This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
As Radioactive Rain Starts To Pour, Japan Engages In Another Cover Up As It Increases Decontamination Threshold Sixteenfold
Even as the market has now apparently fully priced in Fukushima, the bad news continue coming:
- TOKYO ELECTRIC RADIOACTIVITY FOUND CONFIRMS FUEL DAMAGE: NHK
- TOKYO ELECTRIC DETECTS 5 TYPES OF RADIOACTIVITY, NHK SAYS
No surprise there: by now everyone is well aware that the fuel rods are if not completely then certainly partially destroyed. However, the real danger, and explains why we have been following atmospheric conditions over Japan so closely, is that as Kyodo just reported, the rain is now pouring radioactive cats and dogs. But the most troubling development is that instead of being proactive and finally warning its citizens about the dangers, the Japanese government has just raised the decontamination threshold by nearly 20 times from 6,000 cpm to a stunning 100,000 cpm. Is is rather safe to assume that this number was not picked arbitrarily.
From Kyodo:
Far greater amounts of radioactive iodine and cesium were found in rain, dust and particles in the air in some areas over a 24-hour period from Sunday morning due to rainfall, the science ministry said Monday.
''Considering the results of a separate test, radioactive materials in the air and drinking water are confined to levels that would not affect health,'' an official of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said. ''The impact on agricultural crops needs to be examined mainly by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.''
In a notice to the nation's 47 prefectures, the health ministry called on local governments on Monday to advise residents to stop giving babies water in forms such as baby formula if radioactive iodine is found in drinking water at levels greater than 100 becquerels per kiloliter.
''Babies can easily absorb radioactive iodine in their thyroid glands,'' a ministry official said, explaining the reason for issuing the notice. The intake limit set by the central government is 300 becquerels per kiloliter of water.
The science ministry said separately traces of the substances were detected in drinking water sampled Sunday in nine prefectures but they were all below the intake limits set by the government.
The nationwide survey showed both radioactive iodine and cesium were found in Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures, while iodine alone was found in Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata and Yamanashi.
In Fukushima Prefecture, where the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is located, the prefectural government said 23 becquerels of iodine was found per kiloliter of water.
Yamanashi appeared in the latest iodine list, after not being listed in the previous survey based on samples taken Saturday.
Cesium was detected in a sample in Tokyo on Saturday but was not detected Sunday. It was detected in Gunma on Sunday, though the prefecture was not cited in the previous survey.
Among other prefectures, 12 becquerels of iodine was detected in Ibaraki, 10 becquerels in Tochigi, 5.9 becquerels in Gunma, 2.9 becquerels in Tokyo, and 3.6 becquerels in Niigata, among other locations, the ministry's tally showed.
As for cesium, 2.8 becquerels was found in Tochigi and 1.2 becquerels in Gunma.
The central government's Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan sets the intake limit for iodine at 300 becquerels per kiloliter of water and 200 becquerels for cesium.
Due to damage caused by the massive earthquake on March 11, research is currently impossible in some areas. Fukushima Prefecture is publishing data based on its own research.
Meanwhile, the government's task force to tackle nuclear accidents instructed municipal governments near the crisis-hit Fukushima plant on Monday to ease conditions under which they require people to undergo mandatory decontamination.A radiation level of 100,000 counts per minute will be introduced as a new standard for decontamination, up from 6,000 counts per minute, the government said, adding that raising the bar will not endanger health.
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the decision was made based on advice from domestic nuclear experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
As the number of people who want to undergo radiation checks has surged, a lack of staff and equipment for the tests and decontamination was feared.
The task force also urged the municipalities to tell residents not to take iodine preparations that prevent the absorption of radioactive iodine without expert guidance.
The intake of such preparations can help to prevent thyroid cancer but can involve side effects including allergic reactions.
»
- 18622 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
>>''Babies can easily absorb radioactive iodine in their thyroid glands,''
For a nation of elderly Japanese this will likely infuriate them.
Please... Priced in. Like Greece/Italy/Ireland default, QE2, Housing Subsidy.
One of the oldest excuses on Wall Street.
Time to raise the allowable limits!
Hey, does anyone want to buy my IYR shorts...cheap?
There is nothing like a good radioactive rain to start your moning off!
