51 Sailors from USS Ronald Reagan Suffering Thyroid Cancer, Leukemia, Brain Tumors

[lovuian]

Last edited Tue May 3, 2016, 08:44 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/3/19/fukushima_fallout_ailing_us_sailors_su

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/apr/08/uss-reagan-sailors-sue-japan-radiation-earthquake/



the onboard desalinization systems that take salt out of seawater to make it drinkable, were taking-in radioactive water from the ocean for the crew to drink, cook with and bath-in, before anyone realized there was a massive radiation spill into the ocean.

They all deserve honor, respect and our best care for their service
such sad news

[yourpaljoey]

1. damnit! damnit! damnit!!!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. A nuke plant self-destructs and leaks.

The ocean is right next to the plant.

And the captain did not think to order his crew to test the water for radioactivity? Demote that sucker.

[yourpaljoey]

5. I think I need a drink

May I pour you one?

[Baobab]

13. this could be all of us unless we figure out much better ways to generate electricity soon.

Every decade there is a one in eight chance of a solar storm that would cause MULTIPLE Fukushima like nuclear meltdowns at the same time - all around the globe.

We just missed having that happen to us in 2012

[Person 2713]

19. +1

[Jeffersons Ghost]

57. I live in New Mexico, home of the most dangerous nuclear waste in the USA

The Nuclear Waste Leak in New Mexico… Maybe It Wasn’t the Kitty Litter After All

Since the nation’s only nuclear waste disposal plant shut down four months ago following a radiation leak, some experts wondered if a change in the kitty litter (yes, kitty litter) used inside waste drums was to blame. It turns out, however, that the problem may have been caused by a mix of incompatible ingredients.

James Conca, a veteran scientist specializing in the disposal of nuclear waste, theorized recently that switching from mineral-based kitty litter—employed because it absorbs moisture inside drums containing nuclear waste—to a new “green” kind made with organic materials like wheat or corn was the culprit behind the leak on February 14.

But information has surfaced that shows officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), from which the nuclear waste originated, approved the use of other organic materials that aren’t compatible with nitrate salts employed in preparing the waste for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that internal LANL emails indicated the contractor that packages its waste, EnergySolutions, asked for and received approval to use new products intended to neutralize the pH balance of drum contents sent to WIPP. These changes, though, resulted in a heat reaction that breached at least one sealed container after it was buried.

Cole Smith, a chemist in the New Mexico Environment Department’s Hazardous Waste Bureau, told the Journal that putting organic ingredients with nitrate salts was “a bad combination.” http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/the-nuclear-waste-leak-in-new-mexicomaybe-it-wasnt-the-kitty-litter-after-all-140603?news=853311

[womanofthehills]

71. Plutonium from Japan to be disposed of underground in New Mexico

U.S.-bound plutonium that has recently been shipped out of Japan will be disposed of at a nuclear waste repository in New Mexico after being processed at the Savannah River Site facility in South Carolina, according to an official of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

“The plutonium will be diluted into a less sensitive form at the SRS and then transported to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for permanent disposal deep underground,” said Ross Matzkin-Bridger, who is in charge of the operation at the NNSA, a nuclear wing of the Department of Energy.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/04/02/national/politics-diplomacy/plutonium-japan-disposed-underground-new-mexico/#.Vyk9l2bXh-L

Most states don't want this stuff, but Suzanne Martinez does because she is losing her oil and gas money. Amy Goodman once called NM the "radiation state" and said her mother told her not to eat the lettuce when she visits here. I'm a fellow New Mexican JG - actually I live 50 miles from the Trinity Site and there is still plutonium in Chupadera Mesa - probably radioactive ants too - like Los Alamos.

[FBaggins]

58. This is an oft-repeated tale with no basis in reality

A bad solar flare would not cause multiple meltdowns.

It could severely damage the grid, but it wouldn't hurt the multiple-redundant backup systems for cooling the shut-down reactors.

Fukushima, for instance, wasn't crippled by the sudden loss of grid power... it was the loss of the backup generators when the tsunami flooded the plant. But backup generators wouldn't be harmed by a solar storm.

[Baobab]

69. But they likely would run out of oil *long before external power was restored*

see the problem?

A cascading failure is a failure in a system of interconnected parts in which the failure of a part can trigger the failure of successive parts. Such a failure may happen in many types of systems, including power transmission, computer networking, finance, human bodily systems, and bridges.

[FBaggins]

76. Why do you image that matters?

They don't need backup generators to last for months... just until the units reach cold shutdown. And they all have well beyond enough fuel to manage that. At that point, power needs are minimal.

Either way, even a massive solar storm doesn't make it impossible to deliver a little diesel fuel.

[cynzke]

25. FUBAR!!!!

There is no excuse. Its not like this has never happened before. In the early sixties (? not sure the date) a nuke sub was docking at the sub pen in New London, CT. They accidently flushed some radioactive water from a cooling tank right before docking and the water washed over the sub. A nuke hazmat team secretly were engaged to access the situation. They were able to trace the radioactive footsteps of sailors on the streets of New London. There are radioactive monitors on board and I'm sure sailors are monitored regularly for radium levels in their bloodstream. Find it hard to believe the Navy didn't know the ocean water was radioactive.

[leveymg]

30. Can't happen: the atom is our friend and has a perfect safety record. ;-)

[villager]

53. The kind folks at General Electric told me so!

No reason to doubt their selfless kindness.

[bvar22]

49. I would have to believe that any Nuke Powered ship...

...would have automatic, full time Radiation Detectors all over the ship in case of onboard leaks that should have detected the radiation from Fukushima. Certainly, workers in and around the power plant would be required to wear dosimeters that are checked daily that would show any increase in radiation.

I can't imagine a Nuke Powered ship without active radiation detectors.

