Tuesday, February 14, 2012

91,600 Bq/Kg of Radioactive Cesium from Sunflowers in Iitate-mura, Fukushima

So the sunflowers DID concentrate radioactive cesium in soil. It was not where the Japanese government wanted you to find.

According to one Iitate-mura villager, Mr. Itoh, who had his sunflowers tested, the radioactive cesium was IN THE ROOTS. He suspects that the government knew, and cherry-picked the data that seemingly supported the foregone conclusion that sunflowers do not work in decontaminating the soil.

Why? Because the government wants and needs to distribute big money to big businesses that closely work with the government in the "decontamination" bubble that they've created.

From his tweets on February 7, 2012:

ヒマワリの根 セシウム134 39,500bq/kg セシウム137  52,100bq/kg セシウム計  91,600bq/kg。ヒマワリの根の灰については、焼却温度が低く、体積が1/4程度にしか減らなかった、2,200gの根を燃やし460gの灰が出た。

Sunflower roots: Cesium-134, 39,500 Bq/kg; cesium-137, 52,100 Bq/kg; total 91,600 Bq/kg. Since the roots were burned at low a temperature, the roots were reduced to only one-quarter in mass. 2,200 grams of the roots were burned, resulting in 460 grams of ashes.

焼却温度が高ければ1/100、とすると200万bq?。農水省は税金を投入し大臣自ら植えたヒマワリの実験畑の除染効果は無いと断言したが、ある思いを持っての実験、効果なしの結論を前提にしたものだったから。農水省の放射性廃棄物の検査は何故か“根”を外しているから。

If they were burned at a higher temperature, maybe the concentration would be 100 times, resulting in about 2 million Bq/kg of radioactive cesium, maybe? After pouring in taxpayers' money and the minister himself planting sunflowers in the experimental plot in the village, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has declared sunflowers have no decontamination properties. It is because that conclusion was pre-determined with one purpose in mind. The ministry's test of radioactive wastes inexplicably excluded the sunflower "roots".

ヒマワリに除染されたのでは利権が発生しない、要は利権が簡単に得られる従来型の公共工事による“除染”こそ懐を簡単に肥やす方法だから。1000年に一度の大震災でも役人や政治家が考えることはこの程度。誰だこの程度の政治家を選んだのは。

If sunflowers could decontaminate, there would be no subsidies and handouts. In essence, "decontamination" via the public works loaded with pork is the easiest way to get rich quick. Even in the face of the biggest disaster in 1,000 years, that's the level where the bureaucrats and politicians operate. Who elected these pols?

Mr. Itoh no doubt knows well it is the Japanese people who elected these pols and keep electing them, but that doesn't mean Mr. Itoh himself is complicit. He may have voted to oust these politicians in his district, in vain.

34 comments:

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
netudiant said...

Surely the key is not how contaminated the sunflowers become, but rather how much less the soil contamination is after harvesting the sunflowers.
If memory serves, the claim was that the sunflowers removed less than 5% of the soil contamination. So they might not be all that effective at cleaning things up, but perhaps their oil could be used while the plants are reduced to ash.
Over a couple of decades, that would help noticeably, plus the locals would still have jobs and a functioning economy, if the government was willing to provide some support.

Anonymous said...

But what's the advantage of having tons of contaminated sunflowers instead of tons of contaminated soil? You have to dispose of them anyway, and apparently this guy is talking about actually "burning" the things? GREAT SUCCESS.

Anonymous said...

Not that radioactive bannana shit again ! pro nuke fuckers spew that kinda shit.

Anonymous said...

I just spoke to a 30 year old American married to a Japanese woman who wants to move back to Japan when they have kids. It's safer there, he said.

I said nothing.

Natural selection is at work.

Only the strong and the smart have even a chance. The weak and the dumb are the walking dead.

netudiant said...

I believe the sunflower oil is much less contaminated than the body of the plant. In any case, if a large part of the area can be adequately rehabilitated in a couple of decades by planting sunflowers, it seems more sensible than waiting for a few centuries for the cesium to decay or just ignoring the problem with 'business as ususal'.

Anonymous said...

Yes the weak and dumb are the majority in Japan, ignorance beyond belief , they never question their masters, lambs to the slaughter and they are complicit in their government lies and madness.....

Anonymous said...

It'll probably be relatively safer in Japan after the US starts World War 3 and gets nuked to shit in return.

There are plenty of "safer" places in the world than those two, though.

Anonymous said...

@6:18 & 6:37
Have you no shame or human decency?
Traveling from site to site with your bananas and bullshit, while the children in Japan are facing the very real consequences of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Exposure to radiation, as you well know, can cause any number of serious health effects, including thyroid cancer, leukemia, heart problems and genetic defects,to name a few.There has been no clear action on the part of the government or industry to protect the most vulnerable citizens.
If the children of Chernobyl are still invisible to you, check closer to home, please. Kids on Death Road near Brookhaven?
Rocky Flats workers? The people in St. George, Utah? The Navajo miners? The downwinders of Hanford? The crew from McMurdo ? Returning veterans? The list goes on and it is beyond comprehension that you are playing this charade.
Karen, sorry we hadn't noticed they are growing bananas in greenhouses there in Tennessee. Is that the Oak Ridge decontamination plan? Or just part of the new jobs available in the renaissance?
God's gift to watch young children dying?
Stop it.

Anonymous said...

