SimplyInfo » Entries tagged with "exposure"
The Marketing-Speak Of The UNSCEAR Report On Fukushima
[Translate] Friday much of the media reported a declaration that there were no health impacts from Fukushima. This wasn’t even close to what was actually said in UNSCEAR’s press statements while even more lies in the details and semantics of what was said. UNSCEAR’s statements say quite a bit more if you look at their qualifying statements and what they don’t say. From the UNSCEAR Press Release: UNSCEAR Statement: “Radiation exposure following the nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi did not cause any immediate health effects. It is unlikely to be able to attribute any health effects in the future among the general public and the vast majority of workers,” What it means: Immediate is key, this same rather illogical statement was repeated ad nauseum as events unraveled in 2011. Immediate heath problems typically don’t happen unless … Read entire article »
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Reader Questions; Can You Test Blood & Saliva For Radiation Exposure?
[Translate] We solicited (and continue to) readers to send in their questions for us to try to answer. There are so many things people still have questions about related to radiation exposure, the Fukushima disaster and similar issues. Today’s question is from Jane and she asks: “Can I be tested for levels thru bood work or saliva?” A good question and it appears you can do this, of course with some caveats and limitations. Blood Tests As was recently presented by the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center, they have established a process to do blood tests to look for radiation exposure. The tests look at DNA rather than looking for actual radiation levels. “The RABIT system utilizes a fingerstick of blood, like the standard blood test used routinely by diabetics. The samples enter a robotic system … Read entire article »
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Fukushima Radiophobia & The Mind
[Translate] SimplyInfo.org member Peter Melzer has a new post on his blog, Fukushima Radiophobia & The Mind. How exposure has been declared and the reality on the ground creates an interesting yet complex problem. Read Peter’s full story here. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. While we welcome the sharing of information or promoting our work, please do so with respect to the large amount of effort and time that goes into our research and analysis. Referring to something or a quote is great, copying it all or in substantial parts is not so great. If you … Read entire article »
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Video: Press Symposium Exposes Media & Govt. Denial Of Radiation Exposure
[Translate] Freelance journalists in Japan participated in a symposium put on by the Japan Free Press Assn last December. Many speak frankly about being told by major newspapers in Japan that they can not report on radiation exposure at all. A former government minister also shared some insight in how the government has worked to deny the risk to the public from radiation exposure in policy and actions after the disaster. Much of this is already known to be a problem in Japan, it is still a bit shocking to see the stakeholders involved in government and media admit it. The video has full English subtitles. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also … Read entire article »
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Public Spin On Fukushima Coming Undone
[Translate] TEPCO’s efforts to avoid outside inspections of the unit 1 reactor have caught up with them. After it was recently pointed out to the Diet that TEPCO had lied to the investigation committee last year in an effort to avoid an inspection, now it appears one is pending. The Diet has asked the new nuclear regulator to conduct an inspection of the isolation condenser system in unit 1 and they appear ready to do so: “If the condensers are found to show damage consistent with shaking in an earthquake there would be case for higher standards in nuclear plant design—with important implications for existing reactors built to lesser tolerances. But the Nuclear Regulation Authority chairman warned against premature conclusions. “We will not pre-judge the investigation,” Tanaka said. He added that an investigation … Read entire article »
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More Thyroid Cancers Found In Fukushima Children
[Translate] 3 cancers have now been found in Fukushima children via the health survey. 7 are now suspected to have thyroid cancer. The 3 mentioned had surgery to deal with the cancer. Details were not given on the extent of the surgery or severity of the cancers found. The health survey continues to proclaim these cancers in children are pre-existing issues from before the nuclear disaster. This relies on a flawed concept from Chernobyl. There was about a 4 year gap between exposure and when formal screening of children began after Chernobyl. Some were found at that point to have cancers. The lack of testing for 4 years does not establish a latency period. While there are assumed latency periods with cancer development and long term studies of a bomb victims showed … Read entire article »
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Robots To Clean Fukushima Daiichi
[Translate] TEPCO has announced that they will begin using robots to clean the interiors of reactor buildings 1 to 3 beginning in late July. The robots will use high pressure water and “other means” to clean in an attempt to lower contamination levels to decrease worker exposures. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. While we welcome the sharing of information or promoting our work, please do so with respect to the large amount of effort and time that goes into our research and analysis. Referring to something or a quote is great, copying it all or … Read entire article »
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Namie To Conduct Independent Radiation Exposure Exams
