Published: November 18th, 2012 at 9:00 am ET
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Title: The muddy issue of cesium in a lake
Source: Japan Times
Author: By TOMOKO OTAKE
Date: Nov 18, 2012
Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture is facing an environmental threat that has essentially turned it into a time bomb ticking away 60 km northeast of Tokyo.
Experts warn that Japan’s second largest lake with a surface area of 220 sq. km is quietly but steadfastly accumulating radioactive cesium [...]
[It] is not only rich with fishery resources but whose water is used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and even for consumption as drinking water for 960,000 people in Ibaraki Prefecture. Furthermore, no one knows how and by how much the problem has worsened over the months, except for one obvious thing: it hasn’t gone away. [...]
[Atsunobu Hamada, former director of the government-affiliated Ibaraki Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute maintains] that the inevitable solution would be to release Kasumigaura’s cesium into the Pacific Ocean via the Tone River [...]
“We have a potential disaster waiting to happen,” [Hiroshi Iijima, director general of the nonprofit organization Asaza Fund in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture] said. “This is a lake in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the second-largest lake in Japan, and we are sitting idly by, letting it get contaminated.”
Katsuhiko Sato, official at the Environment Ministry’s water environment section: The current levels of contamination pose no health risk for the area’s residents, because radiation in the lake and the rivers is shielded by water – (Shielding? See above: “Water is used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and even for consumption as drinking water for 960,000 people in Ibaraki Prefecture”)
See also: Asahi Source: Locations in Chiba came under heavy nuclear fallout; Borders Tokyo -- Contamination has potential to affect ecosystems
Published: November 18th, 2012 at 9:00 am ET
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sending...
(I do not know which of the two O topics this one is for but as it has to do about Tokyo residents i will ask)
Has the Imperial family already left Tokyo?
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Hey where is that Fukushima Engineer that said, he would clean up your home in fukushima? I think this guy should be out there with a sponge and bucket on his knees cleaning up as much as he can and returning it to fukumonster's rubble pools. Is there a way that it can be sucked up with machinery and deposited in a filter system and somehow returned to a side pool?
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I would assume that a lake being in harm's way is constantly monitored?
Where's the numbers?
Finding a new drinking water source for nearly a million people will be an interesting undertaking, to put it mildly.
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Both Iijima and Sato cite monitoring deficiencies.
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How convenient.
Not.
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NAH-HOW COULD THAT BE?~THEY HOUSE THE MONITORING EQUIPMENT IN AIRTIGHT,LEAD-LINED STEEL BOXES TO "PROTECT" THE SENSITIVE EQUIPMENT FROM THE HARMFUL EFFECTS OF RADIATION?!!(lol)
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"Ticking time bomb" – Dr. Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist TV interview Apr 13, 2011
"Fukushima… a ticking time bomb" Thom Hartmann interview May 17, 2011
"Sitting on a ticking time bomb" – A. Gundersen enenews article May 19th, 2012 at 11:20 am ET
"Fukushima… still a ticking time bomb" – C. Busby interview Jul 25, 2012
"Time bomb… accumulating Fukushima contamination" – Experts from Japan Nov 18, 2012
Ticking time bomb? But, nobody told me.
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Good one.
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That is a very good point(s).
I love Michio Kaku. He makes hard things understandable for morons like me.
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As a matter of fact….even though I find the latest political discussions here distasteful (I told you not to do that)….
Video clips of the good Doctor Kaku should be pushed to the front lines.
He really does make it understandable, and he's non-threatening about it.
A good point man. If you were looking for something like that.
Friendly suggestion.
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Tokyo; Is It Safe To Visit or Live In? http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/03/tokyo-is-it-safe-to-visit-or-live-in.html
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Fukushima Nano Bucky Balls Weaponized With Uranium, Plutonium, And Cesium; via A Green Road
http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/10/bucky-balls-and-fukushima-what-is-danger.html
Time to play ball…
Bucky ball that is…
EVERYONE gets to play, even if they don't want to…
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[Atsunobu Hamada ... maintains] that the inevitable solution would be to release Kasumigaura’s cesium into the Pacific Ocean via the Tone River [...]
<<<<<<<
What's a little more cesium in the Pacific? (Aside from the fact that Fuku-D is also still leaking directly into it.)
Where are the environmentalists who talk so much about global warming's effects on the oceans? WHEN are they going to acknowledge what Fuku has done/is continuing to do to the Pacific?
