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Originally posted by Aircooled
reply to post by thorfourwinds
Wow. I hope your place wasn't damaged, like the ones in the pictures. Or are these pictures of your place ? That storm, even produced 60 mph winds up here, in the Ottawa valley. I think I'm about 1000 miles straight north of you bud. I have popped in on the thread a few times, but I guess folks are getting burned out, over this whole mess. The way it's being covered up. The way friends and neighbors look at you, when you try to clue them in. The fact that our representatives, are helping Tepco poison the world. I still say it's a great thread. Maybe you'll see some action here yet. Hope so. All the best, fourwinds
... who can say that and keep a straight face?
19 May 2011
At this time, there is no public health threat in the U.S. related to radiation exposure. FDA, together with other agencies, is carefully monitoring any possibility for distribution of radiation to the United States.
At this time, theoretical models do not indicate that significant amounts of radiation will reach the U.S. coast or affect U.S. fishing waters.
source
23 April 2011
Japan Nuclear Iodine Radiation In San Francisco Milk Over 2600% Above EPA Drinking Water Limit
source
10 May 2011
Hawaii Farmers Treating Milk With Boron After Finding Radiation 2400 Times Above Safe Levels
source
EPA officials, however, [color=limegreen]refused to answer questions or make staff members available to explain the exact location and number of monitors, or the levels of radiation, if any, being recorded at existing monitors in California.
Margot Perez-Sullivan, a spokeswoman at the EPA’s regional headquarters in San Francisco, said the agency’s written statement would stand on its own.
In the unlikely scenario that pollutants could affect fish that have traveled to the U.S., FDA will work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to test seafood caught in those areas. Together, FDA and NOAA will also inspect facilities that process and sell seafood from those areas.
The FDA has claimed that there is no need to test Pacific fish for Japan nuclear radiation reports the Anchorage Daily News but when drilled on details by the reporter, the FDA [color=limegreen]refused to answer questions and gave the reporter the run-around.
The FDA says there will be no testing of fish until NOAA testing finds cause for alarm but NOAA [color=limegreen]refuses to answer questions on what kind of monitoring has been done.
source
25 April 2011
New EPA Radiation Tests Show Cesium in California Rainwater at Highest Level Since Crisis Began
source
3 May 2011
Hot Radioactive Particles in Seattle at 50% of Levels Seen in Tokyo
source
3 April 2011
140,000 Times More Iodine-131 Released at Fukushima Than Three Mile Island… Using March 22 Estimates
source
3 May 2011
Radiation In US Food Will Be Nationwide Problem, Not Just Regional, From Fukushima Nuclear Radioactive Fallout
source
3 June 2011
5.77 microsieverts per hour of radiation measured near Tokyo at ground level — Government “is desperately trying to keep it quiet...”
source
(San Francisco) – Physics Professor Paolo Scampa announced March 23, 2011 that the four destroyed reactors at Fukushima, Japan was about 70 Billion Lethal Doses, finely divided. Professor Scampa used only official IAEA data (International Atomic Energy Agency).
According to the US Census Bureau, there are approximately 6 Billion, 907 Million people on Earth today.
The wrecked General Electric nuclear reactors contained enough radioactive, highly poisonous fuel to kill every person on Earth about 10 times.
The poison is in the atmosphere and spreading all over the world from Japan in 9 to 10 days.
www.infiniteunknown.net...
From their site: "This simulation is a so-called "worst case scenario" with continuous release rate. The value of 0.001 Bq/m3 correspond to approximate one millionth of the concentration at the source.
At distances more than appr. 2000 km away from the source, the concentrations are not harmful to health. The simulation starts fictitious at 15.03. 00 UTC and will continue to run in order to demonstrate the intercontinental transport.
When exact release rates are published we will restart the simulation with reliable values."
The poison is in the atmosphere and spreading all over the world from Japan in 9 to 10 days.
The observational data of the CTBTO now show a clear decrease of the worldwide radioactive concentrations outside of Japan.
Therefore we now do not continue with the predictions for the northern hemisphere. We thank you for your lively interest in our work, for many questions and comments.
(Wall Street Journal) –The U.S. government said Wednesday that traces of radiation have been found in milk in Washington state, but said the amounts are far too low to trigger any public-health concern.
The Environmental Protection Agency said a March 25 sample of milk produced in the Spokane, Wash., area contained a 0.8 pico curies per literlevel of iodine-131, which it said was less than one five-thousandth of the safety safety guideline set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The EPA said it increased monitoring after radiation leaked from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. It expects more such findings in coming days, but in amounts “far below levels of public-health concern, including for infants and children.”
Iodine-131 has a half-life of about eight days, meaning levels should fade quickly. “These findings are a minuscule amount compared to what people experience every day,” the agency said.
An international advisory body has recommended the Japanese government temporarily raise the annual limit of radiation exposure for the general public in light of the ongoing crisis at the quake- and tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
The government stipulates that regular citizens in Japan should be exposed to no more than 1 millisievert of radiation per year, but the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) on March 21 recommended the limit be tentatively raised to 20 to 100 millisieverts per year, with the nuclear crisis showing no signs of abating.
The institution pointed out that even if the power plant comes safely out of the critical situation, areas affected by the accident will remain radioactive for many years to come. Therefore, it suggested, even after the power plant crisis is resolved, the government should keep the upper limit at 1 to 20 millisieverts per year before it gradually brings it back to its original 1, in order
to prevent residents of Fukushima Prefecture from abandoning their hometowns.
