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Laura
Member # 879
 - posted
Is there some agency here who monitors this? I don't know about the rest of you, but I find all this very disturbing, even though they say the levels detected around the world are safe, who can you trust anymore? [Confused] [Frown]
 
vwwvv
Member # 18359
 - posted
Xenon-133 - Northern hemisphere - FLEXPART: dispersion model Real time

FUKUSHIMA Potential Releases:

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/news/fukushima?LANG=en&VAR=niluhemis133&HH=0&LOOP=1
 
Shanta Gdeeda
Member # 9889
 - posted
There's nothing any of us can do about it though! It is truly a globe-shrinking tragedy and really brings home how no-one person or country can isolate themselves off from the rest of the world.

Same after Chernobyl - there were such high levels of radiation in the sheep-meat and milk in Wales (eastern Britain) that it was unfit for human consumption.
 
vwwvv
Member # 18359
 - posted
Worth reading:

Saturday, March 26, 2011
Comparing Japan's Radiation Release to "Background Radiation"

Apologists for the type of old, unsafe nuclear reactors which are leaking in Japan argue that the amount of radiation released from Fukushima is small compared to the amount of "background radiation".

There Are NO Background Levels of Radioactive Caesium or Iodine

Wikipedia provides some details on the distribution of cesium-137 due to human activities:

Small amounts of caesium-134 and caesium-137 were released into the environment during nearly all nuclear weapon tests and some nuclear accidents, most notably the Chernobyl disaster. As of 2005, caesium-137 is the principal source of radiation in the zone of alienation around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Together with caesium-134, iodine-131, and strontium-90, caesium-137 was among the isotopes with greatest health impact distributed by the reactor explosion.

The mean contamination of caesium-137 in Germany following the Chernobyl disaster was 2000 to 4000 Bq/m2. This corresponds to a contamination of 1 mg/km2 of caesium-137, totaling about 500 grams deposited over all of Germany.Caesium-137 is unique in that it is totally anthropogenic. Unlike most other radioisotopes, caesium-137 is not produced from its non-radioactive isotope, but from uranium. It did not occur in nature before nuclear weapons testing began. By observing the characteristic gamma rays emitted by this isotope, it is possible to determine whether the contents of a given sealed container were made before or after the advent of atomic bomb explosions. This procedure has been used by researchers to check the authenticity of certain rare wines, most notably the purported "Jefferson bottles".

As the EPA notes:

Cesium-133 is the only naturally occurring isotope and is non-radioactive; all
other isotopes, including cesium-137, are produced by human activity.

So there was no "background radiation" for caesium-137 before above-ground nuclear testing and nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl.

Japan has already, according to some estimates, released 50% of the amount of caesium-137 released by Chernobyl, and many experts say that the Fukushima plants will keep on leaking for months. See this and this. The amount of radioactive fuel at Fukushima dwarfs Chernobyl.

Likewise, iodine-131 is not a naturally occurring isotope. As the Encyclopedia Britannica notes:

The only naturally occurring isotope of iodine is stable iodine-127. An exceptionally useful radioactive isotope is iodine-131...

And New Scientist reports that huge quantities of iodine-131 are being released in Japan:

Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster.

(Indeed, some experts are saying that the amount of radioactivity released in Japan already exceeds Chernobyl.)

Naturally-Occurring Radiation

There are, of course, naturally occurring radioactive materials.

But lumping all types of radiation together is misleading ... and is comparing apples to oranges.

As the National Research Council's Committee to Assess the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program explains:

Radioactivity generates radiation by emitting particles. Radioactive materials outside the the body are called external emitters, and radioactive materials located within the body are called internal emitters.

Internal emitters are much more dangerous than external emitters. Specifically, one is only exposed to radiation as long as he or she is near the external emitter.

For example, when you get an x-ray, an external emitter is turned on for an instant, and then switched back off.

But internal emitters steadily and continuously emit radiation for as long as the particle remains radioactive, or until the person dies - whichever occurs first. As such, they are much more dangerous.

Dr. Helen Caldicott and many other medical doctors and scientists have confirmed this. See this and this.

