Radiation Is good For You!
aigZarry
At some level-much higher than the minimums set by the US
government-radiation is good for you.
In the case of radiation, the media have Americans convinced that the
minutest amount is always deadly.
March 20 2011
Ann Coulter says the low levels of radiation emitted by the Fukushima
reactor may even be good for the Japanese:
As The New York Times science section reported in 2001, an increasing number
of scientists believe that at some level-much higher than the minimums set
by the US government-radiation is good for you. "They theorize," the Times
said, that "these doses protect against cancer by activating cells' natural
defense mechanisms."
Among the studies mentioned by the Times was one in Canada finding that
tuberculosis patients subjected to multiple chest X-rays had much lower
rates of breast cancer than the general population.
And there are lots more!
A $10 million Department of Energy study from 1991 examined 10 years of
epidemiological research by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health on
700,000 shipyard workers, some of whom had been exposed to 10 times more
radiation than the others from their work on the ships' nuclear reactors.
The workers exposed to excess radiation had a 24 percent lower death rate
and a 25 percent lower cancer mortality than the non-irradiated workers....
In 1983, a series of apartment buildings in Taiwan were accidentally
constructed with massive amounts of cobalt 60, a radioactive substance.
After 16 years, the buildings' 10,000 occupants developed only five cases of
cancer. The cancer rate for the same age group in the general Taiwanese
population over that time period predicted 170 cancers.
The people in those buildings had been exposed to radiation nearly five
times the maximum "safe" level according to the US government. But they
ended up with a cancer rate 96 percent lower than the general population.
Bernard L. Cohen, a physics professor at the University of Pittsburgh,
compared radon exposure and lung cancer rates in 1,729 counties covering 90
percent of the US population. His study in the 1990s found far fewer cases
of lung cancer in those counties with the highest amounts of radon-a
correlation that could not be explained by smoking rates.
Amazingly, even the Soviet-engineered disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 can be
directly blamed for the deaths of no more than the 31 people inside the
plant who died in the explosion. Although news reports generally claimed a
few thousand people died as a result of Chernobyl -- far fewer than the tens
of thousands initially predicted -- that hasn't been confirmed by studies.
Indeed, after endless investigations, including by the UN, Manhattan Project
veteran Theodore Rockwell summarized the reports to Bethell in 2002, saying,
"They have not yet reported any deaths outside of the 30 who died in the
plant."
Even the thyroid cancers in people who lived near the reactor were
attributed to low iodine in the Russian diet -- and consequently had no
effect on the cancer rate.
Meanwhile, the animals around the Chernobyl reactor, who were not evacuated,
are "thriving," according to scientists quoted in the April 28 2002 Sunday
Times (UK).
Dr. Dade W. Moeller, a radiation expert and professor emeritus at Harvard,
told The New York Times that it's been hard to find excess cancers even from
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, particularly because one-third of the population
will get cancer anyway. There were about 90,000 survivors of the atomic
bombs in 1945 and, more than 50 years later, half of them were still alive.
(Other scientists say there were 700 excess cancer deaths among the 90,000.)
Every day Americans pop multivitamins containing trace amount of zinc,
magnesium, selenium, copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, nickel,
boron -- all poisons.
They get flu shots.
They'll drink copious amounts of coffee to ingest a poison: caffeine.
(Back in the '70s, Professor Cohen offered to eat as much plutonium as Ralph
Nader would eat caffeine -- an offer Nader never accepted.)
But in the case of radiation, the media have Americans convinced that the
minutest amount is always deadly.
Although reporters love to issue sensationalized reports about the danger
from Japan's nuclear reactors, remember that, so far, thousands have died
only because of Mother Nature. And the survivors may outlive all of us over
here in hermetically sealed, radiation-free America.
Warmest Regards
B0nz0
"It is a remarkable fact that despite the worldwide expenditure of perhaps
US$50 billion since 1990, and the efforts of tens of thousands of scientists
worldwide, no human climate signal has yet been detected that is distinct
from natural variation."
Bob Carter, Research Professor of Geology, James Cook University, Townsville
"If climate has not "tipped" in over 4 billion years it's not going to tip
now due to mankind. The planet has a natural thermostat"
Richard S. Lindzen, Atmospheric Physicist, Professor of Meteorology MIT,
Former IPCC Lead Author
"It does not matter who you are, or how smart you are, or what title you
have, or how many of you there are, and certainly not how many papers your
side has published, if your prediction is wrong then your hypothesis is
wrong. Period."
Professor Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics
"A core problem is that science has given way to ideology. The scientific
method has been dispensed with, or abused, to serve the myth of man-made
global warming."
"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips
"Computer models are built in an almost backwards fashion: The goal is to
show evidence of AGW, and the "scientists" go to work to produce such a
result. When even these models fail to show what advocates want, the data
and interpretations are "fudged" to bring about the desired result"
"The World Turned Upside Down", Melanie Phillips
"Ocean acidification looks suspiciously like a back-up plan by the
environmental pressure groups in case the climate fails to warm: another try
at condemning fossil fuels!"
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/threat-ocean-acidification-greatly-exaggerated
Before attacking hypothetical problems, let us first solve the real problems
that threaten humanity. One single water pump at an equivalent cost of a
couple of solar panels can indeed spare hundreds of Sahel women the daily
journey to the spring and spare many infections and lives.
Martin De Vlieghere, philosopher
"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that
it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of
mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."
Bertrand Russell
Mr Posting Robot
Rural men, particularly farmers, are more prone to skin cancer than men who
live in the cities
Karen Hunt
ABC Rural
09/03/2011
Cancer Council statistics show rural men are up to a 3rd more likely than city
people to contract deadly skin cancer.
The figures also show it's farmers who remain the most at risk.
Sue Heward, from Sun Smart Victoria, says large numbers of older men continue
to be diagnosed with melanoma.
"The thing we know about skin cancer is 1,850 people die a year, so it's a
huge amount, larger than our national road toll," she said.
"But the other thing quite tragic is that actually skin cancer is very
preventable.
"It's one of the most preventable cancers of all the cancers in Australia, so
it is very realistic that those instances can come down."
MYREF: 20110321210001 msg201103216828
[141 more news items]
---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
The AAP, AMA and others call for doctors to encourage patients to take
precautions and support state laws banning minors from indoor tanning
facilities.
Carolyne Krupa
American Medical Association
March 21, 2011
Ultraviolet radiation is a known carcinogen, and physicians should advise
patients to take precautions against harmful exposure and support state-level
legislation to ban minors from indoor tanning salons, says the American
Academy of Pediatrics.
Rising skin cancer rates among young people have prompted the AAP and other
organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American
Academy of Dermatology, to issue policies warning against tanning and
excessive UVR exposure.
Too many people don't realize skin cancer can kill, said Maribeth B.
Chitkara, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Stony Brook Long Island
Children's Hospital.
"The majority of the public thinks that skin cancer is no big deal -- that if
you get a skin cancer, you just cut it off," said Dr Chitkara, whose sister
died of skin cancer 3 y after being diagnosed at age 26. "The real public
health danger of this is really a lack of understanding."
Several factors have contributed to a rise in melanoma during the past 30
years, including more skin-revealing clothing, depletion of the ozone layer
and the rise of tanning salons, said Sophie J. Balk, MD, a pediatrician at The
Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York and lead author of the AAP's
revised policy statement on UVR exposure in children and teens in the March
Pediatrics.
"A lot of kids think that being tanned is healthy when it's not," Dr Balk
said.
The debate over indoor tanning
In 2007, 58,094 US residents were diagnosed with melanomas, and 8,461 died of
skin cancer, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention statistics.
Melanoma is the second most common cancer among women in their 20s and the 3rd
most common cancer among men in their 20s. Incidence of melanoma in white
females between age 15 and 39 has been rising 3% annually since 1992, the AAP
report said.
Indoor tanning is particularly dangerous, because tanning beds can emit 10 to
15 times more UVR radiation than the midday sun, said Dr Balk, also a
professor of clinical pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of
Yeshiva University in New York. "If we protect kids from smoking, why
shouldn't we protect them from this other carcinogen?" Dr Balk asked.
Surveys have found that about a quarter of white teenagers have used a tanning
facility, the AAP report said. Tanning beds can emit 10 to 15 times more UV
radiation than the midday sun.
"There are over 50k tanning salons in the United States, more than there are
McDonalds and Starbucks combined, and it's an industry that's completely
unregulated," Dr Chitkara said.
But indoor tanning advocates say there isn't consensus among researchers about
UVRexposure and melanoma skin cancer, and that government intervention isn't
warranted until consensus is reached.
Barring minors from tanning salons wouldn't stop teenagers from tanning, said
an Indoor Tanning Assn. statement issued in response to the AAP report. "It
will only send them outdoors into an uncontrolled environment, with no
supervision, no trained staff, no parental consent required, where they are
more likely to be overexposed or sunburned," the statement said.
The AMA issued policy in 2006 to develop model legislation prohibiting minors
from indoor tanning facilities. Sixty% of states have laws that place some
limitations on minors from using tanning salons, but no states ban them
completely, Dr Balk said.
One of the most restrictive laws is in Texas, which prohibits anyone younger
than 16˝ y old from going to a tanning salon and requires parental consent
through age 18, said Samantha Guild, a patient advocate with AIM at Melanoma,
a nonprofit working to increase skin cancer research support. Wisconsin bans
such facilities for anyone younger than 16. California, New York, Delaware,
New Jersey and Illinois ban anyone younger than 14.
Physicians should make a habit of discussing the dangers of UVR exposure with
patients, said Guild, who lost her 26-year-old sister to skin cancer.
"Prevention is key. Educate your patients about the need for sun screen and
the need to do skin checks, so we never even get to the point where you're
dealing with a suspicious mole," she said.
Additional:
"Ultraviolet Radiation: A Hazard to Children and Adolescents,"
Pediatrics, March (8]www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21357345)
MYREF: 20110321230001 msg2011032117129
[142 more news items]
---
>Why is it relevant that the 'chief scientist' is a woman?
Because women are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 11:28 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
Radiation sensors in the United States have not detected radioactive material
from Japan's damaged nuclear plants, though one computer simulation suggests
traces could show up along the W Coast as early as Fri.
More radiation monitors are being deployed in the western United States and
Pacific territories, as officials seek to mollify public concern over exposure
from damaged nuclear plants in Japan.
Sandi Doughton/Michael Penn/AP
The Seattle Times
o Daily updates on radiation monitoring are available at www.epa.gov/radiation
o Instructions for accessing data from monitoring stations are at
www.epa.gov/narel/radnet/pdf/How_to_Access_RadNet_Data.pdf
Registration is required, and the data are hard to interpret. But it is
possible to search past data for a comparison with current measurements.
Radiation sensors in the United States have not detected radioactive material
from Japan's damaged nuclear plants, though one computer simulation suggests
that traces could show up along the W Coast as early as Fri.
"All air-monitoring stations are indicating background levels," said Jonathan
Edwards of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) radiation program.
Airborne plumes of radioactive particles will be diluted and diminished as
they travel 1000s of miles over the Pacific Ocean, Edwards said.
"Based on the type of material involved in this particular scenario, and based
on the long distance ... from Japan, we just don't anticipate that any kind of
contamination that would get to the US would be harmful," he said.
A lack of accessible radiation-monitoring data has been frustrating to people
on both sides of the Pacific -- but particularly in Japan, where the dangers
are real and residents are losing faith in government assurances.
"It not clear they even have monitors located all around the circumference" of
the nuclear-accident sites, nuclear physicist Marvin Resnikoff said in a
briefing sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility.
The US Air Force has deployed a jet equipped with sensors to track the
radioactive plumes from Japan. On Thu, other US airborne sensors confirmed
harmful radiation levels at the reactors but found the danger dropped off
sharply beyond 19 miles.
EPA bolstered its US network of radiation sensors this wk with seven
additional instruments deployed in Alaska, Hawaii and Guam -- closer to the
unfolding crisis. The network of 100-plus stations, which originally monitored
fallout from nuclear tests, provides near-real-time reports on radiation
levels in the air. Levels are also measured in precipitation and milk, which
can be vulnerable to contamination by radioactive iodine.
Data from the EPA monitors is available online, though it's difficult for the
layperson to decipher. The agency is working to provide a more user-friendly
version, a spokeswoman said. EPA has also started posting daily updates on the
monitoring results.
Washington has 4 sensors: in Seattle, Tumwater, the Tri-Cities and Spokane.
The Tumwater station on Thu reported levels of overall radiation, measured as
counts per minute of gross beta radiation, ranging from 11 to 30. On March 7,
before the earthquake and tsunami that damaged the nuclear plants, the same
instrument logged beta counts between 11 and 61.
Background levels vary with wind, atmospheric conditions and local soil
conditions, said Donn Moyer, spokesman for the Washington Department of
Health.
"Levels would have to be tens of 1000s of times higher than what we're seeing
now before we would even think there's a potential health risk," he said.
A spike in levels triggers an automatic alarm. "We would be able to see any
increase," Edwards said.
A United Nations computer simulation predicted that radiation released from a
nuclear plant in Japan on March 12 could reach Alaska's Aleutian Island chain
Thu -- but sensors in Alaska didn't register an uptick, Edwards said.
The model, developed by the UN organization that tracks fallout from
nuclear-weapons tests, projected that the leading edge of the plume could
reach Southern California by Fri.
But computer models are only as good as their underlying assumptions -- most
of which are unknown in this case, said University of Washington atmospheric
scientist Dan Jaffe.
The New York Times reported Thu that the UN simulation was purely theoretical,
based on weather forecasts as of March 15. The model did not include data on
the amount of radiation released in Japan, nor did it forecast radiation
levels in the United States.
Jaffe suspects the modelers assumed that radiation from Japan would be
injected high into the atmosphere, where transit time to N America would be
shorter. "The winds blow a lot faster at higher elevations."
So far, radiation releases have occurred close to the ground. The explosions
that rocked several reactors were not powerful enough to fling radioactive
material into the zone of strong, steady winds, at least 10k feet up, Jaffe
said. Even in the case of a larger explosion, he said it's unlikely
radioactive particles would make it into the jet stream, 25k feet high.
Which doesn't mean radioactive material won't reach the US Jaffe, who has
studied trans-Pacific transport of air pollutants for 15 years, says low
levels are very likely to reach US shores. He calculates a transit time of
about 2 wk for particles traveling in the lower atmosphere. During the
4,500-mile trip, particles will fall out, be washed out by rain, and be vastly
diluted, Jaffe said.
"I've talked to 5 other meteorologists and I would say none of us have a
concern about significant amounts of radiation reaching the W Coast."
MYREF: 20110322000002 msg2011032225988
[140 more news items]
---
[W]omen are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
T. Keating
<ro...@kymhorsell.dyndns.org> wrote:
>US radiation sensors show negligible readings
Not,. spikes up to 80 times over background have been observed..
>
>Radiation sensors in the United States have not detected radioactive material
>from Japan's damaged nuclear plants, though one computer simulation suggests
>traces could show up along the W Coast as early as Fri.
Old news.. friday came and went..
Starting that day, the EPA took over half the Beta radiation sensors
offline, for recalibration. None of the sensors extend into Mexico,
which is receiving half of the current fallout plume.
>
>More radiation monitors are being deployed in the western United States and
>Pacific territories, as officials seek to mollify public concern over exposure
>from damaged nuclear plants in Japan.
>
>Sandi Doughton/Michael Penn/AP
>The Seattle Times
>
>o Daily updates on radiation monitoring are available at www.epa.gov/radiation
>
>o Instructions for accessing data from monitoring stations are at
>www.epa.gov/narel/radnet/pdf/How_to_Access_RadNet_Data.pdf
Don't bother .. it's now the PC data only site...
You probably won't see any warnings.. even when you can taste the
airborne heavy metals.
One sign of radioactive contamination is an strange metallic taste
one's mouth. (Indicating significant levels of irradiation.)
Rocky
"T. Keating" <tkus...@ktcnslt.com> wrote in message
news:rejeo6tvbf2jg0h4k...@4ax.com...
So you can't see or smell radiation but you can taste it? Interesting.
And do not forget about how many people died as a result of the Chernobyl
meltdown.
Seconds From Disaster - S01E07 - Meltdown In Chernobyl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RDKkUwTHOg
The above video is deceptive because the test was actually started by the
first shift and the First shift should have taken care of the entire test
instead of leaving things to be finished by the Second shift or in this case
the graveyard shift.
T. Keating
>> in one's mouth. (Indicating significant levels of irradiation.)
>
>So you can't see or smell radiation but you can taste it? Interesting.
Sort of, your tasting/sensing the aerosolized heavy metals.. Which in
this case, happen to be extremely radioactive.
>
>And do not forget about how many people died as a result of the Chernobyl
>meltdown.
>
>Seconds From Disaster - S01E07 - Meltdown In Chernobyl
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RDKkUwTHOg
>
>The above video is deceptive because the test was actually started by the
>first shift and the First shift should have taken care of the entire test
>instead of leaving things to be finished by the Second shift or in this case
>the graveyard shift.
>
The following link provides vital Info about buying Geiger counters
and testing Food products for radioactive contamination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Silk2g8fS8Y
"people buying geiger counters and iodine tablets as thyroid
protection / fukushima incidents. "
It explains why ones based on Geiger Muller tubes and other sensors
Will NOT do the job, and only very specialized detectors using a
expensive scintillation crystal which can detect particle energy
levels will suffice.
It also explains why most people are buying the wrong type of Iodine
tablets to protect their thyroids.. (Too low of dosage, and high
dosage needed risks serious medical consequences in several % of
general population.) Potassium iodine pills also won't protect one
from ingestion of radioactive Cesium or Strontium.
T. Keating
It seams that governments, nuclear industry, and main stream media has
long since forgotten about them. For Main Stream Media if the victim
doesn't die right in front of the camera, it is of no consequence.
It's very sad how they hide behind obsolette/discredited science to
justify their greed and the suffering they inflict upon others.
Death count related to the Chernobyl incident is nearing a million
now, many more are suffering disability & birth defects.
Last Post
Radiation Is good For You!
On Mar 21, 11:19 am, T. Keating <tkuse...@ktcnslt.com> wrote:
> >"T. Keating" <tkuse...@ktcnslt.com> wrote in message
> >news:rejeo6tvbf2jg0h4k...@4ax.com...
> >> On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:51:43 +1100, "Mr Posting Robot"
> >> <ro...@kymhorsell.dyndns.org> wrote:
>
> >>>US radiation sensors show negligible readings
>
> >> Not,. spikes up to 80 times over background have been observed..
ø Jackass Keating with his unedited youtube sources
needs a lot of verification before any intelligent
person will find him credible.
ø Tell me bhoy,what is the source of the Beach Boys
tans??? How many people go to great lengths to
get a suntan in winter (or to preserve their summer
tan?
ø Keating you are really dense. My buddy the
radiologist has his technicians shield the patients
with lead blankets. The focus is on a narrow
target, and is intense.
In the atmoshere the escaped radiation in the clouds
is scattering and is less intense than an IR sun tan.
Mr Posting Robot
NHS
14/03/2011
The number of Scots dying from skin cancer has increased markedly over the
past few years, newly released figures show.
According to the latest data from the General Register Office for Scotland
(GROS), 194 people died from the disease - which is usually caused by
over-exposure to strong sunlight - last y alone.
This represents a 20% increase on the figure recorded for 2007, suggesting
adults N of the border are failing to heed official advice regarding the use
of sun beds or exposure to the sun.
However, the Scotsman reports that the figures also reveal that deaths from a
number of common killers are steadily declining among Scottish patients.
In particular, the number of people dying from coronary heart disease fell by
2.1% over the course of 2010, while deaths from strokes were also down.
This comes as scientists in Australia report an ongoing increase in cases of
skin cancer among older men.
MYREF: 20110323143002 msg2011032327094
[132 more news items]
---
>Remember who you're talking to. :)
>The guy quotes Dyson without knowing Dyson accepts AGW;
Dyson accepts AGW???
News to me!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], Mar 2 16:10 EST 2011
Mr Posting Robot
Japan's nuclear accident has focused attention on the US practice of
packing spent-fuel pools at power plants far beyond their capacity, which
some scientists call a serious compromise in safety.
Ralph Vartabedian
LA Times
Mar 22 2011
When the 1st US nuclear power plants went on line more than 1/2 a century
ago, utilities built small cooling pools next to the reactors to store their
radioactive waste, like the ones at Japan's Fukushima plant that overheated
and probably leaked radiation into the environment.
The utilities erroneously thought the pools would be for temporary storage
only: The federal government had promised it would find a safe place to bury
the used-up fuel rods, which remain radioactive for 1000s of years.
It has yet to make good on that commitment.
Technical miscalculations, multibillion-dollar lawsuits and political
stalemates over nuclear waste have kept the decaying radioactive material
stationary for decades, accumulating across the country ever since the
Eisenhower administration.
Now the nuclear disaster in Japan, in which at least one spent fuel pool seems
to be damaged and leaking and may have caught fire, has thrown US decisions
about its own waste into sharp focus, exposing what many scientists call a
serious compromise in safety.
The risks taken at the Fukushima Daiichi plant were actually less than those
in the U.S., nuclear scientists say, because utilities here have been forced
to pack more fuel rods into pools than they were designed to hold, increasing
the density and therefore the chance that they could catch fire if they were
to lose the water that cools them.
"The pools in Fukushima were not filled to capacity, and the accident could
have been a lot worse if they were filled as densely as ours are," said Edwin
Lyman, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees commercial reactors in the
U.S., this wk launched a 90-day review of reactor safety and plans a more
comprehensive long-term examination of its regulations. The pools, considered
by outside experts the most important nuclear energy safety issue, almost
certainly will be part of that.
The decision to massively overfill the pools has been pushed by the growing
inventory of nuclear waste and a lack of a place to send it.
The US now has about 65k tons of the material spread from the E Coast
to the W Coast and from the northern woods to Mexican-border states. With
growing anxiety, experts have debated the waste's short-term vulnerability to
accident or terrorist attack and its long-term potential to leak into the
environment through political neglect.
"U.S. operators are going to have to go back and rethink their decisions
because of what happened in Japan," said Kevin Crowley, director of the board
on radioactive waste management at the National Research Council, which
advises the federal government.
Crowley led a 2005 study that reported that overloading the US pools put
them at risk if they were to lose cooling. The study considered a terrorist
attack that could puncture a hole in the pools, as well as human errors or
natural events.
Without cooling, the spent fuel can get so hot that zirconium tubing that
holds uranium pellets begins to oxidize and potentially melt radioactive
isotopes, sending them into the atmosphere.
The report recommended that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission force utilities
to partially unload their pools and move their oldest waste into dry casks,
which are widely considered much safer.
Utilities at plants all over the country have already loaded 100s of dry
casks with nuclear waste. But they could be loading much more and reducing the
amount stored in pools, the study authors said.
And though utilities did rearrange fuel rods to checkerboard newer and older
fuel, nuclear experts said the commission did not require plant operators to
reduce the density of the fuel.
The industry maintains that there is nothing to worry about.
"We believe the pools are safe," said Rod McCullum, director of used-fuel
programs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's primary trade
group. "It is not necessary to move the fuel. You don't gain a considerable
amount of safety by moving to dry casks."
McCullum said that the US pools have multiple layers of safety, including
redundant cooling systems and leakage monitoring, though he declined to say
that US pools are safer than those at Fukushima.
He said the industry would review its procedures and plans to ensure that they
are adequate. And he said he believed the Japanese were handling their
accident well.
"The radiation levels, while not acceptable, are manageable," he said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has essentially accepted the industry's
rationale on the safety of dense-packing fuel rods. Over the last 2 decades,
the agency has repeatedly approved license applications by utilities to pack
more rods into the pools.
Nuclear safety experts say that plants have packed up to 5 times more spent
fuel rods than the pools were designed to store, though Nuclear Energy
Institute officials say the pools contain no more than twice their original
capacity.
The only advantage to keeping the pools packed so tightly is the cost of the
dry casks, which would run about $5 bn to $10 bn nationwide, said Frank
N. von Hippel, a Princeton University physicist who 1st disclosed the
problem in a paper he co-wrote in 2003. He said he considers fixing the fuel
pool problem one of the most important steps toward making US nuclear plants
safer.
"It is such a huge risk that it is worth the cost," he said. "We may not be as
lucky as the Japanese were to have the wind blowing the radioactive emissions
out to sea."
The reason so much waste has built up is the failure of the Energy Department
to hold to its decades-old pledge to take ownership of it, triggering
multibillion-dollar law suits by utilities against the government.
Under federal law, the waste was supposed to go to a repository at Yucca
Mountain, about 100 miles N of Las Vegas. President George W. Bush
approved the plan in 2002. But President Obama has taken steps to kill the
plan, saying he wants to find a different site.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned last wk that it could be decades
before any permanent solution for the waste is developed, so the heavily
packed fuel pools will be around for a long time.
"The utilities say that even if an accident happens here, they can deal with
it," said Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists. But, he said, the
Fukushima accident shows that some events will be difficult to anticipate and
plan for.
"The Japanese have run out of pages of their operating manual, and they are
just making things up," he said.
MYREF: 20110323173001 msg2011032326145
[131 more news items]
---
[Weather is responsible for climate change:]
And that's the only reason for the heat!
Strong northeast winds being superheated desert air from the inland to the
the southern capitals.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 31 Jan 2011 13:42 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
[One minute power is reconnected and cooling is proceeding: next minute the
plant is evacuated again...]
Water tested 2 times above the limits for radioactive iodine, according to
Tokyo Water Bureau
Kevin Dolak and James Hill
ABCNews
March 23, 2011
Workers have been evacuated after black smoke was seen emerging from Unit 3 of
the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan, Tokyo's
utility company said Wed.
Operators of the power station have been desperately trying to cool the
reactors and spent fuel pools at the plant after it was damaged by this
month's tsunami, which knocked out power to the cooling systems.
Earlier today Japanese officials issued a statement advising that tap water in
Tokyo not safe for infants as it has tested 2 times above the limits for
radioactive iodine.
It was reported early Wed at a news conference by the Tokyo Water Bureau said
that the number of Becquerel per unit detected is 210.
The allowable level for infants is 100, while the allowable level for adults
is 300.
Officials said that babies in Tokyo should not be fed tap water, but that the
level is not an immediate health risk for adults.
Radiation has now seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even
seawater in the areas surrounding the plant.
Broccoli was added Wed to a list of tainted vegetables, now including spinach,
canola and chrysanthemum greens.
Meanwhile, news this morning from the Japanese nuclear officials regarding the
country's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is not promising.
A spokesman for the nuclear safety agency said that high-level radiation
fields of 500 millisieverts/hr were detected at unit 2's turbine building a
few days ago, and that is preventing workers from trying to restore the power
at the control room.
At those levels a worker would reach Japan's imposed emergency exposure limit
of 250 milliSv within just 30 minutes.
500 milliSv of acute exposure is also the generally accepted threshold at
which individuals would begin to suffer immediate health effects.
The temperature and pressure readings in the core of unit 1 are also a major
concern. The vessel is designed to a threshold of 302 degrees
Celsius. Currently its external temperature is now about 400 degrees Celsius.
MYREF: 20110323203230 msg201103233534
[135 more news items]
---
[Before the flood:]
The recent Murray Darling run-off since the floods would have provided
enought irrigation water to last at least 15 years.
Instead it has all run out to sea!
Crazy anti-dam greenies!
-- "BONZO"@27.32.240.172 [86 nyms and counting], 12 Nov 2010 14:05 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
[But don't worry -- it's safe for everyone else].
* Radioactive Seawater Latest Woe for Battered Japan
* Electricity Restored in Part of Tsunami-Damaged Japanese Nuclear Plant
Steve Herman
VOA
March 23, 2011
Tokyo -- Radiation spewing from a tsunami-battered nuclear power plant is
causing wider concerns about Japan's food chain and water supply.
Meanwhile, high radiation levels and other challenges inside the facility in
northeastern Japan continue to hamper efforts to quickly restore cooling
systems to all 6 of its reactors.
Millions of people in Tokyo received a new sobering alert on Wed. The
metropolitan government announced radioactive iodine, exceeding the legal
limit, has been detected at one of the city's primary water purification
plants.
City officials say the affected downtown facility supplies much of the tap
water for Japan's capital and 5 suburban districts. They say the level
recorded in the water, drawn from local rivers, is nearly double that
considered safe for infants to drink, but still within limits acceptable for
adults to ingest.
Hyo Yoshida is with the Tokyo Waterworks Bureau. Yoshida says it can be
assumed that the source of the contamination is the Fukushima-1 nuclear power
plant, which was damaged by the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and
resulting tsunami.
The announcement about Tokyo's water came hours after shipments of more types
of vegetables from Fukushima prefecture were halted. People living in the
prefecture, which has a population of 2 million, were also instructed to stop
eating leaf vegetables harvested there.
Officials and scientists insist the levels of radioactive iodine and cesium
detected in food, the air, soil and sea water, are not harmful to people.
The spreading radiation emanates from the crippled Fukushima-1 nuclear power
plant. Its cooling system was knocked out by the tsunami.
Efforts continue to restore the system and cool overheated reactors and fuel
rods, which are emitting the higher than normal levels of radiation which are
spreading over Japan.
MYREF: 20110323210656 msg201103232426
[134 more news items]
---
[Irony 101:]
[By my count BONZO has called people whacko 137 times; fool 26; idiot
22 times; twit 17 times; moron 14 times in just the past 4 wks. There
is a 10+-year history, however].
Warmist Abuse Shows They're Losing
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 16 Feb 2011 17:15 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
re cities
Mari Yamaguchi,Shino Yuasa
AP
Mar 24, 2011 01:34:41
Tokyo - Workers doled out bottled water to Tokyo families Thu after residents
cleared store shelves because of warnings that radiation from Japan's
tsunami-damaged nuclear plant had seeped into the city's water supply.
Anxiety over food and water supplies surged when Tokyo officials reported Wed
that radioactive iodine in the city's tap water was above levels considered
dangerous for babies. New readings showed the levels had returned to safe
levels in Tokyo, but were high in 2 neighbouring prefectures -- Chiba and
Saitama.
"The 1st thought was that I need to buy bottles of water," said Tokyo real
estate agent Reiko Matsumoto, mother of 5-year-old Reina. "I also don't know
whether I can let her take a bath."
