Idaho Paper: EPA’s “RadNet monitors were shipped out of Boise Tuesday” + much more on Fukushima, etc

http://www.tetonvalleynews.net/news/nuclear-radiation-in-teton-valley/article_3e00dba6-9dab-11e0-bb62-001cc4c002e0.html

<...> Boise rainfall samples measuring by far the highest concentrations of radioactive nuclides in the country <...>

<...> A RadNet surveillance of radiation in precipitation, drinking water, milk and air cartridges, instituted in the wake of the nuclear event, was halted in Idaho due, the EPA website claims, to “a thorough data review showing declining radiation levels in these samples.”

The problem with this explanation is that Idaho radiation levels were not declining when RadNet monitoring stopped reporting samples April 14. Boise’s first precipitation sample, collected March 22, measured I-131 (a radioactive isotope of iodine) levels at 242 pCi/l (picocuries, or units of radioactivity, per liter). That is about 80 times the legal drinking water limits, the highest levels of rainwater radiation seen in the nation at any time since the Fukushima disaster. Since I-131 has a short half-life, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality said we could expect those levels to decrease quickly.

But, five days later, I-131 had not decreased. Two more samples were taken March 27. The sample recorded on the EPA’s more accessible public site showed, in fact, a 60 percent increase, with I-131 measuring in at 390 pCi/l. A second sample, found through an in-depth search of EPA online records, yielded I-131 concentrations of 422 pCi/l. After that, no samples were recorded on the EPA site. And we can’t expect an update any time soon – RadNet monitors were shipped out of Boise Tuesday.

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Idaho DEQ administrator on radiation from Fukushima: “I’m not saying it’s not a big deal – It is” — “If you can avoid it, avoid it”

<... Mark Dietrich of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005136090 cautioned, “It’s easy to take numbers out of context.” In regards to the high levels of I-131 found in precipitation, Dietrich said, “Yes, the number is high. But we didn’t see any levels high enough to warrant a public health concern.” [...>

Dietrich explained, as rainwater dissipates into soil and rivers, the amount showing up in surface-fed water systems is miniscule. <...>

Dietrich said agriculture and livestock won’t be affected much either. Though he said cesium, which has a much longer half life than radioiodine, “definitely got deposited in the soil,” the quantities are so low that while “you might be able to detect it here and there, you’re not going to see enough to make a difference.”<...>

“I’m not saying it’s not a big deal,” said Dietrich. “It is. I don’t know that there’s any radiation level that’s good for you – If you can avoid it, avoid it. But we’re not seeing levels that warrant changing your habits.”

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http://atmc.jp/plant/pool/?n=4

Fukushima No. 4 spent fuel pool only 8 degrees below boiling point



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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/20/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan

UK gov’t plan based on radiation release from Fukushima being almost double Chernobyl total

<...> The UK government’s response to the unfolding crisis is revealed in documents prepared for Sir John Beddington, the chief scientist and chair of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), and released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. The 30 documents include advice from the National Nuclear Laboratory on damage to the plant, public safety assessments from the Health Protection Agency (HPA), computer models of the radioactive plume from Defra’s Radioactive Incident Monitoring Network (Rimnet), and the worst case scenario that might unfold at the plant.

A substantial number of documents were withheld on grounds that they contained “information which, if disclosed, would adversely affect international relations,” the government’s civil contingencies team said. <...>


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2006056/Fukushima-nuclear-accident-Britain-prepared-iodine-pills-radiation-tests.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

<...> They said ‘the reasonable worst case scenario’ was if there was leaking radiation from six spent fuel ponds at the plant and all three reactors were damaged.

They worked out that if this happened, 9.92 million terabecquerels of radiation could be been propelled into the air – almost double that released during the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986. <...>

Britain’s crisis plan was based on a scenario where almost double the amount of radiation was released into the air than the 1986 Chernobyl power plant disaster <...>

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http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/24_02.html

Doctors: 3,000+ microsieverts of internal radiation for residents in town 40 km from Fukushima plant

A group of doctors has found that the estimated level of accumulated internal radiation exposure for people living in Fukushima Prefecture has exceeded 3 millisieverts.

