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Take Action at Fukushima: An Open Letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

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Read in Japanese, French, Spanish , Portuguese, or German.

Dear Secretary General Ban Ki-moon:

You no doubt observed the Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, with terror and worry: what would another nuclear disaster mean for state relations, especially in your home region of East Asia? Fortunately, it seemed, the effects were largely kept to Japan’s islands and were less than many experts anticipated. Within weeks the stories dissipated if not disappeared from the major media outlets, only to be resurrected with personal interest stories of a hero or an especially tragic case of a lost loved one.

But the crisis is not over. Today, Martin Fackler reported in the New York Times that radioactively polluted water is leaking out of the plants and that the site is in a new state of emergency. Mitsuhei Murata, Japan’s former ambassador to Switzerland, wrote a letter last year that brought international attention to the thousands of radioactive spent fuel rods at the site and the danger their vulnerability presents; he has testified to this several times before Japan’s parliament. International experts, independent and of the International Atomic Energy Agency, have commented that the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s plans for the removal of the rods from the site and their storage in a safer, if still temporary, location are optimistic if not unrealistic.

The news media has done an adequate if meager job of reporting the many issues the fuel rods present. The radioactive fuel must be continuously cooled in order to stay safe; the improvised electric system that maintains this cooling has failed several times, once for more than 24 hours, both on its own and because of hungry rats.… Continue reading

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The Nuclear Sacrifice of Our Children: 14 recommendations to help radiation contaminated Japan

 

Read this article in Japanese, French, and German.


By Helen Caldicott, M.D.

 

When I visited Cuba in 1979, I was struck by the number of roadside billboards that declared ”Our children are our national treasure.”

 

This resonated with me as a pediatrician, and of course it is true. But as Akio Matsumura said in his article, our children are presently being sacrificed for the political and nuclear agenda of the United Nations, for the political survival of politicians who are mostly male, and for “national security.”

 

The problem with the world today is that scientists have left the average person way behind in their level of understanding of science, and specifically how the misapplication of science, in particular nuclear science, has and will destroy much of the ecosphere and also human health.

 

The truth is that most politicians, businessmen, engineers and nuclear physicists have no innate understanding of radiobiology and the way radiation induces cancer, congenital malformations and genetic diseases which are passed generation to generation.  Nor do they recognize that children are 20 times more radiosensitive than adults, girls twice as vulnerable as little boys and fetuses much more so.

 

Hence the response of Japanese politicians to the Fukushima disaster has been ludicrously irresponsible, not just because of their fundamental ignorance but because of their political ties with TEPCO and the nuclear industry which tends to orchestrate a large part of the Japanese political agenda.

 

Because the Fukushima accident released 2.5 to 3 times more radiation than Chernobyl and because Japan is far more densely populated than the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and because one million people have died within 25 years as a result of Chernobyl, we expect to see more than one million Japanese casualties over the next 25 years.  … Continue reading

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On the Cesium Road

by Toshio Nishi. Originally published in the Hoover Digest. Read in Japanese and German.

 

Japanese feel angry and ignored, prisoners of both radiation and bureaucracy.

 

For more than a year, I have been hoping that the Japanese government and the Tokyo Electric Power Company would find the courage to bear the unbearable and repair the breathtaking damage from last spring’s earthquake and tsunami. But a better tomorrow is not in sight. A deathly silence still pervades the desolate landscape of Fukushima and the long coastal line of northern Japan—the cesium road.

 

The Japanese government grows more incompetent and dysfunctional, while Tokyo Electric has dug a deep foxhole of self-preservation and clings tightly to its monopoly. I am embarrassed as a Japanese citizen to list some of the most glaring shenanigans that the government and the power company have been acting out in public over the past year:

 

  1. Governmental study committees were supposed to investigate why Tokyo Electric failed to minimize the damage, but the “open” hearings were suddenly closed. The entrenched bureaucracy, as if fed by perpetual radioactivity, continues to grow while failing to disclose any new findings.
  2. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, the sixth premier in the past five years, along with his cabinet and the largest opposition party, have agreed to raise the consumption tax from the current 5 percent to 10 percent. Apparently even that is not enough to cover the disaster damage. The government is talking about raising it to 17 percent within a year or so.
… Continue reading
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Fukushima: The Crisis Is Not Over

This interview is now available in Japanese.

