Large Wildfires in the West Burn Homes, Force More Evacuations

Wesern U-S: Red Flag Warnings as dangerous fires burn more homes, force more evacuations

Fire crews are tackling several large wildfires in the West as weather conditions continue to remain dangerous through the week, reported NWS. “Strong thunderstorms in this region will create gusty winds that could spread fires, and lightning from these storms could start new fires. The greatest fire danger exists from northern California across the Great Basin to the Northern Rockies.”

Red Flag Warnings in the West, other Warnings, Watches and Advisories for August 21, 2013. Source: NWS. Map enhanced by FIRE-EARTH.

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California Fire forces evacuation of campgrounds, threatens 2,500 homes

Hundreds of people at three Sierra camp–Camp Towanga, Spinning Wheel and Sawmill campgrounds–along Highway 120 were evacuated Tuesday as a fast-moving wildfire raged out of control west of Yosemite National Park, said a report.

The 10,170-acre Rim Fire, which began Saturday August 17, is burning in the Stanislaus National Forest east of Groveland, Tuolumne County. The blaze has destroyed at least two homes and threatens another 2,500, said  the USFS.

Rim Fire Burning Near Groveland Ranger Station. Credit: Stanislaus National Forest/ USFS

The communities along Ferretti Road are being evacuated. The Ferretti Road is also closed at Highway 120. Evacuation centers have been opened at Sonora Fairgrounds and Greely Hill Community Center. The evacuation center at Tiago High School has been closed. [Inciweb]

Rim Fire is one of at least 20 major fires burning in California, as of posting. Fire officials say this year’s wildfire season is particularly dangerous due to the lack of snow, dry weather and drought.

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Beaver Creek Fire:  About 1,200 people still evacuated

The 106,323-acre Beaver Creek Fire is now 30 percent contained and is burning near Hailey and Ketchum. At least 1,750 personnel are trying to bring the flames under control.

About 1,200 people are currently evacuated due to the Beaver Creek Fire, said Blaine County officials. Most of the evacuation orders remain in effect.

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Leavenworth fire grows to 500 acres; dozens of homes evacuated

An uncontained  wildfire burning near Leavenworth in Chelan County, WA,  grew to 500 acres late Tuesday, prompting authorities order 27 homes evacuated, with another 40 put under evacuation notice, said a report.

“Another fire burning outside The Dalles, Ore.,  in the Columbia River Gorge is believed to have burned a third home there (five other structures have also burned), but fire crews also reported progress Tuesday in fighting the blaze that threatens several dozen other homes, a spokesman said.”

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Disaster Deepens at “Nuked” Fukushima Plant

More tanks may be leaking contaminated water: NRA

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has raised the severity of the Fukushima crisis from a level 1 “anomaly” to a level 3 “serious incident” on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), an international scale for radiological releases.

[NOTE: Each step increase on INES represents a 10-fold jump in severity.]

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said on Tuesday that highly contaminated water was leaking from a storage tank; however, the NRA fears that more of the storage tanks may be leaking.

NRA Chairman has likened the nuked Fukushima plant to a house of horrors at an amusement park. “I don’t know if describing it this way is appropriate, but it’s like a haunted house and, as I’ve said, mishaps keep happening one after the other,” he told reporters. “We have to look into how we can reduce the risks and how to prevent it from becoming a fatal or serious incident.”

Meantime, the deadly farce continues…

Japan’s Nuclear Facilities. Copyright © Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA, Japan). All Rights Reserved.

TEPCO: Press Release (Aug 21,2013) Water Leak at a Tank in the H4 area in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Follow-up Information 6)

This is follow-up information on the “water leak at a tank in the H4 area in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station” found on August 19.

We would like to announce analysis results on seawater near the exit of the side ditch of the south water outlet and water in the side ditch in front of the core warehouse, sampled yesterday (on August 20), as follows.

As a result of the analysis this time, the densities in seawater near the exit of the side ditch of the south water outlet were found to fall within the fluctuation ranges of the past densities measured on a regular basis in seawater near the exit of the side ditch of the south water outlet. The densities in water of the side ditch in front of the core warehouse were found almost unchanged from the results obtained yesterday.

<Seawater of the south water outlet (near the exit of the side ditch) (sampling performed at 2:20 PM on August 20)>
Cesium-134:Below the detection limit value [the detection limit value: 1.1Bq/L (1×10^-3Bq/cm³)]
Cesium-137:1.8Bq/L (1.8×10^-3Bq/cm³)
All β:Below the detection limit value [the detection limit value: 19Bq/L (1.9×10^-2Bq/cm³)]

<Water of the side ditch in front of the core warehouse (sampling performed at 11:40 AM on August 20)>
Cesium-134:Below the detection limit value [the detection limit value: 19Bq/L (1.9×10^-2Bq/cm³)]
Cesium-137:Below the detection limit value [the detection limit value: 27Bq/L (2.7×10^-2Bq/cm³)]
All β:93Bq/L (9.3×10^-2Bq/cm³)

We are to continuously conduct analysis today on seawater of the south water outlet (near the exit of the side ditch) and water of the side ditch in front of the core warehouse.

