GLOBAL RESEARCH ONLINE INTERACTIVE
READER SERIES
Michel Chossudovsky (Editor)
I-Book
No. 3, January 25 2012
INTRODUCTION
The World is at a critical crossroads. The Fukushima disaster in
Japan has brought to the forefront the dangers of worldwide nuclear radiation.
The crisis in Japan has been described as "a nuclear war
without a war". In the words of renowned novelist Haruki Murakami:
"This time no one dropped a bomb on us ... We set the
stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own
lands, and we are destroying our own lives."
Nuclear radiation ~ which threatens life on planet earth ~ is
not front page news in comparison to the most insignificant issues of public
concern, including the local level crime scene or the tabloid gossip reports on
Hollywood celebrities.
While the long-term repercussions of the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear disaster are yet to be fully assessed, they are far more serious than
those pertaining to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine, which resulted
in almost one million deaths (New Book Concludes - Chernobyl death toll: 985,000,
mostly from cancer Global Research, September 10, 2010, See also
Matthew Penney and Mark Selden The Severity of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster:
Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima, Global Research, May 25, 2011)
Moreover, while all eyes were riveted on the Fukushima Daiichi
plant, news coverage both in Japan and internationally failed to fully
acknowledge the impacts of a second catastrophe at TEPCO's (Tokyo Electric Power
Co Inc) Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant.
The shaky political consensus both in Japan, the U.S. and
Western Europe is that the crisis at Fukushima has been contained.
The realties, however, are otherwise. Fukushima 3 was leaking
unconfirmed amounts of plutonium. According to Dr. Helen Caldicott,
"One millionth of a gram of plutonium ingested causes cancer".
An opinion poll in May 2011 confirmed that more than 80 per cent
of the Japanese population does not believe the government's information regarding
the nuclear crisis. (Quoted in Sherwood Ross, Fukushima: Japan's Second Nuclear Disaster, Global
Research, November 10, 2011)
THE IMPACTS IN JAPAN
The Japanese government has been obliged to acknowledge that
"the severity rating of its nuclear crisis ... matches that of the 1986
Chernobyl disaster". In a bitter irony, however, this tacit admission by
the Japanese authorities has proven to been part of the cover-up of a
significantly larger catastrophe, resulting in a process of global nuclear
radiation and contamination:
"While Chernobyl was an enormous unprecedented disaster, it only occurred at one reactor and rapidly melted down. Once cooled, it was able to be covered with a concrete sarcophagus that was constructed with 100,000 workers. There are a staggering 4400 tons of nuclear fuel rods at Fukushima, which greatly dwarfs the total size of radiation sources at Chernobyl." (Extremely High Radiation Levels in Japan: University Researchers Challenge Official Data, Global Research, April 11, 2011)
Fukushima in the wake of the Tsunami, March 2011
WORLDWIDE CONTAMINATION
The dumping of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean
constitutes a potential trigger to a process of global radioactive
contamination. Radioactive elements have not only been detected in the food
chain in Japan, radioactive rain water has been recorded in California:
"Hazardous radioactive elements being released in the sea and air around Fukushima accumulate at each step of various food chains (for example, into algae, crustaceans, small fish, bigger fish, then humans; or soil, grass, cow's meat and milk, then humans). Entering the body, these elements ~ called internal emitters ~ migrate to specific organs such as the thyroid, liver, bone, and brain, continuously irradiating small volumes of cells with high doses of alpha, beta and/or gamma radiation, and over many years often induce cancer". (Helen Caldicott, Fukushima: Nuclear Apologists Play Shoot the Messenger on Radiation, The Age, April 26, 2011)
While the spread of radiation to the West Coast of North America
was casually acknowledged, the early press reports (AP and Reuters)
"quoting diplomatic sources" stated that only "tiny amounts of
radioactive particles have arrived in California but do not pose a threat to
human health."
"According to the news agencies, the unnamed sources have
access to data from a network of measuring stations run by the United Nations’
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. ...