Amid the panic in the Tokyo region, nuclear workers were still struggling to
regain control of the hobbled and overheated Fukushima Dai-ichi plant 140
miles (220 kilometres) N of the capital.
The plant has been leaking radiation since a March 11 quake and tsunami
knocked out its crucial cooling systems, leading to explosions and fires in 4
of its 6 reactors. After setbacks and worrying black smoke forced an
evacuation, workers were back inside Thu, said Hidehiko Nishiyama of the
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Government spokesman Yukio Edano sought to allay fears over the tap water
readings.
"We ask people to respond calmly," he said at a briefing Thu. "The Tokyo
metropolitan government is doing its best."
Households with infants will get three, half-litre bottles of water for each
baby -- a total of 240k bottles -- city officials said, begging Tokyo
residents to buy only what they need for fear that hoarding could hurt the
1000s of people without any water in areas devastated by the earthquake and
tsunami.
Nearly 2 wk after the magnitude-9 quake, some 660k household still do not have
water in Japan's northeast, the government said. Electricity has not been
restored to some 209k homes, Tohoku Electric Power Co. said.
The figures were a reminder of the grim humanitarian situation that hundreds
of 1000s continue to face in the wake of twin disasters that are proving to be
the most costly natural disaster on record. Damages are estimated at up to
$309 billion, the government said.
The number of dead and missing continued to rise: 9,700 dead, with another
16,500 missing, Japan's police agency said Thu. The figures that may include
some overlap.
Hundreds of 1000s remain homeless, squeezed into temporary shelters without
heat, warm food or medicine and no idea what to call home after the colossal
wave swallowed up communities along the coast and dozens of strong aftershocks
continued to shake the nation.
Fears about food safety began to spread overseas as radiation seeped into raw
milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and
turnips, grown in areas around the plant.
About In 25 miles (40 kilometres) northwest of the Fukushima nuclear plant,
levels for one locally grown leafy green measured 82 times the government
limit for radioactive cesium and 11 times the limit for iodine.
The US and Australia said they were halting imports of Japanese dairy and
produce from the region; Hong Kong said it would require that Japan perform
safety checks on meat, eggs and seafood, and Canada said it would upgrade
controls on imports of Japanese food products by requiring documents verifying
their safety.
Concerns also spread to Europe. In Iceland, officials said they measured trace
amounts of radioactive iodine in the air but assured residents it was "less
than a millionth" of levels found in European countries in the wake of the
1986 Chornobyl disaster.
The overall situation at the Fukushima plant remains of serious concern, the
International Atomic Energy Agency said. Levels of radioactive iodine and
cesium across 10 prefectures was generally on an upward trend, said Graham
Andrew, senior adviser to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano.
In Fukushima, nuclear workers have struggled for days to stabilize and cool
down the overheated plant. Edano said workers were labouring steadily and the
situation was "not urgent."
"As of now, the important thing we have been working on is to prevent
deterioration. We should not be too optimistic," he said. "We are moving
cautiously."
Worrisome Unit 3 has finally stopped belching black smoke, a Tokyo Electric
Power Co. spokesman said Thu, a day after a plume forced an evacuation of
nuclear workers. However, white smoke was rising intermittently from 2 other
units, spokesman Masateru Araki said.
Officials have evacuated residents within 12 miles (20 kilometres) of the
plant and advised those up to 19 miles (30 kilometres) away to stay indoors to
minimize exposure.
Radioactive iodine is short-lived, with a half-life of 8 days -- the length of
time it takes for 1/2 of it to break down harmlessly. However, experts say
infants are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine, which can cause
thyroid cancer.
Tokyo tap water tested earlier in the wk with 210 becquerels of iodine-131 per
litre of water -- more than twice the recommended limit of 100 becquerels per
litre for infants. Another measurement taken later at a different site showed
the level was 190 becquerels per litre, and was down to normal levels on
Thu. The recommended limit for adults is 300 becquerels.
But tap water in Kawaguchi City in Saitama just N of Tokyo showed 210
becquerels of radioactive iodine, Shogo Misawa, a Health Ministry official,
said Thu. Tap water in another area next to Tokyo, Chiba prefecture, also
showed high levels of radiation in 2 separate areas, said water safety
official Kyoji Narita.
The Chiba government warned families in 11 cities in Chiba not to feed infants
tap water.
"The high level of iodine was due to the nuclear disaster," Narita
said. "There is no question about it."
The limits refer to sustained consumption rates, and officials said parents
should stop using tap water for baby formula but that it was no problem for
infants to consume small amounts.
The amounts are too low to pose any real risk, even to infants who are being
fed water-based formula or to breast-fed infants whose mothers drink tap
water, said Dr Harold Swartz, a professor of radiology and medicine at
Dartmouth Medical School in the U.S.
That was small consolation for Reina's mother.
"I had had this premonition that such things could happen when this nuclear
power plant accident broke out," she said. "And, I really don't know what I
can do now. They had been saying we would be OK. But, now this is happening
and I really don't know what we can do."
MYREF: 20110324164753 msg2011032417190
[132 more news items]
---
Of course "global temperature are rising", we're emerging from an ICE AGE!!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 12:22 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
News.WBRU
March 24, 2011
New legislation at the statehouse will prohibit those under the age of 18 from
using tanning booths. Currently, under Rhode Island law, a minor who wishes to
use a tanning booth must be accompanied by a parent. But new legislation takes
it a step further, proposing that those under 18 would need doctor's
prescription. Proponents of the bill cite skin cancer risks as a driving cause
and feel that teens should refrain from using tanning booths until they're old
enough to weigh the risks. If the bill passes, Rhode Island would be the 1st
state in the country to prohibit minors from using tanning salons.
MYREF: 20110325170002 msg2011032516661
[129 more news items]
---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
[With 3 workers exposed to a dose of 150 mSv or more through contact with
leaking water, some experts say it's 50/50 the containment has been breached
in at least one reactor].
David Jolly, Hiroko Tabuchi and Keith Bradsher
NY Times
March 25, 2011
Tokyo -- Japanese officials began quietly encouraging people to evacuate a
larger swath of territory around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Fri, a
sign that they hold little hope that the crippled facility will soon be
brought under control.
The authorities said they would now assist people who want to leave the area
from 12 to 19 miles outside the crippled plant and said they were now
encouraging "voluntary evacuation" from the area. Those people had been
advised March 15 to remain indoors, while those within a 12-mile radius of the
plant had been ordered to evacuate.
The United States has recommended that its citizens stay at least 50 miles
away from the plant.
Speaking to a national audience at a news conference Fri night to mark the 2
wk since the magnitude 9.0 quake and the devastating tsunami that followed it,
PM Naoto Kan dodged a reporter's question about whether the government was
ordering a full evacuation, saying officials were simply following the
recommendation of the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission.
In the latest setback to the effort to contain the nuclear crisis, evidence
emerged that the reactor vessel of the No. 3 unit may have been damaged, an
official said Fri. The development, described at a news conference by Hidehiko
Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety
Agency, raises the possibility that radiation from the mox fuel in the reactor
-- a combination of uranium and plutonium -- could be released.
One sign that a breach may have occurred in the reactor vessel, Mr Nishiyama
said, took place on Thu when 3 workers who were trying to connect an
electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were
injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more
radioactive than normal in a reactor.
The No. 3 unit, the only one of the 6 reactors at the site that uses the mox
fuel, was damaged by a hydrogen explosion on March 14. Workers have been
seeking to keep it cool by spraying it with seawater along with a more recent
effort to restart the reactor's cooling system. A broken vessel is not the
only possible explanation, he said. The water might have leaked from another
part of the facility.
The news Fri and the discovery this wk of a radioactive isotope in the water
supplies of Tokyo and neighboring prefectures has punctured the mood of
optimism with which the wk began, leaving a sense that the battle to fix the
damaged plant will be a long one.
"The situation still requires caution," Mr Kan, grave and tired-looking, told
the nation. "Our measures are aimed at preventing the circumstances from
getting worse."
Mr. Kan also apologized to the businesses and farmers whose livelihoods have
been endangered by the plant. He acknowledged the assistance of the United
States and thanked the many people -- utility workers, military personnel,
policemen and firefighters -- who are risking their lives in an effort to
restore the cooling functions of the plant and stop the harmful release of
radiation.
"Let us take courage, and walk together to rebuild," he added. "The nation
united, as one, to overcome the crisis."
No one is being ordered to evacuate the second zone around the troubled plant,
officials said, and people may choose to remain, but many have already left of
their own accord, tiring of the anxiety and tedium of remaining cooped up as
the nuclear crisis simmers just a few miles away. Many are said to be virtual
prisoners, with no access to shopping and immobilized by a lack of gasoline.
"What we've been finding is that in that area life has become quite
difficult," Noriyuki Shikata, deputy cabinet secretary for Prime Minister
Naoto Kan, said in a telephone interview. "People don't want to go into the
zone to make deliveries."
Mr. Shikata said the question of where those who chose to leave would go was
still under consideration.
NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster, quoted a Land Self Defense Force
official as saying, "We're trying to quickly locate everyone who remains, so
that we can rapidly help in case the nuclear plant situation worsens."
Officials continue to be dogged by suspicions that they are not telling the
entire story about the radiation leaks. Shunichi Tanaka, former acting
chairman of the country's Atomic Energy Commission, told The Japan Times in an
interview published Fri that the government was being irresponsible in forcing
people from their homes around the damaged plant without explaining the risks
they were facing.
"The government has not yet said in concrete terms why evacuation is necessary
to the people who have evacuated," he said.
The National Police Agency said Fri that the official death toll from the
March 11 earthquake and tsunami had passed 10,000, with nearly 17,500 others
listed as missing.
MYREF: 20110326013118 msg2011032614673
[127 more news items]
---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
IBTimes Staff Reporter/Reuters
March 26, 2011 6:11 AM GMT
Even as the workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
scrambled to remove puddles of radioactive water, earthquake-torn Japan
plunged into a fight against an apparent nuclear leak into the ocean causing a
sharp spike in levels of radioactive iodine in seawater.
Tests done on seawater samples collected Fri morning have shown that the
levels of radioactive iodine in the water are 1,250 times higher than normal,
informed Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency. The levels were 50
becquerels of radioactive iodine per cubic cm of water. This compares
to 4 becquerels, 104 times above normal.
In a televised press conference, an agency spokesman, Hidehiko Nishiyama,
said, "This figure means that if you drank 500 millilitres of water containing
this level of iodine it would reach the limit that a person can take in in one
year, which is one millisievert. This is a relatively high level."
CNN quoted an official with the Tokyo's Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) as
revealing that the spike in radioactive levels in seawater just offshore the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may not be due atmosphere emissions or rain
alone, instead due to some sort of leakage directly into the ocean.
On the positive side, the distressing reports on the surge in the level of
radioactivity in seawater come while the radiation levels in air have
reportedly declined.
At 7 a.m. Sat, radiation at the plant's main gate were 0.219 millisieverts per
hour -- a fraction of the 400 millisieverts per hour measured between Units 3
and 4 on March 15, TEPCO said on its website.
The International Atomic Agency reported Fri that radiation in and around the
plant "continues to decrease."
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, located 240 km (150 miles) N of
Tokyo, has been the centre of global attention following the 9.0-magnitude
earthquake that stuck Japan's Pacific Coast due to the possibility of a
nuclear meltdown that could led to a catastrophe. The March 11 quake also
triggered a tsunami. The natural disaster has claimed at least 10k lives and
has left 17k missing.
Meanwhile at the plant Sat, engineers scrambled to pump out puddles of
radioactive water, which injured 3 workers besides hampering efforts to cool
reactors to prevent a meltdown. Radioactive water has been found in buildings
of 3 of the 6 reactors at the power complex 240 km (150 miles) N of Tokyo,
Reuters reported.
Three workers sustained burns at reactor No. 3 on Thu after being exposed to
radiation levels 10k times higher than usually found in a reactor. 2 of the
workers were also rushed to a hospital.
"Bailing out accumulated water from the turbine housing units before radiation
levels rise further is becoming very important," Japan Nuclear and Industrial
Safety Agency senior official Hidehiko Nishiyama is quoted as saying.
"We are working out ways of safely bailing out the water so that it does not
get out into the environment, and we are making preparations," Nishiyama added.
He, however, ruled out a possibility of a crack.
"There is no data suggesting a crack," he said, after clarifying that high
radiation reading could be from venting operations to release pressure or
water leakage from pipes or valves.
As the world watches the situation at the damaged Fukushima plant closely, the
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for reassessment of the international
atomic safety regime. Ban stressed on the need to take stock of the
international response to the latest developments at Japan's Fukushima
Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Urging states to consider lessons learned from
Japan, he encouraged adoption of innovative measures to strengthen nuclear safet
y.
MYREF: 20110326204802 msg201103267058
[129 more news items]
---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
Mr Posting Robot
[Latest reports say radiation levels in seawater near the Fukushima plant have
spiked 10x over the past few hrs].
* Removing radioactive water a priority
* Iodine 131 levels in seawater near plant spikes 1,250 times
* More than 10,480 dead, 16,600 missing after quake, tsunami
* Fishing ports in northeast obliterated after tsunami
Yoko Kubota
Tokyo, March 27 (Reuters) - Japanese engineers struggled on Sun to pump
radioactive water from a crippled nuclear power station after radiation levels
soared in seawater near the plant more than 2 wk after it was battered by a
huge earthquake and a tsunami.
Tests on Fri showed iodine 131 levels in seawater 30 km (19 miles) from the
coastal nuclear complex had spiked 1,250 times higher than normal but it was
not considered a threat to marine life or food safety, the Nuclear and
Industrial Safety Agency said.
"Ocean currents will disperse radiation particles and so it will be very
diluted by the time it gets consumed by fish and seaweed," said Hidehiko
Nishiyama, a senior agency official.
Despite that reassurance, the disclosure is likely to heighten international
concern over Japanese seafood exports. Several countries have already banned
milk and produce from areas around the Fukushima Daiichi plant, while others
have been monitoring Japanese seafood.
Prolonged efforts to prevent a catastrophic meltdown at the 40-year-old plant
have also intensified concern around the world about nuclear power. UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was time to reassess the international
atomic safety regime.
The crisis at the plant, 240 km (150 miles) N of Tokyo, has overshadowed a big
relief and recovery effort from the magnitude 9.0 quake and the huge tsunami
it triggered on March 11 that left more than 27,100 people dead or missing in
northeast Japan.
Engineers trying to stabilise the plant have to pump out radioactive water
after it was found in buildings housing 3 of the 6 reactors.
On Thu, 3 workers were taken to hospital from reactor No. 3 after stepping in
water with radiation levels 10k times higher than usually found in a
reactor. That raised fear the core's container could be damaged.
An official from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) told a Sun
news conference experts still had to determine where to put some of the
contaminated water while engineers were still trying to fully restore the
plant's power.
TEPCO said it was using fresh water instead of seawater to cool down at least
some of the reactors after concern arose that salt deposits might hamper the
cooling process.
MYREF: 20110327091052 msg2011032720862
Mr Posting Robot
[The nuke plant has been evacuated again as rad levels hit 10 mn times normal
background].
Contamination is 10 mn times higher than normal. Workers struggle to remove
and store the tainted water pooling in 4 troubled units.
AP
March 26, 2011, 10:57 p.m.
Sendai, Japan-- The radioactivity in water in one unit of a hobbled nuclear
power plant in northeastern Japan has tested 10 mn times higher than normal,
the plant's operator said Sun.
Leaked water in Unit 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant measured 10 million
times higher than usual radioactivity levels when the reactor is operating
normally, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Takashi Kurita told reporters in
Tokyo.
Radioactivity in the air in Unit 2 measured at 1k millisieverts per hour -- 4
times higher than the occupational limit of 250 millisieverts set by the
government, he said.
The readings came as workers grappled with how to remove and store the highly
radioactive water pooling in 4 troubled units at the plant. The discovery of
puddles with radiation levels 10k times the norm sparked a temporary
evacuation of the plant on Thu. 2 workers who stepped into the water were
hospitalized with possible burns.
The development set back feverish efforts to start up a crucial cooling system
knocked out in a massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but has helped
experts get closer to determining the source of the dangerous leak.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, speaking Sun on TV talk shows, said the
radioactive water is "almost certainly" seeping from a reactor core.
On Sat, the utility admitted that it had failed to adequately warn workers
about dangerous radioactive water at the plant.
Edano chastised the company, known as TEPCO, saying that it needed to share
information more quickly and, unless it does so, "the government will not be
able to give appropriate instructions and [the company] will make workers, and
eventually the public, distrustful," according to Kyodo News.
TEPCO officials apologized for the lapse but also noted that workers had
ignored alarms that had alerted them to high levels of radiation in the work
area. High levels of radiation were reported again Sat within the plant.
The Fukushima facility, stricken by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and
several ensuing explosions, continues to leak radiation. Levels of radioactive
iodine as much as 1,250 times higher than the benchmark considered safe were
found in seawater about 1k feet from the complex, officials said Sat. However,
experts said the radiation would quickly disperse and would not pose a threat
to people nearby or to sea life.
MYREF: 20110327180752 msg2011032730646
[131 more news items]
---
So you really, really believe that our universe just came about by
sheer chance? I prersonally, find that extremely hard to accept.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 11 Jan 2011 15:02 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
[In a move doing nothing for trust in nuclear officials nuclear officials have
made a significant correction: radiation wasn't 10 mn times background at the
Fukushima plant -- it was only 1000 mSv/hr (4 times the new annual legal limit
for radiation workers, over 1 hour). So just over 3 mn times background.
Officials say they mis-identified an isotope and that threw their calculation
out. So sorry for confusion].
Yuri Kageyama and Mari Yamaguchi
AP
03/27/2011 12:18:16 AM PDT
Tokyo -- Emergency workers struggling to pump contaminated water from Japan's
stricken nuclear complex fled from one of the troubled reactors Sun after
reporting a huge increase in radioactivity--a spike that officials later
apologetically said was inaccurate.
The apology came after employees fled the complex's Unit 2 reactor when a
reading showed radiation levels had reached 10 mn times higher than normal in
the reactor's cooling system. Officials said they were so high that the worker
taking the measurements had withdrawn before taking a second reading.
On Sun night, though, plant operators said that while the water was
contaminated with radiation, the extremely high reading was a mistake.
"The number is not credible," said Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Takashi
Kurita. "We are very sorry."
He said officials were taking another sample to get accurate levels, but did
not know when the results would be announced.
The situation came as officials acknowledged there was radioactive water in
all 4 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex's most troubled reactors, and as
airborne radiation in Unit 2 measured 1k millisieverts per hour--four times
the limit deemed safe by the government, Kurita said.
Officials say they still don't know where the radioactive water is coming
from, though government spokesman Yukio Edano has said some is "almost
certainly" seeping from a cracked reactor core in one of the units.
While the discovery of the high radiation levels--and the evacuation of
workers from one reactor unit--again delayed efforts to bring the deeply
troubled complex under control, Edano insisted the situation had partially
stabilized.
"We have somewhat prevented the situation from turning worse," he told
reporters Sun evening. "But the prospects are not improving in a straight line
and we've expected twists and turns. The contaminated water is one of them and
we'll continue to repair the damage."
The discovery over the last 3 days of radioactive water has been a major
setback in the mission to get the plant's crucial cooling systems operating
more than 2 wk after a massive earthquake and tsunami.
The magnitude-9 quake off Japan's northeast coast on March 11 triggered a
tsunami that barreled onshore and disabled the Fukushima plant, complicating
an immense humanitarian disaster.
The death toll from the twin disasters stood at 10,668 Sun, with more than
16,574 people missing, police said. Hundreds of 1000s of people are homeless.
Workers have been scrambling to remove the radioactive water from the
four units and find a safe place to store it, TEPCO officials said.
On Sun night, Minoru Ogoda of Japan's nuclear safety agency said each unit
could have 100s of tons of radioactive water.
The protracted nuclear crisis has spurred concerns about the safety of food
and water in Japan, which is a prime source of seafood for some
countries. Radiation has been found in food, seawater and even tap water
supplies in Tokyo.
Just outside the coastal Fukushima nuclear plant, radioactivity in seawater
tested about 1,250 times higher than normal last week--but that number had
climbed to 1,850 times normal by the weekend.
Hidehiko Nishiyama, a nuclear safety official, said the increase was a
concern, but also said the area is not a source of seafood and that the
contamination posed no immediate threat to human health.
Experts with the International Atomic Energy Agency said the ocean would
quickly dilute the worst contamination.
Up to 600 people are working inside the plant in shifts. Nuclear safety
officials say workers' time inside the crippled units is closely monitored to
minimize their exposure to radioactivity, but 2 workers were hospitalized Thu
when they suffered burns after stepping into contaminated water. They are to
be released from the hospital Mon.
Edano has urged TEPCO to be more transparent about the potential dangers after
the safety agency revealed the plant operator was aware of high radiation
levels in the air in Unit 3 several days before the 2 workers suffered burns
there.
A top TEPCO official acknowledged Sun it could take a long time to completely
clean up the complex.
"We cannot say at this time how many m or y it will take," TEPCO Vice
President Sakae Muto said, insisting the main goal now is to cool the
reactors.
A poll, meanwhile, showed that support for Japan's PM has risen as the
administration tackles the disasters.
The public opinion poll conducted over the weekend by Kyodo News agency found
that approval of PM Naoto Kan and his Cabinet rose to 28.3% after sinking
below 20% in Feb, before the earthquake and tsunami.
Last month's low approval led to speculation that Kan's days were
numbered. While the latest figure is still low, it suggests he is making some
gains with voters.
About 58% of respondents in the nationwide telephone survey of 1,011 people
said they approved of the government's handling of the March 11 earthquake and
tsunami, but a similar number criticized its handling of the nuclear crisis.
MYREF: 20110328063013 msg2011032817196
[134 more news items]
---
[W]omen are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 11:28 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
LA Times
Mar 26 2011
Radioactive iodine at levels up to 1,250 times normal are detected in the
ocean near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Experts say the ocean
will quickly dilute the radioactivity to harmless levels. Contaminated
seawater used to the cool the reactors is being drained into the sea.
High levels of radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan
have spread to the ocean near the crippled power station, with readings of
radioactive iodine as much as 1,250 times higher than normal levels, Japanese
officials said Sat.
Radioactivity in the water inside the plant had also spiked, with readings as
high as 200 to 300 millisieverts per hour recorded in reactor No. 2, Hidehiko
Nishiyama, a senior official with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in
Tokyo, said Sat. The maximum exposure permitted for Japanese workers is 250
mSv over the course of a year.
At the No. 1 reactor, readings indicated the presence of cesium-136 and
yttrium-91 in the cooling water, according to a statement on the nuclear
agency's website.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, resorted to using more than 5,300 tons of
ocean water to keep its reactors and adjacent fuel storage pools cool after
the magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake and resulting tsunami on March 11 knocked
out the normal cooling system. But the salt in seawater is corrosive to the
reactors, and engineers are trying to pump it out and drain it into the sea.
Tepco began pumping fresh water into reactors Nos. 1 and 3 on Fri, and fresh
water may be used to cool the spent fuel pools at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors
beginning Sun, Nishiyama said.
So far, radiation in the ocean appears to be limited to the area close to the
plant. Levels of iodine-131 19 miles off the coast were still within
acceptable limits, Nishiyama said. The radioactive particles do not threaten
sea life, he added.
"Ocean currents will disperse radiation particles and so it will be very
diluted by the time it gets consumed by fish and seaweed," he said.
A US expert agreed that the radioactivity would have minimal effects on marine
life and seafood because the particles will be mixed with water up to 300 feet
deep.
"Cesium and iodine are soluble so they will be rapidly diluted by a factor of
100 or more," said Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist who studies naturally
occurring and manmade radioactive isotopes in ocean water at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. When radioactive substances are
released into ocean water, Buesseler said, they dilute and mix into the water
so quickly, he said, "it's like dropping a dye in water," and concentrations
quickly plummet. "You automatically have less exposure because it's mixed down
and diluted," he said.
Health authorities should still monitor seawater and seafood for radiation, he
said, but it is unlikely to pose as much of a risk in the ocean as it does on
land, where radioactive isotopes have a more direct pathway to expose humans
through comestibles like spinach, milk and drinking water.
Ocean currents will further reduce concentrations of the isotopes by carrying
them S along the Japanese coast, then out to sea.
Buesseler said research after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident showed that
while levels of cesium-137 in the Black Sea -- a body of saltwater several 100
miles away-- elevated sharply, the radiation wasn't high enough to make water
exposure or seafood consumption dangerous.
"You still could bathe in the water, you could eat the fish in the water, and
if you wanted to drink saltwater, you could drink the water," he said.
MYREF: 20110328150001 msg2011032819395
[130 more news items]
---
[Call me kook:]
>A scientist cites a data point that is consistent with a trend and
>says "This data is consistent with the trend; no surprise".
>A kook cites a data point inconsistent with the trend and says "Surprise!
>The trend is Wrong Wrong Wrong!".
Sorry but 1917 invalidates the trend.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 13:29 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
March 26, 2011 5:07 AM
Tokyo (Kyodo News International) -- Levels of radioactive materials are
skyrocketing in the sea near the crisis-hit nuclear power station in Fukushima
Prefecture, the government's nuclear safety agency said Sat, while the plant's
operator has started injecting fresh water into the No. 2 reactor core to
enhance cooling efficiency.
According to the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency,
radioactive iodine-131 at a concentration 1,250.8 times the legal limit was
detected Fri morning in a seawater sample taken around 330 meters S of the
plant, near the drain outlets of its troubled 4 reactors.
The level rose to its highest so far in the survey begun this week, after
staying around levels 100 times over the legal limit. It is highly likely that
radioactive water in the plant has disembogued into the sea, Tokyo Electric
Power Co (OOTC:TKECY) said.
The result could fan concerns over fishery products in northeastern Japan as
highly radioactive water has been found leaking near all 4 troubled reactor
units at the plant.
Radioactive materials "will significantly dilute" by the time they are
consumed by marine species, the agency said, adding, it will not have a
significant impact on fishery products as fishing is not conducted in the area
within 20 km of the plant as the government has issued a directive for
residents in the area to evacuate.
If people ingest 500 milliliters of water containing the same level of
radioactive iodine, the radiation levels would reach the 1 millisievert limit
which people can be safely exposed to in one year, the agency said.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy said in its radiological assessment
released Fri that by comparing aerial measurement data from Thu with previous
measurements, the data indicate peak exposure rates in the western side of the
Fukushima plant are lower.
The utility, known as TEPCO, is currently injecting fresh water into the No. 2
reactor core to prevent crystallized salt from seawater already injected from
forming a crust on the fuel rods and hampering the smooth circulation of
water, thus diminishing the cooling effect. It has begun injecting fresh
water into the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor cores.
At the same time, the firm is trying to remove pools of water containing
highly concentrated radioactive substances that may have seeped from either
the reactor cores or the spent fuel pools, while also trying to restore power
at the No. 2 reactor.
On Thu, 3 workers were exposed to water containing radioactive materials 10k
times the normal level at the turbine building connected to the No. 3 reactor
building. On Fri, a pool of water with similarly highly concentrated
radioactive materials was found in the No. 1 reactor's turbine building,
causing some restoration work to be suspended.
Similar pools of water were also found in the turbine buildings of the No. 2
and No. 4 reactors, measuring up to 1 meter and 80 cm deep,
respectively. Those near the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors were up to 40 cm and 1.5
meters deep.
MYREF: 20110328163002 msg2011032825158
[131 more news items]
---
Mr Posting Robot
Iodine levels pose no risk, state says; linked to disaster at plant in Japan
"I would advise the public to do nothing differently than they currently are
doing," said Public Health commissioner John Auerbach.
The Boston Globe
Katheleen Conti
March 28, 2011
Low levels of radioactive iodine linked to the nuclear disaster in Japan were
detected in a sample of rainwater in Massachusetts, state health officials
announced yesterday.
The concentration of radioiodine-131 found in the sample is very low and did
not affect the health of the state's drinking-water supplies, said John
Auerbach, commissioner of the Department of Public Health.
The rain sample was taken during the past wk in Boston as part of regular
monitoring by the US Environmental Protection Agency. No detectable increases
in radiation were discovered in the air that was tested in the same location
where the rainwater was collected, Auerbach said at a press conference
yesterday at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Jamaica
Plain.
"In Massachusetts, none of the cities and towns rely on rainwater as their
primary source of water," Auerbach said. "That's why we're so comfortable in
saying that the drinking-water supplies throughout the state are pretty safe."
Officials would not specify which days the rain samples were taken or exactly
where in the city they came from.
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."
Two drinking-water samples taken last wk from the Quabbin and Wachusett
reservoirs showed no detectable levels of radioiodine. Both reservoirs supply
the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority with water for 2.5 mn residents in
Greater Boston.
In "an abundance of caution," state environmental officials collected samples
from 12 other water-supply sources across the state yesterday, said Kenneth
L. Kimmell, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental
Protection. Results are expected over the next several days.
Samples were collected from McLean Reservoir; Cleveland Reservoir; Cobble
Mountain; Holden Reservoir; Notown Reservoir; Southbridge Reservoir; Merrimack
River; Concord River; Wenham Lake; Assawompset Pond Complex; Brockton
Reservoir; and Long Pond.
Radioiodine is a byproduct of nuclear energy production and has a half-life of
8 days, Auerbach said. The half-life span means that only 1/2 of the level of
radiation will be present in 8 days, and so on until it dissipates.
"That means it should be undetectable in a matter of weeks, assuming that
there is no new source of radiation exposure," he said, adding that from the
time the rainwater sample was collected, the levels of radiation being
released have already "decreased significantly."
Similar levels of radioactivity in rainwater samples have been found in other
states, including California, Washington, and Pennsylvania, Auerbach
said. Other states have also reported small amounts of radioactive materials
that may have originated from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, which
was severely damaged after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami
that struck northern Japan on March 11. Radioactive material from the complex
continues to leak into the atmosphere and the sea.
"Certainly if there is additional significant radiation release in Japan, that
would have an impact on the larger environment," Auerbach said. "That would be
something that would be closely monitored by the US officials who are paying
very close attention to that in Japan. So we will know that ahead of time if
that occurs," he added.
