Published: October 15th, 2011 at 12:56 am ET
|
New York Times, Oct. 14 — [...] Like Japan’s central government, local [Tokyo] officials said there was nothing to fear in the capital [...]
Then came the test result: the level of radioactive cesium in a patch of dirt just meters from where [Takeo Hayashida's] 11-year-old son, Koshiro, played baseball was equal to those in some contaminated areas around Chernobyl. [...]
Some of the results were shocking [...]
The most contaminated spot in the Radiation Defense survey, near a church, was well above the 1.5 million becquerels per square meter level that required mandatory resettlement at Chernobyl. [...]
Read More: Citizens’ Testing Finds 20 Hot Spots Around Tokyo
Additional Information:
- Of the 132 areas tested, 22 were above 37,000 becquerels per square meter, the level set for contaminated zones at Chernobyl.
- The sample that Hayashida collected near the baseball field in the Edogawa ward measured nearly 138,000 becquerels per square meter of radioactive cesium-137.
- Hayashida has now moved his family out of Tokyo, 370 miles away to Okayama.
Published: October 15th, 2011 at 12:56 am ET
|
sending...
The truth always has a way of coming out .
Just wait until someone starts testing for Strontium, plutonium, and the other particles…
Seriously wondering if they will evacuate parts of Tokyo…
Probably not , as the government still hasn’t evacuated other similarly contaminated areas …
What about ground water re-testing, after all the latest floods ?
Report Comment
From the article:
* Fukushima nuclear accident = “the world’s second worst after Chernobyl.”
* In explaining why radiation “exposure likely to be limited,” “Kaoru Noguchi, head of Tokyo’s health and safety section” had this to say:
“Nobody stands in one spot all day.”
“And nobody eats dirt.”
* Excellent link: http://www.radiationdefense.jp/?lang=en “Radiation Defense Project”
Report Comment
@Mack
* Fukushima nuclear accident = “the world’s second worst after Chernobyl.”
Never trust articles like this in the NYTimes. They are always misleading or “watered down.”
Report Comment
No way Tokyo is affected!!!…No way!!!
Tepco and the Japanese Govt say so.
…Question for the Board.
Where in the Wide Wide World of Sports does one evacuate 110 million people to?
What about their clothes and belongings which would be contaminated?
red red wine
Report Comment
30 million…
clothes can be decontaminated. Belongings should be organised by a need only basis. International nations could provide resources like welfare, public transit vouchers, and basic food and shelter until more permanent resolutions are constructed.
The Japanese need to evacuate.
It is not a safe environment anymore. There is no more Japan.
Think it say it. know it.
Japan is now equally as dangerous as Chernobyl…
Report Comment
Thank you, Tacomagrove. There is a way to evacuate–history tells us of many. For those who say you canʻt evacuate 30 million people, I say you canʻt leave 30 million people to die slow, terrible deaths! At least evacuate the children, their mothers, the elderly and the sick.
IT CAN BE DONE! IT MUST BE DONE, NOW! Itʻs too bad that the process wasnʻt started on 311 when it should have been…
Report Comment
Bring them over here, the mexicans seem to like it!!
Report Comment
Alaskan, what do you mean by that?
Report Comment
My daughter-in-law is Mexican.
That makes my grandchildren 1/2 Mexican.
If you’re trying to equate “Mexican” with illegal,
you are way off base.
Report Comment
Yeahyyyyy for NY times.
Any way, I down loaded an application on my T-mobile 4g slide. It is called RadioactivityCounter. The tables on how to set it up are not available on there website, so I took the average and put it in. Walking through the house there was nothing on the counts per minute range. I got into my kitchen sink and it went to 2875 kCPM. I triple checked it, surveyed the rest of the house and in the bathrooms sink I found similar readings. All others were 0. Is my noise level set to small or high? I live in Virginia Beach VA., the reviews are good on the application. I have no other means to test. I am not sure of the accuracy, but the camera picked up the outline of my kitchen sink. That was through a piece of black electrical tape and scotch tape. http://www.hotray-info.de/html/radioa_data.html
Report Comment
How do you turn off the counter Keeps running Thanks Mark
Report Comment
There is no cell phone app which can detect nuclear radiation! Duh.
