Fukushima radioactivity poses little threat to California, scientists say

[FBaggins]

HONOLULU -- Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan has not reached the shore of California and is unlikely to pose any threat to human health, two leading North American scientists said Monday.

The experts on the fallout's path across the Pacific Ocean presented their latest findings in Hawaii at the Ocean Sciences Meeting, a conference that brings together many of the world's foremost oceanographic researchers. They delivered their message amid lingering anxiety -- and misinformation -- about the potential of the 2011 accident to poison people living on the West Coast.

...snip...

The radioactive material is expected to arrive in small quantities on the coast this spring. But two models for predicting ocean circulation, said John Smith of the Bedford Institute for Oceanography in Nova Scotia, estimate that cesium-137 amounts will top out at roughly 25 becquerels per cubic meter. That's at least 300 times less than would justify worries about contamination here. "It's clearly not a health threat," said Smith, noting that his primary interest is tracing the course of the radioactive material to learn more about water circulation and mixing in the northern Pacific Ocean.

...snip...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's maximum allowable amount of cesium-137 in drinking water is 7,400 becquerels per cubic meter, Buesseler said. Swimming in the ocean, he added, exposes a person to about 12,000 becquerels per cubic meter of potassium-40, a naturally occurring radionuclide.

http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county-times/ci_25219738/fukushima-radioactivity-poses-little-threat-california-scientists-say

[murielm99]

1. And the water in West Virginia

is just fine and dandy, too.

[madokie]

2. Pretty telling that the concentration would be that great

after traveling thousands of miles through gobs of water. Begs the question of what the concentration is off shore of Fukushima

This little baby isn't over by a long shot yet so there's no telling what the long term affects will be

[Systematic Chaos]

4. And when the juries don't know fuckall, it's even more of a party.

[madokie]

5. And you are off your meds again I see

You know thats dangerous don't you?

[Systematic Chaos]

6. For one of us, absolutely.

Better jump in that SOLERZ-mobile of yours and hide!

I'm comin' to get ya with a quart of Pacific Ocean water!

ZOMG!!!

[madokie]

7. You ain't coming to get any one

Let alone me.
In fact the last thing you'd ever want to get a hold of is me. that you can take to the bank.

[Systematic Chaos]

8. Thank Dog I don't go through life as humor-impaired and uptight as you do.

Believe me, the last thing I want to do is risk exposure to whatever cooties you appear to have.

[kristopher]

9. Does the same thing go for MIRT?

[madokie]

10. You know Kris the thing is

if they can even get any read on any of this all the way over to here on the west coast I wonder what its like over near fukushima. After all its many miles of open water between here and there. Lots of dilution going on between there and here. Looks to me like anyway