*** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and links

Earthquake Risks Probed at U.S. Nuclear Plants

Internal emails from March show staffers at the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission fretted about the public attention on the potential earthquake vulnerability of some U.S. plants. Since 2005, the agency had been working on a study of seismic hazards that is far from complete but showed good reason to worry about two dozen reactors. Although the West gets the most earthquakes, the biggest new concern is plants in areas of the Midwest and East that have been hit by powerful quakes in the distant past and could be slammed again.

[link to online.wsj.com]

United Nations Disarmament Conference to Discuss Actions towards Nuclear-Weapon-Free World, in Matsumoto, Japan, 27-29 July

[link to www.iewy.com]

lol. I wish.

I really have no information on how radiation affects wildlife or feral cats. The ingestion and concentration in cows leads me to believe the problem for us begins when we consume the animal or animal products.

I thought the same thing!

Jul 24th - Nihon Medi-Physics, Sumitomo to Launch Plutonium-Removing Drug In Japan This Year

Nihon Medi-Physics Co. will later this year launch a drug to remove plutonium from patients exposed to the radioactive substance.
The joint venture between Sumitomo Chemical Co. and GE Healthcare Japan Corp. has obtained a licence in Japan to sell the drug, which only medical institutions capable of treating patients with emergency exposure will be able to prescribe. Physicians will also be able to prescribe the drug to children.
Heyl Chemisch Pharmazeutische Fabrik GmbH's Ditripentat-Heyl (DTPA) and Zink-Trinatrium-pentetat (Zn-DTPA) are standard drugs in countries such as the U.S., Germany and France for treating plutonium exposure.
Intravenous injection of such drugs puts calcium or zinc into the blood to replace plutonium and other radioactive substances, which are passed out with urine.
Individuals will not be able to buy the new drug, which will only be permitted for use if patients are diagnosed with emergency radiation exposure after a strict examination. Plutonium released outside the body will be stringently controlled.
[link to steve-crane.blogspot.com] ... mo-to.html

And again, follow the money. Now the pharmaceuticals can get in on it too!

Last Edited by Southern OR on 07/25/2011 11:12 PM

Actually, that is why I mentioned it. I think that thread makes a lot of unsubstantiated conjecture and correlates a statistical anomaly with fallout. That is a big stretch even for a radiation doomtard.

Yes, it is the accumulation that multiplies as you move up the food chain, or eat items that concentrate the radioactivity like mushrooms, sunflower products, dairy, etc. Humans, being high on that chain, are more likely to accumulate high levels, and our comparatively longer life expectancies would make that accumulation greater as well, at least up to the point of accumulating a lethal dose.

But, it probably isn't as immediately dangerous as most would have you believe if you avoid the worst sources like dairy, and beef.

Basically, the more feed an animal must consume to create a pound of flesh the higher the contamination, so cows are high on the list, and grass fed cows would be worse, since grain fed cows are eating last years crops which were not contaminated by Fuku fallout, although cows also drink a lot of water and that is another source of accumulated toxins.

If you are eating all canned foods, you are getting a dose of BPA and seriously reduced nutrient levels, and often a blast of sugar and some petrochemical dyes. A steady diet of grains can also weaken the immunity causing reduced healing. Survival preps are great if there is no other food available or the food is known to be significantly toxic, but they might not help you to survive exposure as well as fresh options.

Someone here posted a comparison of Hiroshima victims based on diet used in their treatment. One hospital fed all freshly prepared meals while the other used all institutional foods. People eating fresh, local produce, which may have been quite contaminated, recovered while those fed processed, packaged foods all died.

[link to www.solarstorms.org]

Treatment of victims of nuclear bombs depends on how close they were to the hypocenter and numerous other factors. Those in close proximity were killed acutely by blast and heat, and no treatment was possible. Those a little farther away, who survived these effects, suffered from acute radiation syndromes and became quite ill within hours to days. The duration of the latent period is inversely proportional to radiation dose, that is, proximity to the hypocenter. In Japan most of these received little or no treatment. The problem was the massive number of casualties in this class and the lack of knowledge of the medical personnel. In cases of nuclear accidents (for example, Chernobyl) the subjects who got doses greater than 10-12 Gy received supportive care only (nutrition, fluids, narcotics for pain, etc.) because their radiation injuries were universally fatal. Those in the 8-10 Gy range could benefit from marrow transplants. Those below 8 Gy would probably survive with supportive care. Exposed individuals who survived the acute effects, however, were later found to suffer increased incidence of cancer of essentially all organs. The cancers occurred years to decades later. Excess cancers are still being detected in this population, now more than 50 years after the bombing. Excess cancer means that these individuals are more likely to get cancer than other Japanese. The cancers they get are in no way different from spontaneous cancer in other Japanese. Animal studies have detected genetic effects from these sublethal doses: mutations that occur in offspring, perhaps several generations later. No such effects have been detected in offspring of Japanese survivors. However, most mutations are recessive and require several generations to detect. The second generation of offspring of the Japanese is just now appearing. S. Julian Gibbs, DDS, PhD

- this is the problem with radiation exposure and its effects. Many more years will have to come and go. We just don't have the information. Not by a long shot.

