"The U.S. 7th Fleet has
temporarily repositioned its ships and aircraft away from the Fukushima
Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant after detecting low level contamination in the air
and on its aircraft operating in the area. The source of this airborne
radioactivity is a radioactive plume released from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi
Nuclear Power Plant.
"For perspective, the maximum potential radiation dose received by any ship's
force personnel aboard the ship when it passed through the area was less than
the radiation exposure received from about one month of exposure to natural
background radiation from sources such as rocks, soil, and the sun."
Why would anyone believe that, having failed to detect (they say) the radioactive plume, the Navy has any credible way of knowing what exposure any sailor may have received? The Navy also claimed the Reagan was 100 miles away from Fukushima "at the time," not specified. The Navy further claimed that only 17 crew members in three helicopter crews were exposed, that the "low level radioactivity was easily removed" by washing with soap and water," and "no further contamination was detected."
This impossible-to-believe narrative was then effectively contradicted by the next paragraph of the press release:
"As a precautionary measure, USS Ronald Reagan and other U.S. 7th Fleet ships conducting disaster response operations in the area have moved out of the downwind direction from the site to assess the situation and determine what appropriate mitigating actions are necessary."
If no further contamination was detected, then it should be relatively easy to determine what appropriate mitigation actions were necessary.
Navy "supports the troops," at least until they really need it
According to individual reports, the Navy passed out iodine pills to officers and pilots, but not to most of the crew. The Navy also required crew members, before they could go on shore leave later in Thailand, to sign papers stating that they were healthy and couldn't sue the Navy. Clearly that would be mitigating for the Navy, even if it meant abandoning people whose potential radiation injuries wouldn't be showing up for months or years.
That's exactly what happened to Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel Hair, as reported in Stars and Stripes in July 2013. Hair is part of the lawsuit against TEPCO and, like the other plaintiffs, has classic symptoms of low level radiation poisoning. The article also minimizes the possible exposure on the Reagan, quoting a Navy spokesman who uses the exact same language as the 2011 press release to minimize Fukushima radiation levels.
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