Japan's Cesium Leak Equal to 168 '45 A-Bombs

[defendandprotect]

Japan's Cesium Leak Equal to 168 '45 A-Bombs
NISA compares contamination to Hiroshima blast

The amount of radioactive cesium ejected by the Fukushima reactor meltdowns is about 168 times higher than that emitted in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the government's nuclear watchdog said Friday.


The blast wave of "Little Boy," dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroyed most of the city and eventually killed as many as 140,000 people. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency provided the estimate at the request of a Diet panel but noted that making a simple comparison between an instantaneous bomb blast and a long-term accidental leak is problematic and could lead to "irrelevant" results.

The report said the crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant has released 15,000 terabecquerels of cesium-137, which lingers for decades and can cause cancer, compared with the 89 terabecquerels released by the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The report estimated each of the 16 isotopes released by the "Little Boy" bomb and 31 of those detected at the Fukushima plant. NISA has said the radiation released at Fukushima was about one-sixth of that released during the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110827x3.html


and ...


Suicides upping casualties from Tohoku catastrophe

Yamada, Iwate Pref. — On June 11, a dairy farmer in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, chalked a note on the wall of his cattle shed. "If only there wasn't a nuclear power plant," the message read, in reference to the damaged Fukushima No. 1 plant just 45 km away, which had effectively ended his livelihood.

The man already had culled his livestock after raw milk shipments from the area where he lived had been stopped. Now, he chose to end his own life, too. "I have lost the energy to carry on working," he added in what would be his final words.

His is not an isolated case. Suicides have been reported throughout the quake region.

In March, a cabbage farmer in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, hanged himself after radioactive substances detected in the soil resulted in restrictions being placed on local produce, while a man in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, reportedly killed himself after losing his family, home and business during the March 11 disasters.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110623f1.html?fb_ref=article_japantimes



Seems we have some work to do if we want to assure the safety of our own citizens --

and our children -- !!

[Journeyman]

1. 168 - and counting. . .

[defendandprotect]

2. -- and many here seem frightened of acknowledging what's happened ....

in a way I don't blame them --

However, if we don't understand the full potential for harm from nuclear

reactors -- how the high risks we already take with them is compounded by

Global Warming -- then we will even further endanger ourselves.


Global Warming sadly is an issue capable of breaking the hold that those

who control our natural resources have over us --

It requires a total cultural change -- as does our economic system and our

government!

[WillyT]

3. HUGE K & R !!!

:mad:

:kick:

[Fearless]

4. Such a sad and demoralizing disaster... Wonder if Obama will change his view on nuclear power...

Oh, right, my mistake.

[No Elephants]

5. So unbearably sad. We are courting this.