What are the social pressures when 160,000 residents are kicked into their adjacent county, with half allowed to return later? http://news.msn.com/world/fukushima-fallout-resentment-grows-in-nearby-japanese-city
As Japan begins to re-start all their leaky, crumbling reactors... http://local.msn.com/volcano-erupts-in-japan-7-missing-40-injured-2
[video]http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/a-citizen-scientist-fights-to-save-the-star-fish-330000451557[/video] Newsweek, Oct. 2, 2014: A grisly horror show is playing out along the West Coast… millions of dead and dying sea stars… victims of a swift and brutal illness… organs rupture… arms fall off. Ultimately, the sea star dissolves, as if melted by acid… This summer, the outbreak morphed into a full-scale epidemic… so bad that researchers have lost count of how many stars are lost. They estimate millions… food webs are being upended… shorelines that used to be dotted with sea stars and other species are now blanketed with barnacles growing with abandon, a sign of the loss of biodiversity on the coast… The wasting syndrome has also been reported in populations along the East Coast [see Dr. Miner's comment below]. Dr. Benjamin Miner, Western Washington University: (Q: Are Atlantic starfish affected?) Wasting syndrome… has just been along the West Coast… It’s kind of slowly progressing northward, which… certainly suggests there’s something in the water that might be spreading. PBS (Oregon), Oct. 1, 2014: Program Coordinator Samantha Ferber… estimates that more than 90 percent of the total sea stars in the lower intertidal… succumbed to the disease… “There has never been an event this dramatic… dying rapidly… degrading before our eyes.” Dr. Drew Harvell, Cornell University, Sept. 19, 2014: “Unprecedented… largest marine wildlife outbreak ever recorded in terms of number of species, and spread… [It] has big implications for humans… this epidemic is an emergency… If they disappear… we cannot repopulate them.” Dr. Harvell: “It’s the largest epidemic we’ve ever seen with marine wildlife… We watched our populations go from thousands of stars to none over the space of a month.” Bruce Menge, Oregon St. Univ.: [I can't] find even a single star. “Deep down, I worry this might be a harbinger of some impending, major problem resulting from climate change… a complete alteration of coastal ecosystems”… Wasting syndrome appeared… the same time that deep, cold water rose up and filled the area… so perhaps it is not warming waters. MSNBC, Sept. 17, 2014: It’s the largest known epidemic in the world’s oceans – Laura James, diver: “There were a whole bunch of sea stars that washed up… more than any of us had ever seen… I’ll never forget it, it was like a war zone… bodies laying around everywhere… Up and down the west coast from Mexico all the way up to Alaska, the scale of this is beyond anything I’ve ever even imagined. We’re already seeing changes, we’re seeing a shift in our biodiversity… [The sea stars] are all gone now… It could be an indicator of a bigger problem.” Published: October 8th, 2014 at 7:56 pm ET By ENENews Email Article Email Article 244 comments Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) 35th Annual Meeting — The Fukushima Legacy, Nov. 13, 2014: In the face of lack of knowledge and data from regional governments regarding potential risks of Fukushima-associated radiation in the Pacific Northwest [there's a] need to conduct lines of research and monitoring aimed to understand baseline data and bioaccumulation potential of radionuclides and radiation risks… Fukushima… emerged as a global threat for the conservation of the Pacific Ocean, human health, and marine biodiversity… Despite the looming threat of radiation [there's a] lack of radiation monitoring [in] Canada and United States. This is unfortunate, as the potential radioactive contamination of seafoods through bioaccumulation of radioisotopes in marine and coastal food webs are issues of major concern for the public health of coastal communities. Particularly vulnerable are First Nations that rely strongly on… seafoods and fish… The effects of radioactive contamination are likely to affect other top predators, including fish-eating marine mammals inhabiting offshore and coastal habitats of the region… concerns and questions remain about the long-term exposure and bioaccumulation of radioactivity in marine food webs… SETAC — Prof. J. Alava and F.A. Gobas, Simon Fraser Univ., Nov. 13, 2014: [T]o track the long term fate and bioaccumulation of 137Cs in marine organisms… we assessed the bioaccumulation potential of 137Cs in a North West Pacific food-web… [Specifically, the] marine mammalian food web… outcomes showed that 137Cs can be expected to bioaccumulate gradually… [The] magnification factor for 137Cs [was] from 5.0 at 365 days of simulation