The IAEA Director General provided an update on Fukashima nuclear disaster today. The entire briefing is posted here:
http://www.ibtimes.com/...
Food contamination has expanded to six prefectures and includes many vegetables. In addition, caesium-137 has shown up in a least one vegetable.
...As far as food contamination is concerned, samples reported from 26 to 27 March in six prefectures (Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Niigata, Tochigi and Yamagata) reported iodine-131 in asparagus, cabbage, celery, chive, cucumber, eggplant, leek, mushrooms, parsley, tomato, spinach and other leafy vegetables, strawberries and watermelon.
One sample of hana wasabi taken on 24 March in Fukushima prefecture was above the regulation values set by the Japanese authorities. Caesium-137 was also measured above the regulation value in the same sample of hana wasabi, but in the remaining five prefectures, caesium-137 was not detected or the results were below regulation values...
IAEA is gearing up to take the lead international role for information distribution in what appears to be a situation that is going to have serious repercussions for Japan and the planet for a very long time.
...I would therefore like to propose that a high-level IAEA conference on Nuclear Safety should take place here in Vienna before the summer.
The conference should cover the following points:
an initial assessment of the Fukushima accident, its impact and consequences;
considering the lessons that need to be learned;
launching the process of strengthening nuclear safety;
and strengthening the response to nuclear accidents and emergencies.
The work ahead will be substantial. I firmly believe that the IAEA is the best venue for follow-up on the Fukushima accident. We have the necessary expertise, extensive membership and can ensure transparency...
Meanwhile in the U.S., the EPA reports 13 states have recorded above normal levels of radiation, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/...
...Higher than usual levels of radiation were detected by 12 monitoring stations in Alaska, Alabama, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, and Washington State over the past week and sent to Environmental Protection Agency scientists for detailed laboratory analysis, the agency said in a release Monday.
Unusual, yet still very low “trace amounts” of radiation, were also reported in Massachusetts rain water and by state officials and nuclear power plant radiation sensors in Colorado, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania, the Associated Press and Reuters reported...
In measured tones, IAEA reports:
...Overall at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, the situation is still very serious...
It appears that the people of the world are going to be fed the news as it unfolds in a strict and controlled manner.
...NISA informed the IEC that a meeting is planned with TEPCO to determine the origin and path of water in the turbine buildings of Units 1 to 4. As seen with the contaminated workers, high dose rates in the turbine buildings and contaminated water in the basements can hamper recovery efforts.
The pumping of contaminated water from the basement floor of Unit 1's turbine building into its main condenser is in progress, whereas at Unit 2 that process has not begun because the steam condenser is full. At Unit 3, the pumping of contaminated water and in particular where it is going, are under consideration. The issue is also being examined for Unit 4.
Temperatures measured at the feed water nozzle and at the bottom of the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) continue to decrease slightly at Units 1 and 2, except the temperature at the feed water nozzle of Unit 1's RPV, which has slightly increased to 274 °C...
Offshore, in the oceans, and in our seafood?
...New results from the marine monitoring stations 30 km off-shore were received for seawater samples taken on 26 March. The levels decreased at most of the locations. For iodine-131 the concentration results for four monitoring stations are between 6 to 18 becquerel per litre, and for caesium-137 between "below limit of detection" and 16 becquerel per litre. The dose rates measured on the sea surface remain relatively low between 0.04 and 0.1 microsievert per hour.
Samples collected on 26 March 330 metres east of the discharge point showed increasing concentrations. There were found to be 74,000 becquerel per litre for iodine-131, 12,000 becquerel per litre for caesium-137, and 12,000 becquerel per litre for caesium-134.
It is still too early to draw conclusions for expected concentrations in marine food, because the situation can change rapidly. Modelling results show an initial north-eastern transport of liquid releases from the damaged reactors...
Clearly, we, and all our relations, are in this grim situation for the long haul and it is deeply and profoundly sad.