Japan Selling Radioactive Seafood and Restarting Nuclear Reactors

Susanne Posel, Contributor
Activist Post

Japan has allowed seafood caught off the coast near Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to be sold to consumers; although only octopus and marine snails were allowed to be put on the market.

Hirofumi Konno, Soma city’s official in charge of sales at the fishing co-operative, says that with consumers buying the seafood, it proves there is support for the industry. Konno said:

I was filled with both uncertainty and hope today, but I was so happy when I found out the local supermarket had sold out by 3pm.

Testing of the seafood sold for radioactive substances were negligible according to the co-operative. However radioactive cesium, which is a byproduct of the nuclear process, has been found in species of fish from Japan to the west coast of America.

Nobuyuki Yagi, professor of the University of Tokyo, said in regard to Japanese fishing industry: Fishing cannot survive unless people buy the fish. That may seem obvious, but Fukushima is facing up to this.

In April of this year, Steven Manley, professor of biology at California State University Long Beach, says samples from the American west coastline revealed radioactive iodine that could only have come from a nuclear reactor and that iodine 131 “has an eight-day half-life, so it’s pretty much all gone. But this shows what happens half a world away does affect what happens here. I don’t think these levels are harmful, but it’s better if we don’t have it at all.”

Records show that some places were up to 250 times higher in radioactive levels that were recorded prior to the Fukushima disaster.

In one study, researchers from Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific have found that the Pacific Bluefin tuna that migrated from Japan to California are contaminated with cesium, which is a compound found only in nuclear reactors.

The seafood industry has been hoping that the fish they procured were safe for human consumption because the fish were taken several thousand miles from Japanese coastal areas.

The fish was polluted with cesium – 134 and cesium – 137 isotopes. These isotopes do not occur in nature, but are products of nuclear explosions. The levels of cesium found were measured higher than previous years, yet the US government maintains that these radioactive levels are safe for human health.

To purvey disinformation into the social meme, UN’s International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA) claimed that their research confirms Japanese milk and vegetables are safe for human consumption. They reported that radiation levels are below cancer-causing levels.

The World Health Organization (WHO) claimed to have assessed the problem of radioactive levels at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. WHO expounds that the rest of the world can breathe easy because the radioactive material that has been expelled into our biosphere is simply a negligible exposure level.

After the devastation at Fukushima, the Prime Minister of Japan Naoto Kan declared that Japan would become nuclear free. Kan announced that he was heading an initiative to introduce renewable energy sources and move Japan away from its nuclear dependence.

Recently, Japan’s PM has announced that Japan will be restarting idled nuclear reactors to ensure the “survival of society” amid safety fears from the public. The PM said:

Cheap and stable electricity is vital. If all the reactors that previously provided 30 percent of Japan’s electricity supply are halted, or kept idle, Japanese society cannot survive. 

It is my decision that Ohi reactors No.3 and No.4 should be restarted to protect the people’s livelihoods.

The PM’s turnaround on his decision to make Japan nuclear free might have something to do with the US government expressing concerns about Japan not using nuclear and sending the US minister of economy to speak with Japan’s PM to convince the governor of the area that they need to support nuclear power. If the PM and the Japanese government does not change his mind about restarting their nuclear reactors, the Fed has stated they will override the Japanese government’s decision and force them to use nuclear power, according to Kevin Camps, from the watchdog group BeyondNuclear.org.

Susanne Posel is the Chief Editor of Occupy Corporatism. Our alternative news site is dedicated to reporting the news as it actually happens; not as it is spun by the corporately funded mainstream media. You can find us on our Facebook page.