... Greg Jaczko, chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, told White House reporters on Thursday (March 17) that his experts
“don’t see any concern from radiation levels that could be harmful here in the
United States or any of the U.S. territories”.
The spread of radiation.
March 2011
PUBLIC
HEALTH DISASTER.
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
What prevails is a well
organized camouflage. The public health disaster in Japan, the contamination of
water, agricultural land and the food chain, not to mention the broader
economic and social implications, have neither been fully acknowledged nor
addressed in a comprehensive and meaningful fashion by the Japanese
authorities.
Japan as a nation state
has been destroyed. Its landmass and territorial waters are contaminated. Part
of the country is uninhabitable. High levels of radiation have been recorded in
the Tokyo metropolitan area, which has a population of 39 million (2010)
(more than the population of Canada, circa 34 million (2010)) There are
indications that the food chain is contaminated throughout Japan:
Radioactive cesium
exceeding the legal limit was detected in tea made in a factory in Shizuoka
City, more than 300 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant. Shizuoka Prefecture is one of the most famous tea producing areas in
Japan.
A tea distributor in
Tokyo reported to the prefecture that it detected high levels of radioactivity
in the tea shipped from the city. The prefecture ordered the factory to refrain
from shipping out the product. After the accident at the Fukushima nuclear
power plant, radioactive contamination of tea leaves and processed tea has been
found over a wide area around Tokyo. (See 5 More Companies Detect Radiation In Their Tea Above
Legal Limits Over 300 KM From Fukushima, June
15, 2011)
Japan's industrial and
manufacturing base is prostrate. Japan is no longer a leading industrial power.
The country's exports have plummeted. The Tokyo government has announced its
first trade deficit since 1980.
While the business media
has narrowly centered on the impacts of power outages and energy shortages on
the pace of productive activity, the broader issue pertaining to the outright
radioactive contamination of the country's infrastructure and industrial base
is a "scientific taboo" (i.e the radiation of industrial plants,
machinery and equipment, buildings, roads, etc). A report released in January
2012 points to the nuclear contamination of building materials used in the
construction industry, in cluding roads and residential buildings throughout
Japan.(See FUKUSHIMA: Radioactive Houses and Roads in Japan.
Radioactive Building Materials Sold to over 200 Construction Companies, January
2012)
A "coverup
report" by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (May 2011),
entitled "Economic Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and
Current Status of Recovery" presents
"Economic Recovery" as a fait accompli. It also brushes aside
the issue of radiation. The impacts of nuclear radiation on the work force and
the country's industrial base are not mentioned. The report states that the
distance between Tokyo -Fukushima Dai-ichi is of the order of 230 km
(about 144 miles) and that the levels of radiation in Tokyo are lower than in
Hong Kong and New York City.(Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Current
Status of Recovery, p.15).
This statement is made without corroborating evidence and in overt
contradiction with independent radiation readings in Tokyo (se map below). In
recent developments, Sohgo Security Services Co. is launching a lucrative
"radiation measurement service targeting households in Tokyo and four
surrounding prefectures"
"A map of citizens' measured radiation
levels shows radioactivity is distributed in a complex pattern
reflecting the mountainous terrain and the shifting winds across a broad area
of Japan north of Tokyo which is in the center of the of bottom of the
map."
"Radiation limits begin to be exceeded at just above 0.1 microsieverts/
hour blue. Red is about fifty times the civilian radiation limit at 5.0
microsieverts/hour. Because children are much more sensitive than adults, these
results are a great concern for parents of young children in potentially
affected areas.
The fundamental question is whether the vast array of industrial goods and
components "Made in Japan" ~ including hi tech components,
machinery, electronics, motor vehicles, etc ~ and exported Worldwide are
contaminated? Were this to be the case, the entire East and Southeast
Asian industrial base ~ which depends heavily on
Japanese components and industrial technology ~ would be
affected. The potential impacts on international trade would be far reaching.
In this regard, in January, Russian officials confiscated irradiated Japanese
automobiles and autoparts in the port of Vladivostok for sale in the Russian
Federation. Needless to say, incidents of this nature in a global competitive
environment, could lead to the demise of the Japanese automobile
industry which is already in crisis.
