Fukushima and

the Politics of Risk

Majia Nadesan

My Research

Biopolitics (ethics/politics of government of

life)

Government of life through official crisis and

risk management in wake of catastrophic
events (e.g., Katrina, Financial Crisis, BP Oil
Spill, and Fukushima)

Defined: a situation
or event in which
something of human
value (including
humans themselves)
has been put at stake
and where the
outcome is
uncertain (cited in Tierney

Government of
[Catastrophic] Risk

p. 11, who quotes Jaeger et al.,

2001, p. 17)

Embattled Tepco (2011, March 19). The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/mar/20/tepcojapan-nuclear-disaster-bp

The Fukushima Disaster:

Contested Realities, Risks & Externalities
Was Fukushima the only one?
How many nuclear plants
impacted? Number of meltdowns, explosions, spent fuel
pool fires? Radiation released?
How much radiation is still
being released? Current plant
conditions? Future conditions?
What are the effects of
radiation exposure on people
and environment? (image ft 1)

Methodology:
Genealogy of Communications
FOIA: NRC Transcripts from phone and email
correspondence 3/2011
Historical documents: BEAR Report, BEIR I-IV, IAEA
Charter,
Published scientific studies & government data (e.g.,
EPA Radnet data, HYPSLIT)
News reports, expert testimonials, and editorials
Social media (Enenews and Fukushima Diary)
Citizen data collection (rad monitoring & web cam
watching)
Organized social activism: Greenpeace, Beyond
Nuclear, etc.

Comparing Official and

Resistant Risk Narratives
Fukushima Daiichi only plant with meltdowns; Little-to-no Risk of Initial
Plume Exposure / Other plants, 30,000,000 Bq/m2 cesium deposition
Emissions less than Chernobyl / Far worse
Cold Shutdown / Full melt through and ongoing, unprecedented
contamination
No (i.e., not measurable) Risk of Cancer / Spike in thyroid cancer, broad
somatic effects, transgenerational effects, particularly due to de novo
mutations
Few to no eco-system risks / Highly contaminated fish measured in
Japan, agricultural reservoirs highly contaminated, contaminated US
kelp, collapsing Pacific eco-systems

Official Crisis Management:

Reassurances of No Melt-Down
Unit 1 explodes 3/12/2011. Tokyo Prof. Naoto Sekimura:
Only a small part of the fuel may have melted and leaked
outside most of the fuel remains inside the reactor, which has
stopped operating and is being cooled. D. McNeill (15 June 2011) Whos Telling the Truth On
the Fukushima Meltdown? CNNGo.Com, CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/life/tell-me-about-it/david-mcneill-whos-telling-truthfukushima-448215#ixzz1PMTJwTk1, date accessed 19 July 2011.

WHO 13 March: Risk from reactors probably quite low.

Unit 3 explodes (3/14), Unit 2 (3/15) Timeline: Japan Power Plant Crisis.BBC

Dispersion models relying on TEPCO used to declare

areas safe
(see Takuya Kobayashi , Haruyasu Nagai , Masamichi Chino & Hideyuki Kawamura (2013)

Official Narratives:
Early Crisis Communications
Little-to-No Risk
It took over a month (22 April), for Japans central
government to extend evacuation beyond the
three kilometre evacuation zone set up March 12.
H. Sunaoshi and K. Kanai (18 June 2012)Government Ignored U.S. Radiation Monitoring
Data in Days After 3/11, The Asahi Shimbun,
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201206180048, date accessed
19 June 2012.

No Plume Risk
Official US Crisis Management
President Obama 17 March 2011: U.S. citizens face no risk of
significant radiation fallout in the U.S.
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko was quoted in The Wall Street
Journal on 15 March 2011 as asserting it was very unlikely that
harmful levels of radiation would reach the U.S.: You just arent
going to have any radiological material that, by the time it
traveled those large distances, could present any risk to the
American public.
Meanwhile, President Obama reaffirmed his support of nuclear
power, also part of Japans official narrative.

E. Landau (17 March 2011)West Coast Officials, Obama: Don't Worry about Radiation Risk n U.S., CNN, http://articles.cnn.com/2011-0317/us/nuclear.concerns_1_potassium-iodide-radiation-levels-radioactivematerial?_s=PM:UShttp://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/02/pdf/recession_poverty.pdf, date accessed 18 March 2011.
J. Favole and T. Tracy (15 March 2011) Obama Stands by Nuclear Power, The Wall Street Journal, A13.
Favole and Tracy Obama Stands by Nuclear Power.

Health Effects? Based on TEPCO

Estimates: Little-to-No Risk
Excerpted: Some health effects of radiation,
termed deterministic effects, are known to occur
only after certain radiation dose levels are
exceeded. The radiation doses in Fukushima
prefecture were well below such levels and
therefore such effects are not expected to occur in
the general population.
The estimated dose levels in Fukushima prefecture
were also too low to affect fetal development or
outcome of pregnancy and no increases, as a result
of antenatal radiation exposure, in spontaneous
abortion, miscarriage, perinatal mortality,
congenital defects or cognitive impairment are
anticipated. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/78218/1/9789241505130_eng.pdf

Dominant
Narrative:
Safe Return
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_dea
th/AJ201408010041
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/recovery/AJ2
01408180038

Resistant Readings
Official stories called into question by the horrifyingly
spectacular images of the explosions, by citizen radiation
monitoring, social media, etc.
Resistant readings produced by wide array of sources
Resistant readings contest official number of impacted
nuclear plants, scale of damage, scale of releases, scale of
contamination, scale of effects
Resistant readings sometimes get incorporated into official
narrative, e.g., TEPCO re-statements of emissions.

Alternative
narratives
emphasize
distinctiveness of
disaster:
At least 3 core meltdowns
At least 1 reported melt-through
At least 1 spent fuel pool fire
reported to IAEA (unit 4)

Undisclosed explosion at unit 4

Unit 3 was running MOX

Resistance Appropriates Official Documents

FOIA for 16 March audio files of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commissions Operation Center Fukushima Transcript
SPENT FUEL POOLS: in additions to units 1 and 2 boiling down, the spent
fuel pools in 3 and 4 are having zirc water reactions, indicating that the
fuel cladding was burning (p. 62)
No walls on unit 4 spent fuel pool: The explosion leveled the walls,
leveled the structure for the unit 4 spent fuel pool all the way down to the
to the approximate level of the bottom of the fuel. So, there is no water in
there whatsoever.
Our understanding of the unit 4 spent fuel pool is it has been destroyed on
the side such that it will get no water above the bottom of the active fuel
for in effect the sides of the reactor building are gonethe sides are
gone.
ASSESSMENT: at least 2 reactors [in meltdown], multiple spent fuel pools
and maybe 4 reactors and 4 spent fuel pools.... (p. 215)
PROGNOSIS Weve just not seen any mitigation of any of the events and
we would take all the spent fuel pools and probably all the four reactors
into the final conclusion because weve not seen any mitigation.

U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)(16 March 2011) Official Transcript of Proceedings of Japans Fukushima Daiichi ET Audio File, p. 62,
http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1205/ML12052A108.pdf, date accessed 7 May 2011.

Academics Challenge Safety Narrative:

Fukushima Not Alone
A report titled Lessons from Fukushima Dai-ichi issued 28 October 2011 by BBT
University President Kenichi Ohmae, asserted that 14 nuclear reactors were
extensively damaged by the earthquake.
K. Ohmae (28 October 2011) Lessons of Fukushima Dai-ichi, available http://pr.bbt757.com/eng/. Full
report here http://pr.bbt757.com/eng/pdf/finalrepo_111225.pdf.

