"Mystery of Plutonium that Crossed the Pacific Ocean" Article by Sunday Mainichi Magazine

On the 6/12/11 issue of Sunday Mainichi, there is an article called "Mystery of Plutonium that Crossed Across the Pacific Ocean" that includes comments by Professor Kunihiko Takeda. We blogged at the end of April about dramatically increased amount of Plutoniumand Uranium detected on the west side of the United States. Though that blog was widely shared on internet, this Sunday Mainichi article would give chance to many more people to get to know this serious matter. Here's a summary of the Sunday Mainichi article.

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Sunday Mainichi (2011/6/12) "Mystery of Plutonium that Crossed Across the Pacific Ocean" (pg. 19-21).

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) detected Plutonium and Uranium "in the maximum amounts in last 20 years" at the west side of the country (Guam, Hawaii, California, Alaska etc.) from the end of March to the beginning of April. Also, other "abnormal data" have been found in the United States; for example, Strontium has been detected in Hawaiian milk.

Prof. Kunihiko Takeda at Chubu University, who is also a former member of the Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission, said, "(These particles) Must have spread from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. It is quite possible that they are Plutonium and Uranium that came from the Reactor #3 (MOX)."

Based on the radiation forecast by the German meteorological Agency, Prof. Takeda stated that "In Japan, the amount of spread Plutonium could reach over 100 times of what have been detected in the United States."  

These US data plus facts of meltdown and breakage of reactor containers could imply the possibility of spreading Plutonium in Japan. Prof. Takeda said if Plutonium has been thrown out by explosions, "TEPCO and the government is probably concealing some very important facts about the hydrogen explosions."

Prof. Takeda also talked about the US report on 4/6/11 in which detected amounts of Plutonium were all described in "ND (Not-Detected)" though raw data shows the amounts seemingly much more than just being called non-detected. Prof. Takeda thinks that The US government could have considered "consistency" with official information that have been publicized by TEPCO and the Japanese government.

Prof. Takeda concluded that the EPA findings are "very valuable" in order to be able to understand the real picture of contamination that has still been unclear to us. The EPA data could warn us possibilities of very serious contamination in Japan.

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We repeatedly ask the Japanese government the following things 1) immediate check on more radioactive materials including ones emit Alfa ray 2) health check-up on internal exposure on its citizens by Whole-Body Counter and urinalysis 3) obligatory food inspection that tells us levels of contamination in Bq units 4) monitoring of all the radioactive materials in water, soil, and air in wider areas of Japan, and 5) enforcement of sufficient measure to clean up radiation.

In this article by Sunday Mainichi, it also features Prof. Teruo Henmi at Ehime University mentioning that "Filters that TEPCO is going to use in order to clean contaminated water cannot get rid of Plutonium." The correspondent of the article has asked EPA for an interview, but he has not heard back their answer yet. I hope that this matter of Plutonium gets more attention so that we can understand a real picture of contamination by the Fukushima Daiichi Accident.

Summary of Detected Radioactive Materials on Soil: A Call for Physical Examination on Internal Exposure in Wide Area

All the news about radiation levels are pretty non-sense to me in terms of understanding contaminations though the government and mainstream media in Japan have been using radiation levels, which check mostly on spacious dose of gamma rays, as their tactic to tell us how safer it is getting in the crisis of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. I rely much more on researches of radioactive materials on soil as a critical data to understand contaminations. So, here, I collected and summarized researches on detected radioactive Cesium on soil.

* Please note that methods of soil researches here are not unified, and this would result in various detected numbers. For example, results change with conditions of soils and depth of soil location. So PLEASE do not judge based on this graph if where you are is safe or not. This should only be used for a guideline. 

*Click the image to expand

*Total Cesium = Cesium 134 + Cesium 137

<Research by Professor Hideo Yamazaki @ Kinki University>

Prof. Yamazaki's research came out on Asahi Shinbun on 5/15, and it uses unit of Bq/kg so it cannot be simply converted to Bq/m2 in order to compare with other researches that are using Bq/m2. There are methods that can give us estimated conversion between Bq/kg and Bq/m2. Mr. Tetsuji Imanaka at Kyoto University uses a method of multiplying 20 to amount of Bq/kg to have estimated Bq/m2 amount whiles the Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission indicated a method of multiplying 65 to amount of Bq/kg. So I decided to use both methods here. (*Do not forget that these results vary depending on conditions and depth of the researched soils. Researches by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries actually go deep into soil so detected amounts are always so small in their findings. In such a case, you probably need to multiply bigger number to see unified results with other researches.)

By using the above methods, I estimate that the amount of Cesium 137 in Hikarigaoka, Fukushima Prefecture, can be categorized in at least the Second Contamination Zone of the Chernobyl accident (x20 is 7.5 Ci/km2 and x65 is 24.3 Ci/km2). This area is very close to the central part of Fukushima City and Fukushima University so the matter is more serious than the Chernobyl by considering the population density. In the same calculation, Kameido of Tokyo can be categorized in at least the Third Contamination Zone of the Chernobyl accident (x20 is 0.9 Ci/km2 and x65 is 2.8 Ci/km2). I think that contamination level can be mitigated on the asphalted surface compared to soiled surface because radioactive materials can be easily carried away to sewerage, but it is still pretty certain that at least parts of Tokyo have already seriously been contaminated by radioactive materials.

Source: Asahi Shinbun on 5/15/11 (in Japanese)

<Research by MEXT – Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology>

The data by MEXT is also in units Bq/kg, but according to the Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission, we can use the x65 method when converting the MEXT data to Bq/km2. Their data are only on the area near the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and the results are shocking. Iidate Village's A Point shows 143 Ci/km2 and Namie Village shows 685 Ci/km2. These numbers are terribly high.

Source1: Mainichi Shinbun on 3/27/11 (in Japanese)

Source2: Sponichi Annex on 5/7/11 (in Japanese)

<Research by Mr. Sinzo Kimura by NHK's Coverage on Radiation Contamination on 5/16/11>

The NHK TV program ETV Special "Map on Radiation Contamination Created by Networking" (somewhat not so serious naming opposed to the contents of the program probably due to governmental "advises"…I assume) was really a great one as many people shared similar opinion. The detected numbers released on the program are unfortunately limited, but it makes me feel better that people like Mr. Kimura, immediately started acting on researching contamination in the most effected area near the nuclear plant.

Many people who watched the program were confirmed how the government's response to this crisis is serious human rights violations. The government did not evacuate residents in 20 to 30km zones from the plant until 2 months after the earthquake. Mr. Kimura followed people in the Akagi area of Namie Village who remained in the area by believing the government officials saying it is safe to be there. Mr. Kimura, on the other hand, found shocking 54 Ci/kms of Cesium 137 on the area's soil in March, which indicates much higher level of contamination than the area near the Chernobyl accident where residents were forced to evacuate immediately. Without Mr. Kimura's findings and advise, these residents in the Akagi area could have stayed there for a much longer time and would have been caused serious damages internally and externally. Mr. Kimura, by the way, talked about his anecdote that he resigned from his position at Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare right after the earthquake because he was ordered by his boss to restrain from personal researches on radiation contamination. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare owes an explanations to the public why Mr. Kimura's research was restrained though it is a research to save many people's live (and he actually did save people's lives in the Akagi area). You can tell how pretty amazing that these stories came out from the national television NHK.

