Radiation in Milk,Water in 13 US cities.On Line Radiation Monitor US.

Radiation from Japan has been detected in drinking water in 13 more American cities, and cesium-137 has been found in American milk—in Montpelier, Vermont—for the first time since the Japan nuclear disaster began, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency late Friday.

Milk samples from Phoenix and Los Angeles contained iodine-131 at levels roughly equal to the maximum contaminant level permitted by EPA, the data shows. The Phoenix sample contained 3.2 picoCuries per liter of iodine-131. The Los Angeles sample contained 2.9. The EPA maximum contaminant level is 3.0, but this is a conservative standarddesigned to minimize exposure over a lifetime, so EPA does not consider these levels to pose a health threat.

The cesium-137 found in milk in Vermont is the first cesium detected in milk since the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear accident occurred last month. The sample contained 1.9 picoCuries per liter of cesium-137, which falls under the same 3.0 standard.

Radioactive isotopes accumulate in milk after they spread through the atmosphere, fall to earth in rain or dust, and settle on vegetation, where they are ingested by grazing cattle. Iodine-131 is known to accumulate in

the thyroid gland, where it can cause cancer and other thyroid diseases. Cesium-137 accumulates in the body’s soft tissues, where it increases risk of cancer, according to EPA.

Airborne contamination continues to cross the western states, the new data shows, and Boise has seen the highest concentrations of radioactive isotopes in rain so far.

A rainwater sample collected in Boise on March 27 contained 390 picocures per liter of iodine-131, plus 41 of cesium-134 and 36 of cesium-137. EPA released this result for the first time yesterday. Typically several days pass between sample collection and data release because of the time required to collect, transport and analyze the samples.

Radioactive Iodine-131 was found in drinking water samples from 13 cities. Those cities are listed below, with the amount of Iodine-131 in picocuries per liter. The EPA’s maximum contaminant level for Iodine-131 in drinking water is 3 picocuries per liter.

• Oak Ridge, TN collected 3/28: 0.63
• Oak Ridge, TN collected at three sites 3/29: 0.28, 0.20, 0.18
• Chatanooga, TN collected 3/28: 1.6
• Helena, MT collected 3/28: 0.18
• Columbia, PA collected 3/29: 0.20
• Cincinatti, OH collected 3/28: 0.13
• Pittsburgh, PA collected 3/28: 0.36
• East Liverpool, OH collected 3/30: 0.42
• Painesville, OH collected 3/29: 0.43
• Denver, CO  collected 3/30: 0.17
• Detroit, MI collected 3/31: 0.28
• Trenton, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
• Waretown, NJ collected 3/31: 0.38
• Muscle Shoals, AL collected 3/31: 0.16

Precipitation

In the data released Friday, iodine-131 was found in rainwater samples from the following locations:

• Salt Lake City, UT collected 3/17: 8.1

• Boston, MA collected 3/22: 92
• Montgomery, Alabama collected 3/30: 3.7
• Boise, ID collected 3/27: 390

As reported above, the Boise sample also contained 42 pC/m3 of Cesium-134, and 36 of Cesium-137.

Air

In the most recent data, iodine-131 was found in air filters in the following locations. In the case of air samples, the radiation is measured in picoCuries per cubic meter.

• Montgomery, AL collected 3/31: 0.055
• Nome AK collected 3/30: 0.17
• Nome AK collected 3/29: 0.36
• Nome AK collected 3/27: 0.36
• Nome AK collected 3/26: 0.46
• Nome AK collected 3/25: 0.26
• Juneau AKcollected 3/26: 0.43
• Juneau AK collected 3/27: 0.38
• Juneau AK collected 3/30: 0.28
• Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/30: 0.14

• Dutch Harbor AK collected 3/29: 0.11
• Dutch Harbor AK colleccted 3/26: 0.21
• Boise, ID collected 3/27: 0.22
• Boise, ID collected 3/29: 0.27
• Boise, ID collected 3/28: 0.32
• Las Vegas NV collected 3/28: 0.30
• Las Vegas, NV collected 3/30:: 0.088
• Las Vegas, NV collected 3/29: 0.044

No other types of isotopes were found in the most recent data from air samples, even though EPA is also on the lookout for barium-140, cobalt-60, cesium-134, cesium-136, cesium-137, iodine-132, iodine-133, tellurium-129, and tellurium-132.

