- Listen to the entire program<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/p>\n
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Radioactive material has been found contaminating various sectors of Japanese infrastructure in the wake of the March 11th nuclear disaster in Fukushima. The impact is being felt all over Japan. The Japanese government has confirmed that contaminated beef was found on the domestic market and that some of it was already consumed. The beef was shipped to 11 prefectures all over Japan and was thought to originate from a Fukushima cattle farmer who ignored orders to avoid contaminated feed. The Japanese government is calling it an isolated incident. But new reports of high levels of radioactive Cesium have just been found in waste incineration plants northeast of Tokyo, more than a 100 miles from Fukushima. A major problem facing Japan is where to store all the contaminated materials, especially the millions of gallons of water, now radioactive, that have been used to cool the reactors. Authorities earlier this year already dumped radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean despite outrage from residents, environmentalists and other nations. Here in the United States, little is mentioned in the news media of the ongoing impact and consequences of the accident. The United States has the greatest number of nuclear reactors and in fact, this week, the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission is weighing significant changes to the regulations that govern the nation’s more than 100 plants. The changes were recommended just yesterday by a task-force set up to review nuclear safety in the wake of Fukushima. The NRC will hold a public hearing next Tuesday with the task force. While Americans may assume that a nuclear disaster the size and scope of Fukushima is highly unlikely here, nuclear industry watchdogs warn of a number of disturbing vulnerabilities in U.S. plants. A lack of media coverage of the Fukushima disaster has done little to educate the American public about the imminence of such accidents. <\/p>\nGUEST: Anne Landman, Managing Editor at the Center for Media and Democracy<\/em><\/p>\n
Read Anne Landman’s article here: http:\/\/www.prwatch.org\/news\/2011\/06\/10851\/
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