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Fukushima Is Here

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Fukushima is Here.300dpi.jpg

Fukushima is Here.300dpi (2).jpg500 people assembled on October 19th on Ocean Beach in San Francisco and formed the letters with their bodies to demonstrate their growing concern about eventual fallout on the west coast. Credit and More Information: FukushimaResponse.org

An ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre is bringing Japanese radiation to the West Coast of North America:

North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone FDA Refuses to Test Fish for Radioactivity ... Government Pretends Radioactive Fish Is Safe

The leg of the Gyre closest to Japan - the Kuroshio current - begins right next to Fukushima:

Kuroshio Current - Colour show water speed.  Blue slowest; red fastest

While many people assume that the ocean will dilute the Fukushima radiation, a previously-secret 1955 U.S. government report concluded that the ocean may not adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents, and there could be “pockets” and “streams” of highly-concentrated radiation. Physicians for Social Responsibility notes:

An interesting fact for people living on the US west coast is also included in the UNSCEAR [United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation] report: only about 5% of the directly discharged radiation was deposited within a radius of 80 km from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. The rest was distributed in the Pacific Ocean. 3-D simulations have been carried out for the Pacific basin, showing that within 5–6 years, the emissions would reach the North American coastline, with uncertain consequences for food safety and health of the local population.

The University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research Center created a graphic showing the projected dispersion of debris from Japan: https://web.archive.org/web/20130117080529/http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/users/nikolai/2011/Pacific_Islands/Simulation_of_Debris_from_March_11_2011_Japan_tsunami.gif Last year, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and 3 scientists from the GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences showed that radiation on the West Coast of North America could end up being 10 times higher than in Japan:

After 10 years the concentrations become nearly homogeneous over the whole Pacific, with higher values in the east, extending along the North American coast with a maximum (~1 × 10?4) off Baja California. *** With caution given to the various idealizations (unknown actual oceanic state during release, unknown release area, no biological effects included, see section 3.4), the following conclusions may be drawn. (i) Dilution due to swift horizontal and vertical dispersion in the vicinity of the energetic Kuroshio regime leads to a rapid decrease of radioactivity levels during the first 2 years, with a decline of near-surface peak concentrations to values around 10 Bq m?3 (based on a total input of 10 PBq). The strong lateral dispersion, related to the vigorous eddy fields in the mid-latitude western Pacific, appears significantly under-estimated in the non-eddying (0.5°) model version. (ii) The subsequent pace of dilution is strongly reduced, owing to the eastward advection of the main tracer cloud towards the much less energetic areas of the central and eastern North Pacific. (iii) The magnitude of additional peak radioactivity should drop to values comparable to the pre-Fukushima levels after 6–9 years (i.e. total peak concentrations would then have declined below twice pre-Fukushima levels). (iv) By then the tracer cloud will span almost the entire North Pacific, with peak concentrations off the North American coast an order-of-magnitude higher than in the western Pacific. ***

(“Order-of-magnitude” is a scientific term which means 10 times higher. The “Western Pacific” means Japan’s East Coast.) In May, a team of scientists from Spain, Australia and France concluded that the radioactive cesium would look more like this: A team of top Chinese scientists has just published a study in the Science China Earth Sciences journal showing that the radioactive plume crosses the ocean in a nearly straight line toward North America, and that it appears to stay together with little dispersion:

On March 30, 2011, the Japan Central News Agency reported the monitored radioactive pollutions that were 4000 times higher than the standard level. Whether or not these nuclear pollutants will be transported to the Pacific-neighboring countries through oceanic circulations becomes a world-wide concern. *** The time scale of the nuclear pollutants reaching the west coast of America is 3.2 years if it is estimated using the surface drifting buoys and 3.9 years if it is estimated using the nuclear pollutant particulate tracers. ***

The half life of cesium-137 is so long that it produces more damage to human. Figure 4 gives the examples of the distribution of the impact strength of Cesium-137 at year 1.5 (panel (a)), year 3.5 (panel (b)), and year 4 (panel (c)). *** It is worth noting that due to the current near the shore cannot be well reconstructed by the global ocean reanalysis, some nuclear pollutant particulate tracers may come to rest in near shore area, which may result in additional uncertainty in the estimation of the impact strength. *** Since the major transport mechanism of nuclear pollutants for the west coast of America is the Kuroshio-extension currents, after four years, the impact strength of Cesium-137 in the west coast area of America is as high as 4%.

