The troubles at the ********* Daiichi nuclear plant began over two years ago when an earthquake and tsunami sparked meltdowns in three reactors. But events over the past week serve as reminder that the problems are far from over.

First, a remote camera spotted steam rising from one of the melted down reactors at the plant. The steam was first seen at the unit 3 reactor late last week, and it's continued on-and-off ever since.

Steam rising from the ruins became an iconic image from the early days of the accident, so many were startled by the fresh video. They had reason for concern: The uranium fuel is still inside unit-3, and even two years after the accident it is still warm. Some fuel could have shifted and created an unexpected hot spot, or worse restarted nuclear reactions.

But both scenarios appear unlikely. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which owns the plant has been monitoring temperatures, pressures and radiation levels, and has seen little change since the steam started rising. Instead, they're pointing the finger at rainwater, which may be turning to steam as it strikes the hot outer shell of the reactor vessel.

Nevertheless, the plant continues to be a hazard to its surrounding environment. On Monday, TEPCO admitted that radioactivity from the plant is leaching into the water table and flowing from there into the Pacific. The admission confirms what many observers had long suspected: that the company has not been able to contain radioactive water that flows out of the melted cores through cracks and broken pipes.

TEPCO is working to halt the groundwater leaks. They have put chemicals in the soil to make it less permeable, and they'll soon asphalt over the ground around the plant to try and prevent rainwater from exacerbating the problem. The long-term solution is to install a 30-foot deep steel wall between the plant and the ocean, but that is expected to take more than a year, according to one TEPCO official who spoke to NPR but asked not to be named because he isn't a designated spokesman.

It's difficult to say just how dangerous the radioactivity from the plant actually is, says Jota Kanda an Oceanographer at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.

"I think radionuclides from the plant will eventually spread out into the vast Pacific," Kanda says. But he adds that the leakage will contribute to local contamination of the marine environment.

That will have knock-on effects for *********** economy, he adds. Commercial fishing was once a major industry in the area surrounding the plant, but it's been on hold since the accident. Fishermen had hoped to start trial catches soon, but the new revelations about the radiation leak are likely to sideline those plans, Kanda says.

Water will continue to be an issue for some time to come. Four hundred tons of groundwater infiltrate the plant each day, and it must be decontaminated and stored in tanks, which are piling up around the site. Eventually, TEPCO will run out of space, but for now the company isn't saying when that will happen or what it will do when it does.

http://www.wgbhnews.org/post/steam-and-groundwater-raise-concern-japanese-nuclear-plant
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Email: jonathan@raptureintheairnow.com

Thanks for posting Jonathan.

I feel cynical but I believe we do not hear the whole truth on accidents such as this and the extent of the disaster it has caused. There is no choice but to wait and see but I could see the contamination traveling throughout the ocean to one degree or another.

US Babies sick with congenital hypothyroidism from ********* radiation

by Jennifer Lance on April 7, 2013

Despite assurances by the US government, many of us living on the West Coast were very concerned after the fallout from the ********* nuclear disaster. We stocked up on seaweed and potassium iodine. We gave kelp to our pets. Two years ago, I wrote

Japan Nuclear Crisis: Protect Your Family Naturally From Radioactive Emissions:

The magnitude of the Japanese earthquake is beyond comprehension. My children have watched images on the news, and my six-year-old son repeatedly asks, “Why?” I do my best to explain plate tectonics, but the truth is I have no idea how to explain to my children about the imminent nuclear catastrophe, other than we live in One World.

We live on the west coast. Prevailing winds will bring radioactive emissions to us in three to ten days, from various sources I have read. Some of it has probably already reached us.

Then, the news a year later was that the radioactive fallout that reached the United States was potentially responsible for an increase in deaths, especially for children under one year of age.

Despite assurances from the US government that the amount of radiation reaching America from the nuclear disaster at Japan’s ********* plant following the tragic earthquake were safe, many of us felt the need to protect our families. We were told radiation levels were no greater than taking a flight on an airplane or receiving dental x-rays, yet the fact that this was additional radiation to these “normal” sources was largely overlooked.
Did this increase in radiation from the nuclear disaster contribute to health problems that led to an increase in US death rates, especially for children under one year of age?

Now, a peer-reviewed study has examined the increase in US deaths following Japan’s nuclear disaster, and the numbers are staggering and comparable to Chernobyl.

