Fukushima, The Aftermath

Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman of CounterPunch: "America's Best Political Newsletter" wrote an article titled  Exposing the "No Harm" Mantra The Dangerous Myths of Fukushima .  This article is about the aftermath of last years earthquake and tsunamis that sent nuclear plants into meltdown.


A brief background on the authors:


Dr. Joseph Mangano serves as the Program Manager of the Advanced Lithography program and oversees efforts designed to revolutionize semiconductor lithography technology through accelerated research of highly innovative technical approaches that enable pattern transfer to wafers of features of 100 nm and below. The program emphasizes reducing technical barriers in the major lithography technologies, including exposure sources and areas relevant to more than one technology option.
From 1984 to2004, Dr. Mangano served as a Vice President and Senior Research Scientist at Science Research Laboratory  From 1978 to 1984, Dr. Mangano served as the Program Manager, Division Director, and Deputy Office Director for DARPA where he led programs in excimer lasers, free electron lasers, particle beam technology, and blue-green submarine laser communications.Dr. Mangano earned S.B., S.M., E.E., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Plasma Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Janette Sherman, M.D. specializes in internal medicine and toxicology with an emphasis on chemicals and nuclear radiation that cause illness, including cancer and birth defects. She graduated from Western Michigan University with majors in biology and chemistry and from the Wayne State University College of Medicine. Prior to medical school, she worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (forerunner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) at the University of California in Berkeley, and for the U.S. Navy Radiation Defense Laboratory in San Francisco. From 1976–1982 Dr. Sherman served on the advisory board for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Toxic Substances Control Act.


The authors of this article were attempting to reach out the general public in order to bring some awareness to the issue, basically because it effects all of us, even here in the United States.  They provided some alarming statistics in the article about the fallout since the disaster.  It is something that we should all take seriously.  


As we dig a little deeper into the article, lets take some time to break it down.  There appears to be a clear distinction here between the scientific arguments made in this article and the political arguments the authors claim are being made against it.  They claim that political arguments state that the radiation levels are low and not harmful to humans in such small doses.  The authors states that one year after Fukushima the evidence is mounting against that very argument, and it seems to be pretty convincing.


At first the Japanese government said the emissions from Fukushima were just 10% of the one from Chernobyl (a nuclear disaster that occurred in 1986), which they later doubled to 20%, but by October of 2011, they said is was double that of Chernobyl.  Taking those number alone into consideration would suggest that it is being naive and unrealistic to think that humans aren't at risk from the toxins released into the air from the meltdown.  


Meteorologists from all around the world tracked the radioactive particles and gases days after the meltdown, just six days after the incident those gases had already reached the United States, and eighteen days later had circled the Northern Hemisphere.  It is becoming evident that there is a real problem here. A gas known as Xenon 133 was reported as being 40,000 times higher that normal levels in the United States, and though this gas does not enter the body, it signifies that other gases are on the way, as the article states.  


The article goes on to give other statistics about how other gases in out US environment have gone up as a result from the meltdown, radioactive rain that can poison the human body,573 people near the site who died were cited by coroner as a result of the disaster. One survey showed a decrease in the birth rate and increase in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  Some deaths in the United States were said to be related to the meltdown.  It is a scary thing to think about when analyzing the effect of the Fukushima meltdown, but to simply accept the notions the Japanese government was putting out there that radiation levels were not a threat to us, the general public, after the meltdown would be a foolish thing to do, as the authors of the article have pointed out, there are two sides to every story. Perhaps some of the statistics provided in this article have other elements factoring into them, but overall this is a topic that should be taken very seriously so that things may be done to prevent it from ever happening again and, also, procedures can be put into place for effective reaction should it ever occur again.