Can I talk about now infamous MEXT, Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology? So this inhumane agency, probably worse than the Ministry of Health, has said that it is NOT necessary to remove soils on school yards in Fukushima to mitigate contamination as long as schools follow time limits on the outside activities because for MEXT children being exposed to up to 20 milliSv/year is safe. On the NHK program, you will see a courageous school principal in Koriyama City in Fukushima decided to voluntarily remove soil 3cm in depth in order to mitigate contamination level for children. Guess what the MEXT told the school to do. MEXT told the school to keep the mountain of removed contaminated soil in the school yard because there is no other place to be taken to. So it's there. The mountain of contaminated soil removed by courageous principle and teachers who really care about saving students health and lives. What do I say? Send the soil to MEXT and TEPCO if they dare to say it is safe!!!!

On 5/2 when residents in Fukushima Prefecture had a meeting with MEXT, the Nuclear Safety Commission, who supposedly advised the 20 milliSv/year standard to the MEXT, said something very interesting to the residents (and sitting right next to the representatives from MEXT!). "Let me tell you clearly that it is not acceptable to set the standard on 20 milliSv/year. We, the Nuclear Safety Commission, did not approve the standard. (people in the meeting started roaring) We have not approved the standard! Let me tell you again that we, NSC, does not approve 20 milliSv/year to children." Well, then please change this standard ASAP. What I saw in the meeting probably shows that it started having different opinions internally within the government's officials and agencies. Is it hopeful? Hopefully hopeful….

Source: NHK ETV Special "Map on Radiation Contamination Created by Networking" (5/16/11) on Youtube and in words (both in Japanese)

<Research by the Japan Chemical Analysis Center>

As in my past blog, 1.4 Ci/km2 of Cesium 137 have been detected in Chiba City, which fits in the Third Contamination Zone of the Chernobyl accident.

Source: Japan Chemical Analysis Center

<Recommendation: Please Give Us Access to Internal Exposure Examination by Mobile Whole-Body Counters and Urinalysis>

It is not acceptable for pro-nuke groups and people to continue concealing critical information, refusing life-saving researches, creating murderous standards, and putting responsibilities on individuals by not taking on theirs!!! Overall, it is certain that radioactive materials that have been emitted from the Fukushima Diichi Nuclear Plant are so serious and contamination levels show life threatening conditions in wider area. We can only see researches on limited areas, but, according to my past blog on the WSPEEDI data, there is no doubt that the Greater Tokyo area has been contaminated pretty seriously. Soil contamination means similar condition for water, which connects to food contamination and human contamination through biological concentration.

Since serious contamination in wide area is inevitable, we should know how much radiation we have been exposed to. First, the government must include researches on alpha and beta rays so we know detailed contamination levels of Plutonium, Uranium, Iodine, Cesium, Strontium etc. Second, the government should start internal exposure examinations for its citizens. The government has done only external exposure check-up on limited people near the nuclear plant, but I know that they can examine internal exposure by using Mobile Whole-Body Counters and urinalysis on alpha and beta rays. They should start these physical check-ups for free starting from children in the affected areas. If you or your children get cancer or leukemia in 10 years or 20 years, you cannot prove its cause as radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plan without proof of your internal exposure. This is why the government does not want to do such examinations because it's all related to compensations. Our lives are all numbers that cost money for them!!!! This is what happened in the Chernobyl accident and Hiroshima/Nagasaki as well. If you know your level of exposures, you can start planning better intervention and prevention to further exposure. Also, it will pressure the government to do more humane response to the crisis. Let's take an action to call for internal exposure examinations!

Partial Data of the WSPEEDI Forecasting Finally Released by the Government: Wide Area including Tokyo Possibly at the Level of Radiation Controlled Area of Chernobyl

Finally Released Partial WSPEEDI Data

On May 10, the Ministry Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) released a part of the WSPEEDI (2^nd generation SPEEDI) forecasting data which they had concealed until now. WSPEEDI can forecast radioactive contamination of as far as thousands kilometers; therefore, it could forecast the contamination spreading all over Japan. MEXT, however, only released data from some parts of Nagano and Shizuoka Prefectures in the South to some parts of Iwate and Akita Prefectures in the North. In addition, the data is limited on amounts of Iodine 131 of March 25, 2011. Though it is a forecasting data, it can give more detailed data on spreading contamination of radioactive materials than the other data that the Japan Meteorological Agency released in April. So I consider this WSPEEDI data as crucial in order for people to know what is going on, and I honestly cannot hide my shock that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) finally released this data 2 months after the incident. I strongly believe that people who decided to hide the data until now have to be judged by the law in the near future because this data (of even only on March 25) is THAT important! Here's my analysis on the released WSPEEDI data.

Source: MEXT's website on the WSPEEDI data and PDF document of the released data

Contamination Forecast of Accumulated Iodine 131 on the Land, March 25, 2011

click the image to expand

<Severely Contaminated Area – Yellow : 1,000,000 – 10,000,000 Bq/m2>

The area includes not only the eastern part of Fukushima Prefecture (already an evaluation zone) but also from the northern part of Koriyama City; the central part of Fukushima Prefecture; the southern part of Shiraishi City of Miyagi Prefecture, to Kitaibaraki City and Hitachi City of Ibaraki Prefecture (the south of Iwaki City). The page 2 of the MEXT document also contains shocking data of glandula thyreoidea equivalent dose of Iodine 131 for infants. According to the data, 50 to 100 mSV (millisievert) of extremely high dose of Iodine 131 (glandula thyreoidea equivalent dose) was found in the wide area including Motomiya City of Fukushima Prefecture and Takahagi City of Ibaraki Prefecture (in red); over 20 mSV of Iodine 131 was found in the area including Fukushima City of Fukushima Prefecture, parts of Miyagi, Ibaraki and Chiba Prefectures (in yellow).

<High Contaminated Area – Green: 100,000 – 1,000,000 Bq/m2>

The area includes most of the central Fukushima Prefecture; about 80% of Miyagi Prefecture; the southeastern Yamagata Prefecture; most of Ibaraki Prefecture; about a half of Tochigi Prefecture; the northern, eastern, and southern Chiba Prefecture; about 40% of Saitama Prefecture; about 20% of Gunma Prefecture; most of Tokyo except for Okutama; about 50% of Kanagawa Prefecture including a part of Yokohama City; Izu Peninsula of Shizuoka Prefecture (Atami City to Ito City), etc.

<Intermediate Contaminated Area – Light Blue: 10,000 – 100,000 Bq/m2>

The area includes most of the other parts of the Tohoku region (northeast Japan), Kanto region (where Tokyo is), Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture. The Tohoku region of this area includes the southeastern part of Akita Prefecture, about 50% of Niigata Prefecture (especially the south); the northeastern part of Nagano Prefecture.

<Low Contaminated Area – Dark Blue: 1,000 – 10,000 Bq/m2>

The area includes Tokai Region and a part of Hokuriku and Tohoku regions that face the Japan Sea.

