Report: Emissions from Japan plant approach Chernobyl levels
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Mar 24, 2011, 8:05:23 PM3/24/11
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Perilous Times
Mar 24, 2011
Report: Emissions from Japan plant approach Chernobyl levels
By Michael Winter, USA TODAY
A young girl was screened for radiation today at a shelter for residents evacuated from areas around the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Radiation has seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the plant. Austrian researchers, using measurement from a global network of detectors, reports that levels of iodine-131 and cesium-137 have approached levels from after the 1986 Cherrnobyl disaster.
Emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant have approached levels after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, New Scientist reports.
Austrian researchers made the calculations by using the global network of detectors designed to sniff out clandestine nuclear bomb tests.
Iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73% of those detected after Chernobyl, while the daily amount of cesium-137 is about 60%, according to researcher from Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics.
How do researchers contrast the two accidents?
The difference between this accident and Chernobyl, they say, is that at Chernobyl a huge fire released large amounts of many radioactive materials, including fuel particles, in smoke. At Fukushima Daiichi, only the volatile elements, such as iodine and caesium, are bubbling off the damaged fuel. But these substances could nevertheless pose a significant health risk outside the plant.
The organisation set up to verify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has a global network of air samplers that monitor and trace the origin of around a dozen radionuclides, the radioactive elements released by atomic bomb blasts – and nuclear accidents. These measurements can be combined with wind observations to track where the radionuclides come from, and how much was released.
The findings include air samples at Sacramento, Calif., and from monitoring stations in Alaska, Hawaii and Montreal, Canada.
The report comes as Japanese officials announced that radioactive iodine-131 exceeding safety limits for infants had been detected at 18 water-purification plants in Tokyo and five other prefectures. Officials said also that the fallout from the Dai-ichi plant is hindering search efforts for victims from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Update at 5:35 p.m. ET: Radiation 10,000 times normal levels has been measured in the water where three Fukushima plant workers were irradiated while laying power cable underground at the No. 3 reactor's turbine building, Kyodo News is reporting.
Mar 24, 2011
Report: Emissions from Japan plant approach Chernobyl levels
By Michael Winter, USA TODAY
A young girl was screened for radiation today at a shelter for residents evacuated from areas around the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Radiation has seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the plant. Austrian researchers, using measurement from a global network of detectors, reports that levels of iodine-131 and cesium-137 have approached levels from after the 1986 Cherrnobyl disaster.
Emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant have approached levels after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, New Scientist reports.
Austrian researchers made the calculations by using the global network of detectors designed to sniff out clandestine nuclear bomb tests.
Iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73% of those detected after Chernobyl, while the daily amount of cesium-137 is about 60%, according to researcher from Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics.
How do researchers contrast the two accidents?
The difference between this accident and Chernobyl, they say, is that at Chernobyl a huge fire released large amounts of many radioactive materials, including fuel particles, in smoke. At Fukushima Daiichi, only the volatile elements, such as iodine and caesium, are bubbling off the damaged fuel. But these substances could nevertheless pose a significant health risk outside the plant.
The organisation set up to verify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) has a global network of air samplers that monitor and trace the origin of around a dozen radionuclides, the radioactive elements released by atomic bomb blasts – and nuclear accidents. These measurements can be combined with wind observations to track where the radionuclides come from, and how much was released.
The findings include air samples at Sacramento, Calif., and from monitoring stations in Alaska, Hawaii and Montreal, Canada.
The report comes as Japanese officials announced that radioactive iodine-131 exceeding safety limits for infants had been detected at 18 water-purification plants in Tokyo and five other prefectures. Officials said also that the fallout from the Dai-ichi plant is hindering search efforts for victims from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Update at 5:35 p.m. ET: Radiation 10,000 times normal levels has been measured in the water where three Fukushima plant workers were irradiated while laying power cable underground at the No. 3 reactor's turbine building, Kyodo News is reporting.
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