Monday, June 9, 2014

Aerial Photo by Asahi Shows Desolation Around #Fukushima I NPP


While I do not think much at all of the initial editorialization of the confidential testimony given by Plant Manager Masao Yoshida to the government investigation of the accident and which Asahi somehow obtained, the special webpage dedicated to reporting on the testimony has some good photographs.

Here's one for the "epilogue" (so their reporting is ending already) about the Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool.

According to the credit of the photo, it was taken from Asahi's helicopter on December 15, 2013. Unlike photographs of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant which mostly show the plant only, this one shows Okuma-machi (south of the plant) and Futaba-machi and toward Namie-machi (north of the plant).

No one (officially) lives in Okuma or Futaba. The coastal area of Futaba and Namie (above Fukushima I NPP in the photo) looks to have been wiped out by the March 11, 2011 tsunami. There are houses hugging the hills in Okuma, but the abandoned fields look overgrown. No one there to till the land.

No one is returning anytime soon to the area right below (south) of the plant. The area is called Ottozawa. The highest ambient air dose level in Ottozawa at present is 28 microsieverts/hour as measured on June 5, 2014.

Ottozawa has had one of the highest ambient air dose levels inside the former evacuation zone, located right up against Fukushima I NPP. In February 2012, contract workers "decontaminated" the area in 70 to 130 microsieverts/hour radiation (see my post on 2/9/2012).

Using the formula to calculate additional annual radiation exposure even with using the coefficient of 0.2 (instead of 0.4 for wooden structure; see my 6/8/2014 post), it would be additional 114 millisieverts in one year at the current ambient radiation level.

But then, there are many scholars and researchers around the world who would say that level would be safe enough for residents to return and live a life they can enjoy, instead of living in a crowded temporary housing. (See my posts here for some of the researchers over the past three years.)

Image from Asahi Shinbun "Yoshida Testimony - Epilogue" page:

(Click to see the entire image)

7 comments:

Darth3.11 said...

I will take some time to absorb the various links and information, but that is one of, if not THE most frightening photographs of the entire TEPCO debacle. Should be spread worldwide.

Fukushima not Shitty Hollywood said...

@ Pawan Kumar

Fuck. Off.

Anonymous said...

Understand that all of the desolation shown in the photo likely isn't due to radiation alone. The entire area has been abandoned for over 3 years. So, none of the fields have been irrigated.

That isn't to take away from the insanity of the whole nuclear mindset. I'm just suggesting that we view images like this with clarity and in context to avoid the sort of mindless hysteria that irresposibly tossing the word "RADIATION" around can instill.

Anonymous said...

None of that is due to radiation. The photo was taken in December, when there are no green rice shoots. But I also suspect that the fields were contaminated with salt-water due to the tsunami, and then abandoned. Rice does not tolerate salt well. In Sendai, they had to replace the soil with uncontaminated soil so that the fields could support crops again.

Anonymous said...

Areva-kun,

not sure about the "scholars" you mention but, as far as I recall, if you get 114 millisieverts/year while working at a nuclear power plant in Japan you are out of your job in one or two years. I guess this limit is setup to protect workers health. So, either Fukushima kids are more resistant to radiation than nuclear workers or they'd better not to go back.

Beppe

Anonymous said...

No need to be unsure about the scholars. Areva kindly provided links to subjects in question. As Areva also said, nobody from Ottozawa is returning. It is still part of the evacuation zone. Nobody is asking kids to go back there.

John said...



No need to be unsure about the scholars. Areva kindly provided links to subjects in question. As Areva also said, nobody from Ottozawa is returning. It is still part of the evacuation zone.دانلود موزیک Nobody is asking kids to go back there.

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