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Loading...Fukushima Beach Reopens Amid Nuclear Protests
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that a nuclear meltdown of any size is going to be dangerous, especially for those who live and work inside 50 mile radius. In fact, there are some disturbing similarities between the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the March 11th calamity at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, where three nuclears reactors partially melted down following the massive 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
Later in the year, we learned that contaminated water had leaked from a treatment system at the plant, with some potentially entering the sea. This was confirmed when, months after the initial meltdown, levels of radiation in the ocean near the plant remained extremely high.
The average person might assume that it would be years, even decades, before people would begin fishing or swimming in the waters near Fukushima. But they’d be wrong.
Just yesterday, local authorities decided to open Nakoso beach, located just 40 miles south of the stricken plant, after declaring the water safe. Joji Kimura, an Iwaki city official, was quoted as saying that airborne radiation levels at the beach have measured 0.08 mSv/hr, which the government maintains is far below dangerous levels. Water contamination in the area is being reported at under 1 bq/L.
Trusting the government’s decision (even though officials have offered changing, and sometimes conflicting, accounts about the radiation levels at Fukushima throughout the crisis), thousands of Japanese families flocked to the beach this week, splashing in the surf wearing nothing but bathing suits. Interestingly, there are no plans to reopen other beaches in the area.
Despite the government’s assurances, there are plenty of people in Japan who are aware of the risks, and will be avoiding the water. The day before the beach reopened, more than 170,000 protesters marched through Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park to demand the government bring an end to Japan’s use of nuclear power.
Related Reading:
Fukushima Radiation Reaches U.S. Bluefin Tuna
Read more: Fukushima, japan, natural disaster, nuclear meltdown, nuclear power, radiation, tsunami
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+ add your ownSwimming there? No, thank you.
My fellow Citizens...Run! signed The Prez. Obummer
Dianne B. says, "Oh my god...really? Why can't the Japanese people see what we all see...DANGER!!! Why is the government lying to their own people?"
The Japanese government has a financial motivation -- fossil fuel revenues -- to exaggerate the theoretical danger of the manmade radioactivity around Fukushima Dai-ichi. That they now admit there is no danger is an instance of ceasing to lie, not of lying.
Probably lots of Japanese can see this.
The sole purpose of the nuclear power industry is to subsidize the refinement of weapons grade materiel for the military! It is not clean and it is not cheap. Cancer rates for pacific inhabitants in areas contaminated by fallout from US British and French atmospheric bomb testing are passed off blithely as being because people are no longer dying of other things because modern medicine is so wonderful...those who have shares or support this industry for personal profit are evil, and as their poison will be killing living beings for millions of years i trust that one day their descendents will have their inherited wealth confiscated to help the victims and those descendents compelled to forced labour cleaning up the mess until they die from the radiation, because if the worlds population should suffer generationally, then the sins of the fathers should be visited on their descendents. And the corporations involved should have their assets seized just like drug dealers, and the same goes for the corrupt and evil politicians who voted to approve this malignancy, and all of their descendents, because this industry is that hiddeous!
hmmm
Oh my god...really? Why can't the Japanese people see what we all see...DANGER!!! Why is the government lying to their own people? Why would they do that to them and why are the people so trusting? It's too crazy to fathom. We've been getting debris from the tsunami on our BC shores and I wonder how much radiation has drifted over as well. I'm none too thrilled with that idea!
Jamie C, it is likely that businessinsider.com is lying.
Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster will be affecting Americans for many years to come.
Most Americans do not think much about Fukushima anymore, but the truth is that Fukushima is still putting out a tremendous amount of radiation, and that radiation travels eastward towards us.
A couple of months ago, one reporter discovered that radiation levels in rain falling on Los Angeles were five times above normal.
One recent study concluded that the highest concentration of Fukushima radiation in the Pacific Ocean will eventually be just off the west coast of the United States.
But our “authorities” tell us that there is no reason to be concerned, so most Americans will continue to ignore the incredible tragedy that continues to unfold at Fukushima.
If you are not sure what to think about what is going on at Fukushima, perhaps the following statistic will get your attention….
Recent tests have shown that 36 percent of all children living in the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan have abnormal growths on their thyroid glands. After the Chernobyl disaster, less than 2 percent of all children living in the area surrounding Chernobyl were found to have abnormal growths on their thyroid glands.
If it is so harmless then why this? 36 Percent Of Fukushima Children Have Abnormal Growths From Radiation Exposure
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-stunning-36-percent-of-fukushima-children-have-abnormal-growths-from-radiation-exposure-2012-7#ixzz215sCfmNx
No thanks I am not swimming there ever.
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