{"id":143499,"date":"2019-09-23T12:01:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T11:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=143499"},"modified":"2019-09-30T10:26:54","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T09:26:54","slug":"japan-is-lying-about-the-fukushima-nuclear-disaster-as-it-promotes-the-2020-olympic-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/09\/japan-is-lying-about-the-fukushima-nuclear-disaster-as-it-promotes-the-2020-olympic-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Is Lying about the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, as It Promotes the 2020 Olympic Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Japanese government is lying and should be held accountable for hoodwinking the world about the ravages of Fukushima, especially with the Olympics scheduled for next year.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe ashes of half a dozen unidentified laborers ended up at a Buddhist temple in a town just north of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Some of the dead men had no papers; others left no emergency contacts. Their names could not be confirmed and no family members had been tracked down to claim their remains.\u00a0They were simply labeled \u2018decontamination troops.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

******************************<\/p>\n

Fukushima\u2019s Radioactive Water Crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Hunziker \u2013 CounterPunch<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

16 Sep 2019 – <\/em>Tokyo Electric Power\u2019s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which experienced three massive meltdowns in 2011, is running out of room to store radioactive water. No surprise! But now, what to do about phosphorescent water?<\/p>\n

Addressing the issue, Japan\u2019s environmental minister Yoshiaki Harada held a news conference (September 2019). Unfortunately, he proffered the following advice: \u201cThe only option will be to drain it into the sea and dilute it.\u201d (Source: Fukushima: Japan May Have to Dump Radioactive Water into the Sea, Minister Says<\/a>, Reuters, Sept. 16, 2019)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only option\u201d\u2026 Really?<\/p>\n

Over the past 8 years, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) has scrambled like a Mad Hatter to construct emergency storage tanks (1,000) to contain upwards of one million tonnes of contaminated radioactive water, you know, the kind of stuff that, over time, destroys human cells, alters DNA, causes cancer, or produces something like the horrific disfigured creature in John Carpenter\u2019s The Thing! That\u2019s the upshot of a triple nuclear meltdown that necessitates constant flow of water to prevent further melting of reactor cores that have been decimated and transfigured into corium or melted blobs. It\u2019s the closest to a full-blown \u201cchina syndrome\u201d in all of human history. Whew! Although, the truth is it\u2019ll be a dicey situation for decades to come.<\/p>\n

Ever since March 11, 2011, TEPCO has scrambled to build storage tanks to prevent massive amounts of radioactive water from pouring into the ocean (still, some lesser amounts pour into the ocean every day by day). Now the government is floating a trial balloon in public that, once the tanks are full, it\u2019ll be okay to dump the radioactive water into the ocean. Their logic is bizarre, meaning, on the one hand, the meltdown happens, and they build storage tanks to contain the radioactive water, but on the other hand, once the storage tanks run out of space, it\u2019s okay to dump radioactive water into the ocean. Seriously?<\/p>\n

Meantime, the Fukushima meltdown brings the world community face to face with TEPCO and the government of Japan in an unprecedented grand experiment that, so far, has failed miserably. Of course, dumping radiation into the Pacific is like dumping radiation into everybody\u2019s back yard. But, for starters, isn\u2019t that a non-starter?<\/p>\n

Along the way, deceit breeds duplicity, as the aforementioned Guardian article says the Japanese government claims only one (1) death has been associated with the Fukushima meltdown but keep that number in mind. Reliable sources in Japan claim otherwise, as explained in previous articles on the subject, for example, \u201cFukushima Darkness, Part Two\u201d d\/d November 24, 2017, and as highlighted further on in this article.<\/p>\n

When it comes to nuclear accidents, cover-ups reign supreme; you can count on it.<\/p>\n

As such, it is believed the Japanese government is lying and should be held accountable for hoodwinking the world about the ravages of Fukushima, especially with the Olympics scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n

For example, the following explains how death by radiation is shamefully hidden from the public via newspeak: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station worker deaths \u201cthat expire at home\u201d are not officially counted. Accordingly, how many workers on a deathbed with radiation sickness leave home to go to work (where deaths are counted) just before they die? Oh, please!<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the last thing the world community needs in the face of an uncontrollable nuclear meltdown, like Fukushima, is deceptiveness and irresponsibility by the host government. Too much is at stake for that kind of childish nonsense. And just to think, the 2020 Olympics are scheduled with events held in Fukushima. Scandalously, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is A-Okay with that.<\/p>\n