But there are more than a few which are to amuse your friends, where the “reading” changes by tilting the phone. Others use EMI to trigger “readings”.
Unless your cell phone is so new, and similar to that watch, (specifically says on the box it detects radiation) you can’t buy an app for real geiger counting, unless its just for keeping track of counts like the Geiger Bot.
Report Comment
http://www.gammawatch.com
i suppose this kind of technology could be implimented on a phone. But we won’t see it come out of Japan..
Report Comment
Not really true, CCD sensors can detect radiation, also CMOS sensors . The simplest is a PIN Diode (BPW 34), a camera has some millions of them in it. And mobile phones have cameras. They react on beta and gamma radiation also on x-rays. Not on alpha (only because the have lenses and protective layers).
See the video on yourtube on my page showing the dots on a camera images.
Report Comment
Bogus, radiation detection is complicated and phones do not have the apparatus. Belief in the ubituitousness of smart phones is in fact a disease.
Report Comment
I like your verbage.
Report Comment
I am the author of the App RadioactivityCounter. I will try to get your phon for measurement. Its difficult to predict the settings ithout a calibration as the phones are quit different. Important if you try, you need a zero reading of about 1-10 CPM, the best phones then have around 4000 CPM for around 100 Mikrosievert/h and the worst have less than 100 CPM.
We do the calibration at the Helmholtz Research Center
(http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/drs/forschungsthemen/index.html?fontSize=A510cHash%3Dce9d373)
ANd calibration with CS137 sources from 1 MikroSV/h to 10 SV/h. We discovered that most phones of one series are quite similiar but can have diversity of 50%.
Report Comment
Hint: its very important that the tape which prevents the light to go through is totally dark and no light passes through. YOu can test it by putting the phone against a bright light source. The count should not increase. (SOme phones show a ring , then use a negative border to mask out the light parts).
Report Comment
Thank for getting back to me.
Report Comment
Just saw “but the camera picked up the outline of my kitchen sink” this is only through the tape, so really you need a better tape !!
Only the optical part of the camera can make a picture of the outline. With pure radiation you see a image with random dots on it (unless you put a metal mask in front of the chip or lead mask).
Granit Stone has some radiation (Uran) but I measured around 0.5 MikroSV/h on the surface of most, this is below the RadioacticityCOunter to be able to detect (unless you wait hours and sum it up in the log file).
Report Comment
I’m glad to see that the New York Times is paying attention to this story. Every once in a while they surprise us.
Report Comment
There is more radiation in Hong Kong now than the average amount in Tokyo.
http://blog.safecast.org/2011/10/safecasting-seoul-korea-hong-kong-china/
It’s spreading.
Report Comment
Interesting data and certainly a distiquished group of folks at that blog. But Amarillo has hit nearly 1,000 CPM and to see 100 in Seoul and Hong Kong doesn’t necessarily mean it is higher than Tokyo.
I wouldn’t say Amarillo is higher than Tokyo. Those radiation vapors may be passing through in the atmosphere and not all landing. So then Amarillo is 300 the next day, Hong Kong is 30. Whereas Tokyo gets big doses daily and steadily, unreported.
The biggest problem for the safety of Tokyo citizens is the government coverup in Japan…I think Tokyo is far worse than Hong Kong and the facts will slowly trickle out as the government sees fit to do so.
Report Comment
I think youʻre right, Sickputer.
Report Comment
Agreed.
Report Comment
how long do the winds head south along the chinese coastline from japan?? will it be spring before they revert back to coming from the west? still dont know that…might be useful to someone!
Report Comment
“With the onset of the Northern Hemisphere winter, an intense surface high- pressure system develops over the East Asia continental region, centered south of Lake Baikal. The dominating characteristics of this anticyclone can be seen by noting the huge geographical area over which it lies. The anticyclone is sustained and intensified by strong radiational cooling over the frozen land mass and by consistent cold air advection from Arctic latitudes.”
