SNIPPETS#25 FUKUSHIMA RE-START

SNIPPETS #25 

SNIPPETS is published in the Public Interest. No actions should be inferred or implied. Opinions expressed remain those of the author entirely.

ABC TV 730 Report Channel 21 745pm Moonday 10th Mars 2014:

Reporter Matt Carney, Futaba, Japan: 

"The Abe government is planning to re-start all 48 nuclear power stations in Japan. They say Fukushima has recovered from the 11th March 2011 accident and is now 'safe'. The government aims to begin returning the first 30,000 residents to their homes. A Tepco [Tokyo Electricity and Power Co., owner of the Fukushima plant] whistleblower with 20 years experience say this is all wrong. 

He said: 

'the other day contaminated water leaked out [of the Fukushima plant] and into the Pacific Ocean. A warning alarm sounded but was ignored for nine hours. I was stunned. There are no more experienced managers. All have reached their radiation limits so have been removed from their posts. We now have only in-experienced staff so mistakes occur daily. We are supposed to remove the 5000,000 fuel rods but the technology does not yet exist. It can't be done'. 

Matt Carney:

'radiation levels around Futaba, near Fukushima, are still fifty times those of Tokyo. Three former Japanese Prime Minister's have jointly urged Prime Minister Abe not to re-start the nuclear plants. Prime Minister Abe says reliance on imported coal is endangering Japan's fragile economic recovery. All around Futaba we found workers are digging up the contaminated top soil and bagging it. They then pile these into 'mountains' awaiting removal. But there is nowhere to remove it to. No one knows what to do with it".