Replies

he discusses the high levels of radiation (2 Million disintegrations/second being found on the ground as far as 25 miles from the plant site.)

That's about 54 mSV isn't it? If that is true, that is VERY high! You would experience radiation sickness in less than 24 hours of exposure?

Right here in Tokyo, from where I speak at the moment, the radiological readings of Tokyo air by the US military professionals here just now, is that it is exactly 34.7µR (micro-roentgens), and they're equivalent to about what you get in Phoenix, Arizona. i.e. very low, nothing out of the ordinary.

Everyone, please chill and lay off the caffeine for now...

1625 local

he discusses the high levels of radiation (2 Million disintegrations/second being found on the ground as far as 25 miles from the plant site.)

That’s about 54 mSV isn’t it? If that is true, that is VERY high! You would experience radiation sickness in less than 24 hours of exposure?

I used to work in radiological controls for the U.S. Navy. 2 million dps is not a measure of radiation levels, it’s not even an accurate measure of radioactive contamination, without an associated surface area. One Curie (Ci) is 37 billion dps, so we’re talking about 2*10E+6/37*10E+9 = 54 uCi. But there is no mention of surface area, 54 uCi/?, m^2? Let’s assume 54 uCi/m^2*(1*10E+6 pCi/uCi)*(1 cpm/450 pCi/m^2) = 120,000 cpm, or 1,200X normal background. There is no easy conversion from cpm to dose rate, but using an average rule-of-thumb, 1,000 cpm/mRem/h, we have a dose rate of 120 mRem/h. Now 1 mSv/h = 100 mRem/h, so we have 1.2 mSv/h. In 24-h, whole body exposure would be 2.4 Rem, it takes 100 Rem for the onset of radiation sickness. I would extend the exclusion zone for civilians back to dose rates below 1 mRem/h (10 uSv/h). A dose rate of 120 mRem/h is not low but it’s not life threatening either.