Visualization and Explanation of Level 7, Fukushima and Chernobyl

Visualization -> Fukushima Nuclear Accident – Radiation Comparison

Explanation –> Fukushima moved to Level 7 by WNN (world nuclear news)

 

From Chemical Side

Here, a university chemistry teacher writes some posts about the accident, of course about the chemical side. Mark Foreman’s Blog

Well, I am not an expert of nuclear technology in any meanings and English is my second language. On the other hand, he is chemist, even a chemistry teacher at a university, and British, so I think you can get more useful and understandable English information with him.

I believe it is always good to know someone else’s view as much as possible, from right and left, outside and inside, in particular or general, to make up your own opinion about something. If you have an opinion about something without knowing other’s opinion, then, I think it is not an opinion, it is prejudice.

I hope my posts will help you to have your own opinion, but not a prejudice….. Well, I should be careful!

 

Get Information about Japan in English

I think following Daniel Kahl on twitter is a way. Daniel Kahl on twitter

He is an American man living in Japan more than 30 years, including years of experience as a English teacher in Yamagata, one of prefectures in Tohoku (By the disaster, the East part of Tohoku is suffered badly, and Yamagata is in the West part of Tohoku, not suffered so much.) He keep posting on twitter, videos on YouTube since the disaster.  Daniel Kahl on YouTube

He even visited the suffered area different from me, and reported what he found out.

I know you understand what is really going on here in Japan with your wisdom and understanding whatever the mass medias say, but I hope you have a look on his messages.

 

Why I decided to write about Radiation

Radioactive expose seems dangerous to me. I don’t like it. It is scary to imagine to be exposed. I have never given my support to nuclear power technology.

As a person who was born and grown up in Hiroshima, I have heard lots of lots of scary stories about radioactive expose, but at the same time, I know there are lots of lots of healthy seniors in Hiroshima who survived the attack.

I also know we humans use Radiation as a part of medication. We sometimes do X ray check even when we feel no health problem and it doesn’t seem to cause a problem on my health.

I think whatever the reason is or whatever the reason for, radioactive expose is radioactive expose. No difference.

Then, I thought, there might be a medical standard to find out whether one’s exposed level is in safe or danger.

That’s why I have tried to learn or understand what radiation is or what radiation expose is, why it is dangerous from what point, why it is medically OK to exposed someone at some level, etc. and wrote those posts about radiation or radioactive expose based on what I learned.

I hate all the nuclear technology, I want to see the world not to have it, but I won’t share any information which doesn’t make sense to me, even if they seem useful to say, “See, any nuclear is dangerous. Don’t you think it’s time to build a new world without nuclear technology?” I want the world including myself to be careful about radiation with clear and right knowledge.

 

An Explanation about Radiation

Today, I found an interesting article explaining how to understand the risk of radiation, but unfortunately, it was in Japanese and I can’t find a translated post in English. I am going to translate it into English as much as possible. There is anything you found, my mistakes or anything you feel it difficult to understand, please let me know.

Qestion1) Radiation decreases inverse proportion  to square of the distance. (right) Then, does it become 1/4 you move from 10 km point to 20 km point?

Answer) Radiation decreases like that in a vacuum. If it is filled with air ,the space between 10 km point to 20 km point, it works like a wall to block the radiation. That’s why it is impossible to reach  the surface of Earth for Gamma ray from Space. About radiation in Tokyo right now, it is provided by radioactive materials flying from Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. In this case, the amount of radioactive materials / a square will decrease in distance, but those materials keep providing radiation.

Question 2) It is 8 days a half-life of Iodine-131. Then, is it safe 8 days later?

Answer) Both yes and no. Iodine131 lost its half power in 8 days. That’s true. But, if there are 4 times of safe limits for Iodine-131, there are still twice of safe limits 8 days later. So, you need 16 days to have safe limits of Iodine-131 in this case. And, Iodine-131 changes to Xenon-131m while providing Beta ray, and Xenon-131m changes to Xenon-131 while providing Gamma ray. A half-life is 11.84 days. So, it is impossible to say something is safe 8 days later.

