Published: March 18th, 2012 at 4:58 am ET
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Title: Nobel laureate Oe calls for halt to all nuclear plants
Source: AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
Author: SHINJI INADA
Date:
At France’s largest book fair, instead of promoting a novel, Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe used the spotlight to call for the immediate abolition of all nuclear power plants.Oe, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, spoke at the “Salon du livre de Paris,” one of the largest book fairs in Europe [...]
“What is the most important ethic for humans to act is not to destroy conditions that are necessary for the next generation to live,” Oe said, in calling for the end to nuclear power plants. “The reasons from the viewpoints of economy, science and defense are just secondary ones.”
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Oe participated in the discussion meeting, titled, “How to confront a catastrophe.” The Nobel laureate strongly criticized the Japanese government for moving toward restarting idled nuclear reactors.
“The Japanese government is not thinking about nuclear power plants seriously,” he said.
[...]
In the meeting, Oe introduced farmers whose lands were contaminated by radioactive materials because of the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and fishermen who were deprived of their fishing spots due to the disaster.
“There are no more inhumane things than this,” Oe said.
He also said that the Fukushima accident is adversly [sic] affecting neighboring Asian countries.
Read the report here
Published: March 18th, 2012 at 4:58 am ET
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sending...
Experts struggle to collect data in Fukushima
Is enough being done to ensure solid data, key to making future nuclear safety plans, is being gathered in Fukushima?
D. Parvaz Last Modified: 17 Mar 2012 17:29
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/03/20123158401893688.html
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Radioactive cesium believed to have been released during the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Japan following last year's major earthquake has been found in plankton about 600 kilometers (nearly 375 miles) east of the facility, according to a Japan-U.S. joint research team. The amount of cesium detected in the plankton was far below the government's provisional limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram for marine products, according to the team led by Jun Nishikawa, research associate at the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute. However, follow-up studies will be necessary because the radioactive cesium is likely to have accumulated in fish that eat plankton, the team said. The findings will be reported to a conference of the Oceanographic Society of Japan set for Tuesday. The research team collected animal plankton at 17 locations between 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) and 600 kilometers (372.8 miles) east of the plant in June last year, about three months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear crisis. Cesium-137 was detected in all of the collected plankton, which in a dry state was found to contain 0.3 to 56.4 becquerels per kilogram. The farther away the plankton was collected, the less radiation it contained, according to the team. Results of a similar survey conducted by the team before the crisis showed that plankton contained between 0.1 and 0.4 becquerels of cesium-137 per kilogram. In the latest survey, the team also found cesium-134 – which has a two-year half-life – in plankton at the same levels as cesium-137, whose half-life is three decades.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=ED-20120318-34555-OTH
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I've said it before and I'll say it again.
"Half-life" is a physics term used to describe the 'decay rate' of a radioactive substance. It is misleading in it's description as it implies to some people that the contaminated material is only 1/2 as hazardous.
What is IMPORTANT is the FACT that the "Hazardous to Life Span" calculation is 10 times the SO CALLED half-life. We should just call it the DECAY RATE.
So…
cesium-134 2 years(decay rate) x 10 = 20 years (HAZARDOUS!)
cesium-137 30 years(decay rate) x 10 = 300 years (HAZARDOUS!)
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"At France’s largest book fair, instead of promoting a novel, Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe used the spotlight to call for the immediate abolition of all nuclear power plants."
And this has to happen. Nuclear reactors must be outlawed and shut down, pronto.
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Its really not just nuclear plants, its also things like genetic modification of plants and animals, its the attitude of manipulation the world is gripped with
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I agree. Why can't man be happy with the natural world? Maybe it's because they are born in large cities and rarely, if ever, come into contact with it.
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Great that he said that, and escpecially great that he did in France, where chances are good to see the next nuclear disaster. Where a short man as president desperately clings onto yesterday's technology.
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Meanwhile in Japan:
"Tohoku tourism expo opens
A campaign has begun to rebuild tourism in Japan's northeast region, devastated by last year's earthquake and tsunami.
A ceremony was held at Tokyo Station on Sunday to celebrate the opening of what is called the Destination Tohoku Campaign, with Tourism Minister Takeshi Maeda in attendance. (…)
Among other events is a tour to Fukushima on a bullet train leaving Tokyo Station. A visitor said she wants to help in rebuilding the affected region by spending money on eating and buying souvenirs."
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120318_10.html
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Great news! The voice of truth for Japan! This act is worth more than a Nobel Prize.
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Great news
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I lost 2 relatives to cancer,my aunt in November 2011(sister to my mum) aged in her 60s and my cousin in Feb.2012 in his mid 30s.
Yeah we import alot of stuff from Japan and I am about 200km north of the equator.And this is just us.I know of people that have suddenly dropped dead from heart issues and some currently suffering from various cancers..weird!! tick tock…are we done??I am African.. we never and do not have Histories of Cancer issues.
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ARE WE ZAPPED!!sigh…
As the center refuses to hold, things fall apart…
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