[FBaggins]

50. And you would be correct

The radiation was first detected by radiation detectors on the ship. The US Navy knew more about the location/strength of the plume from Fukushima over the sea than the Japanese government did (which, coincidentally, destroys the foundation of the case).

They're also well equipped to continue operating in an environment of much higher radiation contamination. There were pretty comprehensive protocols followed (checking crew members coming in from the flight deck, decontaminating the deck, etc.)

[Act_of_Reparation]

83. Water has an extremely low neutron activation potential.

Nuclear reactors are usually kept underwater, like this:



Take note of the employees walking around the open tank.

[KamaAina]

2. A lot of the Nineleven(TM) first responders went the same way

[JDPriestly]

64. From radiation? How could that have happened?

[KamaAina]

65. From cancer

caused in that case by inhaling carcinogens.

[JDPriestly]

68. I have wondered about the World Trade Center and what materials they used to build it.

Asbestos????

Halliburton was on the hook for a lot of asbestos damages. It's just a thought, but I have wondered whether that building was really an asbestos ridden, unsafe place to work. I'm probably wrong, and there probably are no records but . . . .

[Act_of_Reparation]

84. Your lungs are meant to breathe air.

Breathing in enough particulate will give you problems, no matter what the particulate is. If the WTC had been made of wood, we'd still see cases of pulmonary problems presented in those close to the wreckage.

[Demonaut]

3. although the Reagan is a nuke carrier it does not say that it was a result of the ship itself

[ghostsinthemachine]

6. Wasn't it the first ship to Japan

After the quake, tsunami? Fukushima.

[truedelphi]

9. Exactly. It truly had nothing to do with the nuke vessel's own systems, but

rather the radioactivity pouring into the ocean.

[lovuian]

7. 1 Billion dollar lawsuit

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/apr/08/uss-reagan-sailors-sue-japan-radiation-earthquake/

Scores of USS Ronald Reagan crew members have filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the Japanese utility that runs the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

The class-action suit, filed in federal court in San Diego, claims the utility lied about unsafe levels of radiation emanating from the plant after Japan's epic 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

A portion of the lawsuit, published by the Orange County Register, reads:

"TEPCO likewise hid, covered up, and negligently concealed these facts and falsely represented the true facts to the U.S. Navy. Plaintiffs suffered harms, damage, and suffered, and continue to suffer, life-threatening injuries as a result of TEPCO’s negligence.”

[mopinko]

38. dear dawg, i hope they win. my niece's hubs was on that ship.

she was in japan w their kids. they were shipped out. but they trusted the japanese govt.

[truedelphi]

8. "Der Spiegel" has been offering up decent articles about this:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/navy-sailors-possibly-exposed-to-fukushima-radiation-fight-for-justice-a-1016482.html

[benld74]

12. That article is heartbreaking

Yet I find it strange how people react to similar issues they share. Either they know not of others having same issues or distance apart keeps them from sharing.
Still, some are stoic about their issues, others want something done and done now.

[truedelphi]

15. It is heart breaking. I got shivers when I got to the part where

Navy woman midships"man" mentions metallic taste in her mouth.

I had that taste whenever there was any rain here in Calif from six or seven days after Fukushima went up until the rains here stopped in June. (Our immediate atmosphere was totally saturated with the radioactivity from the explosions.)

I have buried one four year old kitty with thyroid cancer. Now my ten year old cat, who was five at the time of Fukushima has cancer. Dosing her with CBD oil and that has helped. But I get nervous thinking about how much damage has been done. Whenever any local newspapers mention children with "rare" brain cancers, I have to wonder.

[diane in sf]

21. I stayed inside during that entire time of those storms.

I knew it had to be dumping radioactive crap all over us from Fukishima. What a horror show. First a massive earthquake, massive tsunami, then the endless release of radiation from that piece of garbage that never should have been built on one of the most major fault lines in the world in a place known for subsidence and tsunamis.

There were also reports of increased infant mortality on the west coast related to the radioactive releases from Fukushima.

[Enthusiast]

35. Please stay safe. We need your voice.

[Octafish]

46. Fukushima: A Nuclear War without a War

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.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushima-a-nuclear-war-without-a-war-the-unspoken-crisis-of-worldwide-nuclear-radiation/28870

Free info. All verifiable. No right wingers, either. GR's been smeared on DU as a "left wing Drudge Report" (paraphrasing).

[FBaggins]

47. Lol!

All verifiable?

They use this scam graphic that was debunked here (by me) within a day or so of its creation.



No right wingers, either. GR's been smeared on DU as a "left wing Drudge Report"

It's the left's version of infowars. IOW... rejected by rational progressives.

[Octafish]

52. Debunked where by you?

Here's more about Fukushima:



A Public Service Announcement about Plutonium

TEPCO - Plutonium is not dangerous. Where is the Boss?

Fukushima, Plutonium, CIA, and the BFEE: Deep Doo-Doo Four Ways to Doomsday

Before and After photo show significant tsunami damage...

On the Poet's Trail

Helicopter pictures show devastation inside Fukushima reactor towers

Governments Covering Up Nuclear Meltdowns for 50 Years to Protect the Nuclear Power Industry

Surviving Chernobyl Cleaner: 'Tell The People Of Japan To Run!'

What part of what he said wasn't true?

First thing I'd do if I were fighting this nuclear disaster is get the Team the best gear.

The Return of Nukespeak

TEPCO - Plutonium is not dangerous. Where's the Boss?

Toxic plutonium seeping from Japan's nuclear plant

Japan's Nuclear Rescuers: 'Inevitable Some of Them May Die Within Weeks'

Fukushima from Space

Absolutely. A real shame - man's hubris.

Japan Nuclear Power Plants

A more-recent satellite image of Fukushima Daiichi reactors 1-4...

The SCALE of the devastation is incredible.

