According to a host of scientists, nuclear experts and researchers, were are facing exactly such a scenario – and current efforts may not be able to stop it. When the Fukushima nuclear plants sustained structural damage and a catastrophic failure of their spent fuel cooling systems in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, it left the government of Japan, Tokyo Power and nuclear regulatory agencies around the world powerless to contain the release of deadly radiation. A year on, the battle for control of Fukushima continues to no avail.
It’s estimated that tens of thousands of people in Japan and the whole of North America have been affected, with reports indicating that children in Japan and the U.S. are already being born with birth defects, as well as thousands who have already succumbed to radiation related illness. As we initially followed the breaking news during the first thirty days of the accident, we suggested the Fukushima disaster would be worse than Chernobyl. Not even we could have imagined how much worse it would be.
If current estimates are correct, Fukushima has already released as much radiation into the atmosphere and Pacific Ocean as Chernobyl, and the potential for a disaster at least ten times worse is highly probable in the event of another earthquake or accident that leads to a collapse of the cooling structures which are above ground and have already suffered significant damage.
According to U.S. Army General Albert N. Stubblebine (ret.) of the Natural Solutions Foundation, the situation is extremely serious and poses a significant danger to our entire civilization. Since TEPCO and the Japanese government have refused the entombment option (as the Russians did with Chernobyl) the world is at the mercy of nature. A mistake here would cause the deaths of tens of millions of people across the globe.
If there ever existed a threat that could cause the end of the world as we know it, it’s the ongoing and unresolved nuclear saga in Japan:
When the highly radioactive Spent Fuel Rods are exposed to air, there will be massive explosions releasing many times the amount or radiation released thus far. Bizarrely, they are stored three stories above ground in open concrete storage pools. Whether through evaporation of the water in the pools, or due to the inevitable further collapse of the structure, there is a severe risk. United States public health authorities agree that tens of thousands of North Americans have already died from the Fukushima calamity. When the final cataclysm occurs, sooner rather than later, the whole Northern Hemisphere is at risk of becoming largely uninhabitable.…Fact. On March 11, 2011, Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station with six nuclear reactors suffered cataclysmic damage that some believe was a man made event,and the resulting Tsunami. Hydrogen explosions…at least one nuclear explosion… and then subsequent deterioration of the visible plants at five of those reactors have created a threat situation unparalleled in human history.Fact. Despite denial and cover-up, the reality has emerged, that enormous amounts of radioactive material has been spewing into the atmosphere, polluting the groundwater, and the food of Japan, and entering by the tens of millions of gallons the waters of the Pacific.…There’s no way to sugarcoat these facts. Denying them, blocking them out, pretending that they are not real is of no help to you and your family, and it leaves you totally unprepared for a danger that the Natural Solutions Foundation has been warning about since the first day. As of three weeks ago the levels of radiation inside of the spent fuel pools of unit no. 2 are too high to measure. Get that… too high to measure. And, the water there is evaporating, meaning that heat and radiation could easily build to very high levels.…Very simply put, if this much Cesium 137 is released, it will destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugulistic debate over nuclear power plants.This is an issue of human survival.
We can play the denial game all day long and pretend that, because the mainstream media is not reporting on it, there is no threat, but the facts are quite clear.
This is, without a doubt, the most immediate threat faced by the world. It’s so serious, in fact, that the Japanese government has considered and put into place evacuation plans for the whole of Tokyo – some 40 million people. Reports are also emerging that suggest a collapse of the spent fuel pools would be so serious that the entire country of Japan may have to be evacuated. The entire country – that’s 125 million refugees that will cause an unprecedented humanitarian disaster.
Before you argue that these are the ravings of just alternative media conspiracy theorists and fearmongers, consider the assessment put forth by Robert Alvarez , a senior policy adviser to the Secretary for National Security and the Environment for the US Department of Energy:
The No. 4 pool is about 100 feet above ground, is structurally damaged and is exposed to the open elements. If an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.The infrastructure to safely remove this material was destroyed as it was at the other three reactors. Spent reactor fuel cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded structures into dry casks.. As this has never been done before, the removal of the spent fuel from the pools at the damaged Fukushima-Dai-Ichi reactors will require a major and time-consuming re-construction effort and will be charting in unknown waters.…The total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18 Becquerel).It is important for the public to understand that reactors that have been operating for decades, such as those at the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site, have generated some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet.
Regulatory agencies all over the world are warning of the potentiality of a further degradation of the Fukushima nuclear reactors and spent fuel pools, and the subsequent nuclear fallout that would follow.
If these reactors go – and they could at any moment for any number of reasons – we’re looking at a situation for which you simply cannot stock enough food, or water, or supplies. Radiation would spread across the entire northern hemisphere and would be impossible to contain.
