Fukushima Radiation Level 8 Times Govt Standard: TEPCO

Radiation Level at Fukushima Rises to 8*mSv/yr: Report

NOTE: THE TEPCO REPORT, QUOTED BY JAPAN’S ASAHI SHIMBUN MAY BE SERIOUSLY FLAWED.

ACCORDING TO http://new.atmc.jp/ THE RADIATION LEVEL AT OR NEAR FUKUSHIMA PLANT IS ≥ 40 MICROSIEVERT PER HOUR (OR ~ 350 mSv/yr)

Radiation levels near the boundary of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have increased to 8 millisievert per year, or eight times the government standard, said Tokyo Electric Power Co. said, Asahi Shimbun quotyed the operator TEPCO as saying.

Following the discovery of leaks from the underground waste storage tanks in April,  TEPCO transferred the radioactive wastewater to hastily built storage tanks near the plant’s southern boundary, company officials said.

TEPCO says the main reason for the dramatic increase in the radiation levels are the X-rays emitted by the radioactive water held in the notorious storage tanks.

However, the background radiation level had already reached 7.8 millisievert per year in May 2013, according to the report.

The No. 1 and No. 2 reactor buildings at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, March 15, 2011. Source:  TEPCO handout.

TEPCO says the X-rays are released when beta rays from radioactive strontium and other substances in the water react with iron and other elements in the storage tank containers.

It’s true that high energy beta particles released from radioactive substances can give off bremsstrahlung x-rays when they decelerate during electromagnetic interactions as they pass through matter; however, most beta particles can be stopped by just  a few millimeter of aluminum.

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
1mSv = 0.1 rem
1mSv = 100 millirems (mrem)

Background Radiation in millirems per year (mrem/yr)

• Average background radiation (US):  300 (3 mS/yr)
• Higher altitudes (e.g, Denver): 400 (4 mS/yr)

“Safe Levels” of Radiation (U.S.)

Limits above natural background radiation levels (average 300 millirems per year, or 3 mSv/yr) 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

*Notes:

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

2. The average annual radiation dose per person in the U.S. is currently 620 millirem (6.2 mSv), according to EPA. “Half of our average dose comes from natural background sources: cosmic radiation from space, naturally occurring radioactive minerals in the ground and in your body, and from the radioactive gases radon and thoron, which are created when other naturally occurring elements undergo radioactive decay. Another 48 percent of our dose comes from medical diagnostics and treatments.”

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

Related Links

• Record Radiation Detected at Fukushima [AGAIN] December 22, 2013
• Japan Renews Nuke Ambitions Despite Fukushima, Common Sense December 14, 2013

• 80 Percent Chance of Major Catastrophe at Fukushima NPP November 7, 2013
• Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers Posted on October 21, 2013
• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013
• TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World October 3, 2013
• Overflow of Water from the Dike of H8-South Area at Fukushima Daiichi NPS  Oct 2, 2013

• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013
• Disaster Deepens at “Nuked” Fukushima Plant August 21, 2013
• Fukushima SNAFU August 20, 2013

For earlier links, where they have not been removed or hacked, search blog content.

Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima

Radioactivity spikes 6,500 times at Fukushima: TEPCO

The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s operator, TEPCO, says it detected a sharp rise in radioactivity in a well near a storage tank on Thursday, NHK reported.

On Thursday, workers detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances, including strontium, at a well  near the tank that  leaked more than 300 tons of contaminated water in August, TEPCO said.

The radioactivity level was 6,500 times higher than the readings taken the previous day.

“The well was dug to monitor the impact of the leakage and is located at about 10 meters from the tank,” the report said.

TEPCO believes the latest findings are indicative of ground water contamination, because radioactive substances like as strontium are transferred relatively slowly.

Given the extent of Fukushima catastrophe, the operator’s inability to deal with the ever-worsening disasters at the site and Japanese government’s “wait-and-see” attitude, to put it mildly, the blog Moderators believe the situation at the disaster-stricken plant could potentially become as bad, if not worse than the aftermath of Hiroshima atom bomb.

Related Links

• Fukushima SNAFU August 20, 2013
• Radioactive Water at Fukushima an ‘Emergency’: Watchdog  August 5, 2013
• Strong Quake Shakes Fukushima NPP  September 19, 2013
• MAN-YI Eying Tokyo, Fukushima September 15, 2013
• Japan Angry by Cartoon Linking Fukushima to Olympics September 12, 2013
• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013
• Nuked Fukushima Plant: New High Radiation Areas Found August 22, 2013
• Disaster Deepens at “Nuked” Fukushima Plant August 21, 2013
• About Half the Kids In Fukushima Have Thyroid Radiation Exposure ‎ July 5, 2011

Earlier Links

• Will the Scope of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Widen? April 6, 2011
• Probability of a Nuclear Disaster – by Country April 18, 2011

Japan Better Off On Horse Manure Than Nuclear

Radiation levels near Fukushima hit 2-year high

Radiation levels in seawater just outside one of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors was 13 times the previous day’s reading, said the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) on Thursday.

