More Radiation found in well at Vernon

There was a recent report  by Susan Smallheer in the Rutland Hearld that Strontium 90 was found in one of the wells at Vernon.   The experts say that the levels are “safe.”   I have two specific concerns.

The first is that the EPA has recently changed the standards of what is safe.   Much higher levels are now regarded as being “safe.”

The second concern is that they only measured the radioactivity of the strontium; the article does mention that other possible radioactive elements were found, such as cesium and cobalt.   Thus, listing a single element can vastly under report the total amount of radioactivity present.

Nuclear plume to reach West Coast

The BBC recently reported that a nuclear plume is about to reach the West Coast of the United States. 

There are at least two different computer models, and soon there will be sampling to determine which is correct…One of these models anticipates a maximum concentration by mid-2015 of up to 27 becquerels per cubic metre of water; the other no more than about two becquerels per cubic metre of water…Bedford’s Dr John Smith told BBC News that further measurements being taken in the ocean right now should give researchers a fair idea of which model is correct….And he emphasised again: “These levels are still well below maximum permissible concentrations in drinking water in Canada for caesium-137 of 10,000 becquerels per cubic metre of water – so, it’s clearly not an environmental or human-health radiological threat.”

Measurable levels are being detected, but the levels are “safe.”   However, if one looks carefully at the graph, it shows that much of the Pacific has levels around 100 microseverts per cubic meter.   However,  the only truly safe level of radiation is none.  Maximal permissible concentrations are a fiction.  Who is giving the permission, and on what basis?

Radiation found on West Coast is from Fukushima.

In a recent report  the Christian Science Monitor wrote that:

Researchers at the annual American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu announced that traces of radioactive cesium isotopes – cesium-134 and cesium-137– from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been detected in Vancouver.

Now there is evidence from very reputable sources that there are detectable levels of Cesium.   It does not say whether there was testing for other nucleotides, but it it likely that many different nucleotides have been released, and the total radiation count is much higher.

More Becquerels at Fukushima found in the ground water

There was a recent report in Russian Times that

A record high level of radioactive cesium has been found in groundwater beneath the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, it operator TEPCO revealed…On February 13, Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported 37,000 becquerels of cesium-134 and 93,000 becquerels of cesium-137 were detected per liter of groundwater sampled from a monitoring well earlier that day…Water samples were taken from the technical well, located next to the second power unit, some 50 meters from the coast. These figures (the total reading) are the highest of all the cesium measurements taken previously.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) accused TEPCO of lacking basic understanding of measuring and handling radiation almost three years since the reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

 If the ground water is this radioactive 50 meters from the coast, then it seems that it is only a matter of time before radioactive ground water is spilling into the sea.  Further, this report is mentioning only cesium, and there are many other radioisotopes produced by a nuclear reactor in melt down.  Since the NRA accused TEPCO of lack of basic understanding, do they, the NRA,  have any power to influence TEPCO’s behavior?

DIY, Cloud Sourcing for Monitoring of Fukushima

There was a recent post that monitoring of the Pacific Ocean for radioactivity has begun.  It is a well written piece that explains cesium and Becquerels and data collection.  The article states that:

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) marine chemist Ken Buesseler began sampling and analyzing seawater surrounding the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant three months after the 2011 disaster. Today, he launched a crowd sourcing campaign and citizen science website to collect and analyze seawater along the West Coast of North America as the radioactive plume travels 5,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean.

I am happy to see that monitoring has begun, but it is also shocking that this endeavor of monitoring is funded by the people themselves with NGO’s.   Is there no sense of outrage that neither the governments of the US and Japan nor the corporations such as TEPCO or GE feel that they are responsible for their actions?

Which Becquerels should be measured?

A recent report about the ground water of Fukushima gave the following report:

Groundwater from well No. 1-16 (pg. 3), Collected Dec. 12, 2013:

• Cs-137: 1.8 becquerels per liter (Bq/L)
• Co-60: 0.55 Bq/L
• All β: 1,800,000 Bq/L

What is most striking is the difference between the total becquerels of Cesium-137 and the total of all Becquerels.   The total Becquerels is 1,000,000 times higher than the total of Cesium 137.  Nuclear reactors, particularly uncontrolled ones, make all the known elements  in all their isotopes.    If one assayed this water only for Cesium-137, it would meet “safe” levels.  I doubt that the water would be safe to drink>

Related articles

• Asahi: Radiation levels spike to record high in Fukushima groundwater well nearby ocean – Trench failures to blame, says Tepco – Million times more strontium/beta-ray source than cesium (enenews.com)
• Rising radioactivity in Fukushima’s leaking water (nuclear-news.net)
• Radioactive cesium levels in Miyagi forest soil up since 2011 (japantimes.co.jp)

Radioactive fish and the NRDC

The NRDC posted a blog outlying the risk of eating fish caught off the coast of Japan and stated that;

To keep the risk below 1×10-5 the consumer must limit his/her dietary intake to less than 10,000 Bq of cesium-137.  Therefore this risk limit would be reached after eating about 0.7 kg of fish meat. While this is a conservative estimate of what is required to achieve a low risk, one could make a good case for quarantining fishing off the Japanese coast near Fukushima, which of course is what the Japanese government has done.

