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Radiation in Hawaii.

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Josh

Sun Apr 17 2011, 08:19PM

Registered Member #938 Joined: Sat Aug 04 2007, 05:39AM
Location: Honokaa,HI,USA
Posts: 65

With radiation being detected out in milk, my mother has become rather worried.
(not drinking milk but having any form of radiation out here)

Should I be somewhat worried or is this more or less insignificant compared to the background radiation we receive on a daily basis?
I realize they say it's much lower then the limits, however it seems that sometimes limits are set far too high in many circumstances.

Proud Mary

Sun Apr 17 2011, 08:54PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Observations of Fallout from the Fukushima Reactor Accident in San Francisco Bay Area Rainwater
Authors: Eric B. Norman, Christopher T. Angell, Perry A. Chodash

(Submitted on 30 Mar 2011)
Nuclear Experiment
Cornell University Library

Abstract: We have observed fallout from the recent Fukushima Dai-ichi reactor accident in samples of rainwater collected in the San Francisco Bay area. Gamma ray spectra measured from these samples show clear evidence of fission products - 131,132I, 132Te, and 134,137Cs. The activity levels we have measured for these isotopes are very low and pose no health risk to the public.

Josh

Mon Apr 18 2011, 01:14AM

Registered Member #938 Joined: Sat Aug 04 2007, 05:39AM
Location: Honokaa,HI,USA
Posts: 65

Yeah that's what I personally thought :)
Well now she is having me use the last stage on my RO-DI unit that I use for my reef tank,
and for the family's drinking water.
Our drinking water is 0 PPM with the DI cartridge that has dual input inline PPM meter.
Talk about incredibly bland tasting water !

Patrick

Mon Apr 18 2011, 03:33AM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

I dont think you need to panic! just be cautious.

Steve Conner

Mon Apr 18 2011, 09:27AM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

I think the risk of getting skin cancer from the Hawaiian sunshine is far higher. Does UV count as ionizing radiation?

25 years after Chernobyl, sheep in Wales still need checked for contamination before being sold at market.

Bored Chemist

Mon Apr 18 2011, 06:43PM

Registered Member #193 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022

In a way I'm very pleased that my colleagues in the world of chemistry (and physics- take you pick) are able to detect and measure these incredibly small amounts of stuff.
In each litre of the milk less than one atom of 134 Cs decays each second
It's really very impressive that they can measure that.

If it was about a thousand times higher then it would be a possible hazard- assuming you drank milk at that level for your whole lifetime.

It's just a slight pity that the press don't explain that sort of thing when they write stories about "contamination".

If I was in Hawaii the only radiation protection I would bother with would be sunscreen.

Bjørn

Mon Apr 18 2011, 07:11PM

Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058

In nature radiation levels will not fall over time by some half-life rule. Some places it will disappear almost instantly, other places it will get concentrated in the food chain. Twenty five years after Chernobyl simple math says that there should be almost nothing left of the short lived isotopes, yet some types of food is still significantly radioactive and surpasses the legal limit in some areas.

Cows milk tend to peak early in radiation but when the radioactive material is washed away from the surface it quickly goes back to normal so the total dose is quite small. What is a problem is plants and animals that concentrate the radioactivity, they will be radioactive for a long time and the total dose over a lifetime can be large.

Steve Conner

Mon Apr 18 2011, 08:01PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Bored Chemist, in my April Fool article one of the suggestions I made was that sensitive radiation monitoring equipment should simply be banned because it leads to unnecessary panic. I was only half joking.

In that radio program I heard, the count rate of the Geiger (or whatever kind of detector it was) could clearly be heard to increase when passed over the sheep.

Proud Mary

Mon Apr 18 2011, 11:22PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Steve McConner wrote ...

the suggestions I made was that sensitive radiation monitoring equipment should simply be banned because it leads to unnecessary panic. I was only half joking.

This is absolutely the philosophy of military and 'civil defence' dosimetry as many hopeful hobbyists have discovered to their dismay when their ebay 'bargain' obstinately refuses to detect anything at all.

The hobbyist usually wants something that will detect in Î¼Sv/hr from small natural sources, while the military don't want anyone getting twitchy until the dose rate is 10,000 times larger.

James

Mon Apr 18 2011, 11:30PM

Registered Member #3610 Joined: Thu Jan 13 2011, 03:29AM
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 506

I have an old Victoreen ion chamber meter with the CD logo on it. The needle rises when exposed directly under an x-ray machine but I've never seen so much as a twitch caused by anything else. I bought it a while back as a cool shelf ornament so I'm not overly concerned, but IMO it's useless for any practical detection of radiation, short of a full on nuclear war.

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