Good Night, and Good Luck!

Dienstag, 11. März 2014

Fukushima ... ongoing catastrophe for 3 years

This week, Japan has the tragic obligation to be remembered of 2 catastrophes that will have changed the country forever. There is first of all, the unprecedented Tōhoku earthquake, that rocked the empire of the sun with a 9.0 magnitude quake and the resulting tsunami cost the lives of over 15.000 people. As if this wasn't enough, the Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered 3 fatal meltdowns after being hit by the tsunami. The failure in all cooling systems led to the 2nd biggest release of radioactive material, the biggest since Chernobyl.

The Japanese reactors had been declared virtually prone to failure and accidents by the nuclear lobby. The argument that Nuclear accidents happen only in ramshackled old Soviet plants was finally broken: Not only did the triple meltdown at Daiichi Nuclear Powerplant in Fukushima cause environmental damage by radiation, but the health of the entire Japanese population is put at risk, with huge cost of a meltdown, which TEPCO, the exploiting firm will not be made accountable for. The heavy financial cost of a meltdown is inevitably borne by the public, not by the companies that created and operated the plants. None of the world's 450 nuclear reactors are invulnerable to human error, catastrophes, terrorism or ageing.

As a reaction to Fukushima and slow evacuation, 160,000 people fled their homes because of radioactive contamination, and continue to live without compensation in inhumane conditions. On this day, FYEG says NO to NUCLEAR POWER, and strongly calls upon the Japanese government to take on the fight of the people from Date-City, Tomioka, Minamisoma, Fukushima and many other cities ravaged by radiation. In a country that suffered the only dropping of a Nuclear bomb on a civil target... twice, we find it highly unusual that the brave people from Fukushima Prefecture are kept alone. On this date we reach out our hearts and thoughts to the victims of the Tōhoku earthquake, the Daiichi nuclear disaster, and all other victims that the civil and military use of nuclear energy have cost mankind.

This Article was written by Phillippe Schockweiler and published on www.fyeg.org

Dienstag, 12. November 2013

Mayak – A Chernobyl before Chernobyl

In 1957, a nuclear accident in the Soviet military complex of Mayak, left 23.000 square kilometers of the Russian mountain slopes in the Ural contaminated. I organized with a conference about the so called “Kychtym-Disaster” and invited the Russian human rights lawyer, Nadezhda Kutepova, the only lawyer that seeks justice for the victims of this immense nuclear accident. Brave Nadya does not stop in Russia, and fights for her clients rights, even in front of the Human Rights court in Strasbourg. This is her story:

Picture: Nadezhda Kutepova & me during the conference

The Quest for the Soviet Bomb

To tell a story one must normally know the ending. Truth, is in this case the ending is far from being written. After the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many countries began investigating the possibility of the “bomb”. The Soviet regime, at the height of their political power was aware that they had a few year gap in developing their nuclear capacities. It was then that the order came to build a top secret plutonium enrichment facility and several reactors at a disclosed location. This location is Mayak, the birth place of the Soviet bomb. In the peaceful region of the South Urals, that had known little activities before, accept for Lavrenty Beria's gulags of course. In a hurry, Stalin dispatched many of his top scientists to Mayak to build the site, among them, Soviet engineering and physicist Igor Kurchatov. Supervision of the project was in the hands of Stalin's closest ally, and notorious secret-police chief Beria.

First accidents and spills

In these pioneering days of nuclear exploitation, environmental standards where never a priority. The reactors and enrichment facility as well as the centrifuges were built at an enormous pace, leaving little time and place to look for a proper way to store low level and medium level radioactive waste (LLW, MLW). Most of the waste in the 1940s and up to 1952 was dumped into the nearby river and complex ecosystem of the “Techa” . It's only a few years ago that “RosAtom”, the state owned exploitation conglomerate of nuclear energy in Russia acknowledged, that this way of disposing of radioactive waste, was a common practice up until 2005. The Federal Russian Prosecutor's Office later found out, that in 2004 alone, 60'000m3 were released into the Techa river. By today, most of the Techa must be regarded as LLW to MLW, although the river is still the water reserve of many cities and villages in the Ural.

1957 “Kychtym” Accident and the most polluted and dangerous spot on earth “Lake Karachay”

The site of Mayak didn't proof well for supplying cooling water. The river Techa was too shallow and the next big cooling lake Kyzyltash became rapidly so contaminated as it was an open(!) cooling system. The short term solution was to dig nuclear containment vessels into the ground.

After numerous accidents, the most crucial one, happened on September 29 September 1957. An underground tank filled with medium to high level nuclear waste exploded. The explosion, visible for many kilometers left inhabitants scared. 23.000 square kilometers had been permanently contaminated. The fallout region is up to this date known as the “East Ural Radioactive trace”. As a consequence 34 villages and towns were evacuated, 20.000 people displaced and evacuated. The leftover radioactive waste from the accident (20 million cu) was dumped into Lake Karachay, up until today known as the most polluted place on the planet. The Lake was covered with concrete blocks to prevent sediment changes, as a huge dust storm left 400.000 people contaminated in 1967. With a concentration of 12-times the radioactive isotopes that were liberated in the Chernobyl accidents, a stay of 4-5 minutes would result in a deadly dose followed by acute radiation sickness and death by organ failure.

Ongoing Accidents and 3^rd Generation Nuclear Victims:

The contaminated region around the southern Ural city of Chelyabinsk has a unique feature: Here some people suffer from the consequences of radiation in the 3^rd generation. The workers that build the plant, liquidators from the 1957 and 1967 nuclear events, inhabitants of the south Ural. It goes that far that entire families have three generations of people dying of the consequences of the Mayak accidents. The errors and faulty plants existence and records were only published as a consequence of the Glasnost and Perestroika movements in the Soviet Union in 1990.

