Measuring radioactivity
Fukusima Uranium particles in air filters 1000s of km from Japan. Pr C. Busby, ECRR, www.euradcom.org
http://www.bsrrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/fukuparticles2-final-20.04.2011.pdf
SOS. Get national radioactivity measures! :
Official Radiation monitoring in Latvia, hourly data:
ftp://www.rdc.gov.lv/Nordic/LAT.RAD
About these reported parameters – in Latvian – You can Google translate it in a second!:
http://www.vvd.gov.lv/lv/strukturvienibas/radiacijas-drosibas-centrs/radiacijas-limenis-latvija
Swedish measures of Jod-131 and several Cesium types: http://www.stralsakerhetsmyndigheten.se/Om-myndigheten/Aktuellt—Bilagor/Resultat-fran-matningarna-i-Sverige-/
Online data fr FINLAND
http://www.yle.fi/tekstitv/html/P867_02.html
Germany: http://odlinfo.bfs.de/
US monitoring data, ckick on the spot of interest
https://cdxnode64.epa.gov/radnet-public/showMap.do
Serbia: http://www.srbatom.gov.rs/eng/images/stories/zracenje/index.htm
Irish monitoring locations
http://www.rpii.ie/Monitoring-Stations.aspx
Northern plume animations: http://www.woweather.com/weather/news/fukushima?LANG=us&VAR=webcam&SAT=201103260800
German website, where everyone in the world with a geiger-counter can enter data
http://www.facebook.com/youmeasurecom?ref=ts
Our hearts go out for the pain of the Japanese nation and we all hope that the nuclear reactor protection systems will be withhold, but as contammination from Fukushima continues, we may not only rely on the reports but ensure that our own protecion systems are active and functional. See the ECRR Press relrease of 12th of March below and contact Your Agencies, report Your own Geiger Counter readings on WEBB…
As for the BSRRW own air measures taken in central Riga, Latvia, no increase above 0.02 (200nSv/h) has been seen during 12-28th of March. Period 29th -2nd of March the measures are taken in Stockholm, Sweden, and are slightly higher – around 0.025-8 (250- 280 nSv/h), but could be due to the rock foundation beneath. March the 3rd: 0,032 ( 320 nSv/h), april 5-7 : 0,020-5. In Berlin 10th of April 0,01-0,008. In Riga 12th of April 0,015.
Evacuation levels in Japan, GreenPeace:
Measurement instrument shortage in Japan:
Gordon Edwards answers questions on radioactive pollution approaching US and Canada:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110317/japan-nuclear-crisis-ask-an-expert-110317/
Chris Busby on BBC: counters don´t detect plutonium or uranium
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9423000/9423929.stm
Chris points out that geiger counters near Fukushima will not detect plutonium or uranium. They only pick up beta and gamma radiation not alpha. Fukushima 2 which exploded on 14th is (was) a MoX burning plant with much more dangerous fuel than Fukushima 1. (Other comment – US warships have fled the area due to contamination 100 miles out to sea!)
Follow the developments in Japan on:
http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress1/index.php?p=2
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/
IAEA: http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html
TEPCO: http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html
The plume animations: http://www.woweather.com/weather/news/fukushima?LANG=us&VAR=webcam&SAT=201103260800
http://www.zamg.ac.at/aktuell/index.php?seite=1&artikel=ZAMG_2011-03-20GMT10:21
Documents with the status of the Japanese reactors are updated regularly and can be found on the Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum web site:
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/index.php
Measurements of radiation levels from 30 km out from the Fukushima 1 plant and from Japanese prefectures can be found on this government site:
http://www.mext.go.jp/english/
Map with the damaged reaktors: http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/japan-quake-2011/nuclear-plants.htm
Damage level and timeline: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Fukushima_nuclear_accidents
Other:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/21/3169782.htm?section=justin
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/asia/18spent.html?_r=1&src=tptw
SOS. In Japan skilled Likvidators needed to prevent global nuclear contamination!
ECRR radioactivity risk estimation for Fukusima, 30-03-2011
http://www.bsrrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/fukusima-health-ECRR.pdf
Quote fr Conclusions, p. 12: “1. The ECRR risk model has been applied to the 3 million people living in the 100km radius of the Fukushima catastrophe. Assuming these people remain living there for one year the number of excess cancers predicted by the method is approximately 200,000 in the next 50 years with 100,000 being diagnosed in the next 10 years. If they are evacuated immediately, the number will fall by a significant amount. For those 7 million living between 100km and 200km from the site, the predicted number of cancers is slightly greater with 220,000 extra cancers in the next 50 years and about 100,000 being expressed in the next ten years. These predictions are based on the ECRR risk model and also the findings of cancer risk on Sweden after the Chernobyl accident.