Bluefin tuna on the California shore tested positive for radiation from Fukushima, and there are reports of highly radioactive fish in Canada. The CBS show The Doctors warned that we should be moderate with our fish intake, and children and pregnant women should be especially careful:

 

BONUS:

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Sun, 11/03/2013 - 08:09 | 4116985 TNTARG
TNTARG's picture

For those who are skeptical about hte consequences of Fukushima, here an interesting documentary about not NPP accidents but... Nuclear waste. And from some "accepted" sources:

 

http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/waste-the-nuclear-nightmare/

 

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 22:48 | 4103645 obelisks
obelisks's picture

Tokyo Mother: “Total media blackout” in Japan of lots and lots of people developing symptoms related to Fukushima disaster (VIDEO) — “Many cases of sickness and death among young generations” not reported

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DVwGDJHrs2A&no...

Wed, 10/30/2013 - 16:59 | 4106419 Not Too Important
Not Too Important's picture

And this:

'Japan Professor: Pregnant women get free new houses if they move back to Fukushima — Physician/Mayor: Children being severely harmed, must be evacuated; World has never come across situation like this (VIDEO)'

http://enenews.com/japan-professor-pregnant-women-get-free-new-houses-if...

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 16:49 | 4102771 straightershooter
straightershooter's picture

WHAT?

FUK-US-hi-ma is here.....Well, we are doomed. See,

 

Here-HIMA-IS-FUK-US......

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 14:03 | 4102160 GreatUncle
GreatUncle's picture

Talk about a mess but here is question for all those who represent the American people.

 

How is the medical insurance going to pay for the increased incidence of cancer? Think that is a reasonable economic question and what is the financial estimate of this?

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 15:00 | 4102397 George Washington
George Washington's picture

Google "NCI Stop calling cancer" without quotes. Sorry, I'm having computer troubles or I'd  give you a link...

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 13:13 | 4101937 obelisks
obelisks's picture

 This has been one of the biggest cover-ups in humanity and I really wanted to post a video that was on you tube which was an interview with the former Japanese Ambassador   to Switzerland but can you believe it, it has been removed.

What does that tell you about the extent of this huge cover-up. The  former Japanese Ambassador claimed that it is USA that has been responsible for such a low media coverage of this disaster and the consequences thereafter . The reason being, he said, was that USA has 23 reactors the same specification and design by GE and America did not want this information to get out in case it caused panic and concern in the USA. I have no reason to disbelieve whata former Japanese Ambassador warned.

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 13:04 | 4101905 obelisks
obelisks's picture

Fukushima radioactive leak causes the sea off Japan coast to boil  !!!

 

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_31/Fukushima-radioactive-leak-caus...

 


Tue, 10/29/2013 - 13:01 | 4101878 obelisks
obelisks's picture

Dr. Helen Caldicott   It’s worse, it’s much worse — Chernobyl was absolutely ghastly […] This is worse, because there are 3 reactors which melted down [...] Chernobyl stopped burning and it’s now sort of a radioactive mausoleum, it’s quiet. But these reactors are not quiet, and they are polluting millions of gallons of water. There’s no end in sight to this you see, there was an end in sight to Chernobyl. There’s not an end in sight for Fukushima. Nuclear engineers are saying that, and I predict they’ll never be able to fix it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqz9qDyZ004&feature=player_embedded

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:57 | 4101853 obelisks
obelisks's picture

WTF ???
 

Quote

Osaka Professor Masaki Shimoji  was jailed for 20 days in Osaka along with other anti-nuclear activists and he discusses the continuing repression by the Japanese government in order to prevent the Japanese people from learning about the continuing dangers from the Fukushima nuclear power plant catastrophe.

An English translation is provided by an interpreter as Prof speaks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKRvT3Ku_H0&feature=player_embedded

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:51 | 4101823 obelisks
obelisks's picture

Fukushima nuclear plant operators prepare for dangerous procedure

 

Hundreds of radioactive rods must be removed at Fukushima without exposing them to air

 

Quote

Tepco was taking every measure to ensure safety, he said.

That promise cuts little ice with Aileen Mioko Smith, of Kyoto-based Green Action Japan, who points out that Tepco has presided over a catalogue of errors, miscalculations and failures since the disaster.

