Implications of Japanese Earthquake

[akfools]

Implications of Japanese Earthquake
March 14th, 2011

J writes:

Kevin,

Would you comment on what the situation in Japan means for the rest of the world.

I have been trying to get my head around what has happened, and what is still happening, but I’m not able to do it. Millions of Japanese are without water, food and electricity. Some of the largest Japanese corporations are shut down. Some areas of Japan are experiencing rolling blackouts due to the loss of electricity production from several nuclear power plants, two of which may be melting down. Ten thousand people may be dead in Miyagi Prefecture alone.

The bullet points that demonstrate how extremely serious this is could go on and on.

But something dawned on me as I was looking at the situation today:

I can’t even begin to consider what the global implications of this will be. Japan is the third largest economy in the world. Where do we even start when considering the international implications?

What I want to start to do, with your help, even through the emergency situation is ongoing, is to try to start thinking about what the international implications of this disaster are going be. Pick any area you like (economic, political, military, food, energy) and feel free to take a stab at it. I think we would all appreciate links to good information, but since this is so huge, I’m honestly not sure anyone is really going to be able to “see through” this with any level of accuracy.

Initial ideas: Commodities like iron ore, copper and lumber seem like no brainers to watch. But how is the electricity, lost from the down nuclear power plants, going to be replaced? Coal and natural gas?

Japan was already dangerously reliant on food imports before the disaster. How much farmland has been washed over by (salty) sea water that probably picked up unknown amounts of industrial pollutants as the tsunami moved inland? As Japan rebuilds, is inflation everywhere else going to accelerate?

Questions, questions.

Personally, the electricity generation question is the one I’m most curious about. How does Japan keep-the-lights-on, so to speak, going forward?

[Christian40]

The economic collapse of Japan has begun. The extent of the devastation is now becoming clear and many are now projecting that this will be the most expensive natural disaster in modern human history. The tsunami that struck Japan on March 11th swept up to 6 miles inland, destroying virtually everything in the way. Countless thousands were killed and entire communities were totally wiped out. So how does a nation that is already drowning in debt replace dozens of cities and towns that have suddenly been destroyed?  Many in the mainstream media are claiming that the economy of Japan will bounce right back from this, but they are wrong. The tsunami decimated thousands of square miles.  The loss of homes, cars, businesses and personal wealth is almost unimaginable. It is going to take many years to rebuild the roads, bridges, rail systems, ports, power lines and water systems that were lost.  There are going to be a significant number of Japanese insurance companies and financial institutions that are going to be totally wiped out as a result of this great tragedy.  Of course in the days ahead the Japanese people will band together and work hard to rebuild the nation, but the truth is that it is impossible to "bounce right back" from such a massive loss of wealth, assets and infrastructure.
Just think about what happened after Hurricane Katrina.  Did the economy of New Orleans bounce right back? No, there are some areas of New Orleans today that still look like war zones.
Well, this disaster is much worse.
The truth is that this is going to be one of the defining moments in the history of Japan.  Hundreds of miles along the coast of Japan have been absolutely devastated.  Authorities are finding it difficult to even get food and water into some areas at this point.
Even before this great tragedy Japan was one of the nations that was on the verge of a national economic collapse. Their economy had been in the doldrums for over a decade and their national debt was well over 200 percent of GDP.  Now the Japanese economy has experienced a shock from which it may never truly recover.
The Bank of Japan is already flooding the Japanese economy with new yen, and so we may indeed see some impressive "economic growth" statistics at the end of the year. But just because lots more yen are being passed around does not mean that the Japanese economy is in better shape.
The truth is that a tsunami of yen is not going to undo the damage that the tsunami of water did.  A massive amount of Japanese wealth was wiped out by this disaster.  An economy that was already teetering on the brink is now very likely going to plunge into oblivion.
It is fine to be optimistic, but the cold, hard reality of the situation is that this is a knockout blow for the Japanese economy. The extent of the devastation is just too great. This truly is a complete and total nightmare.
The following are 14 reasons why the economic collapse of Japan has now begun....

