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Gov't draws flak for underreporting radiation readings in Fukushima

31 Comments

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has come under fire from residents and local authorities in Fukushima Prefecture for using faulty radiation measurement devices that indicate lower than actual readings.

Local residents tested the radiation at 545 of the prefecture's 3,200 portable monitoring posts and discovered that each was reporting a figure around 10% lower than the actual amount, Sankei Shimbun reported Friday. Some locals even went so far as to accuse the government of tampering with the devices in order to report artificially low numbers.

It is thought that battery packs and other equipment situated around the monitoring posts may be responsible for disrupting the readings.

The ministry has yet to make an official statement regarding the matter.

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31 Comments
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These things has been going on for a very long time now and only now the Japanese people speak out about this. The Japanese people in Fukushima should have made a commotion about this a very long time ago. The more that I hear about Fukushima, the more disgusted I become because it sure looks to me that their are many people in Fukushima that are sitting back and waiting to collect on free money that they are all trying to get the government to pay to them. If the Fukushima prefecture residents were serious about moving forward, they would not be in the acting like idiotic spoiled brats crying out for a free ride.

Yes, there is radiation all over the place in Fukushima, but what is the cause of that? It is because in the first place it was because of the Fukushima people that wanted the power plants to be built in their back yard so they can generate money and become rich for themselves. Now that everything went bad, they cry out for help.

If you ask me, both the Japanese government and many Fukushima prefecture residents are to blame for this mess that we are ll in!,,,

-6 ( +4 / -9 )

"Gov't draws flak".... as much as this deserves criticism, realistic thinking will tell us, that EVERY government in EVERY country will go on doing this in a situation like that.

The point is, that in a civilised First-World country such behaviour will always have consequences for the government in the end. Of course only if there is an alternative political party, which, by the way, would also be a sign of a First-World country. What does that tell us?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

flak without consequences so far, haven't seen a no-confidence re-election vote yet.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Flack? Where? The sheeple have spoken!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Interesting how all this comes out after Tanaka takes the position. I sense the big boys are looking to boot her ..... Again.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The ministry has yet to make an official statement regarding the matter

Yup, their spin doctors have't yet figured out how to lie their way out of this one and who will be the scapegoat who'll stand up before the press and do the meaningless bow and offer the hallow apology for "causing public concern". The beat just goes on.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Oh, what a big surprise, not! The j-gov and their partners in crime have been under-reporting the severity of this disaster since an hour after it happened and, they still are. One of my friends bought a high quality radiation meter (a thousand bucks or so) to check around his house in Ibaraki. as a reault of his trsting, he has since sold his house and left Japan. He found extremely high rates of irradiation at many places in ibaraki and up into Fukushima. However, one has to ask, are the high radiation readings a direct result of the meltdown or has it been accumulating in the environment for the last 40 odd years?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Don't be fooled. If you live anywhere north of the reactor you are being exposed to unnatural levels of radiation and radioactive dirt. It doesn't matter if it is safe or not. We are designed to be resistant to a certain amount of solar / space radiation and a certain amount of natural background radiation. We aren't designed to consume particles of cesium, uranium and to be exposed to skyshine gamma x-rays.

Just because you feel okay now doesn't mean that it's going to stay that way. The half life of all of the dirt you are consuming through exposure, rain / air and through food is thousands of years.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

And here's what's going to be done about it: (drum roll) NOTHING! and as a result, nothing will change. It's the same old, same old in this nation, and while the victims continue to suffer, the government and power companies continue to hope the issue stays under the badly frayed carpet while they continue to seek profit.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Meant to add, the full extent of the disaster will not reach the light of day for at least 20 years, at which point the children of the current politicians, when in office, will state that it's "regrettable", but that the parties of the present cannot be blamed for the past, that "we will make efforts to resolve the situation, but Japan must keep it's 120 reactors (by that time) active to avoid summer and winter power shortages, and that (they) seek (our) cooperation and understanding"

5 ( +5 / -0 )

All they have to say is that the radiation levels are still not harmful and everyone will get on with their day. People have become such cowards for letting their country be destroyed by thuggery.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

There's a surprise.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

duh...we'll keep raising the official 'safety limits' so don't worry, it'll always be safe!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

alladin: I think you are really unfair with the Fukushima people. Everyone has been made blind about NPP safety. And the biggest beneficiaries from this corrupt business are the Tokyo inhabitants who have used this nuke power. The few millions in bribing are peanuts vs. the profits made. The few local politicians who tried to speak up against that have been very quickly re-directed on track with very "convincing" arguments.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

You know, this is just like my yearly health checks - their expensive scales always say I'm 5 kg heavier than my cheap home one.

It must be a conspiracy!!!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

@ ALADDIN...... I AGREE with ZICHI... how can you give such comment against the people AFFECTED and LOST EVERYTHING they had. I live in Koriyama Shi and have two kids very prone to sickness cause by exposure to above normal radiation.

I just cannot understand why those spin doctors won't tell the truth. Maybe worried about PANIC ? or just wanted the world to know everything is fine. What a BS attitude. It's more shameful hiding facts when ithers knows the truth There is nothing to hide. It's a meltdown and everybody knows what that means and effects.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Aladdin's comment is both totally off base and rather immature thinking. Not everyone in that region wanted the nuclear reactors and only those in the host town benefited. People's homes, lives and possibly their health were ruined if they wanted the plants or fought them tooth and nail. Radiation doesn't select who it exposes.