This should propel the Nikkei another 1000 points upward, at least.
Expecting lots of reports from the banking cartel that this is a non-event and even if they see any risk it's already priced in. And of course there will be explanations how this is actually bullish for the planet earth.
How do you know if you've lost or won the game when they keep moving the goal post and hiding the score board?
Ahhhhhhhhh, now I get it.
Hey Folks,
Don't forget to donate generously to your busy ZH team. Without them and this site, we'd be really fucking bored and uninformed.
Ps- I'm spontaneously doing a short "campaign drive". Hope you'll kick in a few bucks, say $20 or so.
Absolutely Cindy - Well said!
Done
Did my part.
you guys have dispelled the myth..." you only get what you pay for....there is hardly anything else i pay for these days that i feel ...let me rephrase, the things i buy today seem to be of the same quality of the item i am using to trade with.....
that makes the value of what you do is priceless against the frn's...i hope you guys are humbly aware of the impact you have had...im in thanks
how about if we are going to donate we get a free pass from these fuckin math problems...
"How do you know if you've lost or won the game when they keep moving the goal post and hiding the score board?"
I thought you were on to something last night with your theory of "velocity of lies, omissions, and obfuscations".
I still do.
Which ZH story/article comment thread are you referring to? Like a baby with diarrhea, I'm dropping bombs all over the place. :>)
I don't remember which thread it was exactly. It was a passing comment you made to the effect that: more spin = worsening situation. I thought it insightful and universally applicable in these times. Others have said similar things, notably TruthisSunshine.
I just remembered it when I read your comment above and the phrase "velocity of lies, omissions, and obfuscations seemed like a good way to summarize the principle. Sorry to confuse. Unintentional.
Sometimes my best writing occurs when I'm asleep at the keyboard. :>)
I am in the middle of an article about this nuclear insanity, but I want the background radiation here on ZH to come down a bit before I consider posting it. Emotions on ZH are still way too high for clear thought......which means many people (including myself) are reacting rather than thinking. The more we recognize the spin the greater our anger. Never open your mouth when you're furious and right now I am furious. I sense many others are furious as well.
I look forward to reading your article. I am new as a commenter here, but I've followed the dialog for quite some time. Your comments often seem insightful to me.
Emotions are pretty intense at the moment all over, I agree. My own tend to run from rage to cynicism to despair and back again lately.
I don't blame you for wanting to wait for calmer waters. Doesn't seem to be much danger of missing the iron while its hot, so why not?
The iron is always hot at ZH. lol...
"Emotions on ZH are still way too high for clear thought......which means many people (including myself) are reacting rather than thinking. The more we recognize the spin the greater our anger. Never open your mouth when you're furious and right now I am furious. I sense many others are furious as well."
Okay what you've just written above nails it! - this is how i feel EVERY DAY. "never open your mouth when you are furious" - sounds very Sun Tzu - ish. This is something I will practice.
To be honest I am still commenting in the comment section. But the comment section is precisely that, a place to leave reactions to the articles.
However, I have decided to hold off posting actual articles until my blood pressure returns to near normal. I have tried to take a longer, bigger picture point of view with my articles since I became a contributor a year and a half ago and I don't wish to change. As hooky as it may sound, I feel a responsibility to the reader to give them my best thinking in my articles......or at least what I consider my best thinking. Shooting from the hip doesn't qualify. That's why my articles are far and few between. I let most of me hang out in the comment section unlike most of the other contributors.
time to calculate the thrid derivative, the speed of speed?
I believe the third derivative would be the speed of aceleration, ne? Mr. Tippy long time no see?
ORI
Yes, it is called 'jerk', that head-snapping kind of thing as opposed to the steady push of accelaration. The 4th, 5th and 6th derivatives are called snap, crackle, and pop.
No, you jerk!
Is it just me or is reactor#3 melting....
It doesn't look all that tall anymore.
And trav7777 how 'bout that grey smoke? Is that just some harmless swamp gas discolored from light refracting off of Venus? I need to know as to prepare for the HAARP activated NWO flock as my spidey senses suspect they are Oscar Mike as we speak.
Been thinking the same thing, the steel superstructure was relatively intact after the inital explosion. But each picture I see after that, the structure appears to be slumping in on itself.