*Super High, High, Intermediate, and Low Contaminated Areas are named by this blog for the purpose of explaining the contamination levels on the WSPEEDI data that was released. Also, for your information, Iodine 131 becomes Xenon 131 after emitting all the radiation.

  

Estimation of Accumulated Cesium 137 on the Land

Our past article showed data of accumulatedamounts of Iodine 131 and Cesium 137 by simply summing the values that have been announced daily by the MEXT (though the data is only available after March 19 and most of the data of Miyagi and Fukushima are not available). When looking at the proportions of Iodine 131 to Cesium 137, 3.3 times more Iodine 131 in Shizuoka, 8.1 times more Iodine 131 in Ibaraki, 13.2 times more Iodine 131 in Tokyo, and 40 times more Iodine 131 in Chiba, are accordingly found when compared Cesium 137. I apply these proportions to the WSPEEDI data and predict the accumulated amounts of Cesium 137 below.

<Estimation of Cesium 137>

Chiba City of Chiba Prefecture : 250 – 2,500 Bq/m2

Tokyo (except for Okutama): 7,700 – 77,000 Bq/m2

A part of Shizuoka Prefecture (including Atami and Ito): 30,000 – 300,000 Bq/m2

Ibaraki (except for Kitaibaraki and Hitachi): 12,500 – 125,000 Bq/m2

Central Fukushima City : 50,000 – 500,000 Bq/m2

Please note that another agency called the Japan Chemical Analysis Center in Chiba City released very different findings. The center detected 48,000 Bq/m2 of Iodine 131, 53,000 Bq/m2 of Cesium 134, and 53,000 Bq/m2 of Cesium 137 on the surface of graveled soil on April 14, 2011 (The data include results from March 26 to April 14, but when you look at amounts of each material, it is certain that high contamination occurred before March 25). Also, because we know that most of the Tokyo area is contaminated higher than that of Chiba City, Cesium 137's amount in Tokyo probably cannot go below Chiba City's amount of 53,000 Bq/m2 (The MEXT data also shows more Cesium 137 detection in Tokyo than in Chiba City). As for the central part of Fukushima Prefecture, the MEXT's airmonitoring data that was released on May 6 similarly shows accumulated amount of at least 300,000 Bq/m2 Cesium 137. In sum, my estimation of Cesium 137 above is more realistic when you look at the maximum numbers than the minimum numbers. 

Applying to the Chernobyl's Contamination Zones

Here I apply the numbers to the Chernobyl'scontamination zones. I use the maximum numbers of estimation and the reason of that has been mentioned in the above paragraph.

<Cesium 137>

Tokyo (except for Okutama): 77,000 Bq/m2 (MBq/km2) = 2.1 Ci/km2

Ibaraki (except for Kitaibaraki and Hitachi): 125,000 Bq/m2 (MBq/km2) = 3.4 Ci/km2

Central Fukushima City: 500,000 Bq/m2 (MBq/km2) = 13.5 Ci/km2

* Ci = 37,000 MBq (MBq = 1,000,000 Bq)

Central Fukushima's 13.5 Ci/km2 equals to the Second Contamination Zone of Chernobyl (5-15 Ci/km2). Tokyo's 2.1 Ci/km2 equals to the Third Contamination Zone of Chernobyl (1-5 Ci/km2). I have already stated that Chiba City is already contaminated to the level of the Third Contamination Zone of Chernobyl, but from the WSPEEDI data, most of the Tokyo area possibly equals to the Third Contamination Zone. At the Third Contamination Zone of Chernobyl, dramatic increases of cancers and leukemia started among residents 10 to 20 years after the incident mainly due to internal exposures to radioactive materials by the air and local food supplies.

These numbers used in this calculation are of course estimated ones (because the government and TEPCO still conceal vital information!!), but please don't forget that these estimated numbers are as of March 25 and a lot more Cesium and other materials have been emitted since then and still continue now. I can assume that it can be less contamination on concreted land as materials can be washed away easily compared to sanded land. But, still, the contamination level overall is a lot more than what we thought it was. It is very possible that area near Fukushima City could have reached the First Contamination Zone that former Soviet Union forced its residents to leave their homes. According to the airmonitoring data by the MEXT, at Iidate Village that is located outside of the 30km evacuation zone, more than 81 Ci/km2 of Cesium 137 were detected (and people still live there now!).

I continue to ask the government to release ALL the data that they have, whether it is actual detection or forecasting data, as well as to start measuring Plutonium and Uranium (if they really have not done so). Moreover, I urge the government to revisit the inhumane safety standards of 20 mSv for school children and food/water consumptions that is set so much looser than international standards. Finally, please come up with ideas and plans to eliminate/clean up radioactive materials that have been so spread all over the country (or I should say all over the World). 

Postscript

A reader of our blog, Mr. Tengu, has provided us this very interesting information. Mr. Tengu captured this image on NHK (Japanese national broadcasting program) in mid-April. He was watching a NHK program called "Asaichi (Morning First)". While the government had refused to disclose the SPEEDI data from the beginning of the crisis, this information proves that the SPEEDI data on March 16 (written on the screen image) existed at the hands of government officials. The second image below is created by Mr. Tengu who expanded the SPEEDI data and put it together with a more detailed map of the area. 

Despite the fact that the image on the TV program says it's the SPEEDI data, this looks like the WSPEEDI on Iodine-131 Infant Organ Dose from March 15. This came out in mid-April, which means that NHK had the data before Kosako revealed in the end of April that the government had concealed the SPEEDI data. This proves that the government possessed such data at least from March 15 (though I bet that they have the WSPEEDI data from March 11). As the map above shows, serious amounts of radioactive materials spread over the Kanto region especially in Saitama and Gunma prefectures. The government has so much responsibility for not disclosing these data on time, which could have prevented unnecessary exposures to radiation if appropriate warnings had been delivered to the public.

Beating the News (3): Ministry of Education Distributing Handout for Teachers and Parents that is Called "To Correctly Understand Radioactivity." Well, Your Correct Way Sounds Fake and Lies to Me...I'll Show You Why!

Phew, I'm upset. It's not really "beating the news" per se, but I'm "beating the government's handout." So the now infamous governmental agency, MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology) released a hangout aiming to help teachers and parents understand what radioactivity is "correctly." Well, you got it, their correct way to me is OH VERY WRONG in every single way (every single page…you will see soon). I am convinced that they created this handout to brainwash teachers and parents how safe to live in Fukushima and other affected areas near the crippled nuclear plant, when they really should be spending time on how to protect children in the area. MEXT is the one who set the infamous "safety standard" of 20mSv/year for children, which has been widely accused nationally and internationally, because the standard is based on the calculation that could eventually kill at least 5 to 10 per 1,000 adults due to cancer. Being already wrong enough, imagine the governmental agency is applying the number to children. Thanks for people in Germany quickly responding to the matter and had a rally against this crazy standard in Berlin on May 4!  

So here are my points of every single WRONG information on the hangout (the words in red are translation of what the MEXT handout says). Allow me to be a bit emotional on this one.

Here's a MEXT site to the handout (in Japanese)

Direct link to the PDF handout (in Japanese)

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Page 1: "To Correctly Understand Radioactivity"

→To me, they should have wrote, "To Distortedly Understand Radioactivity" (and again, you will see soon what I'm talking about).

