Washington radiation spike March 31, then out of service ... iodine-131 found in drinking water

[bananas]

http://enenews.com/coincidence-washington-air-monitor-sustained-radiation-spike-service-same-city-iodine-131-found-drinking-water

Mystery? Washington air monitor shows sustained radiation spike on March 31, then goes out of service… Same city where iodine-131 found in drinking water
April 6th, 2011 at 09:25 AM

Air monitoring stations, Washington State Department of Health, April 4, 2011:

…The chart shows radiations measures known as “gross beta,” a term that refers to all radioactive materials that emit beta radiation. Gross beta measurements are used because they give us the fastest indication of any change in radiation levels. They’re measured in “counts per minute.” …

Read the report here.

Notice the average daily reading for Richland, WA on March 31. (Richland was one of just two cities in the U.S. where the E.P.A. found radioactive particles in drinking water):



See also: Radiation Found in Richland Drinking Water, KIMA, April 5, 2011:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found radiation in Richland tap water. Only two spots in the whole country where it was found — Richland and Boise. …

[gateley]

1. Richland's where Hanford was -- I'd be more surprised if they didn't have any. nt

[abqmufc]

2. Richalnd, WA = Hanford Nuclear Facility

I am sure officials will say the detections are linked to Hanford and not Japan. Either way it is not good.

[bananas]

4. Good point - definitely a possibility - that happened with the PBMR

http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/pbmrfactsheet.htm

<snip>

"INHERENTLY SAFE" GERMAN PBMR COVERS UP RADIATION ACCIDENT AND SHUTS DOWN

As Dr. Edward Teller, the father of the H-bomb said, "Sooner or later a fool will prove greater than the proof even in a foolproof system."

<snip>

In 1985, the experimental THTR-300 PBMR on the Ruhr in Hamm-Uentrop, Germany was also offered as accident proof--with the same promise of an indestructible carbon fuel cladding capable of retaining all generated radioactivity. Following the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident and graphite fire in Ukraine, the West German government revealed that on May 4, the 300-megawatt PBMR at Hamm released radiation after one of its spherical fuel pebbles became lodged in the pipe feeding the fuel to the reactor. Operator actions during the event caused damage to the fuel cladding.

Radioactivity was released with the escaping helium and radioactive fallout was deposited as far as two kilometers from the reactor. The fallout in the region was high enough to initially be blamed on Chernobyl. Government officials were then alerted by scientists in Freiburg who reported that as much as 70 % of the region’s contamination was not of the type of radiation leaking hundreds of miles away in Ukraine. Dismayed by an attempt to conceal the reactor malfunction and confronted with mounting public pressure in light of the Chernobyl accident only days prior, the state ordered the reactor to close pending a design review.

<snip>

You just can't trust the nuclear industry.

[abqmufc]

5. Good points, though and I put a call into some contacts..

at the Nez Perce Tribe, they work closely with DOE, DOD on Hanford issues, they also have air monitors in ID that may be able to detect radionuclides.

The site you gave did have a LOT of info that was concerning and I do seem to trust the site as it provides direct links to the reports/documents/articles it is talking about.

I also don't trust the industry having seen its impacts directly to the Nez Perce Tribe as well as the impacts here in New Mexico and on the Colorado Plateau. I've spent 15 years working on these issues on the Colorado Plateau.

What has always concerned me is the lack of modeling data that I see in the USA for this stuff. If no danger existed you could demonstrate it via a model, but instead I see little modeling being done in the USA. (University of Maryland has done some and it does show me that risk does exist.)

Again thank!

FYI, here is a link to today's Native American Calling (NPR) show on Radiation Nation, impacts of nuclear industry by Native Americans. Scroll to today's show.
http://www.nativeamericacalling.com/

[abqmufc]

6. FYI, from Hanford folks...'not peer reviewed'

Hi - One of our folks said that according to the Tri-Cities Herald, PNNL is not releasing their air monitoring data for the Hanford Site because it hasn't been peer reviewed. He said there is information at the EPA website, which appears to be on EPA’s main homepage. Also see http://www.epa.gov/japan2011/rert/radnet-richland-bg.html and http://www.epa.gov/japan2011/rert/radnet-spokane-bg.html comparing Richland to Spokane.

[uppityperson]

3. Link to article about UW monitoring and a graph

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014693490_nukemonitors06m.html

The amount of radioactive material reaching Washington and the rest of the West Coast from Japan's crippled nuclear reactors is dropping off sharply — but you'd be hard-pressed to know the details if you relied on government agencies for your information.

Federal and state officials have doled out only snippets of monitoring data in the weeks since the earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The most complete picture of the types and amounts of isotopes wafting across the ocean has come from a surprising source: university scientists.

A team at the University of Washington rigged up a detection system as soon as it became clear the Japanese reactors were damaged. Unlike some agencies, they have shared their full results with the public — including the newest measurements that show levels are now a tenth of what they were on March 20, when concentrations of radioactive material peaked in Seattle.

...(more)