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Foxnews...
Japan Discovers More
Radiation-Tainted Food As it Faces Troubled Nuclear Plant
Published March 20, 2011
In this AP photo released
by the Department of Health, samples of imported Japanese fava beans
tainted with radiation is seen in undisclosed place in Taoyuan county,
Taiwan.
FUKUSHIMA, Japan -- Japanese officials reported progress Sunday in
their battle to gain control over a leaking, tsunami-stricken nuclear
complex, though the crisis was far from over, with the discovery of
more radiation-tainted vegetables adding to public fears about
contaminated food.
The announcement by Japan’s Health Ministry late Sunday that tests had
detected excess amounts of radioactive elements on canola and
chrysanthemum greens marked a low moment in a day that had been
peppered with bits of positive news: First, a teenager and his
grandmother were found alive nine days after being trapped in their
earthquake-shattered home. Then, the operator of the overheated nuclear
plant said two of the six reactor units were safely cooled down.
“We consider that now we have come to a situation where we are very
close to getting the situation under control,” Deputy Cabinet Secretary
Tetsuro Fukuyama said.
Still, serious problems remained at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
complex. Pressure unexpectedly rose in a third unit’s reactor, meaning
plant operators may need to deliberately release radioactive steam.
That has only added to public anxiety over radiation that began leaking
from the plant after a monstrous earthquake and tsunami devastated
northeastern Japan on March 11 and left the plant unstable.
The safety of food and water was of particular concern. The government
halted shipments of spinach from one area and raw milk from another
near the nuclear plant after tests found iodine exceeded safety limits.
But the contamination spread to spinach in three other prefectures and
to more vegetables -- canola and chrysanthemum greens. Tokyo’s tap
water, where iodine turned up Friday, now has cesium. Rain and dust are
also tainted.
In all cases, the government said the radiation levels were too small
to pose an immediate health risk. But Taiwan seized a batch of fava
beans from Japan found with faint -- and legal -- amounts of iodine and
cesium.
“I’m worried, really worried,” said Mayumi Mizutani, a 58-year-old
Tokyo resident shopping for bottled water at a supermarket to give her
visiting 2-year-old grandchild. “We’re afraid because it’s possible our
grandchild could get cancer.” Forecasts for rain, she said, were also a
cause for concern.
All six of the nuclear complex’s reactor units saw trouble after the
disasters knocked out cooling systems. In a small advance, the plant’s
operator declared Units 5 and 6 -- the least troublesome -- under
control after their nuclear fuel storage pools cooled to safe levels.
Progress was made to reconnect two other units to the electric grid and
in pumping seawater to cool another reactor and replenish it and a
sixth reactor’s storage pools.
But the buildup in pressure inside the vessel holding Unit 3’s reactor
presented some danger, forcing officials to consider venting. The
tactic produced explosions of radioactive gas during the early days of
the crisis.
“Even if certain things go smoothly, there would be twists and turns,”
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters. “At the moment, we
are not so optimistic that there will be a breakthrough.”
Nuclear safety officials said one of the options could release a cloud
dense with iodine as well as the radioactive elements krypton and xenon.
The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., temporarily suspended
the plans Sunday after it said the pressure inside the reactor stopped
climbing, though staying at a high level.
“It has stabilized,” Tokyo Electric manager Hikaru Kuroda told
reporters.
Kuroda, who said temperatures inside the reactor reached 572 degrees
Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius), said the option to release the highly
radioactive gas inside is still under consideration if pressure rises.
Growing concerns about radiation add to the overwhelming chain of
disasters Japan has struggled with since the 9.0-magnitude quake. It
spawned a tsunami that ravaged the northeastern coast, killing 8,450
people, leaving more than 12,900 people missing, and displacing another
452,000, who are living in shelters.
Fuel, food and water remain scarce. The government in recent days
acknowledged being caught ill-prepared by an enormous disaster that the
prime minister has called the worst crisis since World War II.
Bodies are piling up in some of the devastated communities and badly
decomposing even amid chilly rain and snow.