Jimmy Carter, USN - Nuclear Hero

Utility Engineer Warned of Tsunami Threat at Japanese Nuclear Plant

Voyage to Fukushima Daiichi

TEPCO was warned and took the cheapskate's way out.

Fukushima owners failed to follow emergency manual - report

The people's ancestors left monuments to remind them of the dangers...

Fukushima tsunami plan a single page

Doubts deepen over TEPCO truthfulness after president's sightseeing trip uncovered

Atomic Samurai -IAEA Humbled By Worker Courage at Fukushima Daiichi

Fukushima Radiation Data Quarantined by Governments of Japan and the United States. Why?

Absolutely. And some, if not most, cancer deaths can be avoided with forewarning and knowledge.

''We never meant to conceal the information, but it never occurred to us to make it public.''

Fukushima Daiichi Mystery Man Steps Forward

The Fukushima Crisis Demonstrates how Lowly the Global Elites Hold the Common People

Plutonium detected 40km from Fukushima plant

Trivializing Fukushima

''We never meant to conceal the information, but it never occurred to us to make it public.''

In regards to Fukushima, the only thing TEPCO has successfully buried is the Truth.

TEPCO was warned and took the cheapskate's way out.

Trivializing Fukushima

Citizen Testing Finds 20 Radioactive Hot Spots Around Tokyo

Japan Fukushima plant dismantling needs over 30 yrs

Fukushima Typhoon raising radioactive water levels in contaminated buildings.

Fukushima owners failed to follow emergency manual - report

Fukushima and the Nuclear Establishment - The Big Lies Fly High

I've tried to make up for lack of news coverage, using DU as a news medium.

[FBaggins]

54. Right here on DU. It's easy

If the graphic were accurate... half of the population of California would have been dead by the end of April 2011...

... and the rest of the country a couple months later.

[AtheistCrusader]

55. You're arguing with someone who lacks even a 6th-grade grasp of physics.

Otherwise, they would never have shared that shit, because they'd have understood the doses involved, and that it obviously didn't happen.

And then we have 'metallic taste' bullshit. It's called OZONE when the rain starts. Happens all the time.

[FBaggins]

56. This is what comes from scientific illiteracy combined with paranoia and an invisible threat

I'm not talking about Octafish in this case... just otherwise-normal people who have irrational fears about things that they can't see and don't really understand.

My favorite was all of the Japanese who suddenly started interpreting normal bloody noses as radiation poisoning (even looong after 3/11) - but yes, "metalic taste must have been radiation!" is would be right up there for entertainment factor - if it weren't for the fact that real people are suffering because of the ignorance.

It doesn't do any good to explain how much of a substance has to be in your mouth before you can taste it - or compare that to how much would be there at a given level of activity... their minds have already fled reality.

The best we can do is combat the FUD.

[Octafish]

60. How enlightening.

If you can, please link to a post of yours worth reading on Fukushima. I don't remember seeing it.

[AtheistCrusader]

63. If the source you cited was even in the ballpark, the united states would have been a wasteland in 2

months.

That's how ridiculously wrong it was. I don't need to link shit to know how quickly that high of a dose causes all of your precious fluids to exit all of your orifices.

[Octafish]

81. No, the source said the USA was exposed to radiation from Fukushima.

Who's ridiculous? The US authorities would have done a better job of informing the public instead of firing the NRC Director for his warning as to the seriousness of the dangers America and the planet faced and still face, particularly in the days and weeks after three containment building exploded -- one of which covered the plutonium mixed oxide fuel pool of Reactor 3. That cloud of dust may not mean much to people who are in safety, but for those who are unaware of the danger it could be deadly.

In these images, the building containing Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Reactor 3 explodes.
The thing ran on fuel rods that contain a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxide.



TEPCO has been lying from Day One. The company's boss continued his holiday driving tour the day of the disaster. On this side of the great ocean, the U.S. government has not done a very good job of keeping the public abreast of Fukushima and the dangers it represents. It fired Gregory Jaczko, the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after he pointed out the emergency in public.

One important thing everyone should know is the incredible amounts of plutonium -- one of the most deadly elements known -- that have been introduced into the environment from Fukushima.

Here's some more of what everyone on DU and around the entire planet should know:

DOE-STD-1128-98

Guide of Good Practices for Occupational Radiological Protection in Plutonium Facilities

EXCERPT...

4.2.3 Characteristics of Plutonium Contamination

There are few characteristics of plutonium contamination that are unique. Plutonium
contamination may be in many physical and chemical forms. (See Section 2.0 for the many
potential sources of plutonium contamination from combustion products of a plutonium fire
to radiolytic products from long-term storage.) [font color="red"]The one characteristic that many believe is
unique to plutonium is its ability to migrate with no apparent motive force.[/font color] Whether from
alpha recoil or some other mechanism, plutonium contamination, if not contained or
removed, will spread relatively rapidly throughout an area.

SOURCE (PDF file format): http://energy.gov/hss/downloads/doe-std-1128-98

Why I bring this is up: This is information about Fukushima and plutonium that people have a right to know, yet is what the press and governments of the United States and Japan apparently want people to forget. Thank goodness news and information aren't censored on DU.

[AtheistCrusader]

85. Everyone knows all that shit you just posted, but in less alarmist language.

TEPCO lied about the progression of events inside the reactors, but beyond that, we could all see the events from the outside, and none of that shit you just said is a surprise to anyone.

[Octafish]

86. Really. Show me where any of that's been aired or published in Corporate Owned News.

Show.

[AtheistCrusader]

87. IT WAS A LIVE FEED.

March 25th 2011
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mox-fuel-nuclear/


Go through the fucking edit history of the articles on Wikipedia to see when those details were public knowledge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster_(Unit_3_Reactor)

(Unit 3 had about 6% MOX fuel)


AP/NPR
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/134600825/plutonium-in-fuel-rods-cause-for-concern

If you can make the MSNBC archive interface work, there were plenty of pieces about it on Maddow's show, etc.


