Nuclear Emergency Japan

Endangered Earth

Nuclear Emergency - Japan March 23, 2011
Pacific Fleet USS Ronald Reagan Contaminated
Operation Tomodachi

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Saltwater pools on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during a countermeasure wash down. Ronald Reagan is off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd/Released)

Operation Tomodachi

Operation Tomodachi (Tomodachi Sakusen, literally "Operation Friend(s)") was a United States Armed Forces (especially U.S. Forces Japan) assistance operation to support Japan in disaster relief following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The operation took place from 12 March to 4 May 2011; involved 24,000 U.S. servicemembers, 189 aircraft, 24 naval ships; and cost $90 million.

Radiologic incidents

The US Navy dispatched aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and other vessels which flew a series of helicopter operations. A spokesman for U.S. 7th Fleet naval personnel stated that monitoring equipment indicated that the warship had been exposed to radiation. Separate hand-held equipment also picked up the contamination on 17 crew members, who had participated in rescue operations. Commander Jeff Davis said that the exposure was low enough that after the crew washed with soap and water, follow-up tests were negative. Davis characterized the exposure as comparable to routine civilian activities and reiterated the US Navy's commitment to the relief operation. As a precaution, the aircraft carrier was repositioned farther offshore, away from the downwind direction of the plant and decontaminated. Several helicopters were decontaminated after returning from flights. One helicopter made a landing at Fukushima Airport after experiencing rotor icing and exposed some Australian and New Zealand search and rescue team members to low levels of radiation.

Radiation precautions were taken at U.S. bases, including USS George Washington leaving port at Yokosuka after very low levels of radiation were detected there. Part of its air complement moved to Misawa Air Base to support relief operations.

Three years after the accident, servicemen who were part of the operation have reported radiation-related disorders, including cancers, thyroid disease, uterine bleeding and other ailments. 51 crew members have filed a lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. (Under US law, military personnel are not permitted to sue the armed forces for damages.)

SOURCE

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Ashton Hemphill scrubs the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during a countermeasure wash down. Ronald Reagan is off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Sailors scrub the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) following a countermeasure wash down to decontaminate the flight deck while the ship is operating off the coast of Japan. Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kyle Carlstrom/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Sailors and Marines take cover from thousands of gallons of aqueous film forming foam solution during a countermeasure washdown aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Ronald Reagan is off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Aviation Electronics Technician Airman Ryan Cordova, from Albuquerque, N. M., scrubs the flight deck after a countermeasure wash down aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kevin B. Gray/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) conduct a countermeasure wash down on the flight deck. Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Nicholas A. Groesch/Released)

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WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Lance Cpl. Juan Olguin, from Lakewood, Calif., sprays the surface of an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Death Rattlers of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during a counter-measure wash down on the flight deck. Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Melissa Russell/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 22, 2011) A Sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) washes an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Blue Diamonds of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 146. Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jim Verton/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) conducts a countermeasure wash down to decontaminate the flight deck while the ship is operating off the coast of Japan. Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kyle Carlstrom/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handler) 3rd Class Emmanuel Gedeon, from Miami, checks sprinklers during a countermeasure wash down on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kevin B. Gray/Released)

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PACIFIC OCEAN (March 23, 2011) Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) monitor countermeasure wash down system sprinklers on the flight deck. Sailors scrubbed the external surfaces on the flight deck and island superstructure to remove potential radiation contamination. Ronald Reagan is operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi. (U.S. Navy photo by 2nd Class Josh Cassatt/Released)

16 US ships that aided in Operation Tomodachi still contaminated with radiation
March 13, 2016

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Sixteen U.S. ships that participated in relief efforts after Japan’s nuclear disaster five years ago remain contaminated with low levels of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, top Navy officials told Stars and Stripes.

In all, 25 ships took part in Operation Tomadachi, the name given for the U.S. humanitarian aid operations after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011. The tsunami, whose waves reached runup heights of 130 feet, crippled the Fukushima plant, causing a nuclear meltdown.

In the years since the crisis, the ships have undergone cleanup efforts, the Navy said, and 13 Navy and three Military Sealift Command vessels still have some signs of contamination, mostly to ventilation systems, main engines and generators.

“The low levels of radioactivity that remain are in normally inaccessible areas that are controlled in accordance with stringent procedures,” the Navy said in an email to Stars and Stripes. “Work in these areas occurs mainly during major maintenance availabilities and requires workers to follow strict safety procedures.”