In older samples, isotopes of cesium and tellurium were found in Boise; Las Vegas; Nome and Dutch Harbor; Honolulu, Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii; Anaheim, Riverside, San Francisco, and San Bernardino, California; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida; Salt Lake City, Utah; Guam, and Saipan on the Marina Islands.

http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/04/09/radiation-detected-in-drinking-water-in-13-more-us-cities-cesium-137-in-vermont-milk/

Online Radiation Detector-Click on the Link below.

Only detectors with readings in the last 24 hours are displayed
Note that these are generally run by individuals, and not all readings may be accurate. Do not panic because you see a high reading. Someone could be getting invalid readings.
Also note that readings do fluctuate over time, this is normal for geiger counters. See Variations in Geiger Counter Readings

• http://www.blackcatsystems.com/RadMap/map.html
  

• US Radiation Monitoring Sites.
• http://www.epa.gov/radiation/rert/radnet-data-map.html
  

Sustained Radiation Spike in Washington.Video.

 

Air monitoring stations, Washington State Department of Health, April 4, 2011:

…The chart shows radiations measures known as “gross beta,” a term that refers to all radioactive materials that emit beta radiation. Gross beta measurements are used because they give us the fastest indication of any change in radiation levels. They’re measured in “counts per minute.” …

Read the report here.

Notice the average daily reading for Richland, WA on March 31. (Richland was one of just two cities in the U.S. where the E.P.A. found radioactive particles in drinking water)

 

RICHLAND — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found radiation in Richland tap water. Only two spots in the whole country where it was found: Richland and Boise. Should you be worried? No scare tactics here, KEPR is digging for facts.

It’s a frightening headline at face value: knowing contamination from Japan has finally made its way here. Action News looks at the reality behind the radiation results.

On the surface it sounds bad, of the 50 cities in the country the feds tested, only two popped up with trace amounts of radiation in drinking water and one of those is Richland.

But how much radiation are we actually talking about? KEPR discovered one of the foremost radiation specialists in the nation lives in the Tri-Cities.

“0.23 picocuries per liter doesn’t scare me very much. Because it is so very, very little,” said Antone Brooks.

Brooks knows what he’s talking about, he’s devoted his life to finding out how nuclear fallout spreads.

The EPA says a baby would have to drink 7,000 liters to get a dose of radiation equal to what we’re exposed to in the world every day.

So why did Richland test positive for Iodine-131? KEPR asked the EPA speaking with headquarters through a media conference call.

A spokesperson says they are looking at weather patterns as a possibility of why it turned up in Boise and Richland.

Video Link.

http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/119295429.html?video=pop&t=a

 

http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/119295429.html

http://current.com/17tr94c

 

 

Japan Searches for Clues to Store Radioactive Water.

We have been dealing with Nuclear Technology without knowing the full implications of it.

Now the situation is serious and we are debating  as to how to dispose of Contamination.

Learn to use less power and shut down Nuclear Plants,it is not worth our lives.

With operations to pump out massive amounts of contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant running into trouble, new ideas surfaced Wednesday to move the effort forward, including storing the tainted water in tankers and covering the reactor sites with fabric shrouds.

“To stabilize the situation at the plant and keep radioactive contamination at a minimum, we are asking experts to consider various” methods, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110331a2.html

While many ideas are under consideration, no concrete decisions have been made, he said.

One of the ideas being mulled would be to cover the walls and ceilings of the reactor buildings damaged in explosions with special fabric capable of containing radiation.

However, the feasibility of the proposed ideas had yet to be studied.

 

Related:

Radiology experts from Greenpeace urged the government Wednesday to expand the evacuation zone around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant after they found high levels of radiation outside the 20-km mandatory no-go zone.

 

Jan van de Putte, the radioactivity safety adviser of the NGO, said the survey, taken on a road between the villages of Iitate and Tsushima in Fukushima Prefecture, saw a radiation level of 100 microsieverts per hour, despite being outside of the evacuation area.

This contrasts with the 7.86 microsieverts per hour measured in Iitate by the Fukushima Prefectural Government on Wednesday afternoon.

One would reach the annual limit of 1,000 microsieverts — or 1 millisievert — of radiation as set by international radiation authorities in about 10 hours in such an environment, van de Putte said, adding it is likely residents of Iitate, about 9 km outside the no-go zone, “have surpassed that level” already.

The team of experts at Greenpeace said they conducted their monitoring Saturday and Sunday, and found proof radioactivity hasn’t spread evenly from the reactors.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/maihttp://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110331a1.htmll/

Plutonium traces in Japan, Korea, Philipines,China,AustraliaUK.