There are and were much better credentialed sources than the shitheap you linked to. If that source was even 25% right, we would not be having this conversation, because our irradiated corpses would be completely dry by now. No better than gunderson and his HYDROVOLCANIC EXPLOSIONS bullshit. Fuck them all.

[Octafish]

88. Don't get mad. One report on NPR a week after the disaster isn't much.

The other reports you cited ("Go through the fucking edit history of the articles on Wikipedia to see when those details were public knowledge.&quot actually show how little coverage there has been of Fukushima and its health effects.

BTW: Your righteous indignation act is hilarious.

[AtheistCrusader]

89. 24hx7dx365 news cycles go into the archive bucket after about a year.

You're asking for material that was clearly there (you can see the heavily edited breadcrumb trail of the wiki articles) on even 'corporate' mainstream news sites.

They love that 'it bleeds it leads' shit. It was reported.

The Wikipedia articles were actually the best, I would argue, most unbiased sources of information in the weeks after the disaster, because you could see things that were linked even if they had been removed by some partisan source. You could see comments why, etc.

It was basically a huge liveblog.

[Octafish]

90. Like I wrote, there isn't much coverage of Fukushima radiation on the news.

Here's something from what some might call "Alternative Media":

49. Hyman Rickover, father of the nuclear navy, warned that it is a form of suicide to raise radiation levels within Earth’s vital envelope, and that if he could, he would “sink” all the reactors he helped develop.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/02/50-reasons-fear-fukushima/

Don't get angry.

[AtheistCrusader]

91. Why would I get angry?

It's an opinion. You know what they say about opinions.

Two reactors he helped create WERE sunk. Not super good for the environment either.

[FBaggins]

93. You do seem to struggle with facts when they contradict your almost religious faith

I can't count how many times you've been told that:

1 - There was no spent MOX in the unit 3 pool. MOX had first been loaded to the unit at the last refueling outage and thus made up 1/3 of the core inventory... but would not have entered the pool as spent fuel for at least another three years.

2 - All spent reactor fuel has plutonium in it. That's where the stuff comes from. The spots with the highest amounts of plutonium would have been the joint cooling pool and the pool in unit 4 (now removed).

Why I bring this is up: This is information about Fukushima and plutonium that people have a right to know, yet is what the press and governments of the United States and Japan apparently want people to forget.

Nobody needs for people to forget that... it just isn't relevant at all to Fukushima. Another fact that you've been immune to is that there was virtually no release of plutonium from Fukushima (and none at all from the spent fuel pools) and the existing inventory of plutonium in the environment (from nuclear testing and, to a lesser extent, from Chernobyl) is many MANY times larger than the release from Fukushima. People should understand the dangers of plutonium (though they can safely ignore the Calidicotts and Busbys of the world on the subject), but they don't need to know it in relation to Fukushima.

You continually spam the same three sources despite being shown over and over again that they do not demonstrate significant levels of plutonium from Fukuhima. Hilariously... you also regularly claim that you're open to correction.

So let's give that another test since we wouldn't want your avoidance to effectively censor the truth - You've now had pointed out to you clearly that your multi-spammed source re: plutonium in birds was a study where all of the data was collected pre-Fukushima. Do you or do you not now accept that it was invalid every single time that you used it to demonstrate worldwide plutonium contamination from Fukushima? Yes or no?

[Octafish]

95. Ad hominem, followed by smear and bullshit, FBaggins.

Fukushima Nuclear Reactor 3 containment building after explosion:



What the spent fuel pool looked like:



There's a huge crane dropped in there, someplace.

http://fukushima-diary.com/tag/sfp/

http://radioactivechat.blogspot.com/2011/10/leaking-containment-plutonium-reactor.html

From you, not even one link, as always.

[FBaggins]

97. You keep using those words

Last edited Wed May 4, 2016, 10:16 PM - Edit history (1)

They don't mean what you think they mean.

It's a simple yes/no question. Do you or do you not recognize your error?

Fukushima Nuclear Reactor 3 containment building after explosion:

What the spent fuel pool looked like:

Which you obviously don't even realize disproves your claim. Laughable if it weren't so sad. Then there are the two links that you're so proud of providing... without realizing that they too contradict each other.

From you, not even one link, as always.

I've given you plenty of links in the past. But because they're from actual experts in the field... you ignore them (obviously they're part of the governmental conspiracy or they wouldn't have been permitted to get all those advanced degrees in relevant subjects, right?)

[FBaggins]

59. Found it

You'll note that the post is from the day after the tsunami.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x278223


Hint - whenever you see that graphic (or the one below) still being used five years later - you should assume that the author is either lying to you or is entirely clueless on the subject.

[Octafish]

61. And that has to do with what?

Can you shed any light at all on the triple meltdown at Fukushima and its impact on the officers and crew of the USS Ronald Reagan?

[FBaggins]

62. On your claim in post #46

that the nuts at globalresearch had produced information that was useful to an uninformed reader and was "all verifiable". Specifically demonstrating that I had debunked the graphic that they're still using mere hours after the hoax was created... yet they're still selling the hoax (or, too be fair, are too ignorant to realize that they bought it).

Can you shed any light at all on the triple meltdown at Fukushima and its impact on the officers and crew of the USS Ronald Reagan?

Certainly. But every time I try... you disappear. What can I help you with this time?

Care to spam us again on how plutonium in birds from before March 2011 was proof of plutonium from Fukushima spreading all around the world?

[Octafish]

82. So you can forget all the radiation still spewing from Fukushima due to a bad graphic.

Doesn't work for me. Nor does the official censorship on the subject.

Don’t Worry, It’s Just a Little Radiation

by KARL GROSSMAN
CounterPunch, MARCH 11, 2011

And with the major malfunction at the Fukushima nuclear power plant comes the lies…

That’s the way it’s always been when it comes to nuclear technology: deception has always been a central element in the push for it.