In contrast, a Greenpeace International March 8th<\/sup> 2019 article entitled: Japanese Government Misleading UN on Impact of Fukushima Fallout on Children, Decontamination Workers: \u201cThe Japanese government is deliberately misleading United Nations human rights bodies and experts over the ongoing nuclear crisis in areas of Fukushima\u2026 In areas where some of these decontamination workers are operating, the radiation levels would be considered an emergency if they were inside a nuclear facility.\u201d Enough said!<\/p>\n

\u201cIn its reporting to the United Nations, the Japanese government deliberately misrepresents the scale, complexity, and radiation risks in areas of Fukushima, the working practice and conditions for workers, and its disregard for children\u2019s health and wellbeing. This reality should shame the government to radically change its failing policies,\u201d said Kazue Suzuki, Energy Campaigner of Greenpeace Japan.<\/p>\n

As such, either Greenpeace or the IOC is \u201cdead wrong\u201d about the conditions at Fukushima. Take your pick.<\/p>\n

After all, the trend of misrepresentation of nuclear accidents has been established for decades. Not only Fukushima, Chernobyl (1986) is a nuclear disaster zone where the \u201cofficial death count from radiation exposure\u201d has been considerably discounted by various governmental agencies and NGOs. For inexplicable reasons (actually explicable but a long story), nuclear accidents are given Get Out Jail Free cards by the world\u2019s press and associated governmental orgs and NGOs.<\/p>\n

Yet, over time, the truth comes out, and when it does it\u2019s dreadfully atrocious:<\/p>\n

A BBC special report, The True Toll of the Chernobyl Disaster d\/d July 26, 2019 says: \u201cThe official, internationally recognized death toll, just 31 people died as an immediate result of Chernobyl while the UN estimates that only 50 deaths can be directly attributed to the disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the official tally. Ugh! It\u2019s so far off the mark that, if it were a baseball pitch, it\u2019d be in the dirt, and a prime example of the public not getting the truth about the ravages of nuclear power accidents.<\/p>\n

Of course, it is important to take note of how \u201cwordsmiths\u201d describe the death numbers, i.e., \u201cdied as an immediate result of Chernobyl\u201d can only include someone standing at the site when it happened, leaving out all cases of radiation exposure that kills and cripples over subsequent days, months, and years. Or, in the case of the UN statement, \u201conly 50 deaths can be directly attributed.\u201d Only those standing there when it happened\u2026 ahem!<\/p>\n

According to the BBC article, the Russian Academy of Sciences said as many as 112,000-125,000 died by 2005. That\u2019s 2,500xs more deaths than the official reports, which also never increase in number over time as radiation takes its merry ole time blasting, destroying, and\/or altering human cell structure. Ukrainian authorities claim death rates of Chernobyl cleanup workers rose from 3.5 to 17.5 deaths per 1,000 between 1988 and 2012 on a database of 651,453 cleanup workers, which equates to 11,392 deaths. Additionally, Belarus had 99,693 cleanup workers, equating to 1,732 deaths. Not only that, disability among workers shows that approximately 5% are still healthy in 2012 (only 5%, meaning 95% unhealthy) with commonality of cardiovascular and circulatory diseases and nervous system problems.<\/p>\n

By 2008 in Belarus alone 40,049 liquidators or cleanup workers of Chernobyl were registered with cancer.<\/p>\n

Viktor Sushko, deputy director general of the National Research Centre for Radiation Medicine (NRCRM) based in Kiev, Ukraine, describes the Chernobyl disaster as: \u201cThe largest anthropogenic disaster in the history of humankind<\/a>,\u201d Ibid.<\/p>\n

Thus begging the most obvious of questions re Fukushima victims in the years ahead; how many cases of cancer, and how many will die? Unfortunately, radioactive isotopes don\u2019t stop once they\u2019re activated in a nuclear meltdown. They\u2019re pernicious over time destroying and\/or grotesquely altering human cell structure. For proof, visit second-generation Chernobyl children locked up in orphanages in Belarus.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of January 2018, 1.8 million people in Ukraine, including 377,589 children, carried status of victims of the disaster, according to Sushko and his colleagues. Not only that, there has been a rapid increase in the number of people with disabilities, rising from 40,106 in 1995 to 107,115 in 2018,\u201d Ibid.<\/p>\n

