Radiation Monitoring

[RobertEarl]

If that nuclear spent fuel pool in Japan falls down the radiation spread around the world may effect many lives.

Does anyone know of radiation monitors that can find radioactive particles in a body?

All I've been able to find is that such things exist according to the EPA at this link:
http://epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/cesium.html#environment

[laconicsax]

1. You might want to be a bit more specific.

The carbon in your body is radioactive, so's the potassium.

[RobertEarl]

2. Thanks

The major element would be radioactive cesium.

There are many radiation producing machines used in health care.

Seems there would be a radiation monitor nearby or available to read how much radiation these machines are producing. I wonder if those machines could be calibrated to read bodies?

[TheWraith]

3. Of course there are devices to measure radiation.

But it's a bit more complicated than that. First off, amounts of elements are measured differently than doses of radiation are. A quantity of radioactive material will typically be measured in Becquerels, while a dose of radiation absorbed by a person's body will be measured in millirem (or rem, or microrem, depending on size). The maximum legal short-term dose in the US is 500 millirem, the maximum safe short term dose is about 2,000 millirem (2 rem). In contrast, a chest x-ray is about 10 millirem, and a cross-country airline flight is 5 millirem. Becquerel numbers are a lot bigger; one gram of radium, for instance, is 37 billion becquerels. However, these numbers don't convert; it would be like trying to convert feet into pounds. Radiation meters typically read the current radiation level in dose terms, for instance saying that the current level is 15 microrem (0.015 millirem).

Now all that said... you are at zero real world risk from Fukushima. Even during the height of the leak, which is long past, radioactive particles were barely able to be detected on this side of the ocean, and in quantities about a million times too small to be dangerous. The alarmism about spent fuel is the same alarmism which claimed that the Fukushima leak was going to make the northern hemisphere uninhabitable. It's simply wrong on science.

[RobertEarl]

4. Thanks

So, is there any monitor available to ascertain when someone ingests or inhales a cesium particle? Because we nearly all have had the opportunity. And doing so can cause cancer growth.

Fact is that there are over 400 nuclear plants around the world and at least 4 failed and released nuclear contents to the atmosphere in March 2011.

And the EPA did find Iodine 131 in its sampling showing that the released radiation did and is going around the world.

As for alarmism, one US Senator, Wyden, is sounding the alarm... Link:

http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/after-tour-of-fukushima-nuclear-power-station-wyden-says-situation-worse-than-reported

So, to become prepared I am trying to find out where I can go to get tested. And hope testing becomes widely available to people around the world.

[flamingdem]

5. There were articles about the residents of Fukushima and workers

were tested for internal radiation == they showed the machines on CNN at one point