As desperate efforts were made Friday to keep coolant flowing—to prevent a nuclear meltdown—“radioactive vapor” was being released from the plant, reported the Associated Press. It quoted Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano as saying the amount of radioactivity was “very small.”

And it “would not affect the environment or human health,” added AP.

Really.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, the U.S. nuclear industry trade group, presented a page on its website devoted to the post-earthquake situation involving nuclear plants in Japan which opened with pronouncement: “The Japanese prime minister and the industry’s safety agency say all plants in the country are safe and that there has been no radiation release from any reactors. Utilities there are managing issues with cooling water systems at the Fukushima plant…”

To sweeten its tale further, the NEI page featured a quote from the chief PR man at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Eliot Brenner: “In fact, all nuclear power plants are built to withstand environmental hazards, including earthquakes. Even those plants that are located outside of areas with extensive seismic activity are designed for safety in the event of such a natural disaster.”

Don’t worry.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/03/11/don-t-worry-it-s-just-a-little-radiation/

That was from the day of the earthquake -- before the meltdowns which weren't even admitted for months.

It is undemocratic and immoral to stop discussion of this vital information.

[FBaggins]

92. You do seem to rely on those straw men, don't you?

So you can forget all the radiation still spewing from Fukushima due to a bad graphic

Nope. The incredibly tiny amount "spewing" can certainly be ignored by people living outside of the immediate area (though no because of a bad graphic)... but that obviously wasn't the point. It was that readers can safely disregard as unreliable any source that continues to pump the intentionally fraudulent hoax that the graphic represents. The author is either a knowing part of the fraud or is so ignorant on the subject that his opinion is worth less than zero (that is... it hurts your understanding rather than helps it)

Doesn't work for me.

Of course it doesn't. You couldn't believe the nonsense that you continually pump on the issue unless you had such sources... because those types of sites are the only ones pumping the FUD that you feed on.

Nor does the official censorship on the subject.

Just like the aliens/chemtrails/HAARP/etc. nonsense. The truth is out there... it just isn't being covered in the mainstream media because the government is covering it up. Right? In fact... the lack of coverage is itself proof that the (CT of the day) is actually happening!

That was from the day of the earthquake

Right... and it actually remains closer to the truth than the nonsense that Gundersen/Caldicott/Busby/etc. were pumping at the time (and continue to pump). The difference is that the NEI updated their analysis as events proceeded. Let's take a look at some material from the same source that you neglected to paste:

In such an accident, the core of nuclear fuel, which in less than a minute can reach 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, burns through the cement bottom of the nuclear plant and bores into the earth. This is what U.S. nuclear scientists have dubbed the “China syndrome”—based on a nuclear plant on their side of the planet undergoing an accident seemingly sending its white-hot core in the direction of China.

In fact, the radioactive core doesn’t—in any location—go to China but it descends to the water table underlying a plant. Then, in a violent reaction, molten core and cold water combine, creating steam explosions and releasing a plume of radioactive poisons.

Do you remember Grossman correcting any of that nonsense? I certainly don't.

Still waiting on those massive steam explosions. Surely those cores won't take more than five years to burn down to the water table that's just below the plant, right?

meltdowns which weren't even admitted for months.

Which, of course, is nonsense. "Meltdown" just means that fuel has been damaged. They "admitted" that virtually instantaneously. I remember that I was correcting that error a least back to a couple days after the earthquake.


It is undemocratic and immoral to stop discussion of this vital information.

Nobody is doing that. What's actually immoral is allowing ignorance and lies to rule the day when the facts can be easily corrected. That's all I've done since day one... but you can't live with that. Can you?

[Octafish]

94. That's why I include links and you don't.

That way you can show where I'm wrong, without having to take my word on it.

For example, from Greg Palast:

Fukushima: They Knew

This month marks the 3rd Anniversary of the Fukushima Nuclear disaster.

By Greg Palast for FreePress.org
Monday, March 10, 2014

EXCERPT...

I was ready to vomit. Because I knew who had designed the plant, who had built it and whom Tokyo Electric Power was having rebuild it: Shaw Construction. The latest alias of Stone & Webster, the designated builder for every one of the four new nuclear plants that the Obama Administration has approved for billions in federal studies.

But I had The Notebook, the diaries of the earthquake inspector for the company. I'd squirreled it out sometime before the Trade Center went down. I shouldn't have done that. Too bad.

All field engineers keep a diary. Gordon Dick, a supervisor, wasn’t sup- posed to show his to us. I asked him to show it to us and, reluctantly, he directed me to these notes about the “SQ” tests.

SQ is nuclear-speak for “Seismic Qualification.” A seismically qualified nuclear plant won’t melt down if you shake it. A “seismic event” can be an earthquake or a Christmas present from Al Qaeda. You can’t run a nuclear reactor in the USA or Europe or Japan without certified SQ.

This much is clear from his notebook: This nuclear plant will melt down in an earthquake. The plant dismally failed to meet the Seismic I (shaking) standards required by U.S. and international rules.

Here’s what we learned: Dick’s subordinate at the nuclear plant, Robert Wiesel, conducted the standard seismic review. Wiesel flunked his company. No good. Dick then ordered Wiesel to change his report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, change it from failed to passed. Dick didn’t want to make Wiesel do it, but Dick was under the gun himself, acting on direct command from corporate chiefs. From The Notebook:

Wiesel was very upset. He seemed very nervous. Very agitated. [He said,] “I believe these are bad results and I believe it’s reportable,” and then he took the volume of federal regulations from the shelf and went to section 50.55(e), which describes reportable deficiencies at a nuclear plant and [they] read the section together, with Wiesel pointing to the appropriate paragraphs that federal law clearly required [them and the company] to report the Category II, Seismic I deficiencies.

