APNews: Japan ups nuke crisis severity to match Chernobyl

[China]

Interesting that this story comes out on Monkey Day.

[China]

Russia Stunned After Japanese Plan To Evacuate 40 Million Revealed

A new report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Foreign Ministry on the planned re-opening of talks with Japan over the disputed Kuril Islands during the next fortnight states that Russian diplomats were “stunned” after being told by their Japanese counterparts that upwards of 40 million of their peoples were in “extreme danger” of life threatening radiation poisoning and could very well likely be faced with forced evacuations away from their countries eastern most located cities… including the world’s largest one, Tokyo.

...

According to this report, Japanese diplomats have signaled to their Russian counterparts that the returning of the Kuril Islands to Japan is “critical” as they have no other place to resettle so many people that would, in essence, become the largest migration of human beings since the 1930’s when Soviet leader Stalin forced tens of millions to resettle Russia’s far eastern regions.

Important to note, this report continues, are that Japanese diplomats told their Russian counterparts that they were, also, “seriously considering” an offer by China to relocate tens of millions of their citizens to the Chinese mainland to inhabit what are called the “ghost cities,” built for reasons still unknown...

...

Though the news of this ongoing global catastrophe is still being heavily censored in the US, the same cannot be said about Japan, and as recently reported by the leading Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Daily News that reports:

“One of the biggest issues that we face is the possibility that the spent nuclear fuel pool of the No. 4 reactor at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant will collapse. This is something that experts from both within and outside Japan have pointed out since the massive quake struck. TEPCO, meanwhile, says that the situation is under control. However, not only independent experts, but also sources within the government say that it’s a grave concern.

The storage pool in the No. 4 reactor building has a total of 1,535 fuel rods, or 460 tons of nuclear fuel, in it. The 7-story building itself has suffered great damage, with the storage pool barely intact on the building’s third and fourth floors. The roof has been blown away. If the storage pool breaks and runs dry, the nuclear fuel inside will overheat and explode, causing a massive amount of radioactive substances to spread over a wide area. Both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and French nuclear energy company Areva have warned about this risk.

Click on the link for the full article

[Ellis]

Is this true or is it just some hype-site making Alex Jones-esque stories?

A massive exodus of Japanese people to the Kuril Islands or even the ghosts cities of China seems... rather fantastical, especially if the US is not reporting it on major networks. And the idea of Tokyo being abandoned seems crazy.

[Rocky21]

I don't know how reliable this article is and some of the linked stories seem to come from preposterous sources.

"To how dire the situation is in Japan was recently articulated by Japanese diplomat Akio Matsumura who warned that the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant may ultimately turn into an event capable of extinguishing all life on Earth."

[Knick]

I heard they're making a movie called "The Fukushima Diaries" in 2015.

[China]

Is this true or is it just some hype-site making Alex Jones-esque stories?

I don't know how reliable this article is and some of the linked stories seem to come from preposterous sources.

I did find this:

[Note: according to a knowledgeable intel source, this report from What Does It Mean blog is based on Russian disinformation, with the intention of neutralizing what the Russians see as a Japanese threat.]

Link

[China]

Tuna contaminated with Fukushima radiation found in California

Scientists amazed that bluefins swimming in Pacific five months after Japanese disaster contained tiny amounts of caesium

Bluefin tuna contaminated with radiation believed to be from Fukushima Daiichi turned up off the coast of California just five months after the Japanese nuclear plant suffered meltdown last March, US scientists said.

Tiny amounts of caesium-137 and caesium-134 were detected in 15 bluefin caught near San Diego in August last year, according to a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

The levels were 10 times higher than those found in tuna in the same area in previous years, but still well below those that the Japanese and US governments consider a risk to health. Japan recently introduced a new safety limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram in food.

The timing of the discovery suggests that the fish, a prized but dangerously overfished delicacy in Japan, had carried the radioactive materials across the Pacific ocean faster than those conveyed by wind or water.

Click on the link for the full article

[SpacePenguin]

The levels were 10 times higher than those found in tuna in the same area in previous years, but still well below those that the Japanese and US governments consider a risk to health. Japan recently introduced a new safety limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram in food.

The US raised "safe" levels just as Japan did shortly after the disaster last year.

[China]

The US raised "safe" levels just as Japan did shortly after the disaster last year.

Also these tuna were caught 5 months after the disaster; it is possible higher levels have accumulated in tuna over the last six months and that levels in fish are now above the limit.

[Koolblue13]

Radiation is not as bad for you any more, just like eating mercury. It's even in our medicine now.

[SpacePenguin]

The timing of the discovery suggests that the fish, a prized but dangerously overfished delicacy in Japan, had carried the radioactive materials across the Pacific ocean faster than those conveyed by wind or water.

There is some crazy misinfo going around, but this sentence really takes the cake. This fallout circles the globe every 40 days, from everything I've read. Just look at weather radar and see how fast the jetstream moves. Most of it stays up there, but rain will bring it down.

Even if you want to call me a liar about that, debris from the tsunami is already confirmed to be hitting the West Coast. To imply that the tuna are moving faster than wind AND water is slightly dishonest.

Anyways, please don't eat fish period...and stay outta the rain.

[Corcaigh]

A recent report from the IAEA is here:

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/fukushima/statusreport270412.pdf

The reactors are cold so the risk of a new problem and massive breach seems low, absent a catastrophic event such as an earthquake or tsunami. However the damage appears to be very high inside the containment vessels and radiation levels are extremely dangerous.

At this point the risk of a Chernobyl seems very unlikely. But you have essentially untouchable piles of radioactivity which will be hard to defuel and dismantle because of the damage.

[SpacePenguin]

Radiation is not as bad for you any more, just like eating mercury. It's even in our medicine now.

