#Fukushima at 15: The Fallout Continues
Officials claim Japan’s worst-ever #NuclearDisaster is dealt with. Try telling that to the people.

Thomas A. Bass, March 9, 2026

"Cesium-laden microparticles from Fukushima have been found in air filters across Japan. As one drives the highways in Fukushima, some of the large green road signs that would usually indicate towns and turnoffs have been replaced by panels displaying radiation levels, given in microsieverts per hour. (A microsievert measures the biological effect of ionizing radiation on human tissue.) These readings can spike to dangerous levels depending on which way the wind is blowing. The radioactive material blown out of the destroyed reactors made Fukushima’s forests, which cover three-quarters of the nuclear exclusion zone, unsafe to enter. The wild boars that used to be hunted here, as well as the plants and mushrooms that used to be foraged for food, are too radioactive to eat."

[...]

"A town in Fukushima, such as Iitate, might be considered decontaminated when as little as 15 percent of the radioactive soil is removed. This creates a kind of lily pad effect; people can safely hop from one clean spot to another or walk along narrow paths between radioactive hot spots. A law passed in November 2011 mandates that all of Fukushima’s radioactive soil, roughly 15 million cubic meters, will be removed from the prefecture by 2045. With no place having volunteered to take any of the soil, the government has decided to spread it across Japan.

"Most of Fukushima’s bagged soil has been re-deposited into a dump built on the cliff behind the destroyed reactors. This facility separates the most radioactive elements from the soil and sequesters them in concrete bunkers. Soil containing less than 8,000 becquerels per kilo of radioactivity, which the Ministry of the Environment calls “Happy Soil,” is readied for shipment across the country, to be used in landfills and construction. (A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity, corresponding to one nuclear disintegration per second.) A load of Happy Soil, described as “revitalized and strong,” was recently dumped into the flower beds in front of the Prime Minister’s office in Tokyo."

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/03/fukushima-japan-15th-anniversary-nuclear-accident-tsunami-disaster-radiation-ongoing/

#NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #Fukushima #FukushimaIsntOver #NuclearWaste #SoilIsLife #WaterIsLife

‘#Fukushima: A #Nuclear Nightmare’ Review: An Emotional Choice

This documentary offers a rundown of the 2011 nuclear meltdown with special attention to the shift workers who risked their lives while trying to stabilize the plant.

March 10, 2026

" 'We were told Japan would cease to exist if we failed.' On #March11, 2011, a 8.9-magnitude #earthquake and a #tsunami struck the northeast coast of #Japan, precipitating a series of hydrogen explosions at the #FukushimaDaiichi nuclear plant.

"The new HBO documentary 'Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare,' directed by James Jones ('#Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes'), offers a tense rundown of the aftermath by pairing archival footage with testimonies from the people who witnessed the events firsthand.

"In the days following the earthquake and tsunami, workers at the plant hurried to contain what they knew could become a #NuclearCatastrophe. Using diagrams, the documentary strives to convey the dangers on an elementary-school level: Without electricity, the reactors’ cooling systems failed, causing the fuel rods to melt and spew radioactive material. The schematics are paired with a tense score and sinister-looking footage of fiery explosions.

"In an emotional interview, an engineer named #IkuoIzawa recalls remaining on-site while the majority of the plant’s crew was evacuated. Knowing that he might not survive, he sent an email to his family members, imploring them to look after one another. Izawa became part of the #Fukushima50: the everyday shift workers who risked their lives for the welfare of Japan. Although chiefly a straightforward — and at points repetitive — synopsis of the events, 'Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare' distinguishes itself in its devotion to elevating these men as heroes."

Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare
Directed by James Jones∙
Documentary∙
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Streaming on HBO Max.

Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/movies/fukushima-a-nuclear-nightmare-review.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/eTbOo

#NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #FukushimaDocumentary #Remember311 #FukushimaIsntOver

From 2013: Ten Most #Radioactive Places on Earth Mapped Out [GRAPHIC]

"Do you know the dirty side of the #NuclearIndustry? After researching this article by brainz.org, we were shocked to find out how truly awful our radioactive waste problem is and how it is going to be hurting us all, for a long time to come. Please take the time to read the links below, share this with your friends, and discuss solutions to these problems. ~ Jim Lee, #ClimateViewer News

"This list is not a definitive TOP TEN, it is simply ten very disgusting examples of nuclear warfare against the citizens of this world."