That's why they call it a melt down. Five years from now all you will see is a small stain on the ground.
Evil things melt when you pour water on them. I saw it on TV.
we (NWO) have been using the remote control pigeons to peck at and carry off small pieces of the structure when the cameras are not aimed at the complex. Eventually, we can say "what reactor 3, do you see a reactor 3?" All the bits and pieces are being distributed to the front lawns of those super-sleuths on ZH who figured out our plan to use HAAAARP on the full moon and move Mars into Uranus.
Dow up 189 pts
Someone somewhere is having a good time....
Amen Theta - IF your not in Japan & happen to work for a bank or a government the world is a happy place
Yes those fat-cat thousandaire teachers and policemen have the life... oh wait they are getting laid off.
I think we need to stop with the distractions, the banks have raped the world economy and are getting the sheep to blame it on 1st-grade teachers.
I read something from someone I don't respect who made an astonishingly accurate point.
Republicans (and politicians in general) are like your meth-head roommate. While you're pointing out the obvious, that getting a job and paying the rent and paying off debt are the issues that need to be attended to, they're laying on the couch with their entire attention focused on the sounds of the imaginary police scanner coming in through the air conditioner.
Yea, you know somewhere there are mega-douchebags high fiving each other and snapping towels into each others asses.
They are in TOTAL control and they know it. If today's asinine jack job doesn't prove it then I don't know what will.
S&P 1300? Check.
DOW 1,200? Check.
REITs and Financials jacked? Roger that.
See you tomorrow Fred. OK, see you tomorrow Ralph.
Boiler, your incisive wit is welcome relief.
Perhaps you has a freudian slip on the DOWn... 1,200?
one can only hope.
ORI
Just disgusting
Go long hair dye. Lotta white hairs developing.
The correct play here is to go long wigs since people will be losing their hair.
+ U235
Perruques will soon be in fashion if the aristocracy gets its way. I can hardly wait to see libertarians strutting around in leotards with codpieces.
Well they suck at nuclear plants but they sure know how to move goal posts!
Yes next move for the Jap Govt will be to raise the human tolerance temperature allowance to something close to the surface of the Sun
if all else fails, cover it up!
remember the USS Liberty
The stock market seems to only care about Citi's reverse stock split and whopping $0.01 dividend.
Japan is old news, and so is, apparently, the huge drop in February home sales.
Huh. Says over there >>>> (RAN Squawk): General Motors (GM) halting some production in Buffalo on Japan parts slowdown
Doesn't seem that old....of course this is bullish since it slows down GM's trollopy channel stuffing habit....
Hehe... my post was 100% sarcasm. It's amazing how in just one weekend Japan isn't a problem anymore, neither is housing, Portugal, Greece, etc., etc.
As long as Apple can keep pumping out iPad 2s for the next 2-3 weeks (until they run out of parts), to the moon baby.
VIDEO: 'Japan govt not in control, IAEA can do nothing, people right to panic'
This video wasn't loaded in Japan, because, well, you know - that would be illegal (as Japan has blocked youtube broadcasts of anything nuclear, as there is no catastrophe brewing and all is well).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zalndXdxriI
"We want....information"
This video is from March 16. I'm not picking a fight, but things have changed since this time. Perhaps I am missing your point.
Right, the video is from 5 days ago.
Everything the interviewed individual stated is being confirmed as credible by events we've witnessed up to and including radiation levels in sea water and rain reported just now.
the guy is a talking head with his own agenda...he's not technically conversant in any of the issues.
he's talking about negligence over a 50 year old reactor design originally built 40 years ago. As if we can backdate today's technical understanding to the 1950s
radiation DOSAGE chart: http://xkcd.com/radiation/
h/t: daringfireball.net
the Japanese government has just raised the decontamination threshold by nearly 20 times from 6,000 cpm to a stunning 100,000 cpm.
The Japanese have learned well from the American's perpetual raising of the debt "ceiling". Just raise the radiation ceiling, right? If you don't like the truth, change the facts!
The Japanese government's management of perception voodoo will tragically end when people start pulling their hair out in clumps, as their bodies begin to degrade at the cellular level.
Who do you believe, Japan?
Your "leaders"?
