September 2014
Geiger Readings for September 14, 2014
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 116 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Yellow bell pepper from Top Foods = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Geiger Readings for September 13, 2014
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 120 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 98 nanosieverts per hour
Crimini mushroom from Top Foods = 81 nanosieverts per hour
Radioactive Waste 98 - TEPCO is Being Sued By Workers Over Hazard Pay for Fukushima Clean-up
I have blogged in the past about the employment situation at Fukushima. Layers and layers of subcontractors exist between the nuclear companies and the people hired to work at nuclear plants. Organized crime in Japan is involved in contracting staffing at nuclear power reactors. There are no background checks for people working at nuclear power plants and desperate people from the margins of society wind up working a nuclear power plants.
Geiger Readings for September 12, 2014
Ambient office = 91 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 61 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 65 nanosieverts per hour
Banana from Top Foods = 88 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 102 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Radioactive Waste 97 - Japan Seeking Demonstration Projects to Remove Tritium from Fukushima Water
My last blog was about tritium, the dangerous radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Tritium is being released worldwide by operating nuclear reactors. Nuclear accidents such as Fukushima can release huge amounts of tritium. There is no existing nuclear technology for the removal of tritium from water. Japan is now seeking bids for demonstration projects for tritium removal. Three companies have been selected to construct the demonstration projects.
Geiger Readings for September 11, 2014
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 146 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 113 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 77 nanosieverts per hour
Vine ripened tomato from Top Foods = 79 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 87 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 70 nanosieverts per hour
Radioactive Waste 96 - Tritium from Nuclear Reactors is a Major Biological Threat
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that has two neutrons in the nucleus in addition to the single proton. Radioactive beta particles are emitted by tritium. (Beta particles are high energy electrons or positrons.) Since water is contained in living cells, heavy water with tritium instead of normal hydrogen is easily absorbed by living tissue when it is consumed. It can also enter a living body by being inhaled as water vapor.
Geiger Readings for September 10, 2014
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 74 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 134 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 155 nanosieverts per hour
Bartlett Pear from Top Foods = 78 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 120 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 108 nanosieverts per hour
Radioactive Waste 95 - Scotland is Considering Shipping Nuclear Fuel by Sea from Dounreay to Sellafield in England
Dounreay is a facility on the north coast of Scotland that was used to develop prototypes of fast breeder reactors and to test submarine reactors. There are five nuclear reactors at Dounreay, three of which are operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority which is a government agency responsible for the development of nuclear fusion. The other two nuclear reactors are operated by the Ministry of Defense. The Dounreay site is being decommission.
Geiger Readings for September 9, 2014
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 85 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 83 nanosieverts per hour
Avacado from Top Foods = 48 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 100 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 90 nanosieverts per hour
Radioactive Waste 94 - Spain is Working On a Temporary Storage Facility for Radioactive Wastes
Spain gets about twenty percent of its electricity from seven nuclear power reactors. In 1983, the Spanish government put in place a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power reactors or the relicensing of existing nuclear power reactors. For many years, Spain had a policy of replacing nuclear reactors with renewable energy sources. The forty year old Jose Cabrera nuclear power plant was shut down in 2006. In 2011, the Spanish government cancelled the moratorium.
Geiger Readings for September 8, 2014
Latitude 47.704656 Longitude -122.318745
Ambient office = 73 nanosieverts per hour
Ambient outside = 81 nanosieverts per hour
Soil exposed to rain water = 95 nanosieverts per hour
Iceberg lettuce from Top Foods = 59 nanosieverts per hour
Tap water = 93 nanosieverts per hour
Filtered water = 88 nanosieverts per hour