2. The ICRP model predicts 2838 extra cancers in the 100km population. The eventual yield will therefore be another test of the two risk models…”
ECRR on BBC News 14th of March:
Video BBC News: C. Busby on Radiation risk from nuclear power station in
Japan
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhlgks_radiation-risk-from-nuclear-power-station-in-japan_news
Radio BBC: Chris Busby on Monday´s BBC Programme: Japan does not monitor plutonium or uranium !!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9423000/9423929.stm
Chris points out that geiger counters near Fukushima will not detect
plutonium or uranium. They only pick up beta and gamma radiation not
alpha.
Fukushima 2 which exploded on 14th is (was) a MoX burning plant with much more dangerous fuel than Fukushima 1.
Urgent Alert: The potential health consequences of the explosion at the Fukushima reactor in Japan
12th March 2011; London. As PDF: BSR press fukushima japan
Joint Press Statement from the Low Level Radiation Campaign and the European Committee on Radiation Risk (www.euradcom.org).
Contact Your national Radioactivity Protection Agencies and ask them to monitor daily (hourly) on their websites the radioactivity in the airflows, ground and water! Monitor radioactivity with other Geiger Counter devices etc and publish the data for public use!
Explosion in Fukushima NPP, Japan, 11-03-2011:
The evidence is now overwhelming that there has been a significant explosion accident at the Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant following the loss of coolant to the reactor. The reactor is of the Boiling Water type, which is the same type as the Chernobyl reactor (see specifics below as note 1). The detection of high levels of radioactivity and of Caesium-137 near the plant makes it clear that fission radionuclides are being released to the atmosphere.
The quantity of radioactivity which has been or will be released is not yet known. However it should be appreciated as a matter of extreme urgency that the health consequences of exposure to this type of radiation is extremely serious and that the level of exposure cannot be accurately assessed by making radiation measurements based on absorbed dose. The authorities are already, and will continue to, downplay the potential risks on the basis of a false radiation risk model, that of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. This is an exact replication of the responses to the similar Chernobyl explosion and is driven by the bias in these agencies and authorities towards nuclear energy. The radionuclides released in the Chernobyl accident are the same radionuclides being released from the Fukushima plant. The effects of the Chernobyl accident radioactivity releases have been seen to be devastating and continue to affect the health of the exposed populations as far away from Chernobyl as Europe and the USA. The reason that Geiger absorbed dose type of readings (milliSieverts) cannot be employed as measures of risk is that these kinds of radioactive substances act from within the body or by binding to DNA, thus the dose to the local tissue or DNA can be enormous whilst the average dose recorded by the Geiger counter may be quite low or even barely detectable.
If significant amounts of radioactivity from the Fukushima plume approach populated centres in any country (e.g. the western USA) the advice from the European Committee on Radiation Risk Action Team is as follows:
1. Do not believe the assurances of the radiation protection advisors working for the government. They are false, biased and based on an obsolete model. This is a potential Chernobyl level event and must be seen as extremely serious.
2. Try to obtain if possible a Geiger Counter or similar radiation detector or readings from someone who owns one. If the readings increase to more that twice the normal background in your area or to a level of more than 300nSv/h (300nGy/h) then:
3. Get away as soon as possible to a clean area or if not possible stay indoors and keep all the doors and windows closed for at as long as the radiation levels are higher than normal. Try to keep the house sealed as far as possible.
4. Drink bottled water, use only tinned milk. Await further bulletins from www.llrc.org and www.euradcom.org
See even on foods – pectin that transports radioactive elements out of the body
http://www.livestrong.com/article/334359-foods-that-cleanse-radiation-from-body/
Avoid radioactivity contaminated milk products! The levels of Strontium 90 and other man made radionuclides are not safe – told to be safe in http://www.livestrong.com/article/269250-strontium-rich-foods/
Isotopes of Interest: Properties, Treatment, and Fact Sheets: http://www.remm.nlm.gov/int_contamination.htm#treatment
The following are links to current drug information related to Radiation Emergencies: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/EmergencyPreparedness/BioterrorismandDrugPreparedness/ucm063807.htm
Contact Your national Radioactivity Protection Agencies and ask them to monitor the radioactivity in the airflows on their websites!