Give it a couple hundred years and then we shall have a better idea.

Radiation induces genome damage," said Professor Kenji Kamiya, the director of the research institute for radiation, biology and medicine at Hiroshima University.

"In some people that isn't fixed correctly. So 60 years later they have problems. The highest risk for A-bomb victims developing cancer is among the youngest who were exposed to the blast. These people are now approaching an age where they would be more likely to develop a cancer anyway," he said.
Science does have some answers, but much more work is needed.

"We are trying to develop new genome technology and new methods for diagnosis and treatment," Professor Kamiya said. "Re-generative medicine offers the possibility of repairing cell damage."

The number of cancer cases among the survivors will continue to rise in the next few years, perhaps peaking in the 2020s.

"That's why we have to rush to develop new treatments for these patients," he said.

Sixty years after the bomb was dropped, science is still working hard to find ways to cope with its after-effects.

[link to news.bbc.co.uk]

- it takes a long time for problems to manifest. Makes it easy for people to deny. Low-dose isn't going to make you fall over dead...

Japanese Scientists Push for More Radiation Tests to Assess Seafood Threat

Japan’s government has to release more data from ocean radiation tests to accurately assess the contamination threat to seafood, according to a statement by the Oceanographic Society of Japan.

Depending on the species, fish have been known to accumulate as much as 100 times the amount of pollutants in the environment,” Jota Kanda, a professor at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology specializing in marine environment, said by phone yesterday.

Testing of seafood off the coast of Fukushima uncovered 68 cases of fish and marine life with radiation readings exceeding the government’s safety limit, according to a report by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

[link to www.bloomberg.com]

Japanese fish: Confusion as importer fights back

The mystery surrounding the clearance of 124.9 tonnes of fish imported from Japan last week deepened yesterday, with the company behind the consignment denying that the consignment was contaminated with dangerous nuclear elements.

Only 225 kilogrammes of the controversial consignment of fish that had already been released into the market had been recalled by yesterday. There was no clear indication of how much had been sold, with stated figures ranging from 1.39-4 tonnes.

Government agencies that earlier certified the consignment as safe and cleared it for sale scrambled to recover the remaining portion and carry out fresh tests.

The embassy of Japan in Dar es Salaam said all exports from the country were subjected to rigorous safety and health tests before they were cleared.Deputy Chief of mission Shuichiro Kawaguchi and the commercial attaché, Mr Yukinori Seki, said Japan had not banned the type of fish under suspicion. They promised to work closely with the government to get correct information on the matter.

[link to thecitizen.co.tz]

hmmm.

Oregon critical of nuclear cleanup plan


Oregon says plans to clean up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in neighboring Washington leave too much radioactive waste at the former nuclear weapons site.

Read more: [link to www.upi.com]

Homeland Security drops nuclear material detection program


A Homeland Security Department official said Tuesday the agency has canceled a $1.2 billion program to install nuclear radiation detectors at U.S. ports of entry.

The equipment has been plagued by reliability problems that have included false alarms and technical glitches.

Read more: [link to www.allheadlinenews.com]

- they don't mind frisking old ladies and children 'tho.

US military chief nominee warns Iran

The nominee to be the next chief of the US military on Tuesday warned Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons or sponsor attacks in Iraq, saying it would be making a "serious miscalculation."

At his confirmation hearing, General Martin Dempsey pledged to guide the world's most powerful military through a new era of tighter budgets and challenges such as cyber war. He promised to carry out orders for a drawdown in Afghanistan and to keep up pressure on Pakistan to fight Islamic militants.

[link to www.google.com]

US nuclear waste panel will endorse interim storage: industry group

[link to www.platts.com]

Response to Pak N-strike will be harsh: IAF chief

NEW DELHI: India is not all aflutter over Pakistan's rapid augmentation of its nuclear arsenal or its new tactical nuclear missile 'Nasr' (Hatf-IX) being brandished as a deadly riposte to the Indian 'Cold Start' doctrine.

Indian armed forces, however, contend if an adversary is foolhardy enough to launch a nuclear missile in a battlefield scenario or otherwise, then as per India's nuclear policy, "nuclear retaliation to a first strike will be massive and designed to inflict unacceptable damage".

"Our nuclear policy is of 'no first-use'. But it also talks about a very heavy, harsh and hard retaliatory response in case of a nuclear attack," said the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee (CoSC) and IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik on Tuesday.

[link to timesofindia.indiatimes.com]

- this situation bears watching. Could easily get out of hand.

SRS needs more space for spent nuclear fuel

Savannah River Site will need more storage space to sustain a program to safeguard spent nuclear fuel recovered from foreign nations.

Currently, the 15,000 assemblies stored at the site's heavily fortified L Area have filled more than 90 percent of available space, said Dawn Gillis, the site's used fuel program manager, during a briefing Tuesday before the SRS Citizens Advisory Board.

The material is from both foreign and domestic research reactors and contains highly enriched uranium - a critical ingredient of nuclear weapons.