Page 2: "Radioactive materials are usually in an unstable condition….. when it gets stabilized, it stops emitting radiation anymore"

→LIE! There are materials that become different kinds of radioactive materials after emitting its radiation. For example, Iodine 131 does not disappear its half of the radiation after its half-life ends, but it actually becomes Xenon 131. Similarly, Iodine 135, that got diffused a lot after the explosion of the #3 reactor, eventually becomes Cesium 135. 

Page 4: "You get radiated in the natural environment and in getting X-rayed. So don't worry. When you overreact to this matter, it will have negative impact to your daily life and create unnecessary discrimination."

→What? What balance?? First of all, please stop comparing artificial radioactive materials having being emitted from the nuclear plant to medical X-rays and cosmic radiation that do not cause internal exposure (check our past article1 and article 2 in Japanese). Potassium and Radon that can be found in the natural environment do damage our cells, but these materials have been on the earth forever so they are nature themselves and it is our fate as creatures to live with these materials. On the other hand, I consider being damaged by artificial radioactive materials from nuclear plants is human violence. Second, who is talking about "overreact" when they are the ones who created the safety standard that could kill at least 5 to 10 per 1,000 adults by cancer without legitimate considerations? Do we need to keep our "balance" even when we start losing our children by cancer and leukemia in the near future? As long as there is risk, our normal sense of "balance" should be to protect everyone, especially children, as much as possible by considering any possibilities. Third, regarding of bias and discrimination against what we should not be afraid of, stop putting responsibilities on individuals when it is the government and TEPCO who should be blamed for the confusions among citizens by not providing important data and keeping us updated with the facts (our past blog talking about the MEXT safety standard is here).

Page 5: "Exposures to radiation have two ways….internal and external. Both damages are the same to your body" and "Even once you inhale/consume radioactive materials in your body, it gets discharged eventually....."

→Oh PLEASE! Damages of radiation exposure is in inverse proportion to the square of the distance so how can they say that being damaged internally equals to damages from outside of your body? Plus, alpha radiation that goes relatively short distance can give much stronger damage than gamma radiation that travels in long distance. In short, internal exposure to alpha or beta radiation is much more serious than external exposure to gamma radiation from several meters away. As for discharging from body, the MEXT instead should have wrote "not all the radioactive materials get discharged from your body because some materials remain and accumulate in your muscle, bone, thyroid, etc. Plus, even if materials get discharged, they could damage organs while in your body.

Page 6: "ICRP says…..it is possible to set the standard of 1 to 20 milli SV/year at the time of emergency….so we set our standard on 20 milli SV/year."

→It must be easy to use the biased ICRP's standard and ignore all the standards set by other international agencies and scientists. First, this ICRP's standard does not have any scientific legitimacy. Second, the worst thing is that this ICRP's standard completely ignores damages of internal exposure (see our past article in Japanese about this). So setting the 20 milli SV standard means killing many times more children than the calculation that could kill at least 5 to 10 per 1,000 people if considering more serious damage of internal exposure among children.

Page 7: "In a rare occasion, there might be areas where radioactive materials are accumulated in one spot……so just in case, please have children wash their hands and gargle often."

→I don't think it's "a rare occasion." It is everywhere! Some schools and local groups have already been doing their investigations (simply because the government doesn't do it), which have detected abnormal amount of radioactivity in schools. I don't think "just in case" approach will save children's lives. What the MEXT is saying sounds like it's all responsibilities of children and their parents, and I just can't stand it!! I know the government is still so reluctant of evacuating many more people because it will be responsible for much compensations. Please AT LEAST clean up sands and soils of school yards in Tohoku and Kanto regions then? (Tohoku= northeastern Japan; Kanto= highly populated area including Tokyo). I still think that people at wider zones should be evacuated immidiately even with one in a million chance of risk because we are talking aboout people's lives here!

Page 8: "There is no problem to continue with your ordinary life at an area that detects below 3.8 micro Sv/hour"

→Aghhh. There is NO threshold on how much radiation we can get according to the report by the U.S. National Academy of Science released in 2005 (our past article on no threshold of radiationexposure).

Page 9: "There have not been any serious discharges of radioactive materials since March 17. Therefore, if radioactive materials attached to your body or clothing, they should have all been gone by then. Even if you have consumed materials, they should have been discharged from your body."

 →REALLY? According to the CTBTO Takasaki Radionuclide Monitoring Station in Gunma, Japan, radioactive contamination increased on March 21, March 30, and April 18 as well. And how can you sound like there will not be "serious discharges" anymore when the plants are still at critical conditions??? If you want to say that radioactive materials are not on your body or clothing, they can still be on the ground outside or even at home. There are also materials that are not been discharged from body yet. Considering what I have just said, can it still be all safe? (our past article in English on data concealed by the government, and another related article in English)

Page 10: "Threshold on how much radiation"

→Actually, it is not only the National Academy of Science who is saying there is no threshold, but Dr. Helen Caldicott is saying the same thing (check NY Times article on April 30, 2011).

Page 11: "There is no proof of negative effect on genes by radiation in our human history (including victims of Hiroshima/Nagasaki, nuclear tests, and Chernobyl)"; "chances of one person developing cancer increase only 0.5% (at the level of 100 milli Sv)"; "Only possible negative effect that we could think of by this Fukushima incident is cancer"; and "There is no proof of developing cancer if you live at below 100 milli Sv."

→Lies! There are many attests by doctors and journalists on dramatically increasing numbers of people developing cancers and other diseases after the Chernobyl accident, but the pro-nuke IAEA decided to ignore all the truth and concluded with seriously much underestimated effects on residents near the Chernobyl plant. I even heard of medical documentations being stolen from hospitals for the Chernobyl victims. Some scientists say there have been at least 1,000,000 Chernobyl victims. NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) aired series of documentaries about the aftermath of Chernobyl in the past, and it says that dramatic increases of cancers and leukemia among both children and adults have been reported even at the Third Contamination Zone. There are also many cases of heart disease, miscarriage, and abnormalities in fertility that happen even until today in the area. I repeat that there is no threshold on how much radiation we can be exposed safely (our past article on Chernobyl, and another related article).

Page 11: "There, however, is an idea that cancer risk can increase even at lower level of radiation exposure. So it is better to avoid radiation as much as possible."

→This is the only acceptable sentence in the entire handout, but they still should call it scientifically proven fact rather than "an idea."

Page 12: "We expect few cases of infant thyroid cancer caused by this (Fukushima) accident." and "There was no increase of infant thyroid cancer caused by the Chernobyl accident."

→ Wow, I can't believe they said these things so definitely! I think they wanted to say, "there was no increase of infant thyroid cancer approved by us." It takes about 5 years for children and about 10 years for adults to start knowing cancer developing inside them. Some biased academic have said it takes over decades in order to know the epidemiological effect of the radiation on human bodies though we do have important, though limited, researches on the Chernobyl aftermath. These biased academia can say any lies in order to maintain their social statuses that have been built and paid by the nuclear industry. They know well how it takes years for many of us to start seeing the effects of the Fukushima accident on human bodies. We have to always remember how former Soviet Union and the IAEA scientists made so much efforts to underestimate the accident by completely shutting down what doctors and residents have been experiencing in the area. MEXT is using these "official" data by former Soviet Union and IAEA, which to me is absolutely unacceptable when we are talking about protecting children's lives (our past article on the Chernobyl aftermaths).

