Extraordinary music video: Japanese youth speak truth to power in aftermath of Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe

FRYING DUTCHMAN humanERROR rocks the street with spoken word in an anguished, angry, yet hopeful, inspiring, and empowering "No Nukes!" marathon jam session.

Japanese authorities acknowledge 573 deaths related to Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe

As reported by the Yomiuri Shimbun:

"A total of 573 deaths have been certified as "disaster-related" by 13 municipalities affected by the crisis at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.

This number could rise because certification for 29 people remains pending while further checks are conducted.

The 13 municipalities are three cities--Minami-Soma, Tamura and Iwaki--eight towns and villages in Futaba County--Namie, Futaba, Okuma, Tomioka, Naraha, Hirono, Katsurao and Kawauchi--and Kawamata and Iitate, all in Fukushima Prefecture.

These municipalities are in the no-entry, emergency evacuation preparation or expanded evacuation zones around the nuclear plant, which suffered meltdowns soon after the March 11 disaster.

A disaster-related death certificate is issued when a death is not directly caused by a tragedy, but by fatigue or the aggravation of a chronic disease due to the disaster. If a municipality certifies the cause of death is directly associated to a disaster, a condolence grant is paid to the victim's family. If the person was a breadwinner, 5 million yen is paid..."

IAEA plays games with radiation dose rates at the fenceline of Fukushima Daiichi

In its Nov. 24, 2011 "Fukushima Daiichi Status Report," the IAEA states: "The dose to someone at the site boundary is currently estimated to be 0.1 mSv/yr. The estimate is based on the current rate of material being released from Units 1-3, i.e., excluding all previously released material." (emphasis added)

Of course, "excluding all previously released material" is convenient for nuclear power apologists like IAEA. While recent and current real time radiation releases from Fukushima Daiichi may be many orders of magnitude lower than they were in the days and weeks following March 11, 2011, they continue nonetheless. And some of the "released material" has included the discovery of actual fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel -- flung long distances likely due to explosions in high-level radioactive waste storage pools and/or reactor cores -- which emit very high levels of radiation dose. Other debris strewn about the area is contaminated with varying levels of radioactivity. IAEA's statement above confuses the actual radiological hazards on the ground at and near Fukushima Daiichi.

Data on worker radiation exposures at Fukushima Daiichi

On page 5 of its Dec. 8, 2011 "Fukushima Daiichi Status Report," the UN's IAEA provides a table showing nuclear power plant workers' exposures to radiation doses. Maximus doses (expressed in MilliSieverts, mSv) to a worker, by month, are list as: 670.36 in the month of March; 69.28 in the month of April; 41.61 in the month of May; 39.62 in the month of June; 31.24 in the month of July; 18.27 in the month of August; 30.81 in the month of September; and 21.43 in the month of October.

Altogether, many thousands of workers are shown to have been exposed to radiation doses of "Less than 10 mSv" or greater. The table does not make clear if the same individuals were exposed over again in more than one month.

Recent radioactive leaks to ocean still happening at Fukushima Daiichi

On page 2 of its Dec. 8, 2011 "Fukushima Daiichi Status Report," the UN's IAEA reports:

"On 4 December TEPCO reported that a leak of water was discovered coming from the evaporative concentration apparatus. Approximately 300 L of water had leaked from the equipment onto the floor of the facility. Due to a crack in the concrete base of the building 150 L of water is estimated to have been able to leak out of the facility and into a drain that exited into the ocean.

Several days later TEPCO released estimates of the amount of radionuclides present in the 150 L that escaped into the ocean. The water is estimated to have contained approximately 2.6 x 10(10) Bq of of Sr-89, Sr-90, Cs-134 and Cs-137. It is worth noting that the annual discharge control target for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is 2.22 x 10(11) Bq.

This release represents approximately 12% of this target value."

Apparently, IAEA has forgotten that Fukushima Daiichi has caused a catastrophic radioactivity release since March 11, 2011, including releasing tens of thousands of tons of radioactively contaminated water into the ocean over the course of many months. Very likely, Fukushima Daiichi has surpassed its "allowable" or "permissible" radioactivity releases into the ocean over the past 11 months!