eSci: Unsafe Radiation Found Near Tokyo, Vast Area of Japan Contaminated

[kpete]

Science Magazine reports that Japanese scientists have become so concerned about the health of their children that they have initiated their own radiation monitoring program and made their own maps. The results are shocking.



http://www.nnistar.com/gmap/fukushima.html

Parents in Tokyo's Koto Ward enlisted the help of Tomoya Yamauchi, a radiation physicist at Kobe University, to measure radiation in their neighborhood. Local government officials later joined the act, ordering radiation checks of schoolyards and other public places and posting the results on their Web sites. An anonymous volunteer recently plotted the available 6300 data points on a map. And Yukio Hayakawa, a volcanologist at Gunma University, turned that plot into a radiation contour map.

It shows one wide belt of radiation reaching 225 kilometers south from the stricken reactors to Tokyo and another extending to the southwest. Within those belts are localized hot spots, including an oval that encloses northeast Tokyo and Kashiwa and neighboring cities in Chiba Prefecture.

Radiation in this zone is 0.4 microsieverts per hour, or about 3.5 millisieverts per year. That is a fraction of the radiation found throughout much of Fukushima Prefecture, which surrounds the nuclear power plant. But it is still 10 times background levels and even above the 1-millisievert-per-year limit for ordinary citizens set by Japanese law. The health effects of such low doses are not clear and are passionately debated. But it is known that children are more susceptible to radiation than adults, and few parents want to take chances with a child's health. Besides, “The law should be observed,” Yamauchi says. Kyo Kageura, an information scientist at the University of Tokyo, says there should be a public discussion of the issue, “based on a scrupulous presentation of the data, including to what extent the 1-millisievert limit can be achieved.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/16/985938/-eSci:-Unsafe-Radiation-Found-Near-Tokyo,-Vast-Area-of-Japan-Contaminated?via=siderec

[Poll_Blind]

1. Ah, the REAL fallout pattern emerges

And it ain't no bullseye. It never is.

PB

[PoliticAverse]

2. Since radiation fallout patterns are non-uniform a complete survey must be done.

Look at the non-uniformity of the Chernobyl exclusion zone:

(From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Nuclear_Power_Plant_Exclusion_Zone ):

[ladjf]

3. The Japanese need to start shutting down all nuclear plants

immediately. nt

[jimlup]

4. Woops too late...

Barn door open - horse gone!

[ladjf]

9. They've got several other reactors that could present even further

damage.

[jimlup]

11. Yeah sure, but Fukashima is already the nightmare senario times 3 or 4 /nt

[bvar22]

7. Just the Japanese?

The Lesson of Fukushima:
---As long a we continue to use Nukes,
this CAN and WILL happen again.

[Snoutport]

8. everybody

[ladjf]

10. Absolutely not. All should be phased out all over the world. nt

[kristopher]

5. K&R

[Fumesucker]

6. There used to be organizations that did this sort of thing..

Apparently governments no longer engage in protecting the well being of the citizenry since the citizenry is now forced to do this themselves.

Recced..

[annabanana]

23. +1

"What's good for General Bullmoose, is good for the USA"

[spin]

12. When the crisis began I joking said, "You can kiss Japan goodbye"

Now it no longer sounds like a joke.

[chervilant]

13. hmm...

I wonder just how long it will take for the pro-Nukers to jump on this OP and attempt to discredit your graphic...

If you haven't seen the clip posted this morning by FourScore, please take a peak. Some on this site have suggested that FourScore's clip is just a video of the morning fog coming in off the ocean. (Is some of our species just pure dee ate up with the dumb ass?)

It should be clear by now that TEPCO, IAEA, EPA, and other government agencies have lied repeatedly about Fukushima, and that We the People have to be wary and discerning to suss out what's really happening. Your graphic seems much more representative of the haphazard dispersement of radiation seen at Chernobyl. Furthermore, I completely understand that the Japanese citizens proximal to this disaster are anxious beyond words about the welfare of their children. We should ALL be concerned!

We have NO IDEA how bad this will be, but it should be CLEAR BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that this will be very, very, very, very, very, very, very--have I said very enough?--VERY BAD!

[Frisbee]

14. Gee, I wonder if TEPCO has deep enough pockets...

to reimburse a wealthy nation for 1/3 - 1/2 of it's land as well as multiple major cities, because depending on how thing break over the next 6-12 months, that could be how much damage they have done, excluding what has gone out to sea and into the atmosphere. Oh, and perhaps provide heath care for millions for the next 80+ years.

