Woooosh
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Scientists Project Path of Radiation Plume: Southern Cal on Friday.
Who to believe? The Japanese downplayed any danger, but it will be measurable here? 
NY Times: Radioactive Plume to hit Southern California Friday...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/science/17plume.html?_r=1
Scientists Project Path of Radiation Plume
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: March 16, 2011
A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the
Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.
Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health
consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986
spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule.
The projection, by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, an arm of the United Nations in Vienna, gives no information about actual radiation
levels but only shows how a radioactive plume would probably move and disperse.
The forecast, calculated Tuesday, is based on patterns of Pacific winds at that time and the predicted path is likely to change as weather patterns
shift.
On Sunday, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it expected that no “harmful levels of radioactivity” would travel from Japan to the
United States “given the thousands of miles between the two countries.”
The test ban treaty group routinely does radiation projections in an effort to understand which of its global stations to activate for monitoring the
worldwide ban on nuclear arms testing. It has more than 60 stations that sniff the air for radiation spikes and uses weather forecasts and powerful
computers to model the transport of radiation on the winds.
On Wednesday, the agency declined to release its Japanese forecast, which The New York Times obtained from other sources. The forecast was distributed
widely to the agency’s member states.
But in interviews, the technical specialists of the agency did address how and why the forecast had been drawn up.
“It’s simply an indication,” said Lassina Zerbo, head of the agency’s International Data Center. “We have global coverage. So when something happens,
it’s important for us to know which station can pick up the event.”
For instance, the Japan forecast shows that the radioactive plume will probably miss the agency’s monitoring stations at Midway and in the Hawaiian
Islands but is likely to be detected in the Aleutians and at a monitoring station in Sacramento.
The forecast assumes that radioactivity in Japan is released continuously and forms a rising plume. It ends with the plume heading into Southern
California and the American Southwest, including Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The plume would have continued eastward if the United Nations scientists
had run the projection forward.
Earlier this week, the leading edge of the tangible plume was detected by the Navy’s Seventh Fleet when it was operating about 100 miles northeast of
the Japanese reactor complex. On Monday, the Navy said it had repositioned its ships and aircraft off Japan “as a precautionary measure.”
The United Nations agency has also detected radiation from the stricken reactor complex at its detector station in Gunma, Japan, which lies about 130
miles to the southwest.
The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory B. Jaczko, said Monday that the plume posed no danger to the United States. “You just
aren’t going to have any radiological material that, by the time it traveled those large distances, could present any risk to the American public,” he
said in a White House briefing.
Mr. Jaczko was asked if the meltdown of a core of one of the reactors would increase the chance of harmful radiation reaching Hawaii or the West
Coast.
“I don’t want to speculate on various scenarios,” he replied. “But based on the design and the distances involved, it is very unlikely that there
would be any harmful impacts.”
The likely path of the main Japanese plume across the Pacific has also caught the attention of Europeans, many of whom recall how the much closer
Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine began spewing radiation.
In Germany on Wednesday, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection held a news conference that described the threat from the Japanese plume as
trifling and said there was no need for people to take iodine tablets. The pills can prevent poisoning from the atmospheric release of iodine-131, a
radioactive byproduct of nuclear plants. The United States is also carefully monitoring and forecasting the plume’s movements. The agencies include
the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy.
On Wednesday, Steven Chu, the energy secretary, told Congress that the United States was planning to deploy equipment in Japan that could detect
radiation exposure on the ground and in the air. In total, the department’s team includes 39 people and more than eight tons of equipment.
“We continue to offer assistance in any way we can,” Dr. Chu said at a hearing, “as well as informing ourselves of what the situation is.”
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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jeremias
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Looks like Kelp soup will be on my menu soon.
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wessongroup
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Some good info... thanks... .
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Marc
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Time to pop those iodine tabs
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mcfez
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Some of you are over re'acting....I feel no threat
[Edited on 3-17-2011 by mcfez]
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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Phil S
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yeah mcfez. I think someone in Poland said that too, years ago.
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Woooosh
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I'm not too worried about the little puffs of steam that have come out of ***u so far. It's when the whole place blows I have concerns about the
radiation levels here- and everywhere. Don't they have Santa Ana winds in Japan?
[Edited on 3-17-2011 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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Woooosh
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Feds deploy more radiation monitors in western US:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110316/ap_on_re_us/us_west_coas...
– Wed Mar 16, 7:17 pm ET
SAN FRANCISCO – More radiation monitors are being deployed in the western United States and Pacific territories, as officials seek to mollify public
concern over exposure from damaged nuclear plants in Japan, federal environmental regulators said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency already monitors radiation throughout the area as part of its RadNet system, which measures levels in air,
drinking water, milk and rain.