State health officials stressed that on a daily basis, Americans are exposed
to radiation from sources like the sun, rocks, and bricks with doses that are
100k times higher than what has been detected in the US coming from Japan.
Auerbach said the Department of Public Health will continue to monitor
precipitation and ambient air samples for the presence of radioactivity linked
to activity in Japan, but stressed that there are no anticipated public health
concerns here.
"I would advise the public to do nothing differently than they currently are
doing," he said.
MYREF: 20110328202123 msg2011032827549
[128 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot
Julie Steenhuysen
Reuters
March 29, 2011
Chicago --Airport scanners are an "extremely low" source of radiation exposure
that poses virtually no health risk, not even to frequent air travelers, US
researchers said Mon.
The study may help ease fears of uneasy travelers already spooked by reports
of radiation leaking from the crippled nuclear plants in Japan.
"There is such a vast difference between super-low doses of radiation and the
really high doses that happen if you are in the middle of a nuclear accident,"
said Dr Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a radiology professor at the University of
California, San Francisco, whose study appears in the Archives of Internal Medic
ine.
"Because they are all called radiation, we are tempted to put them all in the
same category. That is a mistake."
She said the nuclear crisis in Japan has heightened fear about radiation, but
she said a person would have to get more than 50 airport scans to get as much
radiation exposure as one gets from a dental X-ray.
"When used properly, the doses from these machines are extremely low,"
Smith-Bindman said in a telephone interview.
Some travelers and airline crews have expressed concerns about being
repeatedly exposed to radiation from the body scanners, which the
Transportation Security Administration has deployed to detect banned items on
passengers.
Only one type of full-body airport scanner--the backscatter X-ray
machine--expose individuals to ionizing radiation such as that used in common
medical X-rays.
To estimate the risk from these machines, the team divided travelers into 3
groups: all flyers, frequent fliers and 5-year-old girls who are frequent
fliers, because children are more sensitive to the effects of radiation.
They said of the total 750 mn flights taken pa by 100 mn passengers,
there would be an additional 6 cancers over the course of their
lifetimes. That is in addition to the 40 mn cancers that would normally
develop among people in a group this size.
For frequent fliers, people who fly 60 hours a week, there might be 4 extra
cancers on top of the 600 extra cancers just from flying--which exposes people
to more solar radiation--and 400k cancers that normally would occur over
their lifetime.
And for every 2 mn 5-year-old girls who travel one round-trip a week, going
through the scanners would cause one additional cancer out of the 250k breast
cancers that are set to occur in this group over their lifetimes.
Dr Stephen Machnicki of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, who was not involved
in the study, said the radiation from one of these scanners is less than what
someone would get just by taking a cross-country flight.
"Hopefully it will help them to overcome their fears of going through the
scanners, Machnicki said.
Smith-Bindman--who has published several studies on cancer risks from overuse
of medical imaging--said the risk from airport scanners is trivial.
"If you compare it to a CT scan, you need to go through an airport scanner
200k times to be equivalent to the dose of one CT," she said.
"I'd rather focus on getting rid of some of those CTs."
MYREF: 20110330020002 msg2011033029397
[127 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot
nt
[In other reports, low levels of rad contimination has turned up in milk on
the US W coast].
Michael Alison Chandler
Wash Post
March 31, 6:00 AM
Tokyo--Japan, under pressure from international groups, said Thu that it will
consider issuing new evacuation orders because potentially dangerous radiation
levels are spreading further from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
At the same time, monitoring concerns arose for workers at the stricken plant
when its owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said it does not provide a
personal radiation-monitoring device to every worker.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Wed that Iitate Village, 25
miles northwest of the power plant, posted radiation levels "about 2 times
higher" than levels at which the agency recommends evacuations.
The mandatory evacuation zone extends only 12 miles around the stricken plant,
although the government has encouraged people within 18 miles to evacuate
voluntarily.
Japan's chief government spokesman, Yukio Edano, said the government will heed
the UN nuclear agency's advice and step up its monitoring. "If the situation
continues, there can be health risks, so we will take necessary actions
depending on the results of these surveys."
Nearly 3 wk after a tsunami flooded out reactors' cooling systems, triggering
hydrogen explosions and partial nuclear meltdowns, traces of radioactive
fallout have been tracked as far as Massachusetts and Iceland.
In Japan, the government is churning out spreadsheets on radiation levels in
the air, ocean and soil. Numbers are broadcast like weather reports in some
cities and have informed bans on exporting vegetables and the current
evacuation limits and no-fishing zones.
Increasingly, the numbers are also being scrutinized and second-guessed by
Japanese citizens, who fear the invisible isotopes and are skeptical of
official safety assurances. Scores of international advocacy groups and
university researchers are descending on the troubled region to monitor the
impact of the disaster.
Foreign governments are also getting involved, pledging help to improve
Japan's monitoring. The US Navy will send a 140-member radiological control
team to aid in the battle against nuclear fallout, Japan Self-Defense Forces
Chief Gen. Ryoichi Oriki said at a news conference. The Navy's "radcon" team
already had a 21-member unit stationed aboard the USS Ronald Reagan to assess
the radioactivity levels on aircraft.
And French president Nicolas Sarkozy met with PM Naoto Kan and pledged more
technical assistance. A team of French engineers is already working with Tokyo
Electric.
At the center of the evacuation zone, working conditions at the nuclear plant
have become extremely dangerous, with multiple highly radioactive areas. The
critical job of removing contaminated water that has pooled in basements and
in underground tunnels is moving slowly, in part because radiation levels are
so high.
Nuclear safety experts say radiation-shielding clothing and a dosimeter that
can track exposure are a minimum safety standard. But Tokyo Electric told
Japanese national broadcasting company NHK Thu that its supplies of
radiation-monitoring equipment is limited.
Despite government regulations that require each worker to wear a dosimeter, a
company official said that in some of the plant's less radioactive areas, only
group leaders are given one. Some workers have said publicly they are
concerned about whether their own exposure is being measured.
Radioactive iodine levels found 1k feet offshore climbed to a record high Thu
for the second consecutive day, this time measuring more 4,385 times the legal
safety limit.
Although government officials said that even the higher levels should not have
adverse health effects, the finding reaffirmed fears that there is a
continuous leak form the core of the damaged reactor.
At a news conference in Tokyo, the environmental watchdog Greenpeace also
publicized findings of unsafe radiation levels outside the evacuation zone
Wed, and called on the government to expand the zone to include the areas in
question.
"Radioactivity does not travel in circles," said Jan van de Putte, a radiation
expert with the Amsterdam-based environmental group. "It makes a very
irregular pattern," he said, as the particles follow wind and rain.
Greenpeace sent a team of people to the earthquake zone, equipped with face
masks, airtight plastic suits, dosimeters and other radiation-sensing
equipment. Their goal was to fact-check the radiation levels reported by
Fukushima Prefecture.
Their findings verified the government's numbers, but their analysis was
different, officials said. The team said the levels in Iitate Village, as well
as some less inhabited areas, were dangerously high. Next wk the group plans
to send out a larger team with more sensitive equipment.
Iitate's vice mayor Shinichi Monma, reached by phone Thu afternoon, said
village officials are not fazed by the radiation reports from the
international groups. "We still respect and follow the Japanese government's
information and orders," Monma said.
Thu night, town officials lifted a ban on consuming tap water that has been in
place since March 21; they said the levels no longer exceed safety limits. The
ban will stay in place for babies up to 12 m old.
But Yasumitsu Sato, 68, reached at his store, where he sells wood to
contractors, said the reports of unsafe radiation levels have renewed his own
fears and compounded his frustration with the government's lack of
information.
"All they say is to stay at home, and nothing more," he said
Sato evacuated the village for a few days, along with many of his neighbors,
but he had to return because he could not afford to stay away from work. He
wants to leave again, this time with a government order so he can be assured
of shelter and food and health care.
"I have all the necessary items: valuables, food, water. . .filled up in the
car, and I am ready to leave at once," he said.
Speaking of the damaged reactors at the plant, he added warily, "You never
know when that thing is going to blow up."
MYREF: 20110401013001 msg2011040127823
[127 more news items]
---
[It's not "land" warming -- it's just "ocean" warming!]
QUOTE: Evidence is presented that the recent worldwide land warming has
occurred largely in response to a worldwide warming of the oceans rather
than as a direct response to increasing greenhouse gases over land.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 14 Dec 2010 10:35 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
Dominic Di-Natale
AP/Fox News [so must be Fair and Balanced]
March 31, 2011
Workers at the disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan say they
expect to die from radiation sickness as a result of their efforts to bring
the reactors under control, the mother of one of the men tells Fox News.
The so-called Fukushima 50, the team of brave plant workers struggling to
prevent a meltdown to 4 reactors critically damaged by the March 11 earthquake
and tsunami, are being repeatedly exposed to dangerously high radioactive
levels as they attempt to bring vital cooling systems back online.
Speaking tearfully through an interpreter by phone, the mother of a
32-year-old worker said: "My son and his colleagues have discussed it at
length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary to save the
nation.
"He told me they have accepted they will all probably die from radiation
sickness in the short term or cancer in the long-term."
The woman spoke to Fox News on the condition of anonymity because, she said,
plant workers had been asked by management not to communicate with the media
or share details with family members in order to minimize public panic.
She could not confirm if her son or other workers were already suffering from
radiation sickness. But she added: "They have concluded between themselves
that it is inevitable some of them may die within wk or months. They know
it is impossible for them not to have been exposed to lethal doses of
radiation."
The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (or TEPCO), says medical teams
conduct regular testing on the restoration workers for signs of
contamination-related illness. It claims there have been no further cases
following the 3 workers who were treated last wk after coming into direct
contact with radioactive water. There are no reports of new members of the
Fukushima 50 developing radiation sickness.
Although 2 suffered radiation burns to their legs and ankles and absorbed
radiation internally, they have since been released from the hospital and are
regularly being checked for signs of any deterioration in their condition,
says TEPCO.
The company has pledged to improve the tough conditions for workers who stay
on the site due to the short turnaround of shifts on safety grounds.
Some restorers directly tackling the problems with the fuel rod containment
chambers are limited to 15 minutes at a time inside the reactor buildings or
working near highly radioactive substances, including traces of plutonium that
have appeared at numerous locations within the plant complex.
Living conditions for the 100s of employees staying within the plant's
perimeter to support the restoration efforts are also equally as hazardous,
say the authorities.
Banri Kaieda, the interior minister who also acts as a deputy head of the
nuclear disaster task force jointly set up by the government and TEPCO, said
500 to 600 people were at one point lodging in a building within the
complex. He told a media conference it was "not a situation in which minimum
sleep and food could be ensured."
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says that workers were only
eating 2 basic meals of crackers and dried rice a day, and sleeping in
conference rooms and hallways in the building.
According to Kaieda, not all of the workers had apparently been provided with
lead sheeting to shield themselves from potentially radiation-contaminated
floors while sleeping.
"My son has been sleeping on a desk because he is afraid to lie on the
floor. But they say high radioactivity is everywhere and I think this will not
save him," said the mother of the worker who spoke to Fox News.
On Thu, TEPCO will attempt to limit the spread of radiation from the plant,
using a water-soluble resin to affix radioactive particles and substances to
the debris sent scattered across the devastated complex to prevent it from
being dispersed by wind and moisture.
It will test the resin solution using remote control vehicles to spray an area
of 95k square yards. The company hopes the resin will provide sufficient
protection to allow restoration workers better access to areas critical to
restoring the reactors' cooling systems to prevent a meltdown.
Growing pools of dangerously radioactive water and deposits of plutonium have
been inhibiting access to important parts of the plant.
A large sea tanker is also being prepared to siphon and ship the water from
the plant after it was discovered that run-off containers and drainage tanks
were almost full at 3 of the most critical reactors.
The government says it has yet to be decided where they will dispose of that wat
er.
MYREF: 20110401023002 msg2011040110790
[126 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot
Henry Fountain
NY Times
March 31, 2011
As it struggles with the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the
Japanese government now faces another problem spawned by the disaster: whether
and how to clean up areas that have been heavily contaminated by
radioactivity.
On Wed, the International Atomic Energy Agency said a soil sample from Iitate,
a village of 7k people about 25 miles northwest of the plant, showed very high
concentrations of cesium 137 -- an isotope that produces harmful gamma rays,
accumulates in the food chain and persists in the environment for 100s of
years.
The cesium levels were about double the minimums found in the area declared
uninhabitable around the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, raising the
question whether the evacuation zones around Fukushima should be extended
beyond the current 18 miles. On Thu, the Japanese government said it had no
plans to expand the zone.
Experts said the Japanese government must also decide what to do about the
cesium contamination in the village, especially since radiation releases from
the plant could continue for months.
That might argue for evacuating now and postponing any long-term decisions
about cleanup, which might include abandoning some areas. But experts say
there are reasons to clean sooner.
With cesium, decontamination "has to be done very quickly," said Didier
Champion, director of the environmental and response division of the French
Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety. "Cesium tends to
fix to materials and into soil."
Lawrence Boing, manager of special projects in the nuclear engineering
division at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, agreed. "Sooner is always
better when you have something that can be driven down into soils," he said.
Cleaning up to a safe level could be difficult and enormously expensive, but
experts say it is possible, depending on the extent of the contamination.
"The good news is that we don't need to develop new technologies to address
the decontamination," said Jaime Yassif, who has studied the issue as a former
researcher with the Federation of American Scientists. The nuclear power
industry has developed methods to deal with minor contamination at plants, she
said, "but scaling up those operations for something so large is going to be
very costly."
Experts were not surprised that high cesium levels were recorded at one spot
in Japan; the distribution of radioactive particles from the plant depends on
wind and precipitation: even a brief shower can literally rain fallout onto
one spot. (High levels of radioactive iodine also create problems, but largely
in food and water supplies; because it decays much more quickly than cesium,
most of it is gone from the environment in a few months.)
The atomic energy agency has stressed that the data from Iitate are just a
spot reading and that concentrations of cesium in the region vary widely.
But experts say that illustrates part of the problem that Japan now
faces. Much more measuring is needed to understand the extent of radiation and
whether areas need to be decontaminated.
It will be very expensive just to determine which areas are habitable after
decontamination, said an official with an American company that works on
radiation cleanup, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the
delicate nature of his business contacts.
And such costs may pale in comparison to the actual costs of cleanup. If
there is extensive contamination of soil, for instance, one likely cleanup
method would be to scoop up the top 3 or 4 inches and cart it to a safe
disposal site. It's a simple method, "and simpler is generally better when
you're looking at technology," Mr Boing said.
Even so, depending on the radiation, workers would have to wear protective
gear, and chemicals might be applied to keep radioactive dust from spreading.
To reduce costs at Chernobyl, some of the less contaminated soil was dumped in
a pit on the site rather than being hauled away, said Ms. Yassif, who is now
a biophysicist studying at the University of California, Berkeley. But that
should not be done in agricultural areas, she said, because the cesium can
taint crops.
Dan Coyne, a vice president with CH2M-WG Idaho, which is cleaning up an Energy
Department site in that state, said that given the uncertainty at Fukushima,
one approach might be to spray a chemical on the soil that would prevent the
cesium from migrating further. "Go and put a fixative on it, control the area,
and save the remediation of that for a time when it fits your priorities," he
said.
If buildings and roads need to be decontaminated, that could be accomplished
by other relatively simple methods like wiping, power-washing or
steam-cleaning, unless the cesium is deep.
And because waste removal and storage are among the most expensive elements in
any cleanup, Ms. Yassif said, the general goal is "to remove as much of the
radioactive waste as you can in as small a volume as possible."
MYREF: 20110401190001 msg2011040119241
[128 more news items]
---
[Why Are Republicans Climate Skeptics?]
Maybe that's because the Republicans come from more rural states that haven't
had any warming, man-made or otherwise.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 28 Oct 2010 15:25 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
* France halved the criterion to 50 mSv in 2009
* Iodine tablets protect the thyroid gland from cancer
* Not too late to act, independent radiation expert says
Muriel Boselli
Reuters Africa
Mar 31, 2011 5:54pm GMT
Paris, March 31 (Reuters) - Japanese authorities grappling with a nuclear
disaster must hand out iodine tablets now and as widely as possible to avoid a
potential leap in thyroid cancers, the head of a group of independent
radiation experts said.
France's CRIIRAD group says Japan has underestimated the sensitivity of the
thyroid gland to radioactivity and must lower its 100 millisieverts (mSv)
threshold for administering iodine.
Failure to do so quickly could lead to an even higher jump in thyroid cancer
cases in coming y than is anticipated, Corinne Castanier told Reuters in an
interview on Thu.
"They should still do it (distribute iodine) now because the contamination
continues but it will be less efficient. They have to limit the damage. It's
not too late to act but they have to distribute them as widely and as fast as
possible," she said.
<http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_8_0_t&usg=AFQjCNF6ysG05ZzUN
iCUIcI5_7-XgaCw8A&did=31d4c000e3a27f9b&sig2=cCDBOiFb97Y7xbonXSircQ&cid=175938779
24164&ei=AVeVTdCjI5HnkAX08oBt&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Faf.reuters.
com%2Farticle%2FenergyOilNews%2FidAFLDE72U13M20110331>
MYREF: 20110401203002 msg2011040110623
[127 more news items]
---
Scientists are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
have no tolerance for ambiguity.
It proves that all science is lies and the only thing we can trust is
right wing rhetoric.
Kangaroo Court Australia
Your Trial by Jury is done
Bryant v The Commonwealth of Australia S153/2002 [2002] HCATrans 405
(20 August 2002)
http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/other/HCATrans/2002/405...
The legal question seems to have been answered (as seems the question
of a Schedule to an Act). Mr Bryant sent it to me previously and I
neglected to fully read it, and I still haven't completely.
I have had the unpleasant displeasure to run across Ron Merkel QC,
former Federal Court judge. Ron Merkel is now doing pro bono work with
the Barbara Shaw and the Aborigines. I laugh everytime i hear this
"Yes Man" of a Federal Court judge doing legal work for the
Aborigines.
If John Walsh is fostering the idea of your White Elephant in the
Room, Trial by Jury, he's leading you up the wrong path. As i have
mentioned previously, Juries can be manipulated.
If you are using Trial by Jury as a means for public scrutiny of
corrupt judicial process, then that avenue is closed to you by the
aforementioned Bryant case.
In order to get your precious medieval Magna Carta, Habeus Corpeus
into the modern age, you must find other avenues to that end.
"Insanity is doing something over and over and over, and expecting a
different result."
To win back your Common Rights, you will have to tear down the High
Court Australia and lay bare the Australia Constitution. Only when you
rewrite that Constitution AND most importantly making a treaty with
the Indigenous Australians will you get a chance to win back you basic
rights.
Sins of the Fathers have visited on the descendants, they know that
the Constitution is compromised thereby allowing them to pervert it
even further; Vorhauer has the legal arguments from the Constitution
to tear down the High Court and Judicial System. She attacked the Jews
and just about every other immigrants FROM the Constitution, meaning a
large proportion of the Australian people should be deported, leaving
the Indigenous and Aborigines as legal guardians.
Vorhauer has the legal arguments, her intentions were just bad. Time
to rewrite that Constitution.
If Mr John Walsh is a "common law" barrister, ask him to seek the two
questions I am seeking from the inept Australian Human Rights
Commission. Their silence is telling and indicates that I that I am on
the right track: there is no immunity for judicial corruption.
If we can knock the Northern Territory Intervention on its head and
win back the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act, the
Racial Discrimination Act, Common law rights will soon follow, only if
we can prevent leechers like Ron Merkel polluting the process.
Charles Pham
for
Indigenous & Origines Genocide Centre
Director: Robbie THORPE
Special Counsel: Charles PHAM
PO BOX 1007
Springvale
VIC 3171
"Director, Complaint Handling
Australian Human Rights Commission
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Our ref: RG/209204/FD
RE: Complaint of Unlawful Racial Discrimination by the Australian
Judiciary (State and Federal) and High Court Australia, the Senate
Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, the Attorneys
General (State and Federal), the Australian Human Rights (and Equal
Opportunity) Commission and the Australian Federal Police
Complaint of unlawful sex discrimination against the Australian
Judiciary
Complaint of breaches of Human Rights by the aforementioned by the
Commonwealth and its agencies
1. Further to the complaint on 1 October, 2010 and 8 October, 2010;
2. In reply to both Rebecca Gieng and Jodie Ball;
3. Please tell us what A/g Supervisor and A/g Director are, and
whether those positions are properly and lawfully constituted under
the Australian Human Rights Act 1986 (presumably formerly Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986) giving them power to answer
and or dismiss complaints of unlawful racial discrimination and human
rights violations under the aforementioned Act, inter alia;
4. The proof lies upon the one who affirms, not the one who denies.
Please point us to the sections in the Human Rights Act to support
claim(s);
5. Re East; Ex parte Nguyen [1998] HCA 73; We had a look at this
decision as instructed;
6. The proof lies upon the one who affirms, not the one who denies. We
don’t see immunity for judges for unlawfully racial discrimination,
only no remedy for the Applicant under RDA1992. No mention of suits;
what’s the definition of suits? No mention of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights under HREOCA1986; We will seek
Writs of Mandamus against the Australian Judiciary;
7. We find it unlawful racial discriminatory that the Howard/Rudd/
Gillard governments applied English tests on immigrants and refugees
and yet the Human Rights Commission could hardly read and comprehend
our English; there is no challenge on our written English, we presume.
8. We reserve the right to be heard on ALL other facts and
contentions, presented or will be presented;
9. We find it perversion of justice for the Commission to fail to
mention unlawful acts and breaches of the Senate Standing Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs nor the Australian Federal Police. We
will make it easy for Commission with two easy questions:
10. Why is it not Unlawful Racial Discrimination for the Commonwealth
of Australia to deprive the Indigenous and (Ab)Origines peoples, the
full and unconditional Racial Discrimination Act 1992, when
enjoyed[sic] by other races and ethnicities;
11. Why is it not Violation(s) of Human Rights for the Commonwealth of
Australia to deprive the Indigenous and (Ab)Origines peoples, the full
and unconditional Racial Discrimination Act 1992, when enjoyed[sic] by
other races and ethnicities governed by the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights under HREOCA1986, inter alia
Article 17
1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference
with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful
attacks on his honour and reputation.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such
interference or attacks.
Article 26
All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect,
the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons
equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground
such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
12. Should the Commission require re-interpretation of our English,
feel free to contact us;
Signed:
Charles PHAM
Thursday, December 02, 2010
for
Indigenous & Origines Genocide Centre
Director: Robbie THORPE
Special Counsel: Charles PHAM
PO BOX 1007
Springvale
VIC 3171"
On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 11:08 PM, John Wilson
<jhwil...@rightsandwrong.com.au> wrote:
Dear Fellow Freedom Fighters,
A COMMON LAW BARRISTER??????
One might think that to be an oxymoron.... especially in
Australia, where the Banks and the Judges have comprehensively
annihilated any semblance of English Common Law to imprison us, steal
our property and destroy all our Christian values, with willing
assistance of the entire venal and narcissistic legal profession.
Here is one man amongst that lot who has the guts to stand up and
say, "No. You can't do that!".
Attached is a document which is the work of that one man .... a
barrister by the name of Sir John Walsh of Branagh. Read it, and you
be the judge whether he is the real thing or not.
He has represented me on two occasions, pro bono.
Once when I was unlawfully imprisoned in the Silverwater
Correctional Centre for 6 weeks by a Parramatta Local Court Magistrate
called Anthony Marsden. His airfares and accommodation were paid for
by my friends. He appeared for me in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney
for a Bail Application.
The other time he appeared for me was at the Parramatta District
Court for the day when Judge Christopher John Armitage unlawfully
sentenced me following a total farce of a trial, three moths earlier.
I told Armitage that I did not consent to him sentencing me ... and,
of course, "Judge" Armitage disregarded all that.
Again, John Walsh acted pro bono, with expenses raised by my
friends.
Oh and yes, the Crown Solicitor threatened John Walsh that he
would be charged with Contempt of Court if the Challenge to the
Jurisdiction of the Court, that I had filed on July 12, was not
withdrawn. He asked for an adjournment and I decided to withdraw the
Challenge, at that time ... but, of course, I have re-filed it in the
Court of Criminal Appeal where, on February 10, this year, my Appeal
was dismissed and I was told I have to ask permission from a Judge to
appeal against this criminal conviction.... any sane free man must be
hitting his head at all this!
By my experiences, I found barrister John Walsh to be forthright
to the point of acknowledging wholesale injustices prevail in our
courts.
On that day at Parramatta, he accepted the help volunteered by a
young law graduate, Sarah Forster, who has since left our shores.
Over in England, there is a growing wave of rebellion against the
destruction of Common Law that reminds one of this same breed of men
when they were colonists in North America in the 18th century when, in
a document called "The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United
States of America", Thomas Jefferson wrote, as the Grounds for their
War of Independence, things like: "For depriving us in many cases, of
the benefits of trial by jury:" and "For taking away our charters,
abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the
forms of our governments:", etc..
At this stage in our history... and with the Lawful Rebellions
that are taking place, here and, more energetically, in England ....
the writing is on the wall that the Evil Empire of the Banks and
Judges is about to collapse.
I do so pray that this can happen without "blood on the
wattle" .... but it won't be won without a Battle Royal.
Our so-called Judges and Magistrates, who aren't evil-to-the-core,
are cowards.
I say, "so-called Judges and Magistrates", because, to be
legitimately appointed, the Privy Council had to have issued Orders
for the appointments of executive representatives to Australia (being
the Governors-General and the State Governors) who, in turn appoint
the Judges and Magistrates .... but the Privy Council openly confirm
that they have made NO such Orders. Sir John Walsh raised this very
question in the NSW Supreme Court when he represented me for that Bail
Application, in 2009. He also argued the illegality of variable
interest rate loan contracts. The only reason he did not continue with
his presentation was because I interrupted proceedings by telling the
court by video link (because I was still in prison in Silverwater)
that I had been granted Bail in the Parramatta Local Court the
previous day by the same "Magistrate" who had arbitrarily imprisoned
me 42 days earlier. Sir John asked, "Then why are you still in
prison?" and he had to hurriedly dispatch John Bauskis on the task of
getting me released by 8:00 PM that night.
To find a barrister with the intelligence and courage to Defend
the Right ..... as defending the right ought to be defended .... is
rare, indeed.
Once Common Law is brought back to its position of prominence, by
a win here and a win there, there will be an avalanche of lawyers who
will change sides - once they see that their ship is sinking.
We need COMMON LAW BARRISTERS to side with us ... but, to date,
there are none.
Sir John Walsh of Branagh has nailed his colours to the mast, in
the form of the document attached to this email.
Let's send those pirates to the bottom!
Yours sincerely,
John Wilson.
http://www.rightsandwrong.com.au
/...
Kangaroo Court Australia
Charles Pham
for
Our ref: RG/209204/FD
Signed:
for
<jhwil...@rightsandwrong.com.au> wrote:
Dear Fellow Freedom Fighters,
A COMMON LAW BARRISTER??????
/.
Mr Posting Robot
More radiation from nuclear plant could cause "bizarre mutations."
Christine Dell'Amore
National Geographic News
April 1, 2011
If radioactive material from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant--disabled by the March11 Japan earthquake and tsunami--continues to
enter the ocean, marine life could be threatened, experts say.
In the past week, seawater samples taken near the nuclear power plant, on
Japan's eastern coast, have shown elevated levels of radioactive isotopes,
including cesium 137 and iodine 131, according to the New York Times.
All life on Earth and in the oceans lives with exposure to natural levels of
ionizing radiation--high-frequency radiation with enough energy to change
DNA. Most such genetic damage heals, but the addition of human-made radiation
can make it harder for the body to repair broken genes.
Radiation concentrations in the Japanese seawater samples have fluctuated in
past days, but on Wed the amount of iodine spiked to 3,355 times the legal
limit for seawater, Japanese nuclear safety officials told the Associated
Press.
That level is the highest so far--and an indication that more radiation is
entering the ocean, though how is still unknown, the agency reported. Cesium
was also found to be 20 times its safety limit on March 28, according to the Tim
es.
Radiation Can Cause "Bizarre Mutations"
Once in seawater, radiation can hurt ocean animals in several ways--by killing
them outright, creating "bizarre mutations" in their offspring, or passing
radioactive material up the food chain, according to Joseph Rachlin, director
of Lehman College's Laboratory for Marine and Estuarine Research in New York Cit
y.
"There will be a potential for a certain amount of lethality of living
organisms, but that's less of a concern than the possible effects on the
genetics of the animals that become exposed," Rachlin said.
"That's the main problem as I see it with radiation--altering the genetics of
the animal and interfering with reproduction."
Even so, according to radioecologist F. Ward Whicker, the concentrations of
iodine and cesium levels "would have to be orders of magnitude larger than the
numbers I've seen to date to cause the kind of radiation doses to marine life
that would cause mortality or reductions in reproductive potential.
"I am very doubtful that direct effects of radioactivity from the damaged
reactors on marine life over a large area off the coast of Japan will be
observed," Whicker, professor emeritus at Colorado State University, said via em
ail.
Likewise, using legal limits to gauge damage to marine life is of little value
right now, he said.
To make a "credible assessment" of the risk to marine animals, scientists
would have to know the actual concentrations of radioactive iodine in the
water and fish or other marine animals off Fukushima Daiichi, he said.
Radiation Hardest on the Little Ones
It's possible that levels of radioactive contamination near the Fukushima
nuclear reactors could increase and cause some harm to local marine life,
Whicker said.
"If this happens, the most likely effects would be reductions in reproductive
potential of local fishes. ... ," he said.
Marine organisms' eggs and larvae are highly sensitive to radiation, since
radioactive atoms can replace other atoms in their bodies, resulting in
radiation exposure that could alter their DNA, Whicker said.
Most such deformed organisms don't survive, but some can pass abnormalities on
to the next generation, Lehman College's Rachlin said. Either way, the
radiation exposure could hurt the population's ability to survive long-term.
Rachlin thinks the most susceptible critters would be soft-bodied
invertebrates such as jellyfish, sea anemones, and marine worms--which can
take up the radiation more quickly than shelled creatures--though Whicker said
fish may be most at risk.