Japanese Media Help Produce

Alternative Narrative: Cite Censorship
Cabinet Kept Alarming Nuke Report Secret
Japan Times January 22
Japanese Government buried a worst-case
account of the Fukushima disaster by treating it
as a personal document of Japans Atomic Energy
Agency. The report was buried in part because
the Japanese government recognized it could not
successfully evacuate citizens the necessary 170
kilometers out.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120122a
1.html

2012 DIET REPORT: POOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT,

POOR SAFETY CULTURE
Three main problems with the government and TEPCO response
included:
lack of adequate safety preparations prior to the disaster;
lack of adequate evacuations during the disaster; and evacuation
of people into the plume.
Censorship of plume data (SPEEDI and US Government aerial
monitoring)
Inadequate disaster planning stemmed in part from concerns that
anti-nuclear activists would use accident scenarios: Nov 2012 The
Asahi Shimbun: TEPCO acknowledged for the first time last month,
in a document outlining company reforms, that it had failed to
anticipate and tackle the March 2011 disaster. It said it had feared
that implementing accident measures would alarm the public and
boost Japans anti-nuclear movement.

TEPCO Seeks More Govt Support as Fukushima Costs Soar (7 November 2012), The Asahi Shimbun,
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201211070086, date accessed 7 November 2012.
The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission Japan National Diet (2012) The Official Report of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident
Independent Investigation Commission (2012), Executive Summary Available: http://naiic.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/NAIIC_report_hi_res2.pdf.

How Much Contamination?

Whistleblower: I was later told that he did not want to say that
Fukushima radioactivity was worse than Chernobyl. Senior
scientist Meteorological Research Institute, Japan.

http://w
ww.nyti
mes.com
/2014/0
3/17/wo
rld/asia/
concerns
-overmeasure
ment-offukushi
mafallout.h
tml

Conflicting data: Simulations V

Empirical Data by experts and nonexperts (see Tanaka et al, 2014)
Models based in empirical samples
are limited and rely on samples
taken March June 2011
Empirically-based models show
more than predicted by TEPCO
emissions estimates
For example:Airborne 137Cs levels
were globally enhanced by 2 to 3
orders of magnitude Masson, et
al (2011) Tracking of Airborne
Radionuclides from the Damaged
Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear
Reactors by European Networks.
Environ. Sci. Technol, 45 (18),
76707677.

Truth? Resistance Reads

Contamination

IRSN Feb 2012: 30,000,000 Bq/m2

IAEA counts as contaminated: 30,000

1 To 10 million X spike of Cesium-137

IRSN Contamination of the environment

http://www.irsn.fr/EN/publications/thematic-safety/fukushima/Pages/2fukushima-understanding-environment.aspx

Iodine 131 measured in US 21 days

after capture was up to 5,100 Bq/m2
S Geological Survey had this to say about Iodine-131:
[excerpt]I-131 was quantified and adjusted for decay to the
time of sample collection for five whole-water wetdeposition samples from California, Colorado, and
Washington. The activities of the quantified I-131 ranged
from 29.6 to 1,090 pCi/L, and calculated deposition values
ranged from 211 to 5,100 Bq/m2. Several weeks transpired
between sample collection and analysis of the I-131 in the
water samples, which were prioritized for analysis from west
(high priority) to east (low priority). Therefore, I-131
activities likely decayed in most of the samples before they
could be measured. [end] (page 26)

IAEA's definition of contamination at 40,000 Bq/m2

G. Wetherbee, et al., (2012) Fission Products in National Atmospheric Deposition Program-West Deposition Samples Prior
to and Following the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Incident, March 8-April 5, 2011, U. S. Geological Survey
Open-File Report 2011, 1277

Alternative Meaning Making:

Expert Authorities Make Radiation Visible
Marco Kaltofen:
In the early days of the disaster, 5-10 hot particles a
day inhaled in Seattle, 100X more hot particles
inhaled in Japan:
Kaltofen (2011,
Oct. 31)
Radiation
Exposure to the
Population in
Japan after the
Earthquake.
American Public
Health
Association.
http://apha.conf
ex.com/apha/13
9am/webprogra
m/Paper254015.
html

Alternative Discourse Contests Alls Clear:

12/17/2011 Cold Shutdown a
Pseudonym for Out of Control Corium
The Mainichi Daily News coverage of TEPCOs assertion December of 2011
that cold shutdown had been achieved:
Question: What does it mean when a nuclear reactor has achieved a "cold
shutdown? Answer: Q: Is this the definition being used for the
Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant?
A: No, a slightly different definition is being used. Meltdowns have
occurred at the Fukushima plant and the reactors are damaged, so when
the government formulated "Step 2" of its nuclear disaster management
plan, the phrase took on a slightly different meaning. The government has
defined a cold shutdown for the Fukushima plant as a situation in which
the temperature at the bottom of the reactor pressure containers is less
than 100 degrees Celsius, and the radiation levels at the edge of the plant
premises are below one millisievert per year.

What is a 'cold shutdown' at the Fukushima nuclear plant? (17 December 2011) The Mainichi Daily News,
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20111217p2a00m0na015000c.html

Cold Shutdown or Full Melt-Through

Contesting Official Narratives
1. Use of Leaked Information
such as Infrared images and
diagrams (see right)
2. Use of publicly available data,
such as sewage reports
3. Webcam watching

4. Radiation Monitoring

Scattered fuel of reactor 3 produced by Goddards Journal found at Fukushima Diary

http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/03/scattered-fuel-of-reactor-3/

Leaked Documents
Contesting Cold Shutdown

German Risk Study

of Core Meltdown Accident
The German Risk Study, Phase B found that a core meltdown accident could
result in complete failures of all structural containment, causing melted fuel to
exit the reactor foundation within five days (cited in Bayer, Tromm, & Al-Omari
1989). Moreover, the study found that even in the event of an intact building
foundation, passing groundwater would be in direct contact with fuel, causing
leaching of fission products. Strontium leaches slower than cesium. A followup German study, Dispersion of Radionuclides and Radiation Exposure after
Leaching by Groundwater of a Solidified Core-Concrete Melt, predicted that
strontium contamination levels would rise exponentially years after a full meltthrough located adjacent to a river (Bayer, Tromm, & Al-Omari, 1989). The
studys experimental conditions are roughly similar to Daiichis site conditions,
including groundwater emptying into an adjacent river, whereas Daiichi is
physically situated above an underground river emptying into the sea. The
study predicted concentrations of Strontium-90 in river water would spike
relatively suddenly, but maintain extraordinarily high levels of contamination
for years: The highest radionuclide concentration of approx. 1010 Bq/m3 is
reached by Sr-90 after some 5000 days.
Bayer, A., Al-Omari, I., & Tromm, W. (1989). Dispersion of radionuclides and
radiation exposure after leaching by groundwater of a solidified coreconcrete (No. KFK-4512).
Available http://www.irpa.net/irpa8/cdrom/VOL.1/M1_97.PDF

Contesting Cold-Shutdown
Webcam Watching: September 2 2011

Sep 2 2011 TEPCO cam

Contesting Narratives: RadNet

Contesting Cold Shutdown:

