TEPCO subcontractor used lead to fake dosimeter readings at Fukushima plant

replica of lead plate believed to be used to shield dosimiters thus falsifying worker doseWorkers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant were ordered to cover their dosimeters with lead plates to keep radiation doses low enough to continue working under dangerous conditions, the Asahi Shimbun has learned.

Some refused the orders. Others raised questions about their safety and the legality of the practice. But the man in charge, a senior official of a subcontractor of Tokyo Electric Power Co., warned them that they would lose their jobs--and any chance of employment at other nuclear plants--if they failed to comply. Asahi Shimbun

See also Ministry to search for dosimeter shields at Fukushima plant

Officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will search for lead plates that workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant used to shield their dosimeters and later discarded on the plant grounds.

Now 35.8% of Fukushima children examined have thyroid cysts or nodules

Of more than 38,000 children tested from the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, 36 percent have abnormal growths – cysts or nodules – on their thyroids a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, as reported by ENENews. The shocking numbers come from the thyroid examination section of the "Sixth Report of Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey," published by Fukushima Radioactive Contamination Symptoms Research (FRCSR) and translated by the blog Fukushima Voice.  Shunichi Yamashita, M.D., president of the Japan Thyroid Association, sent a letter to members in January with guidelines for treating thyroid abnormalities. In 2001 Yamashita co-authored a study that found normal children in Nagasaki to have 0 percent nodules and 0.8 percent cysts. The introduction of the letter, written by Fukushima Voice, states that the results in Fukushima show a "much faster progression compared to Chernobyl" as research done around Chernobyl showed the rate of thyroid nodules in children 5 to 10 years after the accident to be 1.74 percent. Business Insider and ENE News.

Investigation Sought of Extensive F.D.A. Surveillance on Scientists Who Warned of Radiation Exposure from Medical Devices

"...The New York Times disclosed in an article on Sunday that the agency’s surveillance of five of its own scientists beginning in 2010 had produced 80,000 pages of intercepted e-mails and other documents, along with what amounted to an enemies list of 21 “actors” at the agency, in Congress, the news media and academia who were thought to be collaborating to put out confidential information damaging to the reputation of the F.D.A.’s medical device reviews.

...The F.D.A. scientists maintained that a number of medical imaging devices used to detect colon and breast cancer used unsafe levels of radiation. The special counsel’s office, which rejects the vast majority of the public safety claims that federal employees make, found that the concerns were valid enough to warrant a full investigation, and it sent the matter to Ms. Sebelius to conduct the review. She is scheduled to report back by the end of July, although the deadline may be extended.

...In a confidential memo in May, the Office of Special Counsel, which handles federal workplace grievances, found a “significant likelihood” that the devices posed “a substantial and specific danger to public safety” as the scientists had warned." New York Times

Fukushima vs. Chernobyl: How Have Animals Fared?

For a little bird, bee or butterfly trying to make it in the world, which is the worse place to land: Fukushima or Chernobyl? On the one hand, there’s the risk from the release of radioactive materials that occurred in Japan just over a year ago. On the other, there’s the threat of mutations from accumulated environmental contamination over the past quarter-century from the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine. New York Times

Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud receives national Sierra Club Award

This quilt Judy is admiring was created by textile artist Margaret Gregg of Virginia, and was given to her on May 4th by the Sierra Club "No Nukes Activist Team" in honor of her 50 years of anti-nuclear leadership. It reads "JUDITH: PROTECTING LIFE FOREVER."Leon Glicenstein, a life-long friend and supporter of Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud, has written an article for the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter's Summer 2012 newsletter The Sylvanian about the national Sierra Club and the Sierra Club "No Nukes Activist Team" recognition ceremony, held May 4th in Takoma Park, Maryland, honoring Judy's half-century of anti-nuclear leadership not only locally, regionally, and nationally, but even globally. Judy is a founding board member of Beyond Nuclear. Included in Leon's article is a partial list of anti-nuclear victories Judy helped win in her home state of Pennsylvania alone.

Beyond Nuclear posted a tribute to Judy shortly after the ceremony, which includes more photos of the presentation of her quilt (see photo, left), as well as links to writings by Judy, such as her brief history of the Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, which she founded and led for many decades.

Among her many other areas of expertise, Judy is an expert in the field of radiation and health.