#1 The Bank of Japan has announced that they have decided to flood the Japanese economy with 15 trillion yen.  That is the equivalent of roughly $183 billion dollars.  This is going to provide needed liquidity in the short-term, but it is also going to set Japan on a highly inflationary course.
#2 Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average declined by more than 6 percent on Monday.  As the full extent of the damage becomes apparent more declines are likely.
#3 Oil refineries all over Japan have been severely damaged or destroyed.  For example, six refineries that combine to process 31 percent of the oil for Japan have been totally shut down at least for now.
#4 The damage to roads, bridges, ports and rail systems is estimated to be in the billions of dollars.  The damage done to power lines and water systems is almost unimaginable.  It is going to take many years to rebuild the infrastructure of Japan.
#5 Right now the flow of goods and services in many areas of northern Japan has been reduced to a crawl, and this is likely to remain the case for quite some time.
#6 Many cities and towns along the east coast of Japan have essentially been completely destroyed.
#7 Japan's nuclear industry is essentially dead in the water at this point.  Even if there is not a full-blown nuclear meltdown, the events that have transpired already have frightened people enough to cause a massive public outcry against nuclear power in Japan.
#8 Japan is going to need even more oil and natural gas in the long run to replace lost nuclear energy production.  Prior to this crisis, Japan derived 29 percent of its electricity from nuclear power.
#9 Japan is the second largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, but that is about to change.  Japan currently has about $882 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds and they are going to have to liquidate much of that in order to fund the rebuilding of their nation.
#10 Many factories in Japan are closing down at least temporarily.  For example, Nissan has shut down four factories and Sony has shut down six factories.
#11 Toyota has shut down all production at its factories in Japan until at least March 16th.
#12 A substantial number of Japanese financial institutions and insurance companies are absolutely going to be devastated by this nightmare.
#13 Japan's budget deficit was already 9 percent of GDP even before this tragedy.  Now they are going to have to borrow lots more money to fund the rebuilding effort.
#14 Japan's national debt was already well over 200 percent of GDP even before this tragedy.  How much farther into the danger zone can they possibly go?

Sadly, as the economy of Japan goes down it is going to have a huge affect on the rest of the world as well.  For example, Japan is no longer going to be able to buy up huge amounts of U.S. Treasuries.  So who is going to pick up the slack?  Will our government officials beg China to lend us even more money?  Will the Federal Reserve just "buy" even more of our government debt?
Right now there are more questions than there are answers, but what is clear is that the Japanese economy has just been dealt an incapacitating blow.  Hopefully this tragedy will bring out the best in the Japanese people, but no matter how resilient they are, the truth is that this is something that no nation would be able to bounce back from quickly. Let us hope that the economic damage from this tragedy will be contained and will not spread to the rest of the world.  The global economy is already in enough trouble, and hopefully this tragedy will not cause a cascade of economic failures to sweep the globe.

From:
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/482/677/14_Reasons_Why_The_Economic_Collapse_Of_Japan_Has_Begun.html

[Christian40]

Exactly 1 year ago March 11, 2010. The exact day of the 9.0 earthquake in Japan hit a year later in 2011: Genesis 12:3 "I will bless them who bless thee and curse him who curseth thee." Remember, America forced Israel to remove 8,000 Israeli's from their homes in Gaza, then came Katrina  where America lost 800,000 houses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama.

Japan demanded that Israel not build 1,600 housing units in east Jerusalem. After the 9.0 earthquake Japan may have to rebuild 1.6 million homes. God is not mocked! Pay attention America! http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2010/3/0311_01.html

Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the decision of the Government of Israel regarding the construction of housing units at settlements in West Bank including East Jerusalem March 11, 2010 Japanese

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/danwa/22/dga_0311.html

1. The Government of Japan deplores the decisions of the Government of Israel to give permission for the construction of 1,600 housing units in

2. East Jerusalem in addition to 112 units in West Bank just after the Israeli and Palestinian leadership's acceptance of the start of indirect talks.

