Yokohama School Next to Radiation Hot Spot

B. McPherson



The news from Japan just keeps getting worse and worse. The newspaper Japan Today is reporting that a radiation hot spot has been found in Yokohama next to a school. According to their report radioactive cesium has been found next to the school at a level 12x the allowable amount. The topsoil will be removed from the hot spot. Where it will be dumped is open to speculation.

There is no news about how long the radioactive hot spot has been emitting its toxic energy or the effect on the school children adjacent to it.

Yokohama is located south of Tokyo and well away from any evacuation/exclusion zone.

The handling of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant continues to unfold revealing incompetence and coverups. Now RT is revealing even more bad news. Over eight tonnes of water from the plant has leaked out of its containers because cold weather has split the pipes. The electrical company which has been presiding over this disaster has stated that the water is not radioactive and hasn’t leaked into the sea. That begs the question – If not the sea, did it go into the water table?

 TEPCO made statements when this radioactive disaster unfolded last March that there wasn’t much of a problem and that everything was under control. Since then a litany of woes have been made public: workers dead of radiation poisoning, an ever growing exclusion area, farmland poisoned for generations, thousands displaced, explosions, partial meltdowns of the nuclear fuel containers, radiation spread around the world.

“TEPCO claims that most of the leaked water is not radioactive, and has come from a dam. Though the company admitted that some of the water could be radioactive, it stressed that none of it has leaked to the sea.” RT.com

Minutes of the crucial emergency meetings when the TEPCO executives met to discuss action have disappeared and are unavailable to the public inquiries.  TEPCO will pay damages for this disaster, but there is a limit and the massive costs associated social and physical damage done by the pollution from this power installation will eventually be borne by the Japanese taxpayer.

Location: Japan, Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokohama, Naka Ward, Minatocho, １丁目１

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prince Rupert Says No to Enbridge Pipeline

Image
B. McPherson Prince Rupert city council joined a growing list of BC coastal communities that are saying “No” to the Enbridge proposal to build a twinned pipeline from Edmonton to the coast. The decision of the Prince Rupert city politicians was unanimous. Already the village of Kitimaat, Terrace and the Skeena Queen Charlottes Regional District have voiced their opposition to the project. There are ongoing hearings by a federal court appointed Joint Review Panel which are gathering input from interested parties about the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline which would bring crude petroleum from the oil sands of Alberta to the coast of British Columbia. The proposal would see a twinned pipeline run over the Rocky Mountains and through wilderness to the treacherous west coast. The proposed terminus at Kitimat would require tankers to wend their way through the maze of islands and reefs to load up at the head of Douglas Channel. While the hearings and the finding
Read more

Abandoned Oil Pipelines What Lurks Below?

Image
These photos were taken July 2012 in the historic Turner Valley, Alberta B. McPherson Controversy over new oil pipelines is reaching boiling point in many circles. Heated debate is taking place over the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway and Keystone Pipeline proposals. Safety, disruption to landowners  and more are being weighed against the money to be made transporting and selling petroleum products. It got me thinking about the old pipelines. What happens to a pipeline when it is too old to use or not needed? It’s a bit of an Alice in Wonderland scene. The US laws and regulations are different from ours in Canada. The Pipeline and Gas Journal is a source of information about abandoned pipelines in Texas. Apparently a pipeline in Texas may be abandoned by a company, but it still retains ownership and may choose to reactivate the line at a later date. In the meantime, the right of way or easement is no longer maintained, but the through which the pipe extends is not free
Read more

Efficient Rail Transport May Make Pipelines Obsolete

Image
B. McPherson What happens to all the abandoned pipelines? Oil pipelines have huge direct costs to build, but they also have many hidden costs. In spite of dire warnings by environmentalist the world is demanding ever greater supplies of the black gold. For those countries that have it and market it successfully, money comes rolling in. But at what cost? An oil pipeline is a hugely complex thing. Enbridge Corp. has been battling citizens in British Columbia over its proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline in the US has been stalled for months. When Big Oil needs to transport oil or bitumen to refineries, it usually gets a smooth ride to approval. Labelling energy security as a national priority, property rights are infringed upon. People in Canada cannot legally stop the installation of a pipeline across their property. The high pressure conduit is often buried only a few feet below the surface leaving crops, buildings and livestock vulnerable to a
Read more