Fukushima radiation

Epidemic of sea mammal deaths explodes as Fukushima radiation contaminates one-third of the earth

Posted by

0


Dead and dying sea mammals continue to wash ashore at unusual and alarming rates along the California coast. Scientists are stumped, suggesting that the cause may be food shortages caused by abnormally warm waters – but unsure of what has caused the ocean off the California coast to warm so rapidly.

radiation

Meanwhile, the radioactive plume released into the Pacific Ocean following the Fukushima nuclear disaster draws ever closer to North America’s western coast. At the same time, radioactive material is still pouring into the sea from the Fukushima site. Could the ongoing radioactive poisoning of the Pacific and the dying of its marine mammals be related?

Whales, dolphins now affected

On July 6, San Francisco news outlets reported the discovery of a large dead dolphin that had washed ashore at nearby Ocean Beach. While one death might not be particularly unusual, a dead sea lion pup and a dead adult elephant seal were also found washed up at the same beach, on the same day.

In the few months prior, numerous dead whales had washed up along the nearby coast.

At the same time, literally thousands of dead and dying sea lions have been beaching themselves from San Francisco to San Diego. In the first three months of the year, more than 1,800 sea lions – many of them starving and sickly juveniles – were found on beaches or in coastal back yards. More than a thousand of these sea lions beached themselves in March alone.

“You could equate it to a war zone,” said Keith Matassa of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

Three of five years since 2011 – the year of the Fukushima disaster – have seen abnormally high numbers of sea lion strandings.

Mainstream scientists are not pointing the finger at radiation, however. Instead, they suspect that marine mammals are dying due to a food shortage caused by abnormally warm ocean temperatures. And they may have a point: Temperatures between San Francisco and Monterey are an astonishing 5 degrees warmer than normal for the time of year.

A third of the world poisoned?

Scientists do not know why the waters are so warm, and have not studied a possible contribution from the massive amount of radioactive material from the Fukushima disaster that is predicted to slam into the California coast some time in 2017. Without such a study, any connection may have to remain speculative.

What is certain, however, is that the massive release of radioactive material into the Pacific Ocean is likely to have dire ecological consequences.

“Every day, four hundred tons of highly radioactive water pours into the Pacific and heads towards the U.S.,” renowned physician and anti-nuclear advocate Helen Caldicott warned in September 2014. “Because the radiation accumulates in fish, we get that too. The U.S. government is not testing the water, not testing the fish, and not testing the ambient air. Also, people in Japan are eating radiation every day.”

Asian Pacific governments are also taking the threat seriously. In 2011, 19 Pacific member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency launched a study into the possible effects of Fukushima radioactive releases on the region.

“Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March 2011 and their subsequent impact on the nuclear reactors and associated fuel storage ponds at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, there have been releases of radioactively contaminated water into the marine environment neighboring the north east coast of the island of Honshu,” the project document reads. “It is assumed that this radioactive contamination could be transported and circulated through the Pacific Ocean. Consequently … member states have expressed concern about the possible impact of these releases on their coastal zones.”

“The area potentially affected may encompass much of the Pacific Ocean, which covers one third of the area of the globe,” the document warns.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050844_Fukushima_radiation_marine_life.html#ixzz3jtp1sKXx

Data proves Fukushima has exceeded Chernobyl in radiation release.

Posted by

0


The cumulative amount of radiation released from Fukushima already exceeds that of the infamous 1986 Chernobyl disaster, says a new study published in the journal Nature — and the damage, of course, is still ongoing.

Chernobyl

Scientists from Japan, after testing radiation concentrations in various spots throughout the Pacific Ocean and on land, found that at least 120 petabecquerels (PBq), or 120 quadrillion becquerels (Bq), of radioactive cesium-134 (Cs-134) and cesium-137 (Cs-137) have been released by Fukushima just into the world’s oceans.

This figure is 11 percent higher than the total amount of radioactive cesium released by Chernobyl on both land and water, illustrating the true severity of the Fukushima disaster that the mainstream media is concealing from the public.

According to the study, researchers analyzed data collected at numerous measuring stations located throughout the North Pacific Ocean and elsewhere where Fukushima radiation was released. Though incomplete, this data was used to come up with radiation release estimates that account for the spread of contaminated water via ocean currents.

Based on these models, it was determined that up to 46 PBq of Cs-134 was released into the North Pacific Ocean following Fukushima. However, the study also says that the 6 PBq of Cs-134 definitively identified in the study area may represent as little as 10 percent of the overall release, bumping this figure to 60 PBq of Cs-134.

Combined with the total estimated release of Cs-137, the study authors concluded that up to 120 PBq of both types of radioactive cesium were released just into the North Pacific Ocean following the Fukushima disaster. Compared to the 108 PBq of radioactive cesium released during Chernobyl, this represents an 11 percent greater amount.

Fukushima: hands-down the worst nuclear disaster in history

But it is important to note here that the 108 PBq figure for Chernobyl includes radiation deposited on both land and sea. In the case of Fukushima, the 120 PBq figure only accounts for radiation released into water, and specifically water circulating in the North Pacific Ocean — the total amount of Fukushima radiation released on both land and sea is likely orders of magnitude higher than this figure.

“A report by the Nuclear [Energy] Agency states that when more detailed deposition data eventually became available, the United Nations estimated the total Chernobyl release of 137CS at 70 PBq,” explains ENENews.com.

“134Cs is estimated to have been 53.7% of the 137Cs — approximately 38 PBq of 134Cs — resulting in a total of 108 PBq. Unlike the Fukushima total… this does include all 134Cs and 137Cs releases from Chernobyl — not just what was deposited in the ocean.”

The implications of this are astounding, as Chernobyl has long been regarded as one of the worst nuclear disasters in history. The exclusion zone surrounding Chernobyl is still mostly deserted, having displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and readings still show high levels of radiation near the plant.

