Fukushima Nuclear Plant Remains 'Ticking Time Bomb' After Japan Disaster: Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist

Though global fears about radiation emissions from the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility have calmed in the weeks since Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, famed physicist Michio Kaku insists the situation remains a "ticking time bomb."

A professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York and the City College of New York, Kaku discussed some recent revelations about the disaster's impact, and noted that Japanese officials still don't have control at the site. "In the last two weeks, everything we knew about that accident has been turned upside down," Kaku says. "Now we know it was 100 percent core melt in all three reactors...now we know it was comparable to the radiation at Chernobyl."

Among Kaku's other distressing notes: Fukushima workers are exposed to a year's dose of radiation within minutes of entering the site, and cleanup will take between 50 to 100 years. "It's like hanging by your fingernails," he says. "It's stable, but you're hanging by your fingernails."

Watch Kaku's interview with CNN here:

Comments

[mutantchickenlegs]

07:03 AM on 07/03/2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/03/japans-tsunami-the-first-24-hours_n_889365.html

NEW MAIN and top story.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

06:54 PM on 07/02/2011

Photo gallery:
TEPCO tries to make life bearable for workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2011/07/photo-gallery-tepco-tries-to-make-life.html

[NoMoreNukes2012]

04:17 PM on 07/02/2011

Global Citizen Reaction to the
Fukushima Nuclear Plant
Disaster
June 2011
http://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Polls/ipsos-global-advisor-nuclear-power-june-2011.pdf
Four In Ten Global Citizens Support Nuclear As A
Method To Produce Electricity – Lower Than All Other Sources Tested

Alright! Their numbers (Nuclear) are DROPPING LIKE FLIES!
Whole link worth reading!

[NoMoreNukes2012]

04:14 PM on 07/02/2011

Fukushima Workers Speak Out:
TEPCO-General Electric Scandal
Al-Jazeera
http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/videos/radiation-poisoning/fukushima-workers-speak-outtepco-general-electric-scandal.html

[NoMoreNukes2012]

03:31 PM on 07/02/2011

Fleeing crisis takes deadly toll on elderly / 77 Fukushima evacuees died within 3 mths
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110702002582.htm

[NoMoreNukes2012]

02:32 PM on 07/02/2011

Reposting Outnow's excellent comment other thread here:
In a new video a nuclear power plant worker, speaking for his comrades, stated that people are dying in Japan and a vast area is made uninhabita­ble for generation­s. He says he is doing atonement for promoting the myth of nuclear safety prior to the evnts beginning on March 11, 2011.

The UK Guardian calls it Orwellian that two government agencies, as reflected in over 80 leaked e-mails, had determined to supress the evidence that on March 11, 2011, there were three total meltdowns in progress. The leaked e-mails demonstrat­e that htree major companies were involved with others following suit.

When the government gets together with private companies to rule the people, that is fascism. Nuclear fascism.

The withholdin­g of the evidence was "for our own good." We might have enough facts to take precaution­s. The children of Fukushima were unnecesaar­ily exposed. I guess it's OK to harm children these days so long as you are a corporatio­n.

Government agencies in our own country have taken control of most science. Remember Dr. Hanson at NASA. No more of that! The lead government agencies will be deciding what is real and what is the illusion. I'm hearing that not just about nuclear energy. There is no freedom without truth and freedom of expression­, scientific and elsewise.

SPOT ON.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

02:30 PM on 07/02/2011

Meltdown: What Really Happened at Fukushima?
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/07/meltdown-what-really-happened-fukushima/39541/
The reason for official reluctance to admit that the earthquake did direct structural damage to reactor one is obvious. Katsunobu Onda, author of TEPCO: The Dark Empire (東京電力・暗黒の帝国), who sounded the alarm about the firm in his 2007 book explains it this way: “If TEPCO and the government of Japan admit an earthquake can do direct damage to the reactor, this raises suspicions about the safety of every reactor they run. They are using a number of antiquated reactors that have the same systematic problems, the same wear and tear on the piping.”

Much much more at the Link.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

03:22 PM on 07/02/2011

In September of 2002, TEPCO admitted to covering up data concerning cracks in critical circulatio­n pipes in addition to previously revealed falsificat­ions. In their analysis of the cover-up, The Citizen’s Nuclear Informatio­n Center writes: “The records that were covered up had to do with cracks in parts of the reactor known as recirculat­ion pipes. These pipes are there to siphon off heat from the reactor. If these pipes were to fracture, it would result in a serious accident in which coolant leaks out. From the perspectiv­e of safety, these are highly important pieces of equipment. Cracks were found in the Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, reactor one, reactor two, reactor three, reactor four, reactor five.” The cracks in the pipes were not due to earthquake damage; they came from the simple wear and tear of long-term usage.

On March 2, nine days before the meltdown, the Nuclear Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) gave TEPCO a warning on its failure to inspect critical pieces of equipment at the plant, which included the recirculat­ion pumps. ...

The problems were not only with the piping. Gas tanks at the site also exploded after the earthquake­. The outside of the reactor building suffered structural damage. There was some chaos. ... after the accident all the on-site inspectors fled the site. And the quake and tsunami broke most of the monitoring equipment so there was little informatio­n available on radiation afterwards­.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

01:27 PM on 07/02/2011

Prime Minister’s former nuclear adviser: “There will be broader, more disturbing discoveries later this year” — “There will be a chaos”
http://enenews.com/prime-ministers-former-nuclear-adviser-there-will-be-broader-more-disturbing-discoveries-later-this-year-there-will-be-a-chaos

[NoMoreNukes2012]

01:22 PM on 07/02/2011

Oh no! Explosion and Smoke at France Nuclear Station!
Lucas Whitefield Hixson reports:
http://tinyurl.com/3m4yl5p

[NoMoreNukes2012]

01:26 PM on 07/02/2011

Updated 12:20 PM CSTThought to be transformer outside of reactor building

[NoMoreNukes2012]

01:13 PM on 07/02/2011

New Analysis of Unit 3 Fuel Pool Video
Reveals Top of Fuel Bundle
http://tinyurl.com/42dtjew

[NoMoreNukes2012]

01:01 PM on 07/02/2011

Saturday Art: Drawings From Asia
By: nagaura @ FDL
http://my.firedoglake.com/nagaura/

[NoMoreNukes2012]

12:53 PM on 07/02/2011

Fukushima Disaster Shows Nuclear Power Is Never 'Safe
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/energy-intelligence/2011/07/01/fukushima-disaster-shows-nuclear-power-is-never-safe

[NoMoreNukes2012]

12:52 PM on 07/02/2011

Economy Sends Japanese to Fukushima for Jobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/world/asia/09japan.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=fukushima&st=cse
Despite the dangers at Fukushima, laborers from across Japan are traveling to the plant in search of work during the country’s harsh economic downturn. Some workers at Iwaki-Yumoto traveled here from as far away as Kyushu, over 600 miles away, transforming the little hot spring resort into a major hub for migrant labor.

[professor]

12:25 PM on 07/02/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGTsAUvqdFk&feature=uploademail
Cows dying from radiation poisoning.

[NoMoreNukes2012]

12:54 PM on 07/02/2011

That is so sad. All the news is sad these days, sure to get worse too. TY

[professor]

12:15 PM on 07/02/2011

You know about the unknown bomber bombing levees near Ft. Calhoun?
http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/unknown-bomber-explodes-levees-near-ft-calhoun