"Banannas are naturally radioactive and really people should not eat them or at least really limit their consumption of them. It is estimated that over the course of a human life 80% of the retained internal dose received is from eatting banannas over a life time."

WTF. Are you for real? Why are you repeating stupid pro-nuke propaganda? You think you are smarter than a chimp? We evolved eating K-40 in the natural food environment. Not radioactive caesium, not radioactive strontium, not radioactive iodine.

You are a complete idiot. Stop embarrassing yourself.

Anonymous said...

6:18 PM,

Learn how to spell BANANA. The word only has one "N". Just like POTATO has no "E". Do US politicians know how to write or is it all gasbag talk?

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Hahahahahah, limit banana consumption! Where do pro-nuke shills get this shit.

Harley Johnstone, endurance athlete who races with Lance Armstrong, should be glowing in the dark or dead. He eats 20-30 bananas a day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RgyRTVJVYI

Anonymous said...

Actually hemp plants and sunflower plants are highly effective at soaking up radiation into the fibrous roots. But just what is the Japanese fascination with fire and incinerators? Burning radiative debris of any kind is not helping the situation. Ship the roots to Fukushima for ground storage...there is an enormous amount of toxic land there that will be hot for centuries so utilize it.

Stop burning radiation! It is insanity because you are concentrating the particles into windblown assassins! You are hastening the death of your race.

SP

Anonymous said...

Ms. Brackett, I ask you again please. Please go away. I don't need people screaming "Jack Ass" with quadruple exclamation marks and spewing lies like there is a great coverage of Fukushima in the press. There are a few Fukushima sites still out there though that you can harrass. Please go and leave us alone here. Just go.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous01 said...

By the way, 8:34, for your information, anyone who writes using the "anonymous" moniker is not guaranteed to be the same person as almost everyone who writes here uses it. Hope this helps with your confusion.

Anonymous said...

Karen, you are participating in this discussion. Did you have any response to the concerns expressed @7:50 ?
Is that too much science?
Or not enough ?

Anonymous said...

Hey Karen...is this you?

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Karen Sherry Brackett
Oil & Energy Professional
Johnson City, Tennessee (Johnson City, Tennessee Area) Oil & Energy
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Karen Sherry Brackett's Overview

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Nuclear Fuel Operator at Nuclear Fuel Services
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Karen Sherry Brackett's Experience

Nuclear Fuel Operator
Nuclear Fuel Services
2009 – 2009 (less than a year)

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Please go away, Brackett.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

You can go to the TEPCO site for all the data you need. Can you provide a full list of the amount and composition of the recent venting at Byron?

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I second the GO AWAY.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Imagine this: Paranoid Christian Fundy Anti-Nuke Finnish Troll vs. Former Nuke Fuel Operator Who Failed At Politics And Is Now A Condescending Shill.

Areva could sell tickets.

Anonymous said...

" So, I take it none of you at least recall a figure as high as 25520 on SPEEDI before? Reports I am finding showed data much less than that in March 2011?"

Duh, what you asking us dummies for remember? If youze want science answers youze gots to go somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

Finnish troll spelled better.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to bust a gut laughing

Yosaku said...

I hate to wade into this, but Anonymous@7:17 raises a very interesting and important point:

"I just spoke to a 30 year old American married to a Japanese woman who wants to move back to Japan when they have kids. It's safer there, he said."

Anonymous seems to dismiss the comment out of hand, but it is important to unpack. Indeed, this is a particularly important concept to me as I live in Tokyo with a family and have been asking myself the same question for the last 11 months.

After pouring through as many reports and studies as I could get my hands on, I finally came to the conclusion that I would most likely be safer, on average, in Japan in all but the most contaminated areas, than I would be in the US. (Although, at these levels of risk I should mention that it is mostly a statistical wash.) This is due to a variety of factors including auto accidents, crime, general health, etc. (There is a reason that Japanese live longer than Americans.) Moreover, if radiation is your sole concern (which it most definitely shouldn’t be), background radiation in Japan is, on average, significantly lower than that in the US; so much so, in fact, that I would most likely be increasing my radiation exposure by moving home even post-Fukushima.

Now this is not to ignore the problems presented by Fukushima, for they are immense, and I don’t doubt that the radiation released by the accident will ultimately result in excess deaths (though not on the order of that from the devastating tsunami and earthquake). I should also add that I do not mean to diminish the work of ex-skf, for he has been invaluable in getting the word out and for helping people keep up the pressure on a government that can only be described, at best, as bumbling fools.

In the end, though, I think it is critically important that we keep focused on both the unfolding nuclear situation and on keeping it in perspective with the variety of other risks we face each and every day.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I found some enlightening 2010 quotes coming from Ms. Brackett during her subsequently failed election campaign.

"The thing that concerns me most is global warming, and I have a sense that we here in Tennessee, most appropriately named the volunteer state,... are going to be the anchor for the nation in a time to come... and we need to be preparing and gearing up for it.

"We are going to need to build reactors and reinforce our power grids....

"Tennessee has the nuclear ability to power the nation, and we need to be building the reactors to do so...."

Karen Sherry Brackett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Martyn said...

Karen,
I don't know your current personal views on the viability of nuclear power. I can only hope that you do the math and see it is more costly than other green sources.

However, you are way off base on the bananas being unhealthy because of contamination. That old chestnut has been preached by the pro-nuke crowd in Japan over and over. And it's been debunked over and over again, too, as being misunderstood. Give it a good google search, will ya?
Thx.

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