While most of the automotive industry is in central Japan, Nissan's engine factory in Iwaki city is 42 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Is the Nissan work force affected? Is the engine plant contaminated? The plant is within about 10 to 20 km of the government's "evacuation zone" from which some 200,000 people were evacuated (see map below).
While most of the automotive industry is in central Japan, Nissan's engine factory in Iwaki city is 42 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Is the Nissan work force affected? Is the engine plant contaminated? The plant is within about 10 to 20 km of the government's "evacuation zone" from which some 200,000 people were evacuated (see map below).
NUCLEAR ENERGY AND NUCLEAR WAR
The crisis in Japan has also brought into the open the unspoken
relationship between nuclear energy and nuclear war.
Nuclear energy is not a civilian economic activity. It is an
appendage of the nuclear weapons industry which is controlled by the so-called
defense contractors. The powerful corporate interests behind nuclear energy and
nuclear weapons overlap.
In Japan at the height of the disaster,
"the nuclear industry and government agencies [were] scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities hidden inside Japan's civilian nuclear power plants".1 (See Yoichi Shimatsu, Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant? Global Research, April 12, 2011)
It should be noted that the complacency of both the media and
the governments to the hazards of nuclear radiation pertains to the nuclear
energy industry as well as to use of nuclear weapons. In both cases, the
devastating health impacts of nuclear radiation are casually denied. Tactical
nuclear weapons with an explosive capacity of up to six times a Hiroshima bomb
are labeled by the Pentagon as "safe for the surrounding civilian
population".
No concern has been expressed at the political level as to the
likely consequences of a US-NATO-Israel attack on Iran, using "safe for
civilians" tactical nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state.
Such an action would result in "the unthinkable": a
nuclear holocaust over a large part of the Middle East and Central Asia. A
nuclear nightmare, however, would occur even if nuclear weapons were not used.
The bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities using conventional weapons would
contribute to unleashing another Fukushima type disaster with extensive
radioactive fallout. (For further details See Michel Chossudovsky, Towards a World War III Scenario, The Dangers of Nuclear
War, Global Research, Montreal, 2011)
THE ONLINE INTERACTIVE I-BOOK READER
ON FUKUSHIMA:
A NUCLEAR WAR WITHOUT A WAR
In view of the official cover-up and media disinformation
campaign, the contents of the articles and video reports in this Online
Interactive Reader have not trickled down to to the broader public. (See Table
of contents below)
This Online Interactive Reader on Fukushima contains a
combination of analytical and scientific articles, video reports as well as
shorter news reports and corroborating data.
Part I focuses on The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: How it Happened?
Part II pertains to The Devastating Health and Social Impacts in Japan.Part III centers on the "Hidden Nuclear Catastrophe", namely the cover-up by the Japanese government and the corporate media.Part IV focuses on the issue of Worldwide Nuclear Radiation andPart V reviews the Implications of the Fukushima disaster for the Global Nuclear Energy Industry.
In the face of ceaseless media disinformation, this Global
Research Online I-Book on the dangers of global nuclear radiation is intended
to break the media vacuum and raise public awareness, while also pointing to
the complicity of the governments, the media and the nuclear
industry.
TEXT BOX
Nuclear
Radiation: Categorization
At Fukushima, reports confirm that
alpha, beta, gamma particles and neutrons have been released:
"While non-ionizing radiation
and x-rays are a result of electron transitions in atoms or molecules, there
are three forms of ionizing radiation that are a result of activity within the
nucleus of an atom. These forms
of nuclear radiation are alpha particles (α-particles), beta particles
(β-particles) and gamma rays (γ-rays).
Alpha
particles are heavy positively charged particles made up of two protons
and two neutrons.
They are essentially a helium nucleus and are thus
represented in a nuclear equation by either α or 
. See the Alpha Decay page for more information on alpha
particles.
. See the Alpha Decay page for more information on alpha
particles.