Both targets proposed by the advisory body greatly exceed the current limit set by the Japanese government, but the ICRP — which normally recommends the annual limit of radiation exposure for nuclear facility workers be set at 50 millisieverts and that for the general public at 1 millisievert — says the proposal is to protect the future of areas facing radioactive contamination.
It is said that radiation exposure in excess of 100 millisieverts per year may slightly increase the risk of cancer.
WASHINGTON – During detailed filter analyses from 12 RadNet air monitor locations across the nation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified [color=limegreen]trace amounts of radioactive isotopes consistent with the Japanese nuclear incident.
Some of the filter results show levels slightly higher than those found by EPA monitors last week and a Department of Energy monitor the week before. These types of findings are to be expected in the coming days and are still far below levels of public health concern.
EPA’s samples were captured by monitors in Alaska, Alabama, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands and Washington state over the past week and sent to EPA scientists for detailed laboratory analysis. Detailed information on this latest round of filter results can be found at: epa.gov...
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday reported finding elevated levels of iodine-131, a product of nuclear fission, in rainwater in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The levels exceed the maximum contaminant level (MCL) permitted in drinking water, but EPA continues to assure the public there is no need for alarm.
(...)
Note: Since the post was originally published, the Environmental Protection Agency launched a new open-data system where it posts laboratory results from its sampling of air, precipitation, drinking water and milk. The new system can be found here: RadNet Sampling Data.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s RadNet system is designed to detect radiation from accidents like the Fukushima disaster in Japan and from foreign nuclear tests. It displays a map of the United States with monitoring stations highlighted. Click on one for a graphic representation of its data.
Governor Corbett Says Public Water Supply Testing Finds No Risk to Public From Radioactivity Found in Rainwater, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, March 28, 2011:
The [Iodine-131] numbers reported in the rainwater samples in Pennsylvania range from 40-100 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). Although these are levels above the background levels historically reported in these areas, they are still about 25 times below the level that would be of concern. The federal drinking water standard for Iodine-131 is three pCi/L. …
On Friday, rainwater samples were taken in Harrisburg, where levels were 41 pCi/L and at nuclear power plants at TMI and Limerick, where levels were 90 to 100 pCi/L.
Corbett emphasized that the drinking water is safe and there is no cause for health concerns. …
“Rainwater is not typically directly consumed,” Corbett said. “However, [color=limegreen]people might get alarmed by making what would be an inappropriate connection from rainwater to drinking water. By testing the drinking water, we can assure people that the water is safe.” …
EPA officials have said they are monitoring the air carefully because of the leaks and explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant following a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in mid-March.
Several EPA air monitors across the nation have detected very low levels of radioactive material, consistent with estimated releases from the damaged nuclear reactors, according to www.epa.gov.
EPA also has stepped up monitoring of precipitation, milk and drinking water, and officials said radioactivity detected has been far below levels of public health concern.
Berlin / Munich. The consumer organization foodwatch and the Environment Institute Munich eV have criticized the information policy of the federal government on food safety after the nuclear disaster in Japan. Federal Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner as in days of “enhanced control measures” and “special protection standards ” – it informs the public but does not make clear the fact that the EU-wide limit values for the radioactive contamination of foodstuffs from the affected areas in Japan increased over the weekend.
It was previously a cumulative radioactivity of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 and allowed maximum of 600 becquerels per kilogram, this past weekend up to 20 times higher ceilings of up to 12,500 becquerels per kilogram for certain products in Japan in force.
March 31st, 2011 at 06:33 PM
UCB Rain Water Sampling Results, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Nuclear Engineering:
Iodine-131 was measured in a rainwater sample taken on the roof of Etcheverry Hall on UC Berkeley campus, March 23, 2011 from 9:06-18:00 PDT. The 3 Liters of rainwater collected contained 134 Becquerels of Iodine for an average of 20.1 Becquerel per liter, which equates to 543 Picocuries per liter .
The federal drinking water limit for Iodine-131 is 3 Picocuries per liter, putting the rainwater sample at 18,100% above the federal drinking water limit.
20.1 Becquerel per liter (Bq/L) = 543 Picocuries per liter (pCi/L)
The federal drinking water standard for Iodine-131 is 3 pCi/L.
Conversion calculator here.
Originally posted by thorfourwinds
We welcome all participation, comments and suggestions.
Originally posted by this_is_who_we_are
Originally posted by thorfourwinds
We welcome all participation, comments and suggestions.
Dear tfw,
You are the man. The information provided in this thread is priceless.
Sincerely,
TIWWA
Dear Sleeping Masses,
I suggest a diet rich in milk. We will be better off without you.
Sincerely,
TIWWA
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e994ecb3ec32.jpg[/atsimg]
ETA: How has this thread been so overwhelmingly overlooked? What the deuce!
edit on 6/13/2011 by this_is_who_we_are because: ETA
Originally posted by this_is_who_we_are
Dear Sleeping Masses,
I suggest a diet rich in milk. We will be better off without you.
Sincerely,
TIWWA
ETA: How has this thread been so overwhelmingly overlooked? What the deuce!
Since the Fukushima accident we have seen a stream of experts on radiation telling us not to worry, that the doses are too low, that the accident is nothing like Chernobyl and so forth. They appear on television and we read their articles in the newspapers and online. Fortunately the majority of the public don’t believe them.
(...)