The additional monitors are being deployed in response to the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, where emergency workers are attempting to cool
overheated reactors damaged by last week's magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said they do not expect harmful radiation levels to reach the U.S. from Japan.
"The agency decided out of an abundance of caution to send these deployable monitors in order to get some monitors on the ground closer to Japan,"
said Jonathan Edwards, director of EPA's radiation protection division.
California already has 12 monitoring stations scattered throughout the state that test the air for radiation levels. EPA also has 40 so-called
"deployable" monitors that can be moved around in cases of emergency.
EPA told The Associated Press it is adding two more stations in Hawaii and two in Guam. In Alaska, officials are setting up three new monitors in
Dutch Harbor, Nome and Juneau.
The idea is to get a better geographic spread of monitoring equipment than currently exists, Edwards said.
Once up and running, the stations will send real time data via satellite to EPA officials, who will make the data available to the public online. The
monitors also contain two types of air filters that are collected and mailed to EPA's data center in Alabama.
The new stations are expected to be operational by the end of the week, Edwards said.
The agency said it does not expect to see any spike in readings on the monitors, which Edwards said measure all forms of radiation that might exist
after a nuclear event like the one in Japan.
Officials in Oregon — which has two monitoring stations — held a news conference on Wednesday to reassure the public they were monitoring developments
and prepared to respond.
Officials in all western states have said they do not expect to see any harmful levels of radiation reach the mainland, which is about 5,000 miles
from Japan.
___
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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mcfez
Elite Nomad
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Love that picture!!!!!!
Department of Homeland Security will keep us safe. Who? (!)
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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Cypress
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We now have an "amatuer hour" administration at the wheel.
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MrBillM
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Be Afraid. Be VERY Afraid.
Stay Home. Inside with the Windows Closed and Blinds Drawn and hide in the closet. Preferably, lined with Aluminum Foil. Try not to Breathe.
You won't be missed.
AND, should something GO Amiss, Passersby will note it in a few days depending on the temperature.
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Iflyfish
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It won't harm you to start adding kelp to your diet unless you have an allergy to Iodine or are taking a medication that interacts with Iodine. Kelp
is a safe source of Iodine.
I agree with Cypress on this one, the Corporate Media Spokesmen for the plants in Japan may not be providing the real story. They do look like Amatuer
Hour if you watch them.
The US is monitoring outgassing from the plants. Stay tuned to CNN, MSNBC and other reliable sources of information. Google News is also pretty
current.
Iodine is held in the thyroid for 24-48 hours, you have time to take it EVEN IF YOU ARE EXPOSED. It pregnant women, those who are about to become
pregnant, infants and those under 40 are at the greatest risk for radioactive Iodine poisoning. The risk of this exposure is worse the closer you are
to the source.
The greater long term concern in cesium, which can enter the food supply, generally thru milk/milk products from cows who eat contaminated feed.
Preventative measures for this are not to consume milk/milk products AFTER fallout is found on the ground. Use powdered milk packaged BEFORE the
fallout reached the ground if you must use milk/milk products.
Iflyfish
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Jim/Liisa
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They need to start thinking about our own nuclear plants in California before the big one.
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Woooosh
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Jim/Liisa
They need to start thinking about our own nuclear plants in California before the big one. |
Using the Japanese model of protection-by-prevailing-winds, we are safe in SoCal with San Onofre because any radioactive fallout will head due-east
and hit Vegas, Not LA or San Diego. Don't you think the Gulf Oil spill from the Horizon explosion was worse than this nuke accident? More nukes,
less kooks 
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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tripledigitken
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Woooosh
..... Don't you think the Gulf Oil spill from the Horizon explosion was worse than this nuke accident? |
little early to make a call on that one............
Ken
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Jim/Liisa
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And that's not part of the USA?
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Woooosh
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vegas? Not to us in Mexico.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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Woooosh
Banned
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Panic buying of Iodized Salt in China. People mistakenly believe eating table salt will prevent radiation poisoning...
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-china-iodine-salt-20110318...
Japan radiation fears spark panic salt-buying in China.
A clamor for iodized salt leads to long lines and mob scenes at stores across China after rumors spread of a radioactive cloud from Japan's
quake-damaged nuclear plant. The hordes are under the false impression that consuming the seasoning would protect against radiation poisoning.
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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Martyman
Super Nomad
Posts: 1904
Registered: 9-10-2004
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Woooosh
More nukes, less kooks |
REALLY?
I say less nukes more cukes (w/chile of course)
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