As Hirose Takashi notes:

All of the information media are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from outer space. But that’s one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400 millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe? And what media have reported this? None. They compare it to a CT scan, which is over in an instant; that has nothing to do with it. The reason radioactivity can be measured is that radioactive material is escaping. What is dangerous is when that material enters your body and irradiates it from inside. These industry-mouthpiece scholars come on TV and what to they say? They say as you move away the radiation is reduced in inverse ratio to the square of the distance. I want to say the reverse. Internal irradiation happens when radioactive material is ingested into the body. What happens? Say there is a nuclear particle one meter away from you. You breathe it in, it sticks inside your body; the distance between you and it is now at the micron level. One meter is 1000 millimeters, one micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. That’s a thousand times a thousand: a thousand squared. That’s the real meaning of “inverse ratio of the square of the distance.” Radiation exposure is increased by a factor of a trillion. Inhaling even the tiniest particle, that’s the danger.

[Interviewer] So making comparisons with X-rays and CT scans has no meaning. Because you can breathe in radioactive material.
[Takashi] That’s right. When it enters your body, there’s no telling where it will go. The biggest danger is women, especially pregnant women, and little children. Now they’re talking about iodine and cesium, but that’s only part of it, they’re not using the proper detection instruments. What they call monitoring means only measuring the amount of radiation in the air. Their instruments don’t eat. What they measure has no connection with the amount of radioactive material. . . .

There are few natural high-dose internal emitters. Bananas, brazil nuts and some other foods contain radioactive potassium-40, but in extremely low doses.

As the American Journal of Public Health noted in 1962:

Of the radioisotopes originally present in rock-type formations, some may become internal emitters through natural processes. They may be leached or dissolved into ground and surface waters, thus gaining access to man's water and food supply. For either physical or biological reasons, only a few of the naturally radioactive heavy atoms are important sources of internal radiation exposure. The three most important are believed to be radium 226, the most abundant natural isotope of radium; lead 210, a daughter of radium 226 and of radon 222, and radium 228, a daughter of natural thorium.

Radon 222 has a half life of less than 4 days. Radium has a much longer half-life. However,radium ions do not form complexes easily, due to highly basic character of ions. Radium compounds are quite rare, occurring almost exclusively in uranium ores.

Some parts of the country are at higher risk of exposure to naturally-occurring radium than others. It is not only those built on top of uranium mines. For example, the American Journal of Public Health article notes:

Water derived from surface sources such as rivers, lakes, or wells penetrating unconsolidated sand or gravel deposits were, in general, found to contain considerably lower concentrations of radium 226 than wells penetrating deep sandstone formations of Cambrian or pre-Cambrian ages.

In contrast, cesium-137 - one of the main types of radioactivity being spewed by the Japanese plants - has a much longer half life, and can easily contaminate food and water supplies. As the New York Times noted recently:

Over the long term, the big threat to human health is cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years.

At that rate of disintegration, John Emsley wrote in “Nature’s Building Blocks” (Oxford, 2001), “it takes over 200 years to reduce it to 1 percent of its former level.”

It is cesium-137 that still contaminates much of the land in Ukraine around the Chernobyl reactor.

***

Cesium-137 mixes easily with water and is chemically similar to potassium. It thus mimics how potassium gets metabolized in the body and can enter through many foods, including milk.

As the EPA notes in a discussion entitled " What can I do to protect myself and my family from cesium-137?":

Cesium-137 that is dispersed in the environment, like that from atmospheric testing, is impossible to avoid.

Radioactive iodine can also become a potent internal emitter. As the Times notes:

Iodine-131 has a half-life of eight days and is quite dangerous to human health. If absorbed through contaminated food, especially milk and milk products, it will accumulate in the thyroid and cause cancer.

The bottom line is that there is some naturally-occurring background radiation, which can - at times - pose a health hazard (especially in parts of the country with high levels of radioactive radon or radium).

But cesium-137 and radioactive iodine - the two main radioactive substances being spewed by the leaking Japanese nuclear plants - are not naturally-occurring substances, and can become powerful internal emitters which can cause tremendous damage to the health of people who are unfortunate enough to breathe in even a particle of the substances, or ingest them in food or water. Unlike low-levels of radioactive potassium found in bananas - which our bodies have adapted to over many years - cesium-137 and iodine 131 are brand new, extremely dangerous substances.