While we’ve argued in the past that there is no place we’d rather be than in the United States of America in the event of a socio-economic collapse or global conflict, if these spent fuel pools collapse, then an international exit strategy may be the only option.
Because details are sparse and research limited, it is difficult to predict what nuclear fall out from Japan may look like. The following map may be of some help, as it details the estimated fallout pattern resulting from a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. You’ll note that, while most of the world would be irradiated, the southern hemisphere would be your best bet to avoid the brunt of it:
Beachfront property in Antarctica sounds quite appealing right about now.
Additional:
If there’s nothing wrong at Fukushima, why won’t they allow outside experts to inspect the plant?
By Madison Ruppert
Japanese environment and nuclear minister Goshi Hosono visiting Fukushima
If the nuclear disaster that has befallen the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant is absolutely nothing to be concerned about, as some have nonsensically maintained despite the evidence to the contrary, why on Earth would Akio Komori, an executive at Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), refuse to allow outside experts to inspect the facility?
It is quite a simple question which should be able to be easily answered by those who continue to maintain that those who point out the continuing dangers and potential disaster with spent fuel pool number four are blowing the situation out of proportion.
Of course, it would only be easy to answer if they are right. Unfortunately for them, there is no indication that they are and a new study revealed that we can only expect similar incidents in the future – even here in the United States – if we don’t begin to question the legitimacy of nuclear power generation (especially given the viable alternatives).
I truly wish that I could say that you should ignore what is going on at Fukushima and the real potential for the disaster to get significantly worse, but I would be lying to you.
Even the Japan Times notes that the spent fuel pool in reactor number 4 is “situation precariously above the reactor” in their May 27 article which revealed the disturbing position of Komori.
Goshi Hosono, the Japanese environment and nuclear minister recently visited the Fukushima Daiichi plant in order to inspect the spent fuel pool which has, according to the Japan Times, “been raising safety concerns,” although Hosono claimed that it “appears to have been properly reinforced.”
Personally, I don’t think that inspires too much confidence in the safety and stability of the spent fuel pool, especially given the word choice in saying that it “appears” to be reinforced properly.
The Japan Times notes that the visit appears to have been an attempt to inspire confidence in the safety of the facility, especially since reports recently emerged detailing a bulge in the building’s wall, which was confirmed by TEPCO.
Japanese nuclear regulators responded to this report by ordering a new probe and seismic tests of both the reactor four building and the spent fuel pool.
For those who aren’t aware, the spent fuel pool is absurdly dangerous because it could dump out, exposing the fuel rods, likely causing a combustion.
The sheer number of earthquakes in the region as of late is yet another reason why the situation hardly inspires confidence.
The entire reactor four building sustained significant damage after a major explosion and fire which followed the tremendous earthquake and tsunami in March of last year.
While a select, small group of journalists were allowed entry into the reactor building for the first time along with Hosono, who was wearing a protective suit and full face mask, TEPCO continues to resist calls for outside expert analysis.
Journalists observed broken wall panels lying in piles, pieces of cement and mangled equipment inside the reactor four building.
Interestingly, while Hosono reportedly partially viewed the spent fuel pool when TEPCO officials partially lifted the tarp covering the pool, he was not able to see the wall bulge.
However, he did call on TEPCO “not to take an optimistic view and instead deal with it carefully in order to ensure safety.”
For some strange reason, TEPCO will not begin moving the spent fuel rods from the pool at reactor four to a joint pool for all six reactors next to the reactor four building until late next year.
While this joint pool already has a whopping 6,000 rods in it, it is supposedly safer because it is at ground level.
Furthermore, it will take a whopping 40 years to decommission the reactors completely.
Komori claimed that they will inspect the number four building “to ensure its integrity” which, yet again, hardly inspires confidence given TEPCO’s behavior throughout this tragedy.
His justification for refusing to allow outside experts to inspect the plant makes so little sense that it is nothing short of laughable.
“As the party with direct responsibility, it’s our job to carry out the necessary checks,” Komori said.
Sure, but it is also their responsibility to ensure that it is safe and clearly they are not disinterested enough to do that.
Experts have been pointing out the immense danger posed by the spent fuel pool at reactor number four for some time now.
This is hardly a mystery as it is indeed precariously placed and there are over 1,500 fuel rods in the pool, which is more than any of the other six Fukushima reactors.
Even worse is that the fuel which would normally be in the reactor core is in the pool as well as number four was being refurbished.
According to the Japan Times, nuclear officials in the U.S. were also concerned because they “feared the rods would overheat and melt as water evaporated from the pool, releasing massive radiation.”
With all of this evidence showing just how dangerous this situation is, can we really accept Komori’s justification – if you can even call it that – for refusing to allow outside experts to assess the situation?
If we can accept it, why? I would love to hear those who believe that the continuously developing situation at Fukushima is being blown out of proportion respond to this with a reasonable answer. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt that they will be able to do so.
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