Here comes the final yet the most unbelievable points that the MEXT makes in this handout. Be ready people!

Page 12: "It has been said that damage on your mental health by being overly concerned is much more serious than damage by radiation"

Page 13: "When parents are mentally unstable, it directly effects children's mental health. It is very important for parents to gain correct knowledge on radiation and NOT to be overly concerned about it."

Page 14: Explanation on Relationship Between Brain and Stress Reactions

Page 15: "When you are stressed, you get heavy and butterfly feelings, and feel dark…….cause headache and stomachache…….because your heart and body are so well connected."

Page 16: "Experience that you feel uncontrollable remains in you for a long time as trauma."

Page 17: "PTSD occurs when you face experience that could risk your life."

Not finish yet! The amazing conclusion of the handout!!

Page 18: "If you are worried about radiation too much, it will cause both physical and mental instabilities on you……and on your children. So, please do not believe in rumors and wrong information. You should obtain correct information from your school. Then, you will have fun, blight, harmonious, and stable life everyday by preventing unnecessary damages on you."

WHAT A…….!!!???

I emphasize this so strongly here. There is nothing more important than your life and health, with which, you can maintain your mental stability. MEXT, the governmental agency that is to protect children, is the one who is threatening life and health of people. I think people who made this handout at MEXT are all sick! They are so unscientific and are able to put tasks on children and their parents instead of them taking responsibilities. What? Because of concerned parents, children get mentally unstable? PLEEEEEEASE!!!!

MEXT changed subject of radiation by using the brain system and PTSD. They also look down on people who are making efforts to collect as much trustable data in order to protect children (because the government doesn't do it). I just can't stand their "oh just listen to me and you'll be all fine" approach. It's so bureaucrat!!! I want to sue these crazy people for putting thousands of children being at risk of their lives. I almost feel like getting PTSDed by the MEXT.

I actually have worked for 4 years with women who have been diagnosed with PTSD. I, hence, have some knowledge on PTSD and I can tell how awkward and suspicious to spend so many pages on PTSD when talking about safety precautions on radiation. Well, one can tell the awkwardness of the handout even if you have no knowledge of PTSD. I understand there are many children who have been and will be diagnosed with PTSD due to the earthquake and tsunami. Also, I bet there will be many children who will be diagnosed with PTSD when they get sick or they lose their friends and families in the future all because of INCORRECT information the government, including MEXT, and TEPCO provided to people. I, however, strongly do not believe that there will be children who will be diagnosed with PTSD because their parents are concerned about radiation and appropriately make efforts to protect their children. I have never heard of PTSD diagnose due to overly concerns for life being at risk. Children do not get traumatized by adults who explain well what is going on and who act accordingly by responding to the crisis. I'm more concerned about children who will be diagnosed with Depression or Personality Disorders in the future because they are not able to trust people because of the MEXT handout. Really.

Please come out the MEXT people who created this unbelievably unprofessional handout, and please stop trying to brainstorm teachers and parents with this unscientific information for protecting your social status and power instead of children's lives. And, the MEXT is using our tax money to used this handout. I sincerely ask teachers and parents not to trust the handout. Please!

The Facts Concealed by Japanese Government: Iodine 135, Xenon 133, Tellurium 132, Promethium 15 and More Detected; Land Surface Cesium 137 Reaches Over 80 Ci/km2 in Iitate Village (37km from Fukuoka Daiichi), 1.4Ci/km2 in Chiba (220km); WSPEEDI Still Undisclosed

Radiation Concentration Highest Around March 15 Right After No.3’s Explosion; Huge Amount of Iodine 135; Disclosed Data of I-131 and Cs-137 Merely Shows a Tip of the Iceberg

After the 3.11, CTBTO Takasaki (Gunma, Japan) Radionuclide Monitoring Station detected in air Technetium 99m (Tc-99m), Barium 140 (Ba-140), Promethium 151 (Pm-151), Lantern 140 (La-140), Tellurium 129/129m/132 (Te-), Iodine 131/132/133/135 (I-), Cesium 134/136/137 (Cs-), and Xenon 131m/133(Xe-), etc. The Station was not able to measure the exact value of Xe-131m/133 gas due to extremely high density of Xenon on March 15. The Station is one of the CTBTO international observation networks, not a governmental agency.

Report 1
Report 2

The data from CTBTO Takasaki RMS

Click the image to expand

Pay attention to the extremely high density in air that was detected from March 15 to March 16. Although the data from March 14 to March 15 are missing (probably it could reveal the highest density because of the explosion at the #3 reator's fuel pool), it can prove what I have been saying based on the data by the Japan Metrological Agency that the largest amount of radioactive materials got diffused during the first one week after the 3.11. Ministry of Education (MEXT) has disclosed only data of a few isotopes of Iodine and Cesium after March 19, which only indicates a tip of the iceberg.

There are other interesting findings in the data. First, it was not only right after March 14 that the increased amount of radioactivity was detected, but there are also increases of radioactivity on March 21, 30, and April 18. Second, total amount of radioactive Cesium has been counted twice as high as the total amount of Cesium 137 only, similarly, total amount of radioactive Iodine at least 42 times higher than the total amount of Iodine 131, and the Iodine 135, though detected only on March 16, even scored the highest amount of detection among any radionuclides in the data.

It is important to know that Iodine 131 becomes Xenon 131m, Iodine 135 becomes Xenon 135, and Xenon 135 becomes Cesium 135 (which half-life is 2,300,000 years) after omitting all the radiation. Then, can it be said that there must be huge amount of Cesium 135 have been accumulated on the land of Japan? (Does anyone know of data on Cesium 135 in Japan?)

*Mr. Hiroaki Koide from Kyoto University has mentioned about this mysterious Iodine 135. He said that the huge amount of Iodine 135 supports the speculation of nuclear explosion at the #3 reactor on March 14.

MEXT Aeromonitoring Shows Cesium Contamination Worse Than Chernobyl: Areas 80km Outside of the Plant Already Being the Chernobyl Evacuation Zone 

On May 6, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT) almost secretly released the data by airmonitoring on the accumulated Cesium 137 on the land. The data shows horrendous facts about the areas near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. It found 3,000,000 Bq/ms (81 Ci/m2) of Cesium 137, which could be one of the worst radioactive contamination in the history, in the large area including Iidate Village located right outside of the 30km zone. It also found 600,000 Bq/ms (16.2 Ci/km2) of Cesium 137 contamination in the area between 30km to 60km outside of the plant. The area of 60km to 80km out of the plant detected 300,000 Bq/m2 (8Ci/km2). In the Chernobyl accident, residents were recommended voluntary migration in the area of Cesium 137 detection between 5 Ci/km2 to 15 Ci/km2 (the second contaminated area); residents who were at the area over 15 Ci/km2 of Cesium 137 were ordered mandatory displacement (the first contaminated area). It is clear that the Japanese government's intervention after the accident is much less humane than the former Soviet Union. 

