suite ;

Cesium exceeding new limit detected in 51 food items in nine prefectures

Radioactive cesium was detected in 51 food products from nine prefectures in excess of a new government-set limit in the first month since it was introduced April 1, according to data released by the health ministry Tuesday.

The limit was exceeded in 337 cases, or 2.4 percent of 13,867 food samples examined by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

Cesium exceeding the previous allowable limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram was detected in 55 cases, while the new limit of 100 becquerels was exceeded in 282 cases.

Report : Tepco taking vacation from Fukushima for week-long holiday

Follow-up to : Weekends off at Fukushima : Not one plant worker could be seen says Asahi — Operational equipment lay idle — A cold eerie quietness

Japanese journalist Ryuichi Kino is reporting that Tepco has apparently gone on vacation for Golden Week, according to SimplyInfo :

TEPCO Gone On Vacation

Tweet from (Ryuichi KINO) @ Kinoryuichi
[Press conference] The Tokyo Electric Power, the rest of the GW [Golden Week]. Following after the holidays. According to TEPCO, I rest a press conference “between the GW does not have much work on the premises.” Whether this explanation is true, can not be examined because they can not look in your own. Because the relationship between patrol and maintenance without breaks or contact of broken or leaking is expected to come.

Head of Fukushima plant : “Explosion occurred INSIDE the containment vessel” at Reactor No. 2 — Contradicts official statements

Up to 20 Million Tons of Japan’s Tsunami Debris Expected on U.S. Shores

Reality In Fukushima – Heart Breaking Instagram Photos

Heartbreaking instagram photos of live radiation monitoring in Fukushima reveal men, woman, and children living in a highly radioactive environment assured by their government everything is safe

Please consider donating to The Fukushima Diary to support more inspired reporting like this.

Hydrogen levels continue rising at Reactor No. 2 — Now above .50%, highest in months — Explosion risk at 4%

33% of prized bird species disappears after summer near Fukushima — Those making it back “were in a poor condition” says New Zealand gov’t researcher

Peter Daley on the Fukushima Radiation Cloud over Australia & NZ

Peter Daley from Caloundra in Queensland, is the researcher who blew the whistle on the radiation cloud over Australia then carried on over to the South Island of NZ, passing over Dunedin.

Back on the 8th of January of this year Peter had programed his new high tech geiger counter to sound an alarm if radiation far above background radiation was measured.

Japan Times on Melt Through : “Molten ‘lava’ melted bottom of containment vessel,” says nuclear engineer given access by top official — Huge amounts of fission materials released into environment

omiuri : “The worst-case scenario is a China syndrome” [...] A China syndrome refers to a situation in which nuclear fuel in a reactor melts and goes through a containment vessel -Masao Yoshida, former chief of the Fukushima Daiichi plant

May 6th, 2012 | 23 comments

Caldicott : Fukushima radiation will be reaching you quite soon on US West Coast — I don’t think I’d be surfing (VIDEO)

09:27 AM EST on May 6th, 2012 | 23 comments

When radioactive cesium enters body, 75% lodges in muscle tissue including heart

09:52 PM EST on May 5th, 2012 | 50 comments

Gundersen : Unit 4 reactor building has not been reinforced — Floor of fuel pool was, but not strong as original

03:34 PM EST on May 5th, 2012 | 53 comments

Experts : NRC letting threat fester at Unit 4 because acknowledging it would call into question safety at dozens of identically designed nuclear plants US in

12:57 PM EST on May 5th, 2012 | 44 comments

Report : Concern that a subsidence in the earth under unit 4 could cause its collapse

10:57 AM EST on May 5th, 2012 | 64 comments

‘Doomsday-like’ radiation release if fire in pool at unit 4 — “It would be a global catastrophe… it already has been, but it would dwarf what’s already happened” -Nuclear Waste Expert

09:33 AM EST on May 5th, 2012 | 65 comments

More from Sen. Wyden : Fukushima spent fuel absolutely a national security issue — Radiation caused by pool failure “could reach the West Coast within days”