Abe snubs head of Nobel-winning no-nukes group

As reported by Japan Times.

GE faces federal lawsuit over Fukushima nuclear disaster

As reported by the Boston Business Journal, Japanese survivors of the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe have filed suit against General Electric. They are seeking $500 million in damages.

As Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairewinds Energy Education, reported at the March 11, 2013 Helen Caldicott event in New York City marking the second anniversary of the beginning of the nuclear catastrophe, reactor vendor General Electric and subcontractor EBASCO in the United States bear major responsibility for the disaster. GE's Mark I Boiling Water Reactor design was and is a disaster waiting to happen, due to its too small, too weak containment structure. Many tens of feet of land elevation at Fukushima Daiiichi were removed, to bring the reactors closer to the ocean, for less expensive cooling water supply (but the seaside pumps were wiped out by the March 11, 2011 tsunami, which then swamped the site).

$500 million in damages may sound like a lot to many people. But consider that some economic analysts have predicted that the full cost accounting recovery from Fukushima Daiichi could surmount $600 billion (with a B -- three orders of magnitude higher than $500 million!).

Beyond Nuclear on Thom Hartmann: Is Fukushima still melting down?

Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps appeared on Thom Hartmann's "The Big Picture" to discuss the discovery, 6.5 years later, of melted core at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3, as well as Tokyo Electric Power Company's threat to simply release 770,000 metric tons (around 200 million gallons) of very highly tritium-contaminated wastewater directly into the Pacific Ocean.

5 workers exposed to radiation at Japan nuclear lab

As reported by AP:

Five workers at a Japanese nuclear facility that handles plutonium have been exposed to high levels of radiation after a bag containing highly radioactive material apparently broke during equipment inspection, the country's Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday.

The incident occurred Tuesday at its Oarai Research & Development Center, a facility for nuclear fuel study that uses highly toxic plutonium. The cause of the accident is under investigation, the state-run agency said. It raised a nuclear security concern as well as a question whether the handlers were adequately protected.

The agency said its initial survey found contamination inside the nostrils of three of the five men — a sign they inhaled radioactive dust. All five were also found to be contaminated on their limbs after removing protective gear and taking a shower, which would have washed off most contamination.

Agency spokesman Masataka Tanimoto said one of the men indicated high levels of plutonium exposure in his lungs, with the dose showing nearly 1,000 times that of his earlier nostril survey.

Internal exposure poses a bigger concern because of its potential cancer-causing risks. The figure, 22,000 Becquerels, could mean exposure levels in the lungs may not be immediately life-threatening.

But an inhalation dose of ultra-hazardous plutonium carries a high-risk for eventual lung cancer. The latency period could extend years or even decades.

Trove of medical records snapshot of doctors’ plight after Fukushima

As reported in the Asahi Shimbun.