For the past sampling results, please refer to the following page on our website:  http:// www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/f1/smp/index-e.html

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)

The INES, a logarithmic scale, which was introduced in 1990 by the IAEA to enable prompt communication, classifies the intensity of nuclear incidents as follows:

[NOTE: Each step increase on INES represents a 10-fold jump in severity.]

7 – Major Accident [Chernobyl disaster, criticality accident, April 1986]

6 – Serious Accident [e.g., Kyshtym incident, Mayak, former Soviet Union, steam explosion released up to 80 tons of highly radioactive material into the atmosphere, September 1957. ]

5 – Accident With Wider Consequences [e.g., Three Mile Island accident  Pen State, U.S., partial meltdown release radioactive gases  into the environment, March 1979.]

4 – Accident With Local Consequences [e.g., Sellafield, UK, at least 5 incidents reported between 1955 to 1979]

3 – Serious Incident [e.g., Vandellos NPP, Spain, fire destroyed control systems; the reactor was shut down, July1989]

2 – Incident [e.g., Forsmark NPP, Sweden, a backup generator failed, July 2006]

1 – Anomaly [e.g., TNPC, France, 1,600 gallons of water containing 75 kilograms (170 lb) of uranium leaked into the environment,  July 2008]

0 – Deviation (No Safety Significance) [e.g., Atucha, Argentina – Reactor shutdown caused by tritium increase in reactor encasement, December 2006.]

Related Links

• Fukushima SNAFU August 20, 2013
• Radioactive Water at Fukushima an ‘Emergency’: Watchdog August 5, 2013
• Nuke Disasters
• Japan Quakes
• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster by Country
• Record High Radiation Found in Fukushima Fish March 1, 2013
• Radiation Record Broken by Fukushima Fish March 18, 2013
• Fukushima Pre-Harvested Rice Contaminated by Radiation September 24, 2011\
• Japan’s Nuclear Industry: Mega Disaster in the Making  June 11, 2011
• Japan Earthquakes, Disasters: Recent History and FIRE-EARTH Forecasts

Also search the blog for dozens of additional entries on “Fukushima.”

What is a lethal dose of radiation from a single Exposure?

Studies of the 1945 atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki show that 100 percent of victims whose bodies were exposed to 600,000 millirems (6,000 mSv) died from radiation. About 50 percent of victims who received  450,000 millirems (4,500 mSv) of radiation also died.

(Note: Rem is a unit of ionizing radiation equal to the amount that produces the same damage to humans as one roentgen of high-voltage x-rays.  Source: MIT)

1 rem = 10 mSv  (1 Sv = 100 rem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300
• Higher altitudes (e.g, Denver): 400

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year) and medical radiation:

• Occupation Limit: Maximum of 5,000  (the limit for a worker using radiation)
• Average Natural Background: 300

[Note: Lifetime cumulative exposure should be limited to a person’s age multiplied by 1,000 millirems, e.g., a 70-year-old person, 70,000 millirems.]

Adults

• Max single dose for an adult: 3,000
• Annual total dose: 5,000

Under 18

• Max single dose for a person aged under 18 years: 300 millirems (whole body equivalent)
• Annual total exposure: 500

Fetal Exposure

• Maximum limit for fetal exposure during gestation period:  50 millirems per month above background levels

Medical

• Single Chest X-ray (the whole body equivalent): 2 millirem

Air Travel

• Coast-to-coast US round trip flight: 12 millirems

*Note:  Radiation dose of about 2,000 millisieverts (200,000 millirems) cause serious illness.

Half-life of some radioactive elements

[NOTE: Half-life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decay by half.]

• Cesium-134 ~ 2  years
• Cesium-137 ~ 30 years
• Iodine-131 ~ 8 days
• Plutonium-239 ~ 24,200 years

• Ruthenium-103 ~ 39 days [Ruthenium is a fission product of uranium-235.]
• Ruthenium-106 ~ 374 days
• Strontium-90 ~ 28.85 years  [Strontium-90 is a product of nuclear fission and is found in large amounts in spent nuclear fuel and in radioactive waste from nuclear reactors.]

• Uranium-234 ~  246,000 years
• Uranium-235 ~ 703.8  million years
• Uranium-238  ~ 4.468 billion years

Global Deluge: 1,000 Dead or Injured in Pakistan Flash Floods

Extreme monsoon rains, flash floods Kill more than 120, injure 900 in Pakistan

Widespread flash flooding triggered by extreme rain events have left at least 1,000  people dead or injured since the beginning of August.

The extreme rains have flooded 1,746 villages, affecting about 550,000 people, destroying more than 11,000 homes, ruining 412,083 acres of standing crops and killing 4,555 livestock, according to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Floods have displaced an estimated 100,000 people, and destroyed much of the infrastructure in the affected regions.

The worst affected regions are the eastern Punjab province, southern Sindh province, northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and southwest Baluchistan province.

The authorities have warned about the outbreak of waterborne epidemic diseases in the affected regions.

Related Links

• Global Disasters/ Significant Events – August 18, 2013 August 18, 2013