Question 3) Is it more dangerous to be exposed a little every day from inside of your body by a radioactive material which comes into your body than to be exposed to more radiation only once.

Answer) It depends on how much radiation you are exposed in a moment. It is similar to the risk of having salts. In Japan, it is OK with an adult to have 10 g of salt / a day. Then, it won’t cause a problem on your health if you had 10 g of salt / a day for 20 days, but it is not good for you if you had 200 g of salt at a time. About Radiation, it is less effective for your health to be exposed to 6 micro SV of radiation for 42 days (1000 hours) than to be exposed to 6000 micro SV of radiation by 1 time CT scan.

Question 4) Experts say, “it doesn’t mean to cause a problem to your health right now.” Does it mean it will be dangerous later?

Answer) It is again similar to the risk of salt. It is safe to have 10g / a day, and it won’t be dangerous to have 20g if it is once or so. But, it will be dangerous for your health if you keep having 20g of salts everyday for a long time. It is the same with those vegetables or tap water that show much radioactivity than the safe limit. If you ate those vegetables or drank such tap water once or so, it won’t be dangerous just like 20g of salts won’t be dangerous if it was once or so. It will be dangerous if you eat/drink much everyday for a long time, again just like the salts, then, Japanese government announced the warning not to eat/drink as much as possible.

Those questions and answers are very understandable and seems rational for me. I hope I translated well.

 

Short Note from Japan on April 4

Well, I think you want to know how dangerous it will be for you the radioactively contaminated water which was released from Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant into the pacific ocean yesterday.

TEPC said it would be 0.6 milli SV/year of expose if you eat fished or seaweeds everyday which is caught or  collected around there. Our policy is, I am not sure it is international policy or not, but at least Japanese policy is set safe limit to general people as 1 milli SV/year, and it is impossible to catch any fishes nor seaweed around there right now. So, TEPC said it won’t be so dangerous even for us Japanese.

I think it won’t be so dangerous at least to the world if it is only one time release.
The water included low level radiation. It is 100 times higher than usual safe limit, but you know, pacific ocean is very large and every radioactive materials lost its power in time and distance. It is very high in limited space and water, but it will be less high once it is mixed with seawater of pacific ocean. While the materials traveling from Japan to your county by the ocean, the materials will make distance among them loosing its power in time. It will be bit higher than usual the radiation level of seawater around your country, but I am sure it won’t be so high to cause a problem on your health.

But, what if TEPC needs to do again? How many times they will need?  That is the question.

Right now, many experts from all over the world come to support us. I hope they will find a way more safe way to the world.

Believe me, all of us Japanese feel very sorry for what is going on. Natural disaster is something we can’t control and there is no way other than to accept and rebuild. But, the nuclear accident is different. I am sure TEPC and Japanese government have been trying hard their best, but it seems not enough. I am so sad we failed to keep a nuclear plant in safe. It is our own fault not to have more reliable way to keep a nuclear power plant in safe even with such a huge earthquake and tsunami as we know they happened very often in Japan, and, we knew how dangerous radiation is since 1945. We should be more careful.

I apologize as a Japanese to the world about that our country bring great fear to the world on the Earth. I promise we will find better way to be a reliable county.

Well, I might be sound bit pessimistic, I guess, but actually not. I keep my trust to our technology and friendship with many countries. I don’t think all the experts all over the world can’t find even a way to make the situation a little better. It won’t be so soon, but I believe we will find a way, maybe a tough and difficult way, but find a way with hope.

 

Radiation Effects Research Foundation

Radiation Effects Research Foundation

A Cooperative Japan-US Research Organization

You can get more information about radiation effects there.

I am now trying to write a post about what happened today, April 4, but it was too complicated to me to explain in English. Give me a time, please.