And this
“Cloud lines in westerly to northwesterly flow are apparent in the Sea of Japan and in the East China Sea, north of Taiwan. Bulging of high pressure southward is characteristic of a cold surge as cold air of the high pressure drains toward lower latitudes.”
And this
“A tremendous surge of northwesterly winds is shown extending across the Yellow Sea and into the East China Sea.”
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/sat_training/world_wind_regimes/northeastmonsoon/index.html
Report Comment
“With the onset of the Northern Hemisphere winter, an intense surface high- pressure system develops over the East Asia continental region, centered south of Lake Baikal. The dominating characteristics of this anticyclone can be seen by noting the huge geographical area over which it lies. The anticyclone is sustained and intensified by strong radiational cooling over the frozen land mass and by consistent cold air advection from Arctic latitudes.
The occurrences of winter season cold air outbreaks cause high pressure to extend eastward over coastal waters off the China mainland. Strong winds turning anticyclonically around this eastern extension of high pressure and the associated weather is referred to as a Northeast Monsoonal Surge (NEMS). These surges produce strong, steady, northerly to northeasterly monsoon winds along the East Asian coast near Sakhalin Island, across the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Philippine Sea and into the South China Sea.
A cold surge or NEMS is generally progressive, starting first in the far north and then moving southward with time. A major surge takes about 6-7 days before its influence is apparent at near-equatorial locations. Blocking action, as detected at the 500-mb level near 160ùE, appears important in anchoring low pressure in the region north of Japan, and thereby providing a stationary channel for cold northerly wind surges. The influence of the winds, as indicated above, extends well to the south through the area of the maritime continent, which consists of the Indonesian and Malaysian Islands.”
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070305031852AAWMyKS
Report Comment
looks like it for the northern hemisphere winter then… every year… thought the southern hemisphere was safe? obviously not…think theres one runs down the coast of south america too around spring time! the second link was deleted of the military server but i got that snippet anyway! population living on the east coast of china anyone? (retorical question
)
Report Comment
‘The gift that keeps on giving’,……the world,….with it’s eyes wide shut,…..is now getting a physics lesson like no other. We are the lab.
How can Hong Kong be worse than Tokyo? Does this prove ‘groundwater’?
Report Comment
Dear Still: I think the filthy parasitic (or petrified, but I think the former) demons at the top (billionaires, all bourgie types that function as their wanna-be lackies) hope that we all become too sick before we realize that it’s time for full confrontational, in the now, overthrow of the status quo.
Report Comment
At what point does urban concern become urban panic?
Report Comment
that could happen but direct effect are not seen, therefore, I don’t predict a mass panic. Plus the media is basically controlled, so that fire cracker is eliminated.
Report Comment
“Rachael, crying for her babies, which are no more”.
Not a day before!
Report Comment
“Above! contaminated zones at Chernobyl… Of the 132 areas tested, 22 were above 37,000 becquerels per square meter.”
And that’s in Tokyo, millions of people and a long way from Fuku.
This radioactive toxic ‘mixture’ of deadly goo is most likely elsewhere too, and will continue to ‘spread’ and accumulate. In ways and with an insidiousness that we have no clue of. At this point, it’s ongoing, the contamination amounts are increasing daily with a time frame that is yet to be determined. (yet to be determined = no real end in site)
Report Comment
This is Spock. I am slowly losing life support and minimal shield energies.
Report Comment
Captain I can’t save him. I’m a doctor not a veterinarian.
Report Comment
Then employ one of your own superstitions — Wish me luck.