Beta
particles come in two forms: 
and 
. particles are just
electrons that have been ejected from the nucleus. This is a result of
sub-nuclear reactions that result in a neutron decaying to a proton. The
electron is needed to conserve charge and comes from the nucleus. It is not an orbital electron.
and . particles are just
electrons that have been ejected from the nucleus. This is a result of
sub-nuclear reactions that result in a neutron decaying to a proton. The
electron is needed to conserve charge and comes from the nucleus. It is not an orbital electron. particles are positrons
ejected from the nucleus when a proton decays to a neutron. A positron is
an anti-particle that is similar in nearly all respects to an electron,
but has a positive charge. See the Beta Decay page for more information on beta
particles.
Gamma rays
are photons of high energy electromagnetic radiation (light).
Gamma rays generally have the highest frequency and shortest wavelengths in the
electromagnetic spectrum. There is some overlap in the frequencies of
gamma rays and x-rays; however, x-rays are formed from electron transitions
while gamma rays are formed from nuclear transitions. See the Gamma Rays for more" (SOURCE: Canadian Nuclear Association)
"A neutron is a particle that is found in the nucleus, or center, of atoms. It has a mass very close to protons, which also reside in the nucleus of atoms. Together, they make up almost all of the mass of individual atoms. Each has a mass of about 1 amu, which is roughly 1.6×10-27kg. Protons have a positive charge and neutrons have no charge, which is why they were more difficult to discover." (SOURCE: Neutron Radiation)
"Many different radioactive isotopes are used in or
are produced by nuclear reactors. The most important of these are described
below:
1. Uranium 235 (U-235)
is the active component of most nuclear reactor fuel.
2. Plutonium (Pu-239)
is a key nuclear material used in modern nuclear weapons and is also present as a by-product in certain reprocessed fuels used in some nuclear reactors. Pu-239 is also produced in uranium reactors as a byproduct of fission of U-235.
3. Cesium (Cs-137)
is a fission product of U-235. It emits beta and gamma radiation and can cause radiation sickness and death if exposures are high enough. ...
4. Iodine 131 (I-131),
also a fission product of U-235, emits beta and gamma radiation. After inhalation or ingestion, it is absorbed by and concentrated in the thyroid gland, where its beta radiation damages nearby thyroid tissue (SOURCE: Amesh A. Adalja, MD, Eric S. Toner, MD, Anita Cicero, JD, Joseph Fitzgerald, MS, MPH, and Thomas V. Inglesby MD, Radiation at Fukushima: Basic Issues and Concepts, March 31, 2011)
Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author,
Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Ottawa. He is the
Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG),
Montreal and Editor of the globalresearch.ca website. He is the author of The
Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America's "War
on Terrorism"(2005). His most recent book is entitled Towards
a World War III Scenario: The Dangers of Nuclear War (2011). He has taught as Visiting Professor
at universities in Western Europe, South East Asia, Latin America and The
Pacific, acted as adviser to governments of developing countries and as a
consultant to several international organizations. Prof. Chossudovsky is a
signatory of the Kuala Lumpur declaration to criminalize war and recipient of
the Human Rights Prize of the Society for the Protection of Civil Rights and
Human Dignity (GBM), Berlin, Germany. He is also a contributor to the
Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty
languages.
|
- by
Yoichi Shimatsu - 2011-04-16
|
|
||
|
- by
Steven C. Jones - 2011-06-20
|
|
||
|
Lifting
the Veil of Nuclear Catastrophe and cover-up
- by
Keith Harmon Snow - 2011-03-18
|
|||
|
Humanity
now faces a deadly serious challenge coming out of Japan -- the epicenter of
radiation.
|
|||
|
Watch
now on GRTV
-by
Christopher Busby- 2011-03-30
|
|||
|
- by
Sherwood Ross - 2011-11-10
|
|
|
U.S.-Japan
security treaty fatally delayed nuclear workers' fight against meltdown
- by
Yoichi Shimatsu - 2011-04-12
|
|
|
The
specter of self-destruction can be ended only with the abrogation of the
U.S.-Japan security treaty, the root cause of the secrecy that fatally
delayed the nuclear workers' fight against meltdown.
