Thread: Situation Grim in Japan's Devastated Northeast

FDA Stopping Japan Food Imports: Uses Border Patrol: Dairy, produce, baby formula
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Emergency Declarations

Tokyo Tap Water Said Unsafe for Infants

Radiation Found in Tokyo Water Supply



WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration issues ALERT that will halt imports of produce and dairy products at entry to the U. S. from certain areas of Japan where a leaking radiation has comtaminated food and water.

The Alert provides "Detention Without Physical Examination of Products from Japan Due to Radionuclide Contamination"

The U. S. Customs and Border Patrol will also be involved in the effort.


The FDA Alert product list includes:
- Vegetable/Vegetable Products
- Milk/Butter/Dried Milk Products
- Filled Milk/Imitation Milk Products
- Milk Base Formula Product (Similac, Enfamilm Etc.)(Baby)


"FDA and the Japanese government will continue to collaborate to ensure products from the affected prefectures do not pose a health risk to U.S. consumers. FDA will continue monitoring the public health risks due to radionuclide contamination, and when appropriate will remove the Import Alert and resume routine coverage of entries. "

Well it happened, radiation has reached the US. They are saying "trace amounts," however trace amounts are enough to cause serious health concerns, cancer and death I knew this was going to happen

Breach possible at troubled Japanese power plant
Shino Yuasa And Jeff Donn, Associated Press – 39 mins ago

TOKYO – A possible breach at Japan's troubled nuclear plant escalated the crisis anew Friday, two full weeks after an earthquake and tsunami first compromised the facility. The development suggested radioactive contamination may be worse than first thought, with tainted groundwater the most likely consequence.

Japanese leaders defended their decision not to evacuate people from a wider area around the plant, insisting they are safe if they stay indoors. But officials also said residents may want to voluntarily move to areas with better facilities, since supplies in the tsunami-devastated region are running short.

The escalation in the nuclear plant crisis came as the death toll from the quake and tsunami passed 10,000 on Friday. Across the battered northeast coast, hundreds of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed still have no power, no hot meals and, in many cases, no showers for 14 days.

The uncertain nuclear situation again halted work at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex, where authorities have been scrambling to stop the overheated facility from leaking dangerous radiation. Low levels of radiation have been seeping out since the March 11 quake and tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling system, but a breach could mean a much larger release of contaminants. The most likely consequence would be contamination of the groundwater.

"The situation today at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant," a somber Prime Minister Naoto Kan said. "We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care."

The possible breach in the plant's Unit 3 might be a crack or a hole in the stainless steel chamber of the reactor core or in the spent fuel pool that's lined with several feet of reinforced concrete. The temperature and pressure inside the core, which holds the fuel rods, remained stable and was far lower than what would further melt the core.

Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers suffered skin burns after wading into water 10,000 times more radioactive than levels normally found in water in or around a reactor, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

Water with equally high radiation levels was found in the Unit 1 reactor building, Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said. Water was also discovered in Units 2 and 4, and the company said it suspects that, too, is radioactive. Officials acknowledged the water would delay work inside the plant.

Plant officials and government regulators say they don't know the source of the radioactive water discovered at Units 1 and 3. It could have come from a leaking reactor core, associated pipes, or a spent fuel pool. Or it may be the result of overfilling the pools with emergency cooling water.

Friday marked two weeks to the day since the magnitude-9.0 quake triggered a tsunami that flattened cities along the northeastern coast. With the cleanup and recovery operations continuing and more than 17,400 listed as missing, the final number of dead was expected to surpass 18,000.

Kan apologized to farmers and business owners for the toll the radiation has had on their livelihoods: Several countries have halted some food imports from areas near the plant after elevated levels of radiation were found in raw milk, sea water and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips.

He also thanked utility workers, firefighters and military personnel for "risking their lives" to cool the overheated facility.

The nuclear crisis has compounded the challenges faced by a nation already saddled with a humanitarian disaster. Much of the frigid northeast remains a scene of despair and devastation, with Japan struggling to feed and house hundreds of thousands of homeless survivors, clear away debris and bury the dead.

"It's still like I'm in a dream," said Tomohiko Abe, a 45-year-old machinist who was in the devastated coastal town of Onagawa trying to salvage any belongings he could from his ruined car. "People say it's like a movie, but it's been worse than any movie I've ever seen."