And unlike naturally-occurring internal emitters like radon and radium - whose distribution is largely concentrated in certain areas of the country - radioactive cesium and iodine are spreading not only nationally, but world-wide.

At the very least, it is important to note that each individual internal emitters behaves differently. They each accumulate in different places in the body, target different organs, mimic different vitamins and minerals, and are excreted differently (or not at all). Therefore, comparing radioactive cesium or iodine with naturally occurring radioactive substances - even those which can become internal emitters - is incorrect and misleading.

This is not to say that we're all going to get cancer. Most of use probably won't. This is solely an attempt to counter the misleading propaganda from apologists for old, unsafe nuclear reactors. For background information on "safe" radiation levels, see this.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/comparing-japans-radiation-release-to.html
 
marydot
Member # 15932
 - posted
Extremely low levels of radioactive iodine from the tsunami-hit Japanese nuclear plant have been detected in parts of the UK.

Even at low levels, its still worrying.
 
Monkey
Member # 17287
 - posted
I saw that too. Bit of a worry.
 
vwwvv
Member # 18359
 - posted
Fukushima beyond point of no return as radioactive core melts through containment vessel
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) The battle to save the Fukushima nuclear power plant now appears lost as the radioactive core from Reactor No. 2 has melted through the containment vessel and dropped into the concrete basement of the reactor structure. This is "raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site," reports The Guardian, which broke the story (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/201...). A former General Electric nuclear expert told The Guardian that Japan appears to have "lost the race" to save the reactor.

The only feasible interpretation from this analysis is that radiation emissions from Fukushima could suddenly become much greater. It is also now obvious that the radioactive fallout from Fukushima will last for decades, if not centuries.

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan last night admitted the situation at Fukushima remains "unpredictable." Meanwhile, the presence of plutonium in soil samples is proof that the nuclear fuel rods have been compromised and are releasing material into the open atmosphere. (http://www.breitbart.com/article.ph...)

But don't worry (and don't prepare)

How many times were we told over the last two weeks that the Fukushima situation was solved? How many times were we assured there was "no danger" to the world? President Obama even went out of his way to tell Americans they should not prepare for anything, since there was nothing to worry about.

Don't acquire any potassium iodide, people were told. The situation is completely under control and nuclear power is safe, clean and green!

That's the GE spin machine talking, of course, and I don't mean the spin cycle on your rusty old washing machine. It's the network of corporate lies that has characterized the nuclear power industry for at least the last three decades. And now those lies are coming back to haunt us all.

What's next: Radioactive gas

So what happens now that the fuel core from Reactor No. 2 has burned its way through the containment vessel and dropped to the concrete floor? It follows the laws of physics, of course: The super-heated nuclear fuel reacts with the concrete material in the floor, producing highly radioactive gas which now runs the risk of escaping into the atmosphere if it gets through the outer containment wall.

But that's precisely the problem, you see. The outer containment wall was partially destroyed by the original hydrogen gas explosion that rocked Reactors 2 and 3. So we may be looking at a situation right now where there is nothing in the way of a massive release of radioactive gas from Fukushima. It all has the makings of a ticking (dirty) time bomb.

When should Americans actually start preparing? Never!

It makes you wonder: At what point will the worsening situation in Fukushima cross the threshold of President Obama's resistance to urge Americans to take prudent precautions against the possibility of serious radioactive fallout? The policy in Washington today seems to be that no event is serious enough to warrant preparedness actions among the American people.

Our Nobel Peace Prize-winning President seems to be too busy declaring illegal wars in Libya to spend even five minutes urging people on the West Coast to take sensible precautions against the increasing possibility of increased radiation exposure.

That's what the alternative press is for, of course: Bringing people the news and information they won't get from "official" sources that have strong financial ties to the nuclear power industry. While Obama tells Americans to do nothing, NaturalNews urges Americans to take basic preparedness precautions to be ready for any event the world may throw our way.

Preparedness is a rarity in modern cities

As the citizens of Japan have recently learned the hard way, virtually no one has any extra stored water, food or medicine in the cities these days. Very few people are prepared for even small disruptions in basic infrastructure and supply lines. The average American living in a city today would die in less than 7 days if cut off from the grid supply of food and water. Their entire preparedness plan is to "trust the government."