Or your own lying eyes, lying in a liquefied pool on the floor in front of your feet?
Truont, i had lunch with my old business partner yesterday. Young go getter, Japanese, still talking about listing his company in the market in 5 years time. All the stuff he "knew" about the disaster was MSM, pure and simple. I kept trying to tell him there was another, darker side to all this. Parents in Tokyo, not moving. He was sure that the government had failed, even though Kan-san loved manga, it was time for him to go. He also said, seriously, that if one Japanese "leader" commited seppuku, the people would forgive and forget and move on to the "fight' of rebuilding.
All this time, we were sitting in one of Bangalore's finest restaurants, surrounded by white folks from the world over, and every plate (course) had mounds of food wasted as people pecked on the 108 different dishes in the spread.
It was surreal.
I had the most horrible stomach burn all night last night, a combination of 'surrealism factors" I had endured in the afternoon.
All in all, it's going to end pretty shittly.
ORI
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/what-can-i-do/
This is bullish. Workers who glow in the dark can work longer hours and less time being decontaminated means higher productivity rates. Reconstruction = GDP awesomeness.
Iodine pills causing allergic reactions detracts from productivity so that obviously has to go. The government clearly has this situation under control and understands what needs to be done.
Think of the 50% productivity jump when they use their 3rd arms on the assembly lines and the spinach fields.
That shit is bullish!
It is clear from the MSM and government agency spokesmen worldwide that the reactor core meltdowns at Units 1-3 and the destruction of all 4 spent fuel pools will be minimized. No need to upset the global apple cart. The Japanese people deserve better.
"The Japanese people deserve better."
Amen Brother! I'm just gobsmacked by the blatant coverup, obfuscation and general assholishness of the Japanese gov't and TEPCO. I mean, here are just a few examples of what's got my 'radar' pinging;
1: Isn't this the second time that the J'Gov has raised the limit of 'acceptable' radiation levels?
2: The US took thermal images of the site but the J'Gov has blacked them out, refusing the release those.
3: The radiation levels near the reactor sites continue to be classified as "under survey" by the J'Gov.. "under survey"??? WTF? this is the most basic piece of information there is.
4: TEPCO and the J'Gov have NEVER release the temperature or pressure readings for the reactor sites... just occasional statements that they are 'elevated' or 'may' be increasing.
I am a firm believer that you can learn as much from what's NOT being said as from what is being said.. in this case, what's not being said speaks so much louder.
What's not being said.....Like the condition of the second plant to the south which is closer to Tokoyo and believed to be in some trouble.
Soon the radiation will disappear altogether....like the Gulf oil globs.
a range of fission products being detected in the environment. When you consider the impact of this, factor in the protective wind patterns on the last two weeks. It could get 5x worse in a matter of days.
How long will the JP government be able to keep Tokyo calm?
How might the Chinese respond to a cesium plume flowing into East China?
How will the radioactivity in the entire food chain affect Japanese food exports and GDP?
Yes people! The corporates want to hide all of it under the rug. Keep the rug lifted with ZeroHedge!!!
I sincerely wish this was not happening. Let's be honest though, wishing isn't constructive.
Kyodo says radioactive caesium found in sea water 24.8 times limit Mon, 16:42 21-03-2011
How might the Chinese respond to a cesium plume flowing into East China?
Wrap it up in dry-wall and sell it to the gweiloo, of course!
Tada-boom-tisch - (canned laughter)
This is so terribly sad.
What a nightmare...Mayan Calendar is beggining to look accurate.
Accurate, my ass.
The Mayans forgot to carry the one. That type of mathematical sloppiness is completely unacceptable.
Relax, it's not like ICBM's are being launched from the LA coastal waters.
LOL I totally forgot the 'Mystery of the No Name Nuke'
This is .... just .... :((((((((((((((((((
At least the rain is good & we're still talking about very low levels.
But ingestation [food/water] suggestions are REPREHENSIBLE & WORSE than breathing it in.
Disaster is good for business. War is good for business. Radiation is evidently good for business. Suffering, preferably on a mass scale, is good for business. Bad news is good for business. Earthquakes are excellent for business. Homelessness is good for business. But the assassination of bankers and government officials would be bad for business, and saving your money instead of spending it is really bad for business. Buying silver and gold is downright treasonous. And bad for business. Got it? Good. Now let's all get down to business.