Hehe, yeah. What's the phrase again? No immediate danger. As in, you may die in 20 years from cancer, but you were going to regardless, so we can't be blamed.

Lovely.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

Tuna contaminated with Fukushima radiation found in California

Scientists amazed that bluefins swimming in Pacific five months after Japanese disaster contained tiny amounts of caesium

Bluefin tuna contaminated with radiation believed to be from Fukushima Daiichi turned up off the coast of California just five months after the Japanese nuclear plant suffered meltdown last March, US scientists said.

Tiny amounts of caesium-137 and caesium-134 were detected in 15 bluefin caught near San Diego in August last year, according to a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

The levels were 10 times higher than those found in tuna in the same area in previous years, but still well below those that the Japanese and US governments consider a risk to health. Japan recently introduced a new safety limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram in food.

The timing of the discovery suggests that the fish, a prized but dangerously overfished delicacy in Japan, had carried the radioactive materials across the Pacific ocean faster than those conveyed by wind or water.

Click on the link for the full article

Can caesium really be that bad for you if these fish could swim all the way from Japan to California with it? In fact, I'm gonna put a little caesium on my burger for lunch today.

[Koolblue13]

The fact that some radiation is all cool to eat is reminiscent of people being shocked that Taco Bell only used 32% beef, but not that 35% of the beef needed to actually be beef.

[SpacePenguin]

Can caesium really be that bad for you if these fish could swim all the way from Japan to California with it? In fact, I'm gonna put a little caesium on my burger for lunch today.

You could claim a lot of things are healthy using that logic. My grandma is fine, and she smokes 2 packs a day. Does this make tobacco any less of a carcinogen?

Caesium is simply the isotope they chose to measure. Things like Uranium, Strontium 90, Plutonium, Radioactive Iodine are there as well if fresh caesium 134 is there.

They just rarely measure for anything but caesium and iodine. Don't want to actually scare people, I suppose.

[Corcaigh]

I'm not sure if my sarcasm meter is broken, but there is background radiation all around us. If you live near granite you get a lot more radiation than most others, but not too much to be worried about unless you have poor ventilation and radon gas gathers in basements or similar areas etc.

The issue is when we introduce additional radiation to the environment at levels and types that are harmful. That's not the case for these fish, but is certainly the case for the airborne and water-born leaks in the areas immediately surrounding Fukushima where the levels are very concentrated.

Widely diluting the radiation in a body of water the size of the Pacific won't result in risk.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

You could claim a lot of things are healthy using that logic. My grandma is fine, and she smokes 2 packs a day. Does this make tobacco any less of a carcinogen?

Caesium is simply the isotope they chose to measure. Things like Uranium, Strontium 90, Plutonium, Radioactive Iodine are there as well if fresh caesium 134 is there.

They just rarely measure for anything but caesium and iodine. Don't want to actually scare people, I suppose.

I guess I'm gonna start smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. That's expensive, but I want to live to be as old as your grandma.

[Koolblue13]

I guess I'm gonna start smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. That's expensive, but I want to live to be as old as your grandma.

It's dirt cheap down here. At $20 a carton, I can't afford not to smoke.

[Corcaigh]

That's a pretty cost effective way to build up large doses of radioactive isotopes lead-210 and polonium-210 in your lungs

[SpacePenguin]

Widely diluting the radiation in a body of water the size of the Pacific won't result in risk.

Wow...people still believe dilution is the solution? Even when dealing with isotopes that have halflifes ranging from 30 to thousands of years?

One hot particle inhaled or ingested is going to damage surrounding cells, and increase the risk of cancer...and one particle is about as diluted as you're gonna get.

I hope you're right, for the sake of everyone, but this dilution myth has led to a lot of questionable practices when it comes to dumping radioactive waste at sea (as well as "routine" venting into the air) since the dawn of the nuclear power industry, while cancer rates skyrocket in the same 40 year time period.

[Koolblue13]

[Corcaigh]

Wow...people still believe dilution is the solution? Even when dealing with isotopes that have halflifes ranging from 30 to thousands of years?

One hot particle inhaled or ingested is going to damage surrounding cells, and increase the risk of cancer...and one particle is about as diluted as you're gonna get.

I hope you're right, for the sake of everyone, but this dilution myth has led to a lot of questionable practices when it comes to dumping radioactive waste at sea since the dawn of the nuclear power industry, while cancer rates skyrocket in the same 40 year time period.

Significantly above background levels? And worse than regular air travel or living at altitude and getting more cosmic rays?

[SpacePenguin]

Significantly above background levels? And worse than regular air travel or living at altitude and getting more cosmic rays?

I think you're confusing gamma radiation with alpha radiation, external with internal exposure, and naturally occuring radiation, which every species on the planet has evolved to handle, with manmade radioactive poisons that are relatively new to the ecosystem.

I'm sure most people will adapt, my concerns at this point are more for children and the elderly, and the effects generations down the line DNA wise.

I could provide links to support these claims, but in my experience people are going to believe what they prefer to believe. It's your right ;p

One thing is for certain. We'd be better off dealing with Godzilla.

He'd be harder to downplay lol

[Corcaigh]

I think you're confusing gamma radiation with alpha radiation, external with internal exposure, and naturally occuring radiation, which every species on the planet has evolved to handle, with manmade radioactive poisons that are relatively new to the ecosystem.

I could provide links to support these claims, but in my experience people are going to believe what they prefer to believe. It's your right ;p

Dude. I've worn radiation detectors for the part of my life when I worked in nuclear research lab. How about you answer the question? Your single particle from Fukushima is a threat when you consider all the other sources including Polonium 210 (emits alpha particles) which is ingested every time you are anywhere near someone who has smoked, including outside?