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Message Subject 7,900 Radioactive Rods ready to enter the Pacific ! Ambassador : " Fate of Japan and the whole world depends on NO. 4 reactor "
Poster Handle Anonymous Coward
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Someone told me that I should have titled my thread “ 7,900 Radioactive Rods ready to enter the Pacific “ ...

[link to www.terradaily.com]


Landis and a team drawn from Dartmouth's Department of Earth Science and Department of Geography recently published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences addressing such concerns.


The paper reports that testing in New Hampshire's Mink Brook watershed during March through May 2011 showed the amount of radioactive iodine deposition in the soil was minimal, with calculations revealing the total amount to be on the order of 6,000 atoms per square meter.

Landis comments that "at these levels, it is unlikely that this is going to cause measurable health consequences."
However, sampling of Mink Brook stream sediments showed a doubling of iodine concentrations relative to what was found in soils. But even in these concentrations, stream and river transport are expected to result in significant dilution.

The radioisotope iodine-131, a significant constituent of the fallout, is a by-product of nuclear fission, highly radioactive, acutely toxic and presents a health risk upon its release to the environment.

It does have a relatively short half-life, which is both a blessing and a curse, Landis notes. "It releases a lot of radioactivity, which makes it dangerous, but it's gone very quickly so there is no long term exposure risk," he says. Its high radioactivity, however, makes it very detectable by the gamma-ray spectroscopy instruments used by the Dartmouth team in its analyses.

This is not the case with another isotope, iodine-129, released concurrently with iodine-131. It is not as radioactive, which makes it much harder to measure, but it is much longer lasting and, as it concentrates in certain areas over time, it may become more hazardous.

"Due to its long half-life and continued release from ongoing nuclear energy production, [iodine-129] is perpetually accumulating in the environment and poses a growing radiological risk," the authors point out.

... more .... in The Recipe below Sig link also ...
 
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