Feds move more radiation monitors to West Coast

An Environmental Protection Agency RadNet monitor on the roof of the Bay Area Air Quality Management building in San Francisco, March 16, 2011. / AP

Growing concern by Americans over exposure from damaged nuclear plants in Japan has prompted officials to deploy more radiation monitors in the western United States and Pacific territories, federal environmental regulators say.

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said they do not expect harmful radiation levels to reach anywhere in the U.S. from Japan.

"The agency decided out of an abundance of caution to send these deployable monitors in order to get some monitors on the ground closer to Japan," Jonathan Edwards, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's radiation protection division, said this week.

The additional monitors are being deployed in response to the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, where emergency workers are attempting to cool overheated reactors damaged by last week's magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami.

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The EPA already monitors radiation throughout the area as part of its RadNet system, which measures levels in air, drinking water, milk and rain.

California currently has 12 monitoring stations scattered throughout the state that test the air for radiation levels. EPA also has 40 so-called "deployable" monitors that can be moved around in cases of emergency.

EPA told The Associated Press it is adding two more stations in Hawaii and two in Guam. In Alaska, officials are setting up three new monitors in Dutch Harbor, Nome and Juneau.

The idea is to get a better geographic spread of monitoring equipment than currently exists, Edwards said.

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Once up and running, the stations will send real time data via satellite to EPA officials, who will make the data available to the public online. The monitors also contain two types of air filters that are collected and mailed to EPA's data center in Alabama.

The new stations are expected to be operational by the end of the week, Edwards said.

The agency said it does not expect to see any spike in readings on the monitors, which Edwards said measure all forms of radiation that might exist after a nuclear event like the one in Japan.

Officials in Oregon — which has two monitoring stations — held a news conference on Wednesday to reassure the public they were monitoring developments and prepared to respond.

[greco99-2009]

As of Friday, the leading edge of the cloud is currently over the US, however the portions of the cloud corresponding to the major explosions are due in several more days.

Photos show fuel rods may have been stored on the reactor roofs.

Fortunately the rains near Japan and over the pacific will take much of the particulate fallout out of the air.

[greco99-2009]

US radiation monitoring network (EPA):

https://cdxnode64.epa.gov/radnet-public/showMap.do

Why are so many nodes offline ?

[JavMD]

ALL USA NUKE plants have SPENT FUEL ROD BUNDLES in storage ! Yucca Mountain underground storage 'funding' was STOPPED by OBAMA to appease Sen Harry Reid a staunch Democratic supporter.

RESTORE FUNDING AND GET THOSE highly radioactive fuel rods stored underground ! ! ! ! !

CALL YOUR SENATORs and COngressmEN ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !


All the USA NUKE PLANTS are storing highly radioactive spent fuel rod bundles.. get them to Yucca Mountain ! ! ! !

[sjc_1]

By the time the wind gets across the Pacific, the parts per billion will be so low that basements will have a greater radiation danger.

[greco99-2009]

If the nuclear fallout continues to head east with the prevailing wind, the US government or others should take steps to induce rain (I believe silver iodide will do this).

While it it a terrible thing to contaminate sections of the pacific, this would be better than if the cloud drifts to population centers on the west coast of the US and Canada. (called a 'rainout')

Even more important because this cloud carrys high concentrations of plutonium that was used in the fuel mix at these reactors. And, if the fuel holding areas start to burn this will be even more important due to to immense volume of particulate matter that would be released over an extended time period.

The radioactive plume may be fairly concentrated in spots when it hits the US or Canada. It will likely behave more like a stream of volcanic ash than a big amorphous cloud.

Here arre initial amateur simulations. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html?entrynum=1762

[greco99-2009]

NYT claims the plume will hit the USA in days:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/science/17plume.html?_r=1&hpw

The disturbing part is that they are not making the data public.