We are pleased to share an updated, redacted version of an interview with Mr. Arnie Gundersen assessing the current situation of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Gundersen, a former vice president in the nuclear industry and chief engineer at Fairewinds Associates, believes the multiple risks are likely to deepen the crisis. Four of the plant’s six nuclear reactors were damaged in the earthquake and remain in a precarious state. Three of the units contained fuel, which now has coalesced into a difficult-to-cool molten blob. With time, however, their temperature will drop. The largest concern is with the fourth unit: its highly radioactive spent fuel pool is exposed and suspended above the reactor. Further damage to the site could cause the contents of the pool to spill out on the ground, moving the situation beyond the limits of of our scientific knowledge. The situation in the reactors with fuel all begins with increasing levels of heat.

Radioactive byproducts produce heat.

During the normal operation of a nuclear reactor, there is an accumulation of many man-made radioactive materials such as iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90, plutonium-239, and many others.

These radioactive byproducts continue to produce a lot of heat, even after the reactor is shut down, because radioactivity cannot be stopped.  This unstoppable heat is called “decay heat.”

Heat damages fuel, releasing hydrogen and radioactive gases.

Unless the decay heat is removed as fast as it is produced, the temperature will continue to rise, eventually damaging the fuel and letting radioactive gases and vapors escape.… Continue reading

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And If the Mountain Cannot Be Conquered: What Do We Have Left after the 11th of September, February, and March?

By Akio Matsumura

“Well George, we knocked the bastard off.”  These were Sir Edmund Hillary’s first words to a friend after descending from the summit of Mount Everest in 1953. Time Magazine named him and his companion Tenzing Norgay, the first two to summit Mount Everest, two of the most influential people of the 20th century. The idea of conquering pervades Western thought and has given way to human civilization’s incredible achievements. But this insatiable need to surpass has led us into many intractable situations and caused us to lose sight of the larger forces at play. Did they really “knock the bastard off?”

As humans, we are governed by two sets of laws—natural law (often defined or interpreted through spiritual texts) and human (political) law. How we choose to perceive and reconcile their power greatly alters the trajectory of human civilization. The most spectacular consequences of these laws, natural disasters and wars, define our human history.  Pompeii is still being excavated 2000 years after a volcano buried it in ash and disease has wreaked havoc on whole populations. Human-waged wars—from warring ancient Chinese states to World War II—have shaken civilizations as well.

Three recent symbolic dates stand out as civilization-shakers. On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the United States. On February 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt after several weeks of revolt.  And on March 11, 2011, Japan was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. The human toll and sacrifices from these events are equally painful.… Continue reading

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Too Good to Be True? The Magnifying Powers of Technology

 

by Chris Cote

From remotely flown Predator drones to deepwater oil drills and from financial derivatives to Twitter, America’s engineers and scientists continue to bring imagination to life. Each invention allows us to get more: security, oil, wealth, information. We are also able to achieve our goals from a distance, with more automation and less personal connectivity. Often, especially in the case of these four—predator drones, deepwater technology, financial derivatives, and social media—the tools are more powerful than we realize. The upsides of these technologies are well known and that is why we use them. But they are only beneficial to a point. Often, the consequences of an accident far outweigh the initial benefits. The problem does not lie in the technology itself, but in our irresponsibility and incapability of using it properly.

Increasingly Distant

Seeing the Afghan men jammed into the flat bed of the pickup, he added, “That truck would make a beautiful target.” At 5:37 a.m., the pilot reported that one of the screeners in Florida had spotted one or more children in the group. “Bull—. Where!?” the camera operator said. “I don’t think they have kids out at this hour.” He demanded that the screeners freeze the video image of the purported child and email it to him. “Why didn’t he say ‘possible’ child?” the pilot said. “Why are they so quick to call kids but not to call a rifle.” The camera operator was dubious too. “I really doubt that children call. Man, I really … hate that,” he said.

… Continue reading
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Response from Gary Levinson, violinist and concertmaster for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Last week I was invited to Dallas by one of the most visionary businessmen I have met, Mr. Luke Stewart, President of Energy Parametrics & Communications.  He arranged a surprise dinner reception in my honor, presenting my concept and my 38 years of work. They arranged special music performance by Mr. Gary Levinson, violinist, concertmaster for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and his wife, Baya Kakouberi, pianist, who performed a wonderful music for the dinner reception.

Mr. Levinson was born at Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and his wife was born in Georgia, therefore they were very much moved by watching a short video of the Moscow Conference. He was also moved to respond to Princess Elizabeth’s article because it connected with his roots.  On her mother’s side, Her Highness descends from Empress Catherine the Great of Russia.