Since it is hard to pinpoint the responsible of these acts, the victims are left alone and face difficult conditions such as poor access to public health care.

Nadezhda Kutepova fights for the rights of these people. As a Russian human rights lawyer, she is representing her clients, victims from the contaminated region of the South Ural radioactive trace region in front of different courts in Russia and in front of the Human Rights court in Strasbourg.

Nadezhda, who lost both her parents and grandmother to “Mayak”. Her grandmother was one of the nuclear engineers assisting Kurchatov in building the Soviet bomb, her father was a liquidator of 1957 and her mother a physician in the emergency services of the site. The cases that Nadezhda takes on, are eerie examples of how Nuclear energy and weapon production is a threat to human life. On one hand, she has cases of victims from the early years of exploitation of Mayak: liquidators from 1957, children and pregnant women that were forcefully enlisted to destroy crops and fields that were heavily contaminated, 2^nd and 3^rd generation victims that suffer from genetic diseases, leukemia, cancer or other radiation-related diseases. Many of these liquidators and clean up experts where detailed to Chernobyl in 1986 to help with the unprecedented clean up task and building of the sarcophagus. Still today, there are cases or birth defects where Nadezhda fights for justice, with many cases won in front of regional and the Human rights court in Strasbourg. Her work has earned her a Nuclear Free Future Award in the Category “Resistance”.

By Nadezhda Kutepova & Philippe Schockweiler

November, 2013

Further Information:

ARTE Report on Nadezhda's work:

http://www.arte.tv/fr/russie-ozersk-ville-secrete-nucleaire/3791320,CmC=3791326.html

Interview:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mifSiUvzh9A
http://www.wecf.eu/english/articles/2009/06/courtcase-planetofhopes.php
http://www.chernobylcongress.org/speakers/artikel/5730b1ae9f5c73c4f4924d6f1478ea94/-0782c08f06.html

Donnerstag, 22. August 2013

Mainstreaming Fukushima - The Truth is out there

“This time no one dropped a bomb on us … We set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives.”

Haruki Murakami, Japanese best-selling author and philosopher

Crippled reactor 4 - via Kyodo

The past two weeks were a breakthrough for the awareness of the situation in Fukushima...internationally. Whereas International media are quite accurately depicting the worsening situation in Fukushima and quite correctly pointing out the high chance of an international decade long catastrophe, the Japanese Media are still in a total blackout. This ignorance peaked yesterday in the reopening of the beaches in Fukushima City when international experts warn of a possible thousand year long contamination of the food chain and life in the Pacific ocean.

What is leaking in the moment & What you need to know

Leak Problem 1: Storage Tanks for radioactive waters

2-3 tanks for storing used highly-radioactive waste water from exploitation and processing are currently leaking and having been classed by the operation firm (Tepco) as an INES-3 "serious accident"

"The leak, which has not been plugged, is so contaminated that a person standing 50 cm away would, within an hour, receive a radiation dose five times the average annual global limit for nuclear workers. After 10 hours, a worker in that proximity to the leak would develop radiation sickness with symptoms including nausea and a drop in white blood cells" (via Japan Today via Reuters)

Leak Problem 2: Underground Water & Quench/Cleaning Water leak

Water from clean up processes but also tsunami water continues to sink into the ground, thus poisoning the groundwater but also escaping in large amounts into the Pacific. This process cannot be stopped. We fail the technology to stop such processes.

"Frankly, I don’t believe so. I think we will continue to release radioactive material into the ocean for 20 or 30 years at least. They have to pump the water out of the areas surrounding the nuclear reactor. But frankly, this water is the most radioactive water I’ve ever experienced. I work directly over a nuclear reactor cores during refueling outages. And the water directly over a nuclear reactor core when the plant is operating is a thousand times less radioactive than this water. (Arie Gundersen via GlobalResearch.org)"

Leak Problem 3: Ridiculous amount of Radiation released:

The Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety(Japan) said the amount of the isotope that flowed into the ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant between March 21 and mid-July reached an estimated 27.1 quadrillion becquerels(Caesium-137). A quadrillion is equivalent to 1,000 trillion. [...]The report also said the Pacific was polluted at an exceptional speed because the plant stands in a coastal area with strong currents (Tepco via Kyodo-Agency via)

July, 2013: It is believed that more than 5,000 tons of radioactive water still remain in the pit ... and trenches after flowing from the No. 2 reactor building to the turbine building and, then, into the pit.

(Asahi-Media via enenews)

July 28 : A cable trench running under the turbine building of the No. 2 reactor [...] contained 2.35 billion becquerels [per liter] of cesium and 750 million becquerels of other, unnamed radioactive substances, including strontium, that emit beta rays. (Japan Today)

N.B the norm is 150bq !

Leak Problem 4: Fueltanks in miserable shape:

Like I have reported here previously, the leaks in the fuel tanks are still the biggest problem. Yesterday during recuperation of used fuel rods in the cooling fuel tanks a major reaction appeared as workers tried to pull out the radioactive rods. The momentary situation was very well resumed in yesterday's RT-Online article by Christopher Busby, European Committee on Radiation Risks, University of Ulster:

This showed that there would be some 200,000 extra cancers in roughly 10 million population in the 200km radius of the site in the next 10 years, and 400,000 over 50 years. (in 2011)

... Probably because it is now clear that the saturation of the ground from all the pumping water for cooling the several reactors and spent fuel pools has destabilized the foundations of the buildings, TEPCO is bringing forward its operation to try and deal with what is perhaps the most dangerous of the four sites, the spent fuel pond of Reactor 4. For this pond contains a truly enormous amount of radioactive material: 1,331 spent fuel grids amounting to 228.3 tons of Uranium and Plutonium buried inside a swimming pool which has already dried out once and exploded. That explosion blasted a significant, but unknown, quantity of lethally radioactive bits and pieces of fuel element around the site (where I heard they were bulldozed into the ground - who knows?), but it also blew the top off the building, covered the fuel elements under the water with rubble and pieces of crane machinery, and no doubt twisted and melted a large proportion of the remaining spent fuel. Then what happens? Not quite Armageddon, but as far as Japan is concerned, almost. I bet they have contingency plans to evacuate the northern island to Korea, China, anywhere. A lot of this radiation will end up in the USA, a long way downwind, admittedly, but then there is an awful lot of radioactivity involved.