And in an interview with me in Stockholm in 2009, Dr Jack Valentin, the ex-Scientific Secretary of the ICRP conceded this, and also made the statement that the ICRP risk model, the one used by all governments to assess the outcome of accidents like Fukushima, was unsafe and could not be used. You can see this interview on the internet, on www.vimeo.com.
Why is the ICRP model unsafe?
Because it is based on “absorbed dose”. This is average radiation energy in Joules divided by the mass of living tissue into which it is diluted. A milliSievert is one milliJoule of energy diluted into one kilogram of tissue.
As such, it would not distinguish between warming yourself in front of a fire and eating a red hot coal. It is the local distribution of energy that is the problem.
The dose from a singly internal alpha particle track to a single cell is 500mSv! The dose to the whole body from the same alpha track is 5 x 10-11 mSv. That is 0.000000000005mSv. But it is the dose to the cell that causes the genetic damage and the ultimate cancer.
The cancer yield per unit dose employed by ICRP is based entirely on external acute high dose radiation at Hiroshima, where the average dose to a cell was the same for all cells.
There is a gap between them and us.
Between the phoney scientists and the public who don’t believe what they say.
Between those who are employed and paid to protect us from radioactive pollution and those who die from its consequences.
Between those who talk down what is arguably the greatest public health scandal in human history, and the facts that they ignore.
more
U.S. states, which aren't recommending protective measures for the public, are reporting tiny amounts of radioactive iodine known as Iodine-131 that is seen in the early stages of a nuclear reaction. It has a short half-life of eight days, meaning that in that time, half of it will have decayed to a non-radioactive state, a process that will continue until it is undetectable, Mr. Matus said.
In Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, public officials said radiation found in rainwater last week posed no threat to drinking water. Pennsylvania repeatedly tested the drinking water from six regions in the state over the weekend, but detected no Iodine-131, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said in a statement Monday.
People might "get alarmed by making what would be an [color=limegreen]inappropriate connection from rainwater to drinking water," Mr. Corbett said in a statement.
Governor Corbett Says Public Water Supply Testing Finds No Risk to Public From Radioactivity Found in Rainwater, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, March 28, 2011:
The (Iodine-131) numbers reported in the rainwater samples in Pennsylvania range from 40-100 picocuries per liter (pCi/L). Although these are levels above the background levels historically reported in these areas, they are still about 25 times below the level that would be of concern. The federal drinking water standard for Iodine-131 is three pCi/L. …
On Friday, rainwater samples were taken in Harrisburg, where levels were 41 pCi/L and at nuclear power plants at TMI and Limerick, where levels were 90 to 100 pCi/L.
Corbett emphasized that the drinking water is safe and there is no cause for health concerns. …
“Rainwater is not typically directly consumed,” Corbett said. “However, people might get alarmed by making what would be [color=limegreen]an inappropriate connection from rainwater to drinking water. By testing the drinking water, we can assure people that the water is safe.” …
(...)
Generally, "the stuff will be spread in a long stream and, as it spreads, it becomes quite dilute," said research scientist Tony VanCuren at the California Air Resources Board.
Under current conditions, particles from the Fukushima complex would take about a week or so to cross the Pacific.
Typically, the particles will stay aloft until washed out of the air by rain or buffeted to lower altitude by turbulence, creating an unpredictable patchwork of fallout.
more
Cesium-137 has been detected in drinking water and milk here in the United States. Cesium and Tellurium were found in Boise, Las Vegas, Nome and Dutch Harbor, Honolulu, Kauai and Oahu, Anaheim, Riverside, San Francisco, and San Bernardino, Jacksonville and Orlando, Salt Lake City, Guam, and Saipan while Uranium-234, with a half-life of 245,500 years has been found in Hawaii, California, and Washington.
The EPA has radiation monitoring sites situated around the country.
Radioactive isotopes spread through the atmosphere accumulate in milk after they fall to earth in rain or dust and settle on vegetation, where they are ingested by grazing cattle. Iodine-131 is known to accumulate in the thyroid gland, where it can cause cancer and other thyroid diseases. Cesium-137 accumulates in the body’s soft tissues and bone marrow where it increases risk of cancer.
more
“On April 4, the Japanese government also has requested the Japan Meteorological Society and Japanese universities not to release data from radiation measurement to avoid “public panic”. Rainwater samples have all demonstrated elevated concentrations of radioactive Tellurium-02, Ruthenium-04 and Technetium-04.
“280 sensors to measure radiation release from atomic bomb testing were established under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996. These sensors are detecting levels equivalent to Chernobyl releases. One scientist, Gerhard Wotawa, noted, ‘I’ve never seen data like this in my career.’
Radiation has reached the EPA's maximum contaminant level in some milk samples.
Radiation from Japan has been detected in drinking water in 13 more American cities, and Cesium-137 has been found in American milk—in Montpelier, Vermont—for the first time since the Japan nuclear disaster began, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency late Friday.
Milk samples from Phoenix and Los Angeles contained Iodine-131 at levels roughly equal to the maximum contaminant level permitted by EPA in drinking water, the data shows. The Phoenix sample contained 3.2 picoCuries per liter of Iodine-131. The Los Angeles sample contained 2.9.
The EPA maximum contaminant level is 3.0, but this is a conservative standard designed to minimize exposure over a lifetime, so EPA does not consider these levels to pose a health threat. The FDA, not the EPA, regulates milk.
UPDATE: The FDA's Derived Intervention Level for Iodine-131 in milk is much higher: 4700 picoCuries per liter.
Read why.