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"Where are the environmentalists?"
also Where are the scientists?
The website Nuclear Crimes has raised the question "Why No One Notices the Gagged Scientists?" I agree that this is a significant issue that is not being discussed. Even Michio Kaku has gone silent on the issue.
http://nuclearcrimes.org/index.php
Scroll down to "In the Fukushima-era, Why No One Notices the Gagged Scientists"
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“We have a potential disaster waiting to happen,”
Someone needs to tell this guy he is a bit late to the party. The disaster has already occured. Japan, the Pacific Ocean, and most of the entire northern hemishpere has already experienced a major release of toxic radioactive shit that will slowly poison us for ever.
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Exactly!
It shocks me how the majority view the Fukushima event like a fall….an event that caused damage and a steady recuperation to follow…when it is really a problem that has increased from the intial point of disaster and in the increase involves more and more vital (water) entities of life thus disabling the possibility of life to continue….it's a growing problem…a spreading problem….like the the universe it is expanding….
People also don't want to understand it is a problem for forever..
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I would call it the 'Snowball effect' as it relates to three core meltdowns. (so radioactive no human can approach them)
"A figurative term for a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger (graver, more serious), and perhaps potentially dangerous or disastrous…"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_effect
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Or, if you prefer, Pandora's Box
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box
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I would have to disagree (slightly) with the phrase "builds on itself" I believe it builds on all things it comes in contact with an incorporates them more like a ball of wax.
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including the voices of the most scientists and politicians and… well, at least THAT effect should still remain reversible. but maybe that's just "positive thinking". -.o
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@many moons
"People also don't want to understand it is a problem for forever.." No, no. Progress Energy (now owned by Duke Power) is still hoping to license two new nuclear power plants, Levy County I & II in Florida. We will know the answer from the Nuclear Safety and Licensing Board of the NRC in February or March of 2013. Too late to say another word. Even poor, small Levy County does not want them much less the citizens in the surrounding area.
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nuclear has beem a ticking time bomb, since the genie was let out of the bottle…
tic, tic, tic
how can anything go wrong?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caBRGOoJrWM
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Time bomb Tokyo. Atomic clock ticking.
More and more places hot particles sticking.
Life as it was unrealistic option.
Time for a new lifestyle adoption -
The Way of Detox and Chelation,
Nuclear Hygiene and Remediation,
The Path of Assisting Relocation,
The Truth of Compassionate Realisation
that EACH must care for ALL in the nation
and end the pro-Nuclearist domination.
I'm trying to say there is already damage done
sufficient to require significant adaptation,
realistically acknowledging that mass evacuation
is not going to happen, that it will get worse,
that there are many battles ahead besides ending
radioactive waste transportation, incineration and
re-contamination.
The entire book of dirty tricks will continue being used
and all the plans for re-occupation of dirty lands
and restarts of dangerous and at-risk plants will
be passed from one set of dirty hands to another
with disregard for children, fathers and mothers.
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@Or-well
"…restarts of dangerous and at-risk plants will
be passed from one set of dirty hands to another…." I think the real reason they are not shutting down in the U.S. has to do with no money saved by npps for decommissioning. Much too much money all at once with the U.S. essentially bankrupt (thanks to the usual suspects).
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Hits home with a Jesse Jackson tone.
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Both bodies of water, Lake Kasuiagauri and the Pacific Ocean are suffering the same fate. There is just too much product aerosolized upon our shared planet.
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"[Atsunobu Hamada, former director of the government-affiliated Ibaraki Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute maintains] that the inevitable solution would be to release Kasumigaura’s cesium into the Pacific Ocean via the Tone River [...]
"
And how did the Caesium get in the lake? By runoff from the rivers feeding it.
That's why it's accumulating.
Even if you drained the entire lake, and scraped the entire mud bottom, in 18 months it will be packed again. Figure it takes 3 months to drain and scrape what do they do for drinking water and process water for those 90 days?
Also dump it into the pacific, then it evaporates and a bunch comes back as rain anyways.
