Comments on: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update 33: Fukushima is as interesting as it’s ever been

By: phillydoug

phillydoug — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:34:29 +0000

from: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/110825/fukushima-radiation-hiroshima-nuclear

“The amount of radioactive cesium-137 that has so far been released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is equal to 168 Hiroshima atomic bombs, according to government estimates.

Cesium-137 is a radioactive isotope of cesium, and is the principal source of radiation in the dead zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

In a report on Thursday, the Japanese daily Tokyo Shimbun said the government calculated that the amount of cesium released in the six months since the three reactors were hit by the earthquake and tsunami is 15,000 tera becquerels.

In comparison, Little Boy, the World War II bomb dropped on the western Japanese city of Hiroshima, released 89 tera becquerels”

****************************

from: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/110822/japan-fukushima-uninhabitable-10-years

“The Japanese government may declare areas near the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant uninhabitable for more than 10 years – perhaps decades – because of radiation levels that are more than 500 times safety limits, according to newspaper reports…

The radiation readings were taken in 50 locations within a 12-mile radius of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Radiation readings measuring up to 508.1 millisieverts per year were detected in Okuma town, 1.8 miles from the plant, compared with the internationally recommended limit of 1 millisievert a year, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, said on its website, Bloomberg reports.”

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:19:27 +0000

http://www.lajollalight.com/2011/08/15/traces-of-radioactive-sulfur-measured-at-scripps-pier-reveal-extent-of-leakage-from-damaged-fukushima-reactor/

By: Ana

Ana — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 05:10:43 +0000

@Nck: I’m not quit sure what you’re asking either, but the Nuclear Engineering Department at Berkeley has been sampling and posting results fairly regularly for some foods, milk, water and air. http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/UCBAirSampling

It is not the policy of the U.S. to restrict imports from Japan. Explicitly. I do not know if we are testing any part of what we receive. EPA has suspended their stepped-up sampling (as of May: “Since May, sample analyses have predominantly shown no detections of radionuclides associated with the Japanese nuclear incident”) but will continue to test water and milk every three months. They might have something to say soon.

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 04:42:45 +0000

Does anyone know what proportion of Japan’s land area has been made uninhabitable by the nuclear disaster?

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:59:24 +0000

Yes, a mistype, thanks! Fixed.

Nick I’m not sure exactly what you are asking for.

By: bibliovore

bibliovore — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:02:40 +0000

Probably a mistype: “It is being reported that injection cooling has replaced circulatory cooling at Reactor 1”. Should be the other way around, based on the sense of the paragraph and the feed.

By: Nick

Nick — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:08:27 +0000

Do you have undated info on radioactive isotopes in milk in the U.S? Concentrations? Decreasing/increasing? In other foods? Same quantity questions for other foods? While everyone should be concerned about world nuclear events, many will also be concerned about their own food supply.

Thank you.

By: Analiese Miller and Greg Laden

Analiese Miller and Greg Laden — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:26:16 +0000

Well, the links were all generated with a sed command that may be imperfect. Note that most earlier editions did not have links, just urls. So this is an improvement. I’ll look into it but we’re already working on the next edition!

By: Albatross

Albatross — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 21:31:39 +0000

Many of your links share the flaw that they contain an extraneous “

” on the end. E.g. the link under the heading
Humans Enter Reactor 3, Receive 4.61 Millisieverts for 40 Minute Work -EX-SKF, July 28
but several others as well.