CNN: Fukushima fallout ‘grossly underestimated’ says new Japan study — “Radioactive poison… contaminating the North Pacific Ocean” — Tepco: ‘Impossible’ to know how much really got out (VIDEO)
ENENews.com
May 22nd, 2014
CNN, May 21, 2014: […] This is my first time visiting one of the most dangerous places on earth. […] the highly contaminated “red zone” […] remains a desolate wasteland […] Impact underestimated? The true scope of the contamination is a subject of debate, with a research team from Fukushima University recently releasing a study that claims [TEPCO] grossly underestimated the amount of radioactive poison cesium-137 released into the environment. Exposure can heighten the risk of cancer. […] TEPCO acknowledges it’s impossible to know for sure how much cesium was released […] Researchers told me they don’t believe the risk extends far beyond Japan and the North Pacific Ocean, even though small traces of radioactive ocean water have been detected as far away as Canada.
Transcript Excerpt – Will Ripley, CNN: A senior scientist and his research team at Fukushima University just published a study claiming the power plant’s operator Tepco grossly underestimated the amount of radioactive poison — Cesium-137 — released during the meltdown. This material has already gone into the ocean. It’s already there. He’s especially worried about contaminated fish in a country where most meals come from the sea. His research team says cesium spewed into the air during the meltdown and later fell into the water contaminating the North Pacific Ocean and the Japanese mainland. Tepco says the company’s radiation estimates come from the best information they have, but a spokesperson admits nobody really knows for sure. […] The invisible danger from Fukushima is why these town will continue to sit empty for years, as crews try to contain the slow moving catastrophe that turned their homeland into this wasteland.
CNN Student News, Daily Curriculum, May 22, 2014: Where is Fukushima? What disasters struck the city three years ago? What does the city look like now? Why are fields that once were full of crops now full of bags of soil? What radioactive poison was released during the nuclear plant meltdown? Why is the professor seen in the video especially worried about the poison’s effect on fish? What does the reporter have to do before he enters the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant? What are workers there trying to do to the plant? How long will the cleanup take? According to the video, why will the town continue to sit empty for years?
