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What Are the Environmental Public Health Implications?
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Agency (U.S. EPA, 2012). A U.S. EPA O ce of Inspector General audit published more than 1 year after the incident, however, noted that many monitors were broken or had filters that were not maintained according to pro- cedure, thus impairing the reliability of the monitoring and critical reporting infrastruc- ture (U.S. EPA, 2012). Globally, 14 months after the disaster, the World Health Organization (WHO, 2012)
released its preliminary dose assessment that reported “probable partial” reactor core meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The report contained no discussion about the highly toxic mixed oxide (MOX) fuel in reactor Unit 3 that contained up to 6% plutonium (Union of Concerned Scientists, 2011). The prime minister of Japan stated, “Some may have concerns about Fukushima. Let me assure
you, the situation is under control. It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo” (Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet, 2013). Human-Caused Disaster The chair of the Fukushima Nuclear Acci- dent Independent Investigation Commission concluded, “It was a profoundly man-made disaster that could and should have been fore-
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March 2023 • our5(l o- 5=0ro5me5;(l e(l;/
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