According to a USA Today article \u2013 Chernobyl\u2019s Legacy: Kids With Bodies Ravaged by Disaster, April 17, 2016: \u201cThere are 2,397,863 people registered with Ukraine\u2019s health ministry to receive ongoing\u00a0Chernobyl-related health care. Of these, 453,391 are children \u2014\u00a0none born at the time of the accident. Their parents were children\u00a0in 1986. These children have a range of illnesses:\u00a0respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, eye diseases, blood diseases, cancer,\u00a0congenital malformations, genetic abnormalities,\u00a0trauma.\u201d Many of the children are hidden away deep in the forested countryside in orphanages in Belarus.<\/p>\n

Back to Fukushima, there are numerous instances of governmental meddling to hide the truth, starting with passage of the 2013 government secrecy act, The State Secrecy Law, aka: Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets (SDS), Act No. 108, which says that civil servants or others who \u201cleak secrets\u201d will face up to 10 years in prison, and those who \u201cinstigate leaks,\u201d especially journalists, will be subject to a prison term of up to 5 years. Subsequently, Japan fell below Serbia and Botswana in the Reporters Without Borders 2014 World Press Freedom Index.<\/p>\n

Horrifically, at the end of the day, when nuclear goes bad, it takes everyone along on a daunting trip for years and years and more years, outliving life spans but continuing generation after generation, like the 453,391 Chernobyl-radiated-influence children born after the nuclear blowout in 1986. Chernobyl altered their genes before they were born\u2026. Imagine that!<\/p>\n

Cliodhna Russell visited children\u2019s orphanages in Belarus in 2014: \u201cChildren rocking back and forth for hours on end, hitting their heads against walls, grinding their teeth, scraping their faces and putting their hands down their throats.\u201d (Source: How My Trip to a Children\u2019s Mental Asylum in Belarus Made Me Proud to be Irish, the journal.ie, March 18, 2014.)<\/p>\n

Postscript:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s a real shame that the authorities hide the truth from the whole world, from the UN. We need to admit that actually many people are dying. We are not allowed to say that, but TEPCO employees also are dying. But they keep mum about it,\u201d Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba (Fukushima Prefecture)\u00a0Fukushima Disaster: Tokyo Hides Truth as Children Die, Become Ill from Radiation \u2013 Ex-Mayor,\u00a0RT News, April 21, 2014)<\/em><\/p>\n

Post-Postscript:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cThe ashes of half a dozen unidentified laborers ended up at a Buddhist temple in a town just north of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Some of the dead men had no papers; others left no emergency contacts. Their names could not be confirmed and no family members had been tracked down to claim their remains.\u00a0They were simply labeled \u201cdecontamination troops\u201d \u2014 unknown soldiers in Japan\u2019s massive cleanup campaign to make Fukushima livable again five years after radiation poisoned the fertile countryside,\u201d (Source: Mari Yamaguchi,\u00a0Fukushima \u2018Decontamination Troops\u2019 Often Exploited, Shunned,\u00a0AP & ABC News, Minamisona, Japan, March 10, 2016)<\/em><\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

Robert Hunziker <\/em>lives in\u00a0Los Angeles and can be reached at\u00a0rlhunziker@gmail.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Originals:<\/strong><\/p>\n

counterpunch.org<\/a><\/p>\n

nuclear-news.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

16 Sep 2019 – Tokyo Electric Power\u2019s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which experienced three massive meltdowns in 2011, is running out of room to store radioactive water. No surprise! But now, what to do about phosphorescent water? The Japanese government is lying and should be held accountable for hoodwinking the world about the ravages of Fukushima, especially with the Olympics scheduled for next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":95688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,223,56,147],"tags":[1149,232,120,354,401,1207,179,1361,1360,1362,635,1129,1150,109,1102,1436,304,985,380,75],"class_list":["post-143499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-sports","category-asia-pacific","category-energy","tag-asia-and-the-pacific","tag-capitalism","tag-conflict","tag-economics","tag-environment","tag-fukushima","tag-japan","tag-nuclear-disaster","tag-nuclear-energy","tag-nuclear-meltdown","tag-nuclear-power","tag-nuclear-waste","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-politics","tag-public-health","tag-radioactive-waste","tag-science","tag-social-justice","tag-solutions","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}