The Ronald Reagan is still contaminated from Fukushima. Will it be used as the new "USS Maine" to start a major war?

The Ronald Reagan is still contaminated from Fukushima. Will it be used as the new "USS Maine" to start a major war?

SPUTNIK news reports:
US Strike Group Headed by USS Ronald Reagan Begins Patrol in Indo-Asia-Pacific
© REUTERS/ Yuya Shino

The US Navy Carrier Strike Group 5, comprising the USS Ronald Reagan, has left Japan for routine patrol in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, the Pacific Fleet said in a press release on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, guided-missile cruiser Shiloh, guided-missile destroyers Barry, John S, are included in the patrol, as well as McCain, McCampbell and Mustin, and aircraft from the Carrier Air Wing 5.

"Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 5 departed for patrol, May 16, to commence its routine operations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region," the release stated.

USS Ronald Reagan
CC0 / /
Troubles Chasing US Aircraft Carriers in Asia-Pacific Amid Tensions on Korean Peninsula
The release noted that the USS Ronald Reagan, flagship of the strike group, and Carrier Air Wing 5 planes are scheduled to conduct flight deck and carrier qualifications.

Ronald Reagan returned to operations on May 8 after more than five months’ maintenance.

Carrier Strike Group 5 is forward-deployed to Japan as part of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM.. IT IS STILL CONTAMINATED FROM FUKUSHIMA RADIATION

STARS AND STRIPES reports:

16 US ships that aided in Operation Tomodachi still contaminated with radiation

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Sixteen U.S. ships that participated in relief efforts after Japan’s nuclear disaster five years ago remain contaminated with low levels of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, top Navy officials told Stars and Stripes.

In all, 25 ships took part in Operation Tomadachi, the name given for the U.S. humanitarian aid operations after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011. The tsunami, whose waves reached runup heights of 130 feet, crippled the Fukushima plant, causing a nuclear meltdown.

In the years since the crisis, the ships have undergone cleanup efforts, the Navy said, and 13 Navy and three Military Sealift Command vessels still have some signs of contamination, mostly to ventilation systems, main engines and generators.

“The low levels of radioactivity that remain are in normally inaccessible areas that are controlled in accordance with stringent procedures,” the Navy said in an email to Stars and Stripes. “Work in these areas occurs mainly during major maintenance availabilities and requires workers to follow strict safety procedures.”

All normally accessible spaces and equipment aboard the ships have been surveyed and decontaminated, Vice Adm. William Hilarides, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, wrote to Stars and Stripes.

“The radioactive contamination found on the ships involved in Operation Tomodachi is at such low levels that it does not pose a health concern to the crews, their families, or maintenance personnel,” Hilarides said.

The largest U.S. ship to take part in the relief operation was the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, which normally carries a crew of more than 5,000 sailors. In 2014, three years after the disaster, the Reagan’s ventilation system was contaminated with 0.01 millirems of radiation per hour, according to the Navy. Nuclear Regulatory Commission guidelines advise no more than 2 millirems of radiation in one hour in any unrestricted area, and 100 millirems total in a calendar year from external and internal sources in unrestricted and controlled areas, so full-time exposure on the Reagan would be below that.

Plume of radiation

In the days after the tsunami hit the Fukushima complex, the plant suffered multiple explosions and reactors began to melt down.

Officials from the NRC told Congress that extremely high levels of radiation were being emitted from the impaired plant. Japanese nuclear experts said winds forced a radioactive plume out to sea, and efforts to keep fuel rods cool using sea water caused tons of radiated water to be dumped into the ocean.

The Reagan was dispatched to take part in relief efforts, arriving the next day. Navy officials say the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier stayed at least 100 nautical miles away from the damaged plant, but many sailors have disputed the Navy’s accounting, saying they were so close that they could see the plant.

The Navy has acknowledged that the Reagan passed through a plume of radiation. Navy images showed sailors with their faces covered, scrubbing the deck of the Reagan with soap and water as a precautionary measure afterward. The Reagan and sailors stayed off the coast of Japan for several weeks to aid their Japanese allies.

The multibillion-dollar ship, projected to last at least 50 years after its launch in 2001, then was taken offline for more than a year for “deep maintenance and modernization” at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Wash., according to Navy officials.

“Procedures were in place to survey, control and remove any low-level residual contamination,” the Navy said. “Personnel working on potentially contaminated systems were monitored with sensitive dosimeters, and no abnormal radiation exposures were identified.”

Upgrades and cleaning also took place at the ship’s next stop in San Diego.

Sailors who performed the work said it entailed entering spaces deep within the ship, testing for high levels of radiation, and if it was found, sanding, priming and painting the areas. They say there were given little to no protective gear, a claim that the Navy denies.