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Fukushima reactor shell breached
Tue, Mar 15, 2011
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20110315-268286.html
PARIS - THE concrete vessel around the No. 2 reactor at Japan's Fukushima plant, designed to contain radioactive debris, is 'no longer sealed,' Andre-Claude Lacoste, head of France's Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), said on Tuesday.
Mr Lacoste was speaking at a press conference in which he also said the accident at Fukushima now rated six on a seven-point international scale of gravity, placing it second to Chernobyl as the world's worst nuclear disaster.
The ASN is being briefed by the Japanese authorities and by a specialist from France's Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), according to the agency.
The confinement vessel, made out of reinforced concrete, surrounds the steel vessel that houses the nuclear reactor. It is designed to contain radioactive gas or dust, preventing them from being expelled into the air.
In a press statement, the ASN said two 'successive explosions, at 6.10am (5am Singapore time) and 10.00am local time probably caused damage to the confinement vessel which is the source of the significant increase in detected radioactive releases.'
The operators of a crippled nuclear power plant may pour water into the overheating fuel pool in the No. 4 reactor within two or three days, the plant operator said. It did not say why it had to wait two or three days.
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+++ Nachbeben erschüttert Tokio +++
http://www.n-tv.de/
Nach dem schweren Erdbeben und weiteren heftigen Nachbeben muss Japan mit einer atomaren Katastrophe fertig werden. Das Kernkraftwerk Fukushima 1 ist stark beschädigt. Erstmals bricht die innere Schutzhülle eines Reaktors nach einer Explosion, an einem weiteren könnte der Mantel brüchig sein. Die Strahlung steigt stark an, die verbliebenen Helfer müssen ihre Arbeit abbrechen. Wind weht radioaktive Partikel offenbar aufs Meer. In vier von sechs Reaktoren droht eine Kernschmelze. Die Zahl der Opfer durch Erdbeben und Tsunami steigt weiter.
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Surgeon General: Buying Iodide a "Precaution"
Conflicting messages appear in the effort to buy iodide tablets
By LORI PREUITT
Updated 6:17 PM PDT, Tue, Mar 15, 2011
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Surgeon-General-Buying-Iodine-Appropriate-118031559.html
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Raw_Video__U_S__Surgeon_General_Says_Be_Prepared_Bay_Area-118036544.html
View more videos at:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com.
The fear that a nuclear cloud could float from the shores of Japan to the shores of California has some people making a run on iodine tablets. Pharmacists across California report being flooded with requests.
State and county officials spent much of Tuesday trying to keep people calm by saying that getting the pills wasn't necessary, but then the United States surgeon general supported the idea as a worthy "precaution."
U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin was in the Bay Area touring a peninsula hospital. NBC Bay Area reporter Damian Trujillo asked her about the run on tablets and Dr. Benjamin said although she wasn't aware of people stocking up, she did not think that would be an overreaction. She said it was right to be prepared.
On the other side of the issue is Kelly Huston of the California Emergency Management Agency. Huston said state officials, along with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the California Energy Commission, were monitoring the situation and said people don't need to buy the pills.
"Even if we had a radiation release from Diablo Canyon (in San Luis Obispo County), iodide would only be issued to people living within a 10-mile radius of the plant," Huston added.
Santa Clara County's public health officer Dr. Martin Fenstersheib told the Mercury News he also does not recommend getting the tablets, adding some people can be severely allergic to the iodine.
"There is no reason for doing it," Fenstersheib told the paper.
Either way, the pills are hard to get. eBay prices have skyrocketed.
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Calcium - Blocks uptake of stronium-90
Iron - Blocks uptake of plutonium
Potassium - Reduces uptake of cesium-137
Zinc - reduces uptake of radioactive zinc-65
Vitamin B12 - Supresses the uptake of cobalt-60
Chlorella - Helps detoxify and get rid of heavy metals and other toxic elements etc. (some may be allergic, test for stomach upset)
Magnesium - Always take with other supplements to help with their absorption and their natural bodily use and function.
Cod liver oil - For the Retinol, Vitamin D3, Omega 3 DHA/EPA etc. Helps fortify the body and prevent damage due to toxins etc.
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Japan's radiation no threat here: PM
CBC News Posted: Mar 15, 2011
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/03/15/radiation-health-canada.html
Radiation from Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami is not expected to pose a safety risk to Canadians, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says.
Harper said Tuesday there is no risk of radiation or nuclear fallout coming to Canada.
"I've been in very regular contact with all senior officials of the … various government agencies and departments responsible for monitoring this, and there is no evidence of a scenario that presents any risk to this country in terms of those things," Harper said during a stop in Surrey, B.C., on Tuesday.
The events in Japan aren't expected to expose people in Canada to any more radiation than they would normally receive from natural sources, medical tests and transoceanic travel, Dr. Paul Gully, Health Canada's senior medical adviser, said on CBC's Power & Politics.
"We're monitoring the information from across Canada, working with other agencies, other governments to collect information, analyze it," Gully said. "We've come to the conclusion there's no health risk to Canadians in Canada."
It is natural for Canadians to be concerned when seeing images of destruction from Japan, but no threat is expected to reach Canada including the West Coast, Gully said.
Canadians in Japan should listen to government and emergency officials there, he recommended.
Gully strongly discouraged Canadians from buying potassium iodide tablets from domestic pharmacies, which are often given to people at risk of contamination or who have been exposed to radiation. The compound prevents or reduces absorption of radioactive iodine through the thyroid.
On Tuesday, B.C.'s government told all pharmacies that potassium iodide should not be "dispensed in relation to the radiological situation" in Japan. The Public Health Agency of Canada said it has a stockpile of thyroid-protecting iodide pills, but would not reveal where because of security concerns, CBC's Hannah Thibedeau reported.
The amount in the national stockpile is unknown.
'Concerned and anxious'
Some Canadians have been buying pills in bulk, but that's not necessary in this country because "there is no current risk of radiological … exposure," B.C. Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall said.
Public demand for potassium iodide has surged but Canadian health officials say bulk purchases aren't needed. (CBC)
"I think people are concerned and anxious about radioactive exposure," Kendall said on CBC News Network Tuesday, noting health officials along the U.S. West Coast are coping with similar concerns.
Like Harper and Gully, Kendall said there is no current risk, adding he doesn't see any predictable or foreseeable risk.
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are assessing the source of food imports from Japan to see if any are from an area close to the nuclear plant. If it appears that food might have come from such an area, then they'll decide if it should be checked for radiation. So far, no food has been checked.
Four nuclear plants in northeastern Japan have reported damage following Friday's natural disaster. Federal and provincial health and environmental officials continue to monitor events in Japan.
The National Emergency Stockpile also includes supplies for emergency field hospitals, trauma kits, quarantine units for up to 300 people, and a "push pack" for terrorist incidents that includes potassium iodide, the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, and nerve gas antidote sets, according to the Ontario Health Ministry's website.
The province's chief medical officer could decide to distribute the iodide tablets to evacuees following a nuclear emergency in Ontario or a bordering area, a spokesperson said.
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