3. The Government of Japan does not recognize any act that prejudges the final status of Jerusalem and the territories in the pre-1967 borders. Japan demands that the plans should not be implemented.

4. The Government of Japan continues to request strongly that both parties will act in a way that enhances mutual confidence. Japan sincerely hopes that the indirect talks in the peace process will swiftly develop into the resumption of direct talks between the two parties.

And then again, this year on 1/11, 2/8, and 2/10 Japan released statements telling Israel not to build in east Jerusalem.

http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2011/2/0210_02.html
Statement by the Press Secretary, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan, on the situation in East Jerusalem
February 10, 2011 Japanese

1. The Government of Japan is concerned about the Jerusalem municipal planning committee's approval of a plan to build housing units for

2. Jewish people in the Sheih Jarrah of East Jerusalem. Such act goes against the efforts by the international community to resume the negotiations.

3. The Government of Japan does not recognize any act that prejudges the final status of the territories in the pre-1967 borders

4. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem. Japan urges Israel to refrain from any unilateral act that changes the current situation in East Jerusalem. This is a provisional translation.

The above date denotes the date of the issue of the original press release in Japanese.

http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2011/2/0208_02.html

Statement by the Press Secretary, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan, on measures by Israel on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip February 8, 2011 Japanese

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/danwa/23/dga_0208.html

Japan welcomes the series of economic measures announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Quartet Representative Tony Blair on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Japan hopes that based on this announcement, measures will be fully and promptly implemented for economic growth
as well as for the improvement of the social and living conditions in the Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza Strip.

Japan will pay close attention to any developments surrounding this matter.

Japan also hopes that these measures will enhance the mutual trust between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, although they are not a substitute for negotiations for Middle East peace. Japan, for its part, calls upon both parties to exert further efforts for the resumption of peace negotiations.

Statement by Mr. Seiji Maehara, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, on the demolition of the Shepherd's Hotel in East Jerusalem January 11, 2011 Japanese
http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/press/danwa/23/dme_110111.html

1. Japan condemns the demolishing of a part of the Shepherd's Hotel in East Jerusalem with a view to constructing new housing units for
2. Jewish people.
3. Japan does not recognize any unilateral measures that prejudge the final resolution on pre-1967 borders, nor does
4. Japan recognize the annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel. In this regard, Japan urges Israel to refrain from any unilateral act that could
5. change the existing conditions of East Jerusalem. Ambassador Yutaka Iimura, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan for the Middle East,
6. who was in Israel, has already informed Israeli Government officials of Japanese views.
7. Japan once again strongly encourages both the Israel and the Palestinian sides to focus on the goal of a two-state solution, which is important
8. not only for the Middle East but also for the international community as a whole; to act in such a way that mutual trust will be developed; and to continue efforts for peace tenaciously.

From:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=199075

[Christian40]

Israel Among First To Respond With Humanitarian Aid To Japan Earthquake, Tsunami
By Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Jerusalem, Israel
March 11, 2011

Israel's heart and soul is quickly responding to the massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake that slammed Japan and the awaiting disasters of lethal Tsunami waves now threatening many nations in the Pacific. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted no time in offering humanitarian aid to the victims of Friday's earthquake in Japan.

The Israel Prime Minister's Office and the Israel Ministry for Foreign Affairs has announced that the first group of Israel humanitarian experts is now preparing to leave for Japan.

“Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a message to the Japanese government, saying that the people of Israel express their deep sorrow over the tragedy in Japan, and that he will work to provide any help that will be required. The Japanese ambassador expressed his gratitude and said that he will convey the message to his government.”

The Pacific earthquake, which was the largest in Japan in over 100 years, hit about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo early Friday morning. Devastating tsunamis with reported waves of over 30 feet followed, wiping out and submerging entire coastal towns. Resulting tsunamis waves have been tracked across the Pacific, with possible damage feared as far away as Hawaii and the US West Coast.

