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Radiation fears slow clean-up in Tohoku

34 Comments
By Karyn Poupee

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34 Comments
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I think its very understandable both sides, sure people want to re-build even though perhaps they shouldn't and of course that others don't want waste burnt near them.

The safeguards so far have seemingly failed almost predictably.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

‎"Ash produced by the incineration is safe. The radioactivity measured in the ash is 133 becquerels per kilogram, which is lower than the temporary level set for food, so there is no danger and no need to worry"....You know, when a contagious patient enters a hospital that patient is isolated so as not to spread the infection to others....Why on earth is radioactive debris being spread through the country?....

11 ( +13 / -2 )

This is a result of the people not trusting what the government is saying due to all the previous "It's safe" reassurances that proved to be false. We just don't know what to believe anymore. This is why the handling of this disaster's aftermath has been such a failure - trust in government has eroded.

11 ( +10 / -0 )

Wouldn't it be cheaper and safer to offer relocation assistance to anyone in those areas who wants to move to an undamaged area? Here in Gifu, for example, there are many rural communities who would be happy to have more children in their schools and more taxpayers on their rolls. Better to spread human beings around e country than to spread potentially radioactive debris.

17 ( +17 / -1 )

Can't blame the people for not wanting to go in there. It's a health risk, plain and simple. I wonder if they will force prisoners to clean it up. it would be a death sentence indeed.

Anyway, TEPCO doesn't want to spend the money to remote controlled vehicles. They still insist to sacrifice lives. I guess there's nothing cheaper than human resources.

Just put the stuff in rockets and blast it to the Sun.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Gifu is right... why expend resources trying to cleanup untreatable debris? Spend the money relocating to more far flung southern areas and rebuild whole communities thereat but more importantly, provide opportunities for them to eke out a living themselves not relying on compensation from Tepco!!!

Cleaning via burning only spreads more radiation and hot particles into the rest of the world !!!!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

The burning of radioactive material is safe ? This is not a standard practice is it ? The mindset is to continue to live in contaminated areas while spreading the contamination around Japan! Madness!

5 ( +6 / -1 )

People are not smart.

You cannot rebuild where the debris is anyway, as another tsunami will most definitely come again in time. Give it a break and leave the junk as a reminder and build on higher ground. Problem solved.

10 ( +10 / -1 )

For once, I totally agree with Mabo*

2 ( +2 / -0 )

“We want to rebuild at all costs,” he said. “To do that we have to clear the rubble as soon as possible. I wish people in Tokyo and other areas would understand the situation we are in.”

People understand the situation which is why no one wants the garbage from the area being burned in their backyard and possibility making other people sick.

Like others, I don't think people need to be focused on rebuilding. They need to focus on getting their family to a safe area and start over - be it in Gifu, Fukuoka... I disagree with our tax money being used to rebuild communities that had an average age of 65 and were dying a slow death as it was.

6 ( +7 / -2 )

But what is up with Strontium-90 in the air of Tokyo Japan communist political party asked Tokyo local government to disclose strontium related information, so they finally published it on 11/2. Human (50kg) breathes about 23,000L(*) of air everyday, which means Tokyo citizen took 0.23 Bq of strontium-90 on the daily basis. Now it has been about 8 months since 311. Tokyo citizen has already absorbed 55.2 Bq of Strontium-90. Unlike food, hot particles taken into the lung will never get out of your body. It does not take longer than a month to reach bone marrow. This explains why acute leukemia case is spiking up.

http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/11/strontium90-in-the-air-of-tokyo/

3 ( +4 / -1 )

"The radioactivity measured in the ash is 133 becquerels per kilogram, which is lower than the temporary level set for food, so there is no danger and no need to worry"

Question here for Minister Hosono: When will the radiation safety levels revert to pre-disaster levels?

We all know that the radiation levels were temporarily increased to cope with the emergency situation. But so far, the levels remained even after the so-called cold shutdown conditions have been achieved.

I do believe that explaining the radiation levels as well as reverting it to pre-disaster levels should ease up some public fears and build some trust.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Yoshiaki Suda, we understand your situation. We even sympathize with you. But that doesn't mean we agree that you should rebuild in contaminated areas and spread radioactive debris all over the country. Look elsewhere and move your people to safety so they can restart their lives!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

“We want to rebuild at all costs,” This comment alone shows why emotional decsions should be made at the national level. You don't do anything at all costs. There has to come a point at which it is better to abandon in place and allow time to heal what existing technology cannot.

I know you loved that area. I know you feel like you are getting the short end of the stick, but life is like that sometimes. This might be a little harsh, but the truth sometimes is.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

You comments are easy to say if your are not involved. Some would rather die then abandon their homes, and this is understandable in a place where tradition is so important. I have no opinion either way since I don't live there. But I wish all of them the best and pray for their strength and courage in the years to come.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Does anyone else think that burning this waste is an extremely stupid idea?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It's an interesting side of human nature. People want to help, but not so much that they're willing to accept any risk to themselves, however small.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

There's nothing that says the debris is radioactive OR untreatable. The majority of the debris is going to come from areas nowhere near Fukushima Daiichi. Most of these people who need to rebuild lived right near the ocean so they could get to their fishing vessels easily. I don't think a rural area like Gifu appeals to them as it's too far from the harbor.