 

Short Note from Japan until March 25

• There are nobody who died because of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima even  among those engineers until now. Some of them were injured when some outer building exploded, and 3 engineers were exposed to radiation yesterday. All of them are in hospital.
• 3 engineers were working at the next building of No.3 reactor. There was 15 cm of water on the floor and this water included radioactive materials. There are water drains from the reactor for to let water be cool down again. Experts begins to think that there may be a hale or so on the drains and that may be why there are water and it includes radioactive materials.
• Experts think the reactor itself is not broken yet although it lets some radioactive materials go out of it because the reactor’s pressure stays steady. Experts think the pressure wouldn’t be steady if the reactor is broken already. For example, if there is a crack on the surface of the reactor, the pressure must be small, they think.
• 2 of 3 are exposed to 2 – 3 Sv of radiation. Not milli, not micro. This is shocking and very bad news. But luckily, they were exposed not whole body, it was only on their ankles. Now, doctors at the hospital says they are very much conscious, feeling good, walking and eating. They are going to undergoing a medication for skin burn.
• Tohoku high way was terribly destroyed by the earthquake, but now, it had done it quick repair (not whole nor perfect). You needed official permission to use the highway  until 6 am in this morning, but now, anybody can go with any kind of car.
• Since March 23, some tap water system in Tokyo show more than 100 Bq/kg. Japanese radiation policy commits that it would be dangerous for babies less than a year old if they drink such water every day for a year. Government warned the people in the area that it is better for less than a year old babies not to drink. For adults, it is about the same amount of radiation with one time Chest X-ray check. Check what I wrote with  this by WHO. I think WHO has no reason to support Japan by making lie.

I am picking up a news which I feel that sounds trustful. Of course there are more news on Japanese media, but I don’t mention about them if I feel they are too dramatic or hysteric.

Radiation is dangerous and it is scary to think having lots of it around you. I agree. But, I don’t like to think things both too pessimistic and optimistic. I want to be calm and reasonable.

At last but not least, I appreciate all of you who keeps us in your heart.

 

How dangerous is eating those vegetables or drinking tap water in Japan? My Grandma says…..

I think I would write some events happened in Japan, especially about radiation, but before that, I want share some words of my Grandmother who was in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, about 3 km (a little shorter than 2 mile, I guess?) away from the Ground Zero.

She is now 84 years old and there are 2 of her big sister, 86 and 90. All of them were in Hiroshima on the day around the same distance away from the center of the explosion. Today, they are enjoying their old but healthy life.

Today, my Grandma talked her sisters. By what she told me later, 3 of them seemed bit angry about what Japanese government ordered to some vegetables produced in Fukushima, not to eat them because of high level radiation.

She said, “we breathed such a dusty air when the bomb exploded, I think there must be lots of lots of radioactive materials, and ate all vegetables we were bringing up. There were black rain later the explosion, you know, and it left dusts on the surface of vegetables. I am sure it included many radioactive materials, I came to think so in these days, but we had no choice except to die in stave, so we ate all those vegetables. We wash them carefully, of course, and, see, we are gifted to live this old age healthy. We brought up vegetables every year in Hiroshima and ate them, gave birth to our children and raised them by mother’s milk. No harm has happened even though the bomb was exploded but non of the reactors are not yet! I can’t understand why we shouldn’t eat those vegetables. We are proof of that those vegetables will cause no problem on your health if you wash them carefully enough. Right now, many people needs foods in the suffered area and those area need every incomes they can get. WE SHOULD SUPPORT THEM TO BE INDEPENDENT AGAIN IN EVERY WAY! That IS recovery!”

I don’t mean to suggest you to trust my Grandma, but I think there is some suggestion which may help you to find out how to protect yourself from radioactive expose rather than feeling unclear fear.

Be careful and calm. Be aware of what is a simple fact while something else may be what you think, what you guess, or what you want to believe, you want to see. I believe that is the way to be safe in danger.