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Radioactive release into sea estimated triple
A group of Japanese researchers say that a total of 15,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances is estimated to have been released from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.
Researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Kyoto University and other institutes made the calculation of radioactivity released from late March through April.
Cesium-137 in soil 40 km NW of Fukushima Daiichi more than highest levels found at Chernobyl
Concerns about radiation in Japan have now spread to areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The levels have been so high to suggest that people in the area should be evacuated. On Wednesday 22nd of March the Japanese science ministry began to report measurements of cesium-137 in upland soil around the plant.
The levels are highest from two points northeast of the plant, ranging from 8690 becquerels/kilogram to a high of 163,000 Bq/kg measured on 20 March from a point in Iitate about 40 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima plant.
The hot spot is similar to levels found in some areas affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in the former Soviet Union. Assuming the radiation is no more than 2 centimeters deep, Chen calculates that 163,000 Bq/kg is roughly equivalent to 8 million Bq/m2. The highest cesium-137 levels in some villages near Chernobyl were 5 million Bq/m2.
High Levels Of Radioactive Strontium Detected At Fukushima Daiichi 09.05.11
Tokyo Electric Power Company has detected high levels of Radioactive Strontium with a half life of 28.8 years from soil inside the compound of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Strontium is chemically similar to calcium, and tends to deposit in the blood and bone marrow.
So How does strontium-90 work and how can it affect my health?
It is possible to breathe in particles or dust containing a chemical compound of strontium-90. If this compound dissolves in water, the chemical will dissolve in the moist surface inside the lungs. Strontium will then enter the blood quickly. If the chemical form of strontium does not dissolve in water easily, a small amount may remain in the lungs. When you eat food or drink water containing strontium, only a small amount leaves the intestines and enters the blood. Strontium can also pass through the skin. Once strontium enters the blood, it flows to other parts of the body. It enters and leaves cells easily. In the body, strontium acts very much like calcium. A large portion of the strontium will build up in bones. In adults, strontium mostly attaches to the surfaces of bones. In children, strontium may create the hard bone mineral itself, thus being stored in the bones for many years. Eventually, strontium will dissolve from the bones and return to the blood to be used again to grow bone, or to be expelled through urine, waste matter or sweat. The harmful effects of strontium-90 are caused by the high energy effects of radiation.
Since radioactive strontium is taken up into bone, the bone itself and nearby soft tissues may be damaged by radiation released over time. Bone marrow is the most important source of red blood cells, which are depleted if the strontium-90 level is too high. Some cancer patients are given injections of radioactive strontium ( Sr) to destroy cancer tissue in the bone marrow. Problems from lowered red blood cell counts include anaemia, which causes excessive tiredness, blood that does not clot properly, and a decreased resistance to fight disease.
Radioactive strontium probes are used to destroy unwanted tissue on the surface of the eye or skin. If used for eye surgery, this results in eye tissues becoming red and sore, or very thin after a long time. Thinning of the lower layer of the skin has also been reported in animal studies. In animal studies, exposure to strontium-90 caused harmful reproductive effects. These effects happened when animals were exposed to doses more than a million times higher than typical exposure levels for humans. Animals that breathed or swallowed radioactive strontium had lowered blood cell counts. It is not known if exposure to strontium-90 affects human reproduction.
Strontium-90 is considered a cancer-causing substance because it damages the genetic material (DNA) in cells. In one geographical location near a nuclear weapons plant, an increase in leukemia (a form of cancer) was reported in people who swallowed a large amount of strontium-90 in water. In animal studies, researchers reported cancers of the bone, nose and lung, as well as leukemia. Animals receiving high doses of radiation to the skin developed skin and bone cancer.
How is strontium-90 poisoning treated? Strontium-90 poisoning is treated in the same way as other radiation exposures. There are no direct treatments for strontium-90 exposure.
Tokyo Electric Power Company said it found 4,400 becquerels of radioactive strontium 90 per kilogram of dry soil. In March, strontium was also detected in soil and plants outside the 30-kilometer zone around the Fukushima plant. A director of the Japan Chemical Analysis Center, Yoshihiro Ikeuchi, says humans could inhale strontium when wind stirs up the radioactive substance, but the amounts would be very limited. He says the current levels won’t be a health hazard to plant workers wearing face masks, but monitoring of strontium levels in the air is needed.
