About Those Drones

My "honorary sister" sent me this screenshot about the sightings of drones near New Jersey.

Mystery solved? 

Palm-sized Radiation Detectors In The Future?

Above, Geiger counters on display at the Lucky Dragon No 5 exhibit in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

With the Daiichi Nuclear Power Station radiation leaks in Fukushima, Japan still fresh in mind, the desire to have one's own radiation detector is increasing.

According to an article by Eric Becker in The Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists, a palm-sized radiation detector for consumers is not too far off in the future.

Becker wrote:

After the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, which breached reactor containment systems and resulted in the evacuation of about 150,000 people living within 20 kilometers of the site, many people in Japan and elsewhere were concerned about contamination outside the evacuation zone. The amount of radioactivity in seafood, for example, was of particular interest. 

Although Japanese authorities instituted monitoring and restricted the distribution of products from certain areas, many people wanted to know whether their food was safe to eat. Also, some people distrusted the Japanese government’s assurances that specific areas were safe for human habitation. These worries sharply increased demand for a device that could provide accurate radiation dosimetry measurements but was also mass-marketable and low-cost. Many radiation detectors appeared on the market in the months after Fukushima—some standalone, some ready to plug-and-play with smartphones, and some even incorporated into smartphones. 

With the help of associate nuclear engineering professor Abi Farsoni, I developed one such detector at Oregon State University. Still in the prototype stage, it is a proof of the concept that a small, low-cost radiation spectrometer is possible with off-the-shelf technology.

Besides the Japanese, people in the United States, Europe and elsewhere may want to have such a device handy as well. Since the southern border of the United States with Mexico is not being secured by the current administration, any terrorist can sneak into the U.S. with a radioactive "dirty bomb" and set it off in a city. Therefore, the need and desire to have a personal radiation detector on hand comes into play. As the article states, a palm-sized radiation detector is "not your grandfather’s Geiger counter."

To read the full article, go here.

Government Urged To Delve Deeper In Bikini Atoll Incident

The Mainichi Shimbun has posted an interesting "perspective" article on the Lucky Dragon No. 5 with calls to take another look into the Bikini incident.

Above, Geiger counters on display at the Lucky Dragon No. 5 exhibit. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It is interesting that this is coming up now as Godzilla is now stomping box offices in the U.S. and other places. The Lucky Dragon No. 5 incident was an influence or inspiration for the Godzilla character.

The article begins with:

Sixty years have passed since crew members of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a tuna fishing boat based in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, were exposed to radiation following a nuclear test that the United States conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. At the time, the Japanese and U.S. governments played down the damage caused by the incident, announcing that the Daigo Fukuryu Maru was the only vessel affected by "death ash" even though nearly 1,000 vessels, including Japanese freighters and fishing boats, may have been exposed to radiation. 

Now, the Japanese government is underestimating Fukushima residents' exposure to radiation following the outbreak of the crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, while making haste to restart idled atomic power stations across the country. This suggests that the history of placing priority on national policy over people's health is being repeated in Japan. The government should conduct a detailed survey on people's exposure to radiation in the Bikini Atoll incident and learn lessons from the case.

Above, the starboard side deck of the Lucky Dragon No. 5. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read more, go here. 

Seafood From Fukushima Prefecture Sold At Tsukiji

Above, Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market in 2010. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Fish caught off the southern coast of Fukushima were put on sale for the first time since the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake today at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.

According to The Japan Times:

Fish caught off southern Fukushima Prefecture near Iwaki traded at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo on Friday for the first time since the core meltdowns hit the Fukushima No. 1 power plant in March 2011. 

The varieties sold Friday were caught during trial fishing operations that began in mid-October and are referred to as “Joban mono,” or specialties from the historical Joban area, which includes part of Ibaraki Prefecture.

The fish sold were "certified free of radioactive contamination" prior to going on sale.

Above, Geiger counters on display at the Lucky Dragon No. 5 exhibit. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read more, go here.

Fukushima Radioactivity 100,000 Times Normal

Above, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The news this morning on the status of the radioactivity problem in Japan isn't good.

The Washington Post is reporting:

TOKYO — As radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reached a new high Sunday, workers contended with dark, steamy conditions in their efforts to repair the facility’s cooling system and stave off a full-blown nuclear meltdown. Wearing respirators, face masks and bulky suits, they fought to reconnect cables and restore power to motor pumps the size of automobiles.

Leaked water sampled from one unit Sunday had 100,000 times the radioactivity of normal background levels, although the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the plant, first calculated an even higher, erroneous, figure it didn’t correct for hours.

Tepco apologized Sunday night when it realized the mistake; it had initially reported radiation levels in the leaked water from the unit 2 reactor as being 10 million times the norm, which prompted an evacuation of the building.

After the levels were correctly measured, airborne radioactivity in the unit 2 turbine building still remained so high — 1,000 milli­sieverts per hour — that a worker there would reach his yearly occupational exposure limit in 15 minutes. A dose of 4,000 to 5,000 millisieverts absorbed fairly rapidly will eventually kill about half of those exposed.

There is a leak of radioactive water that is draining into the ground and into the ocean off Fukushima. The leak into the ground makes its way into the underground water table and it eventually makes its way into peoples' tap water faucets and crops. If the water table is badly contaminated, this would be the worst possible scenario for the Japanese people.

Also, it has been reported that traces of radioactivity has been detected in rainwater in Massachusetts.

Obviously, this has world-wide implications.

To read the full Washington Post article, go here.