EPA Monitoring

Emissions Never stopped: Emissions during one of

three heavy periods detected by Japanese scientists
occurring 2011-2012
SOURCE Sheng Xu,
Stewart P. H. T.
Freeman, Xiaolin Hou,
Akira Watanabe,
Katsuhiko Yamaguchi,
and Luyuan Zhang
(2013) Iodine Isotopes
in Precipitation:
Temporal Responses to
129I Emissions from the
Fukushima Nuclear
Accident.
Environmental Science
and Technology, 47,
10851-1085

Contesting Cold Shutdown

July 5 2013 TBS cam

Contesting Cold Shutdown

August 24 2014
The plant is
believed to be still
releasing an
average of 10
million becquerels
per hour of
radioactive
material.
Jul. 23, 2014 http://www3.nhk.
or.jp/nhkworld/en
glish/news/201407
23_37.html

Contesting Cold Shutdown FUTABA CAM

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24578505/PinkBlue.png

start watching this one at 45 seconds

http://youtu.be/0TtEx1wLbGU

Is this the 25 Sievert

an Hour Vent Tower
Record outdoor radiation level
detected at Fukushima plant,
December 07, 2013
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disas
ter/fukushima/AJ20131207004
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Dec. 6 it
detected the highest estimated
radiation level for an outdoor location
at the crippled Fukushima No. 1
nuclear plant.
The reading of 25 sieverts per hour was
taken on steel piping near an exhaust
stack for the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors,
TEPCO said.
The utility earlier said high radiation
levels of at least 10 sieverts per hour
were found on the piping.

What Does it Mean?

Resistant Readings:
Community Education about Fallout
Conducted by variety of expert and activists
Shared on social networks, especially Enenews
Over 1000 Radioactive
Elements released by
Fukushima Daiichi
TEPCO to ratchet up efforts to decontaminate water
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ2
01201300001

Image from Tutor Vista

http://chemistry.tutorvista.com/nuclear-chemistry/gammadecay.html

BIOPOLITICAL RISKS
Externalities shifted to down-winders
Externalities amplified by normalcy biases in
dominant discourse
Externalities amplified because dominant dosemodel lack ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY. Fail to address

bio-accumulation of multiple radionuclides

chemical synergies
bio-magnification
trans-generational mutations

A Genealogy of Radiation Health Risks

Historical Review
Competing authorities:
Shunichi Yamashita: No health effects
under 100 millisieverts
Timothy Mousseau (2014, August)
Contrary to governmental reports, there
is now an abundance of information
demonstrating consequences (i.e., injury)
to individuals, populations, species, and
the ecosystem function stemming from the
low dose radiation due to the Chernobyl
and Fukushima disasters (chart to right)
Timothy A. Mousseau: (2014, August 22)
[Press Conference] "Fukushima
Catastrophe and its Effects on Wildlife"
FCCJchannel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IcTG
UMwVtU

Field Based Studies and

Research Politics

Bio-accumulation and bio-magnification

Chemical and radiological synergies
Radiation-induced oxidative stress
Myriad adverse health effects, beyond cancer
(1956 BEAR)
Mutations (1956 BEAR), Micro-deletions and
genomic mosaicism (UNSCEAR)
Trans-generational effects (1956 BEAR)

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima
/AJ201408240011

Fate of Ocean?
Fate of 800 Tons of Contaminated Water Produced
Daily? Fate of 367,000 Tons in Storage?
This is the
first time
this much
radioactive
water has
been
collected in
any single
place in the
world the
scale of this
project in
unpreceden
ted,

IMAGE
http://rt
.com/ne
ws/1835
32russiafilterfukushi
mawater/

TEPCO INJECTS 400 TONS A DAY PLUS 400 TONS A DAY FLOW IN FROM GROUND WATER. TRITIUM AT 10,000 TIMES ALLOWABLE LEVELS

8/28/2014 More ALPS equipment approved for use at Fukushima plant

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201408280043
The multi-nuclide removal equipment, called ALPS (advanced liquid processing system), began operating in late March 2013 and has
handled 127,000 tons of contaminated water to date. But continuing glitches are still limiting the system to trial runs. Approximately 400
tons of groundwater flows into the reactor buildings of the power plant every day, mixing with the highly contaminated water that
cooled the nuclear fuel following the triple meltdown in 2011. As of Aug. 26, 367,000 tons of highly contaminated water sat in tanks
placed inside plant grounds awaiting treatment.

CA SEA
LION
Unusual
Mortality
Event
2013

http://www.nmfs.noaa.g
ov/pr/health/mmume/cal
iforniasealions2013.htm

Study on radioiodine in CA
coastal kelp, reported that a
high of 40 MBq 131I , or
40,000,000 Bq/kg of Iodine131 had been detected in one
bed of Macrocystis pyrifera off
the coast of Southern
California in the summer of
2011. (Manley & Lowe, 2012)

Contaminated US West Coast Kelp

& California Sea Lions(?) 2014

In fact, the values that we

reported for iodine probably
underestimate what was
probably in there. It could be
two to three times more
because we were just sampling
the surface tissue; the biomass
estimates were based on
canopy tissue and a lot of kelp
biomass is underneath. (cited
in Study Finds, 2012)
May 6 2014 Orange County Register http://www.ocregister.com/articles/year-612311-lions-sea.html

Nuclear Dispossession?
After-tax
PROCEEDS from
this collection
will be
DONATED to the
Fukushima
Evacuation
Collective
The Fukushima
Collective
Evacuation Trial
Team for the
Right to
Education in a
Safe Place
http://fukushim
a-evacuatione.blogspot.com/

Dispossession? Majias Narrative

Politicization of radiation effects reduces rational
risk mitigation
Lack of transparency and accountability increases
risk exposures
Damage to personal property
Damage to human health and to genetic integrity of
future generations
Damage to eco-system/ global commons

Lack of transparency coincides with rise of naked

state sovereignty: E.G. Japans new State Secrets
Law

Resistance
Through production and dissemination of counternarratives
Online Communities and keyboard activism
Education
Socialization
Social-emotional support

Citizen Science
Migrant Voices of Authority
Disaster is ongoing and unprecedented (Murata)
Risk management characterized by organized
irresponsibility (Beck)
Externalities are immeasurable because they worsen across
generations

Reflections?
Are we the descendants of
clockwork man, divorced from
nature by his mastery &
imperviousness? No.
Yet we fail to address our
vulnerability

Biopolitics: We are a kind of

being enslaved by a nihilist
will to power

Paul
Fuscos
Cherno
byl
Legacy

Radiation
contributing to
multiple stressors
causing adverse
mortality events in
Alaskan seals & sea
lions. Polar bears,
whales, starfish, &
CA sea lions also
experiencing
adverse mortality
events

References and
Relevant Research and Data

My Relevant Publications & Articles

Nadesan, M., Boys, A., R. Wilcox, A. McKillop (Eds) (2014) Fukushima: Dispossession or Denuclearization.
The Dispossession Press.

Nadesan, M. (2013). Fukushima and the Privatization of Risk. London: Palgrave.