Report Comment
These are significant civilian lay findings and these experimental readings must be repeated by civilians and scientists (acting independently of their institutions where these are funded by government, or covert sources) alike using a variety of testing protocols to verify the data. However, that being said, the sufficient or higher quality civilian Geiger counters are very very unlikely to “under” read a radiation source and are only, usually, ever calibrated for a very narrow range of radionuclide substance detection. Therefore, you could be pretty certain, that if other makes of high quality civilian Geiger counter detection also detect significant radionuclide contamination in various settings, as you were so wise to take readings from, then the situation radiologically, is far worse than it appears from these readings, given the dozens of radionuclides that exist increasingly from Fukushima and given the lack of ability to detect alpha and even beta radiation by some Geiger counters. The winds, upper level and otherwise, are not blowing from Japan to Hong Kong, even counting seasonal monsoons or possible Coriolus effect easterly trades, one could be reasonably certain that these readings from Hong Kong reflect a strikingly increasing world wide atmospheric background radiation. Hong Kong gets a lot of rain, year round, but primarily in the late spring through mid-fall period. The rain concentrates the radionuclides held in aerosolized-particalized forms in the atmosphere and drops it in concentration on the surface of anywhere on the planet now getting rain. I am still, personally, pretty sure that northern hemisphere contamination by rain continues to be higher than Southern Hemisphere for the time being. However, just being underneath certain types of atmospheric conditions without rain formation will bring the aerosolized and particalized radionuclides down in concentration, see readings fr Phoenix, AZ at various times since the March 11, 2011.
Report Comment
Hi Pallas89juno
Quote: However, just being underneath certain types of atmospheric conditions without rain formation will bring the aerosolized and particalized radionuclides down in concentration
I agree with this..Southern AZ doesn’t have a high rain fall, normally we don’t get snow, it’s a dry area. We do have the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station.
At one time I thought that Fukushima radiation would travel North and come down when it rains and snows. This is not the case, we are all getting this radiation.
Maybe we are getting Fukushima’s radiation from California, Mexico, and from Palo Verde, a triple whammy???
Report Comment
Pallas89, I have wondered all along if I am getting all the evidence, despite owning a Geiger counter.
I am still using my Geiger counter, despite it getting wet and the readings being questionable. I am not convinced that what it’s reading is not accurate, though. It has been pretty consistently high, not always measuring high radiation, but in the high range for normal, especially indoors.
It’s possible there could be radon gas in the place where I moved. I am cleaning the place with baking soda, and want to do the carpets soon. But I don’t doubt there is radiation here from Fukushima. Even with the Geiger counter I am not sure how much or how dangerous it is…wish I did.
But I don,t doubt there is
Report Comment
The end of my post got messed up; no internet yet, and my tablet is hard to type on.
Report Comment
Yes Pallas,…very good point. Even if ‘we’re’ not getting rain or snow,….sometimes the air hangs heavy with moisture and particles.
Accumulation is so under-studied,…even in medicine. There were NO studies of what the synergistic effects of 17 daily med’s on an #89 pound woman might be. I went to a new pharmacy near my hometown,…they put all my scripts into a computer,…and 7 came up ‘cross toxic’ one from the other. The main Pharmacist came out and showed me all the “RED” hits on what I was being given.
Again,….WE ARE ON OUR OWN HERE!
I trust almost no one.
My point being,….these combinations,…levels,…NOR daughter-products together have EVER been studied, to my knowledge. Can we not trip them up that way? Show me that these are safe Mother F’er!
Report Comment
And not only falling out, but being resurrected during harvest time.
“USDA judges that planted acreage will total 90.7 million acres, 1.5 million fewer than revealed in the March survey of planting intentions, he said.
According to Good, area harvested for grain is projected at 83.2 million acres, 1.9 million below the May forecast. The large reduction reflects expectations that some planted acreage was lost to flooding in the lower Ohio, lower Mississippi and Missouri River valleys.”
http://www.carmitimes.com/news_agriculture/x1162606930/Attention-shifting-from-acreage-to-corn-and-soybean-yields
Report Comment
@midwestern..thank you for this link…I have been waiting on these numbers…
Between the state of the economy and the state our farmland.
…many areas are still in drought…Texas,etc…food prices have to go up.
I think the numbers are soft ….
This is why we prep.