Shachar Zahavi, founder and coordinator of IsraAID, The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid, said: “IsraAID/FIRST disaster relief teams, consisting of first responders, search and rescue specialists, logisticians, emergency medical personnel and water specialists, are now preparing to travel from Israel to the region within the next 24 hours.” IsraAID, is a coordinating organization for 17 Israel and Jewish humanitarian groups, including Israel Flying Aid which worked side by side with the IDF in Haiti, has established a Japan and Pacific Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Fund to assist victims of this disaster.

"Israel officially offered its help an hour after the earthquake struck,” Shinomya said. “It is very heart-warming, but at this point we do not know exactly what the extent of the damage is, so it is difficult for us to say what can be done.” IsraAid is now checking where the team could fly to a nearby country and then trying to make it to northeast Japan, where the tsunami has killed hundreds and devastated cities and towns.

“We're in touch with local groups to check the situation in the area,” Zahavi told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We're trying to get to the closest airport and then get to the affected area from there.” Following intensive consultations with the Israel Foreign Ministry and with emissaries from the Chabad organization in Japan, the UN-recognized Israel based ZAKA arranged to send a team headed by the organization's co-directors Mati Goldstein and Dovi Maisel, on Saturday evening (after the conclusion of the Sabbath). A second ZAKA team based in Hong Kong was to leave for the quake area after the conclusion of the Sabbath in their region.

ZAKA's experts have extensive experience assisting at natural disasters around the world, including Haiti, the tsunami in Thailand and the Katrina hurricane in New Orleans. The Japan consul in Israel, Mitoshiko Shinomya, told the Israel news Website Ynet that he was heartened by the Israel government's offer of assistance.

"Israel officially offered its help an hour after the earthquake struck,” Shinomya said. “It is very heart-warming, but at this point we do not know exactly what the extent of the damage is, so it is difficult for us to say what can be done.” Israel, which has dealt with many disasters through wars and terrorism has become a nation of experts in emergency medicine and trauma.

Israel also has considerable expertise in clean water management. Israelis were among the first on the scene to help during the earthquake in Haiti and the Jewish tradition of reaching out to those in need dictates that they would also offer help to people in Japan and elsewhere stricken by this devastating event.

From:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=199075

[Psalm 51:17]

booked

[Christian40]

The Mayor of Minamisoma tells of how the government never even informed them about the Fukishima nuclear emergency and that he found out from TV. He says the Japanese government have abandoned him and his people, and are leaving them there to die.

[Christian40]

Japan Finally Admits Radiation Is Bad Enough To Kill

The boss of the company behind the devastated Japanese nuclear reactor today broke down in tears – as his country finally acknowledged the radiation spewing from the over-heating reactors and fuel rods was enough to kill some citizens. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that the disaster was a level 5, which is classified as a crisis causing ‘several radiation deaths’ by the UN International Atomic Energy.

Officials said the rating was raised after they realised the full extent of the radiation leaking from the plant. They also said that 3 per cent of the fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima plant had been severely damaged, suggesting those reactor cores have partially melted down. After Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri cried as he left a conference to brief journalists on the situation at Fukushima, a senior Japanese minister also admitted that the country was overwhelmed by the scale of the tsunami and nuclear crisis.

He said officials should have admitted earlier how serious the radiation leaks were.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said: "The unprecedented scale of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, frankly speaking, were among many things that happened that had not been anticipated under our disaster management contingency plans." In hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and coordinating all that information and provided it faster. Nuclear experts have been saying for days that Japan was underplaying the crisis’ severity.

It is now officially on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979. Only the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986 has topped the scale.

From:
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=3345

[Psalm 51:17]

[Christian40]

Japan Christians Search For Missing Amid Nuclear Crisis

TOKYO, JAPAN (Worthy News) -- Churches in areas impacted by Japan's worst earthquake on record and tsunami have reportedly lost pastors and Christians were still searching for other believers unaccounted for Friday, March 18, while Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned that a major nuclear crisis may further complicate rescue operations.

"There are more than 300 churches in the affected area; many have suffered the loss of pastors and church members, while other believers are still unaccounted for, and church buildings have been destroyed," said advocacy group Barnabas Fund in an electronic alert message obtained by Worthy News and its news partner BosNewsLife.