[divvy]

21. A little bit on insurance ...... I am no expert

I think new US plants are only insured up to $10bil... for more on insurance, go to the following link and scroll down to insurance...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_new_nuclear_power_plants

But then there is the Price-Anderson catostrophic nuclear indemnity act for US nuclear reactors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price%E2%80%93Anderson_Nuclear_Industries_Indemnity_Act

Most Japanese property insurance policies do cover earthquake, but some do not. It's a mixture.

I believe the nuclear plants are also insured through a nuclear pool which is shared by other nuclear pools around the world.

[Frisbee]

22. Thanks for the links....

Though my initial comment was somewhat tongue-in-check, since I think if a worst case scenario occurs, the damage will be beyond any compensation. The links were both interesting and educational.

[dickthegrouch]

15. Overlay the yellow plume with a relief map

You find that it follows the valley in which a river flows. Of course the water is flowing towards the sea, but it makes perfect sense that any airborne particles would take the path of least resistance along the valleys.

[Bonobo]

16. In Japanese, below the graphic, it says

that 1mSv/year is the number commonly given as the maximum safe limit and that it should be calculated without including background radiation.

There are no numbers in Tokyo exceeding that amount.

On edit: It seems that number might be per hour. That is a different story.

Please resume with your commentary about how my country will become unlivable and we are all doomed to die soon.

[Prometheus Bound]

17. Japanese MP wants Fukushima to be Japan's capital.

MP Keirou Kitagami has capital idea for Japan's disaster zone

Rick Wallace, Tokyo correspondent
From: The Australian
June 18, 2011 12:00AM

AN influential MP from Japan's ruling party has stunned colleagues with a suggestion that the national capital be relocated to Fukushima - the epicentre of the nuclear crisis.

Keirou Kitagami's suggestion will be dismissed as "bold" or "courageous" by Japan's army of Sir Humphrey-style bureaucrats.

But the up-and-coming Kyoto MP is determined to have the idea debated and says making Fukushima City the capital is the only way to guarantee the disaster-stricken region's future.

"I have always thought there needs to be more decentralisation, because Tokyo is one of the most compressed and centralised cities in the world and it is very prone to natural disasters," he told The Weekend Australian. "I think at the very extreme, you could shift the National Diet (parliament) and some central government functions to Fukushima.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/mp-keirou-kitagami-has-capital-idea-for-japans-disaster-zone/story-e6frg6so-1226077300676

[Bonobo]

18. You clipped the areas that specifically did not explain WHY he said it.

""Realistically, if that's not possible, we can perhaps have a national think tank to examine tsunamis or earthquakes or radioactivity based at Fukushima.

"The important thing is to have some kind of investment in Fukushima to spark population and economic growth."

The way Mr Kitagami sees it, the earthquake and tsunami have eliminated the problem that has torpedoed previous debate on decentralisation - indecision and rivalries over where the alternative capital should be.

"After the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident, I can't foresee any private sector activities in this area so they need government investment," he said. "This would kill two birds with one stone - assisting Fukushima and decentralising away from Tokyo.""
-------------------------
And if he's influential, I am super influential because I get 4 times as many google hits on my (unusual) name than he gets on his.

http://www.google.co.jp/#hl=ja&xhr=t&q=%E5%8C%97%E7%A5%9E%E5%9C%AD%E6%9C%97&cp=4&pf=p&sclient=psy&site=&source=hp&aq=0&aqi=&aql=&oq=%E5%8C%97%E7%A5%9E%E5%9C%AD%E6%9C%97&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=f4df0c0290e28a0a&biw=1113&bih=889

[Prometheus Bound]

19. I posted the first 4 paragraphs. DU rules prohibit more than that.

The link was posted for further information.

If you disagree with DU rules, I am the wrong person to protest to.

[nikto]

20. Clearly, this justifies the building of many more nuclear power plants

It doesn't matter what The People think.

It's what the Energy Cartels want that matters.

Fukushima should be the death knell of nuclear power, forever.

But it won't be.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

24. but the difference is that they are "hot particles" which are far far worse.....

Journal of Radiological Protection
Hot particle dosimetry and radiobiology—past and present

http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/27/3A/S11


The Radiological Significance of Beta Emitting Hot Particles Released from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/3/149.short


Seattle Residents Exposed to 10 Radioactive "Hot Particles" Per Day


small particles of radiation – called “internal emitters” – which get inside the body are much more dangerous than general exposures to radiation

http://www.japanquakereport.com/seattle-residents-exposed-to-10-radioactive-hot-particles-per-day