|
|
“Massive
Hydrovolcanic Explosion” or a “Nuclear Bomb-Type Explosion” May Occur
- by
Washington's Blog - 2011-11-22
|
|
|
- by
Washington's Blog - 2012-01-12
|
|
Latest
report now on GRTV
- by
Arnie Gundersen - 2011-10-20
|
PART II
THE
DEVASTATING HEALTH
AND SOCIAL IMPACTS IN JAPAN
|
Learn
more about this important new documentary on GRTV
- by
Chris Noland - 2012-01-23
|
|
|
Large
sectors of the Japanese population are accumulating significant levels of
internal contamination
- by
Paul Zimmerman - 2011-09-27
|
|
“Culture
of cover-up” and inadequate cleanup. Japanese people exposed to
“unconscionable” health risks
- by
Canadian Medical Association Journal - 2011-12-30
|
|
|
-
2012-01-16
|
|
||
|
||
|
Radioactivity in Food: “There is no safe level of
radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources. Period,”
- by
Physicians For Social Responsibility - 2011-03-23
|
PART III
HIDDEN
NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE:
COVER-UP
BY THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT
AND THE CORPORATE MEDIA
|
GRTV
Behind the Headlines now online
- by
James Corbett - 2011-10-06
|
|
||
|
The
Repercussions of a Pro-Nuclear Corporate Press
- by
Keith Harmon Snow - 2011-06-20
|
|
||
|
- by
Alexander Higgins - 2011-04-18
|
|||
|
- by
Yoichi Shimatsu - 2011-03-13
|
|||
|
The
tendency to deny systemic errors - "in order to avoid public panic"
- is rooted in the determination of an entrenched Japanese bureaucracy to
protect itself...
| |||
|
Learn
more on GRTV
- by
Arnie Gundersen - 2012-01-11
|
|
|
- by
Chris Busby - 2011-03-31
|
|
|
"The
nuclear industry is waging a war against humanity." This war has now
entered an endgame which will decide the survival of the human race.
|
|
And
Now the Extreme Vulnerability of NEW U.S. Plants Is Being Covered Up
- by
Washington's Blog - 2011-11-12
|
|
|
- by
Washington's Blog - 2011-11-14
|
|
- by
John LaForge - 2012-01-17
|
PART IV
THE PROCESS OF
WORLDWIDE NUCLEAR RADIATION
|
by Dr. Helen Caldicott
- 2012-01-25
|
|
|
- by
Dr. Joseph J. Mangano, Dr. Janette Sherman - 2011-12-20
|
|
|
In
the US, Following the Fukushima fallout, samples of radioactivity in
precipitation, air, water, and milk, taken by the U.S. government, showed
levels hundreds of times above normal...
|
|
But
Governments "Lied" About Meltdowns and Radiation
- by
Washington's Blog - 2011-06-24
|
|
|
New
report now on GRTV
- by
Michio Kaku, Liz Hayes - 2011-08-23
|
|
-
2011-12-29
|
|
|
- by
Washington’s Blog - 2011-11-15
|
|
|
PART V
IMPLICATIONS
FOR
THE GLOBAL NUCLEAR ENERGY INDUSTRY
|
- by
Gayle Greene - 2012-01-26
|
|
|
|
- by
Helen Caldicott - 2011-12-05
|
|
|
New
Sunday Report now on GRTV
- by
James Corbett - 2011-07-04
|
|
Watch
now on GRTV
- by
Arnie Gundersen, David Lochbaum - 2011-07-12
|
|
|
Learn
more on GRTV
- by
Arnie Gundersen - 2011-09-26
|
|
Explore
the issues on GRTV
- by
Arnie Gundersen - 2011-10-05
|
|
|
Find
out more on GRTV
- by
Arnie Gundersen - 2011-11-24
|
|
“Nuclear
Can Be Safe Or It Can Be Cheap … But It Can’t Be Both”
- by
Washington's Blog - 2011-12-23
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
which peoples "played a dominant role in development of nuclear power" - ? (not much bragging about this coming from them these days is there - ?)
ReplyDelete