Whicker added, "I would expect any temporary losses in reproduction in local
fish to be offset by immigration of unaffected individuals from surrounding
areas that would be impacted to a lesser degree."
(See "Chernobyl Birds' Defects Link Radiation, Not Stress, to Human Ailments."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070418-chernobyl-birds.html)
In addition to its threats to reproduction, pockets of radioactive material
can can burn fish passing through, hitting them like a stream of searing
water, Rachlin said.
Complicating matters is the fact that predator species in the Pacific such as
tuna and sailfish are already stressed by overfishing, according to Rachlin.
"I'm concerned--this is the spawning season. ... If this impacts the
survivorship of the young and larvae, this will be a further insult."
Radiation Threat Here to Stay?
According to chemical oceanographer Bill Burnett, "In the short run [the
radiation] could have some definite negative impacts" on marine life.
"The good news is the 1/2 life [of iodine] is only 8 days," added Burnett, an
expert in environmental radioactivity at Florida State University.
So "if they stop the source of radioactive leakage, this is going to be a
short-term problem."
However Fukushima Daiichi's leaking cesium is potentially more serious, since
that isotope takes 30 y to decay, Burnett said.
Radiation Can Travel Up the Food Chain
There could also be some movement of radiation up the food chain if animals
eat irradiated plants and smaller, radioactive animals, Rachlin said.
In particular, plants such as kelp can quickly absorb iodine, FSU's Burnett said
.
There's a possibility that the devastation of towns in northeastern Japan
caused by the earthquake and tsunami also released toxic metals such as lead
into the soil and water, according to Texas Tech University ecotoxicologist
Ron Kendall.
Previous studies have shown that metals can work in concert with radiation to
suppress immune systems in vertebrates, making them more vulnerable to
disease, Kendall said.
It's a "big issue for the environment and human health because of the
widespread destruction. It takes me back to New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina--this to me is even more complicated with the radiation."
Ocean Resilient Against Radiation
The ocean has a "tremendous capacity" for diluting radiation, Colorado State's
Whicker noted.
"It also has resilience, in the sense that the area would recover over time as
the situation improves and as the radioactivity decays and disperses."
"But I should caution that we have not had much opportunity to study the
effects of very large releases of radioactivity into marine ecosystems," he
said. The best data comes from nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific in the
1950s and 1960s.
Texas Tech's Kendall also pointed out that there's not much known about
radiation in seawater.
"The dose makes the poison," he said, "and the more concentrated the radiation,
the more potential effects. It's something we definitely need to monitor."
Added Lehman's Rachlin: "If it's a one-shot pulse, OK, not a problem.
But if the radiation leaks continue for several months, Japan may be dealing
with a more serious blow to marine life, he said.
The coastline, after all, isn't Chernobyl, he said. "We can't cement [over]
that whole area."
MYREF: 20110402183002 msg2011040230388
[127 more news items]
---
[A]ll science is lies and the only thing we can trust is right wing rhetoric.
Kangaroo Court Australia
Charles Pham
for
Our ref: RG/209204/FD
Signed:
for
<jhwil...@rightsandwrong.com.au> wrote:
Dear Fellow Freedom Fighters,
A COMMON LAW BARRISTER??????
/.
/
Mr Posting Robot
crisis
Veronika Oleksyn
AP/Metro Canada
April 4, 2011 - 02:55 AM
Vienna (AP) - Representatives from dozens of countries are meeting in the
Austrian capital Mon to scrutinize safety at each other's power plants with
the aim of avoiding disasters such as the Japanese nuclear crisis.
The meeting, hosted by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency,
centers around the Convention on Nuclear Safety that came into being in the
wake of the 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents.
Adopted in 1994, it commits states party to it to submit reports on the safety
of their civil nuclear facilities for review by their counterparts at
gatherings held every 3 years. The idea is that questioning and peer pressure
will keep countries on their toes.
This year's meeting, which runs through April 14, is overshadowed by the dire
situation at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex that has been
releasing dangerous radiation since it was hit by a devastating earthquake and
tsunami on March 11. Officials have acknowledged it may take m to bring the
situation under control.
A Japanese report prepared for the meeting and dated September 2010 addressed
the issue of earthquake preparedness.
"The activities requiring continuous commitment, for example, re-evaluation of
seismic safety of the existing nuclear installations ... shall be pursued
systematically and steadily," the report said.
It noted that Japan has been reevaluating the "seismic safety" of all existing
nuclear power reactor facilities and highlighted earthquake-related incidents
that it said should serve as lessons for the future.
These included a fire and leak of radioactive water at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa
nuclear power plant that was hit by a powerful tremor in 2007 and previously
was one of Japan's worst nuclear accidents.
Delegates in Vienna are likely to express interest in findings of more recent
reports, such as one by Japan's nuclear safety agency dated March 2 that
criticized the operator of the Dai-ichi complex for failing to inspect
critical equipment.
A separate side meeting focused specifically on the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant
is scheduled for Mon evening.
MYREF: 20110404171216 msg201104049878
[136 more news items]
---
[I am Luddite!]
You whackos just keep changing your "predictions" to suit reality!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 16 Feb 2011 15:57 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
[As TEPCO prepares to pump 1000s of tonnes of radioative wastewater into the
sea...]
Experts warn that any detectable level of radiation is "too much".
Dahr Jamail
Source: Aljazeera
04 Apr 2011 15:46
According to the US Department of Energy, no level of radiation is so low that
it is without health risks [EPA].
In a nuclear crisis that is becoming increasingly serious, Japan's Nuclear
Safety Agency confirmed that radioactive iodine-131 in seawater samples taken
near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex that was seriously
damaged by the recent tsunami off the coast of Japan is 4,385 times the level
permitted by law.
Airborne radiation near the plant has been measured at 4-times government limits
.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, the company that operates the crippled plant,
has begun releasing more than 11k tons of radioactive water that was used to
cool the fuel rods into the ocean while it attempts to find the source of
radioactive leaks. The water being released is about 100 times more
radioactive than legal limits.
Meanwhile, water that is vastly more radioactive continues to gush into the
ocean through a large crack in a six-foot deep pit at the nuclear plant. Over
the weekend, workers at the plant used sawdust, shredded newspaper and diaper
chemicals in a desperate attempt to plug the area, which failed. Water leaking
from the pit is about 10k times more radioactive than water normally found at
a nuclear plant Thus, radiation from a meltdown in the reactor core of reactor
No. 2 is leaking out into the water and soil, with other reactors continuing
to experience problems.
Groundwater near the nuclear plant contains radioactive iodine 10k times
the legal threshold.
Yet scientists and activists question these government and nuclear industry
"safe" limits of radiation exposure.
"The US Department of Energy has testified that there is no level of radiation
that is so low that it is without health risks," Jacqueline Cabasso, the
Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, told Al Jazeera.
Her foundation monitors and analyzes US nuclear weapons programs and policies
and related high technology energy, with a focus on the national nuclear
weapons laboratories.
Cabasso explained that natural background radiation exists, "But more than 2k
nuclear tests have enhanced this background radiation level, so we are already
living in an artificially radiated environment due to all the nuclear tests."
"Karl Morgan, who worked on the Manhattan project, later came out against the
nuclear industry when he understood the danger of low levels of ionizing
radiation-and he said there is no safe dose of radiation exposure," Cabasso
continued, "That means all this talk about what a worker or the public can
withstand on a yearly basis is bogus. There is no safe level of radiation
exposure. These so-called safe levels are coming from within the nuclear
establishment."
Risk at low doses
Karl Morgan was an American physicist who was a founder of the field of
radiation health physics. After a long career in the Manhattan Project and at
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, he became a critic of nuclear power and
weapons. Morgan, who died in 1999, began to offer court testimony for people
who said they had been harmed by the nuclear power industry.
"Nobody is talking about the fact that there is no safe dose of radiation,"
Cabasso added, "One of the reasons Morgan said this is because doses are
cumulative in the body."
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) published a report in 2006 titled
Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) report, VII Phase 2. NAS BEIR
VII was an expert panel who reviewed available peer reviewed literature and
wrote, "the committee concludes that the preponderance of information
indicates that there will be some risk, even at low doses."
The concluding statement of the report reads, "The committee concludes that
the current scientific evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that there
is a linear, no-threshold dose-response relationship between exposure to
ionizing radiation and the development of cancer in humans."
This means that the sum of several very small exposures to radiation has the
same effect as one large exposure, since the effects of radiation are cumulative
.
For wk engineers from Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) have been working to
restore power to the plant and have resorted to having seawater sprayed on
radioactive fuel rods that have been at risk of meltdown. Despite this,
Japanese officials conceded to the public on March 31 that the battle to save
4 crippled nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been
lost. On March 29 a US engineer who helped install the reactors at the plant
said he believed the radioactive core in unit No. 2 may have melted through
the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor.
TEPCO's chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, said they had "no choice" but to scrap
the No's 1-4 reactors, but held out hope that the remaining 2 could continue
to operate, despite the fact that he admitted the nuclear disaster could last
several months. It is the 1st time the company has admitted that at least part
of the plant will have to be decommissioned.
But the government's chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, repeated an earlier call
for all 6 reactors at the 40-year-old plant to be decommissioned. "It is very
clear looking at the social circumstances," he said.
Even after a cold shutdown, scrapping the plant will likely take decades, and
the site will become a no-man's land.
Tonnes of nuclear waste sit at the site of the nuclear reactors, and enclosing
the reactors by injecting lead and encasing them in concrete would make it
safe to work and live a few km away from the site, but is not a long-term
solution for the disposal of spent fuel, which will decay and emit fission
fragments over tens of 1000s of years.
Near the plant, the radiation levels dangerously escalated to 400
milliseiverts/hour. Considering background radiation is on the order of 1
milliseivert per year, this means a yearly background dose every 9 seconds,
based on industry and governmental "allowable" radiation exposure limits.
That compares with a national "safety standard" in the US of 250 millisieverts
over a year. The US Environmental Protection Agency says a single dose of 1k
millisieverts is enough to cause internal hemorrhaging.
Meanwhile, more than 168 citizens organizations in Japan submitted a petition
to their government on March 28 calling for an expanded evacuation zone near
the Fukushima nuclear disaster site. The groups are also calling for other
urgent measures to protect the public health and safety.
Residents of evacuated areas near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have
been warned that they may not be able to return to their homes for m as
Japan's nuclear crisis stretched into a 3rd week. The neighbourhoods near the
plant will remain empty "for the long term", Yukio Edano, the country's chief
cabinet secretary, said on April 1.
Though he did not set a timetable, he said residents would not be able to
return permanently "in a matter of days or weeks. It will be longer than that".
The official evacuation zone remains only 20 kilometers, while the government
has encouraged people within 30 km to evacuate. Yet levels of cesium-137 in
the village of Iitate, for example, have been measured at more than twice the
levels that prompted the Soviet Union to evacuate people near
Chernobyl. Iitate is 40 km northwest of Fukushima.
Radioactive Iodine has already been found in the tap water in all of Tokyo's
23 wards.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission had already recommended an 80-kilometer
evacuation zone for US citizens in Japan.
Fukushima as Chernobyl
This m marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
"There are still no-go areas there, and the workers town has long since been
abandoned, and we are seeing radioactive refugees from there, like we are now
seeing generated in Japan," Dr Kathleen Sullivan, a disarmament educator and
activist who has been engaged in the nuclear issue for over 20 y told Al
Jazeera, "TEPCO is trying to cover their ass, and the Japanese government is
being cagey about it, and I believe people don't understand that radiation is
a major problem and issue."
Dr Sullivan, cited Albert Einstein, who said, "The splitting of the atom
changed everything, save man's mode of thinking; thus we drift towards
unparalleled catastrophe."
"So we don't understand this mistake because of the timeless invisible nature
of the problem that radiation is," Sullivan, who has been an education
consultant to the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, added.
Some experts have warned of a nightmare scenario where clouds of radioactive
material could spread lethal toxins across the planet for m on end if the
spent fuel rods catch fire due to lack of coolant.
The Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics of Vienna told New
Scientist on March 24: "Japan's damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been
emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in
the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Austrian researchers have
used a worldwide network of radiation detectors - designed to spot clandestine
nuclear bomb tests - to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels
73% of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137
released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60% of the amount released from
Chernobyl."
The same group of scientists stated, "The Fukushima plant has around 1760
tonnes of fresh and used nuclear fuel on site," while, "the Chernobyl reactor
had only 180 tonnes."
According to a report from the New York Academy of Sciences, due to the
Chernobyl disaster, 985k people have died, mainly from cancer, between 1986-2004
.
Monitors have detected tiny radioactive particles which have spread from the
reactor site across the Pacific to N America, the Atlantic and even Europe.
Andrea Stahl, a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research,
told Reuters, "It's only a matter of days before it disperses in the entire
northern hemisphere."
Tens of 1000s of people living near the plant have been evacuated or ordered
to stay indoors, while radioactive materials have leaked into the sea, soil
and air.
Last wk also marked the 32nd anniversary of the 3 Mile Island nuclear disaster
in Middletown, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
250k y of radiation
Sullivan explained that when dealing with long-lived radioactive materials, in
addition to carcinogens there are inter-generational effects that include the
mutation of the genetic structure of life. "This is permanent and
irreversible," she added.
Sullivan uses Fukushima reactor No. 3 as an example, because it is fueled with
Mox fuel uranium and plutonium. Plutonium has a half-life of 24k years, which
means it is carcinogenic and mutagenic for up to 250k years, or 12k human genera
tions.
A radioactive half-life means that in this case, in 24k years, 1/2 of the
ionizing radiation will have decayed, then in another 24k y 1/2 of that
radiation will decay, etc.
"That's not really understandable or explainable in a conventional sense of
knowing," Sullivan said, "We have to apply our moral imagination to 12k
generations to even begin to understand what we are doing in this moment."
MYREF: 20110405030001 msg20110405261
[127 more news items]
---
You would think that we'd know the Earth's `climate sensitivity' by
now, but it has been surprisingly difficult to determine. How
atmospheric processes like clouds and precipitation systems respond to
warming is critical, as they are either amplifying the warming, or
reducing it.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008
Mr Posting Robot
High readings in fish prompt the government to establish a maximum level for
safe consumption.
Fish at the Hirakata Fish Market in Kitaibaraki, Japan, are trading for the
1st time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Kenji Hall and Julie Makinen
Los Angeles Times
April 5, 2011, 4:39 a.m.
Reporting from Tokyo-- The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear
plant said Tue that it had found radioactive iodine at 7.5 mn times the legal
limit in a seawater sample taken near the facility, and government officials
imposed a new health limit for radioactivity in fish.
The reading of iodine-131 was recorded Sat, Tokyo Electric Power
Co. said. Another sample taken Mon found the level to be 5 mn times the
legal limit. The Mon samples also were found to contain radioactive cesium at
1.1 mn times the legal limit.
The exact source of the radiation was not immediately clear, though Tepco has
said that highly contaminated water has been leaking from a pit near the No. 2
reactor. The utility initially believed that the leak was coming from a crack,
but several attempts to seal the crack failed.
On Tue the company said the leak instead might be coming from a faulty joint
where the pit meets a duct, allowing radioactive water to seep into a layer of
gravel underneath. The utility said it would inject "liquid glass" into gravel
in an effort to stop further leakage.
Meanwhile, Tepco continued releasing what it described as water contaminated
with low levels of radiation into the sea to make room in on-site storage
tanks for more highly contaminated water. In all, the company said it planned
to release 11,500 tons of the water, but by Tue morning it had released less
than 25% of that amount.
Although the government authorized the release of the 11,500 tons and has said
that any radiation would be quickly diluted and dispersed in the ocean, fish
with high readings of iodine are being found.
On Mon, officials detected more than 4k bequerels of iodine-131 per kilogram
in a type of fish called a sand lance caught less than 3 miles offshore of
the town of Kita-Ibaraki. The young fish also contained 447 bequerels of
cesium-137, which is considered more problematic than iodine-131 because it
has a much longer half-life.
On Tue chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said the government was imposing a
standard of 2k bequerels of iodine per kilogram of fish, the same level it
allows in vegetables. Previously, the government did not have a specific level
for fish. Another haul of sand lance with 526 bequerels of cesium was detected
Tue, in excess of the standard of 500 bequerels per kilogram.
Fishing of sand lances has been suspended. Local fishermen called on Tepco to
halt the release of radioactive water into the sea and demanded that the
company compensate them for their losses.
Fishing has been banned near the plant, and the vast majority of fishing
activity in the region has been halted because of damage to boats and ports by
the March 11 tsunami and earthquake. Still, some fishermen are out making
catches, only to find few buyers because of fears about radiation.
It was unclear what Tepco might offer the fishermen, but the company did say
Tue that it had offered "condolence payments" totaling 180 mn yen ($2
million) to local residents who had to evacuate their homes because of
radiation from the Fukushima plant. One town, however, refused the payment.
The company has yet to decide how it will compensate residents near the plant
for damages, though financial analysts say the claims could be in the tens of
billions of dollars. Tepco's executive vice president Takashi Fujimoto said
the company's decision on damages hinges on how much of the burden the
government will share.
Edano urged the company to accelerate its decisions on compensation. For now
the company has offered to give 20 mn yen ($240,000) to each of 10 villages,
towns and cities within 12 miles of the plant, Fujimoto said.
"We hope they will find it of some use for now," he said. Namie, a town of
20,600 located about 6 miles N of the plant, refused to take the money. Town
official Kosei Negishi said that he and other government officials were
working out of a makeshift office in Nihonmatsu city, elsewhere in Fukushima
prefecture, and that they faced more pressing issues.
"The coastal areas of Namie were hit hard by the earthquake and the tsunami
but because of the radiation and the evacuation order we haven't had a chance
to conduct a search for the 200 people who are missing," said Negishi. "Why
would we use our resources to hand out less than 1k yen ($12) to every
resident?"
Tokyo Electric Power's Fujimoto acknowledged that there was a "gap" in the
views of company and Namie officials.
Tepco's shares dropped to an all-time low Tue, falling by the maximum daily
trading limit -- about 18% -- to 362 yen, below the previous record low of 393
yen reached in Dec 1951. The company's share price has lost 80% of its value
-- nearly 1.1 trillion yen -- since the quake and tsunami, according to the
Tokyo Stock Exchange. "We take the stock price decline very seriously,"
Fujimoto told reporters.
Fujimoto said the company's annual earnings report, which was originally schedul
ed
for April 28, would be postponed, but he declined to give any other details.
MYREF: 20110405222519 msg201104057357
[126 more news items]
---
[Non-performance. BONZO posted a dozen quotes before "discovering"
Freeman Dyson accepted man-made climate change as real]
>Dyson accepts AGW.
Huh?
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], Mar 1 16:00 EST 2011
Mr Posting Robot
Devra Lee Davis
[Dr Devra Lee Davis is president of Environmental Health Trust and author of
Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done
to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family].
TechNewsWorld
03/29/11 5:00 AM PT
It turns out that the same microwave radiation that powers cellphones weakens
the brain's natural protective barrier -- in fact, some brain cancer
specialists use this radiation to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy into
the brain. A few hours a day of cellphone radiation reduces sperm count
[Sir John Aitken] and produces misshapen and more sickly sperm in both
animals and humans, found studies by some of the world's top experts in
Australia, Turkey, Greece and the US.
It's now official: Everything that the Federal Communications Commission has
ever told us about the safety of cellphones is almost certainly wrong.
When the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse recently reported
that simply holding a turned-on cellphone next to the ear for 50 minutes
caused significant changes to brain chemistry, many stalwarts in the
scientific community were stunned.
After all, cellphones were not even tested for safety before being introduced,
because it was thought that they had to be safe. Not anymore. Faith fills
church pews, but it should not be the basis for setting science policy. A
better approach: "In God we trust; all others must provide data."
This Is Your Brain on Cellphones
The general surprise that greeted the recent finding was belated; in fact,
several previous studies have indicated that microwave radiation from
cellphones affects the human brain. This time, however, the mainstream media bit
.
"Fanboys" -- the moniker for those young men and women who thrive on the
Internet 24/7 -- got what these findings meant right away. As a group that
lives by their wits, they are not taking any chances. In hip urban communities
created by instant messaging, and even in the world of rappers and DJs -- from
Lady Gaga to Steve Aoki -- sales of headsets are soaring.
The modern history of research on microwave radiation -- much of which was
carried out before cellphones even existed -- is replete with studies showing
that pulsed digital signals, like those from today's cellphones, cause a host
of biological impacts on brains, bodies and cells in experimental animals and
in humans. Still, most of us believe that phones have to be safe. After all,
if there were really a problem, we would know it.
It turns out that the same microwave radiation that powers cellphones weakens
the brain's natural protective barrier -- in fact, some brain cancer
specialists use this radiation to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy into
the brain.
A few hours a day of cellphone radiation reduces sperm count and produces
misshapen and more sickly sperm in both animals and humans, found studies by
some of the world's top experts in Australia, Turkey, Greece and the US.
Every well-designed study that has followed heavy cellphone users for a decade
found the same thing: a doubled risk of brain cancer. Those who begin using
phones heavily as teenagers have an even greater risk of contracting brain
cancer in a shorter period of time.
Concerned about the tripled rate of a very rare highly malignant tumor of the
cheek in young persons, the Israeli government recently issued a warning that
teenagers should not hold phones next to their brains and that everyone should
use a headset.
Unacceptable Risk
Two things made the new study of brain changes from cellphones remarkable: its
distinguished author and the fact that the report appeared in one of the
world's pre-eminent medical journals, The Journal of the American Medical Associ
ation.
These results provide a wake-up call to those government leaders and their
policy-wonk advisors who have eagerly accepted assurances that microwave
radiation simply had to be safe.
Standards for cellphone radiation were set in 1989, based on the head of a
large heavy-set man who stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed more than 220
pounds. Methods for setting these standards were not routinized until just a
decade ago.
Obviously, most of the world's cellphones, and most of their users, are
smaller than those for which standards were originally set. If cellphones were
a drug, they would be illegal today, because they never went through safety
evaluation.
Last June, the City of San Francisco passed groundbreaking legislation
stipulating that consumers have a right to know that cellphones are two-way
microwave radios and that using a headset, speakerphone or texting can
substantially reduce radiation. In response, the cellphone industry filed suit.
What are we supposed to do now? After all, the new study is just one study,
right? In fact, it is part of a little-known, four-decade long program
conducted in the US Navy and elsewhere that has found a variety of health
consequences from low levels of pulsed digital microwave radiation, including
DNA damage to brain cells, greater production of damaging free-radicals in the
bloodstream, and interference with drug metabolism.
The study reported in recent days strengthens the case for policies now in
place in nations including Israel, France, Finland, India and Britain.
When it comes to holding a microwave-radiating device next to your brain, it's
better to be safe than sorry. Use a headset or speakerphone, as does Nora
Volkow, M.D., the head of the new study; some of the world's top
neurosurgeons, including Keith Black of Los Angeles, Mitchell Berger of San
Francisco, and Kevin O'Neill of Imperial College London; neuro-oncologists
like Santosh Kaseri of San Diego, and me.
In the meantime, we should create a major independent program of research in
this field by placing a US$1 fee on all cellphones for the next 5 years, and
we should develop fundamentally new standards for cellphones that employ a
concept from radiation physics: "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" (ALARA)
radiation levels.
Impossible? Pollution controls for cars -- now a global reality -- were
supposedly unattainable, until the government required them.
MYREF: 20110405233002 msg2011040529237
[126 more news items]
---
Mr Posting Robot
Debra Black
Toronto Star
2011/04/12 17:39:00
One of the world's leading experts on treating victims of nuclear reactor
accidents has said that it is premature to consider life-saving infusions of
blood stem cells to boost the bone marrow of the workers fighting to keep
Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant from melting down.
On Tue Japan announced that the severity level of the crisis at the
tsunami-damaged nuclear plant has been raised to the highest rating --
equivalent to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Japanese regulators raised the rating from 5 to 7 -- the highest level on an
international scale -- after new tests of radiation leaks at the Fukushima
plant.
But experts from around the world say despite the rating increase, the level
of radiation the workers are being exposed to isn't severe enough to require
an infusion of blood stem cells to treat any medical problems such as
radiation induced leukemia or blood abnormalities.
Robert Peter Gale, a leading hematologist and one of 2 medical leaders of the
U.S.-Soviet medical team that responded to Chernobyl in 1986, told the Star
that he believes the radiation exposure so far does not require an infusion of
blood stem cells to boost bone marrow.
Gale is part of the team of experts currently advising the Japanese Prime
Minister's Office and the Tokyo Electric Power Company on the radiation levels
at the damaged nuclear plant at Fukushima. Gale, who is currently a visiting
professor of hematology at Imperial College London, was at Fukushima earlier
this month, assessing the situation.
Workers there are "being exposed to levels of radiation that are permissible
under most international guidelines," Gale said in a phone interview. "It is
higher than what the Japanese government had set for its workers, but it is
within international guidelines so there shouldn't be any need for treatment."
Some media reports have suggested that medical experts were looking at the
possibility of an infusion of blood stem cells to boost bone marrow to save
the lives of Japan's nuclear workers who have been exposed to high levels of
radiation. There are also reports that Japanese authorities have been
considering plans to collect and freeze cells from some of the workers in case
they needed such surgery.
But for Princess Margaret Hospital hematologist John Kuruvilla the key issue
is whether or not people exposed to radiation at Fukushima go on to develop
medical complications, such as abnormal blood counts and bone marrow function,
at all.
If so, even before a transplant is considered other treatments are looked at
such as blood transfusion support, antibiotics and cytokine growth factors, he
said. A stem cell transplant would be reserved for people who had significant
blood count problems and an available donor, Kuruvilla said. It has been
performed on those with radiation injuries, however it is not successful in
the majority of cases, he added.
Gale doesn't believe the radiation the workers have experienced will require
this kind of dramatic intervention. "Less than one sievert we don't need to
intervene," he said. And that's the case with the workers at Fukushima, he
said.
The workers are being removed when they've had a dose of contamination that
measures 250 millisieverts, Gale said. That's equivalent to a quarter of one
sievert, he said.
"We are worried about bone marrow failure when a person's entire body is
exposed to radiation, not a small part of it," said Gale. "If I look at the
physical structure of the plant and consider how likely is it for these
workers to get a whole body dose of radiation ... it is extremely unlikely."
Further complicating the situation is the question whether a blood stem cell
transplant would do any good even if there was serious exposure. "Bone marrow
damage in an accident setting rarely occurs alone," Gale explained.
"If you get a dose of radiation high enough for this you likely have other
serious injuries such as damage to the lungs and the gastrointestinal tract
and the skin." The likelihood of dying from those is also high.
So you have to calculate, if you are going to do such a transplant, what are
the odds that the person may die from the other injuries, he said. Some simply
will die no matter what is done with a high blast of contamination.
A blood stem cell for bone marrow is not a panacea, he said.
If the radiation levels were high enough, a blood stem cell transplant might
be a "viable option" for radiation induced leukemia, said Dr Mick Bhatia,
director and senior scientist at McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research
Institute.
But he agrees with Gale that so far the radiation levels received by workers
are not likely that severe. However, he cautioned: "Having said that, no one
knows how much damage they (the workers) have had before. This dose may be
enough to tip the balance to a leukemic state."
It might be prudent to seek out possible donors just in case, Bhatia said.
MYREF: 20110413193001 msg2011041329641
[130 more news items]
---
Another problem that has to be taken seriously is a slow rise of sea level
which could become catastrophic if it continues to accelerate. We have
accurate measurements of sea level going back 200 years. We observe a
steady rise from 1800 to the present, with an acceleration during the last
50 years. It is widely believed that the recent acceleration is due to
human activities, since it coincides in time with the rapid increase of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere.
-- Freeman Dyson, "Many Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the
Professor Freeman Dyson, World Renowned "Heir To Einstein" Physicist
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 27 Feb 2011 12:50 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[something]
Nuclear tests ravage family's health [AUSTRALIA]
Ninemsn
10:30 AEST Sun Apr 24 2011
A Perth family has been plagued by serious illness and premature deaths for 3
generations, after inheriting damaged genes from a serviceman used as a human
guinea pig for British nuclear tests in Australia more than 1/2 a century ago.
The children of late RAAF serviceman Bob Williamson are now one of 250
Australian families joining British veterans to sue the UK's Ministry of
Defence for the devastating atomic experiments in the 1950s.
Their family has suffered cancers, tumours and illness across three
generations, but they are not alone.
Bob Williamson was among 1000s of soldiers unwittingly exposed to dangerous
amounts of radiation when they took part in the testing in remote parts of Austr
alia.
Then PM Robert Menzies gave Winston Churchill the go ahead to trial a total of
21 nuclear weapons on the country's soil.
The radioactive fallout poisoned land at places like Maralinga in South
Australia and the Monte Bello islands in Western Australia.
The Australian soldiers taking part didn't stand a chance. Often wearing
little more than shorts and shirts, they were simply told to turn their backs
when the scientists detonated bombs.
Many of the servicemen began dying of horrific cancers, while others, like
Bob, passed their damaged genes onto their children.
A 60 Minutes report airing tonight reveals how Bob's children, Susan, Ken and
Jennifer continue to struggle with the devastating impact of the nuclear fallout
.
Ken has had prostate cancer and melanoma and Susan has had 3 bouts of breast can
cer.
But they were the lucky ones. They lost 3 siblings to cancers and tumours at a
young age.
"Whether the government pay any compensation or not is irrelevant to me. I
want them to stand up and say, this is what we did, sorry," Ken told the 9
Network's 60 Minutes.
"If they covered medical expenses and it wasn't something that you had to sort
of fork out every 5 minutes, yes, that would be good.
"At least they're saying, you know, we're able and quite willing to help you
get through this."
MYREF: 20110425200002 msg201104257119
[130 more news items]
---
We do not know how much of the environmental change is due to human
activities and how much [is due] to long-term natural processes over
which we have no control.
-- Freeman Dyson, essay, 2007.
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[something]
Second worker at damaged nuke plant overexposed to radiation
[In other news the Japanese govt has described as "a misunderstanding" the
resignation of a radiation safety constant allegedly in protest at the change
of legal limits from radiation workers from 100 to 250 mSv].