The sad part is we as a species really don't KNOW what a "safe" level of radiation exposure is. Where knowledge is missing, fear and superstition flourish.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It is really sad. The World Health Organization is gagged by the IAEA (per agreement WHA 12-40 of 1959), and is prohibited from independently issuing statements regarding the health effects of atomic accidents. Have you ever noticed how very little information is mentioned lately in the international media regarding the nuclear accident in Japan? Where is the NRC, the FDA, They were substituted for the IAEA and were here!!!!!! Remember? Trust me, chase that subject and a few more countries, especially one that is well known for their culinary cuisine, and state owned nuclear industry connections, and you will gag…the shows over for sure including information we have documented and dated with other sovereignties on watch here. Past numbers: Tsukiji Fish Market Tokyo (you know, the one that tourist gather and watch them bid on the fish), April 10, 2011…soil sample collected….1161 Becquerel per kilogram per soil sampled….Katori-Jinja (Tokyo)...April 27, 2011….7110 Becquerel/kg per soil sample…Chiba Monorail Tendai Station…April 11, 2011…4980 Becquerel/Kg per soil sample…Senritsu-Idai (Medical Collage)…although Fukushima is a scary name, it is located outside the mandatory evacuation zone…children playing in the dust and going to school…..March 19, 2011….27,600 Becquerel/kg per soil sample. Who am I? An old school sitting to the west…If you hope it all goes away, that is only a man-made psy-op thing…speaking of, that itself on the U.S. bases requires a senate congressional hearing. Mark time on the pilot house! The Captain

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“We want to rebuild at all costs,” Yes, even at the cost of children's health. If it's really safe, set it alight where it is. The fact is that any amount of radioactive debris brought in from outside and burnt will increase the ambient radiation from what it would have been without the debris. Tokyo is still blithely burning radioactive sludge and garbage and spewing radioactive gases and particles around the city. And the governor and this clown Hosono want Tokyo's children to inhale even more radioactivity. Hosono's previous career accomplishment was having an affair with minor and rapidly fading TV starlet (costing her job but not his) and now he's in charge of environmental policy? If I were as handsome a bloke as people say he is, I'd be much more selective. But I digress. The once in a thousand year tsunamis are actually coming 2 or 3 times a century in that part of Japan and rebuilding in the same place is lunacy. There are deserted hamlets all along Japan's coasts, indeed everywhere outside the largest cities. People could easily and cheaply be resettled. Or they could build new incinerators in the devastated prefectures that would be less harmful to the environment.

2 ( +2 / -1 )

You comments are easy to say if your are not involved. Some would rather die then abandon their homes, and this is understandable in a place where tradition is so important.

How are we not involved? We are ALL worried about our food these days. Our tax money is being used. That involves those of us living here. If you think tradition trumps health, by all means but I certainly don't.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Reckless...massive dumping into the ocean is a reckless proposal for sure. Just leave it and people have to start new lives elsewhere...on another coast...until the next npp jinxes.

As for, "We want to rebuild at all costs." NO, WE DON'T!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Been saying it from the outset: Time to rebuild somewhere else at the expense of TEPCO. Those areas are gone for the next couple of generations and the radiation cleansing process is a scam. Especially the tarp covered debris that just sits there ... ahem ... cleansing. People should be scared, people should not be permitted to return there to live, people need to wake up.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Radiation fears slow clean-up in Tohoku

"Fears" implies there is no basis. I would much prefer the word "concerns". The problem of radiation and radioactive particles is very real. And there is not and never was a need to transport this stuff out of the prefectures its in. They all have plenty of places to store it in their own prefectures while they find places to bury it permanently. And it should not be burned anyway, not anywhere...by anyone.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Kind of sad to see so many entities misleading the public by reporting measured nuclear fallout readings in Tokyo like they are talking about the rising and falling temperatures in a weather report. Is a Micro-Sieverts ‘’air’’ reading measurement a one fit measurement for all? Worse is when some agency or idiot tries to compare the current measured readings in Japan to ‘’natural radiation’’ or to the radiation a passenger is exposed to and receives on a transatlantic flight (Remember that one?). The comparisons are not the same. The facts that should be reported are that here in Japan, we are inhaling and consuming contaminated man-made particles along with a whole list of other radioactive particle contaminates that have yet to be identified due to many of them requiring separate methods of testing in order to be identified and measured in a lab. These contaminates remain in our body for years.

Although dangerous, should I take the notes to the highest range of the chanter sir????? Or, ark and bark it?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Cesium flew further than 1200km, According to the report of Japanese ministry of environment, Cesium-134 ,-137 were measured from refuse incineration ash even in Ogasawara mura, where is 1200km south west to Fukushima plants. The link page is in japanese but you can read the story on Fukushima-diary . com

http://www.env.go.jp/jishin/

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ogasawara mura, where is 1200km south west to Fukushima plants.

Actually it is almost due South of the plants out in the ocean, and the mura is several islands, including Ioto (Iwo Jima).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

let prisoners on 25+ year sentences work clean up. when it is over and they are still alive they can be pardoned and exiled from japan.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

There is a large mass of Tsunami rubble headed east across the Pacific Ocean that I lost track of that was to pass north of Hawaii and was to continue on the the Pacific Coast of the North American Continent. I hope to here where it washes ashore. Thank You

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The 20 million tons of debris should be moved to the no-go zone around the Fukushima NPP

How about moving the debris inside the Fukushima Daiichi area, first.Total site area is quite large; 3,500,000square meter which is the size of 74 Tokyo domes. There are lots of empty spaces with field and forests. Also more debris can be moved to Fukushima Daini area, too. 1,500,000square meter which is the size of 31 Tokyo domes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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