And yet the Chernobyl disaster clearly pales in comparison to Fukushima. Not only is Fukushima far more of a threat to humanity due to its direct proximity to the ocean, but the most credible data we have shows that, in the aftermath, Fukushima is spreading far more radiation across the globe than Chernobyl ever could.

Even worse is the fact that the 120 PBq figure does not take into account all the other radioactive isotopes like strontium, plutonium and uranium that have been spreading through the air and water since 2011 when the disaster occurred. Taking all these other contaminants into account paints an even more dire picture of what the world has to look forward to.

Sources:

http://www.nature.com

http://enenews.com

http://triblive.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047053_Fukushima_Chernobyl_radiation.html#ixzz3EoIeU9Gl

Fukushima radiation to hit West Coast.

Posted by

0


Debris from the decimated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan has been wafting toward the U.S. West Coast for years, ever since the plant was struck by a gigantic earthquake-generated tsunami three years ago this month.

Now, it is finally set to reach our shores, and it is bringing contamination with it.

According to reports, the radiation-tainted debris is set to arrive sometime next month, based on current models. And, already, the government’s “models” are predicting that the amount of radiation will be miniscule.

USA Today reported:

Current models predict that the radiation will be at extremely low levels that won’t harm humans or the environment, said Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who presented research on the issue last week.

Go ahead, be ‘alarmist’

Hedging his bet, however, Buesseler — along with some other scientists — went on to say that more monitoring would be necessary, noting that no federal agency currently conducts sampling of Pacific Coast waters for radiation content (and a question at this point might be something like, “Why not?”).

“I’m not trying to be alarmist,” Buesseler told USA Today. “We can make predictions, we can do models. But unless you have results, how will we know it’s safe?”

Being “safe” is not being “alarmist,” for the record.

The field of debris heading towards the U.S. is enormous. When the tsunami struck, it flung 1.5 million tons of debris into the ocean; the portion heading toward the United States “is easily broader than Texas,” Fox News reported. Currently, it is located about 1,700 miles off the Pacific coast, between California and Hawaii.

More from Fox News:

The debris ranges from pulverized particles to entire docks that washed over from Japan, to intact boats, motorcycles, soccer balls, traditional Japanese flooring, and even some Japanese sea creatures never seen on the U.S. West Coast. “High windage” items reached the Pacific Northwest as early as winter 2011. Smaller debris is “sailing” here on the tides — NOAA estimates that the widely scattered detritus may show up intermittently along shorelines for a long period of time, over the next year or more.

But there’s more, say experts.

‘We’ve never seen this here before’

“At first we were only thinking about objects like the floating docks, but now we’re finding that all kinds of Japanese organisms are growing on the debris,” said John Chapman of the Marine Science Center at Oregon State University.

“We’ve found over 165 non-native species so far,” he added. “One type of insect, and almost all the others are marine organisms… we found the European blue mussel, which was introduced to Asia long ago, and then it grew on a lot of these things that are coming across the Pacific… we’d never seen it here, and we don’t particularly want it here,” he said, noting that it might be “invasive” and displace resident marine life.

And there’s more.

“In the debris we found the Northeastern sea star… as well as a type of brown algae that’s used to make miso soup. We’d never seen it here before,” Chapman told Fox News.

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan March 11, 2011, creating a monstrous tsunami with waves that reached 133 feet high. More than 16,000 people were killed, 6,000 more injured, and whole Japanese communities were obliterated.

And just last July, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, admitted for the first time that radiation-contaminated water from the crippled plant — which will take decades to clean up, experts say — was leaking into the ocean.

“Since then, the news has gotten worse, and there is widespread suspicion that the problem is underreported,” USA Today reported.

Some estimates on the amount of leaked radiation, as noted by Natural News editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, are as high as 300 tons per day. Read his report here.

Sources:

http://www.usatoday.com

http://www.foxnews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

Study estimates Fukushima radiation-caused deaths, cancers.

Posted by

0


The first study to estimate the global health impact of the release of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster concluded that it might eventually cause 130 deaths and 180 cases of cancer, mostly in Japan, though the range of possibilities varied widely.

While the number seems small relative to the scope of the disaster, the study focused only on the radiation and excluded the immediate, actual deaths that occurred during the initial earthquake and tsunami.

And the analysis contradicts previous claims, such as by the United Nations Science Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, that the nuclear disaster would cause no deaths.

The study, conducted by Stanford University PhD graduate John Ten Hoeve and Stanford civil engineering professor Mark Z. Jacobson, is to be published in the July 17 issue of Energy and Environmental Science.

How the study was conducted

The researchers used a 3-D global atmospheric model to predict how the radioactive material would move over earth and a health-effects model to see how humans would be exposed to radioactivity.

The possible death toll ranged widely from 15 to 1,300 dead; the best estimate was 130. The number of cancer cases also varied widely, from 24 to 2,500 with 180 being the best estimate.

The models showed that most of the ill health effects would be felt in Japan, with a few small effects noticeable in mainland Asia and North America; as many as 12 deaths and 30 cancer cases could show up in the United States.

The number of people exposed to the radiation was relatively contained, because only 19% of the released radioactive material fell over land; the rest was dumped in the Pacific.

Another reason for the contained health effects is that the Japanese government responded more rapidly than the Soviets did after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. For instance, the Japanese government evacuated the 20-kilometer around the plant and stopped cultivation of crops whose radiation exposure exceeded a certain threshhold.

Update, July 17, 2012, 10:45pm EST: The original version of this post said this study excluded the immediate deaths that occurred during the “catastrophe.” It has been updated to clarify that the catastrophe referenced was the precipitating earthquake and tsunami.

Source: Stanford News Service