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IAEA to send 12 experts to help with Fukushima decontamination

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Is this really possible? I mean, when you think about the scale of the affected area, and what we already know from Chernobyl, I just dont honestly see how this is going to work.

But I do have a horrible feeling the government are going to swab down some houses, run a bit of soil through a sieve, plant a few sunflowers, and then announce the area is safe to live in again. Maybe even raise the exposure limit.

4 ( +5 / -0 )

Cart before the horse. This should have been done before lifting the evacuation order...

4 ( +4 / -0 )

If "decontamination" is so effective, why is Chernobyl and the surrounding area still uninhabitable. Why don't they just write that whole prefecture and surroundings areas off and call it a day. Sad but this is the reality of the situation.

2 ( +5 / -2 )

6 months later...when most of the radioactive material has already seeped into the ecosystem and around the country. Decon should be done straight away.

Thank you very much IAEA...for nothing.

2 ( +3 / -0 )

Darren,....Why now, did you realy expect them to assist during the worst of the contamination? No? , Let the Japanese population take the risks, keep moving the goalposts in regards to safe radiation limits and clean away contamination with a surgical mask and a pair of rubber gloves, burn the contaminents and worry about the consequences of the evacuees health when it is more convenient to do so

2 ( +3 / -1 )

In the United States, the federal maximum level of iodine-131 allowed in drinking water is 0.111 becquerels per liter. In Japan, it's 300 becquerels per liter. Almost 3,000 times! Holy *****. (UC Berkeley)

2 ( +3 / -1 )

So many people in here getting in a hissy over a lot of misconception. This was NOT Chernobyl, there are so many differences and the scale is completely different. In Fukushima's situation, some areas WILL be inhabitable after clean up, some not. Also, the IAEA has been in and out since the day AFTER the initial reactor problem and were here constantly during the most volatile part. This is not their "first visit" as someone mentioned above. To further expand, they have been doing daily video conferences with Nuclear Energy professionals around the world including the IAEA for months now. Some of you guys jump to way too many conclusions.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"...remain evacuated..." for many generations to come.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The mission, requested by the Japanese government,

I wish I could hear a l bit more detail about it. Weren't they here before or they were just not allowed to attend the spot? No sarcasm here I just don't remember too well all the details. And why now suddenly, what were they waiting for? Cleaning up and removing certain things and evidences before letting them in. More detail to hear would be nice.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I think the world is eager to see just how they plan to decontaminate such a large area. No one has ever done it before. Russia did not even try, just blocked off the area and abandoned it. I am especially interested in how they will decontaminate the soil and all that rubble, or if they remove it where will they dump it, in whose back yard? If the decide to get new soil, where will they take it from, again whose back yard?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Darren, Iodine 131, Cesium 134 & 137, & far right the two Cesiums in total.

Where it says 不検出 it means 'None detected'.

Interesting report. Thanks.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I wonder what Geiger counters they will be using, and which ones are best for us poor plebs?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Additional burden (cost of stay and hospitality) on taxpayers.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

And when the IAEA members state matter of factly the areas will be uninhabitable for generations despite J-government promises to allow people back soon? The results won't be published in the J-media, that's for sure.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I thought the locals were taking care of the cleanup.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No can do. The area is over, finished, kaput!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Too little too late?

0 ( +1 / -0 )

This is going to be interesting. In Ukraine after Chernobyl they had the option of making several hundred square kilometers off limits for the next couple of hundred years. Plenty of space. But Japan doesn't think that way. Here it is "decontamination." The current emphasis is on scraping off the top layer of soil in schoolgrounds (then where to put that?) , and washing away the other areas, which reduces local radiation readings. But the radiation has to go somewhere. Washed away it either enters waterways and reaches the sea and enters the marine ecosystem, or else it permeates more deeply into the ground. The radiation does not disappear until it decays naturally over many years. "Decontamination" means removing it from obvious places to less obvious places, but it's still there.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The will be language problems ahead....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Oops, already language problems...

Let the IAEA join in? The more the merrier, I suppose. This radiation poisoning still has a steep learning curve.

Golden opportunity for some, I suppose, if we are to be stuck with nuclear energy and it's side effects.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Dang. More language problems. Should be "its side effects"... aaarrrggghhh...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Are the experts going to help or going there to have a laugh?

In Minami-Soma, the schools have decided to limit outdoor activities to two hours, and encourage wearing long-sleeves, ong pants and gauze masks to limit exposure. I am not joking. This place is run by cuckoo birds.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111005p2g00m0dm013000c.html

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Yep, it'll more likely be a whitewash than a cleanup if the following comment at Ex-SKF's blog is anything to go by.

"The last time the IAEA experts visited Japan was to "investigate" the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident back in May. They duly issued the report, finding the Japanese government's response to the disaster "well-organized"

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/10/iaea-team-of-decontamination-experts-to.html

0 ( +0 / -0 )

zichi,

I thought the atomic agency was the IAEA. 'Who' is the atomic agency you refer to?

You say it's very technical and very detailed and I'm sure you're right, but I think it's a different report to the one I noted in my last post. And that's the issue since these guys are visiting again. Ex-SKF's blog post and parts of the IAEA report (bullet points) says:

So the IAEA's team of nuclear experts arrived on May 23 on a 10-day mission to figure out what happened at Fukushima I Nuke Plant, and they're now done and ready to report.

As reported in Mainichi Shinbun Japanese, the IAEA report will state the obvious, nothing new, nothing to contradict what TEPCO and the Japanese government have been insisting. And a generous praise for the Japanese government.