*1 Ci = 37,000,000,000 Bq = 37,000 MBq (MBq = 1,000,000 Bq); 1km2 = 1,000,000 m2 

The data of Cesium 134 (half-life span is 2.1 years) have been added to its online database by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT) since April 25, 2011. MEXT had disclosed data of only Cesium 137 and Iodine 131. According to the data, nearly identical proportion of Cesium 134 has been found compared to the amount of Cesium 137. Since Cesium 136 also has been found by a non-government research group, we can at least double the amount of previously reported amount of Cesium 137 in order to know the total amount of radioactive Cesium.

Tokyo Government has released data including precipitations of Cesium 134 since March 19, 2011. According to the report, 6,803 MBq/km2 (MBq = megabecquerel) of Cesium 134 and 6,968 MBq/km2 of Cesium 137 were detected between March 19 to May 1, 2011. The US EPA also detected that Cesium 134 and Cesium 137 in nearly identical proportion in the U.S., coinciding the data with Tokyo.

Xenon 133, Cesium 136, Tellurium 129 and 132 Have Been Found in Chiba Prefecture; Accumulated Amount of Cesium 137 on the Surface of the Land Counts Over 53,000 MBq/km2 (=The Chernobyl Third Contamination Zone)

Japan Chemical Analysis Center (non-government) in Chiba Prefecture has detected Xenon 133 of 1,300 Bq/m3 in the air, which is 1,300,000 times higher than regular concentration of 0.001 Bq/km3, between March 14 to March 22, 2011. The amount of Xenon 133 has been decreased since then, yet in the mid-April, it still counted nearly 600 times more than the average prior to March 11. The data also included amounts of Krypton 85, Iodine 132, Tellurium 129, and Tellurium 132. The observation point is in Chiba City (about 40km/25miles east of Tokyo). The center says it does not check on Plutonium and Uranium.

I contacted the center to get more detailed numbers of the report since it only shows rough values on the graphs. According to our email correspondence, the center detected 48,000 Bq/m2 of Iodine 131, 53,000 Bq/m2 of each Cesium 134 and Cesium 137, and 1,000 Bq/m2 of Cesium 136 on the surface of graveled soil on April 14. The center also found contamination in the soil 5cm in the earth (the center does not check soils below 5cm in depth). It is shocking to me that such huge amount of Cesium 137 have been detected while the MEXT data shows the accumulated Cesium 137 of Chiba prefecture in about 5,000 MBq/km2 (=5,000 Bq/m2), 10 times less than the amount the center detected) from March 19 to April 24. 53,000 Bq/ms (=1.4 Ci/km2) of Cesium means the third contamination zone in the Chernobyl accident (1 Ci/km2 to 5 Ci/km2), where cases of cancer and leukemia abnormally increased after 10 years. It is assumed that the contamination level could be less by considering that most of the land was soil at the Chernobyl accident where most of the land in Japan are made by concrete. Nevertheless, proving the high detection of Cesium in Chiba prefecture means very serious conditions in Tokyo, Ibaraki, Yamagata, and of course, Fukushima and Miyagi, where they have detected more amounts of Cesium 137 by the MEXT's national data. 

High Concentration of Plutonium Detected in the Soil 50km Outside of the Fukushima Plant: Food Manufacture Company who Detected is Reluctant to Release the Data to the Public

An article was released on May 14 regarding of high concentration of Plutonium detected in the soil 50 km outside of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant. It does not mention a place of the detection and a name of the food manufacture company. Here the article says,

"According to the food manufacture company, they do not want to disclose what they have found because they are afraid of the impact it would make in the public. They still detected high concentration of Plutonium from soil of rice field."

I want to urge them to release the data! We have been so suspicious anyways that the government has been determined not to check on Plutonium and Uranium, or I should say, that the government has been determined to conceal findings on Plutonium and Uranium. In either way, we have the right to know what is really going on. 

Data on Other Prefectures

Gunma Prefecture: It has detected Iodine 131, 132, Cesium 134, 136, 137, Technetium 99m, and Tellurium 132. 

Shizuoka Prefecture: It detected Iodine 131, Cesium 134, 137, and Potassium 40 in March. The total accumulation of detected Cesium 137 have been about 600 Bq/m2 from March 1 to March 31. According to the MEXT data, 120 Bq/m2 of Cesium 137 were detected from March 19 to March 31; therefore, the unreleased data on March 11 to March 18 could be assumed in 600 Bq/m2 minus 120 Bq/m2 = 480 Bq/m2 only in the first week after the earthquake. 

*Thanks for those who have shared information with me, including the Japan Chemical Analysis Center.

ALL the Data of SPEEDI Really Disclosed?

The Japanese government pressured local governments NOT to disclose any findings by the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI), but finally we heard the news that they decided to release the data to the public.

It only contains, however, information about the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, and does not include any information we really want to know: how every radioactive materials predictably spread to country-wide and asia-pacific-wide level. The government is supposed to be equipped with the technology that could estimate the spread of each radioactive materials even to the areas of neighboring countries (which WSPEEDI and The Third Generation SPEEDI could do). So we cannot trust that this is the only available data.

Goshi Hosono, Prime Minister Naoto Kan's special adviser dealing with the nuclear accident and the secretary-general of the integrated headquarters said, "We have disclosed all the data of SPEEDI that the government received. I understand that no critical information could be obtained from the area outside of what is being observed (30km/18miles in radius from nuclear plant)." But it seems they made a mistake in their efforts to conceal other data, for Mr. Kosako, a biased scholar, left bombshell when suddenly resigned his position of Special Advisor to the Cabinet (probably he got scared to keep cooperating with government officials who set school safety standard that would kill many children. Kosako revealed that the government is still hiding data of WSPEEDI which covers much wider area. That is how we understand that the Japanese government conceals much more data. Then, again, government announced they will release hidden date from SPEEDI [e.g. data about amount of discharged radioculides when they did vents] This means they admitted they lied. Of course no one will forgive them. Because of information hiding, many people in Japan were deceived and unnecessarily exposed more to the radioactivity. Every person who involved in this decision of information hiding, as well as those who decided mass murdering standards, should be hauled to the court.

We, ordinary people, are asking for the truth, not information selected by nuclear industry or government or any sort of foolish excuse, like “we needed to prevent panic”. The government must more directly answer the question of which radioactive materials have been discharged at where, when, and how much from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. They have shown us only data of Cesium 137 and Iodine 131 (and now Cesium 134); monitoring is being done only at one location in each prefecture: there is missing data of a few days after the accident, which is when probably the largest amount of radioactive materials were emitted so far. U.S. has detected Plutonium, Uranium, Tellurium, Strontium, and Cobalt, but Japan does not yet disclose information on these radionuclides other than Iodine and Cesium. Hello, this matter is related to people's lives. Stop concealing vital information. Release all the data to the public immediately!!