Leak Problem 5: It's illegal but the last option:

The mass dumping of highly radioactive water (measured at 7.5 million times the normal allowed levels) into the Pacific Ocean is not just an environmental disaster; it’s also a violation of international law. The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, passed in 1972, forbids nations and companies from dumping toxic wastes into the ocean. (See Maritime Convention on Prevention of Pollution by waste and toxic matter dumping also named London Convention or L72)

In a nutshell:

The Fukushima power plant is leaking unstoppably for the next decades from many ends, with the highest amount of radioactivity ever measured. The sheer amount and speed in which it is dispersed into the Pacific ocean and starts pollution the environment and food chain (P.S: Bluefin tuna in Californian Waters are already spiking high amounts of radioactive isotopes) is leading towards the biggest man-made environmental disaster which could lead to millions of casulties.

What needs to be done:

- Harm Reduction

- Try to stop leaks where possible (Groundwater leaks virtually impossible to stop)

- Dispatch Military forces to help with the cleanup, JDF & International Troops

- Start an immediate international fund for relief

- Declare the North, Central and South-Eastern Pacific a fishing-free zone, monitor closely the situation

- Stop eating fishing and shellfish products from the pacific ocean

Sonntag, 21. Juli 2013

E.U subventions for Nuclear Industry

My Interview on the proposed EU subventions on Nuclear Energy by the EU Commission's Competitiveness Office, to subsidize Nuclear power the same way as sustainable and Green energy sources caused an uproar in Brussels and the anti-nuke community. (Pic: RTL.LU)
Interview in Luxembourgian: To be seen here:
http://tele.rtl.lu/waatleeft/replay/v/20130720/0/2996375/

Samstag, 8. Juni 2013

Cattenom or how I learned to live with the one of the most defectuous Nuclear Plants in the Western Hemisphere and stopped worrying?


Transformer Explosion Cattenom Unit1 7th June 2013

Yes, you can say that my focus has always been towards Chernobyl, Mayak and to Fukushima, I researched there, attended seminars, held trainings, blew whistles... But all theses disasters made me blind to see the one just outside my window. As for several years now, I traveled to different hot spots, helped different anti-nuclear movements across Europe, but really failing sometimes to take a glance outside my bedroom window, from where I can always see the cooling clouds of Cattenom, Luxembourg's capital city is just 25km outside this mega nuclear power plant.

Cattenom is the 8th biggest Nuclear power plant in the world, one of the biggest in Europe. The flagship of the French nuclear parc. Also it has another very scary record. It is the commercial plant with the most known incidents in the last year. In 2012, 47 incidents were reported to the French Government Atomic Security Agency (ASN). In February 2013, 2 workers died in a horrific work accident while renovating the ceiling of the containment. The sheer number of incidents made the ASN perform a new survey and special visit to Cattenom from June 4th to June 6th to review the plant. Next to lack of basic radio-protective material such as A-suits and that defects are fixed or identified too late out of economic reasons, the ASN report concludes: "An in-depth analysis shows that major incidents - even if they are not relevant for the functioning of the system - go back to an insufficient accuracy in the preparation or an inadequate coordination. Such inaccuracies, some with technical incidents that were not predictable in 2012 have led to the regular examinations had to be extended considerably. " The 2006 founded "independent" state body ASN is not known for uttering such clear messages and in the case of Cattenom it seems that they were very preoccupied about the general situation.

Only published days later but on June 5, traces of boron were found in the cooling system of the reactor which left engineers baffled as they are still trying to figure out where these traces come from. Normally boron is not used during the reaction but is mostly used to break up a dangerous chain reaction. Are the exploiting EDF (Electricitiy of France) again covering up something?

One day (!) after their special survey on 7th of June, around 13:30, the transformer of unit 1 caught fire and exploded quickly after that. The shock wave and bang was heard in a radius of approximately 15km. Scared local residents called the emergency services as black smoke came pouring out unit 1. It is believed that 50 vehicles and a 100 firefighters rushed to the scene, to deal with the dangerous and difficult task to extinct a transformer-fire. Shortly after the moment of the explosion, Unit-1 went into automatic shut down. As far as I was told from the State radio-protection, emergency-power units did not have to be started as the reactor was still being alimented by another transformer. Nevertheless this shows that one of the main lifelines, the main transformer and generator were comprehended. Generally it is the failure of several of those systems or circumstances that lead to a disaster as f.i. construction design, human error in Chernobyl or poor use, human error and multiple electric failure in Fukushima. The fire was thought to be extinct by 16:30. Unit 1 will be down until further notice, the reactor is in shut down and is being cooled at the moment.

On June 11th, the Cattenom power station simply uttered a small press release to the National Homefront and Radioprotection to announce that yet another auxiliary transformer, the emergency generator of Unit 3 was broken and not operational until further notice. Experts could not yet determine the source of the failure.

