Sad state of affairs
I'm very appreciative of all the efforts of the Berkley Nuclear Dept to take these measurements and post there data. The fact that you're also managing to answer some questions is amazing. So many pats on the back to everybody there.
The sad thing is this shouldn't be your job. This should be the job of Homeland Security, the EPA and probably FEMA, you know, the Federal Government. The fact that we only had a couple low level radiation detectors in place in California is kinda scary to me. Then some of them didn't work and when they do they have to send the filters to a lab with a five day turnaround to get readings. Basically there is no instant warning system in place for low levels of dangerous radiation. And looking at the maps there are huge holes in the system. It seems to me that a plume of radiation could come in between Oregon and Northern California and not even get detected.
So with all the fear the Homeland Security has tried to instill with story's of dirty bombs and with the nice protected budget, how come we don't have a better detection system. It can't be to expensive for them. We have more nuclear reactors than any other country and 23 of them are the same design as the Fukushima reactors. They have said to be targets of terrorist and some could easily suffer the same triple treat the Japanese reactors did. If we can't even get detectors in place and working with a one week warning, imagine what would happen if there was an accident here in the states.
Having grown up through the cold war I naively assumed the US would have an advanced system for fallout and radiation detection. I assumed wrong.
Website
I am making a website for those of us that would like a place to discuss this mess. And for anyone that's interested, talk about what can be done to make some changes. I have already found some IAEA and NRC doc's with regulatory standards. And a legal brief on a similar situation that happened with TMI and the conduct of the agency that was in charge of monitoring. It wasnt called the EPA back then though. I will share on the website. Very interesting and promising imho.
This has been so way beyond unacceptable behavior from a gov't agency. On so many levels I cant even begin to list them all.
I am too tired to finish it tonight but I will post the link here by tomorrow evening.
There are also other people
There are also other people interested in filing a FOIA for the EPAs data here:
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2042
Nice to know not everyone has fallen asleep a job.
Governments are constantly monitoring radiation
Thanks for your appreciation and for your interest in this.
There are in fact governmental organizations constantly monitoring for airborne radioactive particles. The EPA, for one, has a website dedicated to air monitoring for radionuclides. The UN's Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization also constantly monitors the air for radionuclides from nuclear fission from many stations around the world. Other institutions are listed on our FAQ page, and we are constantly adding more.
Government organizations generally are interested in monitoring to detect if there is a problem, and they are good at that. Their data can usually be obtained by request, but releasing the raw numbers is not exactly what their mission is.
As an educational institution, we feel that our job is more about communicating and educating. Our students are being trained to use advanced radiation detectors. We're trying to put the risk from radiation in perspective for the local community. We're trying to have a dialogue about all of this on this forum. You can see all of our raw data and methods. So in that sense we are doing our job, and governments are doing theirs.
Agree, far too kind
Mark, the EPA site you cite doesn't have up to date measurements for radionuclides and I would like to know why so very few results are published. Seems like selective reporting to me. Who's to say they are not measuring in, say, 20 different locations and just choosing one to report (and that, a month too late). No up to date milk or rainwater measuremements either.
Please everyone, correct me if I am wrong--I have no interest in telling falsehoods about the EPA but IMHO their performance has been way beyond reprehensible.
Having said that, thank you BRAWM, you are the best. And please can we hear your latest rainwater results?
You're being way too
You're being way too kind.
Doesn't the EPA only test for Iodine 131 and not release quantity found? And how many monitors "weren't working" recently?
Doesn't the CTBTO charge a fee for results?
You guys are doing an amazing service by providing free, accurate information.
Thank you very much.
Thanks for the information.
Thanks for the information. I had checked out the RadNet site and that's where I had noticed the giant gaps in coverage. For example, there is no monitor anywhere near the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant. My guess is that Diablo Canyon has it's own monitors, but do there different systems communicate. It seems like this system is antiquated.
On a different note, from your nuclear educated point of view and looking at the current situation over in Japan would you say that at least one of the main (inner?) containment vessels is damaged and exposing the core and is a complete melt down still possible?
Also what address do I send the beers to? Thanks again.
At this point it is still
At this point it is still very uncertain. It seems very unlikely the primary containment (inner) was damaged during the quake and these containments were designed to withstand the temperatures of a full meltdown. There is actually a structure called a "core catch" at the bottom for providing a containment for a fully molten core. Barring a criticality accident where the nuclear fission takes off uncontrollably similar to Chernobyl, this containment should hold. However, one must understand that as temperatures increase in the containment, it must be relieved to allow cooling water to be injected (called a bleed and feed). These pressure releases are the major source of the radioactive particles and now contaminated sea water and they usually come in bursts. However, once again, there is a lot of uncertainty and would not want to say anything definite.
The former head of GE's
The former head of GE's reactor safety group that oversaw the initial installation of FK-1 says that he believes the #2 reactor pressure vessel has been breached at the bottom and that molten fuel is already in the drywell.
The original FK-1 reactors were MK-1 GE BWRs, and some have been upgraded to MK3-5, but there still is no indication that I've seen yet that core catchers are installed at these plants.
That is more information
That is more information than what I have. Good input. I watching Michael Friedlander on CNN right now and he is saying there is not tangible evidence of a breach. Lot's of uncertainty here.
Also, radiochlorine has been
Also, radiochlorine has been reported at FK-1. This is assumed to mean that fission continued after the shutdown of the plants:
Radioactive chlorine found March 25 in the Unit 1 turbine building suggests chain reactions continued after the reactor shut down, physicist Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, wrote in a March 28 paper.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-30/record-high-levels-of-radiation...
CNN is a bad source for
CNN is a bad source for information.
Unless your interested in Twitter comments on Libya...
I tend to agree. Their
I tend to agree. Their "expert" on energy policy was Bill Nye the Science Guy. I had not laughed that hard in a while.
Hahaha. Sad, but true.
Hahaha.
Sad, but true.
DHS is too busy harassing
DHS is too busy harassing people at airports and train stations to bother with REAL homeland defense. They only peddle fear to keep TSA growing, radiation companies in business... etc.
And where is our president? He is busy BOMBING yet another county when all that money could be spent in a flash preparing this country for the worst case scenario around this horrific tragedy.
Not to derail this into a political debate, but lets face the facts. This country is falling apart. There is no leadership. There is only fighting and NO national solidarity in anything.
You can also believe that Nuclear power plants don't have KI on hand in case of an emergency. Why else did the Fed pull remaining KI from shelves and stop online orders from going through to send it to Japan.
The DOE and EPA could be providing more data for sure.
But most Americans really don't care what is going on. Everyone is in some MASSIVE denial daze. Its sick, really.
What is going to happen when ships from China carrying all our goods hit our shores? Will the government INGORE radioactive ships so as to not piss off the Chinese? What will happen to our debt that the Chinese government holds?
People just have no imagination or understanding how the magnitude of this goes far beyond trace elements.
I am right there w/you on
I am right there w/you on all of the above
Its common sense
Its common sense at this point and time with what we know about science.
Just to add to explain that
Just to add to explain that last comment: China refused a ship from California when it spent a couple of hours around (maybe it docked) Japan and it got contaminated. So what will happen when the reverse starts to happen? When ships from CHina come here?
Well I would like to think
Well I would like to think that our gov't has that covered adequately but after this bit with the EPA....I cannot say that my confidence is high.