Radioactive isotopes accumulate in milk after they spread through the atmosphere, fall to earth in rain or dust, and settle on vegetation, where they are ingested by grazing cattle. Iodine-131 is known to accumulate in the thyroid gland, where it can cause cancer and other thyroid diseases. Cesium-137 accumulates in the body’s soft tissues, where it increases risk of cancer, according to EPA.
A rainwater sample collected in Boise on March 27 contained 390 picocures per liter of iodine-131, plus 41 of cesium-134 and 36 of cesium-137. EPA released this result for the first time yesterday. Typically several days pass between sample collection and data release because of the time required to collect, transport and analyze the samples.
But the EPA drinking-water data includes one outlier—an unusually, but not dangerously, high reading in a drinking water sample from Chatanooga, Tennessee.
The Watts Bar Dam site in Spring City, Tennessee
The sample was collected at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah nuclear plant. A Tennessee official told the Chatanooga Times last week that radiation from Japan had been detected at Sequoyah but is “1,000 to 10,000 times below any levels of concern.”
The 1.6 picocures per liter reported by the EPA on Friday is slightly more than half the maximum contaminant level permitted in drinking water, but more uniquely, it is many times higher than all the other drinking water samples collected in the U.S.
more
The flow of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean near Japan's distressed nuclear power plant has stopped, the plant's owners said.
The water was escaping from a concrete pit with a large crack in it, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. Officials said the company used a substance called liquid glass to seal the crack and the leak stopped Wednesday morning.
The release of radioactive waste has raised concerns in Japan and elsewhere about the safety of seafood. On Tuesday, Japan's government set its first radiation safety standards for fish after radioactive contamination in nearby seawater was measured at several million times the legal limit.
[color=limegreen]TEPCO insisted that the radiation will rapidly disperse and that it poses no immediate danger.
But an expert said exposure to the highly concentrated levels near the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant could cause immediate injury and that the leaks could result in residual contamination of the sea in the area.
more
… KIRO 7 obtained samples of seaweed from Budd Inlet near Olympia two weeks ago. Professor Kris Starosta (a nuclear scientist) at Simon Fraser University confirmed the presence of radioactive Iodine Monday.
“We have seen Iodine 131 in the sample you sent us,” he said. “I think it’s pretty clear by now this must be Iodine 131 from releases from Fukushima.” …
“I think it is surprising,” Starosta said. “I guess I was assuming it wouldn’t reach this far, but it did.” …
more
A British professor and expert on the health effects of ionizing radiation told Alex Jones today evidence points toward a nuclear explosion occurring at the Fukushima Daiichi complex. Two explosions at the plant in March were described as hydrogen gas explosions by Japanese officials and the corporate media.
Using ratios of the radionuclides Xenon 133 and Xenon 133m which they measured by gamma spectrometer, the Russians demonstrated that the Chernobyl explosion was a fission criticality explosion and not principally a hydrogen explosion as has been claimed.
“I believe that the explosion of the No 3 reactor may have also involved criticality but this must await the release of data on measurements of the Xenon isotope ratios,” he writes in a statement on Fukushima and Chernobyl emailed to Infowars.com.
Busby further notes that the surface contamination and of dose rates 60 kilometers out from the Fukushima site on March 17 exceeded that released at Chernobyl.
He explains in his statement that the damaged reactors at Fukushima “are now continuing to fission. It is hoped that there will be no separation of plutonium and possible nuclear explosion. I feel that this is unlikely now.” Short of an actual plutonium explosion, the reactors remain open to the air and will continue to “fission and release radionuclides for years unless something drastic is done.”
Dr. Busby noted a precedent for the dire scenario now unfolding – a nuclear explosion at a plutonium production reprocessing plant in the former Soviet Union in 1957.
The incident at the Mayak facility was the second-worst nuclear accident in history after the Chernobyl disaster. The explosion released 50-100 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste and contaminated a huge territory in the eastern Urals.
The Soviets kept the explosion secret for 30 years. According to a report on the accident, about 400,000 people in the region were irradiated following the explosion and other incidents at the plant.
Ural Mountains Radiation Pollution
We previously reported that Dutchsinse, who has been falling the Japan nuclear radiation forecasts being generated by different scientific organizations, stumbled across an entirely different set of radiation forecasts not released to the public.
more
Censored Japan Nuclear Radiation Forecasts Not Released To Public Found?
Japan nuclear radiation forecasts produced by the Norwegian Air Institute have apparently been censored and never released to the public. Here are three videos discuss these forecasts and making there existence public knowledge.
more
Originally posted by this_is_who_we_are
And a link for radiation preparedness from the CDC for your reference from this thread:
Radiation Emergency Preparedness, Treatment and Response Fact Sheets
www.abovetopsecret.com...
by predator0187
started on 5/24/2011 @ 12:38 AM
*Information is power. I will continue to link relevant and unbiased material to your thread unless doing so is contrary to your purpose.
Emergency Preparedness and Response
www.bt.cdc.gov...
Keep up the good work.edit on 6/15/2011 by this_is_who_we_are because: credit to predator0187 and a typo
Originally posted by unityemissions
So some people may be at an increased risk for cancers. Perhaps the whole globe will lose .02 years off of life expectancy. About a million is estimated to have died out so far from Chernobyl. Let's say this ends up being ten times worse.
And what
It's a trade off...quantity for quality.
This speeds up our evolution, and slightly thins the herd.
And what
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)
Fukushima Potential Releases, Xe-133 Total Column for April 15-April 19, 2011,
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), April 15, 2011.
Our apologies...
