General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Plutonium from Fukushima is a global catastrophe. [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)I don't agree that my posting the information in the OP and in my replies constitutes fear mongering. I've tried to bring up a subject that has become officially taboo in Japan and in the corporate controlled press in the United States: the negative health effects of plutonium from Fukushima.
Use your own eyes and look at the pictures above and in the OP. They are stills from a video camera that recorded the explosion that occurred in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Reactor Number 3. The cloud is at least three times the height of the 400-foot tall cooling towers that appear as white antenna-like structures in the images. The size of the cloud should give people an idea of just how much material was kicked out of the containment building that housed the MOX fueled nuclear reactor.
How much material? Where has it reached? How much has gone 25 miles? 1,000 miles? To the other side of the world?
The people who know aren't talking as the Japanese government is now censoring news from Fukushima. I imagine they have a reason from their perspective for doing so. In a democracy, the people of Japan are entitled to know the true picture of what's going on, unfiltered and uncensored. That way, they can vote for the leadership that best reflects their wishes. When information is kept secret or held by a select few, they are at an advantage over those who do not know. That's undemocratic.
Here's a report from Europe you may find useful:
J Environ Radioact. 2011 Dec 27. (Epub ahead of print)
Radionuclides from the Fukushima accident in the air over Lithuania: measurement and modelling approaches.
Lujanienė G, Byčenkienė S, Povinec PP, Gera M.
Source : Environmental Research Department, SRI Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Savanoriu 231, 02300 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Abstract
Analyses of (131)I, (137)Cs and (134)Cs in airborne aerosols were carried out in daily samples in Vilnius, Lithuania after the Fukushima accident during the period of March-April, 2011. The activity concentrations of (131)I and (137)Cs ranged from 12 ?Bq/m(3) and 1.4 ?Bq/m(3) to 3700 ?Bq/m(3) and 1040 ?Bq/m(3), respectively. The activity concentration of (239,240)Pu in one aerosol sample collected from 23 March to 15 April, 2011 was found to be 44.5 nBq/m(3). The two maxima found in radionuclide concentrations were related to complicated long-range air mass transport from Japan across the Pacific, the North America and the Atlantic Ocean to Central Europe as indicated by modelling. HYSPLIT backward trajectories and meteorological data were applied for interpretation of activity variations of measured radionuclides observed at the site of investigation. (7)Be and (212)Pb activity concentrations and their ratios were used as tracers of vertical transport of air masses. Fukushima data were compared with the data obtained during the Chernobyl accident and in the post Chernobyl period. The activity concentrations of (131)I and (137)Cs were found to be by 4 orders of magnitude lower as compared to the Chernobyl accident. The activity ratio of (134)Cs/(137)Cs was around 1 with small variations only. The activity ratio of (238)Pu/(239,240)Pu in the aerosol sample was 1.2, indicating a presence of the spent fuel of different origin than that of the Chernobyl accident.
SOURCE: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22206700
And another one:
Plutonium bioaccumulation in seabirds
Dagmara I. Strumińska-Parulska, Bogdan Skwarzec, Jacek Fabisiak
University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Chemistry, Analytics and Environmental Radiochemistry Chair, Sobieskiego 18, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland
Received 7 April 2011. Revised 5 July 2011. Accepted 16 July 2011. Available online 23 August 2011.
The aim of the paper was plutonium (238Pu and 239+240Pu) determination in seabirds, permanently or temporarily living in northern Poland at the Baltic Sea coast. Together 11 marine birds species were examined: 3 species permanently residing in the southern Baltic, 4 species of wintering birds and 3 species of migrating birds. The obtained results indicated plutonium is non-uniformly distributed in organs and tissues of analyzed seabirds. The highest plutonium content was found in the digestion organs and feathers, the smallest in skin and muscles. The plutonium concentration was lower in analyzed species which feed on fish and much higher in herbivorous species. The main source of plutonium in analyzed marine birds was global atmospheric fallout.
Highlights
► We determined 239+240Pu in seabirds living in northern Poland at the Baltic Sea. ► We noticed plutonium was non-uniformly distributed in organs and tissues of seabirds. ► We found the highest plutonium content in the digestion organs and feathers. ► We found Pu content was lower in birds feeding on fish and higher in herbivorous.
SOURCE: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X11001676
As I'm just a reporter, I look forward to learning what you find. No matter what you think of what I write, I like to take the scientific approach.