Also, as a long time resident of Japan, the problems with the "Daiichi Fukushima Nuclear Plant" has constantly been a concern to me ever since the earthquake that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011; yet, I find that many to whom I speak with seem to have no clue as to the magnitude and impact of this nuclear disaster that has been declared as the worst in the history of humankind.
An explosion at Daiichi Fukushima Nuclear Plant shortly after the earthquake of 2011.
The 2011 TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami, measuring at over 9 in magnitude, caused several explosions and system failures at the Daiichi Fukushima Power Plant, resulting in the meltdown of nuclear cores and the subsequent release of radioactive isotopes (this is what we usually call "radiation").
Over the last 2.5 years, large quantities of iodine-131, cesium-134, cesium-137, and strontium-90 has emitted from the nuclear plant.
Now, this is where things are important. You will find many news articles and reports that talk about the amount of radioactive substances that were released. Some of them talk about millisieverts, some talk about becquerels, some even talk about it in terms of curie.
How the hell are we supposed to know what the fuck that means?
And if we don't know, then we don't care.
Let's not get into the scientific details of all this, and all you need to know about all these units of measurement is that they are all named after dead people who studied radioactive substances (and, inevitably, died from them).
Radiation isn't as simple as drinking rat poisoning. Radioactive isotopes have different effects, different half-life, and different, well, everything. Also, it takes prolonged exposure over time for radiation to have an effect on living beings. Of course, if you're exposed to an enormous amount of it, it would take no time at all for you to melt into a pool of unidentifiable fucking obliteration (UFO).
A lot of people joke about how you would grow a third arm or glow in the dark if you're exposed to radiation. The truth is most likely much more boring -- you'll probably just get some form of rare cancer and die a slow painful death.
So. How does this affect you? Why the fuck should you care?
Excellent question! Let's take a look at some concerns.
Skiing might kill you.
Many folks in Asia go to Japan for leisurely activities in the snow, skiing and snowboarding being the favorites. This is, of course, understandable, since Japan is one of the few Asian countries that has snow for extended periods of time and has high quality skiing resorts.
Unfortunately, most regions that have enough snow to have a ski resort are relatively close to the nuclear plants in Fukushima.
If the Fukushima plants continue to release radiation as it has been (and all current evidence suggests that it will), in 5 more years, most of the snow at nearby ski resorts will have enough radioactive isotopes in it to kill you within a month should some of it get into your mouth.
Eating might kill you.
The Fukushima nuclear plant has been, and is currently, releasing tons of water freshly contaminated by extremely harmful radioactive isotopes into the nearby sea. The nearby sea happens to be the Pacific Ocean. Some of the measurements have shown the contamination to be beyond 1800 millisieverts -- enough to kill you in 4 hours of exposure.
A few years -- maybe even in a few months -- the little fishies and prawns and crabs that have been happily swimming in this toxic water will make their way to your dining table. Sure, they probably wouldn't have absorbed 1800 millisieverts of radiation. Probably only 10% or so. So you'll get 40 hours instead to bid your loved ones goodbye.
Breathing might kill you.
Ultimately, if the release of radiation isn't somehow stopped, the air we breathe will become lethal. Many seem to think this is not a concern for those who don't live in Japan. Radioactive isotopes are alive and well at the atomic level. They cling on to pretty much anything, including cars, clothing, and air. Well, yeah, air particles have atoms too, you know?
Those in Southeast Asia are currently still lucky, since the winds don't often blow in that direction from Japan (but west coast U.S. is getting fucked up right now), but this isn't a permanent occurrence. Eventually, Southeast Asia will get just as much as any other area in the world, and believe me when I tell you that a couple of plutonium rocks in a superheated nuclear reactor contains enough radiation to wipe out half of the world's population.
And it's gonna take at least 40 years to clean this shit up.
This is the best part. The Japanese government has vowed to clean the whole nuclear mess up in, "hopefully 40 years". If 40 years is hopeful, I think being scared of the situation is pretty justified.
Let me just leave you with one final thought. TEPCO, the electric company that was responsible for the operation of Daiichi Fukushima Nuclear Plant, has paid billions in damages because of this disaster. They are now wiped out, and the government has taken control of the corporation.
What does this mean?
It means that all the damages and costs for containment, repairing, compensation for residents, cleaning up, building preventive measures, hiring suicide cleaning squads, hiring nuclear experts, creating propaganda to calm the citizens, creating propaganda to hold off global media, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. is now all being paid by the Japanese government.
Just this morning, the Japanese government has announced that they will build a wall to prevent more radioactive water from leaking into the ocean. This is estimated to cost 4.8 billion U.S. dollars, and will be paid entirely by the government.
It's only been 2.5 years and we've seen more than 10 billion dollars spent on dealing with this situation. With the horrible decline in economy and Japan already having the world's second largest national deficit, how long do you think that's gonna last?
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