Officials have evacuated residents within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant and advised those up to 19 miles (30 kilometers) away to stay indoors to minimize exposure. The U.S. has recommended that people stay 50 miles (80 kilometers) away from the plant.

Government spokesman Yukio Edano insisted that people living 12 to 20 miles (20 to 30 kilometers) from the plant should still be safe from radiation as long as they stay indoors. But since supplies are not being delivered to the area fast enough, he said it may be better for residents to voluntarily evacuate to places with better facilities.

"If the current situation is protracted and worsens, then we will not deny the possibility of (mandatory) evacuation," he said.

Edano said the government "will continue to revisit this and as we have done so, we will provide whatever advice as necessary. Safety is the priority."

NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said later that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. was issued a "very strong warning" for safety violations and that a thorough review would be conducted once the situation stabilizes.

A breach could mean a leak has been seeping for days, likely since the hydrogen explosion at Unit 3 on March 14. It's not clear if any of the contaminated water has run into the ground. Radiation readings for the air were not yet available for Friday, but detections in recent days have shown no significant spike.

Elevated levels of radiation have turned up elsewhere, including the tap water in several areas of Japan. In Tokyo, tap water showed radiation levels two times higher than the government standard for infants, who are particularly vulnerable to cancer-causing radioactive iodine, officials said.

The scare caused a run on bottled water in the capital, and Tokyo municipal officials are distributing it to families with babies.

Previous radioactive emissions have come from intentional efforts to vent small amounts of steam through valves to prevent the core from bursting. However, releases from a breach could allow uncontrolled quantities of radioactive contaminants to escape into the surrounding ground or air.

Edano said "safety measures may not be adequate" and warned that may contribute to rising anxiety among people about how the disaster is being managed.

"We have to make sure that safety is secured for the people working in that area. We truly believe that is incumbent upon us," the chief Cabinet secretary told reporters.

Meanwhile, damage to factories was taking its toll on the world's third-largest economy and creating a ripple effect felt worldwide.

Nissan Motor Co. said it may move part of its engine production line to the United States because of damage to a plant.

The quake and tsunami are emerging as the world's most expensive natural disasters on record, wreaking up to $310 billion in damages, the government said.

"There is no doubt that we have immense economic and financial damage," Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said. "It will be our task how to recover from the damage."

At Sendai's port, brand new Toyota cars lay crushed in piles. At the airport, flooded by the tsunami, U.S. Marines used bulldozers and shovels to shift wrecked cars that lay scattered like discarded toys.

Still, there were examples of resilience, patience and fortitude across the region.

In Soma, a hard-hit town along the Fukushima prefecture coast, rubble covered the block where Hiroshi Suzuki's home once stood. He watched as soldiers dug into mounds of timber had been neighbors' homes in search of bodies. Just three bodies have been pulled out.

"I never expected to have to live through anything like this," he said mournfully. Suzuki is one of Soma's luckier residents, but the tsunami washed away the shop where he sold fish and seaweed.

"My business is gone. I don't think I will ever be able to recover," said Suzuki, 59.

Still, he managed to find a bright side. "The one good thing is the way everyone is pulling together and helping each other. No one is stealing or looting," he said. "It makes me feel proud to be Japanese."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake

Originally Posted by iluvmybaby

Well it happened, radiation has reached the US. They are saying "trace amounts," however trace amounts are enough to cause serious health concerns, cancer and death I knew this was going to happen

I was really hoping that it wouldn't but I really fear it will be a lot worse.

Those poor souls in Japan.....our poor planet. our poor children....

26 March 2011
Japan nuclear plant: Radioactivity rises in sea nearby

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12869184

Levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are 1,250 times higher than the safety limit, officials say.

The readings were taken about 300m (984ft) offshore. It is feared the radiation could be seeping into groundwater from one of the reactors.

But the radiation will no longer be a risk after eight days, officials say.

There are areas of radioactive water in four of the reactors at the plant, and two workers are in hospital.

The plant's operator says the core of one of the six reactors may have been damaged.

It has announced that fresh water rather than seawater will now be used to cool the damaged reactors, in the hope that this will be more effective.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the situation was "very unpredictable".

