(Organic Slant) After two-and-a-half years of radioactive particles traveling across the Pacific Ocean to the U.S. Pacific coastline from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plants, the U.S. energy secretary is finally taking a closer look.
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said that he expects deepening cooperation with Japan over the high-stakes cleaning up and decommissioning of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
Reports have been piling in, showing high levels of radioactive particles traveling across the Pacific Ocean to the U.S. Pacific coastline.
Maybe now the U.S. administration is interested in protecting its own coast? Then again, the EPA could always just raise the allowable levels of radioactive particles in US soil and drinking water a notch higher to keep Americans assured that they are “safe.”
The Fukushima plant has had a series of mishaps in recent months, including radioactive water leaks from storage tanks. The incidents have added to concerns about the ability of operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., or TEPCO, to safely close down the plant, which suffered meltdowns after being swamped by the March 2011 tsunami on Japan’s northeastern coast.
Ernest Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy, made a speech in Tokyo on October 31st, stating that the success of cleanup around the Fukushima plant, including the shutdown of reactors, has global significance and that the “US has a direct interest in seeing the next steps are done efficiently and safely.”
“We expect the relationship in the area of decommissioning between TEPCO and our national laboratories to expand and deepen in the coming years,” Moniz said in a lecture in Tokyo.
Statement from U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz Regarding Fukushima, Nov. 1, 2013: “On Friday, I made my first visit to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. It is stunning that one can see firsthand the destructive force of the tsunami even more than two and a half years after the tragic events.[…] TEPCO President Hirose, and his dedicated staff […] face a dauntingtask in the cleanup and decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, one that will take decades and is being carried out under very challenging conditions. The TEPCO workforce is facingunprecedented challenges and is clearly focused on devising and implementing solutions. […] Itappears that spent nuclear fuel will begin to be removed from Unit 4 as scheduled in mid-November. […] As Japan continues […] the cleanup at the Fukushima site […] the United States stands ready to continue assisting our partners in this daunting yet indispensable task […]“ |
EPA raises allowable limits for radioactive particles
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Americans are shielded from the truth about the increasing amount of radioactive particles in their water and soil.
The EPA keeps the situation quiet by raising the allowable limits for radioactive particles in new guidelines. In fact, new protective action guides were signed by the president in 2013, raising allowable limits of radioactive particles.
According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the EPA’s 2013 Protective Action Guides are lax on nuclear radiation standards. The new standards give on-site authorities much greater “flexibility” in setting aside established limits. The new limits allow long-term public exposure to radiation in amounts as high as 2,000 millirems. According to PEER, this lax limit has the capability to increase a 1 in 10,000 person cancer rate to around 1 in 23 persons exposed over a 30-year period. This dramatic increase in the permissible radioactive levels in drinking water and soil following “radiological incidents” is reason for concern.
More concerning is the contradictory language in the new standards. In Section 3.7, the EPA determines that the general public should be evacuated at levels beginning at 1,000 mrems, yet further down, soil levels are found to be safe at 2,000 mrems “for reentry of some displaced individuals.”
Now that the United States Energy Secretary has witnessed the destruction of Fukushima two-and-a-half years later, noticing catastrophic and far-reaching damage, will he push for awareness and “change?” And will the EPA tell the truth about radiation levels in America? Is America even credible enough to help Japan cleanup the damage, or is it all a political act?
The damage has already begun. High levels of radioactivity in milk, fish, water and many other foods in California and up the western seaboard.
TEPCO has lied to everyone and tried to sweep this under the rug for too long already. If we don’t raise our voices now, they will be silenced forever.