Maggie Gundersen, Editor
Fukushima Daiichi’s radioactive waste is on the move again as Hagibis, the worst typhoon to hit Japan since 1958, dropped 30” of rain in 24 hours and millions of people were forced to evacuate due to flooding.
From the minute we learned of this Super Typhoon threat, we were gravely concerned for the people of Japan and the tons of highly radioactive debris sitting on the edge of the volatile Pacific Ocean on the former site of the six Fukushima Daiichi atomic power reactors. Three of those nuclear power plants had meltdowns in March 2011 leaving more highly toxic radioactivity than anyone ever anticipated having in one spot. Some of that poisonous debris has been raked up and confined to thousands of giant 1-ton jumbo plastic bags that were right in the path of Hagibis. As we watched the news of the approaching Pacific super typhoon (tropical cyclone) with its 150 mile per hour (mph) winds, we worried for the people of Japan who have already faced the worst nuclear disaster on the planet.
Since these events are just beginning to unfold, the amount of radioactive material released into the Pacific Ocean and surrounding environment is unknown as of Monday morning, October 14.
Now, government authorities in Japan have begun the arduous task searching for an unknown number of bags of radioactive waste that were swept away by Super Typhoon Hagibis. Each bag weighs more than one ton; the plastic material of which they were fabricated was anticipated to last only 5 to 7 years before the toxic debris would require a final dumping place, a temporary storage facility, or new bags to assure no leakage of the poisonous dirt and vegetation within.
[…]
Read more.