to 30 at 10,950 days. From 1 year to 30 years of simulation, the 137Cs activities predicted in the male killer whale were 6.0 to 182 times 137Cs activities in its major prey [Chinook salmon]… This modeling work showed that in addition to the ocean dilution of 137Cs, a magnification of this radionuclide takes place in the marine food web over time. SETAC — Dr. Erica Frank, Univ. of British Columbia, Nov. 13, 2014: [Fukushima Daiichi is causing] ongoing radioactive contamination of coastal waters, and eventually the Pacific Ocean. This has spurred worldwide concern around conservation of marine plants… animals [and] human health… [The] accident has important implications for public and environmental health policy in North America… there is the lingering question of the effects of long-term exposure, bioaccumulation of 137Cs in marine food webs, and potential health effects on human populations. Despite all of these concerns, there is currently a paucity of [gov't] monitoring… Ali Hamade, Alaska’s Environmental Public Health Program Director (pdf), 2014:
That link died. Here's the same article. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/31/us-japan-nuclear-resentment-idUSKBN0GV02S20140831
SEATTLE — After months of research, scientists have identified the pathogen at the heart of the wasting disease that’s been killing starfish by the millions along the Pacific shores of North America, according to research published Monday. They said it’s a virus that’s different from all other known viruses infecting marine organisms. They’ve dubbed it “sea star associated densovirus.” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/scientists-solve-mystery-of-west-coast-starfish-deaths/ Go Blazers
“Barrier is not holding” at Fukushima plant — All efforts have failed to stop very high levels of radioactive materials flowing into ocean — Officials: More water’s coming in than we were pumping out — Workers now trying to prevent overflow (VIDEO) Published: November 19th, 2014 at 12:15 pm ET By ENENews Email Article Email Article 220 comments Mainichi, Nov 18, 2014 (emphasis added): Attempt to stop water flowing into trench at Fukushima plant fails… TEPCO determined that the leak must be continuing… critics have pointed out the possibility of it escaping into the ocean… TEPCO planned to freeze the water… However, the water was insufficiently frozen to stop the flow, and while an effort continued until Nov. 6 to fill in the gaps in the ice with special cement, this effort also failed… While the water remains in the trench, TEPCO cannot create a planned underground wall of frozen soil around the No. 1 through 4 reactor buildings… NHK, Nov 18, 2014: Officials… say a barrier designed to prevent radioactive water from entering underground tunnels is likely not doing its job… highly-radioactive water from tunnels under the facility… leaks to surrounding soil… Monday, workers removed 200,000 liters of water, estimating that water levels in the tunnels would drop by 80 cm. However, the levels went down by only 20. NHK World (original): Officials [at] the Fukushima plant have another problem… Officials concluded more water was likely entering the tunnels from the reactor building than was being pumped out… Officials say workers [plan to fill tunnels with cement] carefully to prevent contaminated water from overflowing. NHK World (updated): The aim is to prevent the water from leaking into the surrounding soil but the barrier is not holding back the water… Officials concluded more water was likely entering the tunnels from the reactor building than was being pumped out. Japan Times, Nov. 19, 2014: Tepco unable to halt tainted water flowing… from the No. 2 reactor building to underground tunnels at [Fukushima Daiichi,] officials said. Tepco has injected cement… but water levels suggest the effort has remained unsuccessful… The company began the cement injections after failing to create an “ice wall”… Tepco pumped 200 tons of tainted water out of the tunnels Monday… [If] completely sealed, water levels would have fallen roughly 80 cm [yet levels only dropped 20 cm], the officials said, indicating the possibility that contaminated water is still flowing into the tunnels. The officials also noted the possibility that groundwater may be flowing into the tunnels. However… the amount of radioactive materials in the tunnel water is very high, an official in the Nuclear Regulation Authority said. “Concentrations should have been lower if large amounts of groundwater are really flowing in” Jiji Press, Nov. 19, 2014:The tunnels are believed to contain some 5,000 tons of tainted water. Some observers believe the water may be leaking into the ground and reaching the Pacific. http://enenews.com/massive-radiatio...s-1-2-order-magnitude-higher-previous-records Seattle Post Intelligencer, Nov 11, 2014 (emphasis added): Mike Priddy, supervisor of Washington’s Environmental Sciences Section [wrote] in an email exchange today: “… if the water has radioactive material in it at any level, coming into contact with it will cause the contamination to transfer. That said, the levels… pose no real health affects… whether you come in contact with the water or somehow casually ingest it. The levels I have seen in seawater are interesting from a scientific point of view, but well below health concerns.” KHUM, Nov. 12, 2014 — Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (10:00 in): In winter time… offshore waters might move inshore… I’m hoping to get samples… as this plume moves its way maybe on to shore. Take Two Show, Nov. 14, 2014 — Host: The thing that I read that did do a good job of reassuring me was a comparison to a dental x-ray. Maybe tell us that one? Buesseler: We’re comparing to a dental x-ray because that’s something people experience and choose to do… The risk is never zero, any additional radioactivity can cause additional cancers… There’s really very little we can do once its in the ocean. Fukushima was an unprecedented event… God forbid something happens today, it’s pretty unstable off Japan. Santa Rosa Press Demiocrat, Nov 11, 2014: [Dan Sythe, CEO of International Medcom] shares Buesseler’s concern that the federal government is not monitoring… Some people are “on edge” about the prospect of Fukushima radiation reaching them, he said. The radiation now reaching California is at the front edge of the plume, and Buesseler said the concentration is expected to increase [for] the next two to three years. But it’s worrisome, he said, that what’s happening now in Japan will reach North America in about three years. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution — Current Results: Nov. 10, 2014 — Sample F#5049 (offshore Calif.): Cs134 @ 0.8 Bq/m³; Cs137 @ 6.9 Bq/m³ Nov. 15, 2014 — Sample F#5049 (offshore Calif.): Cs134 @ 1.7 Bq/m³; Cs137 @ 6.9 Bq/m³ Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen, Radio Ecoshock, Oct. 29, 2014 (23:30 in): [In addition to the radioactive plume off the Canadian coast], there’s also another plume heading a little bit further south, down near Oregon coast into California… We are not at the peak, it’s still coming, and it will continue to come as long as Fukushima continues to bleed into the Pacific, we’re seeing the beginning of this… The problem is that the fish that live in that water bioaccumulate that material. Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen, Nuclear Hotseat, Nov. 12, 2014 (31:45 in): [Fukushima is] going to bleed for decades, if not centuries [into the Pacific]… There will still be a huge residual amount of radiation in the soil and in the groundwater so that the site will continue to bleed into the Pacific a century or more.
Perhaps its affecting our winter weather patterns tho? Maris was right. I am slowly dying inside because of the lack of snow...
The reason the earth's core is hot is because a LOT of nuclear/radioactive material sank to the center while the earth was molten. If we didn't have all that radiation, this would be a dead planet.
FYI, there were over 2400 nuclear weapons exploded to test them out. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/opinion/fear-vs-radiation-the-mismatch.html?_r=0 Fear vs. Radiation: The Mismatch Beginning shortly after World War II, epidemiologists and radiation biologists began tracking atomic bomb survivors. Researchers have followed roughly 112,600 Japanese: 86,611 who had been within 10 kilometers of the center of the explosions, and 26,000 who were not exposed. The most current analysis estimates that, out of 10,929 people in the exposed population who have died of cancer, only 527 of those deaths were caused by radiation from the atomic bombs. For the entire population exposed, in many cases to extremely high levels of radiation, that’s an excess cancer mortality rate of about two-thirds of 1 percent. These studies have also found that, more than two generations later, there have been no multigenerational genetic effects on humans, Godzilla and the mutant giant ants in the 1954 film “Them!” notwithstanding. Fetal exposure in utero produced horrible birth defects, but no permanent genetic damage. Perhaps most importantly, research on the bomb survivors has found that at lower doses, below 100 millisieverts, radiation causes no detectable elevations in normal rates of illness and disease. (Among several measures of radiation exposure, sieverts reflect the biological effects of radiation.) The vast majority of the doses received by people living near Fukushima or Chernobyl were well below this 100 millisievert threshold. The robust evidence that ionizing radiation is a relatively low health risk dramatically contradicts common fears.