Contact: Prof Chris Busby, Scientific Secretary ECRR +44 7989 428833; +44 1970 630215; Email: Mireille de Messieres: admin@greenaudit.org; Richard Bramhall, LLRC +44 1597 824771; bramhall@llrc.org
Best regards,
Ditta Rietuma
General secretary – BSR ECRR (bsr@euradcom.org ) and
Baltic Sea Region Radioactivity Watch www.BSRRW.org
+46-703 999 069
+371-298 110 64 until (25-03-2011)
Note 1. Fukushima is Chernobil type in the ways that count. Chernobyl was a pressurised water reactor (PWR), Fukushima is a boiling water reactor (BWR). See basic descriptions here: http://nuclearinfo.net/Nuclearpower/WebHomeHowNuclearReactorsWork
There is water inside the reactor in both types and both disasters were caused by loss of pressure to pump it round. The pollution from Chernobyl was spread by the fire in the graphite moderator. It seems likely that at Fukushima it will now be spread by the seawater the operators are, according to reports, pumping in to provide emergency cooling. One factor in determining the scale of the resulting health problem will be the degree of physical damage inside the core; if the fuel canisters have been melted or split then more radioactivity will escape either in vented steam or back into the sea.
Bioindication of the anthropogenic effects on Pine treas near a plant for the storage and processing of radioactive waste in Sosnovy Bor and in the Chernobyl NPP zone
S.A. Geraskin, L.M. Zimina, V.G. Dikarev, N.S. Dikareva, V.L. Zimin, D.V. Vasiliyev, A.A. Oudalova, L.D. Blinova, R.M. Alexakhin. Russian Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Agroecology, 249020 Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia. Khlopin Radium Institute, St Petersburg, Russia. March 2002.
Download: Geras_Korea_03 Pinus sylvestris
The results of a comparative analysis of the frequencies and spectra of cytogenetic anomalies in the reproductive and vegetative organs sampled from micropopulations of Scotch pines growing at two sites within the Chernobyl NPP 30 km zone, on the ‘Radon’ LWPE site, and in the town of Sosnovy Bor indicate the presence of genotoxic contaminants. Moreover, in the Sosnovy Bor region, in contrast to the Chernobyl NPP 30 km zone, it appears that chemical toxins make a considerable contribution to the environmental contamination. The treatment of the seeds from the Scotch pine populations growing in Sosnovy Bor and at the ‘Radon’ LWPE site with additional acute γ-irradiation indicates their greater radioresistance.
Laboratory, Commission on Research and Independent Information on Radioactivity
You can read more on the topic visiting the french site of the laboratory of the Commission on Research and Independent Information on Radioactivity
IAEAs Safeguards Analytical Laboratorys Funding Issues
Agencies chronic and corrosive underfunding leads to inability to provide independent and timely analyses. IAEAs prestige is officialy at risk.
Watch the video on:
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Multimedia/Videos/CNNUnifeed/Seibersdorf/index.html
FUKUSHIMA catastrophy Japan
“By IBTimes Staff Reporter | March 19, 2011 2:03 AM EDT
Summary of conditions at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as described by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) one week after the tsunami damages:
Located on the Eastern coast of Japan, the six nuclear power reactors at Daiichi are boiling water reactors (BWRs). A massive earthquake on 11 March severed off-site power to the plant and triggered the automatic shutdown of the three operating reactors – Units 1, 2, and 3. The control rods in those units were successfully inserted into the reactor cores, ending the fission chain reaction. The remaining reactors – Units 4, 5, and 6 — had previously been shut down for routine maintenance purposes. Backup diesel generators, designed to start up after losing off-site power, began providing electricity to pumps circulating coolant to the six reactors.
Soon after the earthquake, a large tsunami washed over the reactor site, knocking out the backup generators. While some batteries remained operable, the entire site lost the ability to maintain proper reactor cooling and water circulation functions.
Here is the current status of the six reactors, based on documents and confirmed by Japanese officials (new information in bold):
Unit 1
Coolant within Unit 1 is covering about half of the fuel rods in the reactor, leading to fuel damage. High pressure within the reactor’s containment led operators to vent gas from the containment. Later, an explosion destroyed the outer shell of the reactor building above the containment on 12 March.
There are no indications of problems with either the reactor pressure vessel or the primary containment vessel.
Efforts to pump seawater into the reactor core are continuing.
On 18 March, Japan assigned an INES rating of 5 to this unit. Further information on the ratings and the INES scale.