Let me fix it for you.
Disaster is good for stocks. War is good for stocks. Radiation is evidently good for stocks. Suffering, preferably on a mass scale, is good for stocks. Bad news is good for stocks. Earthquakes are excellent for stocks. Homelessness is good for stocks. But the assassination of bankers and government officials would be bad for stocks, and saving your money instead of spending it is really bad for stocks.
All legitimate businesses are still suffering.
Got it? Good.
....yeah yeah...radioactive rain...blah blah. As I said, AT&T is buying T-Mobile! That is all you need to know to simply back up the truck and buy S&P futures! The merger is way more important than radioactive rain! Com'mon Tyler, every one at the criminal syndicate known as Wall Street is talking about the merger...and only the merger. You should only talk about the merger, too.
And to think, some people think mergers creating massive monopoly-like entities is a bad thing or something. But only those people who are about to be fired out of the new combined monster really believe something like that...and people who worry about radioactive rain. Good grief!
Animal spirits, bitchez!
Study after study has shown that mergers are almost universally dillutive to earnings and lead only to increased compensation for CEO's and investment bankers...
Which is why this is such great news. The people that matter are making more money now.
The fact that mergers are usually bad for shareholders, creditors, employees and tax payers is irrelevant.
Buy the fucking dip bitchez!!
Exactly. People [like Tyler] just need to get more comfortable with the new American Marxist/Banker party. In them, we can trust.
Bi Losing
6000 CPM is 100 clicks per second on a geiger counter. Definitely not background, and definitely not safe (with the P32 isotope I used to work with). 100,000 CPM is insane (imho). Somebody please tell me where I am wrong, or I'm going to be PWI for a long long time.
Hey, we have something in common? I spent a little time gripping a micropipette in my hand on the other side of a little clear shield. Still no adverse outcomes, but time will tell.
Same here hh. I used to work with ooodles of 32P and 33P behind a beta shields and mucho 131I used to iodinate proteins for immuno-assays. Thank goodness they have a relatively short half-lives.
"...adding that raising the bar will not endanger health."
Since when did Bernanke start at the Japoanese Ministry of Health?
Just change the numbers until they work for you.....sound familiar?
Insidious. No, the act of raising the bar will not endanger health. But why they are raising it might.
Page 19 blurb just below the Piggly Wiggly ad.
It's priced in anyway.
One wonders just how high the radioactivity is at the plant.
The WSJ (print) reports that Yukio Takayama, leader of a responding squad unit, stated: "No matter what protective gear you have on, if you touch or inhale radioactive material, that means death." (Narioka p. 11)
go long Lead Umbrellas.
I bet it's perfectly safe to take a refreshing dip into the cooling waves or to have some fish for dinner.
03-21 12:44: Kyodo says radioactive Iodine found in sea water 126.7 times limitI Gavla, Sweden, swimming, eating local fish, game, berries or musrooms is still considered to be a Bad Idea! Been like that since 1986!!
They had heavy rainfall just as the plume from Chernobyl happened to pass over the area.
Aw Jesus H Fracking Splittin Christ these better be wrong
Kyodo says radioactive Iodine found in sea water 126.7 times limit
Kyodo says radioactive caesium found in sea water 24.8 times limit
('caesium' looks kind of Roman to me)
There's nothing to worry about. It's not like radioactive rainwater is going to get into sensitive areas or make contact directly with people, their food, their homes and their drinking water, and it's not like these levels won't rise from here on.
Does Brita make a filter for this?
Anyways, I'm sure that the IAEA and Japanese Government will simply start reporting false values rather than let people have access to accurate information and truth.
"Does Brita make a filter for this?"
LOL +1
I bet someone somewhere is working on something like this.
Operation "save face" is now well underway.
GO LOOONNNGG on Lead Paint
Lead Paint makes a comeback???
Lead causes cancer/autism.
Depending on what lunatic health group you follow every substance known to man causes cancer/retardation of some kind.
