It’s been five years since an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 – the biggest in the nation’s recorded history and one of the five most powerful recorded ever around the world – and subsequent tsunami destroyed large parts of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, eventually killing more than 20,000 men, women and children; displaced over 200,000; and brought untold horror and misery to many survivors.
The Fukushima nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011, resulted in massive radioactive contamination of the Japanese mainland, as well as brought to the forefront the dangers of worldwide nuclear radiation. Five years later, after-effects of the catastrophic event continue to plague the world, making it the greatest environmental disaster of all time.
Here are 10 horrifying facts about the ongoing Fukushima nuclear holocaust that will scare the s#*t out of you…
#1 300 tons (272,152 liters) of radioactive water – enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every eight days – enters the Pacific Ocean each day. Harvey Wasserman, journalist and advocate for renewable energy, told RT:
“This is an apocalyptic event. This is something that could contaminate the entire Pacific Ocean. It is extremely serious. The reality is that Tokyo Electric does not know what is happening and does not know how to control what is going on. Our entire planet is at risk here.”
#2 The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant holds 11,400 fuel rods – Fukushima reactor No. 4 alone has 1300 fuel rods stored in a leaking pool. These fuel rods need to be manually removed, along with 6,300 fuel rods stored nearby. Since the fuel rods, which contain radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released when the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima at the end of World War II, have to be extracted manually to avoid a worse disaster than the March 2011 nuclear crisis, even the tiniest mistake could lead to a nuclear chain reaction.
#3 In 2013, TEPCO, the Japanese power company responsible for the Fukushima reactor, admitted that radiation levels in its groundwater observation hole on the east side of the turbine buildings had reached 310 Becquerels per liter for cesium-134 and 650 Becquerels per liter for cesium-137. According to the World Health Organization, drinking water at 300 Becquerels per liter is equivalent to one year exposure to natural background radiation, or 10 to 15 chest X-rays.
#4 In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the plant was spewing an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 terabecquerels (trillion Becquerels) of cesium-137 a month. According to Jota Kanda, an oceanographer at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, the plant continues to leak 10 billion Becquerels of cesium-137 per day into the Pacific Ocean.
#5 Within two years of the catastrophe, TEPCO admitted that they had detected the highly toxic strontium-90, a byproduct of nuclear fission that can cause bone cancer if ingested, at levels 30 times the permitted rate. It also publicly admitted that a cumulative 20 trillion to 40 trillion Becquerels of radioactive tritium had leaked into the sea since the disaster.
#6 Apart from Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, the plant continues to leak large amounts of Iodine-131 into the air. Because the thyroid quickly absorbs Iodine-131 in a radioactive event, the resultant internal contamination damages the thyroid, leading to hypothyroidism, cancer and death. Harvey Wasserman writes:
“Iodine-131 can be ingested into the thyroid, where it emits beta particles (electrons) that damage tissue. A plague of damaged thyroids has already been reported among as many as 40% of the children in the Fukushima area. That percentage can only go higher. In developing youngsters, it can stunt both physical and mental growth. Among adults it causes a very wide range of ancillary ailments, including cancer.”
#7 Experts call it the biggest release of radiation to a body of water in the history of the world, much worse than Chernobyl. They project that the entire Pacific Ocean will have Cesium levels 5 to 10 times higher than what they were at the peak of atomic bomb testing decades ago.
#8 Radiation from the Fukushima disaster has already spread across the globe. Last December, scientists found a spike of cesium-134 off the coast of California — about 11 Becquerels per cubic meter of water. They also found about 10 Becquerels per cubic meter of water 1,500 miles north of Hawaii — a level around twice as high as levels they found on previous missions.
#9 According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), more than 1,100 square kilometers of villages, mountains and forests remain uninhabitable; fully cleaning the site will require half a century.
#10 We have endless releases into the Pacific Ocean that will be ongoing for not only our lifetimes, but our children’s lifetimes, concludes researcher Christina Consolo. She tells RT:
“…The worst case scenario could play out in death to billions of people. A true apocalypse… A weather event, power outage, earthquake, tsunami, cooling system failure, or explosion and fire in any way, shape, or form, at any location on the Fukushima site, could cascade into an event of that magnitude as well.”
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that means all pacific people including fishes are screwed. that’s all the earth needed ! -_-‘
Then why are shark attacks on the rise? Experts blame abundant food supply (lots of fish) with increasing the number of sharks. How does this jive with the apocalyptic reports of a dead Pacific? Radiation at the levels required for health effects is easily detected and it hasn’t been, don’t be taken in by anti-nuclear fear mongers. Check out their stories, be skeptical, not scared.