[Translate] Namie town has teamed up with Hirosaki University to do independent examinations for any children from the town who want to have them done. Doubts about the impartiality and practices used by the Fukushima Health Survey has caused many to distrust the project sponsored by the prefecture government. Hirosaki University had begun an exposure dose reconstruction study back in 2011 but was pressured by the prefecture government to terminate the study. They cited that the study “might fuel concern among residents”. The results of that study showed levels considerably higher than the official government numbers and found certain people had quite high thyroid doses. This new study being done long after the initial exposure will look at changes in the shapes of chromosomes in lymphocytes using blood samples. This article would not be possible without … Read entire article »
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Fewer Choose To Participate In Radiation Monitoring
[Translate] The radiation exposure monitoring program at Minamisoma Hospital has seen numbers of participants drop substantially. The program is not part of the Fukushima Health Survey, instead is a public service being offered in the municipality. The initial scans in 2011 saw 67% of adults scanned with no detectable internal radiation contamination. In 2012 about 92% of adults had no detectable levels but Dr. Tsubokura, the doctor handling the program said participation is lower for this year. Only about 50% of the towns residents were tested during the first round. Of those tested most scans have been low with levels seen on scans continuing on a downward trend in 2012. There was the case of some extremely high readings that were found in some older residents that were still eating banned mushrooms. Dr. Tsubokura did … Read entire article »
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TEPCO Workers Unmonitored Exposures Likely Occurred
[Translate] Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and radiation experts have pointed out flaws in early worker exposure monitoring. This lack of proper monitoring could lead to additional health problems that could go un-monitored due to the lack of documentation. Workers were wearing chest dosimeters and did not have any sort of additional monitoring for feet, hands or head. Many workers didn’t even have dosimeters during the early days of the disaster. The chest dosimeters. TEPCO’s excuse for not doing initial monitoring was that the gamma levels were initially higher than the beta levels. Yet a number of workers suffered beta burns after stepping in contaminated water. Workers mention they frequently found higher levels in the debris around their feet. One worker quoted in the article says he had numbness in … Read entire article »
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US Navy Sailors Sue, Readings On Ships During Disaster
[Translate] We mentioned previously how a group of sailors are suing TEPCO and the Japanese government for withholding information and lying to the public and the US Navy about the radiation levels near Fukushima Daiichi during the early days of the disaster. FOIA releases from the NRC document some of the radiation levels and reporting from those early days that may have been part of the reason for the lawsuit. FOIA documents report a number of readings taken on the USS Ronald Reagan while it was 100 miles and 130 miles out to sea. These readings were taken March 13th according to NRC documents. The readings are as follows all taken from the NRC transcripts: 1. 7.5 times 10 to the minus 9 th microcuries per milliliter. 100 miles out at 1300 March 13 2. Three … Read entire article »
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New Peer Reviewed Meta-Study Finds Even Low-Level Radioactivity Is Damaging
[Translate] A new study in the journal Biological Reviews has found that low levels of radiation may be harmful and even areas of high natural radiation may be damaging. The study looked at a wide range of other studies to build their larger analysis. When a single study found small effects they were frequently too small to make a solid declaration. By taking these studies together the researchers were able to get a clearer picture of actual effects. The researchers looked at 5000 studies that involved control groups and those exposed to elevated levels of natural radiation sources. “The organisms studied included plants and animals, but had a large preponderance of human subjects. Each study examined one or more possible effects of radiation, such as DNA damage measured in the lab, prevalence of a disease … Read entire article »
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LDP Likely Cabinet Member; “Government Should Tell People 20 Millisieverts Per Year Exposure Is Safe”
[Translate] Does this sound familiar? It might, this was the level the government tried to slap on children in Japan before international outrage made them rethink that idea. Now the incoming LDP government politicians are suggesting that 20 mSv/year be considered a safe level all around. Why? So life can get back to normal in Fukushima. The ICRP guideline documents 1mSv/year as the maximum people should be subjected to. Many researchers and rights groups think the ICRP guideline may be too relaxed at 1mSv/year. Former TV journalist Yoshiko Sakurai told a group of officials of Futaba county, one of the hardest hit areas of the disaster, this new idea to loosen safety rules. This looser safety rule also allows the government to declare more areas “safe” or not in need of decontamination. These levels … Read entire article »
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Decyphering TEPCO Worker Exposures
[Translate] TEPCO and the WHO have issued various reports about worker exposure. Many aspects of these reports give deceptively optimistic presentations, some bury or omit inconvenient negative facts. Some of the ways the data is compartmentalized or misrepresented is by only showing contract workers and not including TEPCO workers. During the worst of the disaster most of the workers on site doing the high exposure work were TEPCO employees. All of the highest exposures are TEPCO workers. Contract workers that must carry a dosimeter and are considered working in radioactive conditions include the workers at J Village. These include people who do many different jobs such as decontaminating vehicles, checking visitors for contamination, handing out protective gear to workers, food service and a variety of other support services. If all or some of … Read entire article »
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Robot Inspection Of Unit 3 Finds Increasing Radiation Levels, New Robot Fails.
