FUKUSHIMA - DON'T PANIC
A number of websites WRONGLY stated that the above diagram shows radiation from Fukushima.In reality, this diagram was produced in 2011.It was made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to show the tsunami of 11 March 2011, based on data recorded in the Pacific. NOAA websiteThis is explained by Audrey Garricatle monde on 29 Oct 2013 (also Le blog de Wendy)
"The plume of cesium-137 resulting from the disaster is expected to reach the northwest coast of the U.S. early next year, but at levels safe for health." A powerful current passing near Japan, the Kuroshio has diluted the radioactivity.The Pacific continues this process of dilution.Researchers predict rates of between 10 and 30 becquerels per cubic meter (Bq / m3 ) on the coast of Oregon and Washington between 2014 and 2020, and between 10 and 20 Bq / m 3 in California between 2016 and 2025.
"These rates, which are about ten times higher than before the Fukushima disaster, are still very low.
"They present no danger to wildlife and consumption of seafood", says Dominique Boust of Laboratory Radioecology Cherbourg at the Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN). "With an average of 20 Bq per m 3 of water, we should find two becquerels in each kilogram of fresh fish, which is within the safe limits. The maximum allowable level in Europe is 500 Bq / kg."
Timothy1954 comments:
1. That's one isotope of one element, cesium 137. And levels have been higher than ten times above normal, earlier in this crisis. (much higher)
2. Cesium 137, cesium 134, iodine 129, iodine 131, and tritium, are being produced still by the melted down cores of reactors 1 and 2. And they escape with water vapor or with flowing water.
3. These, and strontium 90, accumulate in living creatures.The damage done from INTERNAL radiation is much greater than what you get from external sources.
4. The uranium and plutonium that has burned and become dust, is inhaled and is carcinogenic.
5. Chernobyl has killed a million people so far, and Fukushima was a hundred times worse, as of October 2011, said a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution study.
6. Fukushima's reactors one and two, at least, are still fissioning in the ground, still adding to the contamination.
CanSpeccy comments:
At present only the Japanese appear to be exposed to a substantial dose of radiation from Fukushima.
However, if one of the spent fuel pools overheats and the fuel is vaporized, the hazard will go global.