And that is without looking into the shoddy safety and operational procedures at the plant before March 2011.

"They're incompetent," she said. "For example, how could they not realise that a typhoon was going to bring rain that was going to flood the areas around the storage tanks for radioactive water? A child could have comprehended that."

Mioko Smith has a number of fears about the recovery process, the biggest of which is that another major earthquake brings down the building or causes the storage pool to fall, exposing the rods to the air and triggering a release of radiation that could be catastrophic and extremely difficult to remedy.

 

http://www.scmp.com/...erous-procedure

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:47 | 4101800 obelisks
obelisks's picture

Risky repair of Fukushima could spill 15,000x radiation of Hiroshima, create 85 Chernobyls

Does the planned November 2013 removal of the spent fuel rods stored at Fukushima’s heavily damaged Reactor 4 need a global intervention, or should TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co., a for-profit company) be allowed to go it alone?

So far, the Japanese government is allowing TEPCO to handle it. Why should you care?

 

This is the problem today.

There are about 1300 fuel rods stored in that room, packed together vertically in racks. Think of a pack of cigarettes standing upright with the top of the pack removed. Normally, the movement of fuel rods is done by a computer-driven machine that reaches into the room from above and removes or replaces a fuel rod by drawing it upward or lowering it downward.

The machine knows to the millimeter where each fuel rod is located. Also, the rods are undamaged — perfectly straight.

The problem is that this pack of cigarettes is crumpled, and the process must done manually. Therefore, the likelihood that some of the fuel rods will break is high. If that happens and fuel rods are exposed to the air — BOOM.

http://americablog.com/2013/09/risky-repair-fukushima-spill-15000x-radia...

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:43 | 4101788 Ned Zeppelin
Ned Zeppelin's picture

Didn't we light off hydrogen bombs in the Pacific in the open back a few decades ago? Not to put down Fukushima, but don't we have a prior episode to refer to for radiation in the Pacific Ocean?

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:43 | 4101787 obelisks
obelisks's picture

68 years of atomic tests and "accidental" releases in the ground, water and atmosphere is a burden life cannot sustain without extreme pain.                                                                      

Anonymous announces Fukushima Awareness Contest

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxvxc5QkjrE&feature=player_embedded

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:41 | 4101782 George Washington
George Washington's picture

Sorry, my code got messed up in the post. The CBS show The Doctors warned that we should be moderate with our fish intake, and children and pregnant women should be especially careful:

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 12:33 | 4101746 obelisks
obelisks's picture

My fellow countrywoman Dr Helen Caldicott explains here the way it really is and you get a sense of just how bad the cover-up really is (which even includes the cover-up with Chernobyl  )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITrXVJMKeQ&feature=player_embedded

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 11:59 | 4101593 KCCO
KCCO's picture

Glowing sushi? this might not be THAT bad.  Spicy tuna with a little extra kick?  I am sure the ACA will take care off everybody. 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 11:45 | 4101519 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

We need a picture of sombody looking for clams on the beach with a Geiger Counter!

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 11:42 | 4101506 Walt D.
Walt D.'s picture

To be taken with a pinch of potassium iodide?

Today's Special

Radioactive Crab Cakes

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 10:54 | 4101340 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

When you give monkeys WMD's and a box of hammers, don't be too surprised when you get a bad outcome.

Even very smart monkeys are still...

Wait for it...

Monkeys with hammers.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 08:41 | 4100886 thewayitis
thewayitis's picture

 

   Facts:   We all know this is not a good situation

              The world consenses, nothing here, move along

               The world needs to come together on this tragedy ..........

 

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 10:21 | 4101200 SAT 800
SAT 800's picture

One of the 500 Californinuts got a sunburn; which in 15 years will turn into a skin cancer; which they will not diagnose, because they will put Apricot juice on it; and they will die. Stupidity is bad for you.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 08:45 | 4100894 d edwards
d edwards's picture

And do what?

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 09:02 | 4100926 Truthseeker2
Truthseeker2's picture

!  !  !

A Special Report On the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe

http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=2289

!  !  !

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 07:00 | 4100672 fredquimby
fredquimby's picture

Former Jap prime minister.