Wiesel then expressed his concern that he was afraid that if he [Wiesel] reported the deficiencies, he would be fired, but that if he didn’t report the deficiencies, he would be breaking a federal law. . . .

CONTINUED...

http://www.gregpalast.com/fukushima-they-knew-3/

Which is why TEPCO, Japan, Nuke Inc and the USA went out of their way the other day to play up the tsunami's role:

Tsunami, not Quake, Seen as Main Cause of Fukushima Accident

by Mari Iwata
Wall Street Journal, Oct. 8, 2014

Japan’s nuclear regulator said Wednesday that the tsunami following the March 11, 2011, earthquake–not the quake itself–was the main cause of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The conclusion matters because of the implications for other nuclear-power plants. Virtually all of Japan is prone to earthquakes, but some places are relatively protected from tsunamis. Currently all of the nation’s 48 reactors are offline, and the government is weighing whether to restart some next year.

In the March 2011 nuclear accident, three reactors melted down after the plant lost main and backup power, paralyzing cooling systems.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority studied why the No.1 reactor lost backup power and concluded on Wednesday in a report that the tsunami was the main cause, based on data about temperature, pressure and other parameters. Those data were stable immediately after the earthquake hit at 2:46 p.m., suggesting the plant didn’t suffer critical damage until the arrival of the tsunami some 45 minutes later.

A previous investigation by Japan’s parliament had left more room for the possibility that the earthquake itself did significant damage.

The regulator said it would translate the report into English and post it on its website. The Japanese-language version is here.

“You cannot say there was no damage by the earthquake at all. But you can say the major cause was the tsunami, looking at the data,” said Tamotsu Kozaki, a nuclear engineering professor of the Hokkaido University.

CONTINUED...

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/10/08/tsunami-not-quake-seen-as-main-cause-of-fukushima-accident/

Which is not what the scientists said, way back when they were warning TEPCO, which elected to take the cheapskate's way out.



Here's a bit to add to the atomic pile:

Masanobu Shishikura: The Man Who Predicted the Tsunami in 2009.

British scientist 'predicted nuclear power station problem'

Toshiaki Sakai: Utility Engineer Warned of Tsunami Threat at Japanese Nuclear Plant in 2007

Apart from venting hot air in committee meetings, TEPCO did nothing, and hoped for the best.

DU OP from 2014

So, compared to what you posted above, is very different.

[FBaggins]

96. You've obviously confused a spammed gish gallup with providing evidence.

I can't imagine that even you find this example to be at all responsive.

[sulphurdunn]

67. Well, so what should the graphic look like after 5 years?

[FBaggins]

73. How many zeroes after the decimal do I need before I can just round it down to zero?

An accurate graphic (whether for the dose in the days/weeks following the meltdowns or for now five years later) would be well over a million times lower.

The high point for air/water emissions in California was converted to a whole-body estimated dose of five microsieverts...

A back-of-the-napkin calculation (assuming a 1:1 gray/sievert ratio for simplicity) would put that highest measured reading at 1.5 million times lower than the claimed 750 rad. Of course it's really orders of magnitude lower than that since even that assumed constant exposure to the highest airborne and water levels for a full year (which would be impossible since they didn't last very long at all.

[sulphurdunn]

80. Well, it's a relief

to know that as the millennia pass, Fukushima will become less and less harmful. Since you like to solve problems with math, try this: There are, I believe, 444 nuclear reactors currently up an running. What would be the consequences of say 5 of them melting down within a short time of each other? How about 10, or 20, or 30, or say all of them?

[MisterP]

10. quick! someone bring up Banana Equivalent Dose! otherwise the whole mighty bastion of Science

will come crashing down and it'll be Kampuchea all over again!

[glinda]

11. This is so freaking sad.

[Victor_c3]

14. I agree

their mission was purely humanitarian and to help the people of Japan. Nothing you can do in the military is more noble than helping people in their time of need. It is sad, but at least their service had something to do with trying to make the world a better place (unlike my service).

I would gladly trade places with them.

[Geronimoe]

16. The USS Reagan cost $6.2 billion

a Geiger counter cost less than $50

[Kelvin Mace]

51. Common sense is free,

but apparently beyond the reach of these people.

[NotHardly]

17. First to arrive at Japan nuclear disaster, uses desalinized water ... who in charge didn't think??

Seriously, ... the reactor was spilling into the ocean, naval vessels were there and using water from the ocean... are there no more thinking adults in the world?

[840high]

18. Human life seems not to be of

any value anymore.

[lovuian]

20. from the article

The Associated Press reports a judge dismissed the Reagan sailors' first attempt to sue in 2012. That's because the initial suit named the Japanese government, which owns the utility in question.

The second lawsuit, with 79 Reagan sailors as plaintiffs, names just TEPCO as the defendant.

TEPCO has responded to the amended lawsuit, according to the A.P., saying in a statement:

"It's wholly implausible that military commanders in charge of thousands of personnel and armed with some of the world's most sophisticated equipment, relied instead only on the press releases and public statements of a foreign electric utility company."
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/apr/08/uss-reagan-sailors-sue-japan-radiation-earthquake/

[Ghost Dog]

23. Not a bad rebuttal.

The carrier was diverted to the area as part of Operation Tomodachi, "a United States Armed Forces (especially U.S. Forces Japan) assistance operation to support Japan in disaster relief."

[gratuitous]

22. Where are the defenders of nuclear power?

In the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, we were treated to endless posts about how the radioactivity released wasn't so bad, it would be dissipated and diluted very quickly, the amount of radiation was negligible, no threat to human life, and on and on. News sources that documented Tepco's lies and the elevated radiation were summarily dismissed.

