[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION, GLOBAL: U.S.S. Reagan sailors exposed during Fukushima, Japan humanitarian mission

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

IS THE US GOVERNMENT ABANDONING RADIATION-EXPOSED SAILORS?

SOFREP
April 7, 2021

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of some U.S. Navy sailors who claim they were poisoned by radiation during humanitarian relief efforts following the Fukushima reactor disaster in Japan in 2011. The dismissal was not on the claims being made in the suit but on grounds of procedure and jurisdiction. The plaintiffs were using the U.S. court to sue General Electric (GE) and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The dismissal found that California law could be applied to GE as the maker of the reactor but not against TEPCO under an exemption known as comity whereby U.S. law has limits in a foreign jurisdiction, in this case, residents of California suing under state law for events that occurred in Japan.

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and 15 other Navy ships were diverted on a mission of humanitarian disaster relief to Japan after a devastating earthquake, followed by a tsunami, hit the island nation in March of 2011 and resulted in the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant’s core reactors. No sailors were directly tasked with relief at the site of the nuclear powerplant itself where three of the reactor cores had melted down.

Within a year, hundreds of sailors were reporting severe health issues like myeloid leukemia and other cancers. Several have already died very premature deaths. There is some evidence that the Reagan steamed through a visible radioactive gray mist on approach and again later on its departure from the area. At the time, the U.S. Navy stated that no significant amount of radiation was detectable. It should be remembered that the USS Ronald Reagan is a nuclear-powered vessel that has advanced radiation detection equipment, protective gear, and a radiation safety culture among the crew.

…

For the entire article, see
https://sofrep.com/news/is-the-us-government-abandoning-radiation-exposed-sailors/

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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