Nadesan, M. (2012, February). Lessons of Fukushima. International Lessons of Fukushima Conference,

hosted by Willamette University Law School, Oregon,
http://www.willamette.edu/events/fukushima/stream/index.html
PRESENTATION AVAILABLE http://asu.academia.edu/majianadesan

http://www.academia.edu/1454715/Lessons_From_Fukushima_Powerpoint_Presentation_on_Media_Censorship_a
nd_Crisis_Communication

INTERVIEWS

Fukusimas Great Ice Wall [Interview] June 11, 2014

http://voiceofrussia.com/radio_broadcast/no_program/273414202/

Fukushima is human-engineered crisis that threatens health of Pacific Ocean expert (2014, June 3):
http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_06_03/Fukushima-is-human-engineered-crisis-that-threatens-health-of-PacificOcean-expert-7002/

3 years since Fukushima: nuclear power 'road to our extinction' - expert

(2014, March 10) http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_03_10/3-years-since-Fukushima-nuclear-power-road-to-ourextinction-expert-3829/

2012, March The Real Deal Radio Show hosted by Emeritus Prof James Fetzer Title of Show : Fukushima
Radiation: The Politics, the PR, and the Consequences.
March 30 Interview with Dr. Jim Fetzer http://radiofetzer.blogspot.com/2012/03/leuren-moret-maia-madison.html
TRANSCRIPS PUBLISHED AT VETERANS TODAY NOV 11 2012
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/11/11/fukushima-radiation-politics-and-public-relations/
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/11/11/fukushima-radiation-politics-and-public-relations-ii/

Footnotes
Ft 1: Sample, I. (2011, March 16 ) Lessons for
Japan from the Chernobyl catastrophe. The
Guardian,
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/
2011/mar/16/japan-fukushima-lessonschernobyl

Tokyo
Hot Spot
Soil Analysis

http://www.scribd.com/doc/64948256/Tok
yo-Hotspot-soil-analysis

Are Government Safety Levels Safe?

Derived Intervention Levels Ignore
Bioaccumulation, Synergies, Reproductive Effects
EPA: For both internal and external exposure, a risk
coefficient for a given radionuclide is based on the
assumption that this is the only radionuclide present in
the environmental medium. That is, doses due to decay
chain members produced in the environment prior to the
intake of, or external exposure to, the radionuclides are
not considered.
Environmental Protection Agency (1999) Cancer Risk Coefficients for Environmental Exposure to Radionuclides: Federal Guidance Report No.13, http://www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/federal/402-r-99-001.pdf, date accessed 25
November 2012.

Yury Bandazhevsky (former director of the Medical

Institute in Gomel), states that "Over 50 Bq/kg of body
weight lead to irreversible lesions in vital organs"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8746168177815160826#

Former Japanese Ambassador to

Switzerland Warns of Ongoing Risks
Mitsuhei Murata: To Prevent Fukushima from Causing the Ultimate Global
Catastrophe August 25, 2014 /
Preface: Fukushima constitutes a global security issue. Fukashima is out of
control and the situation at the site is dangerously worsening. The Japanese
government and Tokyo Electric Company(Tepco) have lost credibility both at
home and abroad. Nearly 3 and half years after the Accident, Japan is at a loss
how best to cope with the current situation. The crisis of Japan as a nation is
being tackled with as a crisis of the management of Tepco !
The drastic change of the present faulty system is urgently needed by dint of
powerful international cooperation.
The time limit has been attained.
Conclusion: It is the responsibility of the international community to prevent
Fukushima from causing the ultimate global catastrophe. The Japanese current
system of coping with the consequences of Fukushima is faulty and needs a
drastic change. Japan is in need of international solidarity and powerful
international cooperation.
http://solartopia.org/mitsuhei-murata-to-prevent-fukushima-from-causingthe-ultimate-global-catastrophe/

Charles Perrow on Catastrophic Risk

http://www.huffingtonpost.co
m/charles-perrow/fukushimaforever_b_3941589.html

Who is Responsible for Fukushima?

Beck on Organized Irresponsibility

Ulrich Beck, a sociologist of risk, was interviewed about the Fukushima catastrophe
in July of 2011. Beck described the Fukushima nuclear event as a catastrophe that
is unlimited in space, time and the social dimension. It's the new kind of risk. :
Risks depend on decision making. The risk depends on the process of
modernization. And they're produced with technological innovations and
investment. Beck denied that the disaster could have resulted simply from
unforeseeable natural catastrophes:
The decision to build an atomic industry in the area of an earthquake is a political decision; it's
not done by nature. It's a political decision, which has to be justified in the public and which
has been taken by parliament, by businesses and so on. . . . I think industries try to define it as
something which has been done by nature. But they don't realize that we are living in an age
where the decision making is the primary background for these kinds of catastrophes. I think
it's very important to realize this because modernity, or even what you could say is the victory
of modernity, produces more and more uncontrollable consequences.

U. Beck cited H. Ohno (7 July 2011) Interview/ Ulrich Beck: System of Organized
Irresponsibility Behind the Fukushima Crisis, The Asahi Shimbun,
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201107060307.html, date accessed 7 July 2011.

In the tense days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power
plant in Japan on March 11, 2011, staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission made a concerted
effort to play down the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis to Americas aging nuclear plants, according
to thousands of internal emails reviewed by NBC News. The emails, obtained via the Freedom of
Information Act, show that the campaign to reassure the public about Americas nuclear industry
came as the agencys own experts were questioning U.S. safety standards and scrambling to
determine whether new rules were needed to ensure that the meltdown occurring at the Japanese
plant could not occur here.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/fukushima-anniversary/u-s-nuclear-agency-hid-concerns-hailedsafety-record-fukushima-n48561

COULD FUKUSHIMA RADIATION IMPACT PLACES

OUTSIDE OF JAPAN?
Dust from Asia is seen streaming eastward toward the Pacific Ocean in this satellite view, where
red is the highest concentration of dust. Photo Colin Seftor (Raytheon) and Christina Hsu
(UMBC)
http://forces.si.edu/atmosphere/04_00_11.html

Hysplit Model Used to Model

Atmospheric Dispersion
http://ready.arl.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php

Fukushima Daiichi Spent Fuel Radionuclide Inventory:

Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than Chernobyl Accident
Former Japanese U.N. diplomat Akio Matsumura posted a letter to the UN
authored by Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, Japans former ambassador to Switzerland, on
his (Matsumuras) webpage http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/04/682.html
Murata wrote: I asked top spent-fuel pools expert Mr. Robert Alvarez, former
Senior Policy Adviser to the Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for National
Security and the Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy, for an
explanation of the potential impact of the 11,421 assemblies. I received an
astounding response from Mr. Alvarez [updated 4/5/12]:
[Alvarez] Based on U.S. Energy Department data, assuming a total of 11,138 spent fuel
assemblies are being stored at the Dai-Ichi site, nearly all, which is in pools. They contain
roughly 336 million curies (~1.2 E+19 Bq) of long-lived radioactivity. About 134 million
curies is Cesium-137 roughly 85 times the amount of Cs-137 released at the Chernobyl
accident as estimated by the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection (NCRP). The

total spent reactor fuel inventory at the Fukushima-Daichi site contains

nearly half of the total amount of Cs-137 estimated by the NCRP to have
been released by all atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, Chernobyl, and
world-wide reprocessing plants (~270 million curies or ~9.9 E+18
Becquerel).

Fukushima Residents Exposed to 4 Sieverts

Lifetime Dose?
After the Fukushima accident a number of dose assessments have
been carried out for the populations living in the north-west fallout
zone of the Fukushima nuclear accident, by MEXT in Japan,
DOE/NNSA in USA, IRSN in France [33, 34], with quite similar
projected dose values. In the more affected regions the estimated
projected doses reach particularly significant values, some of them
even above 200 mSv, which are no longer in the range of low
doses according to UNSCEAR 2000 definition [35]. The level of
external projected doses in upcoming years is up to 4 Sv lifetime in
the high-contaminated areas of 30 MBq m-2 of 137,134Cs. Page 858

A. Ioannidou, E. M. Manolopoulou, S. Stoulos, E. Vagena, C. Papastefanou, M. L.

Bonardi, L. Gini, S. Manenti, F. Groppi January 2014, Journal of
Radionuclides from Fukushima accident in Thessaloniki, Greece (40N) and
Milano, Italy (45) Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Volume 299, Issue 1, pp
855-860 Date: 31 Aug 2013

How Pervasive is Contamination?