All normally accessible spaces and equipment aboard the ships have been surveyed and decontaminated, Vice Adm. William Hilarides, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, wrote to Stars and Stripes.

SOURCE: Stars and Stripes

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Nuclear Emergency - Japan 2011
UPDATES 2016

June 7, 2016, 5:46 AM
Japanese woman breaks silence on Fukushima-related cancer
CBS News

In this Saturday, May 28, 2016 photo, a young woman, who requested anonymity because of fears about harassment,
speaks to The Associated Press in a town in Fukushima prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. Credit AP

KORIYAMA, Japan -- She's 21, has thyroid cancer, and wants people in her prefecture in northeastern Japan to get screened for it. That statement might not seem provocative, but her prefecture is Fukushima, and of the 173 young people with confirmed or suspected cases since the 2011 nuclear meltdowns there, she is the first to speak out.

That near-silence highlights the fear Fukushima thyroid-cancer patients have about being the "nail that sticks out," and thus getting hammered.

The thyroid-cancer rate in the northern Japanese prefecture is many times higher than what is generally found, particularly among children, but the Japanese government says more cases are popping up because of rigorous screening, not the radiation that spewed from Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.

SOURCE: CBS News

June 21, 2016, 8:28 AM
Fukushima meltdown apology: "It was a cover-up"
CBS News

Workers in protective suits and masks wait to enter the emergency operation center at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Okuma on November 12, 2011. Japan took a group of journalists inside the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant for the first time, stepping up its efforts to prove to the world it is on top of the disaster cleanup.
CREDIT: DAVID GUTTENFELDER/AFP/Getty Images

TOKYO -- The utility that ran the Fukushima nuclear plant acknowledged Tuesday its delayed disclosure of the meltdowns at three reactorswas tantamount to a cover-up and apologized for it.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Naomi Hirose's apology followed the revelation last week that an investigation had found Hirose's predecessor instructed officials during the 2011 disaster to avoid using the word "meltdown."

"I would say it was a cover-up," Hirose told a news conference. "It's extremely regrettable."

TEPCO instead described the reactors' condition as less serious "core damage" for two months after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, wrecked the plant, even though utility officials knew and computer simulations suggested meltdowns had occurred.

An investigative report released last Thursday by three company-appointed lawyers said TEPCO's then-President Masataka Shimizu instructed officials not to use the specific description under alleged pressure from the Prime Minister's Office, though the investigators found no proof of such pressure.

The report said TEPCO officials, who had suggested possible meltdowns, stopped using the description after March 14, 2011, when Shimizu's instruction was delivered to vice president at the time, Sakae Muto in a memo at a televised news conference. In a video from that day, a company official rushes over to Muto, showing the memo and telling him that the Prime Minister's Office has banned the word.

Government officials also softened their language on the reactor conditions around the same time, the report said.

Former officials at the Prime Minister's Office have denied the allegation. Then-top government spokesman Yukio Edano, now secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party, criticized the report as "inadequate and unilateral," raising suspicion over the report by the lawyers seen close to the ruling party ahead of an upcoming Upper House election.

TEPCO has been accused of a series of cover-ups in the disaster, though the report found TEPCO's delayed meltdown acknowledgement wasn't illegal.

Hirose said he will take a 10 percent pay cut, and another executive will take a 30 percent cut, for one month each to take responsibility.

The report said Shimizu's instruction delayed full disclosure of the plant's status to the public, even as people who lived near the plant were forced to leave their homes, some of them possibly unable to return permanently, due to the radiation leaks from the plant.

TEPCO reported to authorities three days after the tsunami that the damage, based on a computer simulation, involved 25 to 55 percent of the fuel but didn't say it constituted a "meltdown," even though the figures exceeded the 5 percent benchmark for one under the company manual.

TEPCO in May 2011 publicly acknowledged "meltdown" after another computer simulation showed significant meltdown in three reactors, including one with melted fuel almost entirely fallen to the bottom of the primary containment chamber.

The issue surfaced earlier this year in a separate investigation in which TEPCO reversed its earlier position that it had no internal criteria regarding a meltdown announcement, admitting the company manual was overlooked.

© 2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SOURCE: CBS News

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