The item you requested does not exist on this server or cannot be served.
Please double check the web address or use the search function on this page to find what you are looking for.
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404 Not Found
Cesium levels up to 334,000 becquerels per kilogram
Local officials in Koriyama City, [color=limegreen]50 kilometres west of the plant, said they found sewage sludge containing 26,400 becquerels of radioactive caesium per kilogram, Jiji Press reported, from reduced sewage, had 334,000 becquerels per kilogram, Jiji said.
The caesium could have been released by explosions and fires at the nuclear plant after the quake and tsunami, and been washed into the sewage system by rain, the officials were quoted as saying. [...]
more
Radioactive Xenon up 75,000%
Leaks of radioactive materials from fuel rods have been suspected at a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, the Fukui prefectural government said Monday, citing a rise in density of the toxic substances in coolant water. [...]
According to Japan Atomic, 4.2 becquerels of iodine-133 and 3,900 becquerels of xenon gas were detected per cubic centimeter Monday, up from 2.1 and 5.2 becquerels, respectively, during previous measurements conducted last Tuesday.
more
After a thorough data review showing declining radiation levels related to the Japanese nuclear incident, EPA has returned to the [color=limegreen]...routine RadNet sampling and analysis process for precipitation, drinking water and milk
As always, EPA's RadNet system of more than 100 stationary monitors will continue to provide EPA scientists near-real-time data on the slightest fluctuations in background radiation levels.
Due to the consistently decreasing radiation levels, EPA is evaluating the need to continue operating the additional air monitors deployed in response to the Japan nuclear incident. EPA will continue to analyze air filters and cartridges from all air monitors as they arrive at the laboratory and will post the data as available.
In accordance with [color=limegreen]normal RadNet protocol, EPA will be analyzing milk and drinking water samples on a quarterly basis and precipitation samples as part of a monthly composite. The next round of milk and drinking water sampling will take place in approximately three months.
It is important to note that all of the radiation levels detected by RadNet monitors and sampling have been very low, are [color=limegreen]well below any level of public health concern, and continue to decrease over time.
EPA continues to work with federal partners to monitor the situation in Japan and stands prepared to accelerate radiation sampling and analysis if the need arises. Data will continue to be available on EPA's public website.
RadNet Sampling Data
Nuclear Event – North-America
RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service, May 3, 2011:
Summary:
• Event type: Nuclear Event
• Date / time [UTC]: 03/05/2011 [May 3] – 02:56:08
• Area: Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant
• County / State: State of Mississippi
• City: Port Gibson
Event Description:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating after a radioactive element is found in the Mississippi river. Authorities say it started at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson. They say they went to check for standing water in an abandoned unit, and found a build up of water. They decided to pump it out, and after taking a sample, they discovered the chemical “tritium” had been released into the river. Officials say the River has diluted the radioactive material, and is not causing harm to the people. Right now the incident is under investigation. There’s no word on how much Tritum was pumped into the water.
The Bay Citizen quotes Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear policy lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, as saying the EPA is [color-orange]purposely abandoning radiation monitoring to ensure that radiation measurements can be taken that will above levels of concern.
Hirsch is also quoted as saying “I really am horrified” about the “staggering” EPA announcement that the EPA will return to testing radiation levels in rainwater, drinking water and milk every three months.
The abandonment of radiation testing by the feds also comes on the heels of an announcement from a top environmental scientists that food across the entire United States will be affected by the Fukushima nuclear radioactive fallout and an analysis from Japan’s top nuclear expert that [color=limegreen]reactors 1, 2 and 3 have all suffered a complete nuclear meltdown.
The EPA’s announcement was made even in the face of the fact that the levels of radiation being released from the Fukushima nuclear power plant have just hit an all-time high and radiation levels detected in independent milk samples in the US continue to rise.
While playing around with the URL’s for Japan nuclear iodine forecasts I discovered a nuclear radiation forecast that was accidentally placed on the ZAMG website. The scientists inadvertently uploaded a radiation forecast showing a massive cloud of Fukushima Xenon radiation spreading over Japan and the United States instead of the iodine forecast for May 9, 2011.
more
Today TEPCO was forced to release 500 million becquerels of nuclear radiation from the Fukushima nuclear reactor into the environment at the Fukushima nuclear reactor to lower the radiation levels inside the plant. In recent days, levels of radiation have been measured high as [color=limegreen]700 millisieverts per hour (which would be deadly to workers in just a few hours) over the course of the last few days.
Japan downplayed the massive release nuclear radiation into the environment by saying the levels are only a small fraction of the amount TEPCO has already to dumped into the Pacific Ocean. Almost undoubtedly American corporate news will try to spin the release of radiation from by running another headline saying the levels in reactor 1 have dropped once again. That is, of course, if once the radioactive dust settles the levels inside reactor 1 do actually drop.
METI’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency disclosed on May 8 that opening the double door between the reactor building and the turbine building of the Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant will release the total of 500 million becquerels of radioactive materials into the environment.
The amount of radioactive materials this time would be 1/300th of the amount released into the ocean when 10,000 tons of water with comparatively low-level contamination was intentionally released; [color=limegreen]there is no effect on the environment, according to NISA.
Tokyo Electric disposing of low radioactive water in Pacific
TOKYO, April 5, Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Monday took the unprecedented measure of dumping 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water in the Pacific Ocean from a facility at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex to make room for the storage of more highly contaminated water, which is hampering restoration work at the plant.