If you had everything taken away from you by a greedy company and complicit government you would want compensation too. It isn't a handout, it is the basis for a lawsuit. If the government put as much effort into helping people that they did into trying to deny the scope of the disaster everyone would be better off. Well everyone except the nuclear utilities.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Nancy, you might start trying to think like someone older than 12 years.... There is a real world out there and it happens to work precisely as it does, and no one will ever do anything about it, so your childish, wishfull thinking can be happy with it. Corruption will not go away, because you do not like it.... coming from you, calling aladdin immature is the joke of the day.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Let me put that "shocked" look on my face...

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Star-vikingNov. 10, 2012 - 10:33PM JST

You know, this is just like my yearly health checks - their expensive scales always say I'm 5 kg heavier than my cheap home one.

It must be a conspiracy!!!

I'm actually surprised they got within 10% of the government readings, radiation measurements aren't easy. After all, when it comes to radiation, 10% is a 3cm difference at a meter. They basically actually proved the readings rather than disprove them. If they were untrue you would be seeing 50% higher or more usually.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

JoshuYakiNov. 10, 2012 - 12:27PM JST

We aren't designed to consume particles of cesium, uranium and to be exposed to skyshine gamma x-rays.

Maybe not, but then again I don't believe in god anyway.

What of the seven Los Alamos scientists that inhaled "lethal" levels of plutonium that should have given them 99.5% chance to die of radiation related cancer by now? Not a single one developed cancer or any other disease.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

bajhista65Nov. 10, 2012 - 10:44PM JST

I live in Koriyama Shi and have two kids very prone to sickness cause by exposure to above normal radiation.

The only medically recognized illness caused by low level radiation is usually at 100mSv/year or more. There are currently no people living in such areas and you certainly don't have it.

There is also a "condition" called "EHS", to which the best treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy. You should try asking around about it.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

16% increase in leukemia has been seen in groups with long term low radiation dose (<100mSv/year) in post Hiroshima research and post Chernobyl research. There are also proven non cancer effects.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

SquidBertNov. 12, 2012 - 11:42AM JST

16% increase in leukemia has been seen in groups with long term low radiation dose (<100mSv/year) in post Hiroshima research and post Chernobyl research. There are also proven non cancer effects.

Interesting, but completely unsupported by anything I can find, and completely irrelevant to the issue of a 10% difference in radiation.

No hiroshima research had a 100mSv/year cutoff, they all used 1Sv dose or 400mSv dose cutoffs for "low dose", and long-term-dose effects were not considered. For Chernobyl, a 20-something member group of radiation specialists and anti-nuclear government committees in affected areas could not prove or disprove anything in the low-dose response.

Do not use false statistics to intentionally misinform people and cause panic.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

@Basroil

Do not use false statistics to intentionally misinform people and cause panic. My stats are at least as good as yours. You have repeatedly stated on this forum, that you do not need to present references for your statements, so I wonder how you can demand that others do so?

But for the benefit of the other readers, I will see if I can find some links. Please also note that a very low percentage of people get leukemia in the normal case. A 16% increase of this number, still means very few cases. But it is enough for people like basroil to get their collective panties in a bunch.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Not exactly the studies that I mentioned earlier, but same conclusion. I.e higher doses equals higher risk, even for low doses (under 50mSv total accumulated)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1832969

1 ( +2 / -1 )

On 3:09 post, quote got messed up. Basroils statement was,

Do not use false statistics to intentionally misinform people and cause panic.

My answer was supposed to be

My stats are at least as good as yours. You have repeatedly stated on this forum, that you do not need to present references for your statements, so I wonder how you can demand that others do so?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

SquidBert,

the study you are looking for is this one:

http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/11/13087/chernobyl-cleanup-workers-had-significantly-increased-risk-leukemia

It concerns the Cehrnobyl clean-up workers, and in this case "Low Dose" refers to Below 100 mSv, not the single mSv range and lower promoted by Dr Chris Busby. The average dose in the study is 92 mSv

Also, the study finds that the cancer found to be initiated in the study is one that is not common in Japan - which is why, the researchers surmise, it was not seem in the A-Bomb survivor data.

So, interesting study - but in initial stages. Also not applicable to most of us, and probably not to the clean-up worker of Japanese descent at Fukushima Dai-ichi

1 ( +1 / -0 )

basroilNov. 11, 2012 - 08:18PM JST

Star-vikingNov. 10, 2012 - 10:33PM JST

"You know, this is just like my yearly health checks - their expensive scales always say I'm 5 kg heavier than my cheap home one."

"It must be a conspiracy!!!"

I'm actually surprised they got within 10% of the government readings, radiation measurements aren't easy. After all, when it comes to radiation, 10% is a 3cm difference at a meter. They basically actually proved the readings rather than disprove them. If they were untrue you would be seeing 50% higher or more usually.

A very good point Basroil, I'm surprised you got so many thumbs down on that post, as you can see the effect in the Greenpeace Radiation surveys - http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/nuclear/safety/accidents/Fukushima-nuclear-disaster/Radiation-field-team/

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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