Foreign Policy Category Archive

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The Mysteries of the USS Ronald Reagan...And Godzilla!

Peter Lee • April 29, 2014

• 1,500 Words • Leave a Comment

As I promote CounterPunch’s release of the offprint on my article concerning contamination of the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan by Fukushima fallout (link to purchase here; please buy many, many copies), there is a plethora of radiation-related news that highlight and illuminate the questions discussed in the piece. First, Godzilla! The creature design for... Read More

CounterPunch Magazine Article on Radioactive Contamination of USS Ronald Reagan at Fukushima Now Available for Purchase as Offprint

Peter Lee • April 25, 2014

• 1,000 Words • Leave a Comment

For the nuclear bureaucrat, lying seems to be as essential and continuous a human process as breathing. I am not averse to the argument that a greater reliance on nuclear energy, despite its massive risks, might provide an alternative future preferable to being cooked to death by greenhouse gases. But I must say that I... Read More

Radiation and the Ronald Reagan

Peter Lee • April 10, 2014

• 1,300 Words • Leave a Comment

I have an article in the current CounterPunch print edition (Subscribe!NOW! ) concerning the contamination of the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan by Fukushima fallout during the post-tsunami relief operations in 2011. The Ronald Reagan is in the news because several dozen crewmembers of the Reagan are trying to sue TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power... Read More

Contamination of USS Ronald Reagan Potentially a Big Deal for Japan as Well as US

Peter Lee • February 5, 2014

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[Update: In 2013, Japan Focus published two superb pieces by investigative reporter Roger Witherspoon on the US military's response to radioactive contamination during Operation Tomodachi: & His interviews with servicemen and women who served on the Reagan--and in many other locations and capacities during the relief operation, describe the harrowing circumstances of trying, sometimes unsuccessfully,... Read More

It Looks Like Japan Lied Its Way Into the Olympics

Peter Lee • September 25, 2013

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[Update, November 24, 2014: Despite dire predictions, TEPCO has successfully removed 1331 spent fuel rods from the cooling pond at Number 4 reactor. Removal of the 204 fresh fuel rods is underway. On the other hand, Mainichi reports that the "freeze play" plan to freeze contaminated water to keep it from draining into a trench... Read More

Japan's Nuclear Volcano Erupts

Level 7

Mike Whitney • April 13, 2011

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Shares plunged across Europe, Asia and the United States on Tuesday as the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant deepened and Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency raised its radiological event scale to its highest level. Conditions at the stricken facility have steadily deteriorated despite the valiant efforts of emergency workers. The station continues... Read More

Why Did Japan Risk the Godzilla of Nuclear Power?

Eric Margolis • April 11, 2011

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Japan’s nuclear calamity has shown once again the remarkable courage, patience, and stoicism of that nation’s people. As a visitor to Japan for the past 36 years and former columnist for one of its leading newspapers, Mainichi Daily News, the giant earthquake and ensuing tsunami that savaged northern Japan filled me with anguish and sorrow.... Read More

Fukushima Fallout Hits the US

Radiation Found in Rainwater From California to Massachusetts

Mike Whitney • March 31, 2011

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Three of the six nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have partially melted down and plutonium is seeping into the soil outside. Plutonium is less volatile than other radioactive elements like iodine or cesium, but it's also more deadly. According to Business Week, "When plutonium decays, it emits what is known as an alpha... Read More

Is Fukushima About to Blow?

The Doomsday Scenario

Mike Whitney • March 28, 2011

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Conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are deteriorating and the doomsday scenario is beginning to unfold. On Sunday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) officials reported that the levels of radiation leaking into seawater at the Unit 2 reactor were 100,000 times above normal, and the airborne radiation measured 4-times higher than government limits. As... Read More

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