radiation and prevailing winds

[chiver78]

news stations in the Boston area have reported that rainwater that has fallen recently has had elevated radiation levels. the experts think it's related to Japan, but that it is not a cause for concern.

it's gotten me thinking about a book I read back in HS - On The Beach, which is a fictional look at the last survivors of a nuclear war. I know it's a stretch, because radiation levels can't possibly be anywhere close to what they would be in a nuclear war, but it's definitely food for thought. the book is set in Australia, where eventually the winds carry the nuclear fallout to pollute the Southern Hemisphere. Australia had stayed out of the nuclear war, but still fell victim to the fallout.

any weather experts on this board that could chime in?

[floridayankee]

Mar 28, 2011 8:49:35 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

news stations in the Boston area have reported that rainwater that has fallen recently has had elevated radiation levels. the experts think it's related to Japan, but that it is not a cause for concern.

You likely get more radiation from the sun than we'll likely see from Japan.

[burnsattornincan]

There is no free lunch. Nuclear power is in response to the high demands for an overpopulated earth. Cutting corners is just buying time really. The real price will be paid and Japan is seeing what that price is. Unfortunately we are going to be receiving a portion of that bill.

[chiver78]

floridayankee, that's kind of what I figured. I'm just wondering how close that fictional story was to the scientific reality.

[Value Buy]

Mar 28, 2011 9:58:02 GMT -5 floridayankee said:

Mar 28, 2011 8:49:35 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

news stations in the Boston area have reported that rainwater that has fallen recently has had elevated radiation levels. the experts think it's related to Japan, but that it is not a cause for concern.

You likely get more radiation from the sun than we'll likely see from Japan.

Ok, we can stay out of the sunrays without too much effort.
When you are having physical contact with radiation dust on the skin and lungs, as well as consuming only "slightly elevated radiation infected food", the cumlative total can get to you.
Lung cancer, thyroid cancer and failed chromosomes concern me.

[verrip1]

I'm wondering just how this radiation got to Boston from Japan, yet missed all the states in between. Not that Boston doesn't deserve some radiation ...

[Deleted]

I just read they were getting readings in southern states... but it was on huff... don't usually use that as a source unless i verify... ?

[chiver78]

Mar 28, 2011 12:21:24 GMT -5 verrip1 said:

I'm wondering just how this radiation got to Boston from Japan, yet missed all the states in between. Not that Boston doesn't deserve some radiation ...

I'm sure it didn't miss any states in between, but I'm only seeing Boston news in the early AM here in Massachusetts.

ValueBuy, all those things you list have me concerned as well. I grew up in a neighborhood that could possibly be identified as a cancer cluster if logic and common sense can prevail. my dad's one of the cases, but he was lucky enough to have caught his cancer quickly and recover without being ill very long.

[verrip1]

Well, if Boston's already radioactive, that's that. Guess we can move the Yucca Mountain Repository there now, since Boston will be radioactive for the next hundred or so millennia. Too bad, but the rest of us have to move on and not live in the past ....

[floridayankee]

Mar 28, 2011 11:26:14 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Ok, we can stay out of the sunrays without too much effort.

When you are having physical contact with radiation dust on the skin and lungs, as well as consuming only "slightly elevated radiation infected food", the cumlative total can get to you.
Lung cancer, thyroid cancer and failed chromosomes concern me.

Considering everything emits radiation, ourselves included, there is no way to shield ourselves from all radioactivity. Other common household pruducts such as modern televisions, smoke detectors, light bulbs, computer monitors, radios, etc... emit radiation at levels high enough to be detected.

The concentration of radioiodine found in the rainwater sample was 79 pCi/L (picocuries per liter). Auerbach said that hypothetically, even if someone drank the rainwater directly, “it is still 25 times less risky than it would need to be in order to cause any kind of health concerns . . . . And that is even true for the population that would be the most vulnerable, such as pregnant women, breast-feeding women, and infants.’’

www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/28/state_steps_up_monitoring_after_radioactivity_found_in_rainwater/?camp=obnetwork

Honestly, I'm not scared. I'll likely get creamed by some dumb-azzed four-wheeler in an SUV talking on their cell phone or sexting their boy/girlfriend long before any possible radioactivity from Japan gets me.

[Value Buy]

Mar 28, 2011 12:21:24 GMT -5 verrip1 said:

I'm wondering just how this radiation got to Boston from Japan, yet missed all the states in between. Not that Boston doesn't deserve some radiation ...

It did not miss the states inbetween. The Federal Government only mentioned something like 13 sites across the country that were involved in the data gathering.

[verrip1]

Mar 28, 2011 13:27:55 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Mar 28, 2011 12:21:24 GMT -5 verrip1 said:

I'm wondering just how this radiation got to Boston from Japan, yet missed all the states in between. Not that Boston doesn't deserve some radiation ...

It did not miss the states inbetween. The Federal Government only mentioned something like 13 sites across the country that were involved in the data gathering.

Any mention of pre-tsunami readings in those areas? After all, without a baseline, no set of current readings means anything about causation from the Japanese power plant disruptions.

[floridayankee]

Mar 28, 2011 20:05:55 GMT -5 verrip1 said:

Any mention of pre-tsunami readings in those areas? After all, without a baseline, no set of current readings means anything about causation from the Japanese power plant disruptions.

I also wondered if there was a baseline, but the article in my last post says "The rain sample was taken during the past week in Boston as part of regular monitoring by the US Environmental Protection Agency." I gave it a pass because I'm assuming the monitoring is something that has been going on for a while, but I could be wrong.

[steff]

The EPA says radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which was damaged during the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, have been detected in air filters at monitoring sites in Alabama and eight other states and Pacific islands. The Iodine 131 detected is a by-product of the nuclear fission process


from the AJC

[Value Buy]

Mar 30, 2011 0:44:20 GMT -5 @patstab said:

The one type of radiation has a very short life and dissipates rapidly. However, the problem they have now with plutonium leaking is a big problem as it has a half life of 27000 years. Now that is a problem, you think?

They are getting very nervous as the water is rising in one of the containment areas, they said if it rises 3 more feet it will start draining into the ocean, this contains plutonium.

Supposedly, it's half life is eight days. That is not it's duration. It is only half as strong as it was originally.
Now we have Plutonium problems. How long before we are told not to eat the fresh Veggies from the valleys in California?
How long before we learn our winter wheat crop in the Dakota's are slightly radioactive?
Oh, do not forget the corn and soybean crops that will be planted in a few weeks.......
This is serious business.

[Value Buy]

Just wanted to bump the thread. Seems like Japan is off the radar screen with the media, but then none of the reporters want to report from the radioactive area, so hard to get good data.

Last I heard, the readings are spreading further away from the reactors, and nothing has really changed, just spewing radiation.
Any word on our monitors here in the states in the last few days? Seems like nothing is reported in the local media about it.

[chiver78]

thanks for bumping, Value Buy. I missed the last couple posts.

patstab, I think there's a few reasons it wasn't quickly sealed. first, the initial survey for damage didn't show this awful a situation. I think everyone really underestimated it. second, when they did finally realize how bad it was, it's not like there is industry capable of sealing it right now. everything around the site is in ruins.

VB, the last thing I've heard about my area is that the radiation levels in the air (from standard sampling) is a little higher than normal. same as the rainwater, I guess. as far as water in the vicinity of the plant, I have heard that the 'clean' sea water that's being used to keep the spent fuel rods cooled is coming back out with elevated radiation levels. that means there's a leak somewhere in the system. I wonder where that sea water is being diverted, if at all, and what impact that's going to have on the people and surroundings.