Japanese Radioactivity problem moving offshore
More than three years since the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant was seriously damaged by the earthquake and tsunami combination on 11th March 2011 it is still bleeding tons of toxic radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean every day.
This has now developed into a much bigger problem now as radioactive water from Fukushima is heading for the West Coast of the USA, contaminating the Pacific Ocean on its way. In addition to this there is a powerful Typhoon heading for Fukushima and is expected to hit on Sunday 12th October 2014 with wave heights almost double the height of the initial Tsunami. This will allow seawater to mix with the radioactive water being kept in trenches in the site and eventually end up in the Pacific Ocean. This coupled with the amount being frantically dumped by the power plant owners is likely to completely decimate sealife.
Once the radioactive water is out in the environment it is only a matter of time before all groundwater in Japan has been contaminated, if it hasn’t been already. Rivers and streams in the Fukushima and surrounding areas are already contaminated and no fish from them can be consumed. This also affects all the wasabi growing farms throughout the area, and stops the return of more than 11,000 people forcibly evacuated from the stricken area.
The Japanese radioactivity has also been detected traveling underground in groundwater rivers that feed the Tokyo water supply. When it is detected in Japanese homes will Tokyo have to be abandoned? What a horrifying thought.
The power plant operators (TEPCO) admit that the Japanese radiation level in groundwater now 25,000 times higher than when this year began. There is no indication how high these levels will get to as TEPCO dump approximately 1000 tonnes of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and have no way of stopping this radioactive water seeping into the ground and entering the groundwater system.
While the rest of the World ignores this continuing problem that will eventually affect every living thing on this planet, the Japanese government and the rest of the World Governments stumble over what needs to be done. TEPCO released information on September 18th 2014 that strontium-90 concentrations are at record levels in groundwater just 100 feet from the ocean.
During an Interview with Olli Heinonen, former IAEA deputy director general, former Finland Reactor Laboratory senior officer and senior fellow at Harvard University (emphasis added): “[We] have a potential catastrophe on our hands… I think that when this thing is over — this is certainly a national catastrophe for Japan — but actually this a catastrophe for every citizen of the world… Russians, Americans, they are also subject to radiation. The radiation doesn’t recognize borders… It looks to be a very dire situation.”
At least the Japanese Radioactivity hasn’t reached New Zealand Wasabi yet. You can still buy uncontaminated product here.
Well it looks like Fukushima dodged another bullet this last week with Tornado Vongfong running out of energy before it reached the crippled Nuclear Power plant. This hasn’t made any different to the enormous radioactive water discharge that the plant operator made both before and after the tornado (now a tropical depression) left the Japanese coast. More radioactive water reported likely to be discharged in the coming weeks. Looks like the West coast of the USA will be the recipient of this radioactivity.