This incident from friday has revealed once more, that even after extensive stress test, national safety reviews, and numerous warning, and whistle blowers, a power plant can grow out of control within a very short time. Cattenom, which was built as the most modern, safest and powerful of all French plants, is the best example of it. And to tell you the truth, you kind of expect it to happen. The safety record is Cattenom is so so poor that you just wait for the worst. A higher dose of tritium in the cooling river, soil contamination, technical failures, you are used to hear only those kind of news from Cattenom. And at one point you live with it. Still you protest, you work against it, but somewhat also accept the faith that there is a high chance that things will go very wrong at a moment. Nevertheless, when I saw the black smoke, at the time of Friday's explosion I was about 12clicks outside of Cattenom, I got scared, and suddenly all the people you ever talked to in the exclusion zone, all the moved people from contaminated areas, everything comes together and makes sense, and as sometimes rather reluctant and sane person you start to accept and live with it.

Sign a petition against Cattenom on Avaaz:
http://www.avaaz.org/de/petition/AKW_Cattenom_abschalten_Kein_Fukushima_2_im_Herzen_Europas/?pv=12

Further Reading: (Selection of Press Releases from the Station, press articles, etc):
http://www.cattenom-non-merci.de/

Video of the fire:

Montag, 18. März 2013

Fukushima Anniversary - ongoing catastrophe for 2 years

The ecological disaster of Fukushima is far from being over. Two years after the unprecedented nuclear accident in Japan the woldwide impact of this catastrophe is being felt in the greater Pacific region:

"...a new study from Daniel J. Madigan of Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station suggests that even waters in the East Pacific aren’t safe from the radiation. Bluefin off the coast of Japan are still showing signs of contamination almost two years after the incident, and migration patterns suggest that fish floundering near the other side of the ocean will continue to show evidence of radiation. And because relatively young Bluefin may have spent the majority of their lives in radioactive ocean waters near Japan, even infant fish are testing positive for radiation all this time later..." (1)

More and more fish off the coast as far as from Alaska to California, especially tuna show high radiation poisoning. The radiation typically settles in their muscular tissue, so the parts which are being processed for human consumption. But also in Japan, where several months ago, a greenling fish was caught with 5100 times the normal radiation rate, a bottom-dwelling fish was caught just in front of the Dai'ichi Nuclear power point which measured a record 740,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in it's body. That's roughly 7400 times the normal level of radiation. (2) Many experts have argued that this is a proof that still a lot of radioactive material is leaking into the Pacific ocean. The decrepit state of the melt-down reactors which cannot be reached by the scientists and liquidators are probably the source of it. Senior Japanese Diplomat (3) Akio Matusmura believes that the meltdown in Unit 1,2,3 are an uncontrollable and real threat to Japan and the world. Another criticality event could lead to a huge explosion and catastrophic event of truly epic proportions. In addition the poor state of the cooling pools especially in unit 4 are also a source of a potential new catastrophe in Fukushima.

It is indeed a tragic situation in Japan. The newly elected PM Shinzo Abe, has promised to relaunch Nuclear energy in Japan. For many Westerners this seems absolutely unsound and hard to follow. However, the greatest energy consumption in Japan is in Tokyo and Yokohama Bay, far away from the contaminated regions of Fukushima. The debate in the capital and metropole is concerned only about their energy supply. Nothing more. Because the energy generated in Fukushima, was never for the people in the region, it was to satisfy the needs of Tokyo Bay making it grotesque that those affected by the disaster did not even get their energy from the Fukushima Dai'ichi Powerplant.

(1)
http://rt.com/usa/tuna-fukushima-radiation-238/
(2)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/03/18/high-cesium-found-fish-fukushima-plant.html
http://rt.com/news/radiation-fish-fukushima-japan-385/
(3)
http://akiomatsumura.com/2013/03/crisis-and-opportunity-politics-in-japan-and-the-united-nations-2.html

Dienstag, 8. Januar 2013

Fukushima's Crooked Cleanup

Fukushima Cleanup Workers dumping radioactive Waste into River
ASAHI SHIMBUN (c) 2012-2013

Japanese ASAHI Reporters have observed incognito over a week the work of Fukushima clean up squadrons and workers. They have observed highly questionable and ludicrous methods of radioactive waste dumping into the wild and into rivers as well as shoddy clean up techniques that now have led to a government investigation:

Government investigates illegal dumping of high level nuclear waste

The government will investigate decontamination work around the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant following reports that potentially radioactive debris has been dumped into the environment, even during the preparatory stage of the program.

“It is extremely regrettable,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on Jan. 7. [...] Some cleanup crews said they were told to dump potentially radioactive debris into rivers even during preparations to establish bases for full-scale decontamination efforts around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. [...]

Some of them said they dumped branches, leaves and water after cleaning local government offices and other places that would serve as bases for the full-scale decontamination [...] 1

Not a single case - but over months the same technique:

[...] on Dec. 17, a worker in Naraha was observed using a pressurized sprayer to clean the veranda of a private home. Because no protective sheet was installed, water splashed the walls of neighboring structures.In some cases, radiation levels at homes have even increased after decontamination, leading some workers to suspect that radioactive materials were blown into the area by wind. [...] 2

Subcontractor's dump illegally nuclear waste into rivers:

[...] Kajima Corp. was part of the joint venture that won the contract to decontaminate forests in Tamura. On Nov. 16 and 17, four workers for a tertiary subcontractor in their 40s and 50s were instructed to gather fallen leaves and stems along a slope by a river–and to dump it into the water. The 3 cubic meters turned the river brown.

A 43-year-old man who was part of that group took an Asahi Shimbun reporter to the site. A pile of leaves was found at the bottom of the slope by the river. The man came from Toyama Prefecture and ended the work on Dec. 26.

