Mystery objects with high radiation found on Fukushima coast
Source: Asahi Shimbun
<snip>
Officials at the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plants operator, do not know where these objects came from or why they have high radiation levels. In fact, they are not sure what these objects actually are or were used for.
<snip>
The fragile object that looked like part of a black plastic sheet had an extremely high radiation reading of 36 millisieverts per hour when combining beta and gamma rays, TEPCO officials said.
Its ratio of radioactive cesium-134 and -137 was close to 1:2, leading TEPCO officials to conclude that cesium generated by the Fukushima nuclear accident likely attached to the object.
<snip>
Rather than leave the investigation up to TEPCO, which has lost the publics trust, a more appropriate agency, such as the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, should conduct a thorough investigation, Imanaka said.
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Read more: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201308030015
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)whole thing was blown to smithereens.
daleo
(21,317 posts)From my reading of wiki that would give someone a fatal dose in about a week of exposure.
Sirveri
(4,517 posts)Radiation dosage drops exponentially with distance from a point source. Doubling the distance would reduce the exposure by 75%. In addition the article was merging both gamma and beta sources. Beta can be neutralized by street clothing or a sheet of aluminum foil. It is capable of giving a skin dose, and is only really dangerous if ingested.
So it could give a fatal dose, if you duct taped the object to someones chest for a week. But just walking by it when it's 15 feet away and buried on the beach you're unlikely to get much of anything above background.
daleo
(21,317 posts)Plus, you have to wonder what other detritus of that nature is out there. I am sure it didn't get contaminated in isolation from other stuff.
Sirveri
(4,517 posts)But they do it beyond 12 nautical miles of the shore, and they say that's OK.
There's also a cave somewhere, I think Appalachia, that if you enter it you will die. Simply because it's filled with a naturally occurring radioactive isotope.
I've seen pictures of a guy who put a test source for checking the integrity of pipes into his back pocket for a couple hours. He ended up with a very gnarly sunburn on his butt that they subsequently take pictures of and show to everyone about what not to do.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,935 posts)Wear those for 48 hours and get the maximum annual dose permitted US radiation workers.
Wear the plastic for 90 minutes and get the maximum.
itsrobert
(14,157 posts)Kablooie
(18,605 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)arely staircase
(12,482 posts)if I were looking for objects with high radiation, that's where I'd go.
Response to bananas (Original post)
KinMd This message was self-deleted by its author.
Kennah
(14,234 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)maybe beach walkers and clean-up people should wear rad badges.
Igel
(35,268 posts)truedelphi
(32,324 posts)In their readings, back in 2011. That substance has a 37 year half life - so two years is not very significant.
IIRC, radiation monitoring stations were shut down in California when it looked bad, and no one in the government wanted us to know about it.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Okay, I know this is serious. I'd avoid sushi wrapped in seaweed for a while. Like forever.