BRAWM Team: Please Comment On California Dept. of Public Health Reports

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 2011-04-23 15:55

BRAWM Team,

I posted this before, but it probably slipped under your radar. So, I'm
posting it again to hopefully catch your attention. This is a chance for
you to highlight the sensitivity of your equipment :-)

Why isn't the California Department of Public Health detecting any
isotopes in their latest samples? Or cesium in *any* of their samples?
Does the BRAWM team have more sensitive equipment than the state?

Latest report:
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Documents/CDPH-RHB-RadReport-2011-04-20.PDF

That latest report for Livermore (closest to Berkeley) was from samples
taken on 4/6. Which shows no detections. But, the BRAWM team reported the
following for the sample collected 4/5-4/6:

I-131: 2.2E-07
Cs-134: 5.2E-08
Cs-137: 8.3E-08
Be-7: 3E-06

All of which CDPH tests for with the exception of Be-7.

You have to go back to their 4/12 report to find a sample with I-131.
But, none of the other isotopes they monitor for. Which were samples taken
4/1 to 4/7. In fact, the only other isotope they report is Tellurium-132
in San Luis Obispo in their 3/20 sample (March 25, 2011 report). They
also report detecting Tellurium-132 in Livermore and San Luis Obispo on
3/16-3/18 (March 24, 2011 report). But, no other isotopes in any report.

You can see their reports here:
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Pages/RHB-RadReport.aspx

Original post:
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/3351

‹ What Are Your Feelings of These Minimum Limits for Testing Food? The atomic elephant... ›

Thanks for the

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-04-23 20:55.

Thanks for the clarification!

EPA From the Livermore

Submitted by dchivers on Sat, 2011-04-23 20:18.

EPA
From the Livermore section of raw data (4/20/2011):
Cs137 MDA = 0.0294 pCi/m3
I131 MDA = 0.0368 pCi/m3

From our last air measurement (4/18) (Conversion: 1 Bq/L = 27027 pCi/m3)
Cs137 MDA = 0.0005405 pCi/m3 (2E-8 Bq/L)
I131 MDA = 0.0002973 (1.1E-8 Bq/L)

So, we are reporting minimum detectable activities about 50 times less than the EPA. Meaning we will see smaller amounts than their tests.

Thanks For The Explanation!!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-04-23 22:25.

It's comforting to know that the levels we are currently
worried about are so low that they can't even be detected
by the state monitors :-)

I do have a couple more questions regarding the CDPH results.

The CDPH 3/28 report has an air reading for I-131 1.11 pCi/M3
(4.11E-5 Bq/L). This sample was collected from 3/22-3/24.

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Documents/CDPH-RHB-RadReport-2011-03-28.pdf

The BRAWM team measured the following:

3/22-3/23: 3.4E-6 Bq/L
3/23-3/24: 4.3E-6 Bq/L

If my math is correct, the CDPH number is almost 10x higher
than the BRAWM 4.3E-6 Bq/L measurement, which was the highest
recorded by the BRAWM team to date.

What are your thoughts on the CDPH result? And what does that
translate into as far as the number of years required to breathe
that air to equal the exposure of the round trip plane flight?

bump

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2011-04-23 20:02.

bump