[ RadSafe ] Anyone in Berkeley, CA on Fukushima Response Group Formation

[Karen Street]

Wait for the NY Times to cover it. That's what we had to do with the people who were worried about all the radioactivity kids were exposed to going past Lawrence Berkeley Labs on their way to Lawrence Hall of Sciences (tritium from the labs). In vain did people say that the extra exposure was comparable to going to school at 1/8" higher elevation. (Fortunately in Berkeley, only the wealthy live in the hills.) Then some school decided not to send any kids to the lab, and the Times covered it. When another school made the same decision a year or two later, the Times covered it. (Normally, it only takes one article in the Times.)

I am sympathetic with the group's complaints about the workers. In the US, Nuclear Energy Institute had a blog post saying we hire contract labor as well, but we train them—we don't pick laborers up on street corners and pay wages far below what everyone else gets. 

> Here is an interesting posting by activist Carol Wolman from the
> FukushimaFalloutForum Yahoo group - there is meeting of a group in
> Berkeley at 2PM today - note the rhetoric about Fukushima - also note
> the last line that they are forming groups like this all over the
> country
> 
> 2 pm on Weds August 15th, at 2550 Dana #5B (at Parker).
> Home of Cecile Pineda, author of Devil's Tango, How I Learned to Fukushima.
> Our purpose is to raise public awareness of the dangers from the
> nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi (F-D) which were damaged in the
> earthquake/tsunami of March 11, 2011. Radiation that was released at
> that time, that is still being released, and that would be released if
> another massive earthquake, typhoon, tornado or manmade error
> precipitates another explosion there- all present huge hazards to the
> Bay Area and to the planet.
> A few of us met with Yastel Yamada last week. He is a founder of
> Skilled Veterans Corps of Fukushima (SVCF). We learned that the owner
> of F-D, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has subcontracted to 400
> different companies, with no overall project manager. TEPCO says it
> can't allow the 700 elderly volunteers of SVCF to work on the
> containment/cleanup because it has no hiring authority, and all the
> subcontracted companies have their own employees. We learn from the
> news that TEPCO is partly owned by the Mafia, the workers are
> underpaid and overexposed to radiation, the work is sloppy and
> inadequate, there are lots of leaks, TEPCO is less than candid with
> information. Cleanup and containment are way too slow, not centrally
> controlled, not done by people who are experts in this area.
> Therefore, SVCF and we are advocating internationalization of F-D,
> which can only happen if there is enough worldwide pressure, from
> governments and from the people.
> There is an active Fukushima Responders group in Sebastapol, which
> meets frequently to plan public events, run a website,
> http://fukushimaresponse.com/, hold workshops, lobby, etc. They are
> vigiling every Friday, in support of the Japanese people, who turn out
> every week by the 100,000's to protest the restarting of nuclear
> plants in Japan. We will network with them, and with other FR groups
> now forming around the country.
> __

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Best wishes, 
Karen Street
Friends Energy Project
blog http://pathsoflight.us/musing/index.php