Monsters & Critics
May 1, 2011, 4:57 GMT
Tokyo - A second female worker at the damaged nuclear plant in north-eastern
Japan was exposed to a higher radiation dose than the legal limit, plant
operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said Sun.
The employee at the company's Fukushima nuclear plant had been exposed to a
total of 7.49 millisieverts of radiation, above the limit of 5 millisieverts
for a three-month period.
Since a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami hit the plant on March 11, it has
leaked radiation into the air and sea.
The employee was the second woman to be exposed to levels over the limit since
the start of the nuclear crisis.
The firm said Wed that the radiation exposure of the other female worker
measured at the end of March was 17.55 millisieverts, more than 3 times
the limit.
The government sets the exposure limit for women lower than that for men, to
take into account the possibility of pregnancy.
The limit for plant male workers is set at 100 millisieverts over 5 years
and 50 millisieverts in one year.
The cumulative exposure limit stands at 250 millisieverts pa for male workers
at the Fukushima plant as a special case.
MYREF: 20110501160001 msg2011050115616
[138 more news items]
---
>Why is it relevant that the 'chief scientist' is a woman?
Because women are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[something]
Previously unaccounted mechanism proposed for cell phone radiation damage
Deborah Braconnier
via Technology Review
April 29, 2011
(PhysOrg.com) -- The long running debate on whether cell phones are capable of
damaging human tissue and causing health problems received new fuel from a
paper published at arXiv by theoretical biologist Bill Bruno from Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico.
Cell phones and the microwave photons they create have been looked at for some
time as having the potential for causing damage and health issues to
humans. One side shows evidence that cellphone signals have affected human
behavior and health, while the other side says there is no epidemiological
evidence and that microwave photons do not have enough energy to damage
chemical bonds and biological tissue.
However, as Bruno points out in his paper, microwave photons can cause damage
if the conditions are right. The main argument is that microwaves are not able
to damage human tissue when the photon density in a cubic wavelength is less
than one.
Bruno compares this to optical tweezers, which are able to manipulate and
damage cells with the use of photons. Optical tweezers have large amounts of
photons piled on each other creating a stronger force. It is this reasoning
that Bruno believes that cell signals are capable of damaging human tissue
because their photons per cubic wavelength are much greater than one.
Bruno has shown that the argument that microwaves cannot disrupt a chemical
bond is no longer enough to say that cell phones are unable to damage human
tissue. This new information will most definitely add more fuel to the cell
phone debate. Bruno argues that the way current safe dosage limits are
determined is not accurate because it does not take into account this
tweezer-like notion into consideration.
More information: What does photon energy tell us about cellphone safety?
arXiv:1104.5008v1 [q-bio.OT] http://arxiv.org/abs/1104.5008
Abstract
It has been argued that cellphones are safe because a single microwave photon
does not have enough energy to break a chemical bond. We show that cellphone
technology operates in the classical wave limit, not the single photon
limit. Based on energy densities relative to thermal energy, we estimate
thresholds at which effects might be expected. These seem to correspond
somewhat with many experimental observations.
MYREF: 20110501170001 msg2011050113085
[137 more news items]
---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
Oy rool out a carbon tax
> Radiation Is good For You!
>
> At some level-much higher than the minimums set by the US
> government-radiation is good for you.
http://cookefamily.org/images/Radioactive_Baths.JPG
--
"If we cut emissions today, global temperatures are not likely to drop
for about a thousand years. "
-- Tim (it ain't a gonna rain no more) Flannery
- Australian Climate Commissar
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[something]
Parents fight back over raised radiation limits
[In other news farmers upto 40 km from the TECPO plant are reportedly refusing
to obey evaction orders].
David McNeill
The Independent
Mon, 2 May 2011
Fukushima City -- Thousands of parents living near Japan's stricken Fukushima
Daiichi power plant have condemned a government decision to lift radiation
limits for schools in the area by 20 times, saying the move is based on
incomplete science and could put children in danger.
The decision, which has also prompted the resignation of a government adviser,
has been condemned as political expediency. Toshiso Kosako, the adviser who
resigned on Fri, denounced the Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, for his
"whack-a-mole" policies on the crisis. A tearful Mr Kosako said: "The
government has belittled laws and taken decisions only for the present moment."
He said new guidelines raising the acceptable annual radiation exposure in
Fukushima Prefecture's elementary schools from one to 20 millisieverts "are
inconsistent with internationally commonsensical figures" and were "determined
by the administration to serve its interests".
But it is the voices of local parents that are likely to prove hardest for the
government to ignore. Takayuki Sasaki, a baker and father of two, barely knew
what radiation was 2 m ago. Today, he thinks about little else. "I've sent my
kids to my wife's family in Tokyo," he says. "I told her to stay there till
it's safe but who knows when that will be? We've all been left in the dark.
"Those parents who have the means to move their children are already doing
so," Mr Sasaki adds. "I feel like one of the lucky ones because my wife is
from Tokyo."
In the 7 wk since the crisis began more than 80k people have been evacuated
from a 20km zone around the Fukushima plant. The power station has been
leaking radiation since the earthquake and tsunami triggered a partial
meltdown of its reactors.
Mr Kan's government has repeatedly defended the new limits, which are equal to
the annual maximum dose permitted for German nuclear workers. Workers at
power plants in the United States can be exposed to 50 millisieverts per
year. The average annual radiation exposure from natural sources is about 3.1 mS
v.
The impact of cumulative exposure on children, however, is a scientific grey
area. Parents in Fukushima say the government's calculations are deceptive
because they assume people spend most of their time indoors.
"I keep my children inside now all the time because I'm afraid of what they're
breathing," said Niki Soeta, a mother of 2 from the prefecture. "Can the
government imagine what that's like? We want to be reassured that it's safe."
She was among 100s of parents who gathered yesterday in a meeting hall in
Fukushima City to plan strategy and protests against the government policy.
"We're all absolutely furious," said Machiko Sato, banging the table for
emphasis. "We're angry at the government and at Tepco [Tokyo Electric Power]
for doing this to us. We're breathing in this contaminated air as we
speak. But we're old and the radiation can't do us much harm. It's the
children we have to protect."
Parents and lobbyists are scheduled to meet bureaucrats today to hand over a
petition demanding the withdrawal of the new radiation standard. Activists
say the country's Nuclear Safety Commission rubber-stamped the school
radiation limit after just 2 hours of closed-doors discussion, without
consulting anyone outside the government.
Mr Kosako also criticised the government for stalling the release of
simulations showing the spread of radiation from the Fukushima plant. The
head of Japan's Meteorological Society, Hiroshi Niino, admitted last wk that
announcing all the radiation forecasts carried the risk of "creating panic"
among the public.
Mr Sasaki said: "The system isn't working because it's top down. The officials
from the Nuclear Safety Commission tell the government what they've
decided. The government tells Fukushima. Fukushima tells the schools and the
school principals tell us that it's safe. That's when I knew it was time to
get my kids out of school. I just don't believe them."
MYREF: 20110502130001 msg2011050230431
[138 more news items]
---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[something]
US doctors hit Tokyo radiation limit for kids
No-play zone: Students have watched as workers remove possibly radioactive
soil from the Kaoru Elementary School playground in Koriyama, Fukushima
Kyodo/The Japan Times
Tue, May 3, 2011
Physicians for Social Responsibility, a US nonprofit organization of medical
experts, has condemned as "unconscionable" the Japanese government's safety
standards on radiation levels at elementary and junior high schools in nuclear
disaster-stricken Fukushima Prefecture.
The PSR statement directly challenges Tokyo's stance that it is safe for
schoolchildren to use school playgrounds in the prefecture as long as the dose
they are exposed to does not exceed 20 millisieverts over a year.
The PSR view is also in line with that voiced by Toshiso Kosako, who said Fri
he would step down as an adviser to PM Naoto Kan on the Fukushima nuclear
crisis in protest. The University of Tokyo professor urged the government to
toughen guidelines on upper limits on radiation levels the education ministry
recently announced for elementary school playgrounds in Fukushima.
The US group said in a statement released Fri, "Any exposure, including
exposure to naturally occurring background radiation, creates an increased
risk of cancer.
"Children are much more vulnerable than adults to the effects of radiation,
and fetuses are even more vulnerable," it said.
The medical experts group is part of the International Physicians for the
Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
"(Twenty millisieverts) for children exposes them to a 1 in 200 risk of
getting cancer. And if they are exposed to this dose for 2 years, the risk is
1 in 100. There is no way that this level of exposure can be considered 'safe'
for children," the statement said.
MYREF: 20110503070002 msg2011050325213
[140 more news items]
---
[Before the flood:]
The recent Murray Darling run-off since the floods would have provided
enought irrigation water to last at least 15 years.
Instead it has all run out to sea!
Crazy anti-dam greenies!
-- "BONZO"@27.32.240.172 [86 nyms and counting], 12 Nov 2010 14:05 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[something]
Children Don Masks, Hats in Fukushima as Radiation Looms
Takahiko Hyuga and Shigeru Sato
May 11 09:13:50 GMT 2011
Students at the Shoyo Junior High School in Fukushima are wearing masks, caps
and long-sleeved jerseys to attend classes as their exposure to radiation is
on pace to equal annual limits for nuclear industry workers.
"Students are told not to go out to the school yard and we keep windows shut,"
said Yukihide Sato, the vice principal at Shoyo Junior High in Date city,
about 60 km (37 miles) northwest from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear
station. "Things are getting worse, but I don't know what to do."
2 m after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami created Japan's worst nuclear
crisis since World War II, schools in Fukushima are waiting for stronger
measures from the government to protect its youngest citizens. A parents group
is petitioning Governor Yuhei Sato to evacuate more than 1,600 kindergartens,
elementary and junior high schools which would affect about 300k children and
teachers.
"The governor should take leadership," said Seiichi Nakate, the 50-year-old
head of the Network to Protect Fukushima Children from Radiation, a group
comprising 250 parents. "Fukushima Prefecture is the only power that can
protect our children from radiation exposure."
35 members of the parents group met with Yuichi Matsumoto, an
official of the prefecture's disaster task force, for 90 minutes today, Nakate
said. The Fukushima government accepted the petition and will decide on a
response, said Masafumi Mizuguchi, another official at the task force.
National Decisions
PM Naoto Kan's administration has led rescue and evacuation
efforts since the quake decimated towns and left more than 24k dead or
missing. Decisions to remove contaminated materials in Fukushima prefecture
have been left to the central government because local authorities don't have
the expertise or knowledge, said an official at the prefecture's education
department, who declined to be named.
Children and teachers at a 5th of the 1,600 schools in Fukushima are receiving
at least 20 millisieverts of radiation per year, said Nakate, according to
readings from the government. That's the limit for a nuclear power plant
worker, according to Japan's nuclear safety commission.
More than 3/4 of the schools receive radiation readings of 0.6
microsievert per hour, Nakate said. That's 10 times more than the readings in
Shinjuku, central Tokyo last week. A chest X-ray delivers a radiation dose of
about 100 microsieverts, or 0.1 millisievert, according to the US Food and
Drug Administration. A millisievert is 1k microsieverts.
`Phone Calls'
"We are waiting for the national government's advice and asking them for
appropriate ways to deal with the situation," Hisashi Katayose, an official at
the Fukushima prefecture government's disaster task force, said
yesterday. "We've received several phone calls from residents and been asked
to reduce radiation levels at schools."
Governor Sato on May 2 had asked the national government to determine
appropriate measures to prevent the situation from getting worse.
Readings at Shoyo Junior High reached 3.3 microsieverts an hour on May 2,
according to Date city's education board. The school, which has 245 students
and 27 teaching staff, bans female students from wearing skirts, citing
radiation concerns, said Vice Principal Sato.
Date city's government in late April removed contaminated soil from
playgrounds at 2 elementary schools and one day care facility after requests
from local residents, said Hiroshi Ono, an official at the city's board of
education. Radiation readings had exceeded 3.8 microsieverts an hour, he said.
The soil was left at the corners of the playgrounds and covered with plastic
sheets as a temporary measure, Ono said in a phone interview.
MYREF: 20110512170002 msg2011051224361
[163 more news items]
---
It takes more than warmth to grow crops; otherwise the Sahara would be green!
--
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [86 nyms and counting], 21 Jan 2011 11:16 +1100
Benj
> Radiation Is good For You!
>
> At some level-much higher than the minimums set by the US
> government-radiation is good for you.
>
> minutest amount is always deadly.
>
> March 20 2011
>
> Ann Coulter says the low levels of radiation emitted by the Fukushima
> reactor may even be good for the Japanese:
I guess it's more like "good for us" if the goal is to reduce Japanese
competition!
Where have I heard this "Radiation is good for you" story before. Oh,
I remember! It was the U.S. Government as it gleefully exposed bunches
of innocent citizens to radiation for their own purposes. OR was it
from the doctors who were using X-rays to treat sore throats? Wonder
what happened to those people? Oh that's right...
To say that the "media" as "convinced" Americans that the smallest
amount of radiation is a potential problem, is obviously quite wrong.
The media is basically propaganda outlets following the party line.
There really isn't a current party line on radiation. However, there
ARE standards for radiation levels. And it is a FACT that the current
"safe" level for radiation is...ready for this...? THERE IS NO SAFE
LEVEL! ALL ionizing radiation is potentially harmful. No matter what
your doctor says about your mammogram or the dentist tells you about
that tooth X-ray, There is NO SAFE Level!
Ionizing ration has the ability to modify DNA. If it's changed to some
cancerous form, you get the disease. Even natural radiation can and
does do that.
The idea is like this. Say we stand you against a wall. I have a
pistol and a bunch of ammunition. I tell you that I'm going to fire
some bullets at you. But don't worry, I'll probably miss. And if I
don't, the bullets will probably hit an arm or leg that won't be a
serious injury and you'll recover. There is just a very very small
probability that I'll fire a bullet that will kill you. So if I only
fire a few bullets it's perfectly safe, right? You won't have to
worry. How could you object to letting me shoot at you? Hey, letting
me shoot at you is probably GOOD for you!
Politics is so ingrained in everything today, there is virtually no
way one can find credible information on ANY subject anymore.
not.your.bussiness
wrote:
Nuclear radioation is a hard radiation it's kill
soft radiation is good for humain !
-------------------------------------------------
http://bezerk.ath.cx/MIRC.exe << IRC CHAT and files to Download Comics/APP
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[usual coal lobby stuff]
Texas politicians knew agency hid the amount of radiation in drinking water
Mark Greenblatt
KHOU 11 News
May 18, 2011 at 10:01 PM
Houston-- Newly-released e-mails from the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality show the agency's top commissioners directed staff to
continue lowering radiation test results, in defiance of federal EPA rules.
The e-mails and documents, released under order from the Texas Attorney
General to KHOU-TV, also show the agency was attempting to help water systems
get out of formally violating federal limits for radiation in drinking
water. Without a formal violation, the water systems did not have to inform
their residents of the increased health risk.
"It's a conspiracy at the TCEQ of the highest order," said Tom Smith, of the
government watchdog group Public Citizen. "The documents have indicted the
management of this commission in a massive cover-up to convince people that
our water is safe to drink when it's not."
Smith is talking about what happened to residents who live in communities
served by utilities like Harris County Municipal Utility District 105. For
years, tests performed by the Texas Department of State Health Services showed
the utility provided water that exceeded the EPA legal limit for exposure to
alpha radiation.
However, the TCEQ would consistently subtract off each test's margin of error
from those results, making the actual testing results appear lower than they
actually were. In MUD 105's case, the utility was able to avoid violations
for nearly 20 years, thanks to the TCEQ subtractions.
On Dec 7, 2000, the EPA said in the federal register that states should
not add or subtract the margin of error, also called the counting error, from
test results.
In an e-mail from Oct 30, 2007, a TCEQ drinking water team leader began
questioning a senior director about if it would be appropriate for the state
agency to stop subtracting the counting error from test results to comply with
all federal regulations.
She was told, "I believe there may been some EPA guidance on not subtracting,
but can't remember back that far for sure. This has been the practice in Texas
since day one of radionuclide monitoring. This option was thoroughly
discussed with the commissioners and the (executive director) staff when the
reg was being adopted. We were directed to maintain the current methodology
for subtracting the counting error at that time."
Three y earlier, the same TCEQ director presented written testimony on
behalf of the TCEQ to the Texas Water Advisory Council. The testimony notes
that the TCEQ was aware of the new rules the EPA published on Dec 7, 2000,
saying the federal agency had "issued guidance for calculating radionuclide
levels for compliance."
However, the TCEQ also told the Council: "Under existing TCEQ policy,
calculation of the violation accounts for the reporting error of each
radionuclide analysis. Maintaining this calculation procedure will eliminate
approximately 35 violations."
As a result, the subtracting method continued and residents of MUD 105, like
Brenda Haynes, were never sent a required notice of violation. That notice
would have informed them about the excessive alpha radiation in their water.
Alpha radiation is emitted from radionuclides such as uranium and
radium. While health scientists have said it poses little danger if someone is
externally exposed to it, the experts maintain that ingesting even the
smallest amount of the particles can cause damage to DNA, and in rare cases,
cause cancer.
Haynes came down with thyroid cancer while living in the MUD 105 district and
continued drinking the water even after she was diagnosed. Although she will
never know for certain if the water had any connection with her illness,
Haynes and her husband are angry that they never were given appropriate notice
about the added risks she was taking into her body while sick.
"We were put at more risk than what we thought," said Ian Haynes, who added he
and his wife would have been making different choices about what they consumed
had they been warned.
The Texas Water Advisory Council, which reviewed and discussed the TCEQ
testimony at a meeting on June 7, 2004, was comprised of some of the highest
ranking public officials in Texas. Minutes from the TWAC's annual report
reveal that the members present that day to hear about TCEQ's plan included
then-chair of the TCEQ Commission Kathleen Hartnett White, then-Agriculture
Commissioner Susan Combs, General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson,
Sen. Robert Duncan, and other lawmakers and state leaders.
The I-Team sought comment from Sen. Duncan, then the chair of the Council, but
he did not return KHOU-TV's phone calls. A spokesperson for Commissioner
Patterson wrote KHOU-TV to say, "I've checked with Commissioner Patterson and
sent him the report and he doesn't remember "squat" about that committee,"
wrote press secretary Jim Suydam. "He won't be calling you."
Commissioner Combs has since left her position in the Department of
Agriculture and become the state's comptroller. She also declined to speak
personally with KHOU in regards to this meeting.
However a spokesperson sent the following to KHOU on her behalf: "Comptroller
Combs hasn't been the Agricultural Commissioner for 4.5 years. Susan's role
on the advisory council back then was to represent rural Texas, primarily on
water issues (drought, water rights). SB 2 which established the water
advisory council was to look (at) water issues facing the state, it had no
regulatory authority. The state experienced severe droughts in 1998, 2000 and
2004-2006. The issue you are talking about was handled by the TCEQ."
However, a review of a meeting summary from the June 7, 2004 Texas Water
Advisory Council shows Combs asked several questions during the meeting,
including a number of questions about issues involving TCEQ's implementation
of the new EPA rules on radionuclides.
The meeting summary says that "Commissioner Combs stated small towns are going
broke," and further says, "Commissioner Combs asked what would the feds do
if the state didn't enforce." The minutes indicate that someone at the
meeting said there would be federal enforcement and loss of primacy.
At the same meeting, the summary says that the EPA had already warned that if
Texas didn't implement the rules, the EPA might take over the regulation of
Texas water systems. The notes say that as a result "Texas will lose $66 mn
if delegation of the drinking water program is lost."
But despite the EPA's warning in June of 2004 of potential loss of primacy, by
Dec, the Texas Water Advisory Council issued its annual report to the
then-speaker of the House, the lieutenant governor, and Gov. Rick Perry,
saying: "However, this result (the loss of primacy) is unlikely. Of the 49
states with primary enforcement responsibility to administer their drinking
water programs (Wyoming is not a primacy state), EPA has never withdrawn
primacy status from any of them because the federal agency views both
withdrawing primacy and withdrawing funding as options of last resort."
Under federal law Texas and other states are only allowed to enforce EPA
rules, according to the Safe Drinking Water Act, if the EPA determines the
state has adopted drinking water standards that are "no less stringent" than
the federal rules.
After the annual report of the TWAC was delivered to the Speaker, Lieutenant
Governor, and the Governor, the TCEQ continued their policy of subtracting the
margin of error from the result of each water-radiation test, until an EPA
audit caught them doing so in 2008. The state has since complied with the EPA
regulation. Then Chair of the TCEQ Commission Kathleen Hartnett White, who
also sat on the Texas Water Advisory Council, says the decision to continue
the subtraction was a good one.
"As memory serves me, that made incredibly good sense," she told KHOU. White
says she and the scientists with the Texas Radiation Advisory Board disagreed
with the science that the EPA based its new rules on. She says the new rules
were too protective and would end up costing small communities tens of
millions of dollars to comply.
"We did not believe the science of health effects justified EPA setting the
standard where they did," said White. She added, "I have far more trust in the
vigor of the science that TCEQ assess, than I do EPA."
In response to questions about why the TCEQ did not simply file a lawsuit
against the EPA and challenge the federal rules openly in court, White said
that in federal court, "Legal challenges, because of law and not because of
science, are almost impossible to win."
Lt. Governor David Dewhurst did not respond to written questions related to
this story. The only comment from his office came from a spokesperson who
wrote: "Just FYI--I'm told by our legislative staff that Texas Water Advisory
Council was created in 2001, but was repealed in 2007. Evidently, the
statutes creating the council made it clear that that it was an advisory board
only, so they made no decisions."
A spokesperson for Governor Perry said the governor expects the TCEQ and all
state agencies to follow all the laws that are on the books, which the
spokesperson said the TCEQ began doing after that 2008 audit by the EPA.
The governor's spokesperson did not respond to written questions from KHOU
asking if the governor supported the TCEQ's decision in 2004 to continue with
the subtraction in order to help 35 water systems stay out of trouble.
The EPA was contacted for comment and at press time has yet to provide any
response.
MYREF: 20110519180001 msg20110519540
[194 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[usual coal lobby stuff]
Artificial ionizing radiation enhances impairment of humankind's genetic pool
New study challenges belief that exposure to nuclear radiation has no or
negligible genetic effects in humans
Medical News
May 26, 2011
SOURCE: Helmholtz Zentrum München
Ionizing radiation is not without danger to human populations. Indeed,
exposure to nuclear radiation leads to an increase in male births relative to
female births, according to a new study by Hagen Scherb and Kristina Voigt
from the Helmholtz Zentrum München. Their work shows that radiation from
atomic bomb testing before the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963, the Chernobyl
accident, and from living near nuclear facilities, has had a long-term
negative effect on the ratio of male to female human births (sex odds). Their
work is published in the June issue of Springer's journal, Environmental
Science and Pollution Research.
Ionizing radiation from nuclear activity is known to have mutagenic properties
and is therefore likely to have detrimental reproductive effects. It is
thought that it may cause men to father more sons and mothers to give birth to
more girls. Scherb and Voigt look at the long-term effects of radiation
exposure on sex odds - a unique genetic indicator that may reveal differences
in seemingly normal as well as adverse pregnancy outcomes between maternal
exposure and paternal exposure. In particular, they focus on sex odds data
with respect to global atmospheric atomic bomb test fallout in Western Europe
and the US, fallout due to nuclear accidents in the whole of Europe, and
radioactive releases from nuclear facilities under normal operating conditions
in Switzerland and Germany.
Their analyses show a significant gender gap in all 3 cases:
· Increases in male births relative to female births in Europe and the US
between 1964-1975 are a likely consequence of the globally emitted and
dispersed atmospheric atomic bomb test fallout, prior to the test ban in 1963,
that affected large human populations overall after a certain delay.
· There was a significant jump of sex odds in Europe in the y 1987 following
Chernobyl, whereas no such similar effect was seen in the US, which was less
exposed to the consequences of the catastrophe.
· Among populations living in the proximity of nuclear facilities (within 35km
or 22 miles), the sex odds also increased significantly in both Germany and
Switzerland during the running periods of those facilities.
Taken together these findings show a long-term, dose-dependent impact of
radiation exposure on human sex odds, proving cause and effect. What is less
clear is whether this increase in male births relative to female births is the
result of a reduced frequency of female births or an increased number of male
births. The authors estimate that the deficit of births and the number of
stillborn or impaired children after the global releases of ionizing radiation
amount to several millions globally.
Scherb and Voigt conclude: "Our results contribute to disproving the
established and prevailing belief that radiation-induced hereditary effects
have yet to be detected in human populations. We find strong evidence of an
enhanced impairment of humankind's genetic pool by artificial ionizing radiation
."
MYREF: 20110527050002 msg201105274108
[212 more news items]
---
[Sucked in:]
> 1/2 of what he posts always contradict the other 1/2.
> One day 50 ppmv is the warming cutoff.
Oh Puuhhleeeeeeze easy with the strawman!
Not "cutoff" but 90% of the warming effect below 50ppm.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 8 Feb 2011 11:27 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[usual coal lobby stuff]
Japan Bows to Parent Pressure Over Radiation Concerns
Yoree Koh
Japan Real Time/WSJ
May 27 2011
Education Minister Yoshiaki Takaki for the 1st time said on Fri the government
will seek to reduce the radiation levels on school grounds in Fukushima
Prefecture to one-twentieth of the current annual limit amid concern from
parents over health risks.
The statement comes days after a group of parents from the region, along with
other civil groups, rallied outside the education ministry, protesting the
government's guideline that set the annual allowable radiation exposure limit
for children at 20 millisieverts, which breaks down to about 3.8 microsieverts
a day. It is the same ceiling recommended for nuclear plant workers by the
International Commission on Radiation Protection. An environment ministry
spokesman said Fri's announcement does not mean it is altering the 20
millisieverts dosage standard, rather it is formally stating its aims to
reduce radiation dosages. Children are normally exposed to about 2.4
millisieverts of background radiation each year.
The ministry will also distribute dosimeters to teachers at schools in the
prefecture, where the unstable nuclear power plant is located, to monitor
fluctuations in radiation. Mr Takaki said the government will pay for the top
soil on school grounds to be bulldozed in the event radiation measurements
exceed one microsievert an hour. Parents feared children were vulnerable to
long-term health risks from the radioactive materials that settled into
soil. Some have shoveled the dirt away themselves.
The fears are rooted in the unknown: there is little scientific research
available on the long-term effects of constant exposure to low-levels of
radiation. Locals have complained the government has failed to take
precautionary steps like monitoring radiation fluctuations at more sites,
adding another unknown element into the mix.
Also in response to the parents' concerns, Japanese elementary and middle
school students in a town sitting close to the edge of the no-go zone circling
the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will soon be sporting a new accessory: a dos
imeter.
Kawamata town in Fukushima Prefecture plans to distribute the
radiation-measuring device to 1,500 students. Sachiko Koseki, an official of
the Kawamata City board of education, said the decision is to diffuse some of
this concern, amplified because a portion of the small town of 15,300 is
inside the designated evacuation area neighboring the unstable nuclear
facility. The 110 elementary and middle school students who attend the schools
closest to Fukushima Daiichi, located just 35 km away, started the academic y
at a different school 12 km farther out.
"The parents are very worried. We (the board) think the radiation levels are
low, but radiation is invisible and we want to be sure it doesn't affect the
students' health and reassure parents," said Ms. Koseki on Fri.
Kinki University will donate the dosimeters. The Osaka-based university's
Atomic Energy Research Institute will collect the dosimeters every 3 m for one
y to gauge the average amount of exposure the children are exposed to.
"There's so much uncertainty flying about. There's nothing more scary to a
parent than not knowing," said Tetsuo Ito, director of the institute and
university professor, explaining his growing irritation with the lack of
answers. "We don't know if it's dangerous or not but we should measure it and
find out exactly how much the kids are exposed to. That is the best way to
give parents peace of mind because then you can figure out what to do next."
Mr. Ito said the one-year study will cost about 6 mn yen ($74,000).
MYREF: 20110528160002 msg201105289246
[212 more news items]
---
[On knowing your constituents:]
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
High Radiation Level at No.2 Reactor of Fukushima Nuclear Plant Detected
The amount of radioactive material detected around reactor No. 2 at the
crippled Fukushima nuclear plant increased drastically over the weekend.
Ariang News
May 30 2011
TEPCO, the operator of the plant, says it detected levels of radioactive
Iodine 131 that were 130 times the legal limit on Fri, BUT levels 600 times
the limit were detected on Sat.
Since Iodine has a 1/2 life of 8 days this announcement shows radioactive
materials are still leaking from the reactors.
Meanwhile, as heavy rain and strong winds are expected to hit Japan this week,
fears are rising that contaminated water could be carried into the air and sea.
And as the Typhoon season is coming to Asia soon, Korea is becoming
increasingly concerned about the possible spread of radiation from Japan.
MYREF: 20110530200001 msg201105307886
[223 more news items]
---
[It's not "land" warming -- it's just "ocean" warming!]
QUOTE: Evidence is presented that the recent worldwide land warming has
occurred largely in response to a worldwide warming of the oceans rather
than as a direct response to increasing greenhouse gases over land.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 14 Dec 2010 10:35 +1100
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Japanese Elderly Offer to Take Over Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup
Older men argue they have less chance of developing radiation-induced cancer
in their lifetimes
Clay Dillow
BBC
05.31.2011 at 4:55 pm
Let the young rebuild Japan, says Yasuteru Yamada, but let the old clean up
the most difficult mess leftover from March's devastating earthquake and
tsunamis. The 72-year-old former engineer is recruiting other retirees to
replace the younger workers currently braving radiation exposure at Japan's
damaged Fukushima nuclear power complex. It's not a question of bravery or
experience, he says, but one of biological logic.
Yamada tells the BBC:
"I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 y left to live," he
says. "Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 y or
longer to develop. Therefore us older ones have less chance of getting
cancer."
Yamada isn't alone in his desire to help clean up the mess in Fukushima
prefecture. He's enlisted 200 of his fellows--many of them engineers by trade,
but also cooks, singers, school teachers, and even former power station
workers--who have also expressed a willingness to trade in their retirements
for the long road to stabilizing the power plant.
And that road is long. Currently the plant's operator, TEPCO, believes that at
least 3 of the reactors underwent meltdowns in the wk following the
`quakes. The official timetable now calls for bringing the plant to a cold
shutdown by Jan, but some say that schedule is likely too aggressive. Already
the allowable dose of radiation for each worker has been raised just so
authorities can keep workers on the site.