“Even though I was following an order, I am sorry for polluting the river,” the man said. 3

1 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201301070080

2 http://enenews.com/fukushima-workers-radiation-levels-rise-after-decontamination-told-only-clean-areas-around-radioactivity-measurement-sites

3 http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201301040073

Freitag, 5. Oktober 2012

Fukushima - Das erste "Tschernobyl" des 21. Jahrhunderts

Fukushima – Das erste “Tschernobyl” des 21. Jahrhunderts

Seit mehreren Monaten nun versuchen die japanische Regierung und die staatlichen Medienhäuser die Katastrophe von Fukushima herunterzuspielen. Ähnlich wie bei der Desinformations- und Propagandakampagne der Sowjetunion nach dem Super-Gau in Tschernobyl verschleiern japanische Medien und Autoritäten das wahre Ausmass um die 4 havarierten Reaktoren und 6 beschädigten Kühlbecken in Fukushima.

Spätestens seit den letzten Wochen liegt dieses aus Lügen und Verschleierungen aufgebaute Kartenhaus jedoch in Trümmern: Allein in den letzten 14 Tagen überschlugen sich die Nachrichten aus Japan: Eine internationale Studie fand schwerwiegende Mutationen in mehreren Schmetterlingsarten. Die Schmetterlinge litten an typischen Mutationen die auf überhöhte Aussetzung mit Cäsium zurückzuführen sind. Nicht nur fand man überdimensionierte Flügel, deformierte Augen in einer sondern gleich mehreren Generationen der japanischen Falterart.

Auch die ersten Studien über den Impakt der Katastrophe auf das Leben im Ozean lassen nichts Gutes erahnen: 21 Meilen entfernt vom Kraftwerk wurden Fische mit Rekordwerten an Cäsium gefangen, 285 000 Bq pro Kilogramm! Als Gegenbeispiel, in Deutschland mass man nach der Tschernobylkatastrophe einen Wert von rund 4900Bq/kg in bayrischen Wildschweinen. Ähnlich alarmierende Werte wurden bei Makakaffen in der Präfektur Fukushima von der „Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University“ nachgewiesen.

Doch auch in Menschen kann die verheerende Strahlung bereits nachgemessen werden: Japanische Ärzte und Strahlenforscher vom “Medical Science Institute” an der Universität Tokyo, berichteten vor Kurzem, über ältere Menschen die sich nur mit Gemüse, Pilzen und Bambussprossen aus der Nähe des havarierten Atommeilers ernährten. Bei ihnen konnte mittlerweile eine Belastung von

20 000 Becquerel pro Körper nachgewiesen werden. Als Vergleich: Wildschweine welche im Bayrischen Wald geschossen werden und eine Belastung von 600 Becquerel aufweisen müssen als “Sondermüll” entsorgt werden. Auch bei Kindern, deren Immunsystem noch nicht ganz entwickelt ist, sind die verheerenden Folgen der Strahlung bereits nachweisbar: Von 38000 getesteten Kindern aus der Fukushima Präfektur waren bei rund 13000 unter ihnen bereits Zyste und Knoten von 5mm oder weniger nachweisbar, was darauf hindeutet, dass diese Kinder ein erhöhtes Krebsrisiko haben.

Im havarierten Kraftwerk gilt noch immer der Ausnahmezustand: Laut Aussagen von mehreren Liquidatoren, den Mitarbeitern welche die Aufräumarbeiten im Kraftwerk unter unvorstellbaren Bedingungen erfüllen, werden immer mehr Jugendliche und Minderjährige von der Betreiber TEPCO eingesetzt. TEPCO hat mittlerweile auch zugegeben, dass nur die Schichtleiter mit teils Dosimetern( einem Gerät welche das Ausmass der täglichen radioaktiven Dosis berechnet) ausgestattet sind, und somit bei Tausenden Arbeitern nicht einmal gewusst ist, welchen Strahlungswerten sie ausgesetzt sind.

Die Entscheidung Japans bis 2040 ganz aus der Atomenergie auszusteigen kann man unter diesen Umständen schon fast begrüssen. Wäre da nicht der bittere Beigeschmack, dass trotz “Fukushima” zwei weitere neue Meiler in Japan in den nächsten Jahren ans Netz gehen werden. 2040 mag dann Japan “atomfrei” sein, aber das gefährliche nukleare Erbe der Fukushima Katastrophe wird bis dahin noch immer nicht behoben sein.

Quellen:

http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/nano/natwiss/150652/index.htmlhttp://enenews.com/asahi-cesium-levels-spike-in-fukushima-monkeys-radioactivity-much-higher-in-2012-than-in-june-2011http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2012/08/22/record-levels-of-radiation-found-in-fukushima-fishhttp://rt.com/news/fukushima-nuclear-radiation-fish-238/http://rt.com/news/fukushima-children-radiation-exposure-abnormalities-632/http://www.livescience.com/22353-mutant-butterflies-japan-fukushima-disaster.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/aug/16/fukushima-radiation-butterflieshttp://www.livescience.com/22353-mutant-butterflies-japan-fukushima-disaster.htmlhttp://www.kval.com/news/health/Japan-nuclear-leaks-sparked-butterfly-mutations-166941596.htmlhttp://sp.mainichi.jp/m/news.html?cid=20120822k0000e040226000chttp://nuclear-news.net/2012/08/23/19507-bq-radioactive-cesium-from-a-man-in-fukushima-whos-been-eating-shiitake-mushrooms-with-more-than-140000-bqkg-of-cesium/https://aspara.asahi.com/blog/hamadori/entry/TFKaiDii52

Article published in:
Neue Rheinische Zeitung http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=18289

Donnerstag, 23. August 2012

The Fairytale of Safe Nuclear Energy: Contaminated People, Highly radioactive fish and mutated butterflies in Fukushima

Since the Fukushima catastrophe, several politicians, publishers, "scientists" and journalists tried to sell us the story that nothing happened in Fukushima. We knew better from the beginning but the studies and results from the last week regarding the effect of Fukushima radiation on wild life has shown us once more, how dangerous nuclear power really is.

