THE Radiation / Radioactive Thread (merged)

[bratticus]

Telegraph Live blog
21.28 According to Japanese officials, 22 people have been confirmed to have suffered radiation contamination while up to 190 may have been exposed. No health problems have been detected, with experts claiming as long as the radiation stays on the surface of the clothing or skin, there will be no health risk.

[Ferretlover]

View map and timescale at http://www.rense.com/general93/fef.htm
also

Extensive damage: Experts are now debating whether a radiation cloud could reach the West Coast

meltdown

[Sixstrings]

Japan's nightmare gets even WORSE: All THREE damaged nuclear reactors now in 'meltdown' at tsunami-hit power station

Well that's the nightmare scenario isn't it.. all three rectors in meltdown, and a radiation tsunami on the way..

On the other hand, I'm getting tired of reading these articles and trying to parse out whether to worry or not. First they show this map:


Consequences of meltdown: this graphic shows how a full-scale meltdown could affect the United States

But then the last paragraph of the article says don't worry:

Unlike Chernobyl, there is no chance that this could become an international incident; Japan is simply too far away from anywhere else for the radiation to spread, and the most serious radioactive contaminant – Iodine-131 – has a half-life of just eight days. Furthermore, the Japanese government is rich, competent and open – which the Soviet authorities in 1986 conspicuously were not.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365781/Japan-earthquake-tsunami-All-3-Fukushima-nuclear-plant-reactors-meltdown.html

So which is it.. fallout can hit the US, or US is too far away.. both statements right there in the same article.

If I had to guess at this point I'd say this is mostly a problem for the Japanese. If any fallout reaches us, we'll never know about it just some folks will be coming down with cancer in 15 years and never know it was from this.

[KevO]

If I had to guess at this point I'd say this is mostly a problem for the Japanese. If any fallout reaches us, we'll never know about it just some folks will be coming down with cancer in 15 years and never know it was from this.

I think you will thanks to the internet but it may be a bit late in coming from the 'mainstream'
If I lived in the west US, I'd be doing some serious net surfing for a couple of days to gauge what is happening and then, if it looks bad, I would panic buy food and fuel and then pack up and move east. If one has a family that is a duty.
Of course if it does hit the US west coast in any measure, it will spread across the whole US and a couple of weeks later, thanks to the jet stream, arrive in the UK - so I'll be watching this also and if I have to I will pack up my family and get into Southern Spain for the summer.
Americans would do well to get into southern Mexico

[TheDude]

Or not: Radiation from Japan not likely to harm North - Wunder Blog ...

Some of the plumes move over eastern Siberia, Alaska, Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in 5 - 7 days. Such a long time spent over water will mean that the vast majority of the radioactive particles will settle out of the atmosphere or get caught up in precipitation and rained out. It is highly unlikely that any radiation capable of causing harm to people will be left in atmosphere after seven days and 2000+ miles of travel distance. Even the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which had a far more serious release of radioactivity, was unable to spread significant contamination more than about 1000 miles.

Jeff will have another post later today. He knows his stuff.

AdvancedNano provides a handy Radiation Chart. Living on the Colorado Plateau is worse for you than having a chest X-Ray.

Meanwhile we can be continue to be poisoned with homebrew toxins of all sorts: MODFLOW in action at a Superfund Site in California | GroundwaterGo Blog

Right next door, the Montrose Chemical Plant manufactured chemical products from 1947 to 1983, including DDT pesticide. Soils and groundwater in the vicinity are contaminated with DDT and the plant discharged DDT-laced waste water to local sewers, contaminating drainage channels and ocean sediments.2

Beneath these two facilities, soil and groundwater are polluted with industrial by-products, including chlorobenzene, DDT, parachlorobenzene sulfonic acid, benzene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, and dichloroethylene. These substances are present beneath the facility as non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL), dissolved in groundwater, and adsorbed to soils, and, if left untreated, these pollutants could pose a possible threat to the public.

But they're our poisons! USA #1! Well, sort of. YT: China Celebrates Status As Number One Polluter.

[KevO]

a new and updated map from Reuters at
http://live.reuters.com/Event/Japan_earthquake2

[ColossalContrarian]

Jeff will have another post later today. He knows his stuff.

AdvancedNano provides a handy Radiation Chart. Living on the Colorado Plateau is worse for you than having a chest X-Ray.
[/url].