You may have it backwards: Sharks are coming inland, hungry and looking for prey, prey that have died off from the radiation. By the way, where do you come down on climate change? Is that a fabrication also?
The lack of fish is not from radiation poisoning but from complete overfishing most species of fish since 70 years for the short term profit of big food corporations.
Maybe there leaving there home ground for the coasts of Australia because we have what they need ….Food….
This article is so full of errors and outright lies it is hard to begin to comment on each and every mistake. For example, this is a quote, “Apart from Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, the plant continues to leak large amounts of Iodine-131 into the air. Because the thyroid quickly absorbs Iodine-131 in a radioactive event, the resultant internal contamination damages the thyroid, leading to hypothyroidism, cancer and death. Harvey Wasserman writes:
Iodine-131 has an 8 day half-life. Once you go through 10 half-lifes, or for iodine, 80 days, it is gone and not detectable. It has been over 5 years since the accident, Iodine-131 has decayed to a stable isotope!!That statement is wrong. The rest of the article is just as bad. Take a basic physics class before you demonstrate your ignorance.
Um, I think YOU need to take a physics class! The writer of this article SHOWS the PROOF! And ANY (“real”) information you see out there regarding the Fukushima Disaster is VERY consistent to what this man says!
I wanna help join the Anon.
Wow!..! Guys just Wow… :0
this how godzilla is born.
Most science fiction writers were/are excellent predictors. (prophets?)
hey americans, you remember hiroshima and nagasaki dont you?
Those don’t compare you dumb fuck
boy u cant fix stupid
How dare you try to say that we deserve this. It is because of idiots like you that this world can not be fixed. I am tired of all the ignorance from people like you. Non of this is good. That does not mean that we deserve this. On both sides there are innocent people that can be affected. But you choose to take attention away from the real problem.
300 tons (272,152 liters) of radioactive water – enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every eight days – enters the Pacific Ocean each day. Harvey Wasserman, journalist and advocate for renewable energy, told RT:
That makes no sense. I know this is a big problem. But this site need to really clamp down on the amount of bad articles it puts out. Kinda detracts from the credibility of the article
An 1/8 of an Olympic swimming pool entered the ocean each day
I agree. The amount of shitposting on this site has gotten ridiculous
Shouldnt we all be doing something? to counter act this?? or atleast something.
if you find out something o do about this let me know. I dont like problems, i like solutions.
they discovered that marijuana, being a super plant, can absorb radiation.
I just don’t understand why the hell humans still use and keep building atomic power plants if they know that at the smallest mistake it can result in a disaster.
We live in a very unstable environment (with natural disasters happening all the time) so why does the Man keep building theses things??? This shit just makes me super mad. Such ignorance of the so called scientists and the human race in general, Mankind is going to lead this world to an end and i have no doubt of it.
simple answer,because that is human…
Remember that every time you plug somethings in, everyone bitches but doesn’t want to go without their luxuries . Can’t have it both ways. Either super expensive energy nobody can afford, or this…..
It’s all about the money, my friend.
Capitalism … GREED.
It’s because refining and enriching uranium for making weapons requires nuclear power plants – they are a front for the military, nothing more.
plant sunflowers as they eat radiation. An amazing plant!
The something they do is cover it up with a mountain of dirt but the technology here is not yet so — option two, water type locks with barriers.
I have telling people this since it happened, no one seems to care. It has ruined some of the best fishing areas in the world.
“#1 300 tons (272,152 liters) of radioactive water – enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every eight days – enters the Pacific Ocean each day.”
Oh, yes. Distilled water contaminated with enough tritium to leave it _less_ radioactive than the ocean is naturally. Tell me more.
“Harvey Wasserman, journalist and advocate for renewable energy.”
Also, a guy who is consistently wrong about all things nuclear, and has deep investments in the international solar industry. Not that that makes him wrong – being wrong makes him wrong – but it does go a long way to explaining the “consistently” part.
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“#2 The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant holds 11,400 fuel rods – Fukushima reactor No. 4 alone has 1300 fuel rods stored in a leaking pool. These fuel rods need to be manually removed, along with 6,300 fuel rods stored nearby. ”
Actually, the #4 reactor contained _no_ fuel (it had been defueled for maintenance at the time of the accident), and the #4 SFP has been defueled for a while now. Inaccurate reporting: GO!
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“#3 In 2013, TEPCO … admitted that radiation levels in its groundwater observation hole on the east side of the turbine buildings had reached 310 Becquerels per liter for cesium-134 and 650 Becquerels per liter for cesium-137. According to the World Health Organization, drinking water at 300 Becquerels per liter is equivalent to one year exposure to natural background radiation, or 10 to 15 chest X-rays.”