"The number of confirmed deaths continues to rise. The figure now tops 5,000, with over 8,000 people still missing. Hundreds of thousands are staying in temporary shelters and are in desperate need of food and water," Barnabas Fund said. It was unclear how many members of the impacted churches were counted among those killed.

Many of the Christians who died were believed to be in and around the coastal town of Sendai, but there was also wide spread devastation in other areas of Japan's north-eastern region, witnesses said.

It came as Prime Minister Kan said the situation at the earth-quake crippled Fukushima plant was "very grave" with officials raising the severity rating of its nuclear disaster from four to five on a seven-point international nuclear event scale.

MORE SERIOUS

Other experts have suggested the real severity rating should be at least six, just one notch below the rating of the world's worst nuclear plant disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.

The troubles at the Japanese plant began when power was knocked out and back-up generators needed for the reactors' cooling systems were destroyed following the earth quake and tsunami. Desperate attempts to cool the overheating reactors, which have been rocked by a series of explosions, are continuing amid fears of a total meltdown and dangerous radioactive fallout.

Kan said on Friday, March 18, that police, fire department and military were "putting their lives on the line" to cool the highly radioactive fuel rods at the complex. Officials did not rule out burying the plant with concrete and sand, a similar method used to contain radiation at the Chernobyl plant.

So far firefighters were dousing water on damaged reactor buildings with powerful hoses.  But they have to limit their time inside the complex due to the high radiation levels.

The risk of radiation poisoning has already forced the evacuation of more than 200,000 people who lived within 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) of the reactor site. Many are in makeshift shelters, with inadequate food, water and other supplies, in frigid winter weather.

For anyone still living inside a wider radius from the plant - 30 kilometers (29 miles) Japanese authorities said everyone should remain indoors and take measures to minimize the amount of outside air entering their living quarters

PRAYERS URGED

Barnabas Fund said amid the ongoing disaster, Japanese Christians urged prayers. "Pray for the churches in northeastern area, many churches lost their pastors, members, and buildings," Barnabas Fund wrote in an electronic 'prayer alert' .

"Pray that they can stand strong in faith in Christ who stood on the raging water and who calmed the sea. This could be a wide open gate for the Gospel. We will conduct our rescue/relief mission through local churches. Need a lot of prayers from Barnabas Fund."

Christian leaders in Japan have said that people are “traumatized and shocked” after Japan’s most powerful earthquake since records began – 9.0 magnitude – hit on Friday, March 11.

Barnabas Fund said that Japanese Christians also asked prayers that "the Japanese authorities will have wisdom as they attempt to reach those in the greatest need and allocate supplies" and "that efforts to cool the reactors at the Fukushima power plant will be successful and a full-scale nuclear disaster will be averted."

CHRISTIAN GROUPS

The group said it was also important to pray for "Christian organizations and churches who are distributing" aid. "Pray that Christians will stand strong in their faith and be distinctively Christ-like in the way they help and care for the suffering, that they will be salt and light in this situation."

Only one per cent of Japanese people consider themselves Christians, Barnabas Fund said, adding that it hopes "this unprecedented disaster will prompt others to turn to the Lord Jesus".

From:
http://www.worthynews.com/10071-breaking-news-japan-christians-search-for-missing-amid-nuclear-crisis

[Christian40]

Fukushima radioactive fallout nears Chernobyl levels

Japan's damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl.

The difference between this accident and Chernobyl, they say, is that at Chernobyl a huge fire released large amounts of many radioactive materials, including fuel particles, in smoke. At Fukushima Daiichi, only the volatile elements, such as iodine and caesium, are bubbling off the damaged fuel. But these substances could nevertheless pose a significant health risk outside the plant.

The organisation set up to verify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has a global network of air samplers that monitor and trace the origin of around a dozen radionuclides, the radioactive elements released by atomic bomb blasts – and nuclear accidents. These measurements can be combined with wind observations to track where the radionuclides come from, and how much was released.