According to some sources radiation is actually a cure to cancer (Ann Coulter)
Thanks for that bulletin
Research in Hormesis has been extensively done in Japan vis a vis the surviuvors of the Nagasaki and Horoshima bombings. There is also some data on the Seveso (Italy, 1976 I think) incident concerning the effects of TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetyrachlorodibeno-p-dioxin) indicating that at some level Hormesis may be at work. My job at the time was synthetic radio chemistry and I made almost every toxic PCB and Poly brominated dibenzofurans around, mostly using 3H, 14C and 13C. I have been to a number of seminars at NIH where the concept of Hormesis has been discussed extensively. Please don't dismiss it out of hand.
Why is anyone worried? The rain, which is made of the same magical substance that flows through firehoses is cooling things off and protecting reputations.
New footage of today's Fukishima reactor cooling pump operations:
http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675027719_Japanese-firemen_separates-hand-pump_women-operate-hand-pump_fireman-talks
The housing crisis is over. Anyone in Japan want to buy housing in the US cheap check with Chase bank. 23% default rate on 1-4 family units. Make the jump today before everyone else catches on.
Here's to front running Spirulina and canned goods.
The Japanese clothing firm Uniqlo needs to bring out some lead-lined stuff ASAP. And perhaps a subtle name change to UniGlo.......
Raise the limit to decontaminate at death, then no need to decontaminate. That's be bi-winning!
As a matter of comparison, in central Missouri, on clay and limestone soil, the count this morning averaged 11.7 CPM for a sample period of 18 minutes. The counter is a Medcom Radalert 50.
Gov Moonbeam just announced that the California budget crisis is now irrelevant and meaningless, and advises the population to "go for a swim in the Pacific".
BTFD...Buy the Fucking Doom.
"It would have to be drunk for a whole year in order to accumulate to one millisievert," a TEPCO official said. Are these fucking officials completely retarded?? Every bad news is spun out like its no big deal.
Yep. It's all about illusion, misdirection and outright propoganda.
"People would have to be drunk for a whole year in order for us to accumulate to one microcred*" a TEPCO official said.
* microcred = infintesimal unit of credibility
There, fixed.
Pushing on a string, not knowing what else to do.
http://oilgeology.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-fix-fukushima-nuclear-disaster.html
Say this at least once a day and make sure to tell your kids:
“Every government is run by liars,” independent journalist I.F. Stone observed, “and nothing they say should be believed.”
at this point I dont think there is ANYTHING that can occur that the world wide PPT cant fix. The on going disaster in Japan...hey...no problem...BOJ prints 85 billion...and walaa !!! the markets globally go right back up. This will work till it doesnt...and then its going to end badly.....VERY badly.
Agreed @Cindy-done. Yes,my ass would be bored otherwise.Calmer but bored.
100,000 clicks per minute= 100mRem= Normal background radiation IN A YEAR.
This is unconscionable,a slow motion Capital Crime.
I'm just waiting to hear about the remarkable new microwave cleaner made by correctsit!
The Japanese government is applying what they learned from our own during the gulf of mexico spill. I'm sure they'll wrap the disaster up just as quickly and efficiently.
The fish are probably wondering wtf they did to piss us off so bad!!!!
The Japanese lady in the paper was right.......they are just going to let them die!!
is anyone else bothered that the potus was in a place making deals with a govt that does not support us internationally?
Clinton / Nixon in china You mean?
Yes, I'm scared shitless of every single deal this president and the three before him has made!
I think within a month, all these people that are living within the proximity of the nuke plants will lose all their hair. Then, the Japanese government will say "oh, it's okay, it's normal!"
Rest In Peace.... Japanese.
so the Marxist control-freaks of the Jap Govt, who micro-manage everything down to white gloves for taxi drivers (for cleanliness no less!), has pissed all over their Health & Safety rules and driven a Horse & Coaches right though them
The Biggest Rule Makers (politicians) are the Biggest Rule Breakers (assholes)
'raised the decontamination threshold by nearly 20 times'
The disinformation continues.
Listen to unnamed "experts" at your own peril, citizens...
Credibility has dropped to a negative level...globally.
The Japanese government is doing exactly what ours would do. Lie, cover, refuse their plain duty. All governments serve themselves.
Panic Babylon.
