Level of iodine-131 in seawater off chartContamination 1,250 times above maximum limit

The Japan Times ^ | March 26, 2011 | KANAKO TAKAHARA and KAZUAKI NAGATA

[RummyChick]

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110327x1.html
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

“The 2.9 billion becquerels of iodine-134 per cu. cm in the puddle indicates a reaction is occurring because it is 10 million times what you would see at a normal nuclear reactor, the agency said”

So, what is the error. 2.9 billion becquerels reading or the math that it is 10 million times what you would see.

Was there a 2.9 billion becquerels reading or not?

Who knows.

TEPCO can’t seem to tell the truth.

[RummyChick]

The 10 million figure from reactor 2 seemed high to me when 10,0000 times was in reactor 3 and that is the one that supposedly has the crack according to the NY Times.

But iodine 134 has a very short life..so high levels would seem to indicate a problem.

how do you get iodine 134 without fission

[chimera]

I know of him. His work is more in international policy, proliferation issues, nuclear weapons policy, etc. I do not know his scientific background, or what his experience is in the nuclear industry. He is often trotted out by news organizations (e.g., FOX News) as a talking head "nuclear expert". I don't know, take that for what it's worth. Zsa Zsa Gabor was often trotted out as a "movie star", when it was actually more of a case of being famous for being famous.

I have never said in any of my posts that it is not a serious accident. It will be a long road to recovery for a nation that has been devastated by a natural disaster of almost unprecedented proportions for a modern society. Last I saw the casualty totals were approaching 30,000 dead and missing, none of those from any effects of the Fukushima reactors, just to keep things in perspective.

[RummyChick]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/81345.html

So here is what we have...

TEPCO thinks the readings are not credible. They are going to analyze the data.

They are going to review the part about iodine 134

I don’t accept anything TEPCO says. They are a bunch of lying buffoons.

[RummyChick]

He leans to the left.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Cirincione

He is called the dirty bomb expert.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/18/meltdowns_and_misinformation

He said in an interview that he thinks it is possible that 4 reactors will melt down.

[chimera]

Those numbers seem high to me. I'm guessing someone mixed up their prefixes. That happens when you have nontechnical people speaking to the media, and nontechnical people in the media reporting it. It happened a lot during TMI.

134I is part of a decay chin involving another fission product, 134Te. They are both relatively short-lived forms, but when it is a decay chain you get an effective increase of the overall half-life because one is feeding the other. So you had the initial production of 134I as a fission product, and also ingrowth from the decay of Te134. So if you plotted the solutions of the decay equations you'd see an upward trend to a peak, then an overall decay once the peak was passed. The key is when they took the samples. If there a time stamp for when the samples were collected and then counted?

[chimera]

chin—>chain (typos ‘r us)

[chimera]

I agree with your assessment of his political position. He obviously has a different take on the situation from where he is standing. So do I. We’ll have to see how things pan out. In the meantime I will offer what information I can of the best quality I can manage. Most of it is factual. Some will be speculation and opinion. Take it FWIW.

[RummyChick]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12875327?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) apology related to water readings at reactor 2 at the plant, 240km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

It had said radiation levels reached 10 million times higher than normal in the cooling system but because the level was so high the worker taking the reading had to evacuate before confirming it with a second reading.

[chimera]

I don't know, sometimes early measurements made in haste can be wrong because of normal mistakes, not lies. I taught a class this past quarter which had a radiation survey as part of the laboratory exercises. One student did a very fine job of sketching the layout of the radiation source and the surrounding materials, and a very fine rendering of isodose surfaces in three dimensions. Really beautiful work, meticulous and detailed. But his numbers were off by a factor of about 100 (too high). That was because the instrument he was using had an autoranging feature and his group had just finished checking a more intense source at very close distances. When they moved away from that source the instrument auto-downranged, but because of the way the display was shown on the instrument readout, he didn't notice the change. So I marked him down for the mistake, but not too much since he'd done such a nice job otherwise.

An anecdotal tale, to be sure, but relevant.

[exDemMom]

I’m worried about the Cs-137 (30-yr. half life) not the short-lived iodine. They’re usually reported together but curiously not in this report.

I'm not familiar with 137-Cs, since it is not one of the handful of isotopes commonly used in biochemical research, but just in general, the longer the half-life, the less energy the emissions have. I'd be far more worried about an acute exposure to 131-I, especially since it would make a beeline to the thyroid and damage or kill it, in the case of internalization of the isotope.

[RummyChick]

It is possible the reading was in error.

But this shows the ineptness of those handling a dangerous disaster.

If the 10 million figure “is not credible” then why release it without reanalyzing it.

Someone should be double checking the info that is released.

[chimera]

If it was wrong then it is unfortunate for them that it got out, because the media and other hysterical types will eat this kind of thing up.

If it was an honest mistake by those taking the readings it doesn't necessarily mean incompetence. Have you worn anti-c's in containment or a turbine building while wearing a fish mask? I have. It is uncomfortable, you have restricted mobility and vision, and if there is a danger of radiation injury that adds to the stress level. So if it was an on-site dose reading that was misread then I can cut the guys a little slack.

If it was an error in a laboratory assay then I would be a little harder on them. Usually at that point there is not the same stress level, unless they were depending on on-site infromation that may have been in error, such as sample volume or dilution after sampling (which is commonly done to make gamma assay more tractable).

[RummyChick]

Basically, they got the reading and fled for their lives without sticking around to do another reading.

The ineptness comes from TEPCO in releasing that data. If you are going to have to retract it because “it is not a credible number” then figure out whether it is credible before you release it.

” “The number is not credible,” said Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Takashi Kurita. “We are very sorry.” According to officials, the workers fled even before radiation experts were able to take a second reading because levels were so high, meaning efforts to control the leaking complex would be further delayed. “

And just where do they put all of this contaminated water with high levels of radiation?

http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110327/japan-nuclear-plant-110327/20110327/?hub=WinnipegHome

[chimera]

And just where do they put all of this contaminated water with high levels of radiation?

Typically liquid-borne contamination is managed by controlling runoff, within tanks or holding ponds. Depending on the radionuclide assay you might then want to treat it for decontamination (the EPICOR-II system developed for the TMI-2 decontamination effort is an example of this) and release, or hold it for decay. Once you've gotten all you can from decay or decon, you then have to think about evaporation to reduce volume, and eventual disposal of the dried residue, or dilution to acceptable levels prior to release.

[RummyChick]

TEPCO is reportedly revising the number that iodine 134 is 100,000 times the level of normal

[chimera]

Sounds like someone slipped a decimal point, or misused a prefix.

[Scythian]

I predict a flood of “Hey, this is a good thing, this is good for you, if it were in my water I’d gulp it down” posts from Freepers with their utter support of Nuclear Power. They’d probably go so far to say they wish this was happening within a mile of thier house because it would be so good for them ... sigh ...

[Scythian]

Don’t believe the nuclear industry propagandists, who are out in full force trying to do damage control.

I'd lump about 75% of the kooliad drinking Freepers into this category as well ....

[RummyChick]

I guess the rain is now radioactive

http://www.oananews.org/view.php?id=163544&ch=EAW

Gov’t asks treatment plants not to take in rainwater due to radiation