The researchers, including doctors who have provided medical care to A-bomb survivors, conducted analysis on the food and urine of 15 residents in Iitate Village and Kawamata Town in Fukushima Prefecture. These areas are about 40 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

They estimate that residents have been internally exposed to up to 3.2 millisieverts for about 2 months, measuring from the date of the accident in March until early May. <...>

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http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/24_33.html <-------Watch video here.

Unmanned helicopter crash lands on Reactor No. 2

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it lost control of an unmanned helicopter during a flight near the No. 2 reactor building, forcing the controller to make an emergency landing on a roof there.
Tokyo Electric Power Company says the remote-controlled light helicopter took off from an observatory south of the Fukushima plant just past 6:30 AM on Friday. Its mission was to collect airborne radioactive substances around the No. 2 reactor building. <...>

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http://www.omaha.com/article/20110624/NEWS01/706249885

Levee fails near Cooper Nuclear Station — Early assessments say no immediate threat to plant

A Missouri River levee three miles north of Brownville, Neb., failed Thursday night, triggering evacuations in Atchison County, Mo.

According to early assessments, the breach posed no threat to the Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville. <...>

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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110623p2a00m0na018000c.html

Parts of school playground declared off-limits after .25 microsieverts/hr detected 200 km SE of Fukushima — Children and staff must wear hats and gargle regularly

NODA, Chiba — The municipal government here independently set a 1.0 millisievert maximum annual radiation dose for children <...>

The new maximum dose breaks down to an hourly dose of 0.19 microsieverts, presupposing that a child spends eight hours a day outside. <...>

Parts of the playground, where radiation of 0.25 microsieverts per hour has been detected, have been declared off-limits, while staff and children at the school must wear hats and wash their hands and gargle regularly. <...>

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOIDFh3wPXY

6.46 microsieverts per hour detected in outskirts of Tokyo just a few meters away from children on playground (VIDEO)

I’m here at a local playground in Kashiwa Japan just taking some geiger counter readings. Yes that is 6.46µSv/h right there on the play ground! The kids just keep on playing, its actually very sad if you think about it. Many of us here have been desperately trying to raise awareness. However, the government is still trying to keep this out of the news.

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http://rt.com/online-exclusive/galleries/city-fukushima/#reading-radiation-picture-city

81 microsieverts per hour detected 60 km outside nuclear evacuation zone — 800+ times acceptable radiation levels (PHOTO)

<...> This particular reading shows that radiation levels in this hotspot are 810 times the acceptable levels. This picture was taken in Fukushima city, 60km outside the banned area. The city has been declared safe by the Japanese government




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http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/22_28.html

TEPCO admits decontamination system at Fukushima “not working”

The Tokyo Electric Power Company is looking into why a system for decontaminating radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is not working as expected, delaying resumption of the system’s full-scale operation. <...>

The data show that density of Cesium-13 and Cesium-137 dropped to only one-100th of initial levels.

An earlier test run using water with a lower density of radioactivity showed a drop to about one-1000th. <...>

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http://hamptonroads.com/2011/06/surry-nuclear-unit-2-restart-stalls

Virginia nuclear reactor shuts down — Problem detected in cooling duct

<...> A Virginia Dominion Power spokesman said Tuesday the utility has aborted efforts to restart the unit, which has been out of service since an April 16 tornado knocked out electricity.

