Wednesday, June 15, 2011

What's happening in Japan?


You have to do a little digging but if you do, then you find out that there is still some bad new in Japan- still a lot of misery for those living there. don't forget them as you go through your day to day lives...  

Japan Admits 3 Nuclear Meltdowns, More Radiation Leaked into Sea; U.S. Nuclear Waste Poses Deadly Risks

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
10 June 11
Almost three months after the earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear disaster in Japan, new radiation "hot spots" may require the evacuation of more areas further from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency recently admitted for the first time that full nuclear meltdowns occurred at three of the plant’s reactors, and more than doubled its estimate for the amount of radiation that leaked from the plant in the first week of the disaster in March. “What they failed to mention is that they discharged an equally large amount into the ocean,” says our guest Robert Alvarez, former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Energy. “As [the radiation] goes up the food chain, it accumulates. By the time it reaches people who consume this food, the levels are higher than they originally were when they entered the environment.” Alvarez also discusses his new report on the vulnerabilities and hazards of stored spent fuel at U.S. reactors in the United States. Then we go to Tokyo to speak with Aileen Mioko Smith, executive director of the group Green Action. She says citizens leading their own monitoring efforts are calling for additional evacuations, especially for young children and pregnant women.


Over 90,000 at Shelters 3 Months After Quake

By Kyodo News
10 June 11
Three months after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster and with a nuclear power plant crisis still unfolding, over 90,000 evacuees are still living in shelters as construction of temporary housing for them has made slow progress and many have stopped short of moving into the units citing insufficient life support services.
Even though lifeline services are mostly back to normal, excluding the devastated coastal areas in northeastern Japan, only half of the needed 52,200 temporary homes have been completed and 60 percent of them have been vacant in the worst-hit prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
As of Friday, a total of about 23,500 are dead or remain missing in 12 prefectures following the disaster, according to the National Police Agency.

Shizuoka Tells Tea Retailer to Conceal Radiation Info

By The Japan Times
10 June 11
Shizuoka — Shizuoka Prefecture told a Tokyo-based mail order company not to say anything on its website about excessive radioactive material being found in tea from the prefecture, the retailer said Friday.
After Radishbo-ya Co. made an inquiry to the Shizuoka Prefectural Government about the matter Monday, a prefectural official told the company not to disclose the finding due to fears the message would cause unwarranted harm to Shizuoka tea growers, adding that the prefecture would confirm the finding on its own, according to the retailer.
Radishbo-ya, for its part, sent purchasers of the tea letters informing them about the radiation and offered to recall the products.
Shizuoka is a famous tea production area.

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