Radiation in soil near troubled Japan nuclear plant exceeds Chernobyl evacuation level

[Robbien]

Source: THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS

The levels of radiation accumulated in soil near the crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan far exceeded the level of radiation the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, threatening to plague local residents for a lengthy period.

Using aircraft, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology checked the cesium-137 (half life of about 30 years) and cesium-134 (half life of about two years) accumulated in soil in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy in April.

Cesium-137 that has longer effects, ranging from 3 million to 14.7 million becquerels per square meter, was detected in Namie, Futaba, Minamisoma, Iitate and Katsurao, northwest of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, in Fukushima Prefecture. The levels far exceeded 550,000 bacquerels per square meter, the level the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Based on recommendations from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the Japanese government used 20 millisieverts per year of radiation in the atmosphere as the criterion to designate evacuation areas in the wake of the nuclear accident in Fukushima. Therefore, there are areas that have not been designated as evacuation zones although they have larger amounts of accumulated radiation.

Read more: http://news.google.com/news/search?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22cesium%22&cf=all&scoring=n

---

Japan and the powers that be have been working overtime in making sure news from Fukushima gets very little press.

one of many instances:

Weather chief draws flak over plea not to release radiation forecasts
http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5100280/weather-chief-draws-flak-over-plea-not-to-release-radiation-forecasts

TOKYO, Apr. 29, 2011 (Kyodo News International) -- The chief of the Meteorological Society of Japan has drawn flak from within the academic society over a request for member specialists to refrain from releasing forecasts on the spread of radioactive substances from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

In the request posted March 18 on the society's website, Hiroshi Niino, professor at the University of Tokyo, said such forecasts, which he says carry some uncertainty, ''could jumble up information about the government's antidisaster countermeasures unnecessarily.''

''The basic principle behind antidisaster measures is to enable people to act on unified reliable information,'' he said.

Niino later said in commenting on the intention he had in issuing the statement, ''If (society members') forecasts were announced, it would have carried the risk that ordinary people may panic.''

-------------------------

And the EPA is doing its part in keeping news quiet:

EPA Halts Heightened Monitoring of Fukushima Fallout
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/science-a-environmental/24136-epa-halts-heightened-monitoring-of-fukushima-fallout.html

WASHINGTON--(ENEWSPF)--May 9 - Although the Japanese nuclear reactor disaster is still unfolding with no end in sight, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cut its radiation monitoring back to pre-tsunami levels, according to a statement posted on the agency website last week. As a result, stepped-up testing of precipitation, drinking water and milk has ended, with EPA saying that the next round of sampling “will take place in approximately three months.”

----------------------

meanwhile:

Strontium-90 Detected in Waters Near Fukushima Power Plant
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=115777&code=Ne8&category=1

Almost two months have passed since the nuclear crisis erupted at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan and some details of the damage are just emerging.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on Monday that radioactive strontium-90 has been detected in the sea near the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors at the stricken nuclear complex.
That isotope in particular is known to be more dangerous than other radioactive materials, such as iodine-131 and cesium-137, and can be easily absorbed into the human body causing leukemia and various cancers.

[Robbien]

1. Radioactive Japanese Cars Found in Chile

According to a report in The Mainichi Daily News, agents in Chile have detected small amounts of radiation in cars that were shipped over from Japan.

Of the 2,500 vehicles shipped from the port of Yokohama, 21 had some level of radiation.

. . .

So far, the United States has yet to receive any radioactive vehicles.


http://www.carnewsbreak.com/blog/1059780_radioactive-japanese-cars-found-in-chile


Since the US doesn't check of course no radioactive cars will be found here.

[Poll_Blind]

12. ^ This

Will be happening a lot in the future.

PB

[nc4bo]

18. How weird

because I just read somewhere on DU that this would/could not happen. I even think I read somewhere here that barges full of shipping containers were contaminated and showing up at various ports.

Bottomline, if it boils down to a choice between profit and public, profit will almost always win.

:shrug::puke:

[Poll_Blind]

25. Whomever tried to convince you that this would not happen is simply wrong.

Even in a perfectly altruistic world, a disaster of this nature would be exacerbated by commerce unintentionally spreading the fallout father than the wind and water would normally take it.

However, the reality of the situation does not reside in a vacuum and I have little doubt that Japanese exporters will be happily shipping us material which has either not been checked for hazardous material (in the form of fallout) or has been checked and sent out anyway.

Anyone who insinuates otherwise is naive. The same thing happened with goods which were exposed to fallout from Chernobyl but this was not much in the American consciousness simply because it happened on the other side of the planet we weren't the typical consumers of the goods.

If you thought China was bad for shipping us dog food with melamine in it, or childrens' trinkets with cadmium or lead, Japanese exports should all raise a red flag in everyone's head as potentially (until proven safe by inspection) containing radioactive material.

PB

[madrchsod]

2. throw this into the mix......

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110509p2a00m0na017000c.html

i wonder if this is creditable......