I think this is over played. I live in Denver and have a cabin at 9500' so I should be glowing and dead per the MSM and other sources. It's estimated I get 6000(whatever? per year) so when people tell me things like 30+(whatever's), I'm thinking I get 60+ per day and these people are scared. Sure I could be fuct but not as bad as people make it out to be.

[Lore]

Equal to 2 min. of sunshine on the West Coast.

[TheDude]

At least you're not an AirlinePilot.

[dukey]

they are really down playing the catastrophe. This might be one of the greatest disasters ever in the history of man kind.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima ... d=13141287

[timmac]

they are really down playing the catastrophe. This might be one of the greatest disasters ever in the history of man kind.

Well you better hold on to your hat because there's more to come and its not years away either..

The dog days are over and the horsemen are coming....

[Ferretlover]

I find this a little strange at the speed the fed is moving on this, I mean really now they usally wait until its to late but they are going to have more monitoring stations setup and running by this Friday, they didn't even move this fast with Katerina, do they suspect something and not saying.

yahoo

[timmac]

Even the New York Times is now showing a plume projection coming into the U.S.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/science/plume-graphic.html?ref=science

[timmac]

DIY Treatments for Nuclear Contamination


http://blog.imva.info/medicine/treatments-nuclear-contamination

http://safespaceprotection.com/resources/healthy-tips-anti-radiation-diet.html

[Sixstrings]

A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.

Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule.

(snip)

For instance, the Japan forecast shows that the radioactive plume will probably miss the agency’s monitoring stations at Midway and in the Hawaiian Islands but is likely to be detected in the Aleutians and at a monitoring station in Sacramento.

The forecast assumes that radioactivity in Japan is released continuously and forms a rising plume. It ends with the plume heading into Southern California and the American Southwest, including Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The plume would have continued eastward if the United Nations scientists had run the projection forward.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/science/17plume.html?_r=1

Sorry for the new thread on this, but people have a right to know that it's official now -- this is from the UN, not somebody on the internet.

The good news of course is that it "probably" won't hurt anyone. So we'll see.. if the meltdown continues, who really knows. Hopefully it will be like Cerhnobyl with no noticeable global impact, though some folks in random far away spots may end up with cancer down the line and never know it was from this.

Might sound paranoid, but I guess having a geiger counter could help. Then again, if it gets in the grass and cows eat it then it would be in milk.

[KevO]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366709/Japan-nuclear-emergency-Americans-panic-buy-anti-radiation-drugs.html#ixzz1GplT5Z7E

Gas masks, emergency kits and space blankets: Hysteria in U.S. as thousands of Americans panic-buy radiation protection and drugs
U.S. Surgeon General warns Americans to 'be prepared' for harmful radiation from Japan to hit West Coast
Nukepills.com sells 250,000 potassium iodide pills while Anbex gets three orders a MINUTE instead of per week
Packs of 14 pills that usually cost $9.99 changing hands on Amazon.com and eBay for $250 to $400
Geigercounters.com begs people not to place any more orders after it sells out of radiation detection gadgets
Surge in purchases of gas masks and emergency survival kits including food, water and space blankets also reported
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1GqYryh1K

Official UN Forecast: Japan Radioactive Fallout Heading To US West Coast
A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.

Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in ten days, its levels measurable but minuscule.

The projection, by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, an arm of the United Nations in Vienna, gives no information about actual radiation levels but only shows how a radioactive plume would probably move and disperse.

The forecast, calculated Tuesday, is based on patterns of Pacific winds at that time and the predicted path is likely to change as weather patterns shift.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/science/17plume.html?_r=2&ref=asia

[KevO]

What's crazy about this is that you wouldn't buy masks and pills, you'd get the hell out of there and if the UN is on the money, they have two days to skedattle.
Who'd stay? Radiation doesn't pass like a hurricane. Look at Chernobyl FFS- 20 years plus and still inhabitable for hundreds of miles

[KevO]

Dear Americans living on the west coast. You have one day to pack up and leave. Your president says there is no chance of fallout reaching the US. Your call

[Plantagenet]

I'm in Amsterdam now...heading back to Alaska.

I picked up a geiger counter about 6 months ago to check out a lab at the university.

Looks like I'll have another use for it soon.

[Dr. Piper]

Most scientist say even if the cloud reaches the USA it wont be at toxic-lethal level but very small levels...still enough to possibly cause panic.