MYREF: 20110601123001 msg2011060112616
[225 more news items]
---
[To Bonzo:]
Where do you even get the time for this parade of regurgitation? Paid
by the post from some Exxon/Mobil scheme? I actually wouldn't doubt
that. It takes work to match the Oznob level of mindless repetition.
Tiny classified ad at http://adelaide.craigslist.com.au that changed
Bonzo's life:
"Don't miss this work at home opportunity, mate! Disinfo jockey needed
for environmental topic on the Internet's oldest forum system. Paid by
character typed. Some pasting allowed. Must not repeat same paragraph
more than once a fortnight. Experience writing porn novellas
preferred. Must have experience with anagrams."
-- Enough Already, 24 Nov 2008
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Japan recalls Shizuoka tea over radiation
Ninemsn.com
13:38 AEST Fri Jun 10 2011
Japan has detected radiation above the legal limit in tea grown in Shizuoka,
the heart of the nation's green tea industry, officials say, blaming the
stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.
A tea dealer has started a recall of the dried tea after measuring about 679
becquerels of caesium per kilogram in leaves at a tea factory in the city of
Shizuoka, prefectural officials said. The legal limit is 500 Bq/kg.
Earlier this m Japan banned the shipment of green tea leaves from all or part
of 4 other prefectures around Tokyo -- Chiba, Ibaraki, Kanagawa and Tochigi --
after radioactive caesium above legal levels was found in samples.
Shizuoka prefecture will carry out sampling tests at some 100 other tea
factories in the area next week, although the caesium was at a level unlikely
to affect human health, the prefecture said.
It was the 1st detection of radiation above the legal limit in tea grown in
Shizuoka prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, where some 35k tonnes of dried tea
is produced annually.
"We believe the source of the radiation was the Fukushima nuclear power
plant," a prefectural official said.
Exports of green tea have virtually stopped due to lack of orders, the Asahi
Shimbun reported.
The Fukushima Daiichi plant, located some 220 km northeast of Tokyo and 360 km
from Shizuoka, was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
It has since leaked radiation into the air, ground and ocean, and engineers
say it will take at least another 1/2 a y to stabilise it.
The central government has imposed a ban on a range of vegetables and dairy
produce from parts of Fukushima prefecture and several neighbouring regions
and banned fishing in the vicinity of the plant.
MYREF: 20110610183001 msg2011061011761
[217 more news items]
---
Temperatures don't follow the 11-year solar cycle.
Other than that 11-year cycle the total solar output
is reasonably constant.
-- BONZO [various nyms], 5 Jun 2011 00:08 +1000
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Japan rebukes utility over radiation
Boston.com/AP
June 11, 2011
Tokyo -- Japan's nuclear safety officials reprimanded the operator of Japan's
tsunami-damaged power plant yesterday and demanded an investigation of how 2
workers were exposed to radiation more than twice a government-set limit.
The government also ordered the utility to reduce workers' risks of
heat-related illnesses as concerns grow about the health risks faced by the
people toiling to get the Fukushima Daiichi plant under control.
The 2 men with high radiation exposures worked at a central control room for 2
reactors when the tsunami struck March 11 and the days that followed. They are
not showing immediate health problems but will need long-term monitoring for
an increased risk of cancer, said the National Institute of Radiological
Sciences, which examined the men.
Soon after the tsunami knocked out the plant's power and cooling systems, the
government raised the radiation limit for men to 250 millisieverts from the
standard 100 millisieverts so workers could tackle the emergency.
The 2 men, one in his 30s and the other in his 40s, were confirmed last wk as
having exceeding that higher limit and were removed from working at the plant.
A 3rd man -- a senior control room operator in his 50s -- is being tested
further after early findings showed high radiation exposure as well, said
Junichi Matsumoto, a spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reprimanded Tokyo Electric for
violating the limit and ordered the company to submit the cause and prevention
measures in a report within a week.
The younger man was exposed to 678 millisieverts and the other man to 643 --
equivalent to about 100 CT scans -- mostly by inhaling radioactive particles,
said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a NISA spokesman.
MYREF: 20110613093002 msg2011061315607
[219 more news items]
---
[Even-number day of week:]
What feedbacks?
Oh ... you mean those mythical feedbacks in GIGO computer models.
Yeah right.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 11 May 2011 10:39 +1000
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Dangerous radiation leaked from three-quarters of US nuclear power plants
Daily Mail
4:55 PM on 21st June 2011
Dangerous radiation has leaked from three-quarters of all US nuclear power
stations raising fears the country's water supplies could one day be
contaminated.
The number and severity of leaks has increased because of the many old and
unsafe plants across America, a new investigation has claimed.
Radioactive tritium has escaped at least 48 of 65 of all US sites, often
entering water around the plants through rusty old pipes. 'Dangerous': Oyster
Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey is sometimes called 'Oyster Creak' by some
critics because of its old age and because it had a tritium leak last year
PHOTO: 'Dangerous': Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey is sometimes
called 'Oyster Creak' by some critics because of its old age and because it
had a tritium leak last year
Water tested around 37 of the facilities contained radioactive concentrations
exceeding the US drinking water standard and in some cases at 100s of times
over the limit.
One serious case was uncovered at the Braidwood Nuclear Power Station in
Illinois, which has leaked more than 6 mn gallons of tritium-laden water in
repeated leaks dating back to the 1990s.
Scientists says tritium is not dangerous in small doses but prolonged
exposure to high levels is believed to increase the chances of cancer,
leukaemia, and mutations in humans.
PHOTO: Contaminated: High levels of dangerous tritium are thought to leave the
plants via rusted and degraded pipes like this at the now closed Indian Point
1 nuclear plant in New York state
PHOTO: Perilous: This 2007 leak at the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois was
allowing 10 gallons of water per minute to pour out raising fears that water
supplies would be contaminated by radioactive material
The leaks have been uncovered by a year-long Associated Press investigation
found by trawling the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) records.
Despite the revelations the NRC and industry bosses consider the leaks a
public relations problem, not a public health threat.
'The public health and safety impact of this is next to zero,' said Tony
Pietrangelo, chief nuclear officer of the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute.
'This is a public confidence issue.'
Flaky safety record: Paint is shown peeling off a wall at the Oconee nuclear
plant in S Carolina
While most leaks have been found within plant boundaries, some have migrated
off site
At 3 sites -- 2 in Illinois and one in Minnesota -- leaks have contaminated
drinking wells of nearby homes, official records show, but not at levels
violating the drinking water standards.
At a 4th site, in New Jersey, tritium has leaked into an aquifer and a
discharge canal feeding picturesque Barnegat Bay off the Atlantic Ocean.
It is claimed regulators and industry have weakened safety standards for
decades to keep the nation's commercial nuclear reactors operating within the
rules.
Even if there was a major leak, the US Government says The US Environmental
Protection Agency says 7 of 200k people who highly contaminated water for
decades would develop cancer.
MYREF: 20110623050002 msg2011062329669
[219 more news items]
---
The "Holy Grail": Climate Sensitivity Figuring out how much past
warming is due to mankind, and how much more we can expect in the
future, depends upon something called "climate sensitivity". This is
the temperature response of the Earth to a given amount of `radiative
forcing', of which there are two kinds: a change in either the amount
of sunlight absorbed by the Earth, or in the infrared energy the Earth
emits to outer space.
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
15 Fukushima residents urine contaminated with radiation
From ANI
June 27 2011
Tokyo -- Over 3 millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of
15 residents living near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, especially
in the village of Litate and the town of Kawamata.
Both the places are about 30 to 40 km away from the Fukushima No. 1 power
plant, which has been releasing radioactive material into the environment
after being severely hit by the March 11 earthquake-cum-tsunami.
Nanao Kamada, professor emeritus of radiation biology at Hiroshima University,
said that people need to stop eating contaminated vegetables or other products
to avoid being affected by it.
"But it will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas," The
Japanese Times quoted him, as saying.
Kamada teamed up with doctors, including few belonging to Watari Hospital in
the city of Fukushima, to conduct 2 rounds of tests on each resident in early
and late May by taking urine samples from 15 people between 4 and 77.
Radioactive cesium was found both times in each resident.
Radioactive iodine was found as high as 3.2 millisieverts in 6 people in the
1st survey, but none was found in the second survey.
The data indicates that the accumulated external exposure was between 4.9 and
13.5 millisieverts, putting the grand total between 4.9 to 14.2 millisieverts
over about 2 months, the report quoted the researchers, as saying.
"The figures did not exceed the maximum of 20 millisieverts a year, but we
want residents to use these results to make decisions to move," Kamada added.
MYREF: 20110627160001 msg201106279275
[225 more news items]
---
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Did Airport Scanners Give Boston TSA Agents Cancer?
Frances Romero Thu
TIME
June 30, 2011
Could radiation from full-body scanners be responsible for a "cancer cluster"
among airport security workers? That's what Transportation Security
Administration union representatives in Boston have claimed.
Now, the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has
obtained documents from the Department of Homeland Security, which EPIC says
provide evidence that the government failed to properly test the safety of
full-body scanners at airports, and dismissed concerns from airport agents
about excessive exposure to the machines' radiation.
The documents, which include emails, radiation test results and radiation
studies, were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by
EPIC. The advocacy group says they indicate that Homeland Security "publicly
mischaracterized" safety findings by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), by suggesting that NIST had "affirmed the safety" of full
body scanners.
But in an email obtained by EPIC, a NIST official stated that the agency had
not tested the scanners for safety and does not in fact do product
testing. Rather NIST had merely measured the radiation dose from a single
machine against the standard of what is considered an acceptable. It had not
done the rigorous product testing required to determine safety over time.
Although TSA union reps at Boston's Logan Airport asked that the agency allow
its screeners to wear radiation-monitoring devices, the TSA has yet to provide
the dosimeters, EPIC said. Meanwhile, another document obtained by EPIC shows
that NIST recommends that TSA screeners avoid standing next to the scanners
whenever possible, and a Johns Hopkins University study finds that radiation
zones around body scanners could potentially exceed the "General Public Dose Lim
it."
TSA representatives have acknowledged the concerns of agents at the Boston
airport, saying that a request for the radiation-monitoring devices had been
sent to TSA headquarters. But because the devices have yet to materialize and
no other testing has taken place, agents say they still don't feel safe.
According to the TSA website:
TSA has implemented stringent safety protocols to ensure that technology used
at airports to screen people and property is safe for all passengers, as well
as the TSA workforce. In addition to regular maintenance, each individual
machine that uses X-ray technology is regularly tested to ensure the radiation
emitted falls within the national safety standards.
But some scientists are skeptical, claiming that the TSA relies on tests
performed by the manufacturers of the scanners themselves. The debate over the
safety (not to mention the privacy concerns) of full-body scanners at airports
has been ongoing since before the machines began appearing in US airports in
mid- to late-2010 -- and has reached little consensus.
Experts disagree on the actual level of risk the scanners pose and to
whom. Still, it is reasonable to suggest that TSA agents, pilots, flight
attendants and frequent fliers, who are exposed to the machines on a daily
basis, may have more of a reason than the general public to worry about the
risk of cancer associated with scanner-radiation exposure.
<http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/30/did-airport-scanners-give-boston-tsa-agen
ts-cancer/>
MYREF: 20110630223001 msg201106306083
[220 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
45% of kids sustained thyroid radiation
Kyodo/The Japan Times
Tue, July 5, 2011
Around 45% of children in Fukushima Prefecture checked by the prefectural and
central governments in late March experienced thyroid exposure to radiation,
although in all cases in trace amounts that didn't warrant further
examination, officials of the Nuclear Safety Commission said Tue.
The survey was conducted on 1,080 children from newborns to age 15 in Iwaki,
Kawamata and Iitate from March 26 to 30 in light of radiation leaking from the
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Among children who tested positive for thyroid exposure, the amounts measured
0.04 microsievert per hour or less in most cases. The largest exposure was 0.1
microsievert per hour, equivalent to a yearly dose of 50 millisieverts for a
1-year-old.
None of those surveyed was exposed to over 0.2 microsievert per hour, the
government's benchmark for conducting more detailed examinations, according to
the officials.
Scientific surveys of hibakusha from Hiroshima and Nagasaki have indicated
that exposure of 100 milisieverts in total could increase cancer morality risk
by 0.5 percent.
Separately, a survey of soil at 4 locations in the city of Fukushima on June
26 found that all samples were contaminated with radioactive cesium, measuring
16k to 46k becquerels per kilogram and exceeding the legal limit of 10k
becquerels per kg, citizens' groups said Tue.
The city, about 60 km northwest of the crippled plant, does not fall within
the 20-km no-entry zone or nearby evacuation areas.
The citizens' groups, led by the Fukushima Network to Protect Children from
Radiation, had asked Kobe University professor Tomoya Yamauchi, an expert in
radiology, to lead the survey.
Another sample taken from a street ditch -- where nuclear fallout often
accumulates -- registered as much as 931k becquerels per m2,
surpassing the 555k becquerels per sq meter limit for compulsory resettlement
in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. Samples from the other 3 locations
measured between 326k and 384k becquerels per m2.
An earlier survey on soil in the city of Fukushima by the science ministry has
found 37k becquerels of radioactive substances per 1 kg -- equivalent to 740k
becquerels per m2.
MYREF: 20110706073001 msg201107067229
[221 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[mining lobby spin]
TEPCO Says 3 More Workers Exposed to Radiation Exceeding Limit
Tsuyoshi Inajima and Shunichi Ozasa
Bloomberg
Thu Jul 07 09:30:45 GMT 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said 3 more workers at its crippled Fukushima
Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant were exposed to radiation exceeding the
government's annual limit.
The male workers, in their 20s, were exposed to levels beyond the limit of 250
millisieverts, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility known as
TEPCO, told reporters in Tokyo today. Medical examinations showed the exposure
had no immediate impact on their health, he said.
Under TEPCO rules, a worker exposed to more than 170 millisieverts will be
deployed to the plant's radiation- and quake-proof operation center, Hajime
Motojuku, a spokesman for the utility, said by phone. A worker exposed to more
than 200 millisieverts will be sent to other TEPCO plants or offices,
according to Motojuku.
MYREF: 20110708034616 msg2011070818636
[228 more news items]
---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Probe of radiation finds risks at Ohio nuke plant
Meghan Barr
Jul 8 2011
Cleveland (AP) -- Federal authorities say nuclear plant workers in Ohio had to
avoid tripping on cables and a hole in the floor when they were forced to flee
during a botched removal of a radiation monitor.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says in a report released Thu that
inspectors found several safety violations at the Perry Nuclear Power plant
during an investigation of the April 22 incident, when radiation levels rose
while the plant was shutting down to refuel.
NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng says the detector had been sitting in the
reactor core for about 10 m and was highly radioactive. The NRC says workers
received poor instructions during the removal and failed to recognize the
radiological risk.
The plant says it conducted a thorough investigation and implemented new
safety procedures.
Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com
MYREF: 20110710070001 msg201107104045
[226 more news items]
---
[W]omen are easier prey for scams such as The Great Global Warming Hoax!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 7 Feb 2011 11:28 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[mining lobby spin]
High radiation found in straw given to cows whose meat was contaminated
The Mainichi Daily News
July 12, 2011
Fukushima -- High levels of radioactive cesium have been detected in rice
straw used as feed for cows from a Fukushima Prefecture city whose meat
contained excessive levels of cesium.
The meat of 11 head of Japanese black cattle that were raised and shipped from
a farm in the city of Minamisoma had 1,530 to 3,200 becquerels of radioactive
cesium per kilogram, while the maximum amount permitted is 500 becquerels per
kilogram.
According to Fukushima prefectural officials, the farm operator fed the cattle
rice straw that had been harvested last autumn and left outside. Officials
believe it is highly likely that the rice straw eaten by the cows contaminated
their meat, and are considering tightening rules on feed management.
Staff from the prefectural government's livestock and agriculture, forestry
and fisheries divisions on July 10 conducted tests on the farm's well water,
mixed feed and rice straw, which the cattle in question had ingested. While no
problems were found with the water and feed blend, over 10 times the amount of
radioactive cesium found in the contaminated meat was found in the rice straw.
After the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant,
the national government notified prefectural officials that hay and rice straw
harvested in the wake of the crisis should not be fed to livestock, and that
feed be stored indoors. Cattle were being shipped only after surveys were
conducted to check that farm operators were complying with the rules, and it
was confirmed that the cows were safe.
While the farm operator told the Mainichi that it had acted according to the
national government's instructions, the Fukushima Prefectural Government is
slated to conduct further investigations into the the manner in which the rice
straw was stored, as well as its volume and time of storage.
Original Japanese story
http://mainichi.jp/life/food/nouandsyoku/news/20110711dde041040114000c.html
MYREF: 20110712140532 msg201107124668
[229 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
After 2 Decades of Litigation, Energy Department Settles 139 Hanford Radiation C
laims
Jenna Greene
The BLT
July 13, 2011
The Department of Energy has tentatively agreed to settle 139 suits brought by
people who claim that radiation from the now-shuttered Hanford Nuclear
Reservation gave them thyroid disease.
The plaintiffs will receive an average of about $5,700 apiece, for a total
settlement of just under $800,000, according to lead defense counsel Kevin Van
Wart, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. About 1,350 plaintiffs still
remain in the litigation, In re Hanford Nuclear Reservation, which has been
pending in Spokane federal court for 21 years, as previously reported by The
National Law Journal.
"We are pleased with the settlement and believe it is reasonable," Van Wart
said. "As always, we welcome the opportunity to settle claims on terms that
reasonably reflect their value and will spare both sides the expense and
burden of continuing to litigate such claims."
The settlement resolves the largest number of claims to date in a case that
has looked intractable for years. Plaintiffs lawyers--there about 1/2 a dozen
calling the shots--have spent close to $10 mn out-of-pocket to litigate
personal injury claims against the contractors who ran the plant.
The plaintiffs who settled were represented by Eugene, Ore. solo practitioner
Roy Haber, who did not return a phone call and email seeking comment.
The government indemnified the contractors, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and
Co. and General Electric Co., and is on the hook for their legal fees (which
now total about $60 million), and damages. Plaintiffs lawyers originally
wanted between $500 mn and $2 bn to settle all the claims.
The Hanford plant in southeastern Washington state produced most of the
material for the United States' arsenal of nuclear bombs, including the one
dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. It also released huge amounts of radiation,
sometimes intentionally, primarily between 1944 and 1950.
Plaintiffs contend that the radiation caused cancer and other illnesses,
including hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid is under-active,
causing symptoms like fatigue, depression and weight gain.
In 2005, a Spokane jury heard the cases of 3 hypothyroid plaintiffs who blamed
Hanford for their illnesses. The jury rejected all of their claims, finding
Hanford radiation was not responsible. The verdicts were overturned on appeal
in 2007 based on erroneous evidentiary rulings and the cases have not been
re-tried.
With no bellwether verdicts, lawyers had few guideposts to arrive at
settlement amounts for hypothyroidism. In its 2007 decision, the US Court
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit made clear that plaintiffs had to show they
were exposed to a very high dose of radiation in order to prove Hanford caused
their thyroid disease.
A trial before Judge William Fremming Nielsen in US District Court for the
Eastern District of Washington is scheduled for April 30, 2012, for about 20
hypothyroid plaintiffs chosen by lottery.
Trials are also in the works for about 35 thyroid-cancer cases and 50 cases
involving thyroid nodules--solid or fluid-filled lumps that form within the
thyroid--with dates to be determined.
MYREF: 20110714220001 msg2011071416342
[228 more news items]
---
It takes more than warmth to grow crops; otherwise the Sahara would be green!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 21 Jan 2011 11:16 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Nuclear plant workers developed cancer despite lower radiation exposure than
legal limit
The late nuclear power plant worker Nobuyuki Shimahashi's radiation exposure
monitoring databook indicated "Y" or yes for jobs he could engage in before
some of them were corrected to say "N" or no.
Mainichi Daily
Jul 27 2011
Of 10 nuclear power plant workers who have developed cancer and received
workers' compensation in the past, 9 had been exposed to less than 100
millisieverts of radiation, it has been learned.
The revelation comes amid reports that a number of workers battling the crisis
at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant were found to have been exposed to
more than the emergency limit of 250 millisieverts, which was raised from the
previous limit of 100 millisieverts in March.
According to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry statistics, of the 10 nuclear
power plant workers, 6 had leukemia, 2 multiple myeloma and another 2
lymphatic malignancy. Only one had been exposed to 129.8 millisieverts but the
remaining 9 were less than 100 millisieverts, including one who had been
exposed to about 5 millisieverts.
Nobuyuki Shimahashi, a worker at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, where
operations were recently suspended by Chubu Electric Power Co., died of
leukemia in 1991 at age 29. His 74-year-old mother Michiko remembers her son
dropping from 80 kilograms to 50 kilograms and his gums bleeding.
Shimahashi was in charge of maintaining and checking measuring instruments
inside the nuclear power plant as a subcontract employee. He had 50.63
millisieverts of radiation exposure over a period of 8 y and 10 months.
His radiation exposure monitoring databook, which was returned to his family 6
m after his death, showed that more than 30 exposure figures and other
listings had been corrected in red ink and stamped with personal seals.
Even after he was diagnosed with leukemia, the databook had a stamp indicating
permission for him to engage in a job subject to possible radiation exposure
and a false report on his participation in nuclear safety education while he
was in reality in hospital.
"The workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant may be aware that they are
risking their lives while doing their jobs. However, the state and electric
power companies should also think about their families. If I had heard it was
'dangerous,' I would not have sent Nobuyuki to the nuclear power plant,"
Michiko Shimahashi said. "The workers who have done nothing wrong should not
die. The emergency upper limit should be cut immediately."
Workers' compensation for nuclear power plant workers rarely receives a mention.
Koshiro Ishimaru, 68, leader of a civic group in the Futaba district in
Fukushima Prefecture, notes that 6 workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear
power plant applied for workers' compensation before the nuclear disaster and
4 received recognition. Only 2 of the 4 identified themselves.
"There are many people who are benefiting from the nuclear power plant and do
not want other members of this small community to know about compensation,"
Ishimaru points out.
When it comes to being entitled to workers' compensation due to diseases other
than cancer, the hurdle is much higher.
Ryusuke Umeda, a 76-year-old former welder in the city of Fukuoka, worked at
the Shimane Nuclear Power Plant run by Chugoku Electric Power Co. in Matsue
and the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant run by Japan Atomic Power Co. in Tsuruga,
Fukui Prefecture, between Feb and June 1979.
He soon had symptoms such as nose bleeding and later chronic fatigue before
having a heart attack in 2000. He suspected nuclear radiation, applied for
workers' compensation in 2008 but was rejected.
His radiation exposure stood at 8.6 millisieverts. Umeda says, "Nuclear power
plant workers have been used for the benefit of plant operators. If left
unchecked, there will be many cases like mine."
The current guidelines for workers' compensation due to radiation exposure
only certify leukemia among various types of cancer. In these cases
compensation is granted only when an applicant is exposed to more than 5
millisieverts of radiation a y and develops leukemia more than one y after
being exposed to nuclear radiation. For other types of cancer, the health
ministry's study group decides if applicants are eligible for workers' compensat
ion.
The original Japanese story
http://mainichi.jp/select/jiken/news/20110726ddm041040047000c.html
MYREF: 20110727160001 msg2011072722557
[227 more news items]
---
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
1,600 workers projected over radiation limit
Kyodo/The Japan Times
Thu, July 28, 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Co. estimated in spring that about 1,600 workers at the
crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant would be exposed to radiation
exceeding 50 millisieverts during the course of the crisis, an industrial
accident prevention body revealed.
Tepco was told to make the projection by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety
Agency,
which then passed on the information to the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry.
The health ministry afterward compiled a note for its officials.
The projection was revealed Tue by the nonprofit organization Tokyo
Occupational Safety and Health Center, which sought disclosure of the note,
dated April 25, via a freedom of information request.
For workers engaged in work that would expose them to radiation, the maximum
annual level is normally 50 millisieverts, and up to 100 millisieverts in 5
years. But due to the urgency of the nuclear crisis, that limit was raised to
250 millisieverts for workers at the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
According to the disclosed document, health ministry officials quoted NISA
officials as saying the amount of radiation exposure is expected to become
"significantly high" for workers at the plant due to the severity of the acciden
t.
NISA officials were also quoted as saying the agency intends to raise the
50-millisievert limit because they need workers exceeding that limit to
operate at other nuclear plants as well, the document said.
But NISA officials added that workers who exceed radiation exposure of 100
millisieverts should not engage in operations that would expose them to
further radiation for the remaining y of the five-year period, it said.
MYREF: 20110728120002 msg2011072826172
[226 more news items]
---
[I am Luddite!]
You whackos just keep changing your "predictions" to suit reality!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], 16 Feb 2011 15:57 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
TEPCO Says Highest Radiation Detected at Fukushima Dai-ichi.
[One minute everything has gone down to zero; the next minute we're at record
highs again. Situation normal].
San Francisco Chronicle
July 31, 2011 04:00 AM
Tokyo Electric Power Co, operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi
nuclear plant, said it detected the highest radiation to date at the site.
Geiger counters, used to detect radioactivity, registered more than 10
sieverts an hour, the highest reading the devices are able to record, Junichi
Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility, said today. The measurements were
taken at the base of the main ventilation stack for reactors No. 1 and No. 2.
The Fukushima plant, about 220 km (137 miles) N of Tokyo, had 3 reactor
meltdowns after the March 11 magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami knocked out
power and backup generators. Radiation leaks displaced 160k people and
contaminated marine life and agricultural products.
The utility, known as TEPCO, tried to vent steam and gas the day after the
earthquake as pressure in reactor No. 1 exceeded designed limits. A buildup of
hydrogen gas subsequently caused an explosion that blew out part of the
reactor building.
"I suspect the high radiation quantity was an aftermath of venting done,"
Matsumoto told reporters in Tokyo. "The plant is not running. I don't think
any gas with high radiation level is flowing in the stack."
TEPCO sent 3 workers around the ventilation stack today after a gamma camera
detected high radioactivity levels in the area yesterday, Matsumoto said. The
workers were exposed to as much as 4 millisieverts during the work, he said.
The utility will create a no-go zone around the stack and cover the area with
protective material, he said.
MYREF: 20110802083002 msg2011080220241
[229 more news items]
---
If AGW could predict future climate I would believe it is true.
Currently it does no better than simple extrapolation of current trends.
Which you can do without even measuring atmospheric CO2.
-- "Peter Webb" <webbf...@DIESPAMDIEoptusnet.com.au>, 25 Nov 2010 11:41 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
New York police launch system to detect radiation
[Why bother? Doesn't BONZO guarantee it's harmless?]
Related News
* New York police launch system to detect and track radiation Wed, Aug 3 2011
* Suicide bombers storm Afghan guesthouse, 4 killed Tue, Aug 2 2011
* Search for bodies on Norwegian island ends Thu, Jul 28 2011
PHOTO: A member of the NYPD holds a device used to detect levels of radiation
as motorists pass by during a multi-agency "dirty bomb" exercise led by the
New York Police Department in the Brooklyn section of New York April 9, 2011.
Jonathan Allen
Wed Aug 3, 2011 10:25am EDT
New York (Reuters) - The New York Police Department is launching a mobile
radiation detection system equipped with location-tracking GPS technology that
it says could help avert a so-called dirty bomb attack.
While more than 2k belt-mounted radiation detectors are already used by city
police, this will be the 1st time in the United States they will be combined
with GPS technology to allow central monitoring, said police spokesman Paul
Browne.
If the technology is proven in New York it could appear elsewhere in the
country.
The move comes as police, ahead of the 10th anniversary of the September 11
attacks, continue a long-term project to permanently increase vigilance in
Manhattan, which police say has potential future targets for attacks that
could include a dirty bomb, a low-intensity device that can contaminate the
area with radioactive material.
A squad of 210 officers was being assigned to the World Trade Center site and
surrounding area, parts of which are still under construction. Many officers
will have detectors that can send an alert to a central command center if a
spike in radiation levels is detected.
"The information that the officer is reading will simultaneously be wirelessly
transmitted to this coordination center, up on a map where you can see all of
Lower Manhattan," Browne said.
With the GPS technology, data from several officers could be used to
triangulate the location of a stationary object or to track the direction of a
moving object.
"We're also going to be putting these in fixed locations on bridges, for
example," Browne said. "Eventually you have an infrastructure of trip wires
that picks up on radiation."
The Department of Homeland Security is contributing $192 mn to the effort,
Browne said, while New York has contributed $8 million.
Police in the surrounding metropolitan area were also receiving training and
increasing coordination.
Brian Michael Jenkins, a security expert based at the RAND corporation, said
that although dirty bombs were easier and cheaper to make than a full-scale
nuclear bomb, they still remained largely in the realm of the hypothetical.
"It is truly a terror weapon in that it creates a great deal of alarm," he
said. "You just put the terms radioactivity and terrorism and nuclear all
together and it would really cause a great deal of alarm, and that really is
the danger."
He said a dirty bomb blast could kill nearby people, while the radioactive
contamination it caused, depending on the material, could lead to a handful of
instances of non-fatal radiation sickness.
But he said proving the detection technology in New York was a worthwhile
exercise.
The NYPD also has upgraded its network of surveillance cameras, soon to number
about 2,000, with software that can raise an alert if a camera detects
suspicious activity or objects.
MYREF: 20110804190001 msg2011080429978
[228 more news items]
---
>Remember who you're talking to. :)
>The guy quotes Dyson without knowing Dyson accepts AGW;
Dyson accepts AGW???
News to me!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [100 nyms and counting], Mar 2 16:10 EST 2011
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[coal lobby spin]
Man Who Experimented With Radioactive Materials Is Arrested -- Sweden
[Why? Doesn't BONZO say it's just harmless fun?]
New York Times/AP
August 3, 2011
A Swedish man who was experimenting with radioactive materials at home said
Wed that he had eventually realized his activities were illegal and sent a
question about what he was doing to Sweden's Radiation Authority. The
government answered by sending the police, who arrested him on charges of
unauthorized possession of nuclear material.
