Moments ago a powerful 6.5 quake struck the Izu Islands, 400 miles south of Tokyo, strong enough to be felt among the taller buildings of the Japanese capital. Luckily, there was no tsunami or any destructive aftermath, at least none publicly announced. None was needed, because the great earthquake of March 2011 and subsequent tsunami and nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima continue to do enough damage. Sadly, it is the gift that keeps on giving… gamma rays. Not to mention constant news of the deterioration from the disaster zone, now that the world’s attention has once again refocused on the fallout zone which for over two years both the Japanese government and TEPCO lied was under control. It wasn’t. And now that the lies are catching up with reality, the “shocking” facts are hitting fast and furious.
To wit: it was only this past Saturday when we reported that the radiation levels at Fukushima had hit a post-explosion record of 1,800 millisieverts/hour. Today, three short days later we get an update, and a stunning deterioration of over 20%. Reuters reports, citing the Nuclear Regulation Authority, that readings just above the ground near a set of tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant showed the radiation had risen as high as 2,200 millisieverts (mSv). Both levels would be enough to kill an unprotected person within hours.
What the real reading is at this point, how many leaks exist, how much irradiated water is seeping into the groundwater and the ocean: nobody knows. One thing that is certain: everyone in Japan is (and has been) lying because the reality is rapidly approaching a panic level, as the realization that not only did Japan and Tepco lose all control, but they never had it in the first place.
Radiation readings around tanks holding contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have spiked more than 20 percent to their highest level, Japan’s nuclear regulator said, again raising questions about the clean-up of the worst atomic disaster in 27 years.