With the total amount of water to reach 11,500 tons, including contaminated groundwater from near the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors, the government said the disposal was unavoidable in order to secure safety. The level of radioactive substances in the water is up to 500 times the legal limit permitted for release in the environment.
(...)
As for the impact of the disposal of the 11,500 tons of water, TEPCO said an adult's annual dose would be around 0.6 millisieverts if the person ate seaweed and fish caught nearby every day for a year, which is still about a quarter of the annual dose a person is usually exposed to from natural sources.
more
TEPCO estimates the added radiation because of the operation will be 0.44 microsieverts maximum within Fukushima I Nuke Plant. NISA, using SPEEDI, estimates 0.77 microsieverts of added radiation if the wind is from the east at 1 meter/second. Both numbers are lower than 1/1000th of 1 millisievert (1,000 microsieverts) which is the annual allowable radiation limit for the general public.
According to NISA, 500 million becquerels is the total of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium 137. The number was calculated by multiplying the amount of radioactive materials inside the reactor building that TEPCO measured on May 7 by 25,000 cubic meters (volume of the building). NISA assumed the radioactive materials to be released from the height of 29 meters (upper part of the reactor building) for 8 hours.
more
Thank you for your interest in the FLEXPART products for Fukushima. The Forecast system is no longer running.
“These products are highly uncertain based on limited information for the source terms. Please use with caution and understand that the values are likely to change once we obtain more information on the overall nature of the accident.” -NILU.
more
Serious setback” to stabilize Fukushima
One of the reactors at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant has been damaged more severely than originally thought, officials said Thursday — a serious setback for efforts to stabilize the radiation-leaking complex. [...]
The findings also indicate a greater-than-expected leak in that vessel. Radioactive water pouring from troubled reactors has pooled around the complex, hindering work to bring the plant under control. [...]
The low level of water indicates that the core of Unit 1 had a bigger breach than expected, said TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto. [...]
more
Fukushima Radiation Plume Forecast
last modified 2011-05-13 11:26
Thank you for your interest in the FLEXPART products for Fukushima.
The Forecast system is no longer running.
We have discontinued our Flexpart forecast of the atmospheric dispersal of radionucleides from Fukushima. This due to the fact that we do not have access to reliable release rates reflecting the current situation at the plant to be used as input to our simulations.
It is likely that the release of radioactive material is significantly reduced compared to the initial period, and ...that [color=limegreen]levels no longer pose a health risk at distance from the plant.
We thank you for your interest in our FLEXPART products.
Radiation levels detected at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan rise to the highest levels yet hitting 1.2 sieverts per hour as TEPCO announced that it may not be able to follow through with the 9 month plan to stop the radiation leaking from the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan.
A nuclear engineering professor from Kyoto adds that depending on the source of the high levels the plan to entomb the reactor to permanently end the radiation leak may not work at all. That statement echoes similar sentiments from nuclear expert Arnie Gunderson.
For conversion purposes, 1.12 seiverts per hour = 1,120 millsieverts pert hour = 1,120,000 microsieverts per hour.
More simply 1 sievert = 1000 millisievert = 1,000,000 microsieverts
Nuclear reaction could have restarted
As Nature News’ Geoff Brumfiel reports, workers went into the unit recently “to recalibrate some of the sensors on the reactor.” Much to their surprise and dismay, they found that the core experienced a total meltdown.
The zirconium alloy tubes that hold the uranium fuel pellets during normal operation all warped and the uranium is now lying at the bottom of the pressure vessel, or possibly even outside of it in the basement below or outside the concrete containment building.
With all the fuel piled up at the bottom, there is some danger that the nuclear reaction could have restarted. As of now, engineers on the scene aren’t sure what happened.
[...] Reactor restart? [...]
Some have theorized that with all the fuel at the bottom of the vessel, unit 1 may have actually restarted its nuclear reactions. If that had happened, the fuel would be pumping out some portion of its normal 1380 megawatts of thermal power—probably enough to melt through the thick steal reactor pressure vessel. It would have dropped onto a concrete slab below (the basemat), where it would have hopefully been spread out, effectively diffusing the chain reaction. [...]
[A] note from the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) quotes Banri Kaieda, the nation’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister, as saying that it is “a fact” that there were holes created by the meltdown. That would likely mean at least some of the uranium fuel is now lying on the basemat below, or perhaps even outside the concrete containment.
[...]
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And like the No. 1 reactor, the melted fuel appears to have created holes in the pressure vessel of the No. 3 reactor, according to the data of Tokyo Electric Power Co. released May 16. [...]
At the No. 3 reactor, the melted fuel may have burned through the pressure vessel to the containment vessel, the data showed. [...]
According to the data, the pressure in the pressure vessel of the No. 2 reactor dropped at 6:43 p.m. on March 15. A similar drop in pressure also took place at the No. 3 reactor at 11:50 p.m. on March 16.
Those declines were apparently the result of holes made in the pressure vessels. [...] it appears that melted nuclear fuel formed new holes in the pressure vessels. [...]
Radioactive materials, such as technetium, produced when nuclear fuel rods are damaged, have been detected in water in the No. 3 reactor building. That discovery has raised speculation that the melted nuclear fuel has breached the pressure vessel and landed in the containment vessel.
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Data shows meltdowns occurred at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, creating huge problems for the plant operator that had presented a more optimistic scenario. [...]
Goshi Hosono, special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, acknowledged the likelihood of meltdowns at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors.
“We have to assume that meltdowns have taken place,” Hosono said at a news conference May 16. [...]