Fukushima Daiichi Reactors 1-6
To get a clearer view of the situation click on the images for full size viewing
Fukushima Japan Number 3 Plutonium Uranium Mox Fueled Nuclear Reactor Likely Leaking
Fukushima Daiichi Reactors 1-2-3-4
The Unimaginable Reality Of Fukushima Daiichi (02.04.11)
This Was Fukushima Daiichi Plutonium (MOX) Reactor No3
New video of Fukushima plant
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No 3 explosion on March 14, 2011
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Reactor No 1 explosion
Unit 3 & 4 Of Fukushima Daiichi
Reactor 4 after hydrogen explosion and several fires. This reactor houses 1564 spent nuclear fuel rods. This is what they are trying to cool down.
From top to bottom: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3 and Unit 4 March 20, 2011 aerial photo taken by a small unmanned drone and released by AIR PHOTO SERVICE
Reactor 3 (Mox) reactor aerial photo
Fire at Reactor 3 (Mox) Plant
reactors 1-2-3-4 after explosions
Reactors 3 and 4 after explosions and several fires
March 24, 2011 aerial photo taken by small unmanned drone
Reactor No 4 spent fuel Pool Exposed after explosion
In this Thursday, March 24, 2011, photo available Friday, April 1, 2011, inside of the Unit 4 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant is seen in Okumamachi, northeastern Japan. Steam comes out of debris by a crane device, in green, at the unit.
An overview shows smoke rising from the interior of reactor No. 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex in this still image taken from a March 24, 2011 handout video released on April 1, 2011.
Reactor No4 emitting toxic smoke
Reactor 3 fuelled by Plutonium & Uranium mix oxide
Reactor No 3
Reactor No3
Reactor No 3
Reactor 3 and 4 of Fukushima Daiichi
U.S. doctors hit Tokyo radiation limit for kids
Monday, May 2, 2011
U.S. doctors hit Tokyo radiation limit for kids
Kyodo
Physicians for Social Responsibility, a U.S. nonprofit organization of medical experts, has condemned as “unconscionable” the Japanese government’s safety standards on radiation levels at elementary and junior high schools in nuclear disaster-stricken Fukushima Prefecture.
The PSR statement directly challenges Tokyo’s stance that it is safe for schoolchildren to use school playgrounds in the prefecture as long as the dose they are exposed to does not exceed 20 millisieverts over a year.
The PSR view is also in line with that voiced by Toshiso Kosako, who said Friday he would step down as an adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan on the Fukushima nuclear crisis in protest. The University of Tokyo professor urged the government to toughen guidelines on upper limits on radiation levels the education ministry recently announced for elementary school playgrounds in Fukushima.
The U.S. group said in a statement released Friday, “Any exposure, including exposure to naturally occurring background radiation, creates an increased risk of cancer.
“Children are much more vulnerable than adults to the effects of radiation, and fetuses are even more vulnerable,” it said.
The medical experts group is part of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
“(Twenty millisieverts) for children exposes them to a 1 in 200 risk of getting cancer. And if they are exposed to this dose for two years, the risk is 1 in 100. There is no way that this level of exposure can be considered ‘safe’ for children,” the statement said.
Fukushima Daiichi – Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up Of Our Time
Amid the deafening silence from both world leaders and main stream media the situation at Fukushima Daiichi remains critical and highly unpredictable. Governments and pro nuclear apologists the world over would have us believe the huge radiation releases from all four reactors is harmless and poses no threat whatsoever to health. Likewise, any one attempting to confront or question the official line can now find themselves facing the risk of being criminalised. Never since the dark ages in our history has information, research, or critical analysis posed such a threat to be classed as illegal. As citizens of the world now is the time to demand the truth. The children of Fukushima are being exposed to abnormal radiation exposure on a daily basis. Now is the time wake up. Together we must act and demand the truth.
The Cesium fallout from Fukushima rivals That Of Chernobyl
An analysis of MEXT’s data by New Scientist shows just how elevated the levels are. After the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the most highly contaminated areas were defined as those with over 1490 kilobecquerels (kBq) of caesium per square metre. Produce from soil with 550 kBq/m2 was destroyed.
People living within 30 kilometres of the plant have evacuated or been advised to stay indoors. Since 18 March, MEXT has repeatedly found caesium levels above 550 kBq/m2 in an area some 45 kilometres wide lying 30 to 50 kilometres north-west of the plant. The highest was 6400 kBq/m2, about 35 kilometres away, while caesium reached 1816 kBq/m2 in Nihonmatsu City and 1752 kBq/m2 in the town of Kawamata, where iodine-131 levels of up to 12,560 kBq/m2 have also been measured
The People’s News Network 
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