Women and Children of Japan Your Government Hates You: Fukushima

Probably of more interest to those immediately effected by the levels of Radiation in Fukushima Prefecture and the lies and disregard, if not contempt, that the Government of Japan holds for the women and children in the area surrounding Fukushima, this first presentation by Fairewinds is twofold.

Within Arnie Gunderson's normally clear and informative videos, lies a second presentation: Fairewinds introduces additional analysis by Ian Goddard showing that the BEIR VII report underestimates the true cancer rates to young children living near Fukushima Daiichi.

By all means, please don't let me put you off watching the thing, it contains lots of, if not very scary, data. But it is a tad esoteric nonetheless.

The second presentation from Fairewinds (26/12/2011) covers the more generic problems facing TEPCO's problems in Fukushima. Although if you were to listen to TEPCO, things are sorted at the Daiichi plant and there's nowt to worry about. A sentiment parroted by the IAEA, the US, and anyone else with a vested interest in the nuclear industry.

But Gunderson soon dispels, in the first minute or two, that little myth and bit of wishful thinking. Going on to examine other issues surrounding the plant, TEPCO, the IAEA and not least the role of the Japanese Government in the making of some pretty bizarre, if not insane' statements and proposals.

There is thoughtfully however, full transcripts to both videos, that can of course be translated to whichever language, by whatever means.

Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated

Cancer Risk To Young Children Near Fukushima Daiichi Underestimated from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Arnie Gundersen: Hi, I'm Arnie Gundersen from Fairewinds.

Today, I would like to introduce a video by Ian Goddard. But before I do that, I want to talk about BEIR. Now that is not the stuff you drink, but it is BEIR and it stands for the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation and it is a report from the National Academy of Sciences. What got me thinking about this were two disturbing news stories out of Japan.

The first story comes from NHK, which is the major Japanese radio-television station. The story reports that in Fukushima Prefecture, very very high levels of cesium have been found in male cedar flowers. The tip of the cedar apparently is loaded with cesium. The data indicates that it is about a quarter of a million disintegrations per second in a kilogram of these cedar flowers. That is pretty serious because, of course, in the spring the flowers will bud and that radioactive cesium will go airborne, again. Now what got my attention though was the Japanese response to that. And here is what NHK said: "The agency reports, "This is not a great health hazard as it is only about 10 times what a person would be exposed to from normal background in Tokyo."" Now there are all sorts of assumptions that go into that calculation, but to my mind when you release a quarter of a million disintegrations per second into the air when the flowers burst, that should get public health attention.

The second story is also from Japan and this one from Japan Times, where radioactive grasshoppers have been detected in Fukushima Prefecture. Now the grasshoppers are contaminated to the tune of 4,000 disintegrations per second in a kilogram of grasshoppers. Now why is this important? The Japanese eat radioactive grasshoppers with their beer. Now the story goes on to say this. "The scientists think it is safe to eat the bugs because they are usually in snack sized portions, crunchy soy-marinated locusts, enjoyed with a cold mug of beer." Now, I think drinking beer is fine, but when the bug you are eating has 4,000 disintegrations per second of cesium, that should be a concern to public health officials. more transcript

TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay

TEPCO Believes Mission Accomplished & Regulators Allow Radioactive Dumping in Tokyo Bay from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

Arnie Gundersen: Hi, I'm Arnie Gundersen from Fairewinds.

Well, it is the end of 2011, and I thought I would use this opportunity, not to look back on the disasters at Fukushima, but to look forward into 2012 and try to give you an idea about what may be happening in the next 12 months. The way I see it, there are 3 main areas:

The first is: What is happening on the site?

The second is: the personal exposures to the people in Japan, especially Fukushima Prefecture.

And the third is: Where are they going to put all the radioactive waste?

Well, the first topic is important to talk about today. On Friday, Dec. 16th, the Japanese government declared that Fukushima had achieved what is called a cold shutdown. Specifically, here is what the prime minister said: "A stable condition has been achieved and we can consider the accident itself contained." Now he was not the only one who said similar things. The International Atomic Energy Agency said, "The IAEA welcomes the announcement of the government of Japan, that the unit has achieved cold shutdown." And then interestingly, the next sentence is, "The IAEA receives it's information updates from a variety of official Japanese sources, through the national competent authorities."

And the third thing is the United States State Department. The State Department said, when they heard the announcement, "We in the United States government are very happy to hear the news. We believe the Japanese government has made the right choice toward recovery."

Well, to me this announcement sounds a little bit like George Bush on the deck of the aircraft carrier declaring that the mission has been accomplished. In fact, we all know how that turned out, and I think Fukushima is going down a very similar road. This is a long battle and it is far from being over. more transcript