Report Comment
If you are taking more than 2 drugs, you really ought to dig deep and educate yourself on those. Coffee and bear not included in that list LOL?!
Report Comment
http://www.radiationdefense.jp/investigation/west-part1
there is the website of radiation defense group… this page is treating about contamination in western Japan, some hot spots but it looks way much safer than eastern japan (worst contamination from this page ! 10732Bq/square meter) in france, during chernobyl the worst was 40000Bq/squaremeter.
Report Comment
photo of occupy tokyo protester:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/slideshow/ALeqM5gWFWVHf9c2LwgsL1GErlEngbcKyA?docId=CNG.dd3240a9e5
Report Comment
NHK…Radioactive cesium found in plankton off N-plant
High concentrations of radioactive cesium have been found in plankton from the sea near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Researchers from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology collected plankton in waters up to 60 kilometers from the coast of Iwaki City in July. They found 669 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in animal plankton from waters 3 kilometers offshore.
They say a wide range of fish feed on animal plankton and that the contamination could accumulate in the food chain and have a more serious impact when it gets into relatively large fish.
The research group’s leader, Professor Takashi Ishimaru, says the plankton were so heavily contaminated because sea currents continuously carried contaminated water southward from the nuclear plant. He says detailed studies are needed to determine how long the effect on fish will continue.
Saturday, October 15, 2011 06:34 +0900 (JST)
Video Quality
Low (256K)High (512K)
Report Comment
and is this related.. key words… bleeding lesions, hair loss…
A mysterious and potentially widespread disease is thought to have contributed to the deaths of dozens of ringed seals along Alaska’s Arctic coast. Scores more are sickened, some so ill that skin lesions bleed when touched. The animals are an important subsistence food, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has proposed listing them as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In July, biologists with the North Slope Borough’s Department of Wildlife Management began receiving reports of ringed seals hauled out on beaches, an unusual behavior since the animals usually prefer the water or ice. Since then, they’ve found at least 100 seals with telltale mangy hair and skin lesions, mostly while traveling by four-wheeler along 30 miles of Beaufort and Chukchi sea coastline outside Barrow. At least 46 of those seals have been found dead, and experts aren’t sure if the disease is killing them or if other infections and polar bears are proving fatal once the seals become feeble. “Right now we’re leaning toward it being a virus, and that could weaken their immune system,” said Jason Herreman, a borough wildlife biologist studying seals and polar bears. The Department of Wildlife Management has never documented a similar outbreak in the North Slope region, Herreman said. Scientists don’t know the scope of the problem because since ringed seals are difficult to track and haven’t been counted for decades. Hundreds of thousands are thought to live in the region.
Reports of nearly 150 other seals with the illness have come in from villages outside Barrow, population 4,200, as well as from Chukotka, Russia, and Tuktoyuktak, a village on the northwestern corner of Canada, Herreman said. North Slope biologists are trying to determine the magnitude of the problem in the other countries, he said. Borough biologists have sent numerous tissue samples, from dead seals and…
Report Comment
: (
Report Comment
Still, they have no answer. “When you’re dealing with a pathogen and you don’t know what it is, even whether it’s bacterial or virus, it takes a lot of work to narrow it down and isolate it,” Herreman said. “But I’m a little surprised they haven’t come up with something yet.” The Northwest Arctic Borough has also posted a notice on its website warning people to watch for sick seals in Northwest Alaska villages. Enoch Shiedt, natural resource coordinator for the Maniilaq Association in Kotzebue, said he’s received a few reports of sluggish seals hauled out on beaches this summer. But he hasn’t been able to confirm the sightings. One sighting occurred on the Kotzebue waterfront several weeks ago, but by the time he arrived, the seal had been rolled back into the water and was gone. He’s concerned the illness will spread up the food chain, affecting other animals and hunters near Kotzebue Sound.