Where are you, defenders? Care to tell us how those sailors are faking it, they weren't exposed to all that much radiation, there's some other explanation? Not even a post to tell us how low the thyroid cancer rate is lower than other selected selective places? Or how Fukushima isn't a serious event yet? Are anti-nuke folks still a fearful, ignorant and superstitious bunch? Do we need some perspective to cure us of our panic, because the long-term health effects are greatly exaggerated? Won't one of you step up to blow away the cloud of scaremongering?

Hello? Will nobody tell us again how benign and safe nuclear power is?

[FBaggins]

29. Mostly sitting back and laughing that you're falling for this claptrap.

[gratuitous]

40. I'm glad you're so amused

Fifty-one sailors, their families and their friends are probably not laughing quite so much.

So what's your considered, scientific explanation for this claptrap? A remarkable coincidence?

[greiner3]

41. Nuclear industry apologist?

A large stock owner in utility companies that nuclear power, believer no one in authority ever lies to the American public, science denier c

[FBaggins]

43. Pretty laughable

I get a kick whenever anyone in the fukushima-destroying-the-world camp accuses anyone else of being a science denier.

The plaintiffs haven't presented any scientific evidence at all. The case is one big post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy - and not even a plausible one. It's merely a vehicle for a couple anti-nuke activist ambulance chasers to get some press coverage and dupe some suckers into funding them.

[FBaggins]

42. Not amused at the poor suckers conned by the ambulance chasers

Amused at those here who buy the nonsense - hook, line, and sinker.

So what's your considered, scientific explanation for this claptrap? A remarkable coincidence?

Only three of them even have conditions that could be radiogenic in origin (two thyroid issues and one leukemia)- and all were diagnosed before the minimum latency period had passed (and therefore could not have been caused by the event in question). On a ship with 5,000 people, there are always going to be medical issues... but the malignant neoplasm rate for sailors from the Reagan was significantly lower than a control population of other sailors.

So there isn't anything to explain... even a coincidence.

[gratuitous]

44. My apologies

I didn't realize you had examined all 51 sailors and come to a conclusion to a medical certainty as to the genesis of each and every patient's condition. I trust you were well compensated.

[FBaggins]

45. You've failed the burden of proof test

I didn't realize you had examined all 51 sailors and come to a conclusion to a medical certainty as to the genesis of each and every patient's condition.

Plaintiffs haven't presented any evidence that they were examined with a medical analysis that it was radiogenic.

But I don't need to do such an analysis. It was done (by the Navy and peer reviewed), and wouldn't need to be done (you don't need to do an analysis that a symptom that has never been related to minor radiation exposure isn't in this case related to radiation exposure).

If one of them claims (as has happened) that he has a bleeding anus three years later... I don't need to examine said anus to correctly claim that it couldn't have been caused by radiation from OT... because radiation doesn't cause bleeding three years later (regardless of where from). Radiation can cause bleeding at much higher levels (acute multi-sievert doses), but it occurs immediately (to within a few days) and it resolves pretty quickly (often because you're dead).

[MisterP]

32. last I saw they were panicking about Montessori schooling

but seriously there's still this relict counter-Counterculture bunker-mentality panic in a lot of these pronouncements, fed from the student upheaveals of 1966-73--the barbarians were at the gates and, even worse, they were our own children and students; this antique vision is kept going by a "closed discourse community" of "science defenders"

everything from social history to the New Age and Dooobie Brothers put them in quite a panic that they've never gotten over: Shirley MacLaine, Michel Foucault, Jerry Falwell, Abbie Hoffmann, Donna Haraway, and just mainstream religion in general form some sort of self-contradictory hydra bearing the name Irrationalism; just as they ascribed Pol Pot's victory to Cambodian fears of a naga living under Phnom Penh (I shit you not) America was about to topple into a new Dark Ages, the candles would all gutter and go out, the bombs would fall, and anyone literate would be lynched for it: even pharmacists were doffing their white coats, going into the jungle, and asking those naked savages what plants they used--traitors within the ranks!

Monsanto, McDonnell-Douglas, and the Hanford Reservation have long had experience in massaging not just the numbers but the science itself--they'd always delay autopsies before Geigering the body, or bragged about how little *gamma* radiation was escaping--and most of all anyone questioning these cost-plus padded budgets, unprofitable nuclear industries, and feeding the sparrows through the horse were not only threatening national strength but about to topple Mankind from its course, to end Progress towards infinite abundance and a material godhood that'd make Revelations look like a crayon drawing: it's the spirit that lets PRTs and Hyperloops and Moller SkyCars be treated seriously, the nuclear hand grenade and the Penny for NASA

[hunter]

34. Well, the USS Ronald Reagan is a Nimitz class nuclear powered supercarrier.

The entire ship is full of toxic chemicals and cursed by the name of one of Satan's minions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimitz-class_aircraft_carrier

The scientific thing to do is look at the health of crew in it's sister ships who served similar times and duties away from Fukushima.

For all we know, these rates of illness are normal for carrier crews.



The reality of life is that it is a statistical process and we tend to ignore the familiar things that are always trying to kill us, things like paint fumes, unhealthy food, jet fuel, jet exhaust, hydraulic fluid, and all the other crap that one might be exposed to on an aircraft carrier.

My father-in-law was used as a guinea pig in nuclear weapons testing. He got to witness an above-ground nuclear test up close and they marched around in the mess while things were still burning with the mushroom cloud looming above. Afterwards they scrubbed and showered off all the radioactive dust they could detect. Some of those men died prematurely, their exposure to the fallout a major factor. Others, like my father-in-law are still healthy in their eighties.

I'm not defending nuclear power, I just don't believe the legal system is well equipped to deal with issues like this.

Personally I'm some kind of Luddite. The modern high energy industrial technology I find most loathsome is automobiles. Somehow most people are able to ignore the horrors and havoc automobiles cause. The accident at Fukishima is a much smaller horror than the daily carnage and environmental catastrophes caused by automobiles.

[Hortensis]

24. "16 US ships that aided in Operation Tomodachi still contaminated with radiation."