The IAEA findings to be included in their report, from Mainichi Shinbun Japanese (2:50AM JST 6/1/2011):

- Danger of tsunami was underestimated. People who build nuclear power plants and people who operate the plants should factor in the impact of "natural disasters" more;

- Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (regulatory agency for the nuclear industry) should be more independent;

- Initial response should (have been) better thought out;

- Hydrogen is dangerous;

- Dedicated and determined skilled workers at the plant;

- TEPCO's "roadmap" needs to be revised as the situation develops, and some form of international cooperation may be possible;

- The international community should learn from the Fukushima I accident as a lesson on nuclear safety.

AND

- The Japanese government's response to the accident has been "wonderful and well-organized".

It seems the Mainichi article has already gone down the memory hole so I can't check it but with the exception of the "dedicated and determined workers" that report reads like a whitewash to me, particularly the points about the tsunami and government's response. Cynical I know but I don't really expect much from the IAEA's latest "cleanup" visit other than more of the same. I hope I'm wrong.

--As an afterthought, perhaps the Atomic Agency you referred to is the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency noted in the second bullet point?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I think weedkila is quite spot on. The IAEA didn't come here to risk their life attending the contaminated site to dig deep in what was going on there or go home with empty hands.

At the same time, some respected online news-sites sent their own investigative reporters to Japan, interviewed or tried to interview workers with Fukushima NPP, their relatives and the result was sobering and astonishing in context of cowardice, human irresponsibility, professional negligence and even criminal behavior. Of course they were less technical than the IAEA's black box evaluating courtesy to Japan.

Also, even Kan, when speaking out after he retired, mentioned how he stormed TEPCO headquarters requesting TEPCO's Shimizu not to abandon the exploded melting down NPP like a piece of embarrassing dog's poop. So once again, for what the hell did the J government ask them to come again?

Meanwhile, I don't quite agree with weedkila's previous post of 04, 2011 - 06:34PM JST

The truth always comes out in the end - especially these days - so we'll see.

Sorry weedkila that's what I truly doubt. I am afraid we never get to know what's going on.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The vast majority of comments here show an awareness and understanding of the problem that the J-government does not.

There are massive amounts of contamination and radioactive materials in Fukushima - and surrounding prefectures, so the government's solution: let's take it and burn the debris in urban areas such as Chiba - this is CRIMINAL negligence - except that it's intentional.

All radioactive materials should remain in areas where no one can live for generations anyway. This is pure common sense. Now we can look forward to not only exporting the waste to more urban areas and giving more people cancer, but also a drain on resources, tax increases for development projects in areas where no one should be living anyway. This is a new low for Japanese governmental policy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Perhaps I'm a bit too conspiratorially minded but I am deeply suspicious of the IAEA. It seems to be yet another elitist institution used as a tool to further the globalist's agenda. It seems that in some situations it plays one side of the dialectic (Iraq, Syria etc) while in other cases it is there to smooth things over, as in Fukushima's case. I did a search and came up with the following site.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/about/board.aspx

I'm sure that most people on this forum are aware that one of the ex-Director Generals of the IAEA is Mohamed El Baradei. Looking at the list of members in George Soros's International Crisis Group you can see his name amongst a list of very prominent and influential people (ex Prime-, Foreign Ministers, bankers, CEOs, NATO Sec.Gen etc). It was also well publicised that Baradei was to be the globalist's point man in Egypt after the fall of Mubarak, but that was before the plan fell apart. (Incidentally it's interesting to note that a former Editor in Chief of the Asahi Shimbun, Yoichi Funabashi, is also on the ICG list.)

Anyway, going by some of the current Director General's rhetoric it would seem that it's business as usual for the IAEA -- "The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations […] made the remarks in response to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano’s statement on Monday, in which he said that Iran seems to have carried out nuclear-related activities with possible military links until recently."

Don't like to be negative but given the above information after just a quick search, as well as the nothing-to-report June report why should things necessarily improve for Fukushima during and after the IAEA visits? So it would seem that the IAEA is not what it appears and I think people should be aware of this.

@Darren Brannan - 10:35AM JST

The IAEA have about as much clout as they did when Saddam played his merry games with Hans Blix.

Your post was spot on except for the point that they don't have clout. It's just that they are evidently and obviously on the same side as the globalists so nothing gets done, at least from the public's point of view. In other words the result was always a foregone conclusion and the point you mentioned is just a play-act for the public in the hegelian scam.

@Munya Times,

I wish I could hear a l bit more detail about it. […] And why now suddenly, what were they waiting for? Cleaning up and removing certain things and evidences before letting them in. More detail to hear would be nice.

AP, Reuters, AFP -- If you're not sure try a search and find out who owns these organisations. You'll find, for example, that only 5 or 6 corporations own the vast majority of corporate media. Sorry, I don't mean to be pedantic. But it should give you an answer to your question.

Btw, you're right about my "truth always comes out in the end" comment. I sometimes wish JT had an edit button.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@zichi

That is true but that warnings are useless. I saw TEPCO's Shimizu on TV. He was interviewed about his his infamous work. Sorry, I don't know the details as I don't have a TV and I saw it at my friend's place while we were talking, but I saw and old man, his age is not a point here, with fossilizing brain and infantile facial expression and gesticulation who were at cosmic distance from understanding what nuclear energy and the whole disaster and the mishandling of the NPP was about. He was talking about the whole thing as teenage boys discuss their latest experiments in the game arcade.

The mechanism is at place to keep them on power, the only thing they have to be engaged all day is to maintain the mechanism. That's the only thing he and his fellow gangsters can possibly do. Otherwise, considering his brainwork, I believe if he was transferred back to junior high school he would fail to successfully finish even the first year.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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