First of all, a study was published on Muration in butterflies around Fukushima. A large number of butterflies showes deformities in larvae and also in adult animals with deformed wings, antennae and eyes in several generations:

Radiation that leaked from the Fukushima nuclear plant following last year's tsunami caused mutations in some butterflies — including dented eyes and stunted wings — though humans seem relatively unaffected, researchers say.The mutations are the first evidence that the radiation has caused genetic changes in living organisms. (via kval.com)

It is likely that the first generation of butterflies suffered both physical damage from radiation sickness and genetic damage from the massive exposure to radioactive isotopes after the disaster, the researchers reported. This generation passed on their genetic mutations to their offspring, who then acquired their own genetic defects from eating radioactive leaves and from exposure to low levels of radiation remaining in the environment. The cumulative effect caused successive generations to develop more serious physical abnormalities. "Note that every generation was continuously exposed," said Otaki.

Mousseau said, "This study adds to the growing evidence that low-dose radiation can lead to significant increases in mutations and deformities in wild animal populations."

The findings are consistent with previous studies in Japan and at Chernobyl, Mousseau added. "The ecological studies that we have conducted found that the entire butterfly community in Fukushima was depressed in radioactive areas, as were the birds, and that the patterns seen in Fukushima were similar to what has been observed in Chernobyl. If the plants and animals are mutating and dying, this should be cause for significant public concern." (via livescience.com)

As a comparison: the highest caesium contamination found in a wild bore in Western Europe after the Chernobyl incident was 4900bq/kg in a Bavarian wild boar. Japanese Fishermen are not allowed to fish in the zone where this fish was caught, but the fishery exclusion zone spreads only a small area of 30 square miles.

Today, Nuclear activists around the world were shocked to hear that:

The operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said Tuesday it had found 25,800 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium in greenling, 258 times higher than the government safety standard. Fishing in waters off the plant has been voluntarily restricted since the nuclear disaster at the plant, which went into meltdown after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Less than a month after the start of the disaster, Tokyo Electric dumped more than 11,000 tons of wastewater containing radioactive substances into the Pacific. (via times.co.za)

The radiation was caused by a meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima power plant after it was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The disaster was so intense that contaminated fish were caught all the way across the Pacific Ocean, on the California coast. But it’s not only aquatic life that is suffering from side effects of the leaked radiation. According to researchers, the radiation has caused mutations in some butterflies, giving them dented eyes, malformed legs and antennae, and stunted wings. The results show the butterflies were deteriorating both physically and genetically. But the harmful risks don’t stop with butterflies. The radioactivity which seeped into the region’s air and water has left humans facing potentially life threatening health issues. Over a third of Fukushima children are at risk of developing cancer, according to the Sixth Report of Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey.The report shows that nearly 36 per cent of children in the Fukushima Prefecture have abnormal thyroid growths which pose a risk of becoming cancerous. (Via R.T)

Since these figures come from Tepco itself it is hard ower really is. After the Chernobyl Event, the European Union raised the limit from 30 Bq/kg to 360bq/kg allowing especially Eastern European mushroom and other farming products to be still imported to the E.U.

The health effect on children also becomes more and more threatening. Over a third of the kids of Fukushima are threatened by cancer or lumps:

After examining more than 38,000 children from the area, medics found that more than 13,000 have cysts or nodules as large as 5 millimeters on their thyroids, the Sixth Report of Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey states. In comparison, a 2001 analysis by the Japan Thyroid Association found that fully zero per cent of children in the city of Nagasaki, which suffered a nuclear attack in August of 1945, had nodules, and only 0.8 per cent had cysts on their thyroids, reports the Telegraph. Radiation enters the body and is distributed through soft tissue, especially in muscle, and then accumulates in the thyroid. It is this accumulation that can potentially lead to cancer. "Yes, 35.8 per cent of children in the study have lumps or cysts, but this is not the same as cancer," says Naomi Takagi, an associate professor at Fukushima University Medical School Hospital, which administered the tests.(via rt.com)

In another interesting contribution, Dr.Tsubokura Shoji from the Institute of Medical Science at Tokyo University who spends 2 weeks a months in Minamisoma City General Hospital where he gives support to families affected by the Fukushima disaster. The internal specialist and hematologist describes the following cases of people contaminated by eating local food like shiitake mushrooms and vegetables:

"A man in his 70-year-old and has consulted screening WBC. It was a result of 20000Bq (!) / Body cesium-134 and 137 together about the results...

Was consulted along with the wife. The result was a result of a total of about 10000Bq/body. Also fix per body weight, and 300Bq/kg. It has come to our inspection look at several hospitals, some of the highest value that I have seen in Japan so far. There is also the value as scattered in the report, such as Belarus. This person was a referral from a certain married couple actually. Another couple is visited a couple of weeks ago, the total cesium 14000Bq/body husband, wife that I was about 8000Bq/body. When asked about the diet, it was that you eat every day and shiitake stop shipment was decided early, leek or make yourself, you can come to collect near you, bamboo shoots, dried persimmons, and garlic" (via Health Blog of Asahi.com)

Donnerstag, 9. August 2012

The Trees of Chernobyl: A recent visit to the edge of the exclusion zone

For many years now, scientists and biologists tried to grasp the effect of the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe on biological wildlife. One of the most contaminated areas following the event is a strip of 10 to 15 km² of Scots pine wood (lat. pinus silvestris) The most affected zone is approximately 2 km away from the power station:

“(the) Zone suffered a complete loss of conifers with partial damage to hardwoods (the so-called "Red forest"). Scholars estimate that the level of absorbed doses of external gamma radiation exposure in 1986–1987 was 8000–10000, with the maximum extent of the dose was 500 mR/h and more. The total area of this zone is approximately 400 hectares. In this zone, the pine tree trunks completely died and pine needles exhibited a brick color. The entire forest was virtually "burned down"—having accumulated a significant amount of radioactive emissions. Heavy radioactive contamination of the dead trees led to their burial. On the territory of the "Red Forest", immediate actions were implemented to restore the forests” (1)

Inside of that zone heavy mutations were imminent: Pine trees looked more like bushes then trees, gigantism and also deformity in the branches were very common. The less affected zones don't show as many deformities, nevertheless, the trees suck up radionucleides and especially wildfires are an important risk for releasing more radioactivity trough smoke clouds that could easily affect all of Europe.