The risk would increase as more fish is eaten.  The article goes on to say that the risk is much lower than fish caught off the coast of the US, but there are also reports of tuna found off the coast of California having low but detectable levels of  cesium 134.   The article goes on to say that the plume of radioactive material has not yet gotten to the West Coast.  So, there is not a problem now, but it may well be coming.

Finally, the article says that the calculations are confounded by all the other radioactivity from the atomic bomb tests.   The point is often made that the levels are not significant compared to back ground levels.  Since many radioactive nucleotides have long half lives, then the back ground level of radiation may well be rising.  I  have not seen any information about “normal” back ground levels of radiation taken back in 1944, before the “dawning” of the nuclear age.

Related articles

• Fukushima Radiation Risks from Eating Fish (switchboard.nrdc.org)
• 28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From Fukushima (silverdoctors.com)
• If you like fish then you better know your radiation…….. (lifehardcore.wordpress.com)

Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold after typhoon at Fukushima

Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold in one day: Water radiation soars at Fukushima No. 1 — The Japan Times.

Immediately after the typhoon the reports said that there was no damage.   Now,, radioactive strontium is being found in the ditches near leaky tanks.  The article says heavy rains from the typhoon washed water into the ditch.   This was  not the classic wind related damage, but rather the storm water raising the  water levels in an area already saturated, from the ground flow and the  water being  added to keep the reactor cool, with its core sinking into the earth.

Related articles

• Tepco admits “radiation levels in groundwater are soaring” at Fukushima – “Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold in one day” (VIDEO) (enenews.com)
• Huge spike in groundwater radiation under Fukushima nuclear reactor No 1 (nuclear-news.net)
• Water radiation soars at Fukushima No. 1 (rinf.com)
• TV: “Typhoon appears to have affected Fukushima Daiichi plant” – Giant spike in radioactivity after #Wipha – Suspected of causing high levels of strontium to flow into Pacific (VIDEO) (enenews.com)

Tritiated exit signs

A recent comment to my blog stated that there are tritiated exit signs, typically used in dark places such as movie theaters, where there is a need for signs if there is a power failure.   He stated that these signs have billions of Becquerels and I was able to confirm his facts.

The quantity of tritium contained in each tritium exit sign varies with the size of the sign. The tritium exit sign used in Hong Kong may contain tritium with total activity ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 TBq (300 to 800 billion Becquerel (貝克勒爾)).

The NRC states

Many kinds of facilities across the United States use tritium EXIT signs, including public and private office buildings, theaters, stores, schools and churches. The NRC estimates there are more than 2 million tritium EXIT signs in use in the United States.

Tritium is also used in watches

Tufts University has banned the use of tritiated exit signs

Can tritium-containing exit signs be used at Tufts?

No. Tritium exit signs are sold under a general license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Intact signs can be handled without special precautions except to avoid damaging the sign. However, they contain very large amounts of radioactive material in the form of tritium gas. These signs should not be purchased or used at Tufts University.  Costs can be very high when it is time to dispose of these signs. There are only a limited number of disposal options for them. Some universities have paid thousands of dollars to dispose of just a few tritium exit signs. There have also been incidents where cleanup from damaged tritium exit signs has cost tens of thousands of dollars. Special training is required to ship tritium exit signs.

Tritium produces ionizing radiation.   The more the exposure to radiation, the greater the risks to biological tissues.  Because the signs are common does not mean that they are safe.   There are warnings about the disposal of these signs.  They cannot be disposed of in landfills, according to the NRC.

Related articles

• Huge leak of tritium feared in Fukushima (peakoil.com)

Trillions of Becquerels of Tritium released at Fukushima, August 3, 2013

In a recent post in the Kyodo News  there is a report that since the beginning of the disaster at Fukushima there has been a release of

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that an estimated 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium may have flowed from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean since May 2011.   The plant operator reported the estimate to the Nuclear Regulation Authority after recently admitting that toxic water, accumulating at the site since the nuclear crisis was triggered on March 11, 2011, is seeping into the sea.  TEPCO said the release is around the level allowed under safety regulations, which is 22 trillion becquerels annually, but acknowledged that it had not taken place in a controlled way.

 It is hard to imagine the studies that they did to determine that releases of 22 trillion Becquerels annually is safe.  This works out to 750,000 Becquerels per second.  This is distributed through the whole sample of water, not just a liter.

Related articles

• Fukushima plant may have leaked huge amount of radioactive tritium (english.kyodonews.jp)
• #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Groundwater Contamination: 20 to 40 Trillion Bq of Tritium May Have Been Released Since May 2011 (ex-skf.blogspot.com)
• Kyodo: ‘Huge amount’ of radioactive tritium may have entered ocean from Fukushima plant – Up to 40,000,000,000,000 Bq claims Tepco – Doesn’t include before May 2011 (enenews.com)