Read more:
https://climateviewer.com/2013/11/24/10-most-radioactive-places-on-earth/

#Hanford #Sellafield #Chernobyl #Fukushima #Mediterranean #Mayak #SomalianCoast #Kazakhstan #Chernobyl #Kyrgyzstan #EnvironmentalRacism #IndigenousPeoples #SiberianChemicalCompound #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #RenewablesNow #NuclearDumping #NuclearColonialism

SimplyInfo.org: 15th Anniversary Report #FukushimaDaiichi

March 2, 2026

Excerpt: "This TV Asahi investigative report from March 2025 [linked below] paints a sobering picture of the enormous challenges still facing the decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi, fourteen years after the accident. While #TEPCO achieved a milestone the previous November by extracting roughly 0.7 grams of #NuclearFuel debris for the first time, experts interviewed for the piece emphasized that debris removal is just one piece of a far more complex puzzle. Around 1,000 fuel assemblies
still remain in the spent fuel pools of Units 1 and 2, untouched since the accident, and officials from the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (#NDF) described clearing these pools as the single most urgent priority — in part because another
#earthquake or #tsunami could strike at any time.

"Before large-scale debris removal can even begin, the area around the reactor buildings must be cleared of heavily contaminated structures and exhaust stacks to make room for the massive equipment required. Because humans cannot safely approach the highly radioactive debris, all removal work must be done remotely. Radiation levels outside the buildings remain dangerously high — a dosimeter near #Unit2 showed particularly elevated readings — and contaminated water continues to be generated at a rate of roughly 80 tons per day as #rainwater and #groundwater contact radioactive materials on site, despite TEPCO having already released about 80,000 tons of treated [but still radioactive] water into the ocean.

"Perhaps the most troubling concern raised in the article is what happens to the debris and #RadioactiveWaste after it is removed. Hiroshi Miyano, chairman of the Decommissioning Review Committee of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan, was blunt in his criticism, saying no serious thought has been given to managing this waste over the coming century or two.

"The Fukushima debris is uniquely complicated because it is a mixture of melted nuclear fuel and structural materials, and experts warned that removal may not even be possible until a concrete disposal plan is in place. General decommissioning superintendent Toyoshi Fukada warned that without proper storage facilities ready in advance, the entire decommissioning effort could eventually grind to a halt simply because there would be nowhere to put the waste."

Read more:
https://simplyinfo.org/2026/03/simplyinfo-org-15th-anniversary-report-fukushima-daiichi/

Asashi investigative report [pdf]:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ysaf6a7hj62286sv4hoql/alps_water_d250130_14-j_translated.pdf?rlkey=3u397ndoafdtiq6fgjczg4a74&st=845tdf30&dl=0

#FukushimaIsntOver #TEPCOLies #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #RenewablesNow #WaterIsLife #OceansAreLife #NuclearPlants #NuclearDisaster #Remember311

RE: https://mastodon.social/@thejapantimes/116186846390385036

#FukushimaIsntOver #Remember311 #RethinkNotRestart

#LAFires Could Transform Former #Rocketdyne Site into #FEMATrailerPark

January 2025

"#Radiation and chemical vapors on 47-acre #CanogaPark site are too toxic for housing, but could be mitigated to safely house residents displaced by January 2025 fires in above-ground trailers.

- Gross site contamination and development encumbrances prohibit residential housing
- Hundreds of #FEMATrailers, mobile homes and even shipping containers could be placed on site safely and temporarily house thousands of #LosAngeles disaster victims [Or maybe a potential #DetentionCenter? Hmmmm...]
- Efforts to clean up polluted west Valley groundwater could emulate 2024 agreement to remediate fouled east Valley aquifer and provide billions of gallons of clean water

"The former Rocketdyne Canoga Park facility in the western #SanFernandoValley is so contaminated that it is nearly impossible to build anything on it other than light industry even though a developer wanted to construct homes on the site.

"#Chemicals and #radiation severely contaminate the land and #groundwater in and around the site according to documentation obtained by EnviroReporter.com.

"According to astonishing information never before covered in the media, areas offsite and around #RocketdyneCanoga are hot with high amounts of gross alpha and uranium radiation."