Marco Kaltofen High Radioactivity in Japanese house dusts
http://bostonchemicaldata.com/wpi/mKaltofenNagoya2014.pdf

 How will Fukushima impact already stressed

environments?
LATEST REVIEW OF SCIENCE REVEALS OCEAN IN CRITICAL STATE
FROM CUMULATIVE IMPACTS
http://www.stateoftheocean.org/pdfs/IPSO-Papers-Combined15.1.14.pdf London - October 3rd 2013: An international panel
of marine scientists is demanding urgent remedies to halt ocean
degradation based on findings that the rate, speed and impacts
of change in the global ocean are greater, faster and more
imminent than previously thought.
http://www.stateoftheocean.org/research.cfm

Nature: Has the Earths Sixth Mass Extinction Already

Arrived?Table 1: The Big Five mass extinction events From
Barnowsky et al., Nature 471, 5157 (03 March 2011)
doi:10.1038/nature09678
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v471/n7336/full/nature
09678.html

The Radiation That Makes People Invisible:

A Global Hibakusha Perspective
The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 31, No. 1, August 4, 2014.
Radiation makes people invisible. We know that exposure to radiation can
be deleterious to ones health; can cause sickness and even death when
received in high doses. But it does more. People who have been exposed
to radiation, or even those who suspect that they have been exposed to
radiation, including those who never experience radiation-related
illnesses, may find that their lives are forever changed that they have
assumed a kind of second class citizenship. They may find that their
relationships to their families, to their communities, to their hometowns,
to their traditional diets and even traditional knowledge systems have
been broken. They often spend the remainder of their lives wishing that
they could go back, that things would become normal. They slowly realize
that they have become expendable and that their government and even
their society is no longer invested in their wellbeing.
http://japanfocus.org/-Robert-Jacobs/4157

Regulation Aimed to Reduce

Human Exposure by testing
and limiting emissions and
pollution from chemicals and
radionuclides
Excerpt: Many hazardous
materials are present in our
environment, but some are
more likely to cause actual
harm than others.
Exposure: Contact between a
contaminant and the exterior
of an exposed person's body
(skin and openings into the
body such as mouth, nostrils,
and cuts or breaks in the
skin).
Intake or uptake: The
processes through which
contaminants cross the
Dose: The amount of
contaminant that is inhaled
or ingested into an exposed
(footnote 7).

Exposure Pathways of
Toxic Chemicals

The heritable planet http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=6&secNum=3

Exposure Pathways of Radionuclides

US Government Model for Radionuclides Exposure Pathways Analyses

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/PHA.asp?docid=78&pg=2

How Do Low-Levels Produce

Problems

Bio-Magnification

Levels released in pollution bioaccumulate in human bodies

Bioaccumulation - The biological
sequestering of a substance at a
higher concentration than that at
which it occurs in the surrounding
environment or medium. Also, the
process whereby a substance enters
organisms through the respiratory
tract, gills, epithelial tissues, dietary,
or other sources.

Chemicals work synergistically as

they bio-accumulate in living entities
Biomagnification occurs as animals
higher on the food chain become
more contaminated by eating
animals lower on the food chain

Image and def taken from

http://news.lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/2011/04/bioaccumulationwhy-fukushima-matters.html

2011-2014 Adverse Mortality Events

Seals (CA and Alaska)

Polar Bears
Walruses
Sea lions (CA) (increased domoic acid impacted by
increased acidity in ocean water, increasing toxicity) but
many other causes of death listed
herehttp://www.marinemammalcenter.org/patients/releaseddeceased-patients/#Deceased

Sea Stars
Fukushima Monkeys
California race horses
Fukushima butterflies

 http://www.alaskamarinescience.org/docum
ents/2014%20Abstract%20Book.pdf
Within five days of the accident atmospheric
air masses carrying Fukushima radiation were
transiting into the northern Bering and
Chukchi seas. During summer 2011 it became
evident to coastal communities and wildlife
management agencies that there was a novel
disease outbreak occurring in several species
of Arctic ice- associated seals. Gross
symptoms associated with the disease
included lethargy, no new hair growth, and
skin lesions, with the majority of the
outbreak reports occurring between the
Nome and Barrow region.
NOAA and USFWS declared an Alaska
Northern Pinnipeds Usual Mortality Event
(UME) in late winter of 20 11. The ongoing
Alaska 2011 Northern Pinnipeds UME
investigation continues to explore a mix of
potential etiologies (infectious, endocrine,
toxins, nutritious etc.), including radioactivity.

Novel
Disease
Outbreak
Alaskan Seals

Is Fukushima Worsening Ocean Acidity and other Problems

Domoic Acid is seen as contributing to the death of sea lions in California. In 1998, The Marine Mammal
Center diagnosed the first case of domoic acid toxicosis in marine mammals, and has conducted extensive
studies of the condition since then.
Domoic acid is a neurotoxin produced by phytoplankton, specifically a microscopic diatom (Pseudonitzschia
australis, pictured at the top of the page) in the ocean. This toxin causes seizures in higher vertebrates as it
concentrates up the food chain by targeting the brain, specifically the hippocampus. California sea lions and
other marine mammals become affected when they eat prey, like anchovies, that have been feeding during
toxin-producing algal blooms. See more at: http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/science/top-researchprojects/domoic-acid-toxicity.html#sthash.T5Z6ePJ9.dpuf

But sealions arent just dying of Domoic Acid. For Non-Domoic Acid Deaths see here

Deceased Patients http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/patients/released-deceased-patients/#Deceased

Could Fukushima be contributing to Toxic Algae on the Rise on California Shores, Study Suggests>
October 07, 2011
Neurotoxin-producing algae have been showing up in greater numbers and more often off the coast of
Southern California, say researchers who have created a monitoring method in hopes of one day being able to
predict when and where these toxic "red tides" will occur.
Called saxitoxin, the substance created by Alexandrium catenella algae, is "one of the most toxic biologically
produced chemicals in the world," said study researcher David Caron, a professor of biological sciences at the
University of Southern California's Dornsife College.
http://www.livescience.com/16454-toxic-algae-rise-california-shores-study-suggests.html

Biological effects of Fukushima radiation on plants, insects, and animals.

(2014, August 14), PhysOrg,
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-biological-effects-fukushima-insectsanimals.html#jCp

"A growing body of empirical results from studies of birds, monkeys, butterflies,
and other insects suggests that some species have been significantly impacted by
the radioactive releases related to the Fukushima disaster," stated Dr. Timothy
Mousseau of the University of South Carolina, lead author of one of the studies.
Most importantly, these studies supply a baseline for future research on the effects
of ionizing radiation exposure to the environment.

Common to all of the published studies is the hypothesis that chronic

(low-dose) exposure to ionizing radiation results in genetic damage and
increased mutation rates in reproductive and non-reproductive cells.

