[ RadSafe ] Fukushima cancer toll – years later, especially for nuclear clean-up workers

[Roger Helbig]

The writer is Associate Professor Tilman Ruff, I don't see where he
actually has any particular knowledge of nuclear reactors.  He seems
to have a poor appreciation of what the term "cold shutdown" means and
perhaps has other major misconceptions that lead to the conclusions in
this article.

http://ni.unimelb.edu.au/about_us/Staff/disease_prevention_and_health_promotion/associate_professor_tilman_ruff

Associate Professor Tilman Ruff is an infectious diseases and public
health physician with particular interests in vaccines and
immunisation. In addition to his work at the Nossal Institute, he
serves as medical advisor to the international department of the
Australian Red Cross and as technical advisor to the Australian Agency
for International Development (AusAID) and UNICEF on immunisation
programs in Pacific island countries. Tilman has played a leading role
in the development of travel medicine, worked extensively on control
of hepatitis B, immunisation, and maternal and child health in
Indonesia and Pacific island countries, and was previously regional
medical director for vaccines for a major vaccine manufacturer. He has
been active in the Medical Association for Prevention of War
(Australia) for 24 years and is now its national president and
involved in the Nobel Peace Prize winning International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). Since 2006 he helped to
establish the Australian Management Committee of the International
Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and is now its Chair. In
October 2008 was invited by Gareth Evans, former Australian foreign
Minister, and Yoriko Kawaguchi, former Japanese foreign and
environment minister, to serve as one of two NGO advisors to them in
their roles as Co-Chairs of the International Commission on Nuclear
Non-proliferation and Disarmament established by the governments of
Australia and Japan.

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Fukushima cancer toll – years later, especially for nuclear clean-up workers

by Christina MacPherson

One group particularly at risk of health harm is the large and growing
number of workers required to help control, shut down and clean up the
damaged nuclear plants.

 On average, the contracted day labourers receive two- to three-times
the radiation dose of a regular worker but are not included in utility
statistics. And there is no compulsory, centralised system for
tracking cumulative radiation exposure or health outcomes of these
workers.

Fukushima radiation toll will continue for generations Despite claims
that Japan’s Fukushima meltdown caused no deaths, in fact the true
health costs of Fukushima’s radiation leaks won’t be known for
decades. Independent Australia 18 March 12,  Professor Tilman Ruff
reports. A year can be a long time in politics. But for the
radioactive particles released from Fukushima’s damaged nuclear
reactor, a year is just a moment in their life of hundreds or
thousands of years.

So, what is the radiological situation at Fukushima one year after the
disaster?  the extensively damaged plants are still unstable and
highly radioactive. This has restricted access and clean-up efforts,
which will need to go on for many decades.

Though Japanese authorities declared they’d achieved a “cold shutdown”
in December, an arbitrary definition was used: coolant water
temperature was less than boiling, pressure inside the reactors was
not raised, and the release of radioactive materials from the first
layer of containment was below a specified level. But it didn’t mean
the nuclear reaction inside the reactors had been stably shut down….

Christina MacPherson | March 20, 2012 at 9:57 am | Categories: health,
Japan | URL: http://wp.me/phgse-5WF

http://nuclear-news.net/2012/03/20/fukushima-cancer-toll-years-later-especially-for-nuclear-clean-up-workers/