In 1992, a large wildfire burnt down undetected and released massive amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere. To this date, nothing is known about the consequences of the great fire of 1992. Sergiy Zibtsev, a professor from the Forestry Institute at the Kiev University of Life Sciences is one of the few international experts on the issue. Recently dispatched to Japan to ascertain the risks of the Fukushima Daiich'i Nuclear Meltdowns to the wildlife in the region. Zibtsev has worked for almost 20 years in the concerned Chernobyl region, trying to figure out the risks and development of forest life. He also coordinates with the 100 firefighters permanently stationed in the area to spot wildfires:

Firefighters in Chernobyl have one of the least enviable jobs in the world. They spend all day up rusty Soviet watchtowers, which sway in the wind like tin-box metronomes, and act as conductors to the huge lightning storms which swing across the land most afternoons in summer, often sparking fires. When they spot a wildfire, the firefighters triangulate its location by radio. Teams jump aboard big, red, Soviet fire trucks, and lumber along cracked, overgrown roads to the source of the blaze...They believe they know when they are fighting a radioactive fire - they experience a tingling, metallic sensation in their skin - but they do not fully understand the serious dangers of being exposed to superheated radioactive particles... Sergiy (Zbitsev) says more big wildfires in Chernobyl like the one in 1992 would be catastrophic for Ukraine's image, and potentially devastating for farmland right across Europe. (2)

During a recent visit near the exclusion zone and the heavily contaminated areas of Southern Belarus, I wanted to have a closer look on trees and how they were affected by the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. I had read in several studies, especially in Nesterenko & Yablokov's “Consequences of Chernobyl on Environment (N.Y Academy of Sciences 2008) that even in trees far away from the powerplant in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, the affect of radiation can be seen directly with a different color of the year ring in the tree trunk, showing that the tree's growth rate and biological circle were heavily affected bt the incident. Incidentally, trees outside of the heavily contaminated areas of Southern Belarus show the same characteristics as the trees that were studied by Nesterenko and Yablokov: The year 1986 is in most trees visible and from that period their growth and the color of their stem changes dramatically. On the following pictures this can be observed very well:

Picture clearly showing the growth change and radiation marks on the year rings. Picture taken in Southern Belarus, Gomel Region 2012 CC SA 2.0 Share & give credit to blog & name

Sources:

http://www.nuclearflower.com/zone/zone08.html
(1)

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1104.1788.pdf

James D. Brownridge and Noel K. Yeh

Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy

State University of New York at Binghamton Binghamton,

NY 13902, U.S.A.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18721292 (2)

Sonntag, 1. Juli 2012

Huge Levels of Radidation in Fukushima

On Wednesday, a new videoscope of the basement of the crippled reactor 1 at the Fukushima Dai'chi Nuclear power plant showed disturbingly high levels of radiation. Japanese engineers inserted a camera trough the canalization system into the basement. Just above the radioactive waters, the engineers measured an alarming high level of 10300 milisieverts/hours. In this environment, means a Japanese nuclear power plant worker would reach his year limit within 15 to 20 seconds. 20 to 30 minutes would be enough to render a perfectly healthy adult very sick. Symptoms of acute radiation sickness would appear resulting in death by heart or multiple organ failure. Tepco announced yesterday that the other accidented units 2 and 3 don't show such a high level of radiation. Nevertheless over 1 Sievert (1000milisievert/h) have been measured in outside these units. Tepco announced that the demolition and clean up of the crippled reactors might take up to 50 years.

But also 70km away from Fukushima, a study shows high radioactive pollution of children's playgrounds(*) with up to 100 000 BQ/kg, again demonstrating how radiation has spread all over Japan. Samples were taken from Kashiwa and Saga-City playgrounds.

Meanwhile the biggest Japanese Anti-Nuclear and civil protests and demonstrations since the 1960s are rallying up to 200'000people. Protesters showed their anger about the Government's decision to restart nuclear reactors. However the protest is met by a country and region wide media blackout:

Sources & further Reading:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/06/27/tepco-detects-record-radiation-levels-at-fukushima/

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/record-radiation-levels-detected-at-fukushima-reactor

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2012/06/27/fukushima-niveaux-records-de-radiations-dans-le-batiment-du-reacteur-n-1_1725442_3244.html

http://enenews.com/more-new-indoor-radiation-dose-record-at-fukushima-5-sieverts-per-hour-detected-at-reactor-no-1-may-be-higher-as-it-exceeded-capacity-of-measuring-device/comment-page-1

(*)http://anti-proton.com/japan/Report030812.pdf

Picture: (c) Kyodo Japan

Sonntag, 20. Mai 2012

Mayak: The Forgotten Incident - Interview with Nadezha Kuteopva

For a long time, not much had been know about the 1957 Nuclear incident in Mayak in the Ural Mountains of central Russia. The incident which many scientists have ruled as one of the worst in history continues to cause many problems in the concerned region.