Kudos to the Japanese government changing the units of measure to something that isn't readily comparable to the so-far-used "Sieverts/hour". What I want to know is, how many counts per minute are going to put the workers in jeopardy? Now the Japanese government doesn't have to report on Sieverts per hour and the workers (and by extension we The Public) are left to guess what the actual ionizing radition exposure the people in and around the facility have been subjected to.
This is not a cover up, but it is confusing. They keep changing the measurement standards, so you can’t tell if this is important or not.
Let me make this simple. A becquerel is one disintegration per second. This is a very tiny figure, so a hundred thousand becquerel isn’t much.
The question is about the increase and how long it lasts. If the background radiation temporarily went up two times or twenty times, how bad is this? Normal background radiation is 10 microsieverts, so you can withstand 200 microsieverts for a few days. The EPA recommends a limit of a thousand microsieverts for a year, but the radiation in Japan won’t stay high very long. These elements have short half lives. Babies and infants may need to get milk from low radiation sources. But, adults are unlikely to be effected.
Conditions in Fukushima will settle down so long as water is kept on the cores and the workers don’t have to vent any more radioactive steam. The secondary radiation, Iodine and Cesium, will decay rapidly. It takes only a few weeks before radiation levels at the nuclear power plant return to normal.
Depends on what isotope you are measuring.
Co60 with 1uSv/h equals 108 CPM
Cs 137 with 1uSv/h equals 120 CPM
Thus 100,000 CPM for Cs 137 equates to about 833 uSv/h resulting in damage to spleen, lymph nodes and bone marrow.
5 hr exposure is certain death.
papa,
You are only off by a factor of 1000.
Messing up micros and millies is likely to accelerate the acquisition of the willies.
My High School debate teacher was fond of telling us "you can always win a debate so long as you are the one to frame the question." The Japanese government has a monopoly on framing the question considering that there is no one else in power to challenge them. This is more evidence of the fact.
Dow up, S&P up, Gold and Silver up, WTI up, Gasoline up, Sureality... yea its up too.
You know, Tyler, what's really criminal about all this is that news like this NEVER makes it to the Japanese language news in Japan, as I've been reporting in my blog. I just checked Kyodo News Japanese, and there is no such news. Not even a hint of it. All the headlines have positive spin. I'm going to translate this news on my Japanese blog so that at least small number of readers in Japan will know.
The Japanese government haven't disclosed the detailed atmospheric radiation level forecast, even though they've been collecting the data since March 11. I'm going to translate that article on my English blog and will post here later.
Things are going so well at Fukushima that they have pulled all the workers out of the area.
http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2011/03/radiation_leak.html
thats some bar raise...20 fold...
holy glow in the dark Batman...and batpeople and fish people and all Marvel Universe and DC future mutants may as well start tuning their powers..if they live so long.
urious -is fluoride numb brain a staple everywhere?
Well said. Emotions do seem very high. I don't know the exact conditions over there. I do know that the press is totally clueless. I also know that most of the "experts" know very little about commercial nuclear power too.
Prime example of emotional hype: the ominous looking plume of Xenon "engulfing" the US. Just stop and think about that for a minute! A 5 minute half life sounds about right to me. So how much-- several thousand cubic feet of gas -- is duluted by a factor of what-- several billion?? and makes it the whole way accross the Pacific. The original concentration was harmless! By the time is gets here, it is way less than harmless.
I used to enter areas of the plant with many many times more noble gas radiation concentration than this routinely. It's no big deal because as soon as you exhale, the exposure is gone. Once the gas is out of your lungs the it is no longer depositing radiation. Smoking a pack or cigs a day for a year gives far more radiation (and more damage per unit of radiation because the tobacco isotopes give off alpha- a bigger particle with much more destruction per unit of internal travel).
Check out the amount of radiation released (OK, admitedly according to TEPCO, but really, if it's anyting like the US, you just don't falsify anything like this-- it's not worth the pain and embarassment.) Forgive me for being lazy and not refreshing myself and looking up details to sound more compitent. My Radiation protection is kind of rusty, its been a few years.
Taking a chill pill sounds like good advice to me. Check out the link below for radiation release data. I'm going to bed now. I have to drive to the other plant and take my licensed operator requal exam to I can refuel the reactor in the coming weeks: what do I know :)
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/world/asia/20110316-japan-quake-radiation.html?ref=asia