The official death toll from the 11 March earthquake and tsunami has passed 10,000, and more than 17,440 people are missing.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless; an estimated 250,000 people are living in emergency shelters. Food, water and fuel are in short supply.

The Japanese government has put the rebuilding cost at $309bn (£191.8bn).

Safety measures

The levels of radiation found in the sea near the plant were more than eight times higher than those found in the same area last week, the Japanese officials said.

A spokesman for Japan's Nuclear Safety Agency said the radioactivity level in the sea off the nuclear plant was "relatively high" but the impact on marine life would be minor.

"Generally speaking," spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama told a news conference, "radioactive material released into the sea will spread due to tides, so you need much more for seaweed and sea life to absorb it."

He continued: "And, since [the iodine] has a half-life of eight days, by the time people eat the sea products its amount is likely to have diminished significantly."

The contamination probably came from both airborne radiation released from the reactors or tainted water that spilled into the sea, Mr Nishiyama said.

In a televised address on Friday, Prime Minister Kan said: "The current situation is still very unpredictable. We're working to stop the situation from worsening. We need to continue to be extremely vigilant."

He also thanked the workers, firefighters and Self-Defence Forces for "risking their lives" to try to cool the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano has said a rigorous inquiry is under way to establish the cause of a leak at the plant, after tests showed water in the turbine halls of reactors 1 and 3 had radiation levels 10,000 times higher than normal.

Japan's Nuclear Safety Agency has reiterated its position that it believes the reactor may have been damaged but it is going no further than that, says the BBC's Mark Worthington in Tokyo.

The agency has denied any suggestion that the reactor core may have cracked, Kyodo news agency reports.

The two affected workers, who remain in hospital, had reportedly not been wearing the correct protective boots and had ignored a radiation alarm at the plant.

Food fears

A revision of safety measures has been ordered.

The government has asked people still living within 20-30km (12-18 miles) of the nuclear facility to leave voluntarily. Until now, residents in the zone had been advised to stay indoors.

Japan has banned shipments of foodstuffs grown in several prefectures around the damaged nuclear plant.

People in Fukushima prefecture have been told not to eat 11 types of green leafy vegetables because of contamination worries.

Importers of Japanese products are finding low levels of radiation in some food stuffs, however the amounts found do not pose a health hazard.

China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other Asian importers have already placed bans on some imports of vegetables, seafood and milk products.

Australia, the European Union, the United States and Russia have followed suit.

The Fukushima plant is 250km north-east of the capital, Tokyo.

Radioactive iodine was detected in Tokyo's water supply earlier this week. Levels have since fallen, but remain high in other areas of northern Japan.




Analysis - Chris Hogg : BBC News, Tokyo

----------

The maximum safety limits for radiation in the food chain in Japan are small. The regulatory system is more rigorous than in many other countries.

So for example, you would have to eat a lot of the contaminated vegetables declared unsafe, for a long time, before there was any serious risk to your health.

But that will be of little comfort to consumers who are increasingly uneasy and unsure how best to protect themselves from harm.

In Tokyo's famous Tsukiji fish market the wholesalers say hotels and restaurants are buying less. Some are closed in the evenings because of power shortages, or just because people aren't in the mood to go out to eat.

The levels of radiation found in the seawater will not lead to contamination of the fish caught around Japan, officials insist. But not everyone believes them.

Tiny amounts of radiation from Japan reach Nevada
Martin Griffith, Associated Press – 18 mins ago

RENO, Nev. – Minuscule amounts of radiation from Japan's damaged nuclear plant have reached Las Vegas, but scientists say it poses no health risk.

Extremely small amounts of the radioactive isotopes iodine-131 and xenon-133 reached a monitoring station by the city's Atomic Testing Museum this week, said Ted Hartwell, manager of the Desert Research Institute's Community Environmental Monitoring Program.

Hartwell said he's certain the isotopes came from Japan because they're not usually detected in Nevada. But he said the readings were far below levels that could pose any health risks. "Unless you have an accident like this (in Japan) you wouldn't expect to see this. No doubt it's from Japan," Hartwell told The Associated Press.

Minuscule amounts of radiation from Japan have been reported elsewhere in the West, including California, Colorado, Hawaii and Washington. Officials have said those levels also were not harmful.