(c) O. Connolly - Nadezha Kutepova during the 2011 Ceremony of the "Nuclear Free Future Award"

I spoke with Nadezha Kutepova, Russian environmentalist, sociologist and lawyer born in Ozersk one of the many cities in the Chelyabinsk region, most affected by the Mayak incident. As founder and director of the "Planeta Nadezhd" (engl. Planet of Hopes) NGO, Nadezha Kutepova has lead many court cases and supported over 100 victims and their families for recognition in the Chelyabinsk region, but also in front of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. She is the laureate of the 2011 "Nuclear Free Future Award".

The 1957 incident was the first important accident in the Nuclear Age. For nearly 30 years it was covered up by the Soviet Union? What happened in Mayak and how could the USSR cover up this event for so long?

September 29, 1957 underground tank with high level of liquid radioactive waste exploded in Ozersk (former name Chelyabinsk-65), where Mayak nuclear plant is situated. 20 billions curie of radioactivity in atmosphere and area 23 000 sq.km was contaminated. Officially, information about accident of 1957 was opened only after Chernobyl accident, the reason is the Soviet Government kept secret because nuclear production was a “state secret”. I know that also US American Government had known information about this accident exactly after the accident. The US Government just began to transform military nuclear program to nuclear energy and NPPs, for them was unprofitable that anybody knows about consequences and will be protest against «safe nuclear energy”. My father was victim of this accident, he lived at Sverdlovsk and was mobilized to do the clean up job after accident aged 18, he had terrible cancer as consequences of clean up job and died from it when I was 13.

You yourself were born in the contaminated area in the Chelyabinsk region. Can you tell us about your experience of growing up in that region?

From one side it was usual life of usual child in provincial soviet city. I have never known anything about nuclear contamination until 1990 year. When information was opened for publicity. From another side I was born and grow up in closed city – soldiers defended our city with fence with border wires and when I was leaving it during summer vacation – parents always reminded me do not tell anybody from each city I am from for reason of state secret and threat of prison.

Still today many people suffer from the consequences of the incident. What are the problems of the people you support? How do you help them?

As human rights lawyer I regularly make legal consultations for people of my region, I identify problems, find ways how to defend them and defend them in different levels, including local or regional authority, local or regional court and also European court of human rights.

How are officials responding to the efforts of you and your organization? Is there a problem of arbitrariness in the Justice system?

Ever 2 years ago, me and my NGO had terrible pressure from state and intimidation. Now the situation is a little bit better, I am advisor of regional ombudsman and our region has new and young Government. Problems that occurred are for example if is it defense of human and social rights, it is little bit easier than to defense environmental rights or human right in closed city. But I also have threats from officials for example for our "Techa river case", where we prove contamination of Techa and try to obligate "Rosatom" and Government to build sarcophagus and isolate Techa river because regional Government want to receive huge taxes from Mayak for import of nuclear spent fuel from foreign countries, but our activity about Techa river for opinion of regional Government does not allow for Mayak to take NSF and restricts region of taxes of Mayak. They demand to stop any anti-nuclear activity.

I can’t to tell that there is problem of arbitrariness in the Justice system, I can say about pressure of officials for Justice System. It looks so – usually court takes law’s position of official party not the side of applicants, it means that law and facts has no meaning for court, only position of officials.

What are the main challenges for the next decade in the Chelyabinsk area?

I can tell about main environmental problems in a summary:

1. Mayak nuclear contamination

2. Karabash steel’s production contamination

3. Chelyabinsk steel’s production contamination l

According to new studies, broken pipes and bad maintenance at the Mayak facility have contaminated probably for many decades the grounds and rivers like the "Tetcha"? Can the real amplitude of Mayak actually be measured?

Yes it is true, Techa is most dirty nuclear river, I think now we can name it "open storage of nuclear waste". I think also we will never know about real amplitude of Mayak, we have only little part opened information. Mayak and "Rosatom" resistances. They hide everything what they can . As, I told above we began court proceeding against Russian government and Rosatom to isolate Techa, because still 3 villages with more than 3000 people live near Techa and use water for every day needs. Court make it very slowly, try by different ways to stop it, but we continue. For example we could receive Judgment of former director of Mayak with dates of Prosecutor that Mayak spilled nuclear waste even in 2004! Earlier "Rosatom" lied that they finished the clean-up work in 1962. If we can do it and will win the case, we can finally to isolate Techa, will move people and create evacuation zone.

What can I do, or interested people outside of Russia to help the victims of Mayak? Where can we find information and how can we help?

They can help for victims personally or through me or our NGO. One German volunteer created web site www.mayak-victims.info, where people can find person for whom they want to help. (the website is still under construction) But 2 kids from this site already received cures, clothes and little money. Also I recommend to use www.antiatom.ru and www.bellona.no for receiving more information about Mayak and consequences of it activity. To get to know us, ARTE made a movie about our NGO work: http://www.arte.tv/de/Die-Welt-verstehen/arte-reportage/ARTE-Reportage/3791320,CmC=3791326.html

Thank you very much for your time.

Further information and reading:

http://www.chernobylcongress.org/speakers/artikel/5730b1ae9f5c73c4f4924d6f1478ea94/-0782c08f06.html
http://www.nuclear-free.com/deu/KutepovaManzurova.htm
http://www.wecf.eu/english/press/coverage/2011/Nadezhda-Arte.php

http://www.russland.ru/rupol0010/morenews.php?iditem=22920

http://www.nuclear-free.com/PDF/Dubrulle_Speech2011.pdf

http://www.wecf.eu/english/articles/2009/06/courtcase-planetofhopes.php

http://www.arte.tv/de/Die-Welt-verstehen/arte-reportage/ARTE-Reportage/3791320,CmC=3791326.html