Manifest Injustice

Arirang News, Mar. 7, 2014 (at 2:00 in): […] exclusive coverage by the Joongang Ilbo on Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. The headline reads, “Where Abe Said Contaminated Water Was Contained, Radiation Detector Goes Off “Beep, Beep, Beep.” […] the radiation detector showed a reading that was 110 times higher than the normal rate. Surprising,.. given that this area is within the zone that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had claimed was SAFE from the effects of radiation. Three years since the nuclear disaster,.. and still periodic reports of contaminated water leakage. It’s about time the Japanese government and the rest of world deserve an honest assessment of the disaster.

Korea JoongAng Daily, Mar. 17, 2014: The accident was a worst-case scenario come to life, one that stunned the international community and shed light on the vulnerabilities of the nuclear industry. […] When a team of JoongAng Ilbo and JTBC reporters visited the Fukushima site last month to witness for themselves the state of the plant 36 months later, their boat came just within 100 meters (328 feet) of its port before a deep sense of dread set in. The reporters believed they would be safer from radiation exposure in the open sea […] It is estimated that hundreds of tons of contaminated groundwater spill into the ocean each day. […] The tension was palpable, and the group members immediately put on their anti-radiation suits and masks. […] The upper part of the outer wall that covers the [No. 3] reactor was crumbling […] the team finally worked up enough courage to come closer to the port […] The interval of the beeps rapidly increased when the boat passed alongside one of the levees, signaling danger. “Stop, don’t go any closer!” one of those on board shouted. The detector sounded relentlessly, indicating a radiation level of 21 microsieverts, about 110 times the permissible level of exposure. […] as the team moved another 200 meters east, they could see that the port was not fully closed off, and a 50-meter-wide opening let water freely escape. […] “The ocean in front of the Daiichi power plant was once one of the richest fisheries in Fukushima Prefecture,” [Yoshio Yoshida, the boat’s 61-year-old captain] added, “but we can’t do anything about it because the spillover of groundwater [mixed with the contaminated water] isn’t going to end in a year or two – it may last until the end of the Earth.”

Other recent reports state radiation levels at the plant boundaries are 8 times the limit.

RT News, Mar. 28, 2014: In mid-January, TEPCO warned that nuclear radiation at the boundaries of the damaged power plant had jumped to eight times the government safety guideline.

Watch the Arirang broadcast here (at 2:00 in)