Fukushima Fallout: Sick U.S. Sailors Sue TEPCO After Exposure to Radiation 30x Above Normal

http://www.democracynow.org - Three years after the triple meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, scores of U.S. sailors and Marines are suing the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, for allegedly misleading the Navy about the level of radioactive contamination. Many of the service members who provided humanitarian relief during the disaster have experienced devastating health ailments since returning from Japan, ranging from leukemia to blindness to infertility to birth defects. We are joined by three guests: Lieutenant Steve Simmons, a U.S. Navy sailor who served on board the USS Ronald Reagan joined in the class-action lawsuit against TEPCO after suffering health problems; Charles Bonner, an attorney for the sailors; and Kyle Cleveland, sociology professor and associate director of the Institute for Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University's Japan campus in Tokyo. Cleveland recently published transcripts of the Navy's phone conversations about Fukushima that took place at the time of the disaster, which suggest commanders were also aware of the risk faced by sailors on the USS Ronald Reagan.