Posted on 04/11/2011 2:31:44 PM PDT by dragnet2
Rainfall that fell on the city of Boise two weeks ago registered the highest levels of radioactive contamination in the United States from the ongoing nuclear-power-plant crisis in Japan.
But public health officials say there is no reason for alarm.
"These results are far below any levels of public health concern," said Hanady Kader, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"While short-term events such as these do not raise public health concerns, EPA has taken steps to increase the level of monitoring of precipitation, drinking water and other potential exposure routes," Kader said.
Rainfall in Boise on March 22 contained 242 picocuries per liter of iodine-131, a radioactive isotope of iodine resulting from nuclear fission. The concentration was 80 times the EPA's maximum allowable limit of 3 picocuries per liter, but health officials say the quickly decaying isotope will be rendered harmless in about 80 days due to its relatively short half-life.
"The fact that we are detecting it even in miniscule samples indicates it's from Japan. Usually, you would see none," Dietrich said.
Dietrich said DEQ has also been picking up iodine-131 on air filters for two weeks at the Idaho National Laboratory near Arco, and that the isotope has shown up in at least one public drinking water system in Boise.
"The levels seen in rainwater are expected to be relatively short in duration," she said.
On March 11, a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, causing the worst nuclear disaster since an explosion at a nuclear plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.
Tom Shanahan, public information manager for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned food imports from regions contaminated by the nuclear disaster in Japan.
(Excerpt) Read more at mtexpress.com ...
That is very reassuring.
Idaho...Potatoes....Don’t eat the chips!!!
We get a ours from a local source. Thanks!
Well since idaho has been a uranium producing state and is surrounded on all sides by uranium producing states...stands to reason it tests for uranium
Glowing green is just so ... conspiritorial, like birthers and tea partyers and conservatives and ...
and the rain goes into the soil, and the grass grows in the spring, and the cows eat the grass, and then—the cow’s milk is radioactive!
Best to get your milk from local dairies where no radiation has been detected. Call your state DER to get latest stats.
‘POTATO GROWS THIRD EYE’
Film at eleven
Hormesis anyone?
Well, the EPA labels raw milk ‘toxic’, now they have a reason.
Nuclear cheese!
BOISE, Idaho - Radiation leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan is turning up in Idaho.
We know this because a very specific nuclear particle called Iodine-131 has made its way to Idaho Falls and Spokane.
http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/119238979.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Don't worry about it...lol
The piece got our attention, then, “But public health officials say there is no reason for alarm.” Iodine-131 decays out pretty fast. We’ll see real exposures after our big default, when Iran and her Islamist friends launch on us, followed by China and Russia.
What if known scientific reality also says there is no reason for alarm?
From the article:
Rainfall in Boise on March 22 contained 242 picocuries per liter of iodine-131, a radioactive isotope of iodine resulting from nuclear fission.
I’m still waiting for dispersant death from the gulf.
How does the EPA “allow” a certain radiation level in rain?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.