One of the studies (Hayashi et al. 2014) documented the effects of radiation on rice
by exposing healthy seedlings to low-level gamma radiation at a contaminated site
in Fukushima Prefecture. After three days, a number of effects were observed,
including activation of genes involved in self-defense, ranging from DNA replication
and repair to stress responses to cell death.
"The experimental design employed in this work will provide a new way to test how
the entire rice plant genome responds to ionizing radiation under field conditions,"
explained Dr. Randeep Rakwal of the University of Tsukuba in Japan, one of the
authors of the study.

On Alaskan Pinniped Adverse Mortality

Steve Heimel, APRN Anchorage (2014, Jan
24)Radiation from
Fukushima | http://www.alaskapublic.org/2014/
01/24/radiation-from-fukushima/
Doug Dasher, Environmental Oceanographer
from Univ of Alaska
Fairbanks School of Fisheries. 4:30 : we didnt
see high enough [levels] to directly cause the
illnesses that were seen the seals, what we
looked at is whats occurring.looking at what
they call multiple stressors

Monkeys and Fish

Japanese monkeys' abnormal blood linked to Fukushima disaster
study .Primates in Fukushima region found to have low white and
red blood cell levels and radioactive caesium
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/24/japanesemonkeys-abnormal-blood-linked-to-fukushima-disaster-study
See also http://phys.org/news/2014-07-fukushima-monkeyseffects.html#jCp

The marine scientists were Kenneth Buesseler of the US Woods

Hole and Hideo Yamazaki, a marine biologist at Kinki University,
whom were both quoted in the AP article Cesium Levels in Fish Off
Fukushima Not Dropping (26 October 2012), The Aashi Shimbun,
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201210260
047, date accessed 26 October 2012.

Radiation Effects

For every 10 mSv of low-dose ionizing radiation, there was a 3% increase in the risk of age- and sex-adjusted
cancer over a mean follow-up period of five years (hazard ratio 1.003 per milliSievert, 95% confidence interval
1.0021.004). Cancer risk related to low-dose ionizing radiation from cardiac imaging in patients after acute
myocardial infarction. By M J. Eisenberg, Jonathan A., P. R. Lawler, M. Abrahamowicz , Hugues R., L. Pilote
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050947/?tool=pubmed

New Research on childhood leukemia and nuclear plants suggests significant health effects from low levels
of ionizing radiation International Journal of Cancer study by C. Sermage-Faure, D. Laurier, S. Goujon-Bellec,
M. Chartier, A. Guyot-Goubin, J. Rudant, D. Hemon and J. Clavel, Childhood leukemia around French nuclear
power plants the Geocap study, 2002 2007, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.27425/pdf.

Prof. Yuri Bandazhevsky found that children contaminated with cesium-137 producing 50 disintegrations per
second (becquerels) per kilogram of body weight suffered irreversible heart damage . (Starrr, S. 2012 Health
Threat From Cesium 1-137. Japan Times Feb 16. Available:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/rc20120216a1.html

Genomic Damage in Children Accidently Exposed to Ionizing Radiation: A Review of the Literature. Fucic, A.
et al. (2008). Mutation Research, 658, 111-123. Overall, the evidence from the studiesreveals consistently
increased chromosome aberration and micronuclei frequency in exposed than in referent children

New Understandings of radiation: Bystander effect and DNA Instability

New model emphasizes how low-dose radiation can cause indirect damage to cells through the
bystander effect and through genomic instability. The effects of low-dose ionizing radiation are variable
and can reduce DNA repair mechanisms, operate lethally on cells or some instances activate them
depending upon type of radiation, chemical environment, etc.
Dietrich Averbeck, a, Towards a New Paradigm for Evaluating the Effects of Exposure to Ionizing Radiation
Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis Volume 687, Issues 1-2, 1
May 2010 pages 7-12

TEPCO ONGOING RELEASES

Fukushima Daiichi Sea Releases Updated To 157 Billion Bq
Per Day Fuku Leaks,
http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=13705
TEPCO document available http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/handouts_140825_04-j-copy-2-8.jpg

The government now says it is clear that 300 tons (71,895

gallons/272,152 liters) are pouring into the sea each day,
enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every eight
days. Patrick J. Kiger (2013, Aug 7) Fukushima's Radioactive
Water Leak: What You Should Know
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/0
8/130807-fukushima-radioactive-water-leak/

Global Physicians Issue Scathing Critique of UN Report

Fukushima: Bad and Getting Worse by JOHN LaFORGE

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/18/fukushima-bad-and-getting-worse/
Weekend Edition July 18-20, 2014
There is broad disagreement over the amounts and effects of radiation exposure
due to the triple reactor meltdowns after the 2011 Great East-Japan Earthquake
and tsunami. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
(IPPNW) joined the controversy June 4, with a 27-page Critical Analysis of the
UNSCEAR Report Levels and effects of radiation exposures due to the nuclear
accident after the 2011 Great East-Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
IPPNW is the Nobel Peace Prize winning global federation of doctors working for a
healthier, safer and more peaceful world. The group has adopted a highly critical
view of nuclear power because as it says, A world without nuclear weapons will
only be possible if we also phase out nuclear energy.
UNSCEAR, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic
Radiation, published its deeply flawed report April 2. Its accompanying press
release summed up its findings this way: No discernible changes in future cancer
rates and hereditary diseases are expected due to exposure to radiation as a result
of the Fukushima nuclear accident. The word discernable is a crucial disclaimer
here.

Gov't body cuts compensation for

deaths over Fukushima disaster

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140902p2a00m0na018000c.html

The government-backed body that handles the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for the Fukushima nuclear
disaster has set the causal relationship between evacuee deaths and the nuclear disaster at below 50 percent in
over 80 percent of the 120 settlement proposals so far, it has been learned.
On Aug. 26, the Fukushima District Court ordered Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) to pay some 49 million yen in
damages to the family of a 58-year-old woman who killed herself after she was forced to evacuate due to the
Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown. The court recognized that 80 percent of the cause of her suicide was due to
stress caused by the nuclear disaster and calculated the compensation amount accordingly. Therefore, the
Mainichi Shimbun's latest finding demonstrates the fact that the Nuclear Damage Claim Dispute Resolution Center
has been reducing compensation to the families of those who died after evacuating from the March 2011 nuclear
disaster.
The dispute resolution center calculates the amount of compensation for death in its settlement proposal by
multiplying a "standard amount" by a percentage figure representing the impact of the nuclear accident upon the
particular case at hand. For this reason, its decision on the contribution ratio of the nuclear disaster to the deaths
vastly affects compensation payouts.
Based on the center's replies to the Mainichi's inquiries and explanations the center has given to lawyers for the
victims, there are about 120 compensation proposals over deaths that the center has presented to the bereaved
families so far. The highest contribution ratio of the nuclear accident it has assigned in these deaths is "50
percent," and that covers just over 50 cases, or slightly more than 40 percent of the total. About 40 percent of the
total cases are attributed to a contribution ratio of less than 50 percent. Only around 20 percent of the total cases
are attributed to a contribution ratio of over 50 percent, while more than 80 percent of the cases are attributed to
a contribution ratio of less than 50 percent.

Is the Fukushima Disaster

Really Over?

Ongoing Criticalities at Daiichi?

In March 2011, physicist F. Dalnoki-Veress of the James Martin
Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies posted his analysis of, and warnings over, the
possibility of ongoing and uncontrolled fission activity at the plant.
Dalnoki-Veress concluded from data on 13 neutron beam
detections at Daiichi that pockets of melted fuel were producing
transient criticalities, or nuclear fission events, significant enough to
create the observed beams. He argued that the transient
criticalities producing the beams are distinct from normal
radioactive decay. He warned that Tepco should be aware of the
possibility of transient criticalities when work is being done.
F. Dalnoki-Veress (28 March 2011) What Was the Cause of the High
C1-38 Radioactivity in the Fukushima Daiichi Reactor #1,
http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/files/2011/03/Cause_of_the_hi
gh_Cl38_Radioactivity.pdf.