Fukushima disaster is: “most severe accident in the history of mankind”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naoto-kan/japan-nuclear-energy_b_4171073.html

 

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 08:06 | 4100782 Tzanchan
Tzanchan's picture

Payback, intentional or not for Hiroshima and Nagasaki???

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 04:50 | 4100552 Ar-Pharazôn
Ar-Pharazôn's picture

try to imagine for a second, if that happened in Italy, with a Schettino-like manager...................................................

i live close to italy....................

 

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 02:04 | 4100451 boeing747
boeing747's picture

My plan is moving to Dallas, TX or straight to another country in two years before current bubble pops.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 06:57 | 4100666 Truthseeker2
Truthseeker2's picture

FUKUSHIMA : A Nuclear Catastrophe of Epic Proportions

 

http://cosmicconvergence.org/?p=4000

 

The China Syndrome Morphs into “The Japan Syndrome”

 

 

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 02:29 | 4100470 Not Too Important
Not Too Important's picture

The southern hemisphere will be about the only place even remotely safe from radiation in two years.

If foreigners from the northern hemisphere aren't shot on sight.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 00:01 | 4100293 Fish Gone Bad
Fish Gone Bad's picture

Many thanks for the article.  I have to take exception to the animated models though.  They models show the radiation accident as a ONE TIME EVENT.  This is simply not the case.  The corium has been exposed pretty much from day 1 and has continuously dumped radionuclides into the sea.

Anyone who likes my little cursing fish logo can get their own: google cursing fish cafepress

 

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 00:38 | 4100365 TNTARG
TNTARG's picture

Coriums. More than two and a half years now. Sea, land, air.

Animals get sick and die in Japan, on the sea and in many other places. Abnormal babies are being kill at birth in Japan.

Doctors are not allow to relate people's illnesses with radiation. Oarfishes are coming from the bottom to the sea surface for breathing. Starfishes are melting.

Every one of us here knows what radiation means; the World is experiencing an unprecedent release of radiation. Shall I continue?

 

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 23:45 | 4100254 George Washington
George Washington's picture

You can trust the government to tell you what's going on ...

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 06:25 | 4100640 failsafe
failsafe's picture

Exactly GW...only the ones not in "government pocket"...I fear the scientists reporting the truth will soon be treated like whistleblowers (I predict) ... I.e., My fear is that science will become another source for and against hypocrisy (depending whether scientific results support government agenda) a.k.a. previous column on hypocrisy as a government weapon...I fear environmental, economic, social, and political truths /lies increasingly difficult to disentangle because in reality so interrelated. Note difficulty current some zh readers have believing in the horror of Fukushima. Note tendency to attack the messenger (I.e. GW or other people expressing concern). IDK, maybe am wrong but seems that way from where I stand. Dividing and conquering, getting various factions to squabble so that distractions provide cover for more abuses by those in power not just limited to social divides? Maybe am just over-paranoid.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 00:09 | 4100309 SWH001
SWH001's picture

We know what going on.   Radio isoptopesa are in the sea for another to find. The issue is that the risks are out of proprtion, widly widly out of proportion.  It is not conspiracy.            

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 23:45 | 4100252 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Coast to Coast AM had a great segment on this last night; this is an environmental disaster much worse than Chernobyl but not being recognized as such.

The radiation will not only travel across the Pacific but it will concentrate in the food chain.

Keep up the good work George.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 04:40 | 4100543 Bloodstock
Bloodstock's picture

Let's not forgt the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Let's not forget the disaster that is called "fracking." See the movie, "Gasland."

Pychopaths are in charge of this mess.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 05:15 | 4100573 kurt
kurt's picture

Key, Cheney and his dick army have arranged to keep fracking fluid a proprietary secret: the secret is the shit is full of nuclear waste, mercury, chromium, arsenic, and finally, some REALLY dangerous shit.

They think it's clever to make money on waste disposal like the asbestos in the World Trade Buildings... they had the abatement contract. 

Pychopath is not a strong enough word.

Wed, 10/30/2013 - 16:54 | 4106394 Not Too Important
Not Too Important's picture

I read where someone refers to them as similar to 'violent pedophiles'. That fits.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 23:24 | 4100197 TulsaTime
TulsaTime's picture

The radiation may or may not be here, but the heart of the matter is that this accident is not over.  There are the remains of 3 nuclear cores melting down into the earth and nobody has any idea how dangerous they might be or may become.  On top of that, there is the small matter of Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool, located on the remains of the 4th floor of the demolished reactor building.  It contains fuel rods with MOX, mixed uranium and plutonium oxides that still need a little time to cool down, like 500 years.  This is the thing that could kill us all, if another earthquake hits that collapses the rest of the building, or if something just lets go.  If that shit hits the air, we may as well have had a global nuclear exchange.