The level of radionuclides leaking from Fukushima Daiichi has been unclear, but the CTBT air samplers can shed some light, says Gerhard Wotawa of Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna.
Ill wind

For the first two days after the accident, the wind blew east from Fukushima towards monitoring stations on the US west coast; on the third day it blew south-west over the Japanese monitoring station at Takasaki, then swung east again. Each day, readings for iodine-131 at Sacramento in California, or at Takasaki, both suggested the same amount of iodine was coming out of Fukushima, says Wotawa: 1.2 to 1.3 × 1017 becquerels per day.

The agreement between the two "makes us confident that this is accurate", he says. So do similar readings at CTBT stations in Alaska, Hawaii and Montreal, Canada – readings at the latter, at least, show that the emissions have continued.

In the 10 days it burned, Chernobyl put out 1.76 × 1018 becquerels of iodine-131, which amounts to only 50 per cent more per day than has been calculated for Fukushima Daiichi. It is not yet clear how long emissions from the Japanese plant will continue.

Similarly, says Wotawa, caesium-137 emissions are on the same order of magnitude as at Chernobyl. The Sacramento readings suggest it has emitted 5 × 1015 becquerels of caesium-137 per day; Chernobyl put out 8.5 × 1016 in total – around 70 per cent more per day.

"This is not surprising," says Wotawa. "When the fuel is damaged there is no reason for the volatile elements not to escape," and the measured caesium and iodine are in the right ratios for the fuel used by the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Also, the Fukushima plant has around 1760 tonnes of fresh and used nuclear fuel on site, and an unknown amount has been damaged. The Chernobyl reactor had only 180 tonnes.

The amounts being released, he says, are "entirely consistent" with the relatively low amounts of caesium and iodine being measured in soil, plants and water in Japan, because so much has blown out to sea. The amounts crossing the Pacific to places like Sacramento are vanishingly small – they were detected there because the CTBT network is designed to sniff out the tiniest traces.
Dangerous isotopes

The Chernobyl accident emitted much more radioactivity and a wider diversity of radioactive elements than Fukushima Daiichi has so far, but it was iodine and caesium that caused most of the health risk – especially outside the immediate area of the Chernobyl plant, says Malcolm Crick, secretary of a United Nations body that has just reviewed the health effects of Chernobyl. Unlike other elements, he says, they were carried far and wide by the wind.

Moreover the human body absorbs iodine and caesium readily. "Essentially all the iodine or caesium inhaled or swallowed crosses into the blood," says Keith Baverstock, former head of radiation protection for the World Health Organization's European office, who has studied Chernobyl's health effects.

Iodine is rapidly absorbed by the thyroid, and leaves only as it decays radioactively, with a half-life of eight days. Caesium is absorbed by muscles, where its half-life of 30 years means that it remains until it is excreted by the body. It takes between 10 and 100 days to excrete half of what has been consumed.

While in the body the isotopes' radioactive emissions can do significant damage, mainly to DNA. Children who ingest iodine-131 can develop thyroid cancer 10 or more years later; adults seem relatively resistant. A study published in the US last week found that iodine-131 from Chernobyl is still causing new cases of thyroid cancer to appear at an undiminished rate in the most heavily affected regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Caesium-137 lingers in the environment because of its long half-life. Researchers are divided over how much damage environmental exposure to low doses has done since Chernobyl. Some researchers think it could still cause thousands of new cases of cancer across Europe.

From:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20285-fukushima-radioactive-fallout-nears-chernobyl-levels.html

[Christian40]

Michio Kaku, PhD - Three Raging Nuclear Meltdowns In Progress!

[Christian40]

A nuclear rabbit has sparked online panic in Japan. Amateur footage shows an earless mutant rabbit, and the person who made the video claims it was shot just outside the exclusion zone near Japan's crippled Fukushima plant. The clip has given rise to fears the radiation threat in the area is far worse than previously thought. The funny bunny has caused an online frenzy, with predictions that babies in Japan may soon be born with mutations.