Marine Life Contaminated

Evidently the fish in the ocean are not paying attention to the 20 km exclusion zone around Fukushima. They should because there is a small radiation problem.

Radioactive iodine-131 readings taken from seawater near the water intake of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant's No. 2 reactor reached 7.5 million times the legal limit, Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted Tuesday.

The sample that yielded the high reading was taken Saturday, before Tepco announced Monday it would start releasing radioactive water into the sea, and experts fear the contamination may spread well beyond Japan's shores to affect seafood overseas.

The unstoppable radioactive discharge into the Pacific has prompted experts to sound the alarm, as cesium, which has a much longer half-life than iodine, is expected to concentrate in the upper food chain.

According to Tepco, some 300,000 becquerels per sq. centimeter of radioactive iodine-131 was detected Saturday, while the amount of cesium-134 was 2 million times the maximum amount permitted and cesium-137 was 1.3 million times the amount allowable.

I think there is really nothing to worry about. I suspect after further review the figure will have been found to be in error. At least 100 times too high. Maybe 10,000. A keyboard. A little editing and things will not be so bad. And don't forget that all that water in the oceans will dilute the radioactives. And the marine life in the ocean will concentrate it. Uh. Oh. Stock up on tuna now. Well I never did like fish much anyhow. Or seaweed.

The South Koreans are not pleased about the dumping of radioactive water into the sea.

Yomiuri's Seoul Correspondent reports (in Japanese; 11:19AM JST 4/5/2011):

(Seoul: Takashi Nakagawa) Regarding the release of radiation contaminated water into the ocean from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, the South Korean government conveyed its worries to Japan's Foreign Ministry through its Embassy in Japan at night of April 4 [when TEPCO started dumping], that "this may cause problems in international law."

The South Korean government is not pleased that there was no prior, formal notice from the Japanese government concerning the release of the contaminated water.

Well yeah. Of course if sea food is a big part of the local diet and the sea food is no longer safe to eat in quantities that can only mean one thing: a bigger strain on planetary food resources. The South Koreans can afford to buy food at higher prices. The Egyptians? The Syrians? Not so much.

The Japanese Government has it all figured out. If they can only get the French to stop kibitzing from the sidelines.

Now that Japan is openly dumping contaminated water and their government telling everyone who still listens that everything is safe, let's hear what the French experts have to say about the impact on marine life.

France's Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN) issued a paper on April 1 on impact of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident on the marine environment.

It doesn't seem that safe to me. The summary below (google-translated as my French is very rusty) says that while some of radioactive materials will be dispersed wide and over long distance, others will set on the particles suspended in water and will sink to the ocean floor, causing sediment contamination.

Oh great. The ocean floor will be contaminated with the likes of cesium-137 or worse. But not to worry. The Japanese government recommends you eat all the fish and seaweed you want, every single day for 365 days, and you still get only a quarter of the safe radiation dosage per year. What a bargain.

The paper is not yet translated into English/Japanese yet, but the Institute has started to do that for their March papers.

You can read more about it at the link. And let us not forget that the "quarter of the safe radiation dosage per year" is based on what has already happened. It ain't over.

But the geniuses running the show have a really great idea. Yarmulkes. Really.

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Cloth Caps Over Reactors Coming, and All That's Left for Japan is a Luck

The only way I can think of right now that would make a difference in tackling the Fukushima I nuke plant disaster is for a foreign country or two to declare war on the government of Japan for endangering its own citizens and endangering the rest of the world by their totally incompetent handling of the crisis, and go occupy the country, arrest all the officials and pols and bureaucrats and throw them in jail, and the occupation force get to work.

But alas, the Japanese government, and the Japanese people to some extent, has squandered the goodwill and willingness to help from the rest of the world. Now, no one cares. The rest of the world look on with bemuse, as the next amusing episode unfolds, of what the Japanese government can screw up.

The next amusing episode is going to be the cloth caps that they declared on Sunday that they would be building very shortly to put over the reactors.

According to Kyodo News Japanese (4/4/2011), the Japanese government overrode the objection from even the researchers who had been cheerleading the government every step of the way. Their objection was that the radioactive materials coming from the Reactor buildings were actually far less than the radioactive materials that had fallen on the debris around it, and by capping the reactors they would run the risk of concentration of the radioactive materials inside the reactors, and of further hydrogen explosions.

You can by yarmulkesfrom Amazon. But I don't think that will cover it.

Maybe they should be thinking bigger. Like Circus tents.Because what I see going on is one hell of a circus. With lions, tigers, and rattle snakes running free. One hell of a show but it will scare you to death. If the lions or tigers don't get you first.

I have never ever been so depressed about the state of the world.

Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.

Ah. Well. It could be worse. I expect that soon it will be.

H/T Zero Hedge

Cross Posted at Classical Values