Although available storage space is nearly full, the National Nuclear Security Administration's "Global Threat Reduction Initiative" will continue through 2019, with an additional 4,884 assemblies already identified for shipment to South Carolina.

[link to chronicle.augusta.com]

Iran’s president, cleric at odds over nukes

Iran’s president wants to shed the nation’s secrecy and forge ahead openly with developing nuclear weapons but is opposed by the clerical leadership, which is worried about international reaction to such a move, says an intelligence assessment shared with the Associated Press.

That view, from a nation with traditionally reliable intelligence from the region, cannot be confirmed and contrasts with assessments by other countries that view Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as relatively moderate on the nuclear issue compared to the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Attempts to interpret Iran’s goals are important because as it expands uranium enrichment, it is moving closer to being able to make a nuclear weapon, even as it asserts that it is not interested in such arms and its programs are geared only to making reactor fuel.

[link to www.washingtontimes.com]

Nuclear agency bombs
out in safety review

An independent review of a Comcare investigation into health and safety arrangements at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has confirmed the majority of conclusions of the original investigator.

[link to www.psnews.com.au]

Sounds like you are in a "missed" location! (This stuff came in puffs, not uniformly.) Lucky you!

Would you mind letting us know your location?

If I were you I'd be breathing easier on seeing those healthy kittens from the recent batch too!

Gahhh! We need a good angry smiley. I've been following that and this makes me want to tear my hair out.

Queenie needs some pocket change.

Pretty amazing that they feel confident enough to spend all that money refueling. Maybe they know something we don't.

Document: 1600 Fukushima Workers Thought to Be Exposed to High Radiation

A newly released document says the Japanese government estimated in April that some 1600 workers will be exposed to high levels of radiation in the course of handling the reactor meltdowns at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

The figure was released in a document from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which is in charge of regulating Japan's nuclear industry, after the Japan Occupational Safety and Health Resource Center requested the information be made public, according an article published on Thursday in the Mainichi Daily News.



Read more: [link to ecocentric.blogs.time.com]

- Most of them probably don't know how much. Crews may have only one dosimeter amongst the group.

IAEA head chides Iran, N. Korea, Syria


The U.N. nuclear energy chief Wednesday singled out Iran, North Korea and Syria for not complying with a nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty.

Read more: [link to www.upi.com]

U.S. wasn't fully prepared for radiation risks following Japan earthquake, top general says

In the first few days of Japan’s nuclear crisis this spring, the U.S. military wasn’t fully prepared to deal with possible radiation exposure to its troops and equipment, the top U.S. general in Japan said Wednesday.

“As the (Fukushima Dai-ichi) reactors exploded and they sent some of that radiation out, we had the issue with it being detected off shore by the Navy,” he said. “We had to start dealing with the kind of environment that the U.S. military had not really worked in, so we didn’t have the strictest guidelines on what kind of risk we would take in terms of radiation exposure for our (service) members.”

U.S. Forces Japan has declined Stars and Stripes’ requests to release the levels of radiation or toxic substances detected in areas where U.S. personnel worked during Operation Tomodachi. The military also has not released levels of radiation detected on servicemembers’ clothing and equipment.

[link to www.stripes.com]

- so what don't they want us to know?

Whistleblowers Say Nuclear Regulatory Commission Watchdog Is Losing Its Bite

Mulley had spent months looking into why a pipe carrying cooling water at the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois had rusted so badly that it burst. His report cited lapses by a parade of NRC inspectors over six years and systemic weaknesses in the way the NRC monitors corrosion.

But rather than accept Mulley's findings, the inspector general's office rewrote them. The revised report shifted much of the blame to the plant's owner, Exelon, instead of NRC procedures. And instead of designating it a public report and delivering it to Congress, as is the norm, the office put it off-limits. A reporter obtained it only after filing a Freedom of Information Act request.

In the office's history, Mulley has left a big mark.

For years, he documented how the NRC dropped the ball on the handling of nuclear fuel and security in nuclear plants. His reports on defective fire barriers led to congressional hearings and ultimately to a complete overhaul of the agency's fire protection regulations.

The inspector general's office, they assert, has shied away from challenging the NRC at exactly the wrong time, with many of the country's 104 nuclear power plants aging beyond their 40-year design life and with reactor meltdowns at Fukushima rewriting the definition of a catastrophic accident.

[link to www.propublica.org]

Nuclear plant workers developed cancer despite lower radiation exposure than legal limit

Of 10 nuclear power plant workers who have developed cancer and received workers' compensation in the past, nine had been exposed to less than 100 millisieverts of radiation, it has been learned.

The revelation comes amid reports that a number of workers battling the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant were found to have been exposed to more than the emergency limit of 250 millisieverts, which was raised from the previous limit of 100 millisieverts in March.

Nobuyuki Shimahashi, a worker at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, where operations were recently suspended by Chubu Electric Power Co., died of leukemia in 1991 at age 29. His 74-year-old mother Michiko remembers her son dropping from 80 kilograms to 50 kilograms and his gums bleeding.

[link to mdn.mainichi.jp]

- I guess raising the allowable limit pretty much guarantees the workers will get cancer at some point.