The French and European authorities don’t appear to have grasped all the difficulties raised by the control of fish and other seafood products likely to have been contaminated by atmospheric deposits and liquid radioactive matter in the coastal and deep sea regions of the North West Pacific. This is the most productive area in the world. It is exploited by fleets from Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Russia. IUU fishing – illegal, non-declared and non-regulated – is very active here.

Global catches are approximately 20 million tonnes per year. Catches of Japanese anchovy and mackerel reach 1.5 million tonnes and 900 thousand tonnes per year respectively. Squid, cuttlefish and octopus catches are in the order of 1 million tonnes per year, and Japanese calamari and scallops are in the order of 1 million tonnes and 200 thousand tonnes per year respectively.

The French and European authorities don’t appear to have grasped all the difficulties raised by the control of fish and other seafood products likely to have been contaminated by atmospheric deposits and liquid radioactive matter in the coastal and deep sea regions of the North West Pacific. This is the most productive area in the world. It is exploited by fleets from Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Russia. IUU fishing – illegal, non-declared and non-regulated – is very active here.

Global catches are approximately 20 million tonnes per year. Catches of Japanese anchovy and mackerel reach 1.5 million tonnes and 900 thousand tonnes per year respectively. Squid, cuttlefish and octopus catches are in the order of 1 million tonnes per year, and Japanese calamari and scallops are in the order of 1 million tonnes and 200 thousand tonnes per year respectively.

France is prosperous in terms of nuclear activity yet poor when it comes to radioactivity detection systems.

The network of radiation detection devices distributed across France is extremely poor, even when the handful of devices controlled by IRSN independent laboratories is added to it. There isn’t even enough for one per departmental region. To ensure you are informed about abnormal rises in radioactivity levels it is better to live in Belgium as there are warning devices every 20km. Reinforcing telemetry network coverage is obviously essential for picking up as quickly as possible local peaks of radioactivity which may have been caused by road traffic, air, rail or maritime accidents, malicious activities, or malfunctioning nuclear or industrial installations dealing with radioactive sources on French territory, neighbouring countries, or further afield. The perimeter of this network is exclusively land based and the maritime domain is not included. The IRSN (French Nuclear Safety agency) hopes in the years to come to achieve a similar density of warning devices as seen in Belgium and Germany; more financial resources are still required to achieve this.

Considering the incertitude posed by the commercialization of the Nintendo 3Ds game console and the general or specific health risks for certain sections of the population at risk to 3D technology, the nongovernmental organization Robin des Bois called for ANSES – the National Agency for the Sanitation of Food, Work, and the Environment – to launch an inquiry at the end of January. This request was deemed acceptable, and a copy of it was transmitted to the ministers of tutelage of ANSES.

ANSES will deliver in a few months a warning on the health effects of 3D technology applied to screens in daily use: televisions, cell phones, and game consoles. This warning will also be carried by the technology recently employed by Nintendo.

Subject: Franco-Japanese nuclear entente

Despite the tragic events that are unfolding, the representatives of the PWR lobby are continuing to extol the virtues of a safe nuclear industry, as they did after Chernobyl.

Relegating Japan to the ranks of a technological third world and highlighting the dangers of an out-of-date sector, the chairman of Areva and the Minister for Industry are trying, amidst the debris, to save the French nuclear industry’s face and investments.

They forget that, for the last 30 years, the French Government and Areva have been the leading suppliers of the enriched uranium used to feed all the Japanese reactors. As part of this well-publicised and interdependent partnership, France delivered Tepco (Tokyo Electric Power Company) some Mox fuel, a mix of uranium and plutonium, and has thus added to the complexity and radiotoxicity of the crisis.