In explaining his actions on Wed, Richard Handl, 31, said that he had "always
been interested in physics and chemistry" and wanted to "see if it's possible
to split atoms at home." If convicted, Mr Handl could face fines or up to 2 y
in prison. Although he says the police did not detect dangerous levels of
radiation in his apartment, he now acknowledges that the project was not a
good idea. The police have not commented on the case or indicated if they
believe Mr Handl's explanation of his actions.
MYREF: 20110804200001 msg2011080426392
[226 more news items]
---
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Towns near Fukushima power plant could be off limits for decades
Travis J. Tritten
Stars and Stripes
Mon August 22, 2011
* Military installs 2 high-powered radiation detectors in Japan
* US wasn't fully prepared for radiation risks following Japan earthquake, top g
eneral says
* Military to calculate radiation doses for those living, working in Japan follo
wing earthquake
* US troops not exposed to high levels of toxins, radiation during quake cleanup
, military says
* Stars and Stripes coverage of the disaster in Japan
Camp Foster, Okinawa -- Dangerously high radiation could prompt the Japanese
government to ban residents from returning to towns around the damaged
Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant for several decades, the Yomuiri
newspaper reported Mon.
Radiation at 3 towns within the restricted 12-mile radius of the plant
measured from about 6 times to 25 times the level considered safe by the
Japanese government, according to a report released Fri by the country's
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
The towns in the restricted zone are still far from US military bases in the
region where residents have feared exposure and are deep within a much wider
50-mile safety radius around Fukushima set by the State Department.
However, the report is the latest indication that a near nuclear meltdown at
Fukushima caused by a massive earthquake and deadly tsunamis in March has
spread worrisome levels of radiation in the region and will likely affect
Japan for y to come.
Since Japan evacuated the area around the plant, small levels of radiation
have been discovered in children and produce from the area and in rice fields
as far as Tokyo, which is about 150 miles south.
The highest radiation reported Fri was in a section of Okuma where levels
reached 500 millisieverts, which is far higher than the 20 millisieverts
considered safe by Japan, according to the ministry report.
The towns of Futaba and Namie reported levels between 127 and 224
millisieverts.
Japan PM Naoto Kan is expected to meet with those local government officials
to notify them that the government will not allow residents to return, Yomuiri
reported. Advertisement
The evacuation of the 12-mile restricted zone pushed about 78k residents
from the area and left 27k homes vacant, according to the Japanese government.
It is still unclear whether those who live and work at military facilities
have been exposed to radiation from Fukushima, though some servicemembers and
equipment involved in disaster relief efforts in the Tohoku region did come in
contact with some of the radioactive material spewing from heavily damaged
reactors in the wk after the earthquake.
U.S. Pacific Command said last m the military will calculate the levels of
exposure for the 61k personnel at the bases in Japan, though it believes any
exposure has been minimal.
Exposure levels will be determined by using models created for the 20k
servicemembers who participated in Operation Tomodachi and for atomic testing
in the 1950s and 1960s, according to the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research
Institute.
Last week, the US Army announced it has set up new high-powered radiation
detectors at Camp Zama near Tokyo that will allow it to do detailed analysis
of any threat without having to send samples to the United States. The service
said that the new sensors are only a precaution.
Nearly 10k military dependents from Yokota Air Base, Yokuska Naval Base, Naval
Air Facilitiy Atsugi, Camp Zama and Misawa Air base left the country and took
shelter in the United States as the disaster unfolded in March and fears of a
nuclear meltdown spread.
Japan toiled for m dousing overheated fuel rods to avoid a nuclear meltdown
and has now brought the ongoing nuclear reaction mostly under control.
The power company that owns Fukushima has said it hopes to pump out about 120k
tons of radioactive water and bring the plant to a cold shutdown by this
winter.
MYREF: 20110823050001 msg2011082322937
[229 more news items]
---
What exactly are you trying to say, aside from calling me an idiot?
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 11 Feb 2011 12:20 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Fukushima radiation 168 times that of Hiroshima atomic bomb
Morning Star
Sun 28 August 2011
The amount of radioactive caesium that has leaked from the Fukushima Dai-ichi
nuclear power plant is roughly 168 times that released by the atomic bomb the
US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, according to Japan's nuclear agency.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the privately owned and operated
plant has released 15k tera-becquerels of caesium-137, which lingers for
decades and could cause cancer.
That compares with 89 tera-becquerels released by the US "Little Boy" uranium bo
mb.
The agency supplied the estimate at a parliamentary panel's request.
The US dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima on August 6 1945, destroying most of
the city and killing around 140k people.
The atomic bombing of Nagasaki 3 days later killed tens of 1000s more.
The Hiroshima bomb claimed most of its victims in the intense heatwave and
neutron rays from the explosion and the highly radioactive fallout.
No one has died from radiation leaks from the Fukushima plant, which was
damaged by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11.
Explosions from hydrogen buildup damaged reactor buildings but did not involve
reactor cores.
The report estimated that iodine-131, another isotope that accumulates in the
thyroid gland, and strontium-90, which has a 28-year half-life and could
accumulate in bones, leaked from the plant in amounts about equal to 2.5 of
the Hiroshima bomb.
The National Institute for Environmental Studies said its simulation of aerial
flow, diffusion and deposition of the 2 isotopes released from the plant
showed their impact reached most of Japan's eastern half, ranging from Iwate
in the N to Tokyo and central prefecture of Shizuoka.
Both Iwate and Shizuoka are more than 180 miles away from the plant.
Around 100k people have been forced to leave their homes due to radiation
threats from Fukushima.
About 30 residents from the immediate neighbourhood of the plant were allowed
to briefly return home on Fri to get clothes and other necessities they left
early in the crisis. But officials have said their area may remain off-limits
for decades.
Plant owner and operator Tokyo Electric Power Co and the government aim to
bring the reactors to stable cold shutdowns by early Jan.
MYREF: 20110829090002 msg2011082921092
[233 more news items]
---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Death by Radiation: 6 DU Professors Charge-Sheeted
PTI
Sep 02, 2011
New Delhi -- Delhi police today filed a charge sheet in a city court against
six Delhi University professors in the 2010 Mayapuri radiation case for
endangering lives by auctioning an radioactive gamma irradiator without
following mandatory precautions.
The charge sheet, filed before Metropolitan Magistrate Lovleen, covers Delhi
University teachers including the then Head of Chemistry Department V S Parmar
and the then Dean of Sciences Roop Lal.
Besides them, Rakesh Kumar, Ramesh Chandra Rastogi, Ashok Prasad and Rita
Kakkar have also been charge-sheeted under various penal provisions dealing
with causing death by rash and negligent acts and causing grievous hurt.
The court is likely to take cognizance of the probe report on September 21.
The irradiator was sold in the scrap market in violation of the rules of
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) which says any chemical product emitting
radiations cannot be auctioned and disposed off without following mandatory
regulations, the charge sheet said.
One person died and 7 people were critically injured in April last y after
they were exposed to radiation when they cut open a Cobalt-60 irradiator at
Mayapuri scrap market here.
The irradiator was traced to DU's Chemistry department.
Police said 2 committees, comprising University professors, were set up before
the irradiator was decided to be auctioned.
The 1st committee was set up to find out which material were of no use to the
University and can be sold and the second committee was formed to auction the
waste products, the charge sheet said.
The 6 accused professors were part of those committees and had recommended the
auctioning, it said.
MYREF: 20110903080001 msg2011090318136
[233 more news items]
---
[Assault on Vostok icecores:]
YOU are the one presenting the "evidence." Your evidence MUST be
performed using proven standards, not untested guesswork.
-- Michael Dobony <sur...@stopassaultnow.net>, 24 Feb 2011 19:49 -0600
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Yuko Takeo
Reuters
Fri Sep 9, 2011 10:13am GMT
Tokyo -- Radioactive material released into the sea in the Fukushima nuclear
power plant crisis is more than triple the amount estimated by plant operator
Tokyo Electric Power Co , Japanese researchers say.
Japan's biggest utility estimated around 4,720 trillion becquerels of
cesium-137 and iodine-131 was released into the Pacific Ocean between March 21
and April 30, but researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) put the
amount 15k trillion becquerels, or terabecquerels.
Government regulations ban shipment of foodstuff containing over 500
becquerels of radioactive material per kg.
Takuya Kobayashi, a researcher at the agency, said on Fri the difference in
figures was probably because his team measured airborne radioactive material
that fell into the ocean in addition to material from contaminated water that
leaked from the plant.
He believed Tepco excluded radiation that originally came from airborne
material. The report does not include cesium-134 as the research group
initially lacked resources to measure it, meaning the amount of estimated
radioactive material will increase with further calculations.
The March 11 earthquake and tsuanmi knocked out reactor cooling systems at
Fukushima Daiichi, 240 km (150 miles) N of Tokyo, triggering meltdowns and
radiation leaks.
Huge amounts of contaminated water accumulated during efforts to cool the
reactors, with much of it reaching the sea, and radiation has been found in
fish, seaweed and other seafood.
Tepco edged closer this wk to its near-term goal of bringing the reactors to a
state of cold shutdown by Jan, with the temperature at the second of 3 damaged
units falling below boiling point.
MYREF: 20110912110003 msg2011091225798
[237 more news items]
---
[Peter Webb:]
>My proof seems pretty good to me.
But it's not a correct proof.
-- quasi <qu...@null.set>, Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:19 -0500
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Martin Fackler
New York Times
September 10, 2011
Tokyo -- Just over a wk after he took office, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of
Japan suffered his 1st political setback on Sat when the new minister of trade
and industry resigned after a joke about radiation caused a public uproar.
The industry minister, Yoshio Hachiro, stepped down after apologies failed to
quell calls for his resignation within his own governing Democratic Party. The
party appeared to be moving quickly to control damage to Mr Noda's government.
"It was an inappropriate remark," Mr Noda said Sat. "I want to apologize and
correct the remark." Mr Noda, Japan's seventh prime minister in 5 years, is
trying to avoid the fate of many of his predecessors, who were undermined by
similar scandals over gaffes by members of their governments.
The problem began on Thu, after Mr Hachiro returned from a trip to evacuated
areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. According to
Japanese newspaper reports, Mr Hachiro, who was wearing protective clothing,
moved as if to wipe his sleeve against a reporter and jokingly said, "Look
out, radiation!"
The jest caused outrage largely because Mr Hachiro's ministry, which was in
charge of promoting as well as regulating nuclear power, has been widely
blamed for lax oversight that allowed the Daiichi plant to operate without
adequate defenses against tsunamis. The plant was crippled by a huge
earthquake and tsunami on March 11, causing the world's worst nuclear accident
since Chernobyl in 1986.
Earlier on Thu, Mr Hachiro had raised eyebrows by calling the evacuated
communities around the plants "dead towns," a statement seen as insensitive to
the approximately 80k people who had been driven from their homes by the
nuclear accident.
Mr. Hachiro apologized the same day for that remark. But then he made the
comment about radiation on his clothing, which was criticized in newspapers on
Sat as a serious lapse of judgment.
Mr. Hachiro later said that his recollection of the episode was "not very
clear," though he admitted that he had pretended to rub his sleeve on a
reporter.
MYREF: 20110912130002 msg2011091220057
[235 more news items]
---
Currently [AGW] does no better than simple extrapolation of current trends.
While they all say the earth is warming, I am not aware of a single
definition of this term, nor a scientific test which shows whether the earth
is in fact warming, cooling or staying the same.
-- "Peter Webb" <webbf...@DIESPAMDIEoptusnet.com.au>, 19 May 2011 14:37 +1000
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Asia-Pacific News
Sep 29, 2011, 7:32 GMT
Tokyo - Japan needs to find or build storage facilities for 90 mn cubic
metres of radioactive waste in the wake of the nation's worst nuclear
accident, local media reported Thu.
The volume is equivalent 72 domed baseball stadiums, Deputy Environment
Minister Hideki Minamikawa was quoted as saying by local newspaper Fukushima Min
po.
Since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station was struck by a magnitude-9
earthquake and tsunami on March 11, the plant has been leaking radioactive
material into the environment.
The government has been urged to start decontamination immediately in the
north-eastern prefecture. But this requires Tokyo to find sites for the
radioactive waste, Minamikawa said.
The environment ministry said it would build sites to temporarily store
radioactive waste generated by decontamination in Tokyo and 6 prefectures in
eastern and northern Japan in addition to Fukushima.
The waste consists of water, earth and rubble from the damaged buildings,
which have been contaminated by radioactive material leaking from the reactor co
res.
MYREF: 20110930000002 msg2011093027107
[234 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Oct 01, 2011
mainichi.jp
The cost of decontamination work and the disposal of rubble tainted with
radioactive materials from the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is expected
to top 1 trillion yen, the Environment Ministry disclosed on Sept. 29.
Based on its projections, the ministry will seek 453.6 bn yen in related
expenses in its fiscal 2012 budget request. The costs do not include the
maintenance of interim storage facilities for contaminated soil and waste, or
measures to treat areas with highly concentrated radiation, and officials say
it is possible that in the future costs could run several trillion yen higher.
The Environment Ministry is including decontamination and disposal-related
funding for other ministries in its requests. In the fiscal 2012 budget, the
ministry will seek 374.4 bn yen for decontamination work, 77.2 bn yen for the
disposal of contaminated waste, and 2 bn yen for research and examination of
interim storage facilities.
Specific tasks during the cleanup will include management of contaminated
soil, direct handling of decontamination work by the central government,
regular monitoring of radiation levels after decontamination work is carried
out, and support of local bodies' decontamination activities. In considering
interim storage facilities, the government will probe the geographic features
of prospective sites and study the effects on the environment. It will also
investigate technology and methods to decrease the amount of
radiation-contaminated waste.
In addition to the request for the fiscal 2012 budget, the ministry plans to
seek 245.9 bn yen in funding in the 3rd supplementary budget for fiscal 2011.
Original Japanese story
http://mainichi.jp/life/money/archive/news/2011/09/30/20110930ddm002040115000c.h
tml
MYREF: 20111001040002 msg2011100126808
[239 more news items]
---
>Remember who you're talking to. :)
>The guy quotes Dyson without knowing Dyson accepts AGW;
Dyson accepts AGW???
News to me!
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
[A significant amount of Pu was reported "missing" shortly after the
explosions at the Fukushima plant. Looks like it's been found].
Daily Yomiuri
Oct 2, 2011
Plutonium believed to have been released from the crippled Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant after the March 11 earthquake has been detected outside
the power plant site for the 1st time, it has been learned.
One of the spots found contaminated with the hazardous substance is 45
kilometers from the plant.
A map released by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Ministry on Fri shows plutonium was found in soil samples taken from a total
of 6 locations in Futabamachi, Namiemachi and Iitatemura, Fukushima Prefecture.
The map is based on a survey conducted by the ministry to determine how much
soil around the power plant contains plutonium and strontium, which is also a
hazardous radioactive substance.
However, a ministry official said because amounts of both substances were very
small, decontamination efforts should focus on radioactive cesium.
The survey was conducted in June and July by sampling soil at 100 locations
around the plant. The ministry compared the data obtained from the survey with
data obtained in surveys conducted from fiscal 1999 to fiscal 2008 to measure
the residual effects of radioactive fallout on Japan from nuclear atmospheric
tests conducted during the Cold War.
The 6 spots where plutonium was detected are all in the no-entry zone, within
a 20-kilometer radius of the plant, or in the expanded evacuation zone outside
the no-entry zone, which may be exposed to more than 20 millisieverts of
radioactive substances within a y from the accident.
Four becquerels per m2 of plutonium-238 was detected at one site in Namiemachi
in the latest survey. This is about 1/2 of the maximum quantity of 8
becquerels detected in the 1999-2008 surveys.
A preliminary ministry calculation shows that the level of plutonium
contamination in Namiemachi will remain at 0.027 millisieverts for about 50
years. The other 5 spots were contaminated with 0.55 to 2.3 becquerels of pluton
ium.
The farthest spot from the plant where plutonium was detected was in
Iitatemura, about 45 km from the plant.
Meanwhile, strontium-89 and strontium-90, both believed to have been released
from the power plant, were detected at 45 spots.
The maximum quantity of strontium-90, whose half-life of about 29 y is
much longer than the approximately 50-day half-life of strontium-89, was 5,700
becquerels per m2 detected in Futabamachi. This is 6 times that of the
maximum quantity of 950 becquerels found before the Fukushima plant accident.
MYREF: 20111002210002 msg2011100227324
[235 more news items]
---
Maybe that's because the Republicans come from more rural states that haven't
had any warming, man-made or otherwise.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 28 Oct 2010 15:25 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
AFP/VOA
Oct 05, 2011
A new study shows high levels of radioactive contamination in the Japanese
city of Fukushima, some 60 km from the site of the world's worst nuclear
disaster in a quarter-century. 2 groups who backed the non-governmental
study, Friends of the Earth Japan and Citizens Against Fukushima Aging Nuclear
Power Plants, linked the findings on Wed to radioactive leaks at the
Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was battered and disabled by a
massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
Researchers urged the government to encourage evacuations from the city,
saying soil contamination measured more than 30 times higher than current
government safety standards at test locations. Government authorities have
not commented on the findings, which were released 2 days ahead of a visit by
a team of nuclear cleanup experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The 12-member IAEA team is expected In Tokyo Fri, and will visit several
locations in Fukushima prefecture during its 9-day stay. The team will also
consult with authorities in Tokyo to review cleanup strategies at and near the
shuttered power plant.
MYREF: 20111006121501 msg201110065306
[234 more news items]
---
Yes, but [Yasi was] not as bad as the cat 5 Mahina in 1899!
And what about 1918 when Qld had TWO CAT 5 CYCLONES!
The more things change the more they stay the same.
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 3 Feb 2011 16:09 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
m
UN
5 Oct 2011
The United Nations atomic energy agency reported today that one of its
safeguards inspectors has been involved in a contamination incident at a
nuclear waste processing facility in Dessel, Belgium.
The incident happened yesterday at the Belgoprocess facility, the UN
International Atomic Energy Agency ([12]IAEA) said, adding that the agencys
staff member was in the company of a European Atomic Energy Community
(Euratom) inspector and a Belgoprocess official carrying out routine
inspection when the exposure occurred.
The 3 individuals evacuated the area and have undergone external
decontamination procedures and medical checks. They are now being assessed to
determine the level of their radiation exposure.
Belgian authorities have reported that the incident area has been sealed off
and no radioactivity has been released to the environment. Decontamination of
the facility is expected to begin soon.
The Incident and Emergency Centre of IAEA is in contact with Belgian officials
to gather information on the exposure to radiation, the nuclear material
involved and other details.
News Tracker:
Nuclear safety action plan endorsed at UN conference in Vienna
Slovenias response in wake of Japanese nuclear accident praised by UN
Talks begin on UN study of health, environmental impacts of Fukushima accident
Iranian nuclear issue can only be resolved via negotiated solution Ban
Stricken nuclear plant to be fully shut down by end of year, Japan tells UN
Related press releases
Geoffrey Shaw of Australia Appointed New Representative of IAEA Director
General to United Nations
MYREF: 20111006220002 msg2011100631382
[235 more news items]
---
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Concentrated Radiation Hot Spots Discovered In Tokyo, Yokohama
WSJ
OCTOBER 12, 2011, 8:10 A.M. ET
Tokyo (Dow Jones)--Japanese researchers have discovered high levels of
radioactive material in concentrated areas in Tokyo and Yokohama, more than
241 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, as increasingly thorough
tests provide a more disturbing picture of just how far contamination has
spread and accumulated after the March disaster. In Tokyo, a sidewalk in
Setagaya Ward in the western part of the city recorded radiation levels of
2.707 microsieverts per hour, about 50 times higher than another location in
Setagaya where the ward regularly monitors radiation levels.
<http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_20_0_t&bvm=grid&topic=blend
ed&sid=609cfde3b170c7b4&usg=AFQjCNHsGsHe8NTeuBwGL9U48M8HADI9Mw&did=8706ba96fd90b
181&sig2=TpPT0_6ulLiGUFpCHpIkvg&cid=17593954309476&ei=SV-WTrjbE4uElQXvZA&rt=HOME
PAGE&vm=STANDARD&authuser=0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FBT-CO-20
111012-706234.html>
MYREF: 20111013153002 msg201110138457
[242 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Kyodo/The Japan Times
Sat, Oct. 22, 2011
FUKUSHIMA -- 2 boys in Fukushima Prefecture have been internally
exposed to the highest levels of radiation among the nearly 4,500
residents who were checked amid the nuclear crisis.
The level of exposure is estimated to be equivalent to 3 millisieverts
during their lifetime, which is not expected to harm their health,
prefectural officials said Thu.
The local government has not disclosed the boys' exact ages, saying
only that they are between 4 and 7 y old.
Both boys are from the town of Futaba, which partly hosts the crippled
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The 2 had the highest levels of
internal exposure among 4,463 residents tested between June 27 and
Sept. 30 in 13 high-risk municipalities, the officials said.
Among others tested, 8 people measured 2 millisieverts, six
registered 1 millisievert and the remaining 4,447 residents had less
than 1 millisievert, they said.
They were tested with whole body counters at either the National
Institute of Radiological Sciences in the city of Chiba or at the Japan
Atomic Energy Agency in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture. Estimates for adults
were calculated to measure accumulated radiation exposure in the coming
50 years, and for children until they reach the age of 70.
In a related development, Japan Atomic Power Co. said Thu that a
21-year-old male worker at the Tsuruga nuclear plant's No. 2 reactor
unit was internally exposed to radiation after possibly wiping his face
with a cloth contaminated with radioactive substances.
The level of exposure was estimated at 1.7 millisieverts for the next
50 years, far below the government-set limit of 50 millisieverts per
year for workers at nuclear-related facilities. It is not expected to
have harmful effects on the man's health, company officials said.
The worker, who was in charge of checking the valves of the unit's
primary coolant system, threw an uncontaminated cloth into a garbage
bag in his work area inside the reactor building, but later stuck his
hand into another garbage bag that contained low-level radioactive
waste, including the contaminated cloth that he is thought to have used
to wipe his face, they said.
Radioactive substances were detected on his face and chest as he was
leaving the facility, and following external decontamination, tests
found radioactive substances inside his abdomen, they said.
The garbage bag with the contaminated cloth was from another building,
and workers are supposed to seal such bags when transporting them
outside each work area.
Japan Atomic Power plans to ensure workers manage waste properly, the
officials said.
MYREF: 20111022200001 msg201110224001
[241 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Richard Carter
AFP
Oct 24 2011
Berlin -- Japan should use a higher rate of mental health problems after the
Fukushima nuclear accident to update outdated attitudes towards depression in
the country, a top health official said Mon.
Speaking at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Shekhar Saxena, from the mental
health division of the World Health Organisation, said the mental aspects of
disasters tended to be ignored in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
"Mental health treatment is needed for almost everyone who is affected by the
disaster," Saxena told a packed audience at the summit. "Unfortunately, some
neglect occurred."
Officials have previously warned of an increase in depression cases in a
country where this illness still carries a stigma largely overcome in the West.
It is only recently that urban areas of Japan have begun to tackle the taboo
surrounding depression, a condition euphemistically known as "heart 'flu" in
the country.
After a disaster such as the Fukushima accident, the prevalence of severe
mental disorders, such as psychosis, increase from 2 to three% of the
population to 3 to 4 percent, said Saxena.
More mild mental disorders like depression increase from one in ten people to
one in five, he added.
Treating such disorders is best done within the community rather than in
medical institutions, he said, arguing for an overhaul of attitudes and the
system in Japan.
"In Japan, mental health care is largely undertaken by specialised
institutions whereas it is more effective if it is undertaken at a community
level," he said.
"We recommend for Japan to utilise the opportunity presented by the disaster
to actually change the system to make it more community-oriented."
Shunichi Fukuhara, from the Kyoto University School of Medicine and Public
Health, told AFP that Japanese people were tending to bottle up their feelings
about the tragedy, making treating them harder.
"It's a real issue in Japan, and throughout Asia, especially among men
... Maybe it's the Samurai spirit. People don't like to admit they are depressed
."
Another expert, Shunichi Yamashita, from Fukushima medical university, said
the tragic war-time history of the Japanese had sparked greater anxiety than
might have been the case elsewhere in the world.
"People in Japan are very much aware of the risks from radiation from the
atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so they worry more," said Yamashita.
Yamashita, who moved from Nagasaki to Fukushima to assist in the response to
the accident, said Japan needed an "unprecedented effort" to monitor the
health impact of the disaster.
He is currently working on a survey of 2 mn people.
"There are uncertainties about the risks of chronic low-dose radiation
exposures for human health but there is no alternative than to take the
responsibility of monitoring the health condition of people around Fukushima."
The March 11 earthquake triggered a tsunami that tore into Japan's northeast
coast, leaving 20k people dead or missing and sparking meltdowns and
explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
It was the world's worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl meltdown and
prompted a raft of health fears, both physical and mental.
MYREF: 20111025170001 msg2011102516275
[254 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Geoff Brumfiel and Nature magazine
Scientific American
Oct 25, 2011
Global radioactivity data challenge Japanese estimates for emissions and point
to the role of spent fuel pools
The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March released far more
radiation than the Japanese government has claimed. So concludes a study1 that
combines radioactivity data from across the globe to estimate the scale and
fate of emissions from the shattered plant.
The study also suggests that, contrary to government claims, pools used to
store spent nuclear fuel played a significant part in the release of the
long-lived environmental contaminant caesium-137, which could have been
prevented by prompt action. The analysis has been posted online for open peer
review by the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
Andreas Stohl, an atmospheric scientist with the Norwegian Institute for Air
Research in Kjeller, who led the research, believes that the analysis is the
most comprehensive effort yet to understand how much radiation was released
from Fukushima Daiichi. "It's a very valuable contribution," says Lars-Erik De
Geer, an atmospheric modeler with the Swedish Defense Research Agency in
Stockholm, who was not involved with the study.
The reconstruction relies on data from dozens of radiation monitoring stations
in Japan and around the world. Many are part of a global network to watch for
tests of nuclear weapons that is run by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty Organization in Vienna. The scientists added data from independent
stations in Canada, Japan and Europe, and then combined those with large
European and American caches of global meteorological data.
Stohl cautions that the resulting model is far from perfect. Measurements
were scarce in the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima accident, and some
monitoring posts were too contaminated by radioactivity to provide reliable
data. More importantly, exactly what happened inside the reactors -- a crucial
part of understanding what they emitted -- remains a mystery that may never be
solved. "If you look at the estimates for Chernobyl, you still have a large
uncertainty 25 y later," says Stohl.
Nevertheless, the study provides a sweeping view of the accident. "They really
took a global view and used all the data available," says De Geer.
Challenging numbers
Japanese investigators had already developed a detailed timeline of events
following the 11 March earthquake that precipitated the disaster. Hours after
the quake rocked the 6 reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, the tsunami arrived,
knocking out crucial diesel back-up generators designed to cool the reactors
in an emergency. Within days, the 3 reactors operating at the time of the
accident overheated and released hydrogen gas, leading to massive
explosions. Radioactive fuel recently removed from a 4th reactor was being
held in a storage pool at the time of the quake, and on 14 March the pool
overheated, possibly sparking fires in the building over the next few days.
But accounting for the radiation that came from the plants has proved
much harder than reconstructing this chain of events. The latest report from
the Japanese government, published in June, says that the plant released 1.5 в
1016 bequerels of caesium-137, an isotope with a 30-year half-life that is
responsible for most of the long-term contamination from the plant. A far
larger amount of xenon-133, 1.1 в 1019 Bq, was released, according to official
government estimates.
MYREF: 20111026151501 msg2011102630846
[245 more news items]
---
QUOTE: Pseudo-scientists use randomness to obfuscate the relationship
between theory and observation. They often give it a pompous,
scientific-sounding name like "natural climatic variation".
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 26 Aug 2011 10:35 +1000
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
[Reminds me of a nuclear worker I met in the US that said his plant had old
FORTRAN software that misplaced the decial point on radiation badge data for 30
years. He was fired after reporting the mistake. In this story the problem
was only missed for 4 years. Amateurs!].
John Spears
The Star
2011/10/26 18:17:00
A system used by 1,769 health care and research workers to measure their
workplace radiation exposure may have under-reported radiation levels since
2008, says the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
The commission says a "calculation error" in the management system used by the
devices is responsible for the low readings.
The errors led to potential under-reporting of radiation doses by 25 to 40 per
cent, the commission says in a letter to Health Canada.
Health Canada operates the National Dosimetry Services or NDS, which manages
the devices.
Patsy Thompson, director general of environment and radiation protection for
the nuclear safety commission, said in an interview it's still not clear what
went wrong.
On paper, it would appear everything was done properly, she said. But a test
last wk turned up the chronic problem.
"We need more information," Thompson said. "That's why we've asked for a
detailed root cause analysis, so we can get to the bottom of this and see
where the failures happened, and why."
The workers affected are employed by 334 different organizations, the
commission says.
It says that a recalculation shows only 3 individuals received doses exceeding
the annual limit.
Those overexposures "are only marginally higher than the limit and well below
levels at which health effects would occur," the commission said in a release.
It has sent a letter to Health Canada, asking the department for "corrective
actions and a root cause analysis related to this event."
Health Canada posted a notice on its website saying it is dealing with the issue
.
"The calculation error has been resolved and a comprehensive review of the
Quality Assurance process will be undertaken in consultations with our
regulator, the Canada Nuclear Safety Commission," it said.
Eric Pellerin, acting director of radiation protection at Health Canada, said
the rings and wristbands worn by the workers took accurate recordings.
But their raw information was fed into a program that used an incorrect
mathematical formula to calculate the workers' actual exposure.
Pellerin said the inaccurate readings weren't noticed for 4 y because all
the readings were well below the regulatory limit set by the nuclear safety comm
ission.
Dosages are read in units called millisieverts, and the safety commission
allows annual exposure of 500 units for workers, for devices worn on the hands
or wrists.
Most of the readings were less than 1/2 the allowable dose, said
Pellerin. Even if the readings had been doubled, he said, most would have
remained under the acceptable guideline figure.
There were no health impacts, he said: "What we're dealing with is more of an
administrative nature."
Thompson of the nuclear safety commission said Health Canada still must offer
a fuller explanation.
She said the dosimetry service submitted its procedures to the nuclear safety
commission, and everything looked adequate on paper.
The procedures included performance tests, she said.
