RAD REPORT… Aftershocks Briefly Evacuate Japan Nuclear Plant; Milk Radiation Data in California Spurs Clashing Interpretations

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 Monday, April 11, 2011 - 05:05 Edited by Tony Rutherford from Multiple Reports
File Photo
File Photo

A 7.1 magnitude aftershock and a fresh tsunami warning briefly forced evacuation of the Fukushima plant. A 55 minute power interruption occurred, which meant that water may have stopped cooling the reactors. Some landslides have occurred, according to a 7 a.m. report .

(CNN reports that there have been four aftershocks all close to the damaged plant.. The network said such aftershocks may continue to occur for the next year.)

The tsunami warning came after the temblor hit the northeast coast . The advisories and warnings were lifted an hour later according to the major international networks.

GREENPEACE INTERPRETATION

Greenpeace early Monday called for high-risk people in Fukushima city, 80 kilometres away to be evacuated, saying children and pregnant women were particularly vulnerable.

The organization stressed the government should fully evacuate “radiation hot spots,” including the towns of Iitate and Namie, after finding "widespread caesium contamination".

"People in the greater Fukushima area could potentially receive radiation exposure of more than five millisieverts per year," said Greenpeace's Rianne Teule.

Greenpeace reported that its monitoring teams recorded radiation levels of four microsieverts per hour in a playground in Fukushima city. This level according to the organization would be high enough to expose people to the maximum yearly dose of radiation in a few weeks.

UNITED STATES SAMPLING

IN THE United States, two Western states have detected low levels of Iodine 131 in milk , according to the Environmental Protection Agency. However, experts disagree with the interpretation.

“The FDA spokesperson should have informed the public that radioiodine provides a unique form of exposure in that it concentrates rapidly in dairy products and in the human thyroid,” wrote Robert Alvarez, a former senior policy adviser to President Clinton’s U.S. Secretary of Energy.

“The dose received, based on official measurements, may be quite small, and pose an equally small risk," Alvarez said in a statement. "However, making a conclusion on the basis of one measurement is fragmentary at best and unscientific at worst. As the accident in Fukushima continues to unfold, the public should be provided with all measurements made of radioactive fallout from the Fukushima reactors to allow for independent analyses.”

http://www.epa.gov/japan2011/rert/radnet-sampling-data.html

UC NUCLEAR ENGINEERING SITE

The Dept. of Nuclear Engineering at Berkley, California has posted their results here. Other organizations have stated the milk levels of two Western state samples approached maximum annual allowable levels.

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2174