French customs officials seize radioactive Japanese tea at border

The Voice of Russia reports that the first radioactive foodstuffs from Japan -- tea, exceeding "permissible" standards two-fold -- to be detected by French customs officials has been seized at the border and will be "destroyed" (radioactivity cannot be "destroyed" -- it will likely be dumped somewhere). The radioactively contaminated tea is reportedly from Shizuoka Prefecture, around 100 miles southwest of Tokyo, which is itself 150 miles southwest of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This shows that the nuclear catastrophe's hazardous radioactive fallout has travelled far from the three melted down reactor cores and boiling high-level radioactive waste storage pools.

MARKEY TO NRC COMMISSIONERS SVINICKI AND MAGWOOD: STOP ABDICATING RESPONSIBILITY

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)In a media release, U.S. Rep. Markey (pictured left) stated:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 20, 2011) – Today, Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee and a senior Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement in response to the votes of NRC Commissioners Kristine L. Svinicki and William D. Magwood to delay even the consideration of the adoption of the recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Near Term Task Force reviewing NRC processes and regulations in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns. (emphasis added)
 
“Commissioners Svinicki and Magwood have rejected the Chairman’s call to vote on the Fukushima task force’s recommendations within 90 days,” said Rep. Markey. “Instead, they want to direct the NRC staff to endlessly study the NRC staff’s own report before they will even consider a single recommendation made by the very same NRC staff.  We do not need another study to study the NRC staff’s study. This is an unacceptable abdication of responsibility, and I call on these two Commissioners to do their jobs and quickly move to order the adoption of the recommendations of the Fukushima task force.” (underline added)
 
Commissioner Svinicki’s vote can be found at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/cvr/2011/2011-0093vtr-kls.pdf
 
Commissioner Magwood’s vote can be fount at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/cvr/2011/2011-0093vtr-wdm.pdf
 
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"Fukushima is Worse than Chernobyl -- on Global Contamination"

In an interview with the Asia-Pacific Journal Japan Focus, Dr. Chris Busby of the European Committee on Radiation Risk challenges the International Commission on Radiological Protection's radiation dose methodologies, and predicts around 200,000 cancers will result over the next half century in populations within 200 km (124 miles) of the catastrophically leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Fukushima plant worker part of winning Japan World Cup team

Japan's unlikely and heroic victory over a bigger and more powerful US team in the women's World Cup Final on Sunday buoyed spirits in a country devastated by the nuclear disaster, tsunami and earthquake. The albeit likely temporary respite was in part provided by a former Fukushima nuclear plant worker, Karina Maruyama, who propelled the team into the semifinals with the winning goal against Germany. In the final, Japan came back twice to tie the game in regular time and over-time, then won in a dramatic shootout. Prior to the Germany match, Japan's Coach Norio Sasaki showed the team video footage of the devastated Fukushima-Daiichi reactors, spurring their motivation. Said one fan who cheered for Japan: "After 9/11 we were all a little American, since Fukushima we are all a little Japanese." (Photo from the Bangkok Post).

Beef Contamination Spreads in Japan After Fukushima Radiation Taints Straw

"More beef from cattle in Japan that ate straw tainted by radiation has found its way into the food supply, deepening concern about the safety of meat as the country struggles to contain the spread of the contamination.

"Cattle at the farm in Asakawa, about 60 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear station, were fed with rice straw containing 97,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, compared with the government standard of 300 becquerels, said Hidenori Ohtani at the livestock division of the Fukushima prefectural government." Bloomberg

Update on July 21, 2011 by admin

In a companion video report by Bloomberg dated May 2nd ("Japan Ranchers Defy Evacuation as Radiation Threatens"), a beef rancher in the village of Iitate -- 40 km downwind of Fukushima Daiichi -- uses the powerful words "silent sprint" -- à la Rachel Carson -- to describe the ghost town that should have been a bustling farming community because of the large-scale evacuation due to high levels of radioactive fallout. The farmer's own son, who was going to take over the farm, was among those who evacuated.