Plutonium that may have come from a reactor core at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was detected in soil on the premises, indicating fuel rods suffered heavy damage, Tokyo Electric Power Co. has revealed.

Although Tepco said late Monday the amount detected, based on soil samples taken a week ago, is extremely small and not enough to harm human health, the latest finding indicated not just heavy damage to fuel rods but also that strong radioactive materials may be leaking from at least one reactor containment vessel.

A Tepco spokesman told reporters Tuesday the utility will continue to monitor plutonium levels in the soil in the plant but has no plans to expand its checks to beyond the premises for the time being.

“Plutonium is emitted only when the temperature (inside a reactor’s core) is really high. That shows how badly (the fuel rods) were damaged and how serious this accident is,” Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama said Tuesday. “Still, the amount is not an immediate threat to human health.”

According to Tepco, the plutonium levels were around the same as those detected in Japan after the United States and the Soviet Union conducted nuclear tests in the past.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110330a1.html

Radioactive material originating from the troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan has been detected at various sites in the UK – almost 6,000 miles away.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said Tuesday that an air sampler in Glasgow had recorded the presence of radioactive iodine 131 associated with events at the quake-stricken Fukushima nuclear facility. However, radiation levels were “extremely low” and should not cause any concern amongst the public.

The measured radiation level of 300 micro-becquerels per cubic metre is much lower than the natural background radiation dose in the UK and poses no harm.

The measurements were consistent with those made at other stations including one in Oxfordshire as well as locations across Europe such as Iceland and Switzerland.

The UK’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) confirmed the current radiation levels were safe. “The dose received from inhaling air with these measured levels of iodine 131 is minuscule and would be very much less than the annual background radiation dose”, the agency said in a statement. However, it added that levels of radioactive iodine “may rise in the coming days and weeks” – but clarified the concentration would still be significantly below any level that would pose a health risk.

http://www.onenewspage.co.uk/news/UK/20110329/20925141/Radiation-from-Fukushima-nuclear-plant-found-in-the.htm

Seoul, South Korea, March 29, 2011 /WNCNews/ – Nuclear radiation from Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan continues to expand. After the Chinese authorities found traces of nuclear radiation from Fukushima, Japan in some areas in China, traces of radioactive iodine were also found in Seoul and other areas in South Korea.

Even, South Korean authorities have also begun to conduct examination to the fish caught in waters of the country.

The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) claimed to have detected traces of iodine-131 in Seoul and seven other places in South Korea. According to the South Korean agency, the amount of radioactivity which was found is very small so that it does not pose a risk to public health or the environment.

South Korean authorities have begun to examine the fish that were caught in to ensure the possibility of nuclear radiation contamination.

“No traces of radiation found so far in our fish or fish imported from Japan,” said a South Korean Agriculture Ministry official told AFP news agency on Tuesday (3/29).

He said that the South Korean government is currently testing the fish once a week. But, the frequency will be increased if the nuclear crisis in Japan continues to deteriorate.

http://www.worldnewsco.com/5148/nuclear-radiation-from-japan-also-detected-in-south-korea/

Small amounts of radiation from Japan’s leaking Fukushima nuclear plant have spread across Asia.

But authorities say the traces are so small they pose no risk to human health.

The governments of China, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam have all reported that radiation from the Fukushima plant has drifted over their territories.

Traces have even drifted all the way to the United States, with rainwater in Ohio found to have been contaminated.

Each government says there is no risk at all to human health due to the low levels.

Chinese authorities have turned away a Japanese ship after detecting abnormal levels of radiation onboard.

http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201103/3177073.htm?desktop

Japan Radioactive Water.How to Dispose it?Video.

 

Storage Tunnel.

 

 

But how to dispose of  irradiated water?

I have not been able to find information.

Nor people are sure about dumping nuclear waste into the sea.

TOKYO – Workers discovered new pools of radioactive water leaking from Japan’s crippled nuclear complex, officials said Monday, as emergency crews struggled to pump out hundreds of tons of contaminated water and bring the plant back under control.

Officials believe the contaminated water has sent radioactivity levels soaring at the coastal complex, and caused more radiation to seep into soil and seawater.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, was crippled March 11 when a tsunami spawned by a powerful earthquake slammed into Japan’s northeastern coast. The huge wave engulfed much of the complex, and destroyed the crucial power systems needed to cool the complex’s nuclear fuel rods.

Since then, three of the complex’s six units are believed to have partially melted down, and emergency crews have struggled with everything from malfunctioning pumps to dangerous spikes in radiation that have forced temporary evacuations.

