Posted on 01/11/2014 2:44:11 PM PST by truthfinder9
Jay T. Cullen, Associate Professor of marine chemistry at the University of Victoria, Daily Kos diary, Jan. 4, 2014: [...] Fukushima derived Cs has reached the west coast as of June 2013 by ocean transport but [the] concentrations of Cs continue to be well below levels thought to pose environmental or public health threats. There have been a number of popular press articles that [...] report the timing of the arrival of the radionuclides but offer no perspective on the actual levels and the associated risk to residents of the west coast (e.g. link). [...] About 93% of radioactivity in seawater results from the presence of primordial, naturally occurring potassium-40 (K-40) and rubidium-87 (Rb-87). The remaining 7% are radioactive elements deposited to the ocean from past atmospheric nuclear testing. [...] Fukushima derived Cs was detected all the way to the coast in June 2013 with the highest levels of Cs-137 farthest offshore (0.0009 Bq/L or roughly 0.006% of background radiation) and lower levels of 0.0003 Bq/L toward the coast [...] Ongoing monitoring will constrain the likely environmental and health risks posed by ocean transport of Fukushima derived radionuclides.
Note the professor changed the units to Bq/L for Cs-134 and -137, instead of using Bq/m3 as in the source document (pdf). The above amounts must be multiplied by 1,000 to get Bq/m3.
In addition, the figures provided by the professor appear to be inaccurate:
According to the source document, it’s Cs-134, not Cs-137, that measured 0.9 Bq/m3 (or 0.0009 Bq/L if you modify the units like the professor). The professor writes that in June 2013 there were “lower levels of 0.0003 Bq/L toward the coast” — This amount is not in the measurements for 2013, the only mention of it was in 2012: “Levels of 137Cs equal to 0.3 Bq/m3 measured at Sta. P26 in 2012.”
Last month in a Vancouver-area newspaper Prof. Cullen wrote: “the natural level of radioactivity on average in the oceans is about 13 Bq/L, against which radioactivity resulting from human activities and disasters should always be discussed.” What is the basis of this claim that “natural radioactivity levels should always be discussed” when “radioactivity resulting from human activities” is mentioned?
“In the ocean (and human body) different radionuclides have different fate and toxicity,” according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s senior scientist Ken Buesseler (who mentions his ability to be quoted in media reports downplaying Fukushima-related data).
Also be aware that fish can bio-concentrate cesium-137 at a rate of 100 times the level found in the surrounding water. For seals and sea lions it’s up to 1,000 times. (Source: IAEA)
This is probably not good.
Hmm..maybe time to consider a move inland from Puget Sound..
Daily Kos??
“This is probably not good.”
Please explain.
It’s TEOTWAWKI!
Sure seems like it on FR today.
And I feel fine.
Don’t eat seafood, don’t swim in the ocean. Problem solved. The risk from doing so is very small but not zero. Avoid these activities and the risk returns to the same level it was befor March 2011. People have NO idea how small a Bequerel is....and the amounts being found are measured in fractions of a Bq. If you or anyone you know ever had a perfusion heart scan due to chest pain they received a dose of radioactive technetium.
A typical dose for this procedure is 1,480,000,000 Bequerels.
I’m hoping all the wildly overblown scaremongering will convince people to stop eating fish so I can get it cheaper
Three garbage threads on Fukushima in ten minuets...impressive.
Three Gators in a row!
If a Freeper can’t believe what’s in the Daily Kos what can he believe?
How close is the Seattle stadium to the shore? could radioactivity be affecting Brees’ throwing?
“Three garbage threads on Fukushima in ten minuets...impressive.”
But we had a cold fusion thread which means we are all saved.
So they have established a baseline?
Fukushima has been pouring hundreds of tons of contaminated water into the ocean every day for 3 years now and if the waste has arrived at North America, this is only the leading edge. The concentration must go up from here because of the continuous dumping that has already occurred (continues to migrate from Fukushima to North America) and daily dumping of contaminated water that will continue to occur for many years (duration uknown - there is no known fix for this problem). So it’s too soon to say “it was sufficiently diluted” because so much of what has already been dumped into the ocean has not made it across the Pacific yet. Also, because even small amounts of exposure to radiation increases risk of serious illness by small amounts. I don’t feel celebratory.
LOL. Let me guess, initial small gains of energy showing hope for future use?
I think it’s a record.
Don’t eat seafood, don’t swim in the ocean. Problem solved.
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Since the ocean deposits salt and other minerals on the rocks and shoreline, why wouldn’t contaminates end up on our beaches and being blown with sand inland?
It’s a gator-nado!
Sand does not bind with Cs atoms, neither does NaCl. There will likely be a tiny amount of Cs and other isotopes that do get carried distances by the wind.....just as the dust blown around the country from the Colorado plateau has radiactive elements mixed in.....again in vanishingly small concentrations. Such amounts are measures in fractions of a Bq.....an amazingly small amount. The risk is not zero for people......just VERY VERY close to zero. Normalcy bias.....people are freaking out about the one in a million+ chance they will die from Fukushima and ignore the one in a thousand chance they will die in a car crash. They scream about pbysics they simply cannot comprehend while stuffing their faces and bloating from fat to obese....doubling or even tripling the chances they die THIS YEAR from a heart attack. Worry about the things that are truly dangerous to you....not the theoretical risks.
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