West Coasters - Do you get Radiation Forecasts now?

[kaiser soze]

I know people don't want to get all "The Sky is Falling" and continue to stick their heads in the sand, but I'm curious - is the West Coast approaching this potential danger responsibly or are they just continuing with denial?

I would think it would be best to be cautious rather than pretending nothing is happening at all.

http://www.woweather.com/weather/news/fukushima?LANG=us&VAR=eurad2500&HH=0

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/RainWaterSampling

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_10.html

http://www.panorientnews.com/en/news.php?k=908

[Adam]

Just stayed scared, it's all they want you to do - they don't care how you go about being as long as you are (y)

[kaiser soze]

But the impression I'm getting at this time is the opposite. I find it rather reckless that people would nonchalantly discredit a threat and I don't think addressing it is alarmist. This isn't a little bit of radiation we're talking about.

I would prefer not to be scared, but at this time concern is rational and logical considering the circumstances.

Being scared for no reason is one thing

Being naive to a growing danger is another

Let's approach this like the Gulf Oil Spill - here today, gone tomorrow!

:rolleyes:

[Adam]

I thought BP sorted that and all was well again?

[kaiser soze]

yup - they paid all their dues and now have their lives back - thank god, I'm sure they enjoy a delicious shrimp cocktail on the bayou every weekend.

I'm sure Tepco execs are enjoying their hot spring baths in Pripyat as we speak to get a feel of how wonderfully quiet a ghost town can be.

and the fish in the Pacific are doing the same....

[Adam]

phew.

You did get me worried for a minute, thought the consequences will be unknown for decades to come or some crazy shit like that.

[Turchinator]

in short, no.

[kaiser soze]

Well I guess there's nothing to see here - move along

U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/world/asia/06nuclear.html?_r=1&hp

United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

They need to get this shit straightened out quickly - Another earthquake and tsunami would bring this mess to disastrous proportions never seen....and obviously never prepared for.

Looks like GE will need those taxes they haven't been paying to fix this.

[silence7]

I live in So Cal, and being a resident of the USA, I'm sick of hearing about everything the government is telling me I should be scared of. I'm tired of being paranoid about everything. The LAST thing on my mind when I wake up is the radiation level or the terrorist threat that could kill me at any minute. I'm more scared of a blow-out while doing 90mph on the freeway than I am of radiation.

Reminds me of my ride home yesterday, saw three full grown horses running down the freeway going the opposite direction. Read today that they are safe.

I just want to go to work, make a little money and come home.

[abbott]

i just spent the weekend with a scientist from Los Alamos Labs .... where the atomic bomb was created... and this guy makes radiation detection equipment.

I asked about the radiation that is being detected...

He did say the radiation is there but in such small amounts its not worth thinking about...he said you get more radiation by standing next to a rock made of granite and that this is just the media making a big deal of nothing.

Fuck I dont know, but this guy is the expert.

[Adam]

^I started replying to this earlier and thought fuck it. Seems more apt now.

The problem is that the news is reported by journalist and the public. When an expert has opinion it's so none spectacular that they ignore them and go ask the opinion on the street or that of the journalist. They aren't the experts but opinions are lost in the noise that it comes across as news.

[kaiser soze]

I would think the radiation coming from a rock and from a potential plutonium meltdown would have some radical differences, but I'm not an expert.

I understand how people wouldn't want to be bothered with something like this - but this appears to be escalating to a level that could surpass Chernobyl - multiple reactors, different kinds of fuel, more of it, and the geographic location of these reactors (on the sea, right smack dab in the jet stream). Not to mention a highly earthquake, tsunami, monsoon, hurricane prone area - now that I think of it, who the fuck thought this nuke plant was a good idea in the first place?! I hope they have eaten a sword by now.

So even though I don't live on the West Coast (reports of radiation on the East Coast as well), I'm concerned....and am very concerned for the future of Japan.

[abbott]

this guy I was hanging out with also mentioned that this terrible for people around the area ... but we are to far to have any real impact.

He pointed out that we put millions of time more radiation in the US when we were doing above ground testing of nuclear bombs. He did say that the past above ground testing in the US was more likely to be linked to existing cancer patients s than a full meltdown in Japan.

[Adam]

you've all seen the xkcd radiation comic right?

http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[kaiser soze]

Insane video of someone driving within the contamination zone with a geiger counter - Not sure what kind of radiation set it off, but if they're beeping inside the car I can imagine the radiation (gamma?) is penetrating the car and thus the passengers as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp9iJ3pPuL8&feature=player_embedded#at=163

Just imagine all the infrastructure, animals, belongings, food that will be left to rot....what's sucks is that most of the locations they visit survived the earthquake/tsunami rather well. These guys were crazy - the exposure may be minimal, but what about the contamination from driving/walking around?

[Turchinator]

Well I guess there's nothing to see here - move along



So even though I don't live on the West Coast (reports of radiation on the East Coast as well), I'm concerned....and am very concerned for the future of Japan.

well I don't think anyone on the West Coast (or anywhere in the world for that matter?) is NOT concerned for the future of Japan.

but you asked if there were radiation forecasts on the West Coast.

I heard there were Geiger counters at Sushi restaurants if that makes you happy.

[kaiser soze]

And did I say West Coasters weren't concerned about Japan?

How are you misinterpreting my inquiry? Yes I am curious and concerned because I have friends out west. The West Coast is considered the more environmentally/liberal aware coast and is (other than Alaska/Canada) very much in the jet stream, so I was curious if their scientists/residents were keeping track.