“The recent bodies -- we can’t show them to the families. The faces
have been purple, which means they are starting to decompose,” says
Shuji Horaguchi, a disaster relief official setting up a center to
process the dead in Natori, on the outskirts of the tsunami-flattened
city of Sendai. “Some we’re finding now have been in the water for a
long time, they’re not in good shape. Crabs and fish have eaten parts.”
Before the disasters, safety drills were seldom if ever practiced and
information about radiation exposure rarely given in Futuba, a small
town in the shadow of the nuclear plant, said 29-year-old Tsugumi
Hasegawa. She is living in a shelter with her 4-year-old daughter and
feeling bewildered.
“I still have no idea what the numbers they are giving about radiation
levels mean. It’s all so confusing. And I wonder if they aren’t playing
down the dangers to keep us from panicking. I don’t know who to trust,”
said Hasegawa, crammed with 1,400 people into a gymnasium on the
outskirts of the city of Fukushima, 80 miles (50 miles) away from the
plant.
Another nuclear safety official acknowledged that the government only
belatedly realized the need to give potassium iodide to those living
within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the nuclear complex.
The pills help reduce chances of thyroid cancer, one of the diseases
that may develop from radiation exposure, by preventing the body from
absorbing radioactive iodine. The official, Kazuma Yokota, said the
explosion that occurred while venting the plant’s Unit 3 reactor a week
ago should have triggered the distribution. But the order came only
three days later.
“We should have made this decision and announced it sooner,” Yokota
told reporters at the emergency command center in Fukushima. “It is
true that we had not foreseen a disaster of these proportions. We had
not practiced or trained for something this bad. We must admit that we
were not fully prepared.”
The higher reactor pressure may have been caused by a tactic meant to
reduce temperatures -- the pumping of seawater into the vessel, said
Kuroda, the Tokyo Electric manager.
Using seawater to cool the reactors and storage pools was a desperate
measure adopted early last week; Unit 4’s pool was sprayed again Sunday
and a system to inject water into Unit 2’s reactor was repaired.
Experts have said for days that seawater would inevitably corrode and
ruin the reactors and other finely milled machine parts, effectively
turning the plant into scrap.
Edano, the government spokesman, recognized the inevitable Sunday: “It
is obviously clear that Fukushima Dai-ichi in no way will be in a
condition to be restarted.”
Contamination of food and water compounds the government’s
difficulties, heightening the broader public’s sense of dread about
safety. Consumers in markets snapped up bottled water, shunned spinach
from Ibaraki -- the prefecture where the tainted spinach was found --
and overall expressed concern about food safety.
Experts have said the amounts of iodine detected in milk, spinach and
water pose no discernible risks to public health unless consumed in
enormous quantities over a long time. Iodine breaks down quickly, after
eight days, minimizing its harmfulness, unlike other radioactive
isotopes such as cesium-137 or uranium-238, which remain in the
environment for decades or longer.
High levels of iodine are linked to thyroid cancer, one of the least
deadly cancers if treated. Cesium is a longer-lasting element that
affects the whole body and raises cancer risk.
Rain forecast for the Fukushima area also could further localize the
contamination, bringing the radiation to the ground closer to the plant.
Edano tried to reassure the public for a second day in a row. “If you
eat it once, or twice, or even for several days, it’s not just that
it’s not an immediate threat to health, it’s that even in the future it
is not a risk,” Edano said. “Experts say there is no threat to human
health.”
No contamination has been reported in Japan’s main food export --
seafood -- worth about $1.6 billion a year and less than 0.3 percent of
its total exports.
Amid the anxiety, there were moments of joy on Sunday. An 80-year-old
woman and her teenage grandson were rescued from their flattened
two-story house after nine days, when the teen pulled himself to the
roof and shouted to police for help.
Other survivors enjoyed smaller victories. Kiyoshi Hiratsuka and his
family managed to pull his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle from the
rubble in their hometown of Onagawa.
“I almost gave up the search but it happened that I found it,” the
37-year-old mechanic said. “I know that the motorbike would not work
anymore, but I want to keep it as a memorial.”
------
Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo, as did Associated Press writers Elaine
Kurtenbach, Kelly Olsen, Charles Hutzler and Jeff Donn. Associated
Press writer Jay Alabaster contributed from Natori, Japan.
Read it with links at Foxnews
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