The combined level of radioactivity from Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 just outside the damaged No. 2 reactor surged to 1,200 becquerels per liter on Wednesday, the highest level reported since late 2011.

Regulatory limits for Cesium, which emits powerful and potentially fatal gamma radiation, is a maximum of 90 bq/l for Cesium-137 and 60 bq/l for Cesium-134.

Two workers in protective gears presumably discussing leaking tanks at the nuked Fukushima power plant. Image hand out by TEPCO. Original image removed by Editor. [Google is not listing most of the images posted on FIRE-EARTH, or delay listing them for several days until they’ve lost their immediate relevance. Editor]

Adding insult and injury to tragedy and disaster, six workers were exposed to highly radioactive water on Wednesday.

Japanese politicians, scientists and technicians are evidently unable [too incompetent] to deal with this ever-worsening disaster.

Japan would have been better off sticking to horse manure for its energy needs, instead of going nuclear.

Related Links

• TEPCO Continues to Contaminate the World  October 3, 2013
• Fukushima Fatal Farce Turns Deadlier September 1, 2013
• Nuked Fukushima Plant: New High Radiation Areas Found August 22, 2013
• Disaster Deepens at “Nuked” Fukushima Plant August 21, 2013
• Fukushima SNAFU August 20, 2013
• Radioactive Water at Fukushima an ‘Emergency’: Watchdog August 5, 2013
• Disaster Diary – July 9, 2013 July 9, 2013

Michigan Declared Major Disaster Area

16 Michigan Counties Declared Federal Disaster Areas Following Devastating Floods

The Whit House has declared a major disaster exists in the State of Michigan in the areas affected by flooding during the period of April 16 to May 14, 2013.

The counties covered by the declaration are Allegan, Baraga, Barry, Gogebic, Houghton, Ionia, Kent, Keweenaw, Marquette, Midland, Muskegon, Newaygo, Ontonagon, Osceola, Ottawa, and Saginaw.

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

SNAFU at Fukushima

Trust TEPCO, the operators of Japan’s disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, turning a disaster into a farce… And, that’s exactly what they have been doing since March 2011 Mega Quake and tsunami, which crippled the reactors causing multiple meltdowns.

TEPCO  has revealed that high levels of a toxic radioactive Strontium-90 was present in the groundwater at 30 times the legal limit.  The plant operators also found Tritium eight times the legal limit.

To compound the problem, experts say that Fukushima plant is running out of storage space for contaminated water, while large amounts of water is needed each day to cool the reactors.

Strontium-90 has a half life of 29 years, and is believed to cause bone cancer if ingested.

-oOo-

Uttarakhand, N. India: Death toll tops 150, as flooding and landslide devastate a vast region

The Mega Deluge and massive landslides, caused by extreme monsoon rains, have devastated hundreds of towns and villages, destroying thousands of homes and other buildings,  and leaving more than 150 dead, with at least as many reported missing.

The death toll may swell substantially once the exact count of bodies scattered across the ravaged towns is known.  Right now, large parts of the region remain deluged and hundreds of homes  and businesses lay in ruins, the report said.

• “Very heavy casualties are feared and I cannot give the exact number without a proper survey,” said Uttarakhand Chief Minister, who described the flood ravage as unprecedented caused by a “Himalayan tsunami.”

Meantime, India’s Meteorological Center reported that the state of Kerala had received an average of 57 cm of rain between June 1 and 17, some 69 percent more than the normal level.

• “The highest rainfall was recorded in Kannur district at 85 cm. This was 105 per ent more than the expected rainfall,” said a report.

Thousands of people have died in floods and landslides in Uttarakhand: BJP

Indian People’s Party (BJP), which is the country’s second largest political party, has claimed that “thousands of people have died [in floods and landslides in Uttarakhand] and [that] there is no rescue operation,” said a report.

• “We demand that urgent steps be taken to describe this disaster as a national calamity. Adequate attention on war footing be given for rehabilitation and rescue operations,” a BJP spokesperson told reporters in Delhi.

-oOo-

“Super heat wave hits many parts of China”

A “super heat wave” has hit many parts of China, according to the official media. Many areas have reported temperature highs of 37ºC (98.6 degrees F).

-oOo-

U.S. High and Low Temperatures (F)

High Temperature for Tuesday, June 18, 2013 (received by 8 am EDT June 19)

• 114 degrees (45.6ºC), recorded at Death Valley, CA

Low Temperature for Wednesday, June 19, 2013 (received by 8 am EDT June 19)

• 27 degrees,  recorded at Spincich Lake, MI

Global High and Low Temperatures

• 116.3 degrees (46.8ºC), Algeria
• -86.8 degrees (-66ºC), Antarctica

Related Links

• World Record High Temperature Could Be Broken This Year

-oOo-