Plutonium and Uranium Detected in the U.S.: The Highest Density in the Last 20 Years! California, Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam

Plutonium and Uranium have been detected in abnormal density measuring from the end of March to the beginning of April in Guam, Hawaii, and the US west coast, according to my close examination on the RadNet database of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This proves that Plutonium and Uranium, some of the most toxic materials, had dispersed from the Fukushima Diichi Nuclear Plant (and it also means that these materials have contaminated the ocean). While the government, mainstream media, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company), and biased academia in Japan have closed their mouth tight about this fact (By the way, the US government also provides very limited information of radioactive substance in the main pages of the website that most of the people visit), it has already been spreading among net users, both ordinary people and specialists, by making it impossible to conceal the truth from us any more.

On this blog, I checked on concentration of the radioactive substance in the air detected by air-filter in California, Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam, where Plutonium and Uranium were detected (there is information that Plutonium was also detected in Washington State and Saipan, but I excluded these two areas here). I also want to note that most of the places had observations only up to three times since March 11, 2011, and somehow there has not been any report on the nuclear substance observation since the beginning of April (this has been criticized in the US). The following charts are made based on the EPA data.

* I encourage you to retrieve the data by going to the EPA RadNet database so you can confirm our argument is accurate. The result comes out when you select "Air Filter", "CA (state name)" and "Plutonium-239 (nuclide name)," for instance, and then click the "Search Database" button below. Results are also downloadable. Please note the differences of the units being used in the database. Data after March 11, 2011 are described in a unit of pCi/m3, not in a unit of aCi/m3 that you will see in data prior to March 11, 2011. I am strongly hoping that many people will check and verify the data as I am not a specialist in the nuclear field. 

1pCi : 1,000,000aCi
1pCi : 0.037Bq
1km3 : 1,000,000,000m3
aCi/m3 : Atto-Curie per cubic meter

Bq/km3 : Becquerel per cubic kilometer
Pu : Plutonium
U : Uranium

Chronological Graph on Concentration in the Air [aCi/m3]

Plutonium 239 in California (past 20 years)

*click to expand the graph

Uranium 234 in Alaska (past 20 years)

*click to expand the graph

Uranium 238 in Hawaii (past 20 years)

*click to expand the graph

Average Density in Air Before and After 3.11 [Bq/km3]

Compared with the average density of the past 20 years from 1991 to February 2011, Plutonium 239 in California 18 times, Uranium 238 in Alaska 17 times, Uranium 234 in Hawaii 30 times, and Uranium 238 in also Hawaii 50 times were detected all after March 11, 2011. Also, in Guam, Plutonium 239, Uranium 234, 235 and 238 have been detected for the first time in the history of the observation. So-called “half-life” of each material is this: Plutonium 239 for 24,000 years, Uranium 234 for 240,000 years, Uranium 235 for 700 million years, and Uranium 238 for 4.47 billion years. As you could see easily, these isotopes have almost endless life spans from human perspective. Both Plutonium and Uranium are extremely toxic radioactive substances that omit strong alpha-ray radiation. 

There are two reasons why I conclude that these radioactive materials came from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. First, in the past 20 years, such sudden increase of radioactive materials, as indicated in the above graphs, has never been seen before March 11, 2011. Second, these regions where increased amount of Plutonium and Uranium were detected, are all closer to Japan. They are Guam, Hawaii, Alaska and California. Especially in Guam and Hawaii, the increases are even bigger than other States. For example, if you compare the numbers after the 3.11 between California (8700km=5400miles from Japan) and Guam (2500km=1550miles from Japan), Guam has detected 78 times higher Plutonium 239, 6 times higher Uranium 234, 16 times higher Uranium 235, and 13 times higher Uranium 238, than California. Plutonium and Uranium have yet not been detected along the East Coast (Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, etc.). Therefore, these two points of abnormal increase in radioactive materials and the locations of where these are detected can strongly indicate that this has been caused by the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.

Conclusion: Some of the most brutal radioactive materials, Plutonium and Uranium, have been spread in the air from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant.

Plutonium and Uranium in Japan

Now, how about Japan? How much density of Plutonium and Uranium are in the air? Very unfortunately, we can do nothing but estimate it on our own as long as TEPCO, the Japanese government, mainstream media, and biased scholars continue to hide critical information in order to prevent public opinions from going more to anti-nuclear climate. Having said that, please understand that the calculations below are considerably rough due to very limited data that has been presented to the public.

As I have already blogged previously, according to the radioactive substance diffusion forecast by the Japan Metrological Agency (JMA), the lowest dilution-concentration in Japan’s adjacent sea was 1/100,000,000,000,000 density compared to the material density in the sky over the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant [this data is about Iodine 131]. It is most likely that the density value in Guam is much lower than 1/100,000,000,000,000 from geographic perspective. but here I am making an assumption that Guam’s density level was 1/100,000,000,000. By doing so [assuming the higher relative density in Guam] our calculation provides the very modest estimate on how much Plutonium and Uranium could be detected in Japan. According to JMA’s diffusion forecast of the radioactive materials in the air discharged from Fukushima plant on March 26, 2011, the density in Ibaraki prefecture [next to Fukushima prefecture] is 1/10,000,000,000 which roughly means 10,000 times more than that in Guam, and the density in Tokyo is 1/100,000,000,000 which roughly means 100 times more than that in Guam (the measurements in Guam were done from March 31, 2011 to April 1, 2011).

Estimated Concentration of Plutonium and Uranium in Japanese Air [Bq/km3]

* Dilution: density level compared to the air above Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant (B = billion)

It is safe to say that density of Plutonium and Uranium in the air of Japan is much higher than the density detected in the United States. The Japanese government admitted this disaster is Level 7 status [it took one month for them to admit it] due to the total amount of Iodine 131 and Cesium 137 dispersed, but it is also as serious as the Chernobyl disaster by considering the varieties of radioactive materials [and it probably is more serious considering the number of people who will suffer]. The damage to the human body caused by internal exposure from inhaled or ingested Plutonium and Uranium is enormous, while the alpha ray that is omitted from these substances can only fly very short distances, which makes it very difficult to detect them by simply monitoring radiation [radioactive ray] level in the air. A fatal risk can occur if these substances get inside our body not knowing that they are already everywhere around us, but the Japanese government has been rejecting to measure Plutonium and Uranium level in Japan. The unbelievable decision of the “tentative safety standard” for schoolyard by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology could unnecessarily make 1 in 1,000 children suffer from cancer in the future, and this controversial standard has not even taken account the damage of internal exposure by radioactive materials. I have previously blogged about the damages of internal exposure in 10 years and 20 years by comparing data from the Chernobyl accident.

Now, the truth is out. What do you do, TEPCO and Mr. Madarame (Chair of corrupt Nuclear Safety Commission, Japan)!!