Market Watch further explains:

Just six days after the disastrous meltdowns struck four reactors at ********* on March 11, scientists detected the plume of toxic fallout had arrived over American shores. Subsequent measurements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found levels of radiation in air, water, and milk hundreds of times above normal across the U.S. The highest detected levels of Iodine-131 in precipitation in the U.S. were as follows (normal is about 2 picocuries I-131 per liter of water): Boise, ID (390); Kansas City (200); Salt Lake City (190); Jacksonville, FL (150); Olympia, WA (125); and Boston, MA (92)…

Internist and toxicologist Janette Sherman, MD, said: “Based on our continuing research, the actual death count here may be as high as 18,000, with influenza and pneumonia, which were up five-fold in the period in question as a cause of death. Deaths are seen across all ages, but we continue to find that infants are hardest hit because their tissues are rapidly multiplying, they have undeveloped immune systems, and the doses of radioisotopes are proportionally greater than for adults.”

Two years later, the grim news continues as we discover that US Babies are sick with congenital hypothyroidism from ********* radiation.
For babies born in the western states (Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California) shortly after the ********* disaster, radiation caused an increase of hypthyroidism.

MSN reports on this new study:

The study, conducted by scientists with the Radiation and Public Health Project, found that babies born shortly after the incident were 28 percent more likely to suffer from congenital hypothyroidism than were children born in those states during the same period one year earlier. In the rest of the U.S., which received less radioactive fallout, the risks actually decreased slightly compared with the year before.

The explosions produced the radioisotope iodine-131, which floated east over the Pacific Ocean and landed through precipitation on West Coast states as well as other Pacific countries. The levels of that isotope were measured in levels hundreds of times greater than supposedly safe levels. Radioactive iodine accumulates in human thyroid glands, and, in babies and fetuses, the radiation can stunt the growth and development of both the body and the brain. That condition is congenital hypothyroidism (which, luckily, is treatable when and if detected early).

********* fallout appeared to affect all areas of the U.S., and was especially large in some, mostly in the western part of the nation, the study said.

Hypothyroidism refers to an underactive thyroid, i.e. it is not producing enough hormones. According to the Mayo Clinic, if left untreated it can lead to “obesity, joint pain, infertility and heart disease”. It is traditionally treated with synthetic hormones, but there are natural treatments, such as eating gluten-free.

MSN recommends that if your baby was born shortly after ********** you have tests done to be sure their thyroid is working properly.

http://ecochildsplay.com/2013/04/07/us-babies-sick-with-congenital-hypothyroidism-from-fukushima-radiation/
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Email: jonathan@raptureintheairnow.com

Japan nuclear plant likely contaminating sea

TOKYO (AP) - A Japanese utility said Monday its crippled ********* nuclear plant is likely leaking contaminated water into sea, acknowledging for the first time a problem long suspected by experts.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the ********* Dai-ichi plant, also came under fire Monday for not disclosing earlier that the number of plant workers with thyroid radiation exposures exceeding threshold levels for increased cancer risks was 10 times what it said released earlier.

The delayed announcements underscored the criticisms the company has faced over the ********* crisis. TEPCO has been repeatedly blamed for overlooking early signs, and covering up or delaying the disclosure of problems and mishaps.

Company spokesman Masayuki Ono told a regular news conference that plant officials have come to believe that radioactive water that leaked from the wrecked reactors is likely to have seeped into the underground water system and escaped into sea.

Nuclear officials and experts have suspected a leak from the ********* Dai-ichi since early in the crisis. Japan's nuclear watchdog said two weeks ago a leak was highly suspected and ordered TEPCO to examine the problem.

TEPCO had persistently denied contaminated water reached the sea, despite spikes in radiation levels in underground and sea water samples taken at the plant. The utility first acknowledged an abnormal increase in radioactive cesium levels in an observation well near the coast in May and has since monitored water samples.

Ono said plant officials believe a leak is possible because the underground water levels in suspected areas fluctuate in accordance with tide movements and rainfalls.

"We are very sorry for causing concerns. We have made efforts not to cause any leak to the outside, but we might have failed to do so," he said.

Ono said the radioactive elements detected in water samples are believed to largely come from initial leaks that have remained since earlier in the crisis. He said the leak has stayed near the plant inside the bay, and officials believe very little has spread further into the Pacific Ocean.

Marine biologists have warned that the radioactive water may be leaking continuously into the sea from the underground, citing high radioactivity in fish samples taken near the plant.

Most fish and seafood from along the ********* coast are barred from domestic markets and exports.

Ono said that an estimated 1,972 plant workers, or 10 percent of those checked, had thyroid exposure doses exceeding 100 millisieverts - a threshold for increased risk of developing cancer - instead of the 178 based on checks of 522 workers reported to the World Health Organization last year.

http://www.dnj.com/usatoday/article/2574415
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Email: jonathan@raptureintheairnow.com