Read more:
https://www.enviroreporter.com/2025/01/la-fires-could-transform-former-rocketdyne-site-into-fema-trailer-park/

#USPol #RadioactiveHazards #NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster
#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #UraniumContamination

A creek with #AtomicWaste from WWII is linked to increased #cancer risk

By Ronnie Cohen, July 21, 2025

Excerpt: "Children who lived near a #SaintLouis creek polluted with #radioactive #AtomicBomb waste from the 1940s through the 1960s were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer over their lifetimes than children who lived farther from the waterway, a new study has found.

"The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, corroborate worries that neighbors of #ColdwaterCreek have long held about the #MissouriRiver tributary where generations of children played.

Radioactive waste found at #Missouri elementary school

" 'We actually saw something quite dramatic, not only elevated risk of cancer, but one that increased steadily in a sort of dose-response manner the closer the childhood residents got to Coldwater Creek,' said the study's senior author, Marc Weisskopf, an epidemiology professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

"As part of the Manhattan Project, #MallinckrodtChemicalWorks processed uranium in St. Louis for the development of an atomic bomb. By the mid-1940s, according to historians, the company began to haul its radioactive waste north of the city, leaving it in open steel drums, unattended and exposed to the elements, next to Coldwater Creek."

Read more:
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/07/21/nx-s1-5474883/nuclear-waste-manhattan-project-missouri-reca-jama?

#RadioactiveHazards #Cancer #NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USPol #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster
#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife

#SaintLouis’ long history of #radioactive #contamination. Highlights of 10 years of Post-Dispatch coverage.

Oct 9, 2025

"From the public announcement that #MallinckrodtChemicalWorks helped refine #uranium for the #ManhattanProject to the present, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has covered the issue of storing #RadioactiveWaste and subsequent #contamination of #ColdwaterCreek, #WeldonSpring and surrounding areas."

Read more:
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/history/collection_29db6be1-fe7f-56b6-bdc6-fcf9dda512cd.html#1

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/AIoN2

#RadioactiveHazards #Cancer #NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USPol #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster
#WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife

Officials order demolition of #US homes after discovering #radioactive hazard: 'Safety is our number one priority'

"We've collected over 41,000 samples."

by Brianne Nemiroff, March 7, 2026

Excerpt: "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tested soil in the backyards of properties along the 800 block of Cades Cove Drive in #Florissant, #Missouri. It found #NuclearContamination between 2.5 and 17 feet below the foundations of the homes.

"The homes were built near #ColdwaterCreek, a waterway that has experienced contamination issues since the 1940s. Now, in February 2026, six of the homes on this block will be demolished.

"Lt. Col. Andrew James, Deputy Commander for the St. Louis District for the Army Corps of Engineers, said to Spectrum News, 'We've collected over 41,000 samples along Coldwater Creek. And although there's still more spots of contamination that we have to get, the data shows that these are the only homes that we have to demolish right now. For the residents in this area, especially the neighbors that are close … safety is our number one priority.'

"Spectrum News also spoke to Gina McNabb, a resident of the block whose home of 28 years was demolished. 'My husband's had #cancer, my kids had illnesses, and that's not to say that it definitely came from this, but now there's a question.'

"Federal authorities have not released the payouts to the affected homeowners; however, McNabb has confirmed that her home loan and moving expenses were paid off.

Those who participated in the #ManhattanProject focused more on physics than on the biological effects of radiation. Eighty years later, experts are still finding radiation in the soil under homes, in waterways, and an increased cancer risk in people living near high-risk areas, as stated by experts in an interview with PBS."

Read more:
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/neighborhood-demolition-due-to-uranium-contamination/

#NoNukes #NoWar #EPAFail #USPol #USGovtFail #NuclearWeapons #NuclearContamination #RethinkNotRestart #NoNuclearWar #EnvironmentalDisaster #WaterIsLife #SoilIsLife #FlorissantMO

[Photos] #WardValley: Celebrating Stopping a #NuclearWaste Dump in the #MojaveDesert 2026

via @bsnorrell.blogspot.com
February 21, 2026

" 'We are the Pipa Aha Macav, the people along the river, instructed by the Creator to protect it.' Barrackman's words, before he passed to the Spirit World, were at Ward Valley, during the 113-day Occupation which halted a #nuclear waste dump on #SacredLand in 1998."

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/02/ward-valley-celebrating-stopping.html

#NoNukes #NoNukesForAI #NoNuclearWasteDumping #EnvironmentalRacism #RethinkNotRestart #NoNewNukes