“When highly contaminated water was found at the No. 2 reactor building in late March, we recognized that a meltdown had taken place. So I informed the government,” [Haruki Madarame, chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission] said. [...]
TEPCO had said it believed that only a portion of the nuclear fuel rods had melted. Now, it appears that all parts of the fuel rods have melted. [...]
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Pressure Vessel is “completely broken” says Kyoto U. nuclear professor
[...]
Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University Professor Akira Hiroshi Koide is “If 冷Yasenaku loss of power in the reactor can lead to early meltdown should have been able to assume.’s TEPCO it has limited fuel damage The description will be completely mistaken.. too late publication of the data well, “he said.
TEPCO In this analysis, “damaging the pressure vessel is not large,” but explained, Assistant Professor Koide the “pressure vessel is completely broken, a hole in the bottom of the vessel containing the molten fuel, reactor are causing a large amount of contaminated water leaking in the basement of the building “to estimate. [...]
[...] According to TEPCO, the data analysis shows that damage to the RPV is not extensive. However, (Hiroaki Koide of Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute) thinks “The RPV has been completely damaged, the melted core bore a hole at the bottom of the Containment Vessel, causing the large amount of contaminated water to leak into the ground beneath the reactor building.” [...]
BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The operator of the Fukushima Nuclear plant, TEPCO, says it's trying to determine whether the facility was actually damaged by the earthquake on March 11th, rather than the resulting tsunami.
TEPCO also says fuel rods in the facility's number one reactor have completely melted down.
A spokesman for TEPCO has outlined a new analysis of the crisis.
A review of data suggests the number 1 reactor's fuel rods were fully exposed within five hours of the quake, causing them to heat rapidly.
By the next morning - just 16 hours later - the rods had largely melted down. If the new data analysis is correct, it means the facility was mainly damaged by the quake itself - NOT the resulting tsunami, as previously thought.
The No. 2 and No. 3 reactors are thought to have gone through a similar process, but with only 30 percent damage to their fuel rods.
TEPCO has now decided to send a new team inside the plant to check the accuracy of the findings.
In response, Prime Minister Naoto Kan told Japan's parliament that the company will release an updated timetable for resolving the crisis on Tuesday.
But Kan said stabilization of the reactors would still be limited to within six to nine months.
The new findings come as Japan on Friday ordered residents outside the established thirty-kilometer exclusion zone to leave their homes. Around 8-thousand people are to be relocated by the end of the month.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
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I recently programmed an application to pull all of the EPA radiation monitoring graphs for all major US cities and complied them into an easy to use web interface. Of course we took the data being reported with a grain of salt under the suspicion that the Feds were fiddling with the results.
Now, an investigative report looking into why the much of the EPA radiation monitoring equipment was offline when the Fukushima nuclear meltdown occurred reveals that EPA has in fact rigged radiation monitoring equipment to report lower values of radiation.
RadNet – the EPA’s front-line, radiological detection network is severely flawed and suffers from maintenance and reliability issues.
The lack of consistent data and the number of units offline (a techie term for broken) at the time they were most needed shows that the EPA was not prepared for this emergency.
Besides that fact the broken system left us all unprotected; the confusion, apprehension and fear witnessed as people try to wade through the incomplete and inaccurate data online is evidenced by an exchange on the UC Berkely website over this RadNet graph:
The graph shows that this monitoring station was one of the units actually running on 3/11.
The readings were significantly higher prior to 3/11 and drop to a much lower level afterwards.
This is an indication that the units were running in an uncalibrated condition and were adjusted only after the events at Fukushima.
Environmental Dimensions, Inc (EDI) has provided maintenance for EPA’s RadNet monitoring systems under a sole-source contract which can be viewed at the end of this article. The base amount of the contract is $238,000.00. This does not include materials and travel, which is billed back to the government as needed.
The contract was awarded to what is stated as a “Woman-owned 8(a) Small Disadvantaged Business“. The disadvantaged woman in this case is EDI company president Patricia S. Bradshaw, former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense appointed by George Bush.
Environmental Dimensions, inc. (EDi), provides quality environmental technical support services to: the Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Laboratories; US Army Corps of Engineers; Bureau of Indian Affairs; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and other government and commercial entities across the nation.
EDi is a woman-owned, small disadvantaged business with over 20 years of experience and a proven track record for delivering superior project management and other related technical support services.
Our success is based on our goal to not just meet our client’s expectations, but to exceed them! This is solidified by having a complete understanding of our client’s needs and having the ability to respond to those needs in a timely manner.
We credit our ability to do so through our management’s commitment to recruit and maintain highly qualified staff. EDi is a small business with prime contracting and subcontracting experience. EDi’s professional project managers possess many years of experience delivering superior project management for multi-faceted projects.
Over our many years of doing business, we have amassed a strong reputation for on-time delivery in the following areas of expertise:
• Program Development
• Project Management
• Waste Management
• Radiological Support Services
• Site/Facility Characterization
• Decontamination & Decommissioning
• Beryllium Support Services
• Maintenance and Operations
• Instrument Rental, Calibration, and Repair
• Other Technical Support Services
RadNet Overview
RadNet is a national network of monitoring stations that regularly collect air, precipitation, drinking water, and milk samples for analysis of radioactivity. The network has been operating continuously since 1973 and has been used to track environmental releases of radioactivity from nuclear weapons tests and nuclear accidents and to document the status and trends of environmental radioactivity. Data collected by RadNet and more detailed information on the RadNet system can be found at www.epa.gov... Another source of RadNet data, including a searchable database, is www.epa.gov...
