Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Department of Call Me Unsurprised, Part 2: Fukushima released twice as much radiationas thought

Of course, US corporate media cannot report an earthquake damaged the plant, causing it to spew radiation before the tsunami hit.  The CA Diablo Canyon sits on a fault line.

Even the World health Organization minimizes the risk from radiation released in a nuclear accidents, using 3 pages of a report to write all humans receive some ionizing radiation from various natural sources but that exposure probably doesn't kill people.

Then on page 4 we find "long term effects from radiation exposure," such minor things like elevated numbers of humans with thyroid cancer, especially children.

Sheesh, I feel better already.

[The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have released twice as much radiation into the atmosphere as previously estimated, according to a study that contradicts official explanations of the accident.

In a report published online by the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, experts from Europe and the US estimated that the quantity of the radioactive isotope caesium-137 released at the height of the crisis was equivalent to 42% of that from Chernobyl.

Significantly, the report says the plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo, may have started releasing radiation between being hit by a magnitude-9 earthquake on 11 March and the arrival of a tsunami about 45 minutes later.

"This early onset of emissions is interesting and may indicate some structural damage to the reactor units during the earthquake," the report said.

The operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power, and the Japanese government maintain that the facility withstood the quake but was damaged by waves that breached its protective seawall.] emphasis added
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/28/fukushima-released-double-radioactive-material

No comments: