Japan rad
Glow worm posted,
Fukushima Reactor 4: Life On Planet Earth in the
Balance
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
April 7, 2012
Diplomat Akio Matsumura is warning that the disaster
at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan may ultimately
turn into an event capable of extinguishing all life on
Earth.
Matsumura posted a startling entry on his blog
following a statement made by Japan’s former
ambassador to Switzerland, Mitsuhei Murata, on the
situation at Fukushima.
Speaking at a public hearing of the Budgetary
Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22,
2012, Murata warned that “if the crippled building of
reactor unit 4 – with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel
pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground –
collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six
reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool
containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters
from reactor 4,” writes Matsumura.
In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by
a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to
the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe
like we have never before experienced. He stressed
that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world
is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all
for centuries. Ambassador Murata informed us that the
total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima
Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is
11,421.
Matsumura then asked 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, about the the impact of
such an additional catastrophe at Fukushima.
Akio Matsumura.
Containing radiation at the crippled facility will be no
small feat, Alvarez explained. “Spent reactor fuel
cannot be simply lifted into the air by a crane as if it
were routine cargo. In order to prevent severe radiation
exposures, fires and possible explosions, it must be
transferred at all times in water and heavily shielded
structures into dry casks,” Alvarez told Matsumura.
He then said the 11,138 spent fuel assemblies stored
at the Fukushima plant contain “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.”
“It is important for the public to understand that reactors
that have been operating for decades, such as those at
the Fukushima-Dai-Ichi site have generated some of
the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the
planet,” he concluded.
Matsumura admits this is an astounding number and
one difficult to comprehend. He wrote that 85 times
more Cesium-137 than released at Chernobyl “would
destroy the world environment and our civilization. This
is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the
pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an
issue of human survival.”
Akio Matsumura sent a letter United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon. “It is no exaggeration to say that
the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on
NO.4 reactor. This is confirmed by most reliable experts
like Dr. Arnie Gundersen or Dr. Fumiaki Koide,” he
wrote to Ki-Moon. “The world has been made so fragile
and vulnerable. The role of the United Nations is
increasingly vital. I wish you the best of luck in your
noble mission.”
No word yet if this situation even registers on the
United Nations’ radar screen.