Nevada health officials have said they do not expect any risk to the state from Japanese radiation releases because of the distance the materials would have to travel. "Any material released must travel 10,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, during which time it will be dispersed and diluted in the atmosphere to levels that might eventually be detectable, but which will not present a health hazard nor require any protective actions," said Eric Matus, radiation physicist for the Nevada State Health Division.

Scientists say they weren't surprised that radioactive isotopes from Japan were detected in the Western states. "They get caught up in the right wind pattern and they'll move across the ocean," said Jeff Daniels, an environmental scientist with Reno-based DRI.

Tiny amounts of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 were detected at a University of Nevada, Las Vegas laboratory between March 17 and 21, but haven't been reported since then, Hartwell said.

The Desert Research Institute operates 29 stations that monitor the air for radioactivity around the Nevada National Security Site, formerly the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The institute plans to release the results of testing at the other stations and post them online at http://cemp.dri.edu/ by late in the week, Hartwell said.

The vast majority of the monitoring stations are in Nevada, with four in Utah and one in California.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110327/...lueWFtb3VudHNv

I hope they know how to take radiation readings better than they can spell Xenon...

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All of this has me terrified, I would go hide in my basement if it wasn't for the RADON RADIATION!!!

Carolinas utilities report radiation from Japan
[i]Mon Mar 28, 8:06 am ET
RALEIGH, N.C. – Utilities in North and South Carolina are adding to the list of states in the U.S. reporting trace amounts of radiation from a nuclear reactor in Japan that was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami.

Progress Energy and Duke Energy in North Carolina and South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. all operate nuclear plants and say they've detected trace amounts of radiation.

Nuclear experts and health officials say there's no public health risk. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says people are exposed to much more radiation on an international airline flight.

Progress Energy says it picked up low levels of iodine-131, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear fission, at its nuclear plant in South Carolina and a Florida plant.

Massachusetts, Nevada and other Western states also have reported minuscule amounts of radiation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110328/...n_us_radiation

A week ago there was 0 chance of ANY radiation making it to the US. This week they say it has been detected in Massachusetts. Last time I checked, that would mean the radiation had traveled not only to the US, but completely over it.

So, if they said 0 chance of making it here and now it is completely here, what is the chance they are telling you the truth now.

Not just that, but how the heck do they know how much is really safe. For a simple x-ray they put a 50 pound lead lines blanket on you and run out of the room like any exposure will eventually kill.

By the way, last time I checked, 2 minutes ago, the whole situation at that plant was a clusternucfk and they basically are saying nothing is under control.

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I would like just one person to tell us the truth. We were lied to about the bp oil spill over and over again. I like how everybody can just sweep it under the rug.

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I knew not to trust California people to monitor. No info has come out of California, or Washington, or Oregon since they were all putting their measuring instruments out. This cloud has passed all across the US now. The government has not been up front with the people at all. Lying to us. Trust yourself only, and panic if you want to. I am getting tired of the "they can't handle the truth" mentality. We deserve better. We have decisions to make concerning our children's safety. Tough to do when being lied to!

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

A week ago there was 0 chance of ANY radiation making it to the US. This week they say it has been detected in Massachusetts. Last time I checked, that would mean the radiation had traveled not only to the US, but completely over it.

So, if they said 0 chance of making it here and now it is completely here, what is the chance they are telling you the truth now.
Not just that, but how the heck do they know how much is really safe. For a simple x-ray they put a 50 pound lead lines blanket on you and run out of the room like any exposure will eventually kill.

By the way, last time I checked, 2 minutes ago, the whole situation at that plant was a clusternucfk and they basically are saying nothing is under control.---

I would like just one person to tell us the truth. We were lied to about the bp oil spill over and over again. I like how everybody can just sweep it under the rug.

---

I knew not to trust California people to monitor. No info has come out of California, or Washington, or Oregon since they were all putting their measuring instruments out. This cloud has passed all across the US now. The government has not been up front with the people at all. Lying to us. Trust yourself only, and panic if you want to. I am getting tired of the "they can't handle the truth" mentality. We deserve better. We have decisions to make concerning our children's safety. Tough to do when being lied to!

So how and when do we know what information is reliable?

Pray ??

Well, you see where Hope & Change have gotten us......