[ RadSafe ] KABC TV Los Angeles and KGO TV San Francisco Report on Fukushima

Wed Nov 13 02:47:06 CST 2013

Here is the transcipt of the story.  David Ono, the reporter, is the KABC
Anchor.

by David Ono

LOS ANGELES -- On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit, the
strongest ever recorded in Japan. And then from our televisions, we watched
a monstrous tsunami annihilate the most prepared country in the world.

KABC reporter David Ono saw, firsthand, the enormous devastation: Entire
towns wiped out, and piles of rubble 30 feet high.

But the third part of this disaster has the potential to be the worst of
all, yet the damage is almost invisible. The Fukushima nuclear power plant
continues to spew radiation. It's 5,300 miles from Los Angeles -- and still
not far enough.

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Deformities are showing up in Japanese butterflies. The once-thriving
fishing industry near the plant has been shut down. Dozens of species have
been labeled too radioactive to eat.

And there's the human toll: 160,000 families have been forced from their
radioactive homes, many still paying their mortgages even though they'll
likely never live there again.

Fukushima is an enormous problem that's getting bigger.

Nuclear Engineer Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy
and Environmental Research, confirmed that ocean currents are carrying the
radioactive water to the West Coast.

"There are several hundred tons of radioactive water that are pouring into
the ocean at the site every day," Makhijani said.

According to a study published in the Journal Deep Sea Research 1, it will
begin arriving this March. But Makhijani says there's no need to panic. The
radiation will be diluted, and levels found on the West Coast are very low
and not considered dangerous so far. But the question is, will we really
know?

"I think we should be doing a better monitoring of food. I don't think the
EPA and FDA are doing a good enough job," Makhijani said.

The scariest part of Fukushima is not what has already happened; it's what
could still happen. Every day is a desperate effort to keep the plant from
melting down. What's distressing for many is the Japanese government is not
overseeing the cleanup.

The government has requested that Tokyo Electric and Power or TEPCO, be in
charge of the cleanup. It is a private, for profit, company.

Japanese Nuclear Engineer Yastel Yamada came to America to shine a light on
what he feels is a flawed approach. He says TEPCO is over their heads.

"The cleanup job is too large for their capability," Yamada said.

Yamada is one of many experts who say this is a bad solution, and that a
meltdown is still possible. Dr. Jimmy Hara, from Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation and professor of clinical family medicine at UCLA, agrees.

"It's like the fox overseeing the chicken coop, and it's a huge problem,"
Hara said.

Makhijani says TEPCO and the Japanese government have refused international
help.

Fukushima is potentially the biggest ticking time bomb in human history.
The damaged plant is in no condition to withstand another massive
earthquake or tsunami. The original 19-foot sea wall was shattered when the
tsunami struck and provided little protection. The tsunami flooded the
plant, cut off power, and the meltdown was underway.

The plant's defenses today are far less.

Just last week, Dr. David Suzuki, one of Canada's top environmental
scientists, stunned the audience when he described what will happen if a
massive quake did hit today.

"It's bye-bye Japan, and everybody on the West Coast of North America
should evacuate," Suzuki said. "Now if that isn't terrifying, I don't know
what is."

On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 12:09 AM, Roger Helbig <rwhelbig at gmail.com> wrote:

> KGO Anchor Dan Ashley is very receptive to comments on this very badly
> done report by a reporter who was in Japan after the tsunami.   I wrote to
> him after seeing the teaser during Jeopardy this evening and he wrote
> back.  I watched the 11PM news and it was worse than I had imagined.
>
> http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=9323780
>
> Roger Helbig
>