One of the "Plutonium Brothers" Was a TEPCO Employee

Professor Hirotada Ohashi of Tokyo University, one of the three "Plutonium Brothers" who declared that the toxicity of plutonium was much exaggerated and it was safe even if some villains dumped plutonium in a reservoir for tap water and people drank that water, used to work for TEPCO before he became assistant professor at Tokyo University.

After he got his PhD in nuclear engineering from Tokyo University in 1980, he joined TEPCO and remained there until 1986, when he went to Tokyo University to become an assistant professor. (His short bio in Japanese, here.)

It all makes sense.

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Three Plutonium Brothers Revisited

Now that the national government has finally owned up to the existence of plutonium and strontium outside Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (in case of strontium-89, as far as Shirakawa City, 79 kilometers from the plant), it seems like a good time to revisit what the government researchers were saying about "heavy" plutonium that we didn't need to worry about a bit, back in March and April.

Particularly the second guy, Keiichi Nakagawa of Tokyo University, said plutonium was so heavy it wouldn't disperse, and only the workers at the plant needed to worry.

(From my post on 8/8/2011)

Nakagawa: To begin with, this material is very heavy. So, unlike iodine, it won't disperse in the air. Workers at the plant MAY be affected. So, I'd caution them to be careful. But I don't think the public should worry.

My original post has the transcript (translation) of the video, which was captioned by Tokyo Brown Tabby. The Japanese video was compiled by sievert311.

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"Plutonium Brothers" and "Role of Specialists" Videos Now in German

Thank you, Viola.

"Plutonium Brothers" in German:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A2nbcOlgaI&feature=channel_video_title

"Role of Specialists - Professor Kodama vs Professor Yamashita" in German:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A90_4mg8yFc&feature=channel_video_title

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In case you missed them, you can view the English version on this blog. Both are with the captioned video and the full transcript:

Three Plutonium Brothers of Japan: "They Are So Safe You Can Drink It" (Updated with Transcript)

(Updated with Captioned Video) The Role of Specialists: Dr. Kodama vs Dr. Yamashita

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