The spokesman, Richard Zuercher, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that Unit 2 was shut down on Monday after a problem was detected in one of the unit’s cooling ducts. <...>

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20 days ago

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8144300


Pennsylvania nuclear reactor unexpectedly shuts down for 3rd time in 1 week

Reactors at an eastern Pennsylvania nuclear plant have shut down unexpectedly three times in the past week, but regulatory authorities say no safety problems have been reported.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says Unit 1 of Exelon Nuclear’s Limerick Generating Station shut down at 10:15 a.m. Friday. <...>

The shutdown came less than a day after the plant put the Unit 2 reactor back online following unplanned shutdowns Sunday and Monday. <...>

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http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/21/fukushima-still-a-ticking-time-bomb/

“They lied to us”: Radiation release comparable to Chernobyl — Total core meltdown in all 3 reactors — Worst industrial catastrophe in world history (CNN VIDEO)


ROMANS : Then Fukushima. The disaster that won’t go away. Nobody is paying attention. But is the nuclear meltdown more dangerous than ever? <...> Michio Kaku on the biggest industrial catastrophe in history. <...>

KAKU: In the last two weeks, everything we knew about that accident has been turned upside down. We were told three partial melt downs, don’t worry about it. Now we know it was 100 percent core melt in all three reactors. Radiation minimal that was released. Now we know it was comparable to radiation at Chernobyl. <...>

ROMANS: In your view, did they not know how bad it was or they knew and didn’t tell <...>

KAKU: <...> We knew it was much more severe than they were saying, because radiation was coming out left and right. So in other words, they lied to us. <...>

ROMANS: <...> within hours not even a day, there were already statements from the company and International Atomic Energy Association saying there had been safe shut down of all reactors. <...>

KAKU: <...> in New York City, you can actually see it in the milk. You can actually see it has iodine, 131, actually spiked a little bit in our milk in New York City, but it is very small.

ROMANS: Just even hearing that, though, even hearing that you can detect it, that there’s a catastrophe, worst industrial catastrophe in history, we can see it in milk in New York, that’s frightening. <...>

KAKU: <...> Realize Chernobyl was one core’s worth radiation causing a $200 billion accident and it is still on- going. Here we have 20 cores worth of radiation. Three totally melted, one damaged and the spent fuel pumps, 20 cores worth of highly radioactive materials. <...>


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http://www.ganderbeacon.ca/News/2011-06-21/article-2600444/Health-Canada-says-no-worries/1

Canadian newspaper tries to get soil tested for radiation — Private companies, gov’t agencies, and universities all refused to get involved

In the June 2 edition of The Beacon, it was discussed how the release of radiation from the Fukushima plant in Japan could potentially be poisoning Canadian soil, and possibly central Newfoundland. Evidence from various radiation monitors and news reports have shown that it has become a worldwide issue, and given that the airspace is shared, Canada and the U.S. have been directly affected as well.

Even though local farmers have not tested their soil and water, Nita Abbott of LA Farms, near Gambo, expressed an interest in having her land tested to ensure they’re selling a safe product. The newspaper contacted private testing companies, government agencies, and universities to inquire if they would consider testing local farms. All of them said they were not interested in getting involved at any level. Health Canada also reported that everything is normal. <...>


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http://missouri-news.org/midwest-news/nebraska/nppd-nuke-plant-could-be-shut-down-in-three-seconds-critics-still-worry/6173


Sandia Labs: Similarities between Fukushima Dai-Ichi and reactors like Nebraska’s Cooper nuke plant pose significant problem — Loss of electricity could cause meltdown

<... T>he Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) insists the 37-year-old Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, which sits on the raging Missouri River, is as secure as they come.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the safest, Alan Dostal who is NPPD’s nuclear expert says, ”We are an absolutely safe plant, that’s a 10.”

Dostal’s comments came during an interview with Nebraska Watchdog on March 29, five days before three workers at Cooper were exposed to radiation. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) a fuel rod accident triggered alarms that are worn by the workers. NPPD says the incident which is still under investigation did not cause any apparent injuries but was “unacceptable.” The NRC wants “to understand why normal work practices were not followed.” <...>

he federal government’s own Sandia National Laboratories has concluded that similarities between the Dai-Ichi plant and reactors like Cooper pose a significant problem: specifically that a lengthy loss of electrical power could cause a nuclear meltdown. <...>


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http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1647024.php/Wind-carried-radiation-to-Europe-from-Japan-researchers-say

Radioactive substances rose 5 km in air on March 14-15 — Carried by jet stream to US and Europe

Radioactive substances spewed from a damaged Japanese nuclear plant were carried to Europe through the United States by a jet stream, Japanese researchers said, Jiji news agency reported Wednesday.

