[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION, GLOBAL: Possible nuclear leak from U.S. sub in Japan

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

[The other day I sent out an article on the U.S.S. Houston in Guam, but 
the Japanese dimension of the story may be more significant, because of 
the debate over stationing the U.S.S. George Washington there. - LS]

U.S. sub may have leaked radiation in Japan

By Norimitsu Onishi
International Herald Tribune
August 2, 2008

TOKYO: A U.S. nuclear-powered submarine may have leaked a small amount 
of radiation as it stopped by Japan in the spring and was then deployed 
throughout the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese government said Saturday.

The Japanese government said that it was informed Friday by the U.S. 
Navy that the submarine, the USS Houston, may have discharged an amount 
of radiation that was too small to be considered harmful.

The chief government spokesman, Nobutaka Machimura, said at a news 
conference that the radioactive amount - estimated at less than half a 
microcurie - was too insignificant to "affect the human body or the 
environment."

The submarine spent a week in March in Sasebo, in western Japan, before 
cruising to Guam and then Hawaii, where the leak was discovered during 
an inspection late last month, the Japanese government said.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/02/asia/japan.php
--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org