Fission Products Released Nov 2011

The Japanese government reported in November of 2011 that nuclear fission
byproducts were detected at Daiichis unit 2 reactor, indicating ongoing
nuclear chain reactions (or criticalities) at the plant. TEPCO acknowledged in
July of 2012 that the plant continued to emit radiation into the atmosphere,
offering an estimate of emissions of 10 million becquerels per hour. The
measurement becquerels refers to the rate of disintegration of atoms. The
plant has therefore been emitting measurable radiation into the atmosphere
continuously since the first explosion in March of 2011. Ocean contamination
is also ongoing. Japanese and US marine scientists interviewed by The Asahi
Shimbun in November 2012 reported suspicions that cesium leakages into the
ocean continue unabated.
M. Obe and S. Schroter (3 November 2011) Damaged Japan Nuclear Reactor
May Still Be Active, The Wall Street Journal, A11.
T. Sugimoto (24 July 2012) After 500 Days, Fukushima No. 1 Plant Still Not Out
of The Woods, The Asahi Shimbun,
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201207240087, date
accessed 24 July 2012.

Contesting Cold-Shutdown (News Reports)

Tepco Detects Nuclear Fission at Damaged Fukushima Power
Station Nov 02, 2011

By Tsuyoshi Inajima and Yuji Okada Nov. 2

(Bloomberg)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. detected signs of nuclear
fission at its crippled Fukushima atomic power plant
in northern Japan, raising the risk of more radiation
leaks. The situation is under control, officials said.
Tepco said it may have found xenon, which is
associated with nuclear fission, while examining
gases taken from the reactor
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-1101/tepco-detects-possible-nuclear-fission-atfukushima-reactor.html

Ongoing Fission
Intermittent increase of Krypton-85 to suggest
on-going nuclear fission in reactor1
Sept 6 2012
http://fukushimadiary.com/2012/09/intermittent-increase-ofkrypton-85-to-suggest-on-going-nuclearfission-in-reactor1/

Censorship of B.5.b
December of 2013, The Asahi Shimbun ran an editorial
charging that Japans bureaucratic secrecy hindered the
disaster response, using the example of B.5.b.
(Okuyama & Sunaoshi, 2013). B.5.b is a highly
classified U.S.-developed contingency plan for a
catastrophic nuclear plant event given to the Japanese
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) prior to the
March 2011 disaster. It remained highly classified
during the March 2011 Daiichi explosions as only a
handful of officials were privy to information that may
have improved the insufficient disaster response
(Okuyama & Sunaoshi, 2013).

Okuyama, T., & Sunaoshi, H. (2013, December 17). State secrets law raises concern about safety of nuclear power
plants. The Asahi Shimbun. Available http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201312170006

Speedi Censored

Japan used a system called SpeediSystem for Prediction of Environmental

Emergency Dose informationto model March radiation releases and blamed the
delay in reporting results to the public in mid-April to their efforts to narrow the
margin of error in their calculations, although nuclear regulators in other countries
were privy to Speedis results early on.
In July, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan publicly criticized the Japanese
government and TEPCO for delays in reporting Speedi data to the public: The society
notes that there is the possibility that the damage to people's health from radiation
exposure has increased because the government, Tepco and related institutions did
not properly disclose information on the status of the nuclear accidents and the
environmental contamination by radioactive substances..
An example that surfaced recently is the education and science ministry's failure to
immediately disclose the name of a radiation hot spot in Namie, Fukushima
Prefecture.
Hiroko Tabuchi, Keith Bradsher, and Andrew Pollack Japanese Officials on Defensive as Nuclear Alert
Level Rises, The New York Times (2011, April 13):
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/world/asia/13japan.html.
Tabuchi, Bradsher, and Pollack Japanese Officials on Defensive,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/world/asia/13japan.html
Nuclear Accident Disclosure, Japan Times (2011, July 8): http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgibin/ed20110708a1.html.

State Secrets Law

In 2013 Japans LDP party pushed through a
highly controversial state secrets bill. The bill has
been vocally opposed by political opposition to
the LDP, by editorials in the Japanese media, and
in excoriating comments made by well-known
Japanese citizens. The law stipulates harsh
penalties for whistleblowers and fails to require
government disclosure of what becomes secret
(Yamaguchi, 2013). Critics charge it could
undermine Japans democracy.

Yamaguchi, M. (2013, November 26). Japans secrecy law stirs fear of limits on freedoms. Associated
Press. Available http://hosted.ap.org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/dynamic/stories/A/AS_JAPAN_SECRECY_LAW?SITE=AP&SECTION=
HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.n
pr.org/blogs/p
arallels/2013/
12/31/258655
342/japansstate-secretslaw-hailed-byu-sdenouncedby-japanese

Nadesan on Acquired De Novo

Mutations and Epigenetic Changes

Radiation Damage to Human Health

and Reproduction
Bioaccumulation,
Biomagnification, Synergy
Oxidative Stress
Epigenetic changes, such as
methylation
De novo mutations from
environmental insults

Autism Genotype Looks Like TransGenerational Effects of Ionizing

Radiation described by UNSCEAR
Both characterized by point mutations,
especially micro-deletions
Both characterized as multi-system
developmental anomalies
Both characterized by defective
mitochondrial DNA
No research studying convergence

Radionuclides
Bio-accumulate in the brain
Both strontium and cesium (an analog of potassium) can pass the bloodbrain barrier by entering the brains calcium channels (e.g., see XuFriedman & Regehr, 1999).
Nowakowski and Hayes (2008) explore the myriad effects of radiation on
early brain development (i.e., neurogenesis), which include double-strand
breaks of DNA impacting cell proliferation and migration during critical
periods of early brain development. They conclude that early fetal
development is particularly susceptible to effects of relatively low levels of
exposure to radioisotopes.

Environmental Genomics & Autism

Kinney, D. K., Barch, D. H., Chayka, B.,
Napoleon, S., Munir, K. M. (2010)
Environmental risk factors for autism: Do they
help cause do novo genetic mutations that
contribute to the disorder? Medical
Hypotheses, 74, 102-106.

Majias Review:
Environmental Genomics & Autism
Genetic susceptibilities can increase vulnerability to environmental insults,
which can be more easily managed than the gene pool. Furthermore,
environmental insults can also produce genetic susceptibilities by producing
mutations or by altering gene expression. For example, the finding that
older fathers are more likely to have a child with autism points to
environmentally-caused genetic susceptibilities for the disorder (Kong,
Frigge, Masson, & Besenbacher, 2012). Researchers postulate that over
time men acquire more germ-line cell damage from environmental
exposures, particularly genetic micro-deletions, which are transmitted to
their offspring. Micro-deletions in human DNA can adversely impact genetic
transcription processes, especially during periods of embryonic and fetal
development. Moreover, genomic research has concluded that children
with autism have even more do novo mutations, especially microdeletions, than their parents and siblings, suggesting that they also were
exposed to genotoxins and/or oxidative stress, probably during early
development (Sebat et al., 2007). Yet, the role of de novo mutations in
shaping autistic outcomes is not linear, as evidenced by gendered effects.
Females seem to have less vulnerability to the same de novo mutations that
are linked with autism in males (see Sanders et al., 2012).

