Japanese nuclear leak...fucking up my world
August 9, 2013 – JAPAN - Two
and a half years after the Fukushima tragedy Japan does not want to
admit how serious it is, but it is obvious the drastic environmental
implications are to follow, Harvey Wasserman, journalist and advocate
for renewable energy, told RT.
RT: Japanese
officials have admitted a leak at Fukushima has been happening for two
years and is worse than earlier thought. Why did it take so long to
evaluate the actual repercussions of the tragedy and take decisive
measures to tackle them?
HW:
The Japanese authorities have been covering up the true depth of the
disaster because they don’t want to embarrass themselves and the global
nuclear industry and they are trying to open up another nuclear plant in
Japan. When the Japanese people now find out that the accident is worse
than we thought and they have been leaking many tons of radioactive
water into the Pacific Ocean for almost two and a half years, this is a
catastrophe. Tokyo Electric has no idea how to control this accident.
This is absolutely terrifying after two and a half years. To find out
that these reactors have been out of control, now that they can’t
control this they don’t know what’s going on. This is not a primitive
backward country; this is Japan with advanced technology. It has very
serious implications for nuclear power all over the world.
RT: Why the plant’s operator failed to contain the leak?
HW:
Because they don’t know what to do. This has never happened before. You
have three explosions; you have four nuclear reactors that are severely
compromised. No one ever planned for this. This is an apocalyptic
event. This is something that could contaminate the entire Pacific
Ocean. It is extremely serious. The reality is that Tokyo Electric does
not know what is happening and does not know how to control what is
going on. Our entire planet is at risk here. This is two and a half
years after these explosions and they are still in the dark. It’s
terrifying.
RT: An
estimated 300 tonnes of contaminated water is spilling daily into the
ocean. How come Tepco insists the leaks still pose no big threat to the
environment?
HW:
They are lying; they can’t face the reality of this situation. When
have very serious quantities of radiation going into the Pacific Ocean.
There is no medical or epidemiological or scientific basis for
estimating how much damage this will cost. We are on entirely new ground
here and this cannot go by without a serious impact on the entire human
race. This is a terrible tragedy. The problem is that the company does
not want to admit how serious this is and the government of Japan
doesn’t want to admit how serious this is. And even if the government of
Japan steps in, they don’t know what to do. This particular
administration in Japan wants to open the other nuclear plants. 50
nuclear plants have been shut in Japan since the accident and they want
to reopen them.
RT: According to some estimates it will take 40 years to clean-up the contaminated area. Why so long?
HW:
That is not long enough. It will never be cleaned up. We have materials
there that are radioactive, that are harmful, and that are dangerous
for hundreds of thousands of years. They can talk about cleaning it up
in 40 years but it will never be cleaned up. You will never be able to
go back on that site. The radioactivity will be in the waters forever.
RT: What long-term impact of the radiation leak on Japan and its neighboring countries we should expect in the future?
HW:
There are serious health impacts. People will be harmed. We are seeing
40% rate of thyroid damage among children in the area and this is a huge
impact and it will go up, not down. More and more radiation is escaping
from the water and tritium into the atmosphere. And radiation to the
thyroid is very serious, especially among small children and we are
already seeing a 40% rate. People will be suffering for hundreds of
years. I interviewed people in central Pennsylvania a year after the (3
Mile Island) accident and discovered tremendous health impacts among the
people there. We know that Chernobyl did tremendous damage to people in
Belarus and Ukraine and now we are going to see it again in Fukushima. -RT
Sadly, you CANNOT and never have been able to trust anything out of the Japanese government, they're the kings of cover up, which is sad, because I really like Japan.
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