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Note: I updated the post with some revises and additions because there are things that I had found since the first post. In the previous post, I made two versions of charts by being unsure about using whether "Result Amount" (below RA) or "Minimum Detection Concentration" (below MDC). In the RA results, I found there are negative numbers in the EPA data, and I was not sure what it meant to have negative numbers in detected value. Then, I found the definition of RA in the EPA site, which made me confident that RA is the one indicating detected values of materials. I, therefore, removed the all previous information resulted by the MDC calculation. This does NOT change my previous conclusion, "In the United States, there was a significant increase in Plutonium and Uranium in the air." Also, there are people in Japan who have commented that MDC means "detection limit" but the interpretation is not accurate. According to the EPA site, MDC means the minimum value below which error could occur more than 5%. Error could occur in any detected values so it is not a big deal to focus on whether it has a chance of over 5% error or less. The factor of MDC should be kept in mind, but this definitely does not mean we can ignore the RA values that is less than MDC. Why? Because RA that is less than MDC does not signify they detect zero value of material or this does not mean they cannot technically detect materials. In addition, I noticed since starting to sort my graphs in chronological analysis, the MDC values were added in the EPA database only since 1992. Finally, separated from some of you who have given me advises and suggestions with good faith, a few people, who are probably from the "Village of Nuclear Industry [industrial-academic-political complex of nuclear interests]" are desperately trying to get us confused by spreading hoax using a word “a big lie” about the fact here. One professor from University of Tokyo immediately denied our argument but it turned out he just got confused about two different measurement units [aCi and pCi] that are used in the EPA database. I trust our fellow, ordinary people's, better sense. 

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Postscript: Part of  EPA’s database Results Missing in an EPA's PDF document

It has been pointed out that the EPA has provided summaries of measured detected findings by a PDF document since March 11, 2011. And I found a gap between the PDF document and data we can obtain from their database. In more accurate words, some data is missing in the PDF document.

For instance, the PDF document contains two detection values of Uranium 238 in California (0.000014pCi/m3 and 0.000019pCi/m3), and these numbers are also found from the EPA database. The EPA database, however, has one more detection value of 0.0000186pCi/m3 from March 25, 2011 (MDC is consistent), and this is not included in the PDF document. Likewise I found many data missing in the PDF document. It is obvious that the PDF document was created for the public by excluding a part of data that can be obtained in the database. The same thing can be said about Plutonium as well. In the PDF document, detection values are ALL described as "ND" somehow, but if you look at the EPA’s Radnet database, you can find detection values of Plutonium. Please do not get tricked by this "ND," which does not mean zero detection, but it means their definition of "undetected" based upon uncertain criteria. It may be interesting to know what kind of political interest is working behind the use of "ND" in terms of Plutonium detection, but here I am just showing you raw data from EPA’s database. Needless to say. raw data is much more trustable than any summarized documents filtered by bureaucrats.

The points I focused when examining the database is when and where the detected values increased. It is irrelevant and missing the mark here if you want to say, "hey, the detected absolute values in the U.S. are so tiny so don't worry" or "hey, it's better now compared to the time that nuclear weapons testing has been done in Nevada and other States so don't worry" (according to Wikipedia, the U.S. nuclear weapons testings were conducted from 1945 to 1992). Let me emphasize this again: detected values of Plutonium and Uranium have abnormally increased after March 11, 2011 compared to the past 20 years of data and these increases happened in the regions closer to Japan. Therefore, these materials are considerably coming from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, and this indicates a really serious matter for Japanese people.

I hope that many people spread this critical fact so that more people understand the seriousness of what is happening in Japan and the vicious manipulation by nuclear interest.  

Jump to original blog [in Japanese] 

Cesium 134, Iodine 132, Tellurium 129, and Tellurium 132 Also Detected in the United States

I have been always wondering why only data of Cesium 137 and Iodine 131 have been released to the public in Japan, as if only these two materials are discharged from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. The reality is there are a lot more radionuclides coming out of it.

I checked the website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that has reported some detected radioactive substances (Note: the US has measured quantity of radioactive materials in the air, which has not been done in Japan). There I found out that not only Cesium 137 and Iodine 131 but also Cesium 134, Cesium 136, Iodine 132, Tellurium 129, and Tellurium 132 have been detected in the U.S.

Note: I wrote this article initially not knowing that EPA does not reported all the detected values in the majority-oriented websites. Then I found by looking carefully at EPA database’s raw results that they have also detected Plutonium 238, Plutonium 239, Uranium 234, Uranium 235, Uranium 238, Thallium 208, Bismuth 212, Barium 140, Beryllium 7, Cobalt 60, Lead 212, and Strontium 89 in the air. I examined the cases of Plutonium and Uranium in this article.

- As of April 24, 2011, out of 229 detection points whose results have been released, Tellurium 132 has been detected at 46 points. The highest amount of 0.015Bq/m3 was recorded in Dutch Harbor, Alaska on March 19, 2011. The half-life span of Tellurium 132 is 3.26 days.

- Similarly, Cesium 134 has been detected at 44 points. The highest amount of 0.0096Bq/m3 was recorded in Anaheim, California on March 25, 2011. The half-life span of Cesium 134 is 2 years.

- Cesium 136 has been detected at 5points. The highest amount of 0.00045Bq/m3 was recorded in Nome, Alaska on March 24, 2011. The half-life span of Cesium 136 is 13 days.

- Iodine 132 has been detected at 32 points. The highest amount of 0.001Bq/m3 was recorded in Dutch Harbor in Alaska on March 19, 2011. The half-life of Iodine 132 is 2.3 hours.

- Tellurium 129 has been detected once at the amount of 0.0045Bq/m3 in Nome, Alaska on March 24, 2011.

It is very unlikely that the air in Japan does not contain these radioactive materials detected in the U.S. It is also unlikely that Japan technically cannot measure these radioactive materials. The amounts that have been detected in the U.S. may be little so far, but the important thing is its proportion. I checked the proportions of the above newly-found substances comparing with Cesium 137.

Cesium 134: 103% of Cesium 137

Cesium 136: 2% of Cesium 137

Iodine 132: 84% of Cesium 137

Tellurium 129: 8% of Cesium 137

Tellurium 129M: 13% of Cesium 137

Tellurium 132: 140% of Cesium 137

It is extremely important to look at Cesium 134 considering its long “half-life” span of 2 years. In Japan, the amounts of Cesium 134 have not been measured or the data itself has been hidden to the public. But, by using above information from the U.S., we can roughly estimate how much radioactive substances could be out in Japan. It seems Cesium 134 could have been emitted in the similar amount with Cesium 137 (reported in Japan) because you can see that both Cesium 134 and 137 have been found in the similar proportional amounts in the U.S. For instance, the total accumulation of Cesium 137 in Tokyo from March 18, 2011 to April 25, 2011 is about 7,000 MBq (megabecquerel)/km2 (Note: the hidden data of the precipitation between March 11 and 18 may be much more than ten times of it, though). This number could be doubled to 14,000 MegaBq/km2 if you put the unreported amount of Cesium 134 into the consideration.

Yes, it is certainly promiscuous and shady that the Japanese government has been only reporting the amounts of Cesium 137 and Iodine 131. How the government officials and biased academia have always proudly alleged perfect safety of the situation is absolutely nonsense as long as vital information and data are concealed as it is now.

We also need to be cautious about statistical hoax, such as unclear criteria of "undetected" values. “Undetected” does not mean nothing detected. Japanese government seems to report “undetected” Unless the government disclose every available data without any judgement, it is meaningless what they say about safety. TEPCO and the Japanese government!!! Before spending much time pretending to apologize us, release raw data you are hiding about emitted radioactive materials in order for us to come up with ways to protect ourselves better than what you guys have been doing (well, they seemingly are doing nothing but harming us).

PS- Right after finishing this blog, I also found that Plutonium and Uranium have been detected in the U.S. since March 11, 2011.