Geography Archives: Japan

Testimony before the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 29 March 2011 The Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant in Japan experienced a station blackout.  A station blackout occurs when a nuclear power plant loses electrical power from all sources except that provided by onsite banks of batteries.  The normal power supply comes from the plant’s […]

  Long before it happened in Japan, regulators in the United States knew that a similar, days-long power failure, whatever the cause, could lead to a radioactive leak in this country. Alan Kolaczkowski, Nuclear Engineer: Looking at the blackout situations and losses of all power, we know that once those pumps finally die off — […]

It’s difficult to make any sense of the data being reported from various quarters regarding dose rates and contamination levels at varying distances from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could do a public service by establishing a consistent reporting framework so the public can assess whether radionuclide release rates […]

Nuclear power is unreliable for fighting global warming. Scandals, earthquakes and accidents can shut down numerous plants simultaneously. When one of these problems occurs, without sustainable alternative energy sources, fossil fuel plants must kick in, spiking greenhouse gas emissions.

  People from all walks of life and different faiths have come to the aid of the victims.  Members of the Muslim community of Tokyo are among the thousands of sincere and caring volunteers who are rushing supplies to Japan’s needy. . . .  Between Tokyo and the ravaged areas lies Fukushima Prefecture, where radiation […]

High Levels of Radiation Detected in Vegetables, Unprocessed Milk, Water, and Soil
Unnecessary Radiation Exposure Imposed Due to Japanese Government’s Lack of Evacuation Plan and “Declaration of Safety”

The combination of an earthquake followed by a tsunami in Japan initiated a sequence of events that ultimately led to damage to the reactor cores at Fukushima Dai-Ichi Units 1, 2, and 3 caused by inadequate cooling. Can’t happen here?  Perhaps not by the same method, but definitely with the same consequences. The earthquake caused […]

Given the large amount of radioactivity that could be released from the damaged reactors and spent-fuel pools at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi facility, the Japanese government was wise to evacuate residents within a 12 mile (20 kilometer) radius of the reactor site. Unfortunately, the crisis in not over.  Given the uncertainty over future releases, we believe […]

The Japanese government, taking a break from its nuclear class war against its own people, issued a nonsensical statement on Libya,1 supporting the Western war against Libya . . . and at the same time claiming to support the African Union, which is opposed to the war, and the Arab League, which is now trying […]

  March 20, 2011 We Urge the Japanese Government to Take the Following Actions Regarding the Crisis at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants: Despite strenuous efforts, there is an increasing danger that large amounts of radioactive material might be released from Unit No. 3, which is loaded with fuel containing plutonium.  We are particularly concerned about […]

Note that the criminal government of Japan is still advising people outside the 20-km exclusion zone to just use umbrellas, wear raincoats, and wash themselves later if they are worried about the radioactive fallout in the rain. — Ed. Prime Minister Kan Cancels Visits to Disaster Areas “Due to Bad Weather” Asahi Shimbun, 21 March […]

In these bitter days we have seen pictures of an earthquake that reached 9 on the Richter Scale with hundreds of strong after-shocks, and a tsunami 10 metres high whose waves of dark waters dragged tens of thousands of people between cars and trucks over homes and 3 and 4 storey buildings. Sophisticated mass media […]

Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Cf. “Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, a Japanese environmental group, has documented previous safety problems and cover-ups by Tepco at the Fukushima reactor complex: cnic.jp/english/newsletter/nit92/nit92articles/nit92coverupdata.html” (Nuclear Information and Resource Service, “Fact Sheet on Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant,” 11 March 2011). | Print

At last, the prime minister of Japan faced up to the inconvenient truth.  Had he done so from Day 1, and based his evacuation plan on the possibility of this worst case scenario, it would have been possible to evacuate tens of millions more people, in orderly fashion, than we can now.  The criminal government […]

  As of 11:30 pm EDT Monday 3/14/11 Three of the six reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear facility were operating at the time of the earthquake — Units 1, 2, and 3.  The reactors shut down when the earthquake hit, but even after they stopped producing power, the reactor cores were very hot and […]

“Economic and Financial Policy Minister Kaoru Yosano, at a post-cabinet-meeting press conference on the 15th of March, said this about Japan’s nuclear power policy: ‘There is no alternative energy source if we want to secure a lot of energy.  To support the Japanese economy, we have no choice but to use nuclear power.  The people […]

Even in the best case scenario available at this point, all workers at Fukushima 1 and 2 battling to save the lives of others must have already suffered great harm to their health, and the harm is about to become greater. — Ed. Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has determined that the existing […]

IF the speed of light didn’t exist, if the closest star to our sun weren’t four light years away from Earth, the only inhabited planet in our solar system, if UFOs truly existed, imaginary visitors to the planet would continue their journey without understanding much of anything about our long-suffering human race. Just a few […]

You have seen the Japanese government’s response to the nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan.  Top officials have been slow to expand the exclusion zone around the Fukushima 1 and 2 Nuclear Power Plants.  They have been less than forthcoming in providing information about exactly in what state the reactors in trouble are.  By failing in […]

“Pray for Japan.” — Carlos Latuff Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Cf. Nuclear Information and Resource Service, “Fact Sheet on Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant” (11 March 2011); Union of Concerned Scientists, “Nuclear Crisis in Japan: What We Know” (11 March 2011); Philip White, “On the Nuclear and Earthquake Disaster Unfolding in Japan” (12 March […]