Unit 2
Coolant within Unit 2 is covering about half of the fuel rods in the reactor, leading to fuel damage. Following an explosion on 15 March, Japanese officials expressed concerns that the reactor’s containment may not be fully intact. NISA officials reported on 18 March that white smoke continues to emerge from the building.
Efforts to pump seawater into the reactor core are continuing.
On 18 March, Japan assigned an INES rating of 5 to this unit.
Unit 3
Coolant within Unit 3 is covering about half of the fuel rods in the reactor, leading to fuel damage. High pressure within the reactor’s containment led operators to vent gas from the containment. Later, an explosion destroyed the outer shell of the reactor building above the containment on 14 March.
Following the explosion, Japanese officials expressed concerns that the reactor’s containment may not be fully intact. NISA officials reported on 18 March that white smoke continues to emerge from the building.
Efforts to pump seawater into the reactor core are continuing.
Of additional concern at Unit 3 is the condition of the spent fuel pool in the building. There are indications that there is an inadequate cooling water level in the pool, and Japanese authorities have addressed the problem by dropping water from helicopters into the building and spraying water from trucks. On 18 March, Japanese Self Defence Forces used seven fire trucks to continue spraying efforts. There is no data on the temperature of the water in the pool.
On 18 March, Japan assigned an INES rating of 5 to this unit.
Unit 4
All fuel had been removed from the reactor core for routine maintenance before the earthquake and placed into the spent fuel pool. A portion of the building’s outer shell was damaged by the explosion at Unit 3 on 14 March, and there have been two reported fires – possibly including one in the spent fuel pool on 15 March — that extinguished spontaneously, although smoke remained visible on 18 March.
Authorities remain concerned about the condition of the spent fuel pool.
On 18 March, Japan assigned an INES rating of 4 to this site.
Unit 5 and 6
Shut down before the earthquake, there are no immediate concerns about these reactors’ cores or containment. Instrumentation from both spent fuel pools, however, has shown gradually increasing temperatures. Officials have configured two diesel generators at Unit 6 to power water circulation in the spent fuel pools and cores of Units 5 and 6.
Workers have opened holes in the roofs of both buildings to prevent the possible accumulation of hydrogen, which is suspected of causing explosions at other units.
Restoration of Grid
Progress has been achieved in restoring external power to the nuclear power plant, although it remains uncertain when full power will be available.
Evacuation
Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that the evacuation of the population from the 20-kilometre zone around Fukushima Daiichi has been successfully completed. Japanese authorities have also advised people living within 30 kilometres of the plant to remain inside.
Iodine
On 16 March, Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission recommended local authorities to instruct evacuees leaving the 20-kilometre area to ingest stable (not radioactive) iodine. The pills and syrup (for children) had been prepositioned at evacuation centers. The order recommended taking a single dose, with an amount dependent on age:
Baby 12.5 mg
1 mo.-3 yrs. 25mg
3-13 yrs. 38mg
13-40 yrs. 76mg
40+ yrs. Not necessary
Radiation Measurements
Radiation levels near Fukushima Daiichi and beyond have elevated since the reactor damage began. However, dose rates in Tokyo and other areas outside the 30-kilometre zone remain far from levels which would require any protective action. In other words they are not dangerous to human health.
At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, radiation levels spiked three times since the earthquake, but have stabilized since 16 March at levels which are, although significantly higher than the normal levels, within the range that allows workers to continue onsite recovery measures.”
BSRRW.org does not agree with the conclusions of IAEA about the danger levels to human life – IAEA are using an irresponsible and even criminaly unscientific approach. See ECRR-model.
Research director Lars-Erik De Geer of the Swedish Defense Research Institute: “Fukushima particles would eventually be detected over the whole northern hemisphere”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/us-japan-quake-ctbto-radiation-idUSTRE72G26T20110317
“… The Swedish official, research director Lars-Erik De Geer of the Swedish Defense Research Institute, was citing data from a network of international monitoring stations set up to detect signs of any nuclear weapons tests.
Also stressing the levels were not dangerous for people, he predicted particles would eventually also continue across the Atlantic and reach Europe.
“It is not something you see normally,” he said by phone from Stockholm, adding the results he now had were based on observations from earlier in the week. But, “it is not high from any danger point of view.” De Geer said he was convinced they would eventually be detected over the whole northern hemisphere. “It is only a question of very, very low activities so it is nothing for people to worry about,” De Geer said.”