Excerpts from a recent article that leaves one wondering from Stars and Stripes,

AMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Sixteen U.S. ships that participated in relief efforts after Japan’s nuclear disaster five years ago remain contaminated with low levels of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, top Navy officials told Stars and Stripes.

In all, 25 ships took part in Operation Tomadachi, the name given for the U.S. humanitarian aid operations after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011.
...
The largest U.S. ship to take part in the relief operation was the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which normally carries a crew of more than 5,000 sailors. In 2014, three years after the disaster, the Reagan’s ventilation system was contaminated with 0.01 millirems of radiation per hour, according to the Navy. Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines advise no more than 2 millirems of radiation in one hour in any unrestricted area, and 100 millirems total in a calendar year from external and internal sources in unrestricted and controlled areas, so full-time exposure on the Reagan would be below that.
Eight Reagan sailors, claiming a host of medical conditions they say are related to radiation exposure, filed suit in 2012 against the nuclear plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. The suit asserts that TEPCO lied, coaxing the Navy closer to the plant even though it knew the situation was dire. General Electric, EBASCO, Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi were later added as defendants for allegations of faulty parts for the reactors.
...
The illnesses listed in the lawsuit include genetic immune system diseases, headaches, difficulty concentrating, thyroid problems, bloody noses, rectal and gynecological bleeding, weakness in sides of the body accompanied by the shrinking of muscle mass, memory loss, leukemia, testicular cancer, problems with vision, high-pitch ringing in the ears and anxiety.

The list of sailors who have joined the lawsuit, which is making its way through the courts, has grown to 370.

http://www.stripes.com/news/16-us-ships-that-aided-in-operation-tomodachi-still-contaminated-with-radiation-1.399094

[EV_Ares]

26. Thanks for this article, did not know about this after all this time & I do keep up with news. This

is horrible what is happening to these people, their lives & families, all loved ones. I hope they can get some justice from the court to at least help make them & their families lives a little easier to help them.

That said; this is especially showing about the US Corporate Media. This is one of the most important things we the people should be fighting for. We need more Independent Media, media not owned by corporations that dictate what news you & I should see.

[hack89]

31. Do you know what the Turner Radio Network is?

it is hard to imagine a more vile site - it is run by a white supremacist neo-nazi hate mongerer.

[hack89]

27. TRN is a white supremacist CT site

It had no place on DU

[demmiblue]

33. I voted to leave.

I did not go directly to the link in the OP, but googled Vetrans Speak Out (in case there was a wiki/rationalwiki article on the site). No wiki, so I went to the site's homepage and did not see anything wrong with it.

Now that I went to the direct link provided in the OP and saw that the article was sourced from TRN, I agree with your comment (as well as the alerter's comment: The story come from a RW white supremacist site).

I guess I should have clicked on the direct link in the first place!

[FBaggins]

28. Amazing that this gets so many recs. Do you recognize the source?

Hal Turner (of the Turner Radio Network) is a white supremecist Holocost denier and convicted felon (threatening judges)

The subject matter is also complete nonsense... but the source is unacceptable on DU. You should take it down.

[HooptieWagon]

36. There's a Stars and Stripes link a few posts above you.

Are they a RW Holocaust denier site too?

[FBaggins]

37. You're saying that you can't tell the difference between the two?

Hilarious

[zentrum]

39. I never believe...

…..delayed damage stories like this. I always think that somebody knew, somebody wrote a report that was destroyed, some bureaucracy didn't want to communicate with some other bureaucracy, some cost cutting was ordered, some sort of cover up was going on.

There can't be a massive radioactive leak and nobody knew a damn thing at the time of the leak.

[Jopin Klobe]

48. Why does the phrase "Agent Orange" ...

... leap to mind? ...

[Helen Borg]

66. Poor sailors...

[blackspade]

70. So much for Fukashima radiation disipating "harmlessly" into the ocean...

as some here at DU predicted.
Nuclear is a deadly form of energy production that needs to stop.

Best wishes to these sailors.

[lovuian]

72. I decided to put other links in the article

that supports the story

[FBaggins]

74. Sorry.. the new links do NOT support the original story

They more accurately report that some sailors are suing for what their lawyers claim was radiation-caused illnesses.

That doesn't come close to supporting the original story that outright claimed that their ridiculous allegations were true.

[Bonobo]

75. They should sue the Navy, not the victims of 3/11. nt

[FBaggins]

77. They can't

Which exposes the weakness of their case. Their claim is that Japan lied to the Navy - luring them in to provide aide and exposing the sailors to radiation.

The problem with that story is that the Navy knew more than the government of Japan did about what the radiation levels were out at sea.

More importantly, their mission was to save lives (including at risk of their own). You may remember that there were hundreds of thousands of Japanese in need of help (tens of thousands of whom died)? Do people really think it's plausible that they would have turned and run if they thought that a few dozen sailors would be less healthy a few years later?

They put their lives on the line willingly. They don't have the option of suing the Navy is the Navy puts them in harm's way. That's the job they signed up for.

For the record. They originally did sue the Navy. That case was thrown out for the reasons mentioned.

[Bonobo]

78. The whole thing doesn't pass the smell test for me.

It reeks of lawyers angling for a payday and little else.

If such horrible radiation sickness was caused by sailors 5-10 miles away, where are all the Japanese dying from similar symptoms?

http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/uss-reagan-sailors-lawsuit-found-lacking

[FBaggins]

79. Your nose appears to be operating correctly.

They don't even present a plausible case (the vast majority of the claimed illnesses are not even related to radiation exposure).

If such horrible radiation sickness was caused by sailors 5-10 miles away, where are all the Japanese dying from similar symptoms?

Duh. Obviously the Japanese government is hiding them and lying about it.

The Reagan wasn't anywhere close to 5-10 miles away. That too was entirely made up.