8/21/2011 (Video) Nuclear Family

Source: Dateline SBS
Date: 8/21/2011
by: Toshi Maeda


While much of the media’s attention has turned away from events in Japan, millions of people are still feeling the after-effects of March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese video journalist Toshi Maeda gives Dateline an insider’s view of the daily challenges still facing residents, including his own wife and young daughter.

Near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, he finds ghost towns, where those remaining struggle with little work, money or food. Close-knit families have been left divided by the disaster as members move elsewhere to try and make a living.

One family that Toshi meets, the Sakuuchis, also don't know how the radiation, at 14 times the normal level, will ultimately affect them and the youngest member of their family, four-year-old Honoka.

Contamination concerns too are affecting agricultural businesses hundreds of kilometres away, and even daily food shopping in Tokyo has become an ordeal… all with a backdrop of discontent over a lack of government transparency and action.
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For full article and other extras visit the Dateline SBS website here

Editor's Note: Below is a map of the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant sited in the video as having been shut down and the target of nuclear protesters.
View Live Ustream Radiation Detectors in a larger map

9/10/2011 Solar power plant to open 15.5 miles from Fukushima

Source: The Telegraph
Date: 8:00AM BST 10 Sep 2011
by:  Danielle Demetriou
 [Editor's Note:  This article produced some cognitive dissidence in my brain.  On the one hand I think solar energy is an extremely useful and good development, yet this solar plant/theme park for kids is placed far too close to the Fukushima nuclear plant.]

A Japanese children's theme park company is planning to open a major new solar power plant just 15.5 miles from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor.

The new plant will be less than 16 miles from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant Photo: AFP

The new project, located on a 3.7 acre tsunami-damaged site in Minamisoma, involves the creation of a one megawatt solar power plant, according to reports in the Nikkei.
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Read full article here

7/11/2011 (Video) Where's the radioactive beef?

Date: 7/11/2011

The radioactive beef in the news lately is actually sourced from a single farm in Minamisoma City, which is near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but outside the government mandated exclusion zone.


Here is how the radioactive beef propagated per NHK World:

...
Above normal levels of radioactive cesium have also been found in 11 other head of cattle from the same farm after they were brought to a slaughterhouse in Tokyo.


Officials of Shizuoka City, more than 300 kilometers from Minamisoma City, say a meat-packing company bought 27 kilograms of the beef on June 10th.


13 kilograms have already been sold to restaurants in the city. In an inspection, Shizuoka City detected 1,998 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, 4 times higher than the government's standard.


The remainder, 14 kilograms of beef from Minamisoma was purchased by a meat dealer and sold by retailers or consumed at restaurants.


Tokyo, Kanagawa and 3 other prefectures also have found that meat from 6 head of cattle raised by the same producer was sold to some local dealers.[1]

The radioactive beef was detected as having more than triple the legal limit of radioactive cesium contamination.[2]  The farmer kept his cattle inside, but when he ran out of feed he fed them radioactive hay which had been sitting uncovered outside and was exposed to the fallout from Fukushima Daiichi.  The radioactive straw itself was found to have radioactive cesium at 75,000 becquerels per kilogram.  I have seen two conflicting figures as to what the safe limit is for radioactive cesium.  NHK World says it is 300 becquerels/kilogram.  Kyodo News says 75,000 becquerels/kg is 56 times the safe limit (e.g. 1339.29 beqeurels/kg if plugging the numbers in to a calculator). [2, 3]

What stuck out as a sore thumb from the video is that only the outside of the cattle is being measured for radiation, not the internal levels of the beef.

Residents from two areas of Minamisoma where radiation levels were found to be at least 20 millisieverts/year are also being screened presently for internal radiation levels. Although Minamisoma City is outside the Fukushima evacuation zone, it appears to be a radiation hot spot.


[1] Radioactive contaminated beef found in Shizuoka, NHK World
[2] Cesium found in hay fed to cattle,  NHK World
[3] Radioactive cesium found in straw fed to cattle in Fukushima, Kyodo News via Japan Today
[4] Minami-soma starts internal radiation checks, NHK World

6/10/2011 | Japan adds four new areas to radiation threats

Source: CNN (International)
Date: June 10, 2011 -- Updated 0718 GMT (1518 HKT)

Katsunobu Sakurai, Minamisoma city mayor of Fukushima prefecture, speaks before the press in Tokyo on Thursday.

Tokyo (CNN) -- Four new areas in northern Japan have been added to the list of places affected by radiation originating from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, authorities said Friday.
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Read full article here

5/9/2011 | Japan Crisis: Entering the Radiation Zone

Source: Discovery News
Date: Mon May 9, 2011 07:58 AM ET
by:  Ian O'Neill
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Read article here