"Performance tests when they are done appropriately would have flagged this
problem," she said.
But it was only last wk that a test result rang alarm bells.
"Until we get the root cause analysis report from the NDS, we don't understand
why the performance tests did not identify this problem," she said.
The nuclear safety commission issues separate licenses for measuring radiation
doses to other institutions using radioactive materials, such as utilities
that operate nuclear power plants.
Thompson said all licensees have been asked to review their tests and
procedures in the light of the results from Health Canada.
Mark Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, who has opposed construction of new
nuclear units at Darlington, said the incident raises question about the
nuclear regulator - which also oversees nuclear power stations.
"The shocking thing here is that no one noticed the mistake for 4 years," he sai
d.
"Waterkeeper is very interested to see who is held accountable for this
mistake. In recent years, we have become increasingly concerned that the CNSC
is lax when it comes to enforcing the rules."
MYREF: 20111027150001 msg2011102728353
[241 more news items]
---
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Jim Cole
AP/ USA TODAY
Oct 26 2011
Chicago - Routine chest X-rays do not prevent lung cancer deaths, not even in
smokers or former smokers, according to a big government study challenging a
once common type of screening.
In the study of more than 150k older Americans, those who had 4 annual
chest X-ray screenings were just as likely to die of lung cancer as
participants who didn't have those tests.
The results from the National Cancer Institute-funded research confirm
previous, smaller X-ray studies. They follow another big study from that
institute favoring a newer, more sophisticated imaging test. That found fewer
lung cancer deaths among current or former heavy smokers who had special CT
imaging scans versus those who had chest X-rays.
CT scans provide much more detailed images than X-rays, and while no major
medical group recommends any type of routine lung cancer screening, several
are preparing new guidelines.
Screening refers to routine tests in people without symptoms; doctors say
chest X-rays are still useful to help diagnose people with lung cancer
symptoms, including a persistent cough or coughing up blood.
Chest X-ray screening for lung cancer was common decades ago, and some doctors
continue to recommend it in smokers and former smokers. The new study results
should put an end to that practice, said Robert Smith, director of cancer
screening at the American Cancer Society.
"No one recommends it but they do occur quite a lot," said Smith, who was not
involved in the study.
The study was released online in the Journal of the American Medical
Association on Wed, when it was presented at an American College of Chest
Physicians meeting in Hawaii. The doctors' group is among those preparing new
lung cancer screening recommendations.
The study's participants were aged 55 to 74 and were tracked for about 13
years. During that time, there were about 1,200 lung cancer deaths in
participants who got X-rays and in those who got usual medical care. That's
equal to about 14 deaths per 10k people each year.
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer; it will be diagnosed this y in
about 220k people nationwide, and more than 1/2 that number will die from lung
cancer, the cancer society estimates.
Less than 1% of never smokers will develop lung cancer in their lifetime. By
contrast, about 18% of current smokers will get the disease by age 75; the
risk is somewhat lower but not zero for former smokers, depending on how long
ago they quit, said Dr Christine Berg, the study's senior author and chief of
the National Cancer Institute's early detection research group.
"We were really hoping chest X-rays might be beneficial," partly because they
are relatively inexpensive -- about $60 versus 100s and sometimes 1000s of
dollars for CT scans, Berg said.
But Smith said the study shows routine chest X-ray screenings in healthy
people without symptoms are "a waste of time," plus they can lead to
false-positive results that may lead to invasive and potentially harmful
tests.
Similar concerns have been raised recently about too-frequent pap tests for
cervical cancer, routine PSA tests for prostate cancer screening, and
excessive mammograms for breast cancer, leading to revised guidelines from the
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
That independent group, which advises the US government, concluded in 2004
that there was no evidence to support any method of routine lung cancer
screening in people without symptoms, including X-rays and CT scans.
It is updating those guidelines based on recent new evidence, including last
year's CT scan vs. chest X-ray study, and will take into account the new X-ray
study, too, said Dr Michael LeFevre, co-vice chairman of the task force and a
family physician at the University of Missouri. That process may take up to 2
years, he said.
Because CT scans also can yield false positive results, it is unlikely any
group will recommend them for screening nonsmokers.
MYREF: 20111027180001 msg201110275651
[240 more news items]
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Japan detects renewed radiation deep inside reactor
Hiroko Tabuchi
NY Times/San Francisco Chronicle
Nov 3, 2011 04:00 AM
Tokyo -- Nuclear workers at the crippled Fukushima power plant raced to inject
boric acid into the plant's No. 2 reactor early Wed after telltale radioactive
elements were detected there, and the plant's owner admitted for the 1st time
that fuel deep inside 3 stricken plants was probably continuing to experience
bursts of fission.
The unexpected bursts - something akin to flare-ups after a major fire - are
extremely unlikely to presage a large-scale nuclear reaction with the
resulting large-scale production of heat and radiation. But they threaten to
increase the amount of dangerous radioactive elements leaking from the complex
and complicate cleanup efforts, raising startling questions about how much
remains uncertain at the plant, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster
since Chernobyl. The Japanese government has said that it plans to bring the
reactors to a stable state known as a "cold shutdown" by the end of the year.
A 12-mile exclusion zone is still in effect around the plant. More than 80k
households were displaced.
MYREF: 20111104013001 msg2011110416307
[241 more news items]
---
right wing rhetoric.
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Kyodo/DJ/Fox Business - The Power to Prosper
Nov 04, 2011
Tokyo (Kyodo)--The Environment Ministry said Fri it will launch a
detailed survey and compile a map on airborne radiation levels in parts
of Fukushima Prefecture most affected by the ongoing nuclear crisis,
with the aim of collecting data for use when drawing up decontamination measures
.
Monitoring work will begin Mon and continue through Feb,
covering mainly residential areas in the no-entry zone within a
20-kilometer (mile) radius of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant as well as other designated evacuation areas with relatively high
radiation levels.
Measurements will be taken at an altitude of around 50 meters by
unmanned helicopters or on the ground by 10 pairs of workers traveling
on foot. Also, monitoring vehicles will travel along roads in
residential areas and suburbs.
The ministry expects to provide an interim report in Dec and a
final report in Mar.
Radioactive substances are still being released by the plant operated
by Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.TO), which has been crippled since
the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Many residents of nearby areas
remain unable to return to their homes.
MYREF: 20111105160001 msg2011110529262
[244 more news items]
---
ISI Web of Science indexed 39,177 publications related to climate change
and global warming between 1970 to 2007.
800 PEER REVIEWED Papers Supporting Skepticism of ManMade Global Warming Alarm
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 19 Dec 2010 12:51 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Wynne Parry
LiveScience
03 Nov 2011
Melanocytes uses a receptor also found in eyes to detect ultraviolet light
Human melanocyte skin cells send out signals, using calcium, when exposed to
ultraviolet light, a key step in producing the protective pigment
melanin. Researchers have found that melanocytes use a light-sensitive
receptor, called rhodopsin, also found in the retinas of our eyes, to detect
certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light.
How the skin knows to start tanning after the sun's rays hit is somewhat of a
mystery. Now researchers have found our skin may be able to "see" the sun's
ultraviolet rays using a light-sensing pigment also found in our eyes.
"As soon as you step out into the sun, your skin knows that it is exposed to
ultraviolet radiation," said senior researcher Elena Oancea, assistant
professor of biology at Brown University. "This is a very fast process, faster
than anything that was known before."
Tanning, or the darkening of skin when exposed to sun, is a protective
response. Melanin, the dark pigment responsible for darkening skin, is
believed to protect skin cells from damage caused by ultraviolet radiation in
sunlight by absorbing the radiation.
Ultraviolet radiation at the Earth's surface comes in 2 flavors: UVA and
UVB. UVB rays have shorter wavelengths, and make up only a small portion of
ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Such rays lead to darkening of the skin
days after exposure. UVB rays are typically linked with DNA damage that can
cause skin cancer, although research has also linked UVA to cancer. UVA rays,
by contrast, have longer wavelengths and are less intense, but account for the
majority of ultraviolet radiation and lead to skin darkening much more
quickly. [Why Skin Cancer Is on the Rise
http://www.livescience.com/8308-skin-cancer-rise.html ].
This study's findings focus on how UVA rays lead to darkening.
Oancea and her team studied the skin cells, called melanocytes, that produce
the protective pigment melanin, and found that the cells also contained
rhodopsin, a pigment previously found only in the retina of the eye where it
detects light. They then examined how rhodopsin in the melanin-producing cells
sends out a signal when exposed to UVA radiation. The signal instigates the
production of melanin, they found.
The team found that after an hour, measurable amounts of melanin had begun
accumulating, which would result in tanning.
The study is detailed in the most recent issue of the journal Current Biology.
MYREF: 20111106150001 msg201111062673
[242 more news items]
---
[A]s a Conservative, I have no tolerance for ambiguity.
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
AP/CBSNews.com
Nov 9, 2011 4:32 PM
Boise, Idaho - Decades-old plutonium powder that escaped its damaged shell is
the main suspect behind a serious incident at the Idaho National Laboratory
that exposed 16 workers to potentially harmful radiation.
US Department of Energy officials and private contractors said Wed they're
closely monitoring 2 workers at the lab in the eastern Idaho desert who had
radioactive material in their lungs.
The 16 employees underwent "initial decontamination" and went home following
the incident Tue, but they've returned to the lab's medical facilities for
additional monitoring and treatment.
They are being offered IV treatments with calcium or zinc, which speeds the
elimination of plutonium from the body.
Lab health director Sharon Dossett says none of the exposed workers are
exhibiting outward symptoms of radiological exposure, so far.
Still, according to lab officials, it may be wk before the extent of the
workers' exposure is known. The health impacts of exposure vary depending on
the type of plutonium.
If the plutonium is released quickly, it's unlikely to cause harm. If it's
trapped in places like the lungs, however, it can lead to cell damage, the lab s
aid.
Deputy lab director David Hill suspects stainless steel cladding that
surrounded plutonium fuel from the 1970s was damaged, beginning a
slow-but-steady process of plutonium oxidation that led to the exposure.
The laboratory has designed and constructed 52 reactors since its founding in
1949 in the desert W of Idaho Falls.
There's still active research at the facility, but 100s of workers are also
cleaning up radioactive waste that's left over from more than 60 y of
activities, including at the Zero Power Physics Reactor.
The employees were working inside the reactor Tue afternoon when the container
holding plutonium was opened. Investigators were at the site trying to
determine what went wrong.
There was no evidence that radiation was released outside the facility, and
there was no risk to the public or the environment, the laboratory said in a sta
tement.
Before the Zero Power Physics Reactor was decommissioned in 1992, researchers
used it to build and test nuclear reactors more cheaply than constructing an
entire power plant.
Last year, cleanup workers had finished removing millions of pounds of steel
and other materials that made up the reactor core, but its shell remains --
along with plutonium fuel that once powered the reactor.
MYREF: 20111111130001 msg2011111129840
[245 more news items]
---
[A]ll science is lies and the only thing we can trust is right wing rhetoric.
Yeah right ... -- 22 Nov 2010 16:41 +1100
Yeah right. -- 27 Nov 2010 15:06 +1100
Yeah right! -- 29 Nov 2010 11:37 +1100
Yeah right -- 1 Jan 2011 14:15 +1100
Yeah right -- 1 Jan 2011 14:48 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 3 Jan 2011 17:53 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 6 Jan 2011 10:57 +1100
Yeah right. -- 7 Jan 2011 10:34 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 9 Jan 2011 00:48 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 10 Jan 2011 12:02 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 10 Jan 2011 17:56 +1100
Yeah right. -- 11 Jan 2011 14:32 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 13 Jan 2011 11:28 +1100
Yeah right! -- 20 Jan 2011 17:59 +1100
Yeah right. -- 21 Jan 2011 15:20 +1100
Yeah right. -- 4 Feb 2011 11:09 +1100
Yeah right! -- 8 Feb 2011 11:27 +1100
Yeah right. -- 21 Feb 2011 15:21 +1100
Yeah right! -- 2 Mar 2011 15:11 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 7 Mar 2011 11:24 +1100
Yeah right ... -- 18 Mar 2011 11:35 +1100
Yeah right! -- 28 Mar 2011 10:58 +1100
Yeah right. -- 1 Apr 2011 11:42 +1100
Yeah right .... -- 10 May 2011 15:00 +1000
Yeah right .... -- 24 May 2011 16:23 +1000
Yeah right .... -- 26 May 2011 11:05 +1000
Yeah right, -- 28 May 2011 21:35 +1000
Yeah right. -- 28 May 2011 22:00 +1000
Yeah right. -- 3 Jun 2011 10:22 +1000
Yeah right ... -- 10 Jun 2011 11:35 +1000
Yeah right -- 20 Jul 2011 10:40 +1000
Yeah right . -- 12 Aug 2011 11:43 +1000
Yeah right. -- 12 Aug 2011 11:49 +1000
Yeah right . -- 12 Aug 2011 14:18 +1000
Yeah right. -- 16 Aug 2011 16:02 +1000
Yeah right ... -- 17 Aug 2011 14:42 +1000
Yeah right! -- 22 Aug 2011 12:05 +1000
Yeah right. -- 30 Aug 2011 12:37 +1000
Yeah right -- 20 Sep 2011 10:44 +1000
Yeah right .... -- 21 Sep 2011 10:59 +1000
Yeah right! -- 28 Sep 2011 16:16 +1000
Yeah right ... -- 4 Oct 2011 12:51 +1100
Yeah right -- 4 Oct 2011 13:48 +1100
Yeah right! -- 18 Oct 2011 15:47 +1100
Yeah right you alarmist whacko! -- 23 Nov 2010 14:31 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Most viewed:
Subspecies of western black rhino now extinct
http://m2.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/subspecies-of-western-black-rhino-
now-extinct-20111111-1na28.html
Climate story emerges from purple haze
http://m2.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/climate-story-emerges-from-purpl
e-haze-20111110-1n9k7.html
Public cool rooms suggested for future heatwaves
http://m2.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/public-cool-rooms-suggested-for-
future-heatwaves-20111110-1n9k9.html
Chemical plant will stay closed after leak
http://m2.smh.com.au/environment/chemical-plant-will-stay-closed-after-leak-2011
1110-1n9it.html
Philip Dorling
smh.com.au
Nov 12, 2011
Maralinga clean up
More than a decade after the Howard government hailed the clean-up of
Maralinga as completed, the government is continuing to support remediation at
the former British nuclear weapons test site.
Confidential files released under freedom-of-information laws show Canberra
officials have at times been mainly concerned with "perceptions" of
radioactive contamination while rejecting a request by the Maralinga Tjarutja
Aboriginal community for a site near the Maralinga village to be cleared of
high levels of contamination. Files released by the Department of Resources,
Energy and Tourism show erosion of the massive Taranaki burial trench N of
Maralinga, described by officials as "a large radioactive waste repository",
has required significant remediation. Other burial pits have been subject to
subsidence and erosion, exposing asbestos-contaminated debris.
While the documents indicate "no radiological contamination of groundwater"
has been detected, the government has been obliged, under its 2009 agreement
with Maralinga Tjarutja for the handback of the test site, to initiate further
work.
The Taranaki trench was used to bury radioactive debris and soil, mainly from
numerous "minor trials" - British nuclear weapons safety and development
experiments - that between 1956 and 1963 caused the heaviest radioactive contami
nation.
A brief prepared in April for the Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin
Ferguson, questioned the capacity of the Maralinga Tjarutja to manage the site.
The files show the government declined requests by the Maralinga Tjarutja to
clean up the trials site closest to the village.
The "Kuli" site, E of the airstrip, was used to conduct 262 trials, which
dispersed 7.4 tonnes of uranium into the environment.
While a partial clean-up in 1998 removed some larger uranium fragments,
reports released under freedom of information show surveys in late 2001 and
early 2002 found the spread of fragments was much greater than assessed.
The contamination was not assessed as a radiological hazard but the uranium
toxicity prompted consultations on a clean-up of the site, and the Maralinga
Tjarutja expressed concern about a risk to children playing on the ground.
Federal officials were more concerned that adults could wrongly interpret the
yellow uranium fragments as meaning the site was radioactively contaminated,
"which could create an image issue".
Alan Parkinson, a retired nuclear engineer and whistleblower who questioned
the management of the clean-up, yesterday said the remediation had only been
partial and "the remarkable thing really, is how little [radioactive material]
we buried".
MYREF: 20111112070001 msg2011111212818
[241 more news items]
---
the views of scientists that actually accept AGW].
Well said Freeman!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 28 Feb 2011 16:35 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
To the fury of locals, a buried cache of radioactive WWII munitions could see
Dalgety Bay in Fife become Britain's 1st nuclear no-go zone. Jonathan Brown
visits the scene of an explosive row
Jonathan Brown
The Independent
Sat 12 Nov 2011
Latest in Home News:
Stalking - in person or online - to be made an offence
Tax charges could destroy Redknapp England dream
May 'allowed 500 criminals in'
Lord Mayor runs the gauntlet of protesters who want him gone
Job threat to wounded troops mars Armistice
Dale Farm evictees seek re-homing ruling
When Winston Churchill visited Dalgety Bay in Oct 1940 he paid tribute to the
hard work and sacrifice of the men and women engaged in the war effort there.
Over the next 5 y 40 squadrons were trained or re-equipped at the Royal Naval
air base in Fife while 7k aircraft were refuelled and repaired.
Until last m that wartime record had been a matter of quiet pride to the
suburban community that has sprung up in the peacetime decades on the Firth of
Forth.
But 2 significant finds of radium-226 - left behind by the hasty disposal of
aircraft parts on the foreshore following the decommissioning of the base in
1959 - has pitched local people into an increasingly acrimonious battle with
the Ministry of Defence.
Now the affluent Edinburgh commuter town which boasts Gordon Brown, the former
Prime Minister, as its MP, is facing up to the fact it could become the 1st
place in the United Kingdom to be designated radioactive contaminated land.
Strolling along a small patch of beach closed off to the public because of the
potential health risk, Colin McPhail, a retired civil engineer, points out
areas of ash uncovered by a storm last winter.
"Over the y since it was discovered there has been concern but everyone has
lived with it. But we have to sort this out now. We don't want this to be a
legacy for the next generation to deal with," he says.
The 1st radium particles were found in 1990 by scientists monitoring the
nearby nuclear submarine base at Rosyth. No link was established with the
base, but instead with the off-shore dumping ground where the incinerated
remnants of up to 166 aircraft including American Wildcat fighters and the
legendary Seafires were interred.
Paint that was used to make the planes' instruments glow in the dark was
immediately suspected and for the past 21 y the situation has been monitored,
with an average of 100 tiny particles a y being discovered on the beach at the
end of Mr McPhail's road.
But this wk the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) said that 468
particles had been discovered since September.
Two of the discoveries - including a large lump of metal - were 10 times more
radioactive than anything previously found.
One has been removed while another remains in place on the beach - an area
which is home to an internationally successful sailing school and popular with
hikers completing the Fife coastal path.
Now local people are starting to worry about what exactly the effects of
radium-226, which has a 1/2 life of 1,600 years, might be.
Mr McPhail, who is leading negotiations with the MoD on behalf of the
community, produced an email from a local woman who said she had lived in
Dalgety Bay since childhood, played on the beach, and until recently walked
her dog there.
She said: "This y I was treated for breast cancer, and 2 other mothers from my
son's primary class are now being treated for breast cancer too. Also I'm
aware of 6 other people having cancer and they all walked along the beach with
their dogs. I have concerns in respect for my children and others if this
radiation is causing it."
According to the Health Protection Agency the particles have not led to an
increase in detectible background radiation. A study covering the period
1975-2002 showed cancer rates among the local population were normal, although
NHS Fife is seeking to update the study.
Until now those using the beach had been advised to wash their hands after
going there.
Mr McPhail believes the cost of the clear-up could be £2m.
Helen Eadie, the local MSP and resident of Dalgety Bay, said there had been a
change in the Ministry of Defence's attitude since the budget
cuts. "Understandably the community is anxious. There is a real sense of anger
that the Ministry of Defence is the partner here that is doing the least to
address the concerns of the community," she said.
"If it is designated it will be the only land in the UK with that designation,
and once that decision has been made there is no stepping back no matter how
much remediation is done," she said. Ms Eadie now wants testing of local homes
which had previously been given the all clear.
An MoD spokesman said: "The MoD is considering how best to assist Sepa with
the recovery and removal of the source of significant radioactivity and is
awaiting further information from Sepa."
MYREF: 20111113130001 msg2011111331867
[242 more news items]
---
warming is due to mankind, and how much more we can expect in the
future, depends upon something called "climate sensitivity". This is
the temperature response of the Earth to a given amount of `radiative
forcing', of which there are two kinds: a change in either the amount
of sunlight absorbed by the Earth, or in the infrared energy the Earth
emits to outer space.
-- Dr Roy W. Spencer, "Global Warming", 2008
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
The readings at the Fukushima Medical University close to the damaged nuclear
power plant make grim reading
kfc
Technology Review [MIT]
11/14/2011
Today, an insight into the conditions in the region surrounding the Fukushima
Nuclear Power plant soon after the magnitude 9 earthquake and resultant
tsunami which caused the reactors to explode.
Fukushima Medical University sits some 60 km northwest of the power
station. In the run up to the accident, a physicist at the university, Tsuneo
Konayashi, had been measuring the background levels of gamma radiation, the
numbers of secondary particles from cosmic ray impacts and the amount of radon
in the atmosphere.
So when the accident struck, Konayashi and his colleagues were in a good
position to measure exactly how things changed.
First, the background levels of gamma radiation changed little immediately
after the earthquake but then spiked, reaching 9.3 times the usual levels on
16 March, 5 days after the quake and just hours after a hydrogen explosion
occurred at the plant That's a level of 11.9 micro Seiverts per hour.
By August, Konayshi says the levels had dropped to 1.5 times the usual levels.
Indoor levels were significantly lower. The Japanese Self-Defense Force
screened people entering the university and anyone with more than 10k counts
per minute had to be decontaminated at separate decontamination tent before
entering the campus.
"The maximum value found was 100k cpm," says Konayashi. That's a significant
level of contamination but it's not possible to say exactly how high because
the number of counts for a given level of radiation depends on the measuring
apparatus. Other news reports on the web mention a worker at the plant who was
sprayed with highly radioactive water while moving a hose leading to readings
of 100k cpm.
Konayashi says his data can best be explained by fitting it to a model in
which there are 2 types of radiation with short and long 1/2 lives. The best
fit is for short-lived isotopes, such as iodine-131, that decay with an
average 1/2 life of about 3.6 days, and with the longer-lived ones, such as
cesium-134 and strontium-90, having a 1/2 life of 181 days.
The radon levels were unaffected in most places. However, the levels rose
appreciably in some indoor locations because the university had reduced
ventilation to prevent radioisotopes from entering the building and this also
prevented the radon from escaping.
In some places the levels rose to 250 becquerels per cubic metre,
almost double the maximum allowable levels in the US. These places had
to be sealed off from normal use.
Curiously, the cosmic ray measurements decreased slightly soon after the
accident, a phenomenon that Konayashi puts down to an increase in atmospheric
pressure which would have shielded the ground from these particles.
During the 1st few months, Konayashi says he was distributing his data round
the campus on a daily basis, to let people know whether there had been further
leaks at the plant.
Konayashi says efforts to monitor radiation are ongoing and look likely to
continue for the foreseeable future.
We wish them well.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1111.2395: Radiation Measurements At The Campus Of
Fukushima Medical University Through 2011 Off The Pacific Coast of Tohoku
Earthquake And Subsequent Nuclear Power Plant Crisis
http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.2395
TRSF: Read the Best New Science Fiction inspired by today's emerging technologie
s.
https://subscribe.technologyreview.com/pr/mit/purchase.aspx?CO=MI&PNO=MTTRSF1&cm
p=TRSF_arxiv
MYREF: 20111115070002 msg2011111526798
[241 more news items]
---
You whackos just keep changing your "predictions" to suit reality!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 16 Feb 2011 15:57 +1100
T. Keating
<ro...@kymhorsell.dyndns.org> wrote:
Crossposting to usenet groups reduced..
on gamma emissions).
Beta decay isotopes pose several issues when trying to accurately
measure them in some other material.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fission_product
Strontium-90 has a half life of 28.8 years. (beta decays into
Zirconium, no gamma compnents)
Cesium-134 has a half life of 2.065 years. (mostly beta decay).
Cesium-137 has a half life of 30 years.. (10%Beta + 100%Gamma decay
modes).
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Farmland in parts of Japan is no longer safe because of high levels of
radiation in the soil, scientists have warned, as the country struggles to
recover from the Fukushima atomic disaster.
Telegraph.co.uk
1:33PM GMT 15 Nov 2011
A team of international researchers said food production would likely be
"severely impaired" by the elevated levels of caesium found in soil samples
across eastern Fukushima in the wake of meltdowns at the tsunami-hit plant.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
journal, suggests farming in neighbouring areas may also suffer because of
radiation, although levels discovered there were within legal limits.
"Fukushima prefecture as a whole is highly contaminated," especially to the
northwest of the nuclear power plant, the researchers said.
The study looked at caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 y and therefore
affects the environment for decades.
The legal limit for concentrations in soil where rice is grown of the sum of
caesium-134 and caesium-137, which are always produced together, is 5k
becquerels per kilogram (2.2 pounds) in Japan.
Related Articles
* Cameras film inside Fukushima ruins 12 Nov 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8885778/Japan-opens-doors-t
o-crippled-Fukushima-nuclear-plant.html
* Japan exits recession triggered by March earthquake 14 Nov 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8887894/Japan-exits-recession-trigg
ered-by-March-earthquake.html
"The E Fukushima prefecture exceeded this limit and some neighbouring
prefectures such as Miyagi, Tochigi and Ibaraki are partially close to the
limit under our upper-bound estimate," the study said.
"Estimated and observed contaminations in the western parts of Japan were not
as serious, even though some prefectures were likely affected to some extent,"
it added.
"Concentration in these areas are below 25 becquerels per kilogram, which is
far below the threshold for farming. However, we strongly recommend each
prefecture to quickly carry out some supplementary soil samplings at city
levels to validate our estimates."
The study said "food production in eastern Fukushima prefecture is likely
severely impaired by the caesium-137 loads of more than 2,500 becquerels per
kilogram".
It is also likely production is "partially impacted in neighbouring provinces
such as Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Niigata, Tochigi, Ibaraki and Chiba where
values of more than 250 becquerels per kilogram cannot be excluded", it said.
The study was led by Teppei Yasunari of the Universities Space Research
Association in the US state of Maryland.
He and his team used daily observations in each Japanese prefecture and
computer-simulated particle dispersion models based on weather patterns.
Japan has been on alert for the impact of radiation since an earthquake and
resulting tsunami struck the northeast of the country on March 11, crippling
resulting in the leaking of radiation into the air, oceans and food chain.
Shipments of a number of farm products from the affected regions were halted
and even those that were not subject to official controls have found little
favour with Japanese consumers wary of the potential health effects.
An official in charge of soil examination for the agriculture ministry said
government tests had been conducted on soil in Fukushima and 5 other
prefectures earlier this year.
He said contamination levels in Fukushima had exceeded 5k becquerels per
kilogram, but were below that level elsewhere.
"We are now conducting further checks covering 3k spots in Tokyo and 14
prefectures and plan to publish the results later," he said.
MYREF: 20111116124501 msg2011111611301
[243 more news items]
---
Scientists [and kooks] are always changing their story and as a Conservative, I
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 14 Jan 2011 14:46 +1100
True science, (remember that?) can be trusted, but this "science" is ALL LIES!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 19 Feb 2011 14:46 +1100
Mr Posting Robot v2.1
BONZO@27-32-240-172 [numerous nyms] wrote:
>[Aussie coal lobby spin]
Shingo Ito
Nov 16 2011
Tokyo (AFP) -- Japan on Thu announced its 1st ban on rice produced near the
crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant after samples showed radioactive
contamination well above legal limits.
The findings will further worry nervous consumers, already fretting over the
safety of domestic produce, despite its previous solid safety reputation.
Authorities in Fukushima prefecture say rice produced near the stricken atomic
power plant contained caesium they measured at 630 becquerels per kilogram
(2.2 pounds). The government safety limit is 500 becquerels.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura ordered Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato
to restrict shipments of rice from Onami -- from where the samples were
sourced -- according to an agricultural ministry official.
"This restriction won't be lifted until safety of the rice produced in the
area can be confirmed," the official said, adding that the ban will affect 154
farms that produced 192 tonnes of rice this year.
It is the 1st ban on rice shipments since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant was damaged by a massive quake and tsunami on March 11, when cooling
systems failed and radiation was spewed into the air, oceans and food chain.
While the natural disaster claimed 20k lives, the nuclear emergency has
recorded no direct casualties, but it has badly dented the reputation of a
technology on which Japan previously depended for a 3rd of its electricity.
Bans on food following the crisis are nothing new but rice -- eaten three
times a day in many homes -- holds a special place in the Japanese heart.
Japanese-grown grain is widely held to be superior to imports, and is heavily
protected by massive tariffs aimed partially at propping up the nation's
ageing farmers.
The polluted samples were taken at a farm in Onami, 57 km (35 miles) northwest
of the troubled plant.
None of the 840 kilogrammes of rice produced at the farm this y has been
shipped to markets, local officials said.
The price of rice produced before the disaster temporarily shot up in the
summer as people rushed to stock up over fears this year's harvest would be
contaminated. Prices have since stabilised.
A team of international researchers this wk said elevated levels of caesium in
soil in the region would "severely impair" food production in eastern Fukushima.
The study, published in the US-based Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences journal, suggested farming in neighbouring areas could also suffer
because of radiation.
Shipments of a number of farm products from affected regions were halted as the
crisis unfolded and even those that were not subject to official controls have
.
fish sold at Japanese supermarkets, although radiation levels were still well
below the government safety limit of 500 becquerels.
According to its own research carried out between Oct 12 and Nov 8 in eastern
Japan, 47.3 becquerels of cesium per kilogramme were discovered in cod while
traces of radiation were also found in other fish, including tuna.
MYREF: 20111118000001 msg2011111817287
[242 more news items]
---
I always thought faremers were a gullible bunch!
-- BONZO@27-32-240-172 [daily nymshifter], 9 Feb 2011 12:09 +1100