The Japanese government is reacting to the continuing disaster at Fukushima Daichi in an alarming way. A new state secrets act may prevent outside journalists from reporting on the destroyed reactors that continue to leak radiation into the environment. Japan's major newspaper,
Asahi Shimbun says the new law is comparable to those passed by the militarist government responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor. An article in the peer-review journal
Open Journal of Pediatrics says that tiny quantities of radioactive fallout crossing the Pacific from Fukushima is increasing the rate of hypothyroidism in California newborns. The study of babies born during the year the meltdowns were occurring and those born in 2012 showed
an increase in cases of confirmed hypothyroidism of 21% Both Japanese and American officials have
dismissed the health effects of Fukushima fallout. Nuclear critics say it is another instance of governments employing the "big lie" to cover up a disaster they want to ignore.
 |
| credit: Reuters |
Fukushima Daichi has become a dumping ground for radioactive wastewater stored in tanks hurriedly built by
temporary labor imported from Okinawa. The workers themselves warn of their shoddy construction. The bolted-together storage tanks are only intended to last until 2016 when a purification system is supposed to be operating, but the tanks are already leaking. The government has ordered the bolted tanks
[photo] replaced with welded units. That task will take precious time and given the byzantine nature of Japanese construction labor it will take more time than expected in the west.
Reuters reports Japanese organized crime which has run labor rackets for generations has penetrated the expensive Fukushima clean up operation. In a rare prosecution of a Yakuza boss, the defendant admitted to skimming a third of wages paid to workers in the disaster zone for two years. He was given an eight month suspended sentence because he apologized for his actions and quit his mob. So sorry! Police say 50 gangs with over a thousand members operate in Fukushima prefecture controlled by three major crime syndicates. Working conditions are bad and the constant threat of radiation sickness keeps many potential workers away from the disaster zone.
The clean up of four partially melted nuclear reactors will take decades even under ideal conditions. The potential catastrophe of seismic activity disrupting the dangerous rod removal process looms over the site. Fallout has already been detected in the United States and human health impacts from are now documented in California. TEPCo has proved itself inept and the government feckless. This is why there is international pressure for the operation to be controlled from outside the country to insure full transparency and safety. Japan's government seeks to hide it's "loss of face" behind
draconian censorship laws with stiff prison sentences for leakers because that course is easier than dealing with the stark truths of Fukushima, the world's worst nuclear disaster.