[Robbien]

5. Google has many articles about it

But I guess the 3/11 disaster put a spoke in the wheels.

Mongolia had to come out with an official statement saying nope we aren't taking their waste.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/11/us-mongolia-nuclear-idUSTRE74A2QP20110511

[madrchsod]

11. thanks ...missed the earlier reports

[pmorlan1]

7. This was reported elsewhere

I saw this reported earlier in the week. It appears as though it's true.

[Bonobo]

3. OMG! How did you find out! I thought there was a blackout of all information!!! nt

[Robbien]

4. I wondered how long it would take for naysayers to show up

Naysayers show up in every reactor thread to try shutting down the conversation. Funny how that works.

[Bonobo]

6. What am I saying "Nay" to?

[Robbien]

8. I do not care to engage

in the game you always play.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fascisthunter]

23. I'm not sure why it's tolerated

[No Elephants]

10. We've had plenty of misinformation and disinformation on this.

Dunno about a blackout.


Dsinformation may be worse. At least with a blackout, you know where you stand and why.

[thereismore]

16. Your comment is cynical at best, and assinine at worst. nt

[No Elephants]

9. Ummmm....duh?

[kirby]

13. Why is this an issue?

Yes, the levels are elevated around the plant, but there was already an evacuation zone of many miles to begin with. The comparison seems like apples and oranges.

The article says 'The levels of radiation accumulated in soil near the crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan far exceeded the level of radiation the then-Soviet Union had used as a criterion for urging people to evacuate at the time of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, threatening to plague local residents for a lengthy period.'

That would be an issue if they had not evacuated people, so I don't understand this story.

[Zoeisright]

15. It's relevant because this is evidence that the damage is WORSE than Chernobyl.

Sheesh.

[animato]

14. rec

[nc4bo]

17. Thanks for posting! That the EPA is ending monitoring is some seriously f'd up ish...

why would they do that? Why not keep an eye on the levels if only to assure people that there is no safety problem.

Disgraceful and frightening at the same time.

Anyway - thanks for posting all those news links, very much appreciated!

ETA - I wonder how long AFTER the EPA changes the safe exposure limits before monitoring continues? Wonder if they're still pushing to raise the limits to go along with raised levels of nuke contamination? How would one go about finding out what the status of that would be, cause I sure don't know where to look.

[Robbien]

19. Safe limits are determined by government and industry coming to a compromise

It has nothing to do with what is really scientifically acceptable. Since government and industry is on the same side there is no real negotiating going on here.

according to this article
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2011/03/31/3177889.htm
there is No 'safe' threshold for radiation exposure: experts


and this article summarizes how they go about negotiating
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/columnists/rogers/article_51dc9b86-be7f-5b97-8705-59c648e94058.html
an excerpt:

By the ICRP's estimates, 5 rems of exposure produces a 20 in 10,000 chance of cancer death, a 4 in 10,000 chance of passing on a serious genetic defect and a 9 in 10,000 chance of developing a nonfatal cancer.

Hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of lives rode on the ICRP recommendation and whether the NRC followed the commission's lead as it had done in the past.

A compromise was reached that allowed the higher exposure level, while recognizing that it should be reduced.

The 5-rem limit would stay, though it would no longer be acceptable.

In 1990, the international body again looked at radiation standards, and this time recommended a 2-rem yearly occupational limit.

The NRC did not follow suit and kept the 5-rem ceiling.

-------

So basically the US allows higher exposure limits because we are so doggone business friendly

[nc4bo]

20. So in the 90's, ICRP dropped max. exposure from 5 to 2 but still accepted 5 even though it

was considered to be unacceptable. Of course NRC kept max. exposure to 5, no surprise.

I know some will say "who cares?" when the risk of cancer death is 20 in 10,000, except for the 20 who die, the 4 who deliver defective children or the 9 who have some odd form of tumor removed.

But here we are in the year of Fukushima and EPA says they want to raise the (old?) rate. How much higher will the max. allowable exposure be raised? So EPA and NRC decide on how much is too much radiation we should be exposed to and it's all happening out of the public eye and basically in secret.

I'm sorry Robbien - this is all just pure bullsh*t. It's all hard to digest at times.

:nuke:

Edit to correct double verbage ;)

[Robbien]

24. The EPA also doesn't consider mercury to be something they should regulate

Which burns my butt. So it is not surprising when the nuclear regulatory governmental agency is on the side of "let GE radiate the people for GE's fun and profit".

Yes I agree with you, it sucks royal that we pay for government protection while they spend all their time working against us.

[Octafish]

26. EPA ''allows'' BP to dump 3+ pounds of mercury each year into Lake Michigan.

Neat. And to think people wonder why the fish taste funny.

[nc4bo]

31. Profits over people, the American way.

Hard to understand why so many people got their panties in a bunch over some dumb birth certificate nonissue when there are important real issues that could use that same amount of concern.

It gets sadder by the minute. Our priorities are so upside down.