[Translate] TEPCO reports the results of a robot inspection in unit 3 at Fukushima Daiichi. The initial work was to look at the improvised duct hose to remove gas from the reactor containment. The new robot FRIGO-MA failed to work due to a bug. TEPCO sent in Packbot and Quince instead. TEPCO did not state the nature of the inspection other than to look at the gas duct hose. It appears the concern was due to increasing radiation levels in the area. TEPCO was likely inspecting the duct as the source of the possible increase. No leaks or damage were found on the duct. What they found was that the containment door and track were the source of the increased radiation levels. Workers had a .52 mSv exposure dose for their work. Packbot … Read entire article »
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UN Special Investigator In Japan Releases Initial Statement On Fukushima Human Rights
[Translate] The UN special investigator Anand Grover has issued some initial comments on his visit to Japan. The statement is more of a preliminary review of his findings, a full report will be issued at a later date. A draft report has been submitted to the Japanese government but is not currently available on the UN Human Rights Council website. The issues and criticisms mentioned in the statement include these: Local residents were not aware of nuclear disaster management plans. He makes this specific mention “local residents of Futaba city in Fukushima were led to believe by the Safety Agreement signed in 1991 that the TEPCO plant was safe and there would be no occasion for a nuclear accident.” The NRA, Japan’s new nuclear regulatory agency should adopt a policy to disclose any … Read entire article »
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WHO Again Downplays Fukushima Health Risks
[Translate] The WHO is preparing to release a new report that declares cancer from the Fukushima nuclear disaster will not “significantly” increase. This broad declaration is riddled with omissions and a troubling opinion of what is considered significant. The WHO position paper is based on information they obtained from Fukushima Medical University and RERF. Both are institutions well known for bias and actions intended to downplay the true situation in Fukushima. Dr. Yamashita was installed as a vice president of the medical university soon after the disaster. WHO admits there is a lack of complete and good data so they turn to Chernobyl data and RERF A Bomb data. The A Bomb exposures have been cited as being quite different exposures than those exposed during a nuclear reactor disaster and not an “apples … Read entire article »
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76% Of Children In Nihonmatsu Radiation Monitoring Over 1mSv/year
[Translate] Some data has been released about the external radiation monitoring program going on in Fukushima. These programs involved issuing glass badges to school children then periodically handing them in for testing. This does not record the children’s internal radiation doses from what they breathe in, eat or drink. Those levels are in addition to what is recorded by the badges. What the new round of testing found is that 76% of school children in Nihonmatsu are above the government goal of 1 mSv/year with just their external radiation exposure. The government goal is based on the ICRP guidelines but many consider the ICRP levels to be too high. Some actually saw their levels go up compared to their 2011 levels. One researcher assumed this is due to children being allowed outside … Read entire article »
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Picture Of The Day; Inaccurate Radiation Meter In The Wild
[Translate] Naotoshi Kitada posted this photo today via Facebook. They did not include the location but it is a good example of how off the government radiation meters are. A .461 uSv/h difference. That may seem small but that difference is the entire radiation reading in some locations. This article would not be possible without the extensive efforts of the SimplyInfo research team Join the conversation at chat.simplyinfo.org All content is copyright SimplyInfo.org. Content may also be copyright of other specific original authors or creators and was reproduced here with limited permission. While we welcome the sharing of information or promoting our work, please do so with respect to the large amount of effort and time that goes into our research and analysis. Referring to something or a quote is great, copying it all … Read entire article »
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MIT Mouse Study Debunked In Journal
[Translate] SimplyInfo member Peter Melzer submitted a letter to the Environmental Health Perspectives Journal in response to an MIT mouse study released in May 2012. SimplyInfo had previously debunked this study here and here. In his letter he addressed in depth many of the concerns with the study. MIT of course is given the opportunity to respond. Peter raised a number of concerns including: The use of genetically altered FYDR mice for one portion of the study but not the comparison groups. The wide range in the numbers of mice used in the comparison groups. The Tanaka paper shows that a longer time frame might have detected abnormalities That children may have a 3 fold higher risk for damage from radiation as seen in other studies at half the accumulated dose used in the MIT study An inflammatory response may increase … Read entire article »
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