This accident should have generated a full blown national emergency in Japan, to say nothing of the rest of the world. The fact that it did not only highlights the inability of anyone to do anything about it.  Nobody was ever supposed to let things get this far out of control, all the 'experts' said it would never happen, but it almost did at 3 mile island, and it did at Chernobyl.  So nobody should be getting comfortable about it being diluted by the pacific, or just going to the bottom of the ocean and staying,  We have managed to overwhelm the entire atmosphere with CO2, so I don't think anyone should think we can't poison the entire ocean.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 04:41 | 4100545 Bloodstock
Bloodstock's picture

Let's not puss out on that Co2 thing.

Mon, 10/28/2013 - 23:19 | 4100187 SWH001
SWH001's picture

This is hysteria or paid idiocy.  No one with any scientific education (lets just say an education) believes the leakage from Fukushima is a risk to Tokyo let alone CA.   This article is absurd.  If you object then line up your jury.  

Two facts of day:

How many Americans have been killed in nuclear accidents since the start of the US civilan nuclear industry on 1957?  

Answer = None.  

How many Japanese were killed by the Fukushima accident?  

Answer = None.

If you claim indirect deaths then you believe in the LNT theory.  This has been debunked decades ago - no epidemiological evidence…none. 

George Washington you are paid to play I can only assume.  A paid stooge for the US nat gas lobby who has an interest in selling Japan US NG at $16 mcf?  

 

BTW.   Bad idea these days to eat large pelagic apex predators, such as tuna.  Not due to radiation but due to heavily metal toxicity.   Apparently that addles ones brain...makes it difficult to think straight.   

Wed, 10/30/2013 - 16:52 | 4106386 Not Too Important
Not Too Important's picture

"How many Japanese were killed by the Fukushima accident?"

Some people think quite a few:

 

Tokyo Mother: “Total media blackout” in Japan of lots and lots of people developing symptoms related to Fukushima disaster (VIDEO) — “Many cases of sickness and death among young generations” not reported

http://enenews.com/tokyo-mother-total-media-blackout-in-japan-lots-and-l...

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 09:33 | 4101019 Zero Point
Zero Point's picture

TEPCO shill. I hope you die. From cancer or noose.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 05:18 | 4100576 kurt
kurt's picture

In "Meet the Faukers" the little baby said, "Ass Hooool" 

'Nuff said.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 02:21 | 4100465 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

I like the evidence ignored. It always makes a convincing argument to ignore a data set that is destroys one's hypthesis.

 

Your post demonstrates the ignorance of Science that you seem to believe that we, at Zeohedge, have. Of course many here are much more aware of the Sciences and Mathematics than you seem to believe. Your post is just a transference of one's own attitude and ignorance upon others here.

 

It is rather insulting, actually. And yet you want to be taken seriously?

 

So here is a data set that I want you to research...How many people died at Chernobyl?

 

Isn't that an interesting set of data? How will you modify your hypothesis to incorporate this data set?

 

Or is your hypthosis better to be discarded as INVALID?

 

I am interested. Please respond.

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 10:02 | 4101116 hardcleareye
hardcleareye's picture

Hmm interesting, bloger did not respond to a vary valid point....

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 01:34 | 4100423 Kina
Kina's picture

Nuclear industry boys have yo troll to cast doubt ska tobacco lobby

Tue, 10/29/2013 - 00:26 | 4100345 seabiscuit
seabiscuit's picture

SWH

You just made two assertions and offered them as fact. Assertions are not facts [unless you are in politics]. Logic is fun; and your use of the fallacy of the hidden aspect calls your entire tyrade into question. Further, your first order assumption is that no Japanese people were instantly irradiated to death. Quite disingenuous actually. I suspect that zero jews died in the first second in the shower.

 

One fact that I can assert is that Tepco has been consistantly lieing. Given this one fact and the fact of regulatory capture, no one can factually state that there have been no Japanese killed at Fukushima.

 

Yeah, the effects of Starkist are self evident.

 

 

 

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