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Japan Radiation Medicine

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AlMac99 bdfmchuv Bea Alvarez bevcorwin brandongraham Craig Vanderwagen
duane.caneva Emi Kiyota GBrozowski James Miller Kathy Gilbeaux leiderman
Mark Ryan mdmcdonald MichelSPawlowski Patrick Young rasmussene Richard Walden
RJ Danzig safecast safecastdotorg Samuel Bendett Susan Fassig Tomo
UserTest WVISecurity Yuki Karakawa

Email address for group

radiation-medicine@m.resiliencesystem.org

New Material Cleans Water of Radioactive Contamination

submitted by Samuel Bendett

from Homeland Security Newswire

Published 14 April 2011

NC State researchers develops material to remove radioactive contaminants from drinking water; the material is a combination of forest byproducts and crustacean shells; the new material not only absorbs water, but can actually extract contaminates, such as radioactive iodide, from the water itself; this material, which forms a solid foam, has applications beyond radioactive materials

The 11 March Japan disaster, and the contamination of both fresh and sea water with radioactive material seeping from the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima, will make this story timely and important. A combination of forest byproducts and crustacean shells may be the key to removing radioactive materials from drinking water, researchers from North Carolina State University have found.

Drugs to test / treat radiation poisoning being researched

WASHINGTON ---- Japan's nuclear emergency highlights a big medical gap: Few treatments exist to help people exposed to large amounts of radiation.

But some possibilities are in the pipeline ---- development of drugs to treat radiation poisoning, and the first rapid tests to tell who in a panicked crowd would really need them.

The U.S. calls these potential products "countermeasures," and they're part of the nation's preparations against a terrorist attack, such as a dirty bomb. But if they work, they could be useful in any kind of radiation emergency.

"Thinking of terrorist events is what drives us. Mother Nature can be much of a terror, too," says Dr. Robin Robinson, who heads the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, that funds late-stage research of products the government deems most likely to pan out.

BARDA has invested $164 million for research into anti-radiation treatment candidates since 2008, and $44 million for radiation testing ---- in hopes of adding such products to the nation's emergency medical stockpile soon. That's in addition to research dollars from the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department.

Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident raised from crisis level 5 to 7

The Japanese government's nuclear safety agency has decided to raise the crisis level of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident from 5 to 7, the worst on the international scale.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency made the decision on Monday. It says the damaged facilities have been releasing a massive amount of radioactive substances, which are posing a threat to human health and the environment over a wide area.

The agency used the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, or INES, to gauge the level. The scale was designed by an international group of experts to indicate the significance of nuclear events with ratings of 0 to 7.

On March 18th, one week after the massive quake, the agency declared the Fukushima trouble a level 5 incident, the same as the accident at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979.

Level 7 has formerly only been applied to the Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986 when hundreds of thousands of terabecquerels of radioactive iodine-131 were released into the air. One terabecquerel is one trillion becquerels.

News Release - Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) - INES rating assessed as Level 7 - April 12, 2011

(see link below - a 3 page .pdf report)

What consequences will radiation fallout actually have?

The crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has released a large amount of radioactive substances into the air and water, raising serious concerns over possible health risks.

The government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. have repeatedly said there will be no major health impact "for the time being" and that there will be no "immediate" effects.

But what consequences will the radiation fallout actually have?

The following will examine the impact of radioactive substances on people's daily lives, and look at how much radioactive fallout has occurred, possible health effects and how to prevent exposure.

How much radioactive material has so far been released into the atmosphere due to the Fukushima accident?

Let's compare the radioactive contamination caused by the current crisis to past nuclear accidents.

Fallout of cesium-137 has been monitored for every 24-hour period since March 18 at observation points in each prefecture, except quake-hit Fukushima and Miyagi. Cesium-137 is an international indicator for radioactive contamination.

High Radiation Levels Found Beyond 30-km Radius

Asahi.com - April 9, 2011
A study of soil samples has revealed that as much as 400 times the normal levels of radiation could remain in communities beyond a 30-kilometer radius from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, where explosions spewed radioactive materials into the atmosphere.

The study was conducted by a team of experts from Kyoto University and Hiroshima University.

According to the study, the accumulated amount of radiation in the soil at Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture--which is located outside of the 30-km radius--calculated over a three-month period would exceed the annual accumulated amount of 20 millisieverts that the central government is considering as a guideline for evacuating residents.

The government has asked residents living within a 20-km radius of the Fukushima No. 1 plant to evacuate and those living between a 20- to 30-km radius to remain indoors as much as possible.

Government studies have also found evidence of radiation contamination beyond the 30-km radius. The results show that radiation has not been spreading from the nuclear power plant in a concentric manner.

Fukushima Isotope Data - by Global Dirt Assessment Team

This data was taken by a Global DIRT assessment team within 2km (1.2 miles) of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. Data was collected using a Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation SAM 940 Defender / Revealer. The map below represents only readings which contained isotope levels (about 451 of the 1654 current readings). Be sure to check back as this page will be constantly updated.

http://www.globaldirt.org/map/ 

U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant

The New York Times - By JAMES GLANZ and WILLIAM J. BROAD - Published: April 5, 2011
United States government engineers sent to help with the crisis in Japan are warning that the troubled nuclear plant there is facing a wide array of fresh threats that could persist indefinitely, and that in some cases are expected to increase as a result of the very measures being taken to keep the plant stable, according to a confidential assessment prepared by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Radioactivity in Sea Up 7.5 Million Times - Marine Life Contamination Well Beyond Japan Feared

The Japan Times - by Kanako Takahara - April 5, 2011

Radioactive iodine-131 readings taken from seawater near the water intake of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant's No. 2 reactor reached 7.5 million times the legal limit, Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted Tuesday.

The sample that yielded the high reading was taken Saturday, before Tepco announced Monday it would start releasing radioactive water into the sea, and experts fear the contamination may spread well beyond Japan's shores to affect seafood overseas.

The unstoppable radioactive discharge into the Pacific has prompted experts to sound the alarm, as cesium, which has a much longer half-life than iodine, is expected to concentrate in the upper food chain.

According to Tepco, some 300,000 becquerels per sq. centimeter of radioactive iodine-131 was detected Saturday, while the amount of cesium-134 was 2 million times the maximum amount permitted and cesium-137 was 1.3 million times the amount allowable.

The amount of iodine-131 dropped to 79,000 becquerels per sq. centimeter Sunday but shot up again Monday to 200,000 becquerels, 5 million times the permissible amount.

Maps - Crowd-Sourced Realtime Radiation Monitoring

There are now hundreds of radiation-related feeds from Japan on Pachube, monitoring conditions in realtime and underpinning more than half a dozen incredibly valuable applications built by people around the world. They combine 'official' data, 'unofficial' official data, and, most importantly to us, realtime networked geiger counter measurements contributed by concerned citizens.   Now we're even seeing some tracking radiation measurements of tap water.

Google Earth powered by Pachube.com

rdtn.org

Japan Geigermap


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