I think it's long past time to evacuate japan
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Tokyo Soil Samples Would Be Considered Nuclear Waste In The US
http://vimeo.com/38995781
US Gov’t: Widespread contamination throughout northern Japan, including Tokyo — “Entire region would be required to be posted as radiological area”
Published: March 23rd, 2012 at 5:59 am ET
By ENENews
http://enenews.com/govt-widespread-contamination-northern-japan-including-tokyo-entire-region-be-required-be-posted-radiological-area
Japan Newspaper: Tokyo area turned out to be as contaminated as Fukushima -Kyoto Professor
Published: August 11th, 2012 at 2:05 pm ET
By ENENews
http://enenews.com/japan-newspaper-tokyo-area-turned-out-to-be-as-contaminated-as-fukushima-kyoto-professor
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Dear Japan,
While we here at enenews are not professional journalists, we do strive to get the message across. And sometimes we don't even make sense, but given the time and the sheer volume of messages sent across, to you, we think it needs to be spelled out to you, loud and clear.
EVACUATE YOUR CHILDREN AWAY FROM THE CONTAMINATION!
We hope this last message helps you in your determination of your future.
Regards,
the enenews crew
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got to agree! and the iaea needs to up the monitoring..
its criminal not to be monitoring the contamination 18 months on
at enenews we talked about the lakes and reservoirs accumulating contamination and it being impossible to clean afterwards..
the mountains took a big hit and it will be decades before the levels get to european levels (which isnt good, some foodstuffs are still very contaminated after 25 years and get worse when smaller accidents and "legal" emissions top it up again!
japan must secure clean drinking water and food. the children need to breath the cleanest air available and be able to have normal lives..
you need to have a proper discussion on waste storage too..
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I wonder if anyone has bothered to test any lakes in the USA, esp those in California maybe. It would be interesting to find out what is going on in our own backyards too.
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@arclight
Read:
http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/spent_nuclear_fuel_pools_in_the_us_reducing_the_deadly_risks_of_storage
Go there, click on pdf document at upper right and read pp. 28-29 which are tables of spent nuclear fuel located throughout the country at nuclear power plants. Some have so much that they will soon have to close since there is nowhere else to put it.
The President (Bush/Cheney) received a report on spent nuclear fuel and the power grid as early as 2007 and labeled it "classified." Clinton declassified some of it but redacted much of it (now I wonder what that referred to?). It is outrageous that it is now five years later and nothing has been done.
Discussion probably won't help since these plants have not saved the requisite money to decommission. I suppose they are waiting for taxpayers to come up with the money.
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merci beaucoupe!
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Why don't we just explicitly use the word INSANITY, or even CRIMINAL INSANITY. It is CRIMINALLY INSANE to knowingly let a million people drink from a cesspool of radioactive cesium, or to let that water be used to irrigate crops, or for industrial use which means it is shipped all over Japan. And it is CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT to not acknowledge that WHATEVER they do, the contamination will get WORSE.(Anyone else notice that FORTY YEARS to "decommission" the nuclear plants is considered "optimistic"?) If the CESIUM level's getting HIGHER around Chernobyl rather than LOWER to this date (another article on ENE News)is not enough to convince, look up Enviroreporter regarding the Rocketdyne nuclear facility in southern California which had a "partial meltdown" in 1959!!
Oh, you weren't TOLD that it released hundreds of times what Three Mile Island released twenty years later? OF COURSE you weren't told! How else would the criminal war-making continue? Oh, you weren't TOLD that nuclear plants are needed to make nuclear warheads? So you are also NOT TOLD (well, except through Enviroreporter for Rocketdyne) that despite two major clean-ups, there are STILL sky-high radioactive readings from Rocketdyne!
MELTDOWNS DON'T STOP MELTING DOWN, PEOPLE!! They need to jail the lunatic government officials in Japan, and help those poor people evacuate. This is heart-breaking.
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VIDEO: Paris vigil to denounce radiation coverup by World Health Organisationn
Vigil outside the Ministry of Health in Paris Nov 18, 2012For five and a half years we have maintained a daily presence (the Hippocratic Vigil) outside the headquarters of the WHO in Geneva. The aim of the vigil is to denounce the lies and cover-up of this international organisation on the subject of the health consequences of radioactive pollution.
For the last 26 years WHO has done nothing to help the victims of Chernobyl, and is now abandoning the victims of Fukushima in the same way.
http://nuclear-news.net/2012/11/19/video-paris-vigil-to-denounce-radiation-coverup-by-world-health-organisationn/
vive la france!!
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and in geneva a month after fukushima
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XUFaIIVDPQ&feature=channel&list=UL
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