Watching the news on tv yesterday (only because my father-in-law was watching it--I hate tv), I was struck by the marginalization of the ON-GOING nuclear disaster in Japan. Nothing has changed and yet tv news stations are now reporting the situation with the nuclear plant is "stable."
Those authorities who expressed alarm over the sheer amount of radiation that could be released locally or even globally are disappearing from tv.
Today the tv gloats that power was re-established at units 5 and 6. However, units 5 and 6 were not, and are not, the units that are in immediate jeopardy!
What about units 1, 2, 3, & 4? What about the spent fuel pool in unit #4--the pool known to be cracked? What about the breached containment vessel of unit #2?
What about the broken cooling pumps in units 1, 2, and 3 damaged by the hydrogen explosions?
The details reported here come from the LA Times, so I must commend their reporting, particularly as contrasted with the television news.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-japan-reactor-damage-20110319,0,6212176.story
And I must acknowledge that the NYT did report on contaminated food in Japan:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/world/asia/20food.html
"The Japanese Health Ministry said Saturday that it had detected elevated levels of radiation in spinach and milk at farms up to 90 miles from Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors. The ministry did not make reference to any contaminated farm animals, seafood or fishing grounds in Japan. And no food exports from Japan have failed quality tests being done by other countries."
The print media is far superior to television media, that much is clear.
One wonders, however, what is not being reported, particularly as the war against Libya crowds out headlines about Japan?
Japan has a law, Article 15, that allows Japan to suppress news to prevent riots. What isn't Japan reporting?
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/03/japan-imposes-article-15.html
This disaster is far from over and the forms and effects of various kinds of radioactive contamination have not been adequately examined.
I signed up to receive EPA data from their radnet network. Unfortunately, the system freezes every time one attempts to download data. Others who have also signed up have this problem.
I believe that radioactive particles will be dispersed as they are transported across the Pacific Ocean. However, the jet stream is an efficient conveyor belt. Indeed, much of the particle pollution in Los Angeles is from China
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html
How many days will it be before the radioactive volcano is suppressed?
How can those in Japan trust what they are told? How can we on the US west coast know our kids are safe from dangerous forms of radioactive particles?
http://db.eurad.uni-koeln.de/prognose/data/alert/cs_hem_1h_movtotal_16.gif
Confidence in government cannot be sustained by lies of omission and dis-information....
For instance, "The French nuclear agency IRSN said Friday that the Fukushima Daiichi plant had already released 10% as much radioactivity as Chernobyl..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-japan-quake-nuclear-20110319,0,4568019,full.story
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