Fairewinds re-asserts severe damage in Fukushima Daiichi high-level radioactive waste storage pools

In Fairewinds Associates' latest video entitled "Newly Released TEPCO Data Proves Fairewinds Assertions of Significant Fuel Pool Failures at Fukushima Daiichi," dated August 26th, Arnie Gundersen explains that Tokyo Electric Power Company's own documentation of radioactive cesium contamination of high-level radioactive waste pool water shows severe damage has occurred in the irradiated nuclear fuel stored there. Arnie bolsters his assertion that the high-level radioactive waste storage pool at Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 is severely damaged by pointing to a recent high-resolution photo, shown here.

Fukushima parents and NGOs appeal to UN to save the children from radioactive fallout

On August 17th, in a statement entitled "Violation of the Human Rights of the Children of Fukushima," a coalition of Japanese Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including Fukushima Prefecture parents, appealed to the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to save the children of Fukushima from the perils of radioactive contamination resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe that began on March 11th. The appeal is necessary because of the inaction, and worse, of the Japanese federal government and Fukushima prefectural government. The appeal to the UN was signed by the Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation; Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai); FoE Japan (International Environmental NGO); Green Action; Osaka Citizens Against the Mihama, Oi and Takahama Nuclear Power Plants (Mihama-no-Kai); and Greenpeace Japan.

This appeal to the UN comes on the heels of two petitions, submitted to the Japanese government on May 2nd and June 16th, which accumulated over 80,000 signatures, including 1,383 organizational signatories, from across Japan and 61 other countries worldwide. The petitions urged a speedy expanded evacuation and minimization of children's radioactive exposures by withdrawing the Japanese government's "provisional" 20 millisievert (2 Rem) per year radiation exposure limit for Fukushima children, and restoring the 1 millisievert (100 millirem) per year limit. However, the petitions have fallen on deaf ears at the Japanese federal and Fukushima prefectural governments. A third, related petition was launched on June 30th, and is still open to international signers.

The appeal to the UN concludes: "The children of Fukushima have the same right as all other children in Japan to live a life free from unnecessary, preventable radiation exposure. We urgently request that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights/OHCHR come to Japan to investigate this matter."

"Fukushima radiation alarms doctors"

Dahr Jamail reports at Al Jazeera that medical doctors far removed from Fukushima Daiichi's radioactivity spewing triple meltdown "have begun to see increased nosebleeds, stubborn cases of diarrhoea, and flu-like symptoms in children." Children are significantly more susceptible to radioactivity's hazards than adults. Helen Caldicott, Beyond Nuclear's founding president, is quoted extensively in the article.

Fukushima fallout, radioactive Sulfur-35, detected in California, concentrates in human testicles

Chart showing where various radionuclides concentrate in human body (see link at right for larger sized chart)A post at Forbes.com reports that researchers at University of California-San Diego detected significantly increased concentrations of radioactive Sulfur-35 in air, which they concluded had blown to California from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns. Radioactive Sulfur-35 is known to concentrate in human testicles. A chart of radionuclides shows where other radioactive toxins concentrate in the human body.

Update on August 17, 2011 by admin

While an L.A. Times post downplays the health significance of the radioactive Sulfur-35 fallout for Californians, the same Forbes reporter earlier wrote about the debate on such fallout's health risks. After all, the BEIR 7 report reaffirmed that any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how small, still carries a health risk. That is, there is no "safe" level of exposure to radioactivity.

Evidence mounts that earthquake damage doomed reactor to melt down even before tsunami hit

The Independent of the U.K., in an article entitled "The Explosive Truth Behind Fukushima's Meltdown," has reported mounting evidence indicating that earthquake damage in Daiichi Unit 1 was so severe that it was doomed to melt down even before the massive inundation from the tsunami knocked out emergency diesel generators, cutting off electricity to run vital cooling water pumps. The article reports: 

"This means that assurances from the industry in Japan and overseas that the reactors were robust is now blown apart," said Shaun Burnie, an independent nuclear waste consultant who works with Greenpeace. "It raises fundamental questions on all reactors in high seismic risk areas."

As Mr Burnie points out, Tepco also admitted massive fuel melt 16 hours after loss of coolant, and seven or eight hours before the explosion in Unit One. "Since they must have known all this, their decision to flood with massive water volumes would guarantee massive additional contamination – including leaks to the ocean."