FUKUSHIMA RADIATION HITS US SAILORS

WERE THERE MORE US SAILORS CONTAMINATED BY FUKUSHIMA RADIATION THAN JAPANESE?

On March 11,2011, the FUKUSHIMA Daiichi power plant complex in northeasternn Japan was hit by a tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake just offshore. The plant lost power, it's cooling pumps stopped operating resulting in the melt down of three of the plants six reactors. The massive release of radiation was the largest since the Chernoble event in 1986, measuring 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Contaminated cooling water was released into the Pacific Ocean and large amounts of radioactive gases were spewed into the air when the containment structures of the three reactors were breached due to the build up of hydrogen gas and resulting explosions. The American-designed General Electric plants were old, had design flaws and were not expected to be operated without a backup electrical system which could continue to energize the critical cooling water pumps over a long time. A plume of contaminated highly radioactive air spread out over the adjoining Pacific Ocean carried by the prevailing westerly winds.

Into this plume of radioactivity sailed the USS Ronald Reagan, the US Navy's new (maiden voyage 2006) over 1000 foot long, nuclear powered aircraft carrier, capable of carrying over 100 planes. It was on its annual course to "show the flag" around the Pacific rim. On board were almost seven thousand young men and women of the US Navy. (The fact that the vessel was named after President Ronald Reagan carries with it a little bit of irony. Reagan, before serving as President, was famous as a long time spokesman for the General Electric company and the very same power plants involved at this juncture in the nuclear disaster.)

The admirals in Washington DC redirected the USS Ronald Reagan to provide humanitarian assistance to the Japanese. The ship was stationed off Sendai, Japan, a large city devastated by the tsunami. They apparently sailed up close to shore, coming into contact with the most contaminated portion of the radioactive plume. Here flight crews manned helicopters to ferry supplies, medicines, food and water to the victims of the tsunami, while Japanese helicopters landed, using the Reagan as a floating fuel depot. On March 13, 2011, while in this location the ship's officers recorded 0.6 mR/hr direct gamma radiation exposure from overhead clouds. (at this rate of exposure the recommended safe dosage limit for civilians of 2mR/hr) would have been exceeded in three to four hours. But the crew must have been exposed much longer since the ship remained in this area from at least March 13 through the 14. The ship's officers at this time gave the distance from the fulminating reactors as 130 miles. However to serve as a refueling depot for the Japanese helicopters and to fly US helicopter missions to shore the ship must have been very close to shore, perhaps as close as ten miles (as some crew members have reported). On the day following the high gamma radiation exposure ( 3-14-11) seventeen crew members from three helicopters squads were found to be contaminated by radiation from the Fukushima plume. As a result the ship was moved to a new location. On the 23 of March, after the ship was moved to a new location, the vessel was scrubbed down and attempts made to decontaminate for radiation. The crew remained on site in the area for approximately one month. During most of this time they were drinking, cooking with and showering with the ship's desalinated water taken from the sea around them. Though the membrane or reverse osmosis process removes most salts, it would probably have little effect on certqin dissolved radio nucleides in the water. When this source of contamination was discovered the crew was orderd not to drink, bathe in or use the ship's water system. Bottle water planned for the Japanese tsunami victims was diverted for use by the crew. In this way the crew of almost seven thousand may have been contaminated by ionizing radioactivity in their drinking and washing water.

I wonder why the captain did not take the ship through the Tsugaru Strait into the Sea of Japan where he might have avoided exposing his men and women to the air-borne radiation (and radioactive sea water). There his crew would have been able continue to serve the tsunami victims, but been relatively safe from contamination. But I wear no gold braid, have skippered only a ten meter sloop and have never sailed those seas.

Now almost four years later, the effects of the US Navy's unfortunate cruise to Japan on the men and women of the Ronald Reagan are becoming all too apparent. Fifty-one crew members have reported thyroid and parathyroid cancers, testicular cancers, loss of hair, leukemia, liver problems, other idopathic or undiagnosable diseases, and complaints typically associated with exposure to radiation. Sadly the story of these brave young men and women has been essentially ignored by our US media and press. The Navy, whose motto is "never leave anyone behind" seems to want this story and the sick sailors to simply fade away and disappear. Al Jazzera based in Quatar and Der Spiegel the newsmagazine of Germany have run stories but no reports have appeared in the US press. Read: Der Speigle, 2-05-15, US Navy Sailors Search for Justice after FUKUSHIMA Mission".

The USS Ronald Reagan returned to San Diego, it's home port, in September 2011. It lay in port only a few months when it was probably sent for a major decontamination. So by January of 2012 it was quickly and quietly dispatched to Washington State, at the Bremerton ship yard where it underwent "repairs and maintenance". She remained in Bremerton for a full year. She returned to the Pacific in 2015.