A Japanese research group led by Toshihiko Takemura, associate professor at Kyushu University, tracked the flow of leaked radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant through a computer simulation. <...>

Radioactive substances rose to about 5 kilometres when a low pressure system passed over eastern Japan on March 14-15, the researchers said.

The substances were blown eastward by a jet stream traveling at a speed of some 3,000 kilometres a day, arriving on the US West Coast on March 18, in Iceland on March 20, and many other European countries on March 22, the researchers said. <...>

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another day, another dose

:nuke:

Yup...another day, another dose...pretty much.

Sad.

Many articles here deserve their own thread. Folks won't read all of these and they will discover them on their own and post them as if it is breaking news. That's okay, as long as people eventually read them. Isn't it amazing that someone can post 10 of these amazing of the moment stories and not receive hardly any comment here, yet make one plausible error (doesn't even have to be an error, just a matter of perception) and they will jump all over you as if you, not caring about the overwhelming weight of all these stories over the last 3 months. They care more about smearing a source or an individual than about the content.

Amazing


Here are some more from the wires:




Suspected failure to vent Fukushima reactor casts doubt on accountability standards


Revelations that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) highly likely failed to vent a crippled reactor at its tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant have raised doubts about the utility's and government's accountability standards.

TEPCO had claimed that it had successfully vented the plant's No. 1 reactor to decrease pressure inside it prior to a hydrogen explosion, and the government had supported the power supplier's claim.

The power company attempted to vent the reactor on March 12, the day after the tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake hit the plant. After confirming that the pressure inside the containment vessel of the reactor had declined, TEPCO announced at around 3 p.m. that it had succeeded in venting the reactor.

However, the pressure still remained above the designated upper limit of 427 kilopascals and rose moderately after the announcement. Moreover, the monitoring post on its premises showed no signs of radioactive materials being released out of the reactor following the venting attempt. TEPCO insiders say they were unable to confirm that the valve for venting had opened...

(Mainichi Japan) June 24, 2011

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20110624p2a00m0na006000c.html



TEPCO: Stopping melt-through fuel from contaminating groundwater will cost too much, hurt company stock price

Ethan A. Huff,
Natural News
June 24, 2011

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which owns the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility struck by the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, has made it abundantly clear that protecting people and the environment from the radioactive fallout of its three massive reactor “melt-throughs” is not a priority (http://www.naturalnews.com/032657_F…).

According to a recent report in The Mainichi Daily News, TEPCO officials claim that installing proper containment vessels to prevent melted fuel from seeping into groundwater will cost too much, and hurt the company’s stock value — and thus it is fighting against calls by the Japanese government to install a concrete containment barrier below the damaged reactors.

After all that has occurred since that fateful March day, including the revelation that TEPCO has been basically lying about the true, dire condition of the Fukushima plant for months, the company has the audacity to openly put profits before public safety by denying the only logical propositions being made to contain deadly radiation from contaminating the environment even further.

When reporters questioned the company as to why it had not already begun construction of such underground barriers, TEPCO officials actually responded by claiming that “nderground water flows at a speed of about five to ten centimeters a day, so we have more than a year before it reaches shores.” In other words, TEPCO believes there is no need to really do anything because radioactive hot particles will move slowly, and may take years to reach the ocean...

http://www.prisonplanet.com/tepco-stopping-melt-through-fuel-from-contaminating-groundwater-will-cost-too-much-hurt-company-stock-price.html



Thanks again, Stockholmer for continuing to keep us informed.



robdogbucky

And stop the offshore drilling increase? An d stop the push for imaginary "clean coal"? WTF? Can we take the hundreds of billions of dollars a year we are spending on wars and use it as a green Manhattan project for renewable energy?

:nuke::nuke::nuke: :hide:

I think folks are in denial about the incredible impact of Fukushima and nuclear power in general.

But lumping them all together makes it easier for people to pass over.