I didn't realize radiation was such a dirty word

[Turchinator]

And did I say West Coasters weren't concerned about Japan?


did you?

I understand how people wouldn't want to be bothered with something like this

I know people don't want to get all "The Sky is Falling" and continue to stick their heads in the sand,

pretending nothing is happening at all.

are they just continuing with denial?

Well I guess there's nothing to see here - move along


How are you misinterpreting my inquiry? Yes I am curious and concerned because I have friends out west. The West Coast is considered the more environmentally/liberal aware coast and is (other than Alaska/Canada) very much in the jet stream, so I was curious if their scientists/residents were keeping track.

I didn't realize radiation was such a dirty word

yeah I don't see how your inquiry got misinterpreted there, kaiser. but the answer to the original query is a "no"

we are following the story here pretty seriously though...

[kaiser soze]

you just seemed to come off a little grumpy with your sushi comment

Anyways, I don't see why a discussion about this here isn't a bad thing. I am very much anti-nuclear and do believe our environment (as a whole) is under some serious stress. I do believe keeping a very close eye even to the most minuscule amounts will help track the radiations dispersal throughout the world. Let's not use past nuclear accidents/tests as a litmus test to how dangerous or benign new incidents are.

It is unfortunate that cancer rates are rarely tagged to our misuse and overuse of dangerously radioactive material. As we continue to see the threat to health care, industry continues to poison our environment with seemingly minimal repercussions - and yes I believe they (coal, oil, nuclear) get off pretty damn clean compared to their tremendous messes.

[kaiser soze]

Radiation Detected In Drinking Water In 13 More US Cities, Cesium-137 In Vermont Milk

http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/04/09/radiation-detected-in-drinking-water-in-13-more-us-cities-cesium-137-in-vermont-milk/

Radiation from Japan has been detected in drinking water in 13 more American cities, and cesium-137 has been found in American milk—in Montpelier, Vermont—for the first time since the Japan nuclear disaster began, according to data released by the Environmental Protection Agency late Friday.

And the disaster is far from being over.

[kaiser soze]

http://lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/492011-urgent-elevated-full-mid-range-
radiation-soon-arrive-west-coast-usa

[kaiser soze]

West Coast Salmon migrations exist almost exclusively within the nuclear plume

http://fanaticcook.blogspot.com/2011/03/salmon-migration-routes-and-japans.html

[Turchinator]

you just seemed to come off a little grumpy with your sushi comment

agree to disagree about the tone of each other's comments and concerns.

my concern level is high, but focused on the Japanese.

Fukushima raised nuclear threat level to equivalent of Chernobyl.





out of curiousity, how did the global community react to events like Chernobyl, Three Mile, etc... as far as radiation plumes go?

and on that note, did Hiroshima and Nagasaki send West Coasters into a panic in 1945?

[kaiser soze]

Well Chernobyl is well documented - have you watched Children of Chernobyl to get a feel for how it's effects still permeate? 1 thing we need to do is not invest our trust in the Nuclear Lobby considering they've never been honest about the dangers of any accident.

Tepco's been slowly releasing information painting a much uglier picture than first thought - even neglected safety issues of that plant and U.S. plants have become a concern.

The comparisons to Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and all nuclear testing just don't make sense to me considering this accident is different -totally different scenario (including different kinds of fuel/reactor designs), different environment, and a different level of awareness....I hope!

We have barely scraped the surface when it comes to correlating cancer rates and nuclear tests - The explosions at Nagasaki and Hiroshima were air bursts so the level of "radioactivity fallout was minimized" - survivors are still being monitored and cases of cancer still attributed to the bombings. But even if air burst minimize post-explosion contamination there have been enough (under)ground and water tests to irradiate the environment. I would like to think that the dangers of these test HAS contributed to the diminished amount which is none agreed between many developed nuclear nations.

I didn't ask if people were panicking did I?

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=children+of+chernobyl&aq=0

http://www.philadelphia-reflections.com/blog/2024.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident#Radioactive_material_re lease

[kaiser soze]

European warnings say "Radiation no longer negligible"

http://www.euractiv.com/en/health/radiation-risks-fukushima-longer-negligible-news-503947

The risks related to prolonged contamination among vulnerable groups of the population can no longer be considered "negligible" and it is now necessary to avoid "risky behaviour," CRIIRAD claimed.

However, the institute underlines that there is absolutely no need to lock oneself indoors or take iodine tablets.


Data for the west coast of the United States, which received the Fukushima radioactive fallout 6-10 days before France, reveals that levels of radioactive iodine-131 concentration are 8-10 times higher there, the institute says.

I get this vibe that they are trying to nicely let the population know that this is a threat that should be taken seriously, but ya know - no worries.

EPA considers raising radiation limits

http://www.naturalnews.com/031963_radiation_exposure.html

The EPA maintains a set of so-called "Protective Action Guides" (PAGs). These PAGs are being quickly revised to radically increase the allowable levels of iodine-131 (a radioactive isotope) to anywhere from 3,000 to 100,000 times the currently allowable levels.


gonna have to get a Geiger counter for my garden now

[kaiser soze]

Very interesting site with some facts people should know

http://www.idealist.ws/

People need to be aware that this mess is nowhere near over, the Japanese government has been accused of cover ups/censorship, poor emergency response, and irregularities in their reporting of radiation release, please also keep in mind the affect on migratory species - cows don't swim or fly - but fish and birds do.