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Wed Apr 04, 2012 at 23:43:24 PM EDT
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(lovely - promoted by eli_beckerman)
Scientists Track Radioactive Iodine in New Hampshire from Japan Nuclear Reactor Meltdown
http://www.sciencedaily.com/re...
Testing in New Hampshire's Mink Brook watershed during March through May 2011 resulted in calculating radioactive iodine deposition in the soil at a total amount around 6,000 atoms per square meter. Dartmouth research associate Joshua Landis commented that "at these levels, it is unlikely that this is going to cause measurable health consequences." The amount in stream sediments was double the amount in soil but should be reduced by river and stream dilution.
This radioactive waste from Fukushima consists of iodine-131, "highly radioactive, acutely toxic" with a half-life of about 8 days, and iodine-29, less radioactive but with a half-life of 15.7 million years. "Due to its long half-life and continued release from ongoing nuclear energy production, [iodine-129] is perpetually accumulating in the environment and poses a growing radiological risk," the authors of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report point out. A nuclear reactor produces 3 parts iodine-131 to one part iodine-129. "Once the iodine-131 decays, you lose your ability to track the migration of either isotope."
hat tip clamshellalliance.org |
| gmoke :: Tracking Radiation from Fukushima |
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/pres...
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has created a prototype "Super-wide Angle Compton Camera" capable of creating images of gamma ray-emitting radioactive particles. This equipment is based on the gamma ray-observing sensor technology to be added to the next X-ray observation satellite, ASTRO-H. It is expected to be able to create visual images of radioactive particles that have collected at high altitudes such as building roofs where it is difficult to conduct measurements with existing survey meters. Taking advantage of its wide vision (180-degree) capability as well as its ability to distinguish gamma rays from nuclides, it can create images of Cesium 137 (Cs-137) and Cesium 134 (Cs-134) that have widely dispersed on the ground and residential houses. (Attachment-1)
On February 11, 2012, JAXA, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) conducted a field test of the dose measurement and imaging survey using the "Super-wide Angle Compton Camera" at Kusano area of Iitate village in Fukushima Prefecture. The results yielded the successful image capturing of the dispersed radio-cesium over a much broader area and to a higher degree of accuracy in comparison with existing gamma cameras. (Attachment-2)
hat tip treehugger.com
We need a zero emissions society and culture, especially where such long-lived pollutants are concerned.
Sidestepping the Impasse: Zero Emissions to Ecological Design
http://www.dailykos.com/story/... |
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| More radiation monitoring? |
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Results
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| About |
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Green Mass Group is an online forum for Green thought and collective action in Massachusetts. It is a community forum for justice, sustainability, democracy and health in the Commonwealth and beyond.
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"The time has come for global action to build a new world economic system that is no longer based on the illusion that limitless growth is possible on our precious and finite planet or that endless material gain promotes well-being. Instead, it will be a system that promotes harmony and respect for nature and for each other; that respects our ancient wisdom traditions and protects our most vulnerable people as our own family, and that gives us time to live and enjoy our lives and to appreciate rather than destroy our world. It will be an economic system, in short, that is fully sustainable and that is rooted in true, abiding well-being and happiness."
--Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley of Bhutan, where the government tracks the nation's "Gross National Happiness"
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