Air Monitoring
The RadNet CDX Web site focuses on air monitoring. Air monitoring stations are sited throughout the United States, designed to detect and record various types of airborne radiation. RadNet has been upgraded to provide near real-time monitoring, and EPA continues to expand the network each year. The RadNet air network uses two different types of monitors: fixed (stationary) and deployable (mobile).
1. Fixed Air Monitors: Permanently mounted and continuously operating, each fixed monitor contains a high-volume air sampler, gamma and beta radiation detectors, and a computer that controls the monitor and sends data to a central database at least once an hour. The individual detectors within each monitor can discriminate between different types of radiation, including those that are naturally occurring. See the left side of Figure 1.
2. Deployable Air Monitors: Deployable monitors are portable and can be used for exercises and for rapid deployment in response to real events. The monitors have high- and low-volume air samplers, a gamma radiation level monitor, a data logger, and telecommunication systems that send data to the central database. Although deployable monitors do not discriminate the energy of gamma radiation, they do provide gamma exposure rates. See the right side of Figure 1.
Figure 1: Fixed (top) and Deployable (bottom) Monitors
Understanding the Data from the Fixed Monitors
Purpose of RadNet. RadNet is designed to provide information to decision makers and other professionals during radiological emergencies. During normal times, RadNet establishes and verifies background levels of radiation and documents any changes that might occur.
What Radiation Is Detected
RadNet fixed air monitors record gamma radiation from both natural and man-made gamma-emitting sources on the ground and in the air. Many forms of natural radiation – such as cosmic radiation and radon gas – fluctuate throughout the day in response to changing weather conditions. These daily and hourly fluctuations in radiation levels are normal.
Specific Radionuclide Detection
Although there are many radionuclides, each radionuclide emits unique radiations (energy), which can be used like a fingerprint to identify it. By studying the radiation energy spectrum, experts can discern which radionuclides are present around a monitor.
To make the identification process more efficient, RadNet organizes the gamma energy spectrum into ten contiguous ranges, termed Regions of Interest (ROIs). The fixed monitors report total gamma detections (counts) within each ROI. By tracking the long-term changes of values within each ROI at each monitor, one can roughly determine the increase or decrease of radionuclides at a specific location. These fluctuations may be routine, or they may indicate an abnormality. To precisely identify radionuclides, scientists at NAREL download the entire spectrum and analyze it using additional software. This feature is not available on the CDX Web site.
Data for Most Users. For most users of the RadNet CDX Web site, comparing radiation values from one ROI of one monitor over time will provide the most useful information. Such data will track the long-term fluctuations within a specific energy range at a single location. Comparing values between different locations will not provide useful information – because each reading depends heavily on the natural radioactivity present in each location.
Similarly, comparing the count totals within one ROI to the count totals in another ROI at the same location will not provide useful information; each ROI associates with a specific gamma energy range, and little can be understood by comparing the aggregate total of one range to that of another.
Understanding the Data from the Deployable Monitors
As stated above, radiation levels routinely fluctuate from hour-to-hour and day-to-day. The deployable monitor provides the overall gamma radiation level near the monitor. These levels are expected to vary as they do for the fixed monitors. Typical fluctuations can cause the overall gamma radiation level near a deployable monitor to change by a factor of two or even more.
EDI’s revenues have doubled in each of the past three years and they currently have 90 employees spread across offices in Albuquerque, Denver and Oak Ridge.
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"Other toxins aside, no amount of radiation is safe." In her book Nuclear Madness, Helen Caldicott explained:
“Lower doses of radiation can cause abnormalities of the immune system and can also cause leukemia five to ten years after exposure; (other) cancer(s), twelve to sixty years later; and genetic diseases and congenital anomalies in future generations.”
“Radioactive iodine releases from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi reactors may exceed those of Three Mile Island by over 100,000 times….While Chernobyl had one source of radioactivity, its reactor, there are seven leaking radiation sources at the Japanese site. Together, the three damaged reactors and four spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiicho contain (much) more long-lived radioactivity, notably cesium-137, than the Chernobyl reactor.”
Moreover, all radiation, especially large amounts, is harmful, cumulative, permanent and unforgiving.
“The radioactive (iodine-131) fallout is now as much as 73 percent of the daily radiation emitted from Chernobyl following its meltdown disaster.” For cesium-137, it’s 60%.
“I hate to say it, but I am pessimistic….We have to think of all six (reactors) going down, and the possibility of that happening is not low.”
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For the first two days after the accident, the wind blew east from Fukushima towards monitoring stations on the US west coast; on the third day it blew south-west over the Japanese monitoring station at Takasaki, then swung east again. Each day, readings for iodine-131 at Sacramento in California, or at Takasaki, both suggested the same amount of iodine was coming out of Fukushima, says Wotawa: 1.2 to 1.3 × 10 to the 17th becquerels per day.
(...)
In the 10 days it burned, Chernobyl put out 1.76 × 10 to the 18th becquerels of iodine-131, which amounts to only 50 per cent more per day than has been calculated for Fukushima Daiichi. It is not yet clear how long emissions from the Japanese plant will continue.
Similarly, says Wotawa, caesium-137 emissions are on the same order of magnitude as at Chernobyl. The Sacramento readings suggest it has emitted 5 × 10 to the 15th becquerels of caesium-137 per day; Chernobyl put out 8.5 × 10 to the 16th in total – around 70 per cent more per day.
New Scientist