Autism and Microdeletions

People with autism are more likely to have microdeletions in mitochondrial DNA and in DNA
regulating brain synaptic development and
oxytocin than family members (Sebat et al., 2007;
Smith, Spence, & Flodman, 2009). Perhaps other
disorders, such as diabetes, allergies, and
Parkinsons, occur when other genes are similarly
damaged. Indeed, one study found that among
children born with serious heart defects, at least
ten percent of them had increased de novo
mutations, not inherited from parents (Lifton,
Seidman, et al, 2013).

Patterns and rates of exonic de novo mutations in autism spectrum disorders Nature 485,
242245 (10 May 2012) doi:10.1038/nature11011 Benjamin Neale et al
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v485/n7397/full/nature11011.html

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are believed to have genetic and environmental origins, yet
in only a modest fraction of individuals can specific causes be identified1, 2. To identify further
genetic risk factors, here we assess the role of de novo mutations in ASD by sequencing the
exomes of ASD cases and their parents (n = 175 trios). Fewer than half of the cases (46.3%)
carry a missense or nonsense de novo variant, and the overall rate of mutation is only
modestly higher than the expected rate. In contrast, the proteins encoded by genes that
harboured de novo missense or nonsense mutations showed a higher degree of connectivity
among themselves and to previous ASD genes3 as indexed by protein-protein interaction
screens. The small increase in the rate of de novo events, when taken together with the
protein interaction results, are consistent with an important but limited role for de novo point
mutations in ASD, similar to that documented for de novo copy number variants. Genetic
models incorporating these data indicate that most of the observed de novo events are
unconnected to ASD; those that do confer risk are distributed across many genes and are
incompletely penetrant (that is, not necessarily sufficient for disease). Our results support
polygenic models in which spontaneous coding mutations in any of a large number of genes
increases risk by 5- to 20-fold. Despite the challenge posed by such models, results from de
novo events and a large parallel casecontrol study provide strong evidence in favour of CHD8
and KATNAL2 as genuine autism risk factors.

 Rate of de novo mutations and the importance of fathers age to

disease risk Augustine Kong, et al Nature 488, 471475 (23 August
2012) doi:10.1038/nature11396 Accepted 04 July 2012 Published
online 22 August 2012
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v488/n7412/full/nature1
1396.html
[ABSTRACT excerpted]We show that in our samples, with an
average fathers age of 29.7, the average de novo mutation rate is
1.20108 per nucleotide per generation. Most notably, the
diversity in mutation rate of single nucleotide polymorphisms is
dominated by the age of the father at conception of the child. The
effect is an increase of about two mutations per year. An
exponential model estimates paternal mutations doubling every
16.5years. After accounting for random Poisson variation, fathers
age is estimated to explain nearly all of the remaining variation in
the de novo mutation counts. These observations shed light on the
importance of the fathers age on the risk of diseases such as
schizophrenia and autism.

References

Relevant References

Kobayashi , T., Haruyasu Nagai , Masamichi Chino & Hideyuki Kawamura (2013)
Source term estimation of atmospheric release due to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear
Power Plant accident by atmospheric and oceanic dispersion simulations, Journal of
Nuclear Science and Technology, 50:3, 255-264, Available
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00223131.2013.772449

Manley, S. and C. Lowe (6 March 2012) Canopy-Forming Kelps as Californias Coastal

Dosimeter: 131I from Damaged Japanese Reactor Measured in Macrocystis Pyrifera,
Environmental Science & Technology,
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es203598r?journalCode=esthag.

Study Finds Radioactive Fallout in California Kelp Beds (5 April 2012), Everything Long
Beach, http://www.everythinglongbeach.com/study-finds-radioactive-fallout-incalifornia-kelp-beds/, date accessed 6 April 2012.

T. Y. Tanaka, JMA, Japan; and M. Kajino, T. Takemura, T. Christoudias, J. Lelieveld, P.

van Velthoven, P. Le Sager, T. Nakajima, and T. Shibata. (2014, Feb 3) Science Council
of Japan Model Inter-Comparison Project. Recorded Presentation Delivered at The
Georgia World Congress Center.
https://ams.confex.com/ams/94Annual/webprogram/Paper236720.html

IRSN SOURCES
IRSN (2012, January) Fuksuhima: Lessons Learned (pdf report),
http://www.irsn.fr/EN/publications/thematic/fukushima/Documents/IRSN_Re
peres12_Fukushima_EN.pdf
The Fukushima disaster far exceeded any crisis previously encountered
page 6
IRSN (2011, December) Contamination of people and the environment (Video).
IRSN Enhancing Nuclear Safety Available
http://www.irsn.fr/EN/publications/thematic-safety/fukushima/Pages/2fukushima-contamination.aspx
IRSN MEASURED radionculides in MUDDY SOIL collected to depth of 5
centimeters
500,000 b/kg Cesium 137
400,000 b/kg Cesium 134
Japanese government measures reached 15 million b/kg cesium-137
In Japan, land deposition of cesium up to 30,000,000 million Bq/m2 [IAEA
regards 30,000 Bq/m2 as officially radiation-contaminated)
In US, Atmospheric Dispersion Plume up to 10 million Bq/m3, a million
times Frances 2010 levels
IRSN (2012, Feb) Contamination of the environment (Video),
http://www.irsn.fr/EN/publications/thematic-safety/fukushima/Pages/2fukushima-understanding-environment.aspx

Additional References
Timothy A. Mousseau: (2014, August 22) [Press Conference] "Fukushima Catastrophe and its Effects on
Wildlife" FCCJchannel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IcTGUMwVtU
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New York Times, p. 18.

Wertelecki, W. (2010). Malformations in a Chornobyl-impacted region. Pediatrics 125(4), e836-e843;

published ahead of print March 22, 2010.
Xu-Friedman, M. A., & Regehr, W G. (1999, April). Presynaptic strontium dynamics and synaptic
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Additional
References
CHERNOBYL IMAGE Paul Fusko Chernobyl Legacy,

http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&ALID=2K7O3RSPPMM
also
http://www.paulfuscophoto.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=1&a=0&
at=0

Callaway, E. (2013, Aug ) Fathers bequeath more mutations as they age. Nature,
http://www.nature.com/news/fathers-bequeath-more-mutations-as-they-age1.11247
Dubrova, Yuri E., Plumb, M., Gutierrez, B., Emma Boulton, E., & A. J. Jeffreys (2000,
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Environmental risk factors for autism: Do they help cause do novo genetic mutations
that contribute to the disorder? Medical Hypotheses, 74, 102-106.

Kong, A., Frigge, M. L., Masson, G., & Besenbacher, S. (2012, 23 August). Rate of de
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Mousseau
Timothy A. Mousseau: (2014, August 22)
[Press Conference] "Fukushima Catastrophe
and its Effects on Wildlife" FCCJchannel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IcTGUM
wVtU

Fukushima Livestream
July 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDfsMPlUuts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyGdkHB7og
WEBCAM LINKS
TEPCO 1 AND 2
http://www.fukushimafacts.com/Default.aspx?PID=46&T=
Live
FUTABA
http://stm.futabagun.jp/510.swf?rnd=1378761240993
TBS http://news.tbs.co.jp/newsi_sp/ust/

More PowerPoints by Majia Nadesan

Available at Academia.edu
http://asu.academia.edu/majianadesan
https://independent.academia.edu/MajiaNad
esan/Papers