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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCitizen's Group Undertakes Pacific Ocean Monitoring
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute is setting up dozens of seawater sampling sites along the western coast of North America. A website, OurRadioactiveOcean.org, is the place to go to help with financing and to get results. Some results are already listed on the site.
In some samples the level of Cesium-134 has been detected, (2011) and Cesium-137 is detectable, its concentration is about 1.3 Bq per cubic meters. That Cesium-137 concentration is nearly the same level that was found after atomic bomb testing in the 1950's. Meaning that levels have not gone down in 50 years.
One sample taken in 2011, shortly after the Fukushima plants blew up, found Cesium 134, which is a signature of recent reactions, off the coast of S. California in April of 2011. That trace material came from fallout and not via the water plume.
This sampling now is setting the base conditions for detecting the coming plume via seawater, which is due to come ashore any day according to modelling.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)As some of you may know, I have been like a pit bull latched to a bloody bull, as regards this issue. Having seen a bunch of crap from so many other groups, I looked at this one with suspicion.
In the research, however, i came up with a gem of info that I had looked for at many other sites and found, finally, only on this one. Not that it matters in the long story, but what it told was that these people are serious and are willing to tell the Truth.
I have a feeling we will be hearing much from the website OurRadioactiveOcean.org. And may just be able to trust their findings.
FBaggins
(26,740 posts)Woods Hole performs actual scientific research... and thus will not come up with results that satisfy what you're looking for.
You might, for instance, avail yourself of some of their content now (emphasis mine):
The ocean contains many small sources of naturally occurring radiation that in most places exceeds the dose provided by radioisotopes released from Fukushima. In addition, the remnants of nuclear weapons testing in the 1960s and 70s are also still detectable around the world. Except for locations on land in Japan and sites near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, all of these sources combined pose little risk to human health.
To describe the level of radiation in seawater samples, we use Bequerels (Bq), which equal the number of radioactive decay events per second, and report this number per cubic meter (1,000 liters or 264 gallons) of water. A typical sample will likely contain less than 10 Bequerels per cubic meter (Bq/m3) from cesium-137, thousands of times less than the radioactivity produced by naturally occurring isotopes such as potassium-40. By comparing the amount of cesium-137, which has a relatively long 30-year half life, and cesium-134, which has a much shorter, 2-year half life, we can fingerprint the contamination from Fukushima and estimate how much was released into the Pacific.
To understand exposure, we need to consider this number as well as the type of radiation produced (alpha particles, beta particles, or gamma rays) and the method of exposure (external or internal). Exposure is reported in Sieverts (Sv) or, more commonly, milli-Sieverts (mSv, or 0.001 Sv). Background radiationthe amount we receive from cosmic raysamounts to 2 mSv at sea level. A single dental x-ray provides an exposure of as low as 0.005 mSv -
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)FBaggins
(26,740 posts)He'll change his mind about being able to trust Wood Hole's program.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid