Universities come through in monitoring for radiation vs Gvt sources (article,Graph from UW Seattle)

[uppityperson]

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)

[drm604]

1. What I don't understand

is why they consider university scientists to be a surprising source. Scientists are the ones to look to for this kind of information, universities tend to have scientists, and university scientists are the ones I would most expect to give accurate unbiased information.

[wtbymark]

2. Interesting graph

When reading a survey meter, .1mR/hr is roughly equivalent to 100 CPM (counts per minute) which comes very close to raising alarms on the civilian network. This graph starts at .01?? how do they measure air quality in M-cubed and how does that translate in to mR/h?

[uppityperson]

3. I do not know. I thought the article was interesting though.

[uppityperson]

4. Are any of the evening crew interested? Will let it sink but one kick to show more