Radiation leaks, steam releases, disease and death continue to spew from Fukushima and a disaster which is far from over.\u00a0 Its most profound threat to the global ecology\u2014a spent fuel fire\u2014is still very much with us.<\/p>\n
The latest steam leak has raised fears around the planet.\u00a0 A worst-case scenario of an on-going out-of-control fission reaction was dismissed by the owners, Tokyo Electric, because they didn\u2019t find xenon in the plume.\u00a0 The company says the steam likely came from rain water being vaporized by residual heat in one of plant\u2019s stricken reactors.<\/p>\n
But independent experts tend to disbelieve anything Tepco says, for good reason.\u00a0 Reactor Units One, Two and Three have exploded at Fukushima despite decades of official assurances that commercial atomic power plants could not explode at all.\u00a0 The company has been unable to clear out enough radioactive debris to allow it to put a cover over the site that might contain further airborne emissions.<\/p>\n
Tepco has also been forced to admit that it has been leaking radioactive water into the ocean ever since the disaster began on March 11, 2011.\u00a0 In one instance it admitted to a 90-fold increase of Cesium in a nearby test well over a period of just 3 days.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year a rat ate through critical electrical cables, shorting out a critical cooling system.\u00a0 When Tepco workers were dispatched to install metal guards to protect the cabling, they managed to short out the system yet again.<\/p>\n
Early this month Fukushima\u2019s former chief operator, Masao Yoshida, died of esophogeal cancer at the age of 58.\u00a0 Masao became a hero during the worst of the disaster by standing firm at his on-site command post as multiple explosions rocked the reactor complex.\u00a0 Tepco claimed his ensuing cancer and death were \u201cunlikely\u201d to have been caused by Fukushima\u2019s radiation.<\/p>\n
The impact of work in and near the reactors has become a rising concern.\u00a0 Critics have warned that there are not enough skilled technicians willing to sacrifice themselves at the plant.\u00a0 Tepco has worsened the situation by applying to open a number of its shut reactors elsewhere in Japan, straining its already depleted skilled workforce even further.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a staggering 40% rise in thyroid irregularities among young children in the area has caused a deepening concern about widespread health impacts from Fukushima\u2019s fallout within the general public.\u00a0 Because these numbers have come in just two years after the disaster, the percentage of affected children is expected to continue to rise.<\/p>\n
And the worst fear of all remains unabated.\u00a0 At Unit Four, which apparently did not actually explode, the building\u2019s structural integrity has been seriously undermined.\u00a0 Debate continues to rage over exactly how this happened.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s no doubt that a pool containing many tons of highly radioactive used fuel is suspended 100 feet in the air, with little left to support the structure.\u00a0 Should an earthquake or other trauma knock the pool to the ground, there\u2019s a high likelihood the fuel rods could catch fire.<\/p>\n
In such an event, the radioactive emissions could be catastrophic.\u00a0 Intensely lethal emissions could spew for a very long time, eventually circling the globe many times, wrecking untold havoc.<\/p>\n
The Japanese have removed two apparently unused rods from the fuel pool so far.\u00a0 But intense international pressure to clear out the rest of them has thus far been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
So while a depleted, discredited and disorganized nuclear utility moves to restart its other reactors, its stricken units at Fukushima continue to hold the rest of us at the brink of apocalyptic terror.<\/p>\n
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Harvey Wasserman<\/i> edits\u00a0www.nukefree.org<\/a>\u00a0and is author of SOLARTOPIA!\u00a0 Our Green-Powered Earth. \u00a0His SOLARTOPIA GREEN POWER & WELLNESS SHOW is at www.prn.fm<\/a>. \u00a0This article was first published at www.progressivemagazine.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n