Month: January 2015

Dr. Ken Buesseler is currently on Bikini Atoll, studying the residual radioactive impacts of nuclear testing that took place there.  This picture was taken on January 18, 2015.   We were able to send Ken a Safecast Nano radiation detector, and will be posting data from the instrument to the Safecast website.  Safecast will also be reporting on Kenʻs scientific mission, so stay tuned to the Safecast Website.

We got this report from Dr. Buesseler as he was approaching Bikini Atoll by boat:

“Essentially we left Majuro on Jan 16, are at Bikini atoll sampling 18-20, head 24 hours to Enewetak (with one sampling station in between for waters in upper 2000m) and then 3 days in Enewetak before the 3 day steam back to Majuro.  

This is a privately funded research cruise on the R/V Alucia.  Quite a nice ship compared to our govt. funded ones!  It’s a one off chance to sample an important site of over 100 nuclear weapons tests and about 80% of the total yield from US testing (so many big tests were conducted here).  Given our limits to space and funding, we are not sampling any living animals, plants, marine life, corals, fish, algae etc. so it is more focused on radionuclide concentrations and sources, not on uptake in food chain.  While levels for many will be higher……cesium in the ocean today post Fukushima near the NPP is actually higher than in the lagoons.  Plutonium may be a different story as it was/is? higher here, and quite low from Fukushima.”

Japan was not the only population to experience the devastation produced by nuclear weapons.  The impacts of nuclear testing on the Marshal Islands population was quite severe.   American service men and women were also exposed during these tests.

Things look more peaceful in the images Ken is sending us.  This Nano is one of several instruments Ken is carrying.  The Nano is unique in that it contains a GPS receiver that will log geographical position along with radiation data.  The instrument is an open source device designed by Safecast.  This one was built by my wife, Orapin, at a Safecast workshop in Tokyo, Japan

 

Circling back to another Japan connection to all of this, Ken was able to visit the Lucky Dragon ship in Tokyo recently, as he prepared for this trip.  The crew of the Lucky Dragon was not very lucky, and was hit by fallout from nuclear test Bravo on March 1 1946.  Read more on the Lucky Dragon on Wikipedia here.

 

 

There is a lot more to this story, including the data Dr. Buesseler will be collecting.  Iʻm very interested to hear how the ecosystem is holding up there.  Stay tuned here, and keep an eye on Safecast for more news.

Dr. Buesseler is continuing to monitor radiation levels in the ocean worldwide, with particular attention being given to the Pacific Rim post-Fukushima at http://www.ourradioactiveoceans.org

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We are continuing to monitor food, plants, seaweed for radioactivity from Fukushima Daiichi at our California lab.  We are upgrading equipment, refining our methods, learning a lot.   Right now any Cesium from Fukushima Daiichi is at levels too low for our equipment to detect.  Weʻll be reporting more on the equipment and techniques we are using.  The basic information is that we are using 3 inch by 3 inch Sodium Iodide detectors, which have pretty high sensitivity when you put enough lead around them to shield out background radiation.

We reported earlier that Dr. Ken Buesselerʻs project is reporting the detection of some Cesium 134 from Fukushima off the coast of Northern California.  The level reported is 2 becquerel per cubic meter of water.  A cubic meter of water, for those of you who havenʻt converted to metric yet, is a cube with dimensions of about 3.3 by 3.3 by 3.3 feet.   To visualize 2 bq per cubic meter imagine random flashes of light in an area of that size, at the rate of approximately 2 per second (which is about 120 per minute).  The fact that we have lived with radioactive cesium in the ocean since nuclear weapons were first tested in the atmosphere in the 1940ʻs does not give a lot of comfort to those of us who love the oceans.  But we still need to see it in perspective, and the levels are still relatively low.

Iʻve been thinking a lot about my earlier post about the radioactive sand at Surfer Beach, Half Moon Bay, CA.  I did determine to my satisfaction that the radiation was not from Fukushima Daiichi.  The State of California and others agreed with me and said it was safe.  While I still think it is a beautiful beach and that the radioactive minerals there are likely naturally occurring, I think making a blanket statement that it is safe is going a little farther than I am comfortable with.   I provide radiation detection instruments to many safety professionals who work to meet regulatory compliance in the petroleum drilling and transportation industries.   The sand on Surfer Beach contains the same NORM class materials that they have safety programs related to, and exceeds the levels deemed of concern by some States and by the EPA.  Both Radium 226 and Thorium 232 emit alpha radiation, which can be hazardous inside the body if these radionuclides are ingested or inhaled.  So people with babies and small children might want to think about whether that is the best beach to play on.   If you want to find out more google NORM, Thorium 232, Radium 226.  There is a lot of interesting information out there.  I did feel a sense of urgency to let people know the radiation on that beach wasnʻt from Fukushima – because people were getting a little crazy over a false rumor.

Back to rumors again, there have been some reports of high radiation levels on beta sensors in the EPA Radnet network.   I have tried to get information on what is happening by going to the source:  The EPA.  I wish I could report anything useful.  I tried emailing them using email links on the Radnet website.   None of the links were functional.  I called EPA on the 2 phone numbers on their website on Dec. 17 2014.  Iʻm still waiting for a return phone call.  With response time like this, I hope we donʻt have a genuine emergency.  I am continuing to investigate and will report here if I find out anything about what is going on.

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