Japan Expands Exclusion Zone around Damaged Nuclear Plant, Greenpeace Calls for Radiation Investigation
Japanese authorities are widening the exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility as radiation levels remain high more than two months after the nuclear disaster. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Electric Power Company has revealed substantial damage occurred to the reactor cores at reactors 2 and 3 of the nuclear complex. Last week TEPCO acknowledged the fuel inside reactor 1 had apparently melted down, creating a hole in the chamber causing a leak of more than 3,000 tons of highly contaminated water. Greenpeace is urging Japan to start an investigation after high levels of radiation were found in seaweed off the coast of Fukushima. Ike Teuling is a radiation expert at Greenpeace.
Ike Teuling, Greenpeace radiation expert: “Although the Japanese government gave us only very limited permission to do our marine research, we did find radioactive seaweed with alarming high levels of contamination.”
Israeli Academics Call for Creation of Palestinian State
A group of prominent Israelis met Thursday in Tel Aviv to announce their support for the formation of an independent Palestinian state. Forty-seven leading Israeli cultural figures and academics signed a “Declaration of Independence from the Occupation.” Yaron Ezrahi is a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Yaron Ezrahi: “The subjugation of the Palestinian people by Israel is not only the elimination of Palestinian freedom, it also corrupts our freedom in the state of Israel.”
A group of Israeli protesters tried to disrupt the event. They heckled the gathering and called the participants traitors.
Chesapeake Energy Suspends Hydraulic Fracturing in Pennsylvania
Chesapeake Energy has suspended hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking,” at its natural gas wells in Pennsylvania after a large spill earlier this week. Thousands of gallons of toxic drilling fluid used in hydraulic fracturing spilled into a Pennsylvania waterway Tuesday night after a blowout at a natural gas well.