I’m no expert but I read early on that the half life for this Cesium 131 is 8 days and its totally gone in 80 days. I just hope its true. right now we are just taking a common sense precaution and we are drinking bottled water and have stopped buying fresh cream. We are using a non dairy creamer in our coffee and powdered milk for cooking. As for veggies we are still eating them so who knows?
If you’re in Georgia (the state, not the country) then you have absolutely nothing to worry about regarding any radiation from Fukushima, unless by some chance you’re eating food imported from Japan. Even then the worries are minimal.
As to half-lives, the half-life of Cesium 137 is of most concern, being over 30 years. However, there is no significant concentration of this beyond a few miles around Fukushima. Iodine 131 was released in some quantity, but its half life is only eight days.
For the current situation, see the link below. It looks like things are well under control barring further natural disaster.
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html
I live in the Pacific Northwest. If anybody should be panicking, it is us, and we're not.
And I too use cream. Haven't changed my habit as there is no reason to do so.
I used to work in the nuclear power industry. How knowledgeable are you about radioactive materials.
And you live in Georgia???
There is a range of radioactive materials being produced (Cesium 137, Cesium 139, Iodine-131, Iodine-134, various types of metals Plutonium, Uranium etc.) and each has it’s own ‘half-life’ or time that it remains hazardous. The ‘most common’ or talked about type of radioative iodine has a half life of 8 days. One type of radioactive cesium has a half-life of 30 years but I’ve read that the duration of radioactive half-life in the body versus outside the body is different for cesium and I don’t understand why. Plutonium and Uranium unfortunately remain radioactive for thousands of years. Here’s a fact sheet for types of radioactive particles: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/
EPA and FDA were testing for iodine in milk but were not testing for things like strontium, cesium etc. I haven’t seen any comprehensive tests but I assume independent labs will over time.
There is a range of radioactive materials being produced (Cesium 137, Cesium 139, Iodine-131, Iodine-134, various types of metals Plutonium, Uranium etc.) and each has it’s own ‘half-life’ or time that it remains hazardous. The ‘most common’ or talked about type of radioative iodine has a half life of 8 days. One type of radioactive cesium has a half-life of 30 years but I’ve read that the duration of radioactive half-life in the body versus outside the body is different for cesium and I don’t understand why. Plutonium and Uranium unfortunately remain radioactive for thousands of years. Here’s a fact sheet for types of radioactive particles: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/
EPA and FDA were testing for iodine in milk but were not testing for things like strontium, cesium etc. I haven’t seen any comprehensive tests but I assume independent labs will over time.