“I’m scared they might pass it on one way or another and the whole ocean could be affected,” Shiedt said. Folks in the Barrow region also are worried. Many of the Slope’s Inupiat residents are about to begin hunting for seals, and some are wondering if they are safe to eat, Herreman said. The wildlife department has posted fliers around the borough — titled Natchiq On Our Beach. Natchiq means ringed seal in the Inupiaq language. The borough has also gone on the radio, asking villagers to report sightings of marine mammals that appear to be weak. The wildlife department is advising hunters to notify it of any sick seals they harvest and, if they choose to eat them, to cook the meat thoroughly. The animals don’t appear to be ailing from stress-related causes, something people might suspect because climate change has reduced the ice habitat that ringed seals normally prefer, Herreman said. Seals also don’t appear to be suffering from a lack of food. “They are all showing classic symptoms of disease,” he said.
Report Comment
The sickest ones don’t move much on the beaches and they have blisters or wounds that bleed easily, including around the nose, eyes and especially the rear flippers. Others have lost much of their hair. “They’re not deathly skinny. It’s not like they’re dying from malnutrition. But they’re not in great body condition,” he said. The reports haven’t let up. “I just went out this morning and I saw a seal that died last night,” Herreman said Wednesday afternoon. “It was frozen and the seagulls had gotten to it,” he said. Weakened seals are susceptible to predator attacks. Large numbers of polar bears have been gathering at Kaktovik, east of Barrow near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and some have been eating hauled-out ringed seals there, he said. Some sick seals have survived weeks with the illness. Scientists also don’t know how pervasive the illness is, since even healthy ringed seals are difficult to track and census. Ringed seal numbers aren’t well documented. A study done in the 1980s estimated about 250,000 ringed seals hauled out on northern Alaska’s shore-fast ice during the spring. Many more are thought to live farther out in the pack ice. But those estimates are very rough, Herreman cautioned. The worldwide population has been estimated at 4-6 million, he said.
Report Comment
It looks like the Arctic Ocean is going the same way as the north Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.
Report Comment
Open sores and ulcers are a sign of rad. exposure.
Report Comment
Re “Large numbers of polar bears have been gathering at Kaktovik, east of Barrow near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and some have been eating hauled-out ringed seals there” from mungo:
Well, now let’s see how many white bears come down with the same.
That should probabilistically exclude the virus agent as a cause.
And, if so, would not leave much else to blame but fuxu.
OK I’m jumping the gun here, but it’s never a waste of time to look round the next couple of corners. …
Report Comment
I hope it’s not radiation sickness, wondering if they will even test ?
Report Comment
and if they do test, will we ever be told?
Report Comment
Is this what you meant CB?
http://gizmodo.com/5848255/you-can-detect-radiation-with-a-freaking-iphone-now
Report Comment
@thelili
I also contacted CB directly to find out what he did wrong, as he is listed in my customer database, he definitely used my App: RadioactivityCounter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebpscjKRCqo
but the iphone you mentioned is solution is also looks nice, there is also another hardware assisted solution on the market with a schematic you can build, but you always need an extra piece. The sensitivity on such extra hardware devices of course is higher than the direct aproach using the cmos sensor.
Report Comment
Pregnancy Week-by-Week
http://www.pampers.ca/en_CA/Pregnancy
Report Comment
@Anthony
Published with the expectation that nobody will choose re-usable diapers but that everyone will choose throw-away ones. They are found by the roadside and are filling up the landfills with material that should be in a sewer. It’s hard to find diapers but not impossible. Truly we have become a throw-away society.
Report Comment
Stay away from Alaskan King crab. Help me Spock!!
Report Comment
Liberals are supposed to be so much for the ‘truth’, and against big business and corporations. The news media is completely full of liberals. In one of the elections of the last decade when Democrats lost big, you could see the desperation and depression on the faces of the ‘friendly local news anchors’. They are always hot to trot and jump on stories where some state agency is getting its budget cut, always ready to defend liberal mistakes and causes. Yet, oddly enough, when nuclear power souses their nation with fallout, and their children’s milk becomes contaminated, they don’t give a damn about truth. All they care about is their jobs and their paychecks. Their ‘liberalism’ is only payhcheck deep.
Report Comment