For perspective, 310 Bq/L of Cs-134 is 6.98 parts per quadrillion. 650 Bq/L of Cs-137 is 19.9 parts per trillion. In both cases, this isn’t drinking water, and it’s miles away from where anyone would have a well.
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“According to Jota Kanda, an oceanographer at Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, the plant continues to leak 10 billion Becquerels of cesium-137 per day into the Pacific Ocean.”
Best estimates are that FD released a total of 85 PBq (quadrillion Becquerels) of Cs-137 – or about 26.1 kg – into the atmosphere and oceans. Cs-137 has a half-life of about 30 years, so not much has decayed off. What this means is that the net radioactive load from FD Cs-137 is reduced by about 5.4 TBq per day (that is, that’s how much of it has decayed off). An additional daily 10 GBq doesn’t affect things much – each day still means less and less of the stuff in the biosphere.
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“#6 Apart from Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, the plant continues to leak large amounts of Iodine-131 into the air.”
Complete nonsense. The half-life of I-131 is 8 _days_. The total reactor’s load was about 1,500 PBq. After 61 half-lives the total activity from I-131 would have fallen to below 1 Bq. That means that by early July, 2012, the last atom of I-131 would have decayed off.
“Harvey Wasserman writes”
Ok, this is two for two for Wasserman. Maybe you should consider getting a credible source.
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“#7 Experts call it the biggest release of radiation to a body of water in the history of the world, much worse than Chernobyl. They project that the entire Pacific Ocean will have Cesium levels 5 to 10 times higher than what they were at the peak of atomic bomb testing decades ago.”
Complete nonsense. FD released 900 PBq of all radioactives. Chernobyl released 5,200 PBq. The Trinity test alone released more than 6,400 PBq.
Of course, this is what you get when you believe that Arnie Gundersen is an “expert”.
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“#8 Radiation from the Fukushima disaster has already spread across the globe. Last December, scientists found a spike of cesium-134 off the coast of California — about 11 Becquerels per cubic meter of water. They also found about 10 Becquerels per cubic meter of water 1,500 miles north of Hawaii — a level around twice as high as levels they found on previous missions.”
11 Bq/m³? You mean “0.25 parts per billion billion”? I mean, you know the ocean’s natural radioactivity accounts for ~12,000 Bq/m³, right? Right?
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“#9 According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), more than 1,100 square kilometers of villages, mountains and forests remain uninhabitable; fully cleaning the site will require half a century.”
Which is kinda dumb, and kinda sad, since the dose rates inside the Fukushima exclusion zone are below the background levels of many parts of the world. Hell, Mark Z. Jacobsen – the “we can power the world on solar and wind” guy – sat down and worked out that the stress from the evacuation killed 10 times as many people than would have gotten thyroid cancer if everyone just rode it out.
Seriously, Japan. Just let those poor people go home.
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“#10 We have endless releases into the Pacific Ocean that will be ongoing for not only our lifetimes, but our children’s lifetimes, concludes researcher Christina Consolo.”
Except Christina never once calls it “apocalyptic” – just like FD was not apocalyptic. We’ve been hearing since 2011 how radiation is frying the oceans – yet, from what oceanographers tell us, the pacific is suffering from acidification due to adsorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide; the radiation isn’t even a blip. (The natural oceanic radioactive load is ~16,000,000 PBq of various isotoped; Fukushima released 900 PBq. You do the math.)
Your ignorance is astounding. Throwing numbers left and right to try to “prove” nothing is wrong. Fukushima is way worse then Chernobyl ever was. Government lackeys cover it up. Telling the truth is simply too fucking aweful.
The Japanese should be diverting ground water away from or around the crippled reactors , not allowing it to flow through the contaminatied buildings. They must have heavy equipment there that can dig out diversion channels…
C’mon, this is fear-mongering. Your old nemesis L. Ron Hubbard tells tall tales about radiation. Most of the early Dianetics and Scientology literature was full of atomic panic. He had a couple books that claimed you could “run out” radiation (it was an engram, you know) with large doses of vitamins. Of course, only his magical vitamin blend worked.
Relax — there’s no ongoing atomic super-poisoning of the Pacific. “Regular” pollutants, now, THEY’RE a huuuge problem …
If you vote for Hillary or Sanders this is what you will get more of,they want more of this,vote trump,for coal and natural gas and other democrats will ruin the planet with nuclear,Obama will still be in the backdrop doing something to us
Their all GE reactors why isn’t the US over there doing something?oh yeah we’re to worried about Bruce Jenner getting his junk cut off. I think Obama is a terrorist himself….
I love the people making up excuses for this like nothing happened! All these so called experts here are all asshole liars! Nuclear energy is destroying the earth Billion of tons of waste that they dont have a clue what to do with.