Fukushima Forecast: Radioactive Particles To Be Concentrated Over Midwestern US On April 1, 2 (VIDEO)

Fukushima Forecast: Radioactive particles to be concentrated over Midwestern US on April 1, 2 (VIDEO)

Energy News

March 29th, 2011 at 03:55 PM

Fukushima Potential Releases, Xe-133 Total Column for March 29-April 2, 2011, Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), March 29, 2011:

* Although xenon is not toxic, its compounds are highly toxic — CRC handbook of chemistry

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How much is ‘too much’?

CNN

Radiation is invisible. You cannot taste it, smell it or feel it. It’s not possible to directly measure the amount of radiation exposure a person has had. When you see people with Geiger counters checking a site like Fukushima Daiichi, they’re measuring contamination, which generally refers to actual radioactive particles.

There are four main types of ionizing radiation:

–Alpha particles: relatively heavy, cannot penetrate human skin or clothing, but can be harmful if they get into the body in another manner.

–Beta radiation: can cause skin injury and is harmful to the body internally.

–Gamma rays: high-energy invisible light that can damage tissue and is most dangerous to humans.

SOURCE

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Read more:

• Nuclear Forecast: Radioactive particles appear to concentrate over surface of Northern California on March 28, 29 (VIDEO)
• Forecast shows Tokyo under radiation threat on Sunday March 20 (VIDEO)
• IAEA: If radioactivity continues from Fukushima, health hazard to USA “may have to be reassessed” — CNN (VIDEO)
• EPA: Penn. and Mass. have seen elevated levels of radiation in rain — “Short-term elevations” not a health concern… How about Long-term?
• Is Fukushima radiation plume highly dispersed before it hits US West Coast? Watch latest forecast from Norway (VIDEO)

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EPA assures us No radiation hazard on the West Coast

Risk low in Northwest for radiation contamination from Japan

KVAL News Video

Summary
Even with the jet stream that goes over Japan, across the Pacific and often over the Northwest, state health experts say if there is a radiation leak in Japan we have nothing to worry about.

That is, unless you have questions about the integrity of the Corporate Gubmint. Not long after 911, George Duhbya Bu$h signed a presidential directive, HSPD-5 in order to provide a consistent, coordinated, nation-wide approach for emergency operations across all levels of government, HSPD-5 directed DHS to develop and administer a National Incident Management System (NIMS) and a National Response Plan. Together, NIMS and the NRP provide an approach for federal, state, and local governments to effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size, or complexity.

RadNet is a national network of monitoring stations that regularly collect air, precipitation, drinking water, and milk samples for analysis of radioactivity. The RadNet network, which has stations in each State, has been used to track environmental releases of radioactivity from nuclear weapons tests and nuclear accidents. Data generated from RadNet provide the information base for making decisions necessary to ensure the protection of public health. The system helps EPA determine whether additional sampling or other actions are needed in response to particular releases of radioactivity to the environment.

IMO, it would be conforting to see some independent studies as a check on what is coming down in the rain.

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U.S. Military Considering Mandatory Evacuations In Yokosuka, Japan

Sailors move food and other supplies across the USS Ronald Reagan's flight deck for earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.

U.S. military considers mandatory evacuations in Yokosuka, Japan

CNN By Chris Lawrence, CNN Pentagon Correspondent

March 22, 2011 — Updated 1242 GMT (2042 HKT)

Washington (CNN) — The U.S. military is considering the mandatory evacuation of thousands of American troops and their families in Japan out of concern over rising radiation levels, a senior defense official tells CNN.

The official, who did not want to be on the record talking about ongoing deliberations, says there are no discussions to evacuate all U.S. troops across the country. The talks have focused exclusively on U.S. troops in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, the official said. Yokosuka is home to America’s largest naval base in Japan. The military is monitoring radiation levels on a constant basis.

As of Monday, the U.S. Navy had no more warships in port at the base. The aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which had been undergoing maintenance in Yokosuka, left port Monday to get away from the plume of radioactive particles that could blow over the base. Because it left port with a much smaller than normal crew, the George Washington will not take part in the Japanese relief effort.

The official said the talks originated with Pacific Command, the military authority that directly oversees U.S. troops in the region, but “discussions have since taken place here in Washington as well.”

The official told CNN this is strictly a contingency plan, and could be accomplished “if they needed to do it in a hurry, with gray tails,” or large military transport planes like a C-17.

CBS News first reported that the evacuations were being considered.

MORE HERE

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Fukushima Nuke Plant: Radiation Level Passes Legal Limit

The No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is seen in this still image taken from NHK news program on March 13, 2011. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the utility supplier, notified the government early Sunday morning that the No. 3 reactor at the No. 1 Fukushima plant had lost the ability to cool the reactor core. The reactor is now in the process of releasing radioactive steam, according to top government spokesman Yukio Edano. (Xinhua/NHK)

Radiation level passes legal limit in quake-hit Fukushima nuke plant: Kyodo

English.news.cn

2011-03-14 06:38:12

TOKYO, March 14 (Xinhua) — The radiation level at a quake-hit nuclear power plant in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture has again exceeded the legal limit, according to a report by Kyodo news agency Monday morning.

The operator and owner of the Fukushima plants, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant has been shut down since the devastating magnitude-9 quake struck northeastern and eastern Japan on Friday, but some of its reactors have lost their cooling functions.

The No. 3 reactor at the plant lost its ability to cool the reactor core early Sunday, becoming the sixth reactor that lost the function. And a hydrogen explosion is possible at the No. 3 reactor, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Sunday.

MORE HERE

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Japan Earthquake: Nuclear Crisis Not Over Yet

Smoke rises from Fukushima Daiichi No 1 plant after a blast at the power station following Japan's earthquake and tsunami. Photograph: Staff/Reuters

Japan earthquake: the nuclear crisis is not over yet

Japan says disaster has been averted at the Fukushima nuclear plant but serious questions remain

Posted by Julian Borger Saturday 12 March 2011 23.24 GMT guardian.co.uk

The Japanese authorities have told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the levels of radioactivity outside the Unit 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant are falling and that there was no rupture in the unit’s containment vessel that would have led to a large-scale release of radiation. However, it now appears that the cooling systems in the No 3 reactor have also failed.

Sea water and boron are being pumped into the Unit 1 vessel with the aim of preventing a meltdown of the fuel inside. For the time being, the threat of a meltdown has receded. It is not immediately clear if the same is going to be done at the No 3 reactor.

It is the first time such desperate measures have been employed. Olli Heinonen, the former head of the IAEA’s safeguards department now at Harvard University, told me that the seawater has to be continually pumped out of the vessel as well as being pumped in, and he has so far seen no confirmation that the temperature of the water is stable or dropping.

Heinonen said that the equipment being used to do the pumping has necessarily been improvised, and will be therefore be highly vulnerable to aftershocks.

He also pointed out that there has been no word so far on the spent fuel at the site which would be kept in pools at the reactor. Any breakdown in the cooling system could cause the spent fuel to melt, with the risk of a significant release of radioactivity.

There is widespread uneasiness despite the reassuring noises coming from the authorities over the situation, in part because of the industry’s history of ignoring warnings and covering up safety problems.

SOURCE

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