Confusion at the plant has intensified fears that the nuclear crisis will last weeks, months or years amid alarms over radiation making its way into produce, raw milk and even tap water as far away as Tokyo.

The troubles at the Fukushima complex have eclipsed Pennsylvania‘s 1979 crisis at Three Mile Island, when a partial meltdown raised fears of widespread radiation release, but is still well short of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed at least 31 people with radiation sickness, raised long-term cancer rates, and spewed radiation for hundreds of miles (kilometers).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake

How to dispose Nuclear Waste.

 

Photo Used With Permission of Joseph Gonyeau. Original Source: Virtual Nuclear Tourist

 

 

The spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor are the most radioactive of all nuclear wastes. When all the radiation given off by nuclear waste is tallied, the fuel rods give off 99% of it, in spite of having relatively small volume. There is, as of now, no permanent storage site of spent fuel rods. Temporary storage is being used while a permanent site is searched for and prepared.

When the spent fuel rods are removed from the reactor core, they are extremely hot and must be cooled down. Most nuclear power plants have a temporary storage pool next to the reactor. The spent rods are placed in the pool, where they can cool down. The pool is not filled with ordinary water but with boric acid, which helps to absorb some of the radiation given off by the radioactive nuclei inside the spent rods. The spent fuel rods are supposed to stay in the pool for only about 6 months, but, because there is no permanent storage site, they often stay there for years. Many power plants have had to enlarge their pools to make room for more rods. As pools fill, there are major problems. If the rods are placed too close together, the remaining nuclear fuel could go critical, starting a nuclear chain reaction. Thus, the rods must be monitored and it is very important that the pools do not become too crowded. Also, as an additional safety measure, neutron-absorbing materials similar to those used in control rods are placed amongst the fuel rods. Permanent disposal of the spent fuel is becoming more important as the pools become more and more crowded.

Dry Cask Storage Containers .

Another method of temporary storage is now used because of the overcrowding of pools. This is called dry storage (as opposed to “wet” storage which we outlined above). Basically, this entails taking the waste and putting it in reinforced casks or entombing it in concrete bunkers. This is after the waste has already spent about 5 years cooling in a pool. The casks are also usually located close to the reactor site.

Permanent Fuel Storage/Disposal:

There are many ideas about what to do with nuclear waste. The low-level (not extremely radioactive) waste can often be buried near the surface of the earth. It is not very dangerous and usually will have lost most of its radioactivity in a couple hundred years. The high-level waste, comprised mostly of spent fuel rods, is harder to get rid of. There are still plans for its disposal, however. Some of these include burying the waste under the ocean floor, storing it underground, and shooting it into space. The most promising option so far is burying the waste in the ground. This is called “deep geological disposal”. Because a spent fuel rod contains material that takes thousands of years to become stable (and non-radioactive), it must be contained for a very long time. If it is not contained, it could come in contact with human population centers and wildlife, posing a great danger to them. Therefore, the waste must be sealed up tightly. Also, if the waste is being stored underground, it must be stored in an area where there is little groundwater flowing through. If ground water does flow through a waste storage site, it could erode the containment canisters and carry waste away into the environment. Additionally, a disposal site must be found with little geological activity. We don’t want to put a waste disposal site on top of a fault line, where 1000 years in the future an earthquake will occur, releasing the buried waste into the environment.

The waste will probably be encapsulated in large casks designed to withstand corrosion, impacts, radiation, and temperature extremes. Special casks will also have to be used to transfer fuel rods from their holding pools and dry storage areas next to the reactor to the permanent geological storage site.

http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/nuclear_waste_storage/nuclear_waste_storage.html

Related:

Highly radioactive iodine seeping from Japan’s damaged nuclear complex may be making its way into seawater farther north of the plant than previously thought, officials say, adding to radiation concerns as the crisis stretches into a third week.

Mounting problems, including badly miscalculated radiation figures and no place to store dangerously contaminated water, have stymied emergency workers struggling to cool down the overheating plant and avert a disaster with global implications.

The coastal Fukushima Daiichi power plant, 220 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, has been leaking radiation since a magnitude-9.0 quake on March 11 triggered a tsunami that engulfed the complex. The wave knocked out power to the system that cools the dangerously hot nuclear fuel rods.

On Monday, workers resumed the laborious yet urgent task of pumping out the hundreds of tons of radioactive water inside several buildings at the six-unit plant. The water must be removed and safely stored before work can continue to power up the plant’s cooling system, nuclear safety officials said. That process alone could take weeks, experts say.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/03/28/japan-mon-troubles.html?ref=rss