That's what the Japanese people did, too. And now they're paying for that misplaced trust with what may soon become the most catastrophic nuclear disaster in the history of human civilization.

Although Fukushima doesn't look likely to suffer a large, one-time radiation explosion like Chernobyl, it's now clear that the Fukushima nuclear complex is going to emit radiation for a very, very long time. It now seems almost certain that Japan must bury the facility under millions of tons of concrete and sand.

How do you bury Fukushima for good?

The problem is that there's not even enough concrete in Japan to handle the job. To accomplish such a task, Japan would have to import not only thousands of pieces of industrial concrete-handling trucks and machinery; it would also have to import concrete materials by the ship-load. We're talking about millions of tons of concrete materials, shipped in by ocean, from all over the world.

Has anybody done the math on how long that will take to coordinate? Just getting the materials shipped to Japan within 30 days would be a miracle. And you can't just plop down concrete and hope it sticks: You have to engineer the concrete effort so that it can resist future tsunamis and earthquakes. Normally, this would be at least a five-year project.

Essentially, you have to build a whole new massive concrete containment structure on top of the existing nuclear complex. And remember: It was the corruption and cover-ups from the first such engineering project that helped cause this situation in the first place!

That's why this situation in Fukushima looks a lot more like Fubar than Fukushima. Fubar, of course, is an endearing snippet from American slang which means "don't worry; the government is here to save you!"

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031894_Fukushima_meltdown.html#ixzz1I3uGEENI
 
Stephie_ELH
Member # 16197
 - posted
Just make sure that your diet is reasonably healthy, lots of vitamins ect and your system should be able to repair low level radiation damage. Up iodine intake as well as this will saturate your thyroid and protect against radiation damage there too....
 
robin84
Member # 18731
 - posted
Japan is very far from Egypt, I doubt there will be any radiation in Egypt. Also the vast dessert will consume all radiation so the main Egyptian cities are safe.

[ 02. April 2011, 01:49 AM: Message edited by: Shanta Gdeeda ]
 
Monkey
Member # 17287
 - posted
These spammers are getting so convincing now [Roll Eyes]

Not.
 
Shanta Gdeeda
Member # 9889
 - posted
But marks for trying [Wink] At least his comment has some relevance to the thread showing he has actually bothered to read it!

Shall delete his link though [Wink]
 
Mo Ning Min E
Member # 681
 - posted
That remark about a 'vast dessert consumimg all radiation' gave me yearning for creme brulee for a mad moment.
 
Glassflower
Member # 17950
 - posted
lol MNME....mmm....creme brulee with an iodine infusion....macDonalds should do a special for a couple of weeks around the world...
 
Shanta Gdeeda
Member # 9889
 - posted
Creme brulee portions in restaurants are never big enough. Just 2 teaspoons. They should come in buckets.
 
Laura
Member # 879
 - posted
So they are already reporting "low levels" of radiation being found in milk in the Washington state area. There seems to be no solution yet for controlling this nuclear disaster in Japan (radioactive water being dumped in ocean - may continue for months they say). At what point do people start to panic... [Frown] I read that this is far worse then Chernobyl ever was...
 
Cheekyferret
Member # 15263
 - posted
TEPCO starts releasing radioactive water from Fukushima into sea just past 10AM GMT
 
Cheekyferret
Member # 15263
 - posted
TEPCO workers were using a polymer mixed with shredded paper and sawdust to try to close off pipes through which the water has flowed into a cracked concrete pit at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, from where it has run into the sea. An ear...lier attempt to seal the crack with cement failed to stop the leak.

If cement doesn't work then yep sawdust and shredded newspaper looks likely to do the job....
 
Shanta Gdeeda
Member # 9889
 - posted
Egypt asks IAEA to review planned nuclear plant:

http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=31732
 
Laura
Member # 879
 - posted
quote:
Originally posted by Shanta Gdeeda:
Egypt asks IAEA to review planned nuclear plant:

http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=31732

Let's just hope that they don't get an approval. Seriously, shouldn't there be some kind of international law, that says Nuclear Plants can not be constructed in areas that lie on these earthquake prone areas?? HELLO - common sense!
 
An Exercise in Futility
Member # 9889
 - posted
.
 



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