I am very happy to introduce his response to her article.

–Akio

Dear Akio,

I have to say that your email just made my day! What an extraordinary opportunity to electronically meet Her Highness, Princess Elizabeth; I was immediately transported to my birthplace, St. Petersburg, and the hours I would spend at the Winter Palace looking at the gilded carriages and the exquisite chef d’oeuvres of the czars. It is no accident that while recording the Beethoven Sonatas this last winter, I researched the reasons Beethoven dedicated the second and third sonata to Czar Nicholas.

I can’t tell you how much the Princess’ essay moved me. It reminds me that whatever gifts God endows us with, they are there to serve the society, which is the most important reason musicians play and composers write.… Continue reading

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The Desire to Improve Ourselves

Dear friends,

I am pleased to inform you that we received the article, “The Desire to Improve Ourselves,” from our old friend, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia. She greatly contributed to the Global Forum as an International Advisory Council member.  Her life has shared a path with the history of a nation—it has been extraordinary.  I have certainly benefited from her insights into European history, with which I was largely unfamiliar.

I might add that she was wife of the late Senator Manuel Ulloa of Peru, Co-Chairman of the Global Forum.

I hope you will enjoy reading it.

Yours truly,
Akio

The Desire to Improve Ourselves

Millions of dollars are spent on cancer research and cures have been found for many killer diseases but no one has yet figured out how to eradicate collective stupidity, arrogance, and pretentiousness. These are dangerous and contagious and have been infecting the brains of humans for centuries.

Man, because basically it is a man’s world, created God in his image, wrote holy books and decided he knew who God was and what God wanted. He imagined there would be a better world after death, a more beautiful place, fields full of languid virgins, harp music and enough room for each and every one to sit on the right side of the Almighty. The planet had obviously been given to Man and mankind to use and abuse and subjugate because man is superior to Nature. I do not believe that any human, not even the best of artists, can produce anything as beautiful as a flower, a sunset or a snowflake.… Continue reading

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36 Million Miles before 5,000 Feet

Read in Japanese.
By Akio Matsumura
Less than two weeks ago, on May 16, I wrote “Plunging a Hole into the Ship’s Bottom,” to share my despair for the environmental and economic disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  Last month, scientists estimated that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was releasing 210,000 gallons of crude oil daily.  I predicted drastic, terrible outcomes for the area, and I was convinced I was not wrong.

Now I know I did not worry enough.  The Flow Rate Technical Group now estimates that the gusher — 5,000 feet (1,500 m) underwater — is flowing at 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 gallons of oil per day.  Every day we see heartbreaking images of birds, turtles, and 400 other species suffering amid the crude muck.  Every day we see that the delicate wetlands are perishing.  And hurricane season has not even arrived.

And every day we see the BP engineers continue to fail in their attempts to stop the flow.  Every day we notice that the US government has its hands tied even more.  This is the most watched news since the first man walked on the Moon in 1969.  I remember watching then with such excitement—the capacity of our technology was unlimited.  We all joined in watching America succeed at our common dream.

The challenges of space technology still continue to push society on, generation to generation.  Forget the internet—this is the Facebook generation.  We even plan to put a person on Mars within a decade. … Continue reading

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Plunging a Hole into the Ship’s Bottom

Read in Japanese.

by Akio Matsumura

The disaster from Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, is still vivid in our memory.

In the city of New Orleans, the storm surge caused more than 50 breaches in drainage canal levees and precipitated the worst engineering disaster in the history of the United States. 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded.

People around the world tuned in to see the wreckage and could not believe their eyes: dead bodies lying in city streets and floating in still-flooded sections. The advanced state of decomposition of many corpses, some of which were left in the water or sun for days before being collected, hindered the coroners’ efforts to identify many of the dead. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, looting, violence, and other criminal activities became serious problems.

During the next five years, people and communities in New Orleans and states along the Gulf coast have made extraordinary efforts to recover their lives and community. Tourists are returning, fishermen are enjoying profitable catches, the economy is recovering, and the Saints won the Super Bowl. New Orleans is back in business.

However, feelings of extreme fear and insecurity returned with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010.

The oil spill, originating from a deepwater oil well 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below sea level is discharging an estimated 210,000 US gallons of crude oil daily. The spill is expected to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the worst US oil disaster in history.… Continue reading