between need to remove fuel right away and danger of moving it.
KPCA: Should UN estab an independent oversight body? Specifically to investigate F?
AM: Not sure. That would take some time. It might “delay for a significant time” the removal of the fuel. There are penalties to delay an penalties to go with Tepco. I wish there were more rigorous oversight.
KPCA: danger of rad water on West Coast?
AM: Dilution by the time it reaches the west coast is very large. There is bioaccumulation of strontium-90 in fish. It bio-accumulates more than cesium. I regard as more dangerous in the sea than cesium because it targets the bone where immune systems are located. . More mobile in soil and water than cerium. Per unit it is more dangerous than cesium.
The impact on w coast has not been large. Maybe the same order of magnitude at nuclear [bomb] testing.
Prudent to know the providence of your seafood.
I have advocated that there should be sea water and seafood testing to a much greater extent and publication of results especially on the West Coast by US authorities. And I don’t think they are being vigilant enough.
The main risks are if a large fraction of the radioactivity in the molten fuel, or the spent fuel pool or in the 1000 tanks were suddenly released into the ocean.
Know where your seafood is coming from especially if you’re pregnant. Traces of radioactivity from Fukushima that is elevated in tuna are elevated above [bomb test] fallout.
It depends on your risk tolerance.
We live with radiation from fallout.
When we eat seafood with above-zero risk. When we eat fish and any food, all of our food is contaminated from nuclear weapons testing fallout.
How we parse what is being done to us by forces beyond our control That’s one reason to get rid o f nuclear power.
If a large fraction of the radiation in the molten or spent fuel.
One reason to get rid of nuclear power
MAKHAJANI, SEPT, 2013 – The crisis has been evolving for more than two years. Fuel in reactors is melted through the reactors. It has to be cooled even though it is molten. You have to add cooling water. Groundwater is coming up and contacting the melted fuel. Operators are collecting this ground water in thousands of tanks. Some have begun to leak. Some of it is very, very radioactive, some so high that you could get a lethal dose in a few hours. An annual dose as a worker in can be received 10, 20 minutes. 300 tons about 80,000 gal a day are going from the sit4e and pouring into the ocean underground.
Q.: Ice wall? Will it contain it? “At best it’s a palliative. Usually suc h ice walls are a temporary expedient. This won’t be temporary. The size is huge and unprecedented. Building at a contaminated site is difficult. Another earthquake will break the coils, then you have an ice wall with no ice, melted ice, contaminated water held up behind it would pour into the ocean. This will definitely not solve the prob. …
Q: By 2014 or sooner, this radiation may hit the US?
A: initial release was very large. To the air, also releases to the ocean, fallout from the atmosphere. France’s Radio-Protection Institute called it the largest radioactive pollution of the ocean in history. Of course the fish in the ocean are contaminated. It takes about 3 years for contaminated water from Fukushima to reach the US.
