Current status of evacuation areas near Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

On page 6 of its "Fukushima Daiichi Status Report" dated 27 January 2012, the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency published a map showing "Current evacuation areas (as of 25 November)." A PDF copy of the map is viewable here. On page 8 of its previous "Fukushima Daiichi Status Report" dated December 22, 2011, IAEA stated:

"On 25 November, additional Specific Spots Recommended for Evacuation were established at 13 spots (15 households) in Date City and 20 spots (22 households) in Minamisoma City. This brings the total Specific Spots Recommended for Evacuation in Date City to 117 spots (128 households) and in Minamisoma City to 142 spots (153 households)."

This means that nearly 9 months after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Catastrophe began, the Japanese federal government is still identifying radioactive hotspots located well outside the 12.4 mile (20 kilometer) "Restricted Area" immediately around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as well as outside the "Deliberate Evacuation Area" extending far beyond the 12.4 mile zone to the northwest of the destroyed atomic reactors. This almost certainly means that families -- perhaps including fetuses for nearly their entire gestation period -- have been allowed to inhabit areas that the Japanese government now admits are too radioactively contaminated to be considered "safe."

It bears repeating that even areas the Japanese government has declared "permissibly" or "allowably" contaminated -- namely, at levels of contamination as high as 2 Rem per year -- should not be declared "safe." The linear no threshold theory, affirmed for decades by the U.S. Academies of Science, holds that any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how small, still carries a health risk, and these risks accumulate over a lifetime.

Fukushima Daiichi still releasing radioactive cesium to air

On page 3 of its December 22, 2011 "Fukushima Daiichi Status Report," the International Atomic Energy Agency (which depends on Japanese federal government agencies as well as Tokyo Electric Power Company for its information, so is assuming those vested interests are being honest and accurate) reported that:

"Air sampling is still being used to determine the current release rates from each reactor Unit. The current caesium release rate from Unit 1, 2 and 3 is estimated to be 0.01 billion Bq/h, 0.01 billion Bq/h and 0.04 billion Bq/h respectively. The total release rate of caesium is 0.06 billion Bq/h which is 1/13000000 at the time of the accident. [Note: this is the same release rate as in the previous month]." (page 3)

A becquerel (Bq) is defined as a unit of radioactivity measurement equal to one disintegration per second. As reported above, 60 million Bq per hour of radioactive cesium alone (not accounting for other radioactive poisons) is still escaping into the air from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants Units 1 to 3 (radioactivity releases from Unit 4's damaged high-level radioactive waste storage pool is also not accounted for). As stated, radiation release rates at the time of the accident" beginning on March 11, 2011 were 13 million times higher than current radiation release rates -- in other words, 780 trillion (780,000,000,000,000) Bq per hour of radioactive cesium alone.

65 food samples analyzed in December and January violate Japanese provisional radiation contamination limits

Before the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe, Japan did not have limits for radioactive contamination in food. "Provisional" standards were rushed into place, which are still on the books. The Japanese federal government's limit for Cesium-134/Cesium-137 contamination in food is 500 bequerels per kilogram (the Canadian and U.S. standards are weaker by the way -- 1,000 bq/kg and 1,200 bq/kg, respectively!). It should be borne in mind that just because the Japanese federal government has "provisionally" declared 500 bq/kg of Cs-134 and/or Cs-137 in food to be "acceptable" or "permissible," this does not mean it's "safe."

The following 18 different types of food products sampled in Japan in December and January violated those limits: log-grown Shitake mushrooms (up to 2,390 bq/kg); greenling fish (up to 1,540 bq/kg); goldeye rockfish (up to 1,630 bq/kg); common skate (up to 640 bq/kg); rockfish (up to 2,130 bq/kg); bitter melon tea (up to 1,020 bq/kg); boar meat (up to 13,300 bq/kg); dehydrated taro stalk (up to 750 bq/kg); righteye flounder (up to 1,380 bq/kg); Yuzu citrus fruit (930 bq/kg); Japanese smelt (591 bq/kg); dried Japanese radish (800 bq/kg); Asian black bear meat (1,110 bq/kg); sika deer meat (573 bq/kg); dried yacon leaf (570 bq/kg); lefteye flounder (540 bq/kg); fox jacopever fish (1,310 bq/kg); dried oyamabokuchi (570 bq/kg).

See the IAEA Fukushima update dated Jan. 27, 2012, pages 7 to 9, for more information.

Science with a Skew: The Nuclear Power Industry After Chernobyl and Fukushima

A wonderful piece from Gayle Greene, the author of "The Woman Who Knew Too Much", a biography of Alice Stewart who was the first researcher to show the damage of low dose radiation to the fetus. This article discusses Japan's ironic role in determining radiation damage, first from the US bombings which ushered forth a full court press cover-up of the health effects, to the health impacts of the GE designed Fukushima reactors and how data from the bombings is being used to quiet alarms about the impact of Fukushima radiation. A thoroughly-researched and well-written article and a must-read. Asia-Pacific Journal

The radioactive waste at "The Fourth Reactor and the Destiny of Japan"

In an essay by that title, Akio Matsumura has warned about the risks of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4's high-level radioactive waste storage pool collapsing:

"In the last weeks, I have been speaking constantly with Japanese government and party leaders on this urgent issue. Surprisingly, most of them were not aware of the dangerous situation. I, along with many eminent scientists, are emphasizing the precarious situation of the fourth reactor that contains 1,535 nuclear fuel rods in the pool and is balanced on the second floor [sic*], outside of the reactor containment vessel. If the fuel rods spill onto the ground, disaster will ensue and force Tokyo and Yokohama to close, creating a gigantic evacuation zone. All scientists I have talked with say that if the structure collapses we will be in a situation well beyond where science has ever gone. The destiny of Japan will be changed and the disaster will certainly compromise the security of neighboring countries and the rest of the world in terms of health, migration and geopolitics.  The Japanese government should immediately create an independent assessment team to determine the structural integrity of the spent fuel pool and its supporting structure. This is of the highest importance: the structure’s security is critical to the country’s future."

Dr. Gordon Edwards, Montreal based President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), agrees wholeheartedly with Matsumura about the risks. Edwards has provided a techical backgrounder, and called for international assistance to prevent a worsening of the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe, as could happen if the Unit 4 high-level radioactive waste storage pool collapses, and the irradiated nuclear fuel catches fire. Edwards presented Matsumura with yet more technical detail in a letter dated January 13th.

[*General Electric Boiling Water Reactors of the Mark 1 design actually have high-level radioactive waste storage pools located several stories up in the air]