[CoffeeCat]

27. Did you see this frightening article?

I'm sorry if people are getting tired of me posting this, but I can't get over it.

http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/radiation-risks-fukushima-longer-negligible-news-503947

The article discusses an announcement made by CIIRAD, a research authority on radiation, based
in France. This announcement was made several weeks ago and it warns all Europeans to avoid
drinking milk and eating leafy greens, due to the Fukushima radioactive isotopes in these products.

The kicker in the article was the disclosure of radiation amounts in Europe, due to Fukushima, and
then the mention that the LEVELS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE SEVERAL TIMES HIGHER THAN EUROPE'S LEVELS.

Europe got warnings.

The United States got nothing. In fact, it was during this time that the EPA decided to stop
monitoring radioactive isotopes, even though high levels (levels that exceeded EPA standards) were
found in milk, mushrooms, strawberries, rain water and even tap water.

This is f'n crazy.

I'm so upset about this. Our family has been off milk since March. How in the hell are we supposed to
protect our families when there is A BLACKOUT of information on the levels of radioactive isotopes from
Fukushima that are in our food and water supply.

Those isotopes were in our food supply several weeks ago. These dangerous isotopes have continued to billow
into our country--nonstop. The levels have only worsened. Yet, we won't know about them because the EPA
isn't testing--during a frickin nuclear disaster!

Lovely!!!! Anyone else as upset as I am???

[Sabriel]

28. Yes, we're upset, but there's no recourse with no testing

That article you posted is from a month ago, yet the EPA has quit testing. And I got the run-around here in Wisconsin when I tried to get the state to issue a more recent test.

It all points to the fact that it's worse than we know. If it were OK, we'd hear about it, for sure.

[nc4bo]

30. Oh I'm outraged as hell. I called it all a conspiracy in a post a few days ago....

Too bad we all don't have our own personal radiation detection equipment. I envision a large group of people doing their own testing of air, water, soil, plant and animal products and busting this conspiracy wide open.

Since none of this is hitting our air waves, the general public really has no idea what's going on and TPTB managed to squash the first inklings of concern after the few reports of contaminated air, water and milk started being made public.

I've been posting everything I can regarding Fukushima on my FB page but feel no one really takes it seriously because information is not publicized in the media. I think they believe that Fukushima is a local-only problem and although they feel horrible that this is happening, it's NIMBY.

As more news leaks out of Fukushima, the more concerned I'm get.

[CoffeeCat]

32. A few weeks ago...

...there were many You Tube videos showing regular people with Geiger counters. One guy had a Geiger
Counter and used it to detect radioactive isotopes in the rain. He wiped his car off with a towel, and
waved the Geiger Counter around many things--and it didn't register a reading. He put it over/on the
rain-soaked towel and the thing went crazy.

There were many videos like this. I'll see if I can find some links.

This stuff is everywhere. The initial articles about the isotopes being in milk, rainwater, tap water
were from everywhere across the United States--Hawaii, California, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Tennessee.

One can only deduce that the levels in everything are worsening--because the radiation from Fukushima
has never stopped.

No wonder they stopped their readings. The fact that they did this is a red flag. Disgusting.

[CoffeeCat]

33. Here is one of the You Tube videos...

A St. Louis man drove his truck in the rain, in early April. He filmed the
Geiger Counter readings. Looks like it went up to .201.

The man said it was roughly ".2 rems per hour".

If someone can translate those numbers, that would be great.

There are many You Tube videos of people doing this and coming up with high readings.

--Edited to add: This man's blog contains the following further explanation of this testing,

"The readings averaged 7-10 times normal background readings, 0.103 mR/hr maximum. The highest reading on the driven vehicle was 0.103 mR/hr; the highest reading on the parked vehicle was 0.075 mR/hr. Given how close the values are to each other, it is unclear if the differences are a result of the driving or just natural fallout variation from one part of the storm to another.

To date, the maximum fallout reading I have recorded in the Saint Louis area was 62x background radiation, 0.686 mR/hr on 4/15/11"

To read his blog further: http://pissinontheroses.blogspot.com/

[nc4bo]

34. I'm on the side of even a little is too much.

I guess some think that since there's already radiation in our environment naturally, a little man made stuff isn't going to make or break us, especially when some cold, hard cash can be made. :shrug:

Anyway - thanks for the link!!

[CoffeeCat]

35. Normal background radiation is 0.103 mR per hour...

...and the readings were .201.

Interesting. I wonder if someone who is well versed in this science could let us know what that means.

The man who took the reading said, "The readings averaged 7-10 times normal background readings," and I wonder
what this means from a health-risk standpoint.

[StarburstClock]

21. yeh but did ya see the pretty hats at the royal wedding?

and "our side" is winning in the public approval polls over pathological liars! Plus, I saw on my massively oversized TV set that gas prices are going up and there's nothing we can ever do about it!

Seriously, thanks for the links and the updates.

[mountainlion55]

29. Don't forget

Our fearless leader wants 36 billion in taxpayer subsidies for new nuke plants. :smoke: