FUKUSHIMA WORKERS TRYING TO PLUG
RADIATION LEAKS WITH BITS OF NEWSPAPER,
GARBAGE BAGS, DIAPER-LIKE MATERIAL
MAYOR, GOVERNOR SLAM GOVERNMENT
AS TONS OF RADIOACTIVE WATER
IS POURED INTO PACIFIC
Japanese officials allowed owners of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant to empty tanks holding 10,000 tons of slightly radioactive water into the ocean ~ in order to make room to pump highly contaminated water out of reactor No. 2.
Radioactive water leaks into the sea near the No. 2 reactor of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, April 2. Workers labored through the weekend to find the source of the leak. Unable to do so, they dumped slightly radioactive water into the ocean in order to free up tank space to pump out highly radioactive water from the suspect area.
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The impact of the radioactive material on sea life could be catastrophic as over 11, 500 tons of contaminated water is now being intentionally released into the Pacific ocean by workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in a last ditch desperate effort to clean out the area.
Meanwhile, local officials have roundly condemned the Japanese government’s response to the crisis as workers have been scrambling to plug cracks in a reactor pit using anything they can find, including bits of shredded newspaper, sawdust and super glue.
Highly radioactive water is flowing from the pit into the ocean, with the latest figures confirming radiation levels of contaminated seawater at 4,000 times above the safety limit.
Yesterday, TEPCO, the company running the plant released the above image of the toxic water pouring into the ocean.
After efforts to fill the crack with concrete failed, workers resorted to more desperate measures, as reported in the London Telegraph:
While workers on a suicide mission armed only with trash and super glue scramble to do what they can, still the Japanese government maintains there is no risk to public health because the material will “dissipate”.
The governor of Fukushima has slammed Japan’s nuclear agency for failing to provide accurate and timely radiation data.
Japan Today reports:
Fukushima Gov Yuhei Sato expressed anger at the central government’s nuclear safety agency on Sunday for its late release of radioactivity data related to local farm produce, shipments of which have been partly restricted amid the ongoing nuclear crisis.It takes a few days for the results of each test to be released, according to Sato.
‘‘Can’t you increase the number of examiners? The lives of farmers are at stake. It’s a matter of whether they can live tomorrow,’’ the governor said during a meeting of the prefectural disaster relief task force attended by an official of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Sato said the results should be released in about a day and criticized the central government for being late in lifting restrictions, saying, ‘‘I wonder if our sense of urgency is being conveyed to the government…It is irritating.’‘
In addition, the mayor of Minami Soma, a city some 25 kilometers from the nuclear plant, issued an SOS message to the world, pleading for help in the wake of a near total lack of aid or information from the Japanese government.
The mayor noted that the situation is one of complete lockdown and said the city was “as if under starvation tactics” at the mercy of the government:
SOS Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai Of Minami Soma City, Fukushima Japan ~ SOS!
SOS Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai Of Minami Soma City, Fukushima Japan ~ SOS!
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