Posted on 04/12/2011 7:51:13 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Radioactive strontium detected more than 30 km from Fukushima plant
TOKYO, April 12, Kyodo
Minute amounts of radioactive strontium have been detected in soil and plants in Fukushima Prefecture beyond the 30-kilometer zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the science ministry said Tuesday.
It is the first time that radioactive strontium has been detected since the Fukushima plant began leaking radioactive substances after it was severely damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
There is no safety limit set by the government for exposure to strontium, but the amount found so far is extremely low and does not pose a threat to human health, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said.
Experts, however, expressed concern that the accumulation of strontium could have adverse health effects. When strontium enters the human body, it tends to accumulate in bones and is believed to cause bone cancer and leukemia.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.kyodonews.jp ...
P!
Sr90 half life is >28 years.
Even if it is Sr90, that has medical and agricultural uses.
So experts- in your assessments- what is the evacuation radius going to be around this facilty, for the short-mid and long term?
How many people displaced?
From soil samples at 3 locations including Iitate & Nimiecho:
Strontium89 - 13~260 Bq per kilogram
Strontium90 - 3.3~32 Bq per kilogram
From plant samples at 4 locations including Onomachi & Nishigo
Strontium89 - 1~61 Bq per kilogram
Strontium90 - 1.8~5.9 Bq per kilogram
So experts- in your assessments- what is the evacuation radius going to be around this facilty, for the short-mid and long term?
How many people displaced?
I am not really an expert. You can ask that question when real experts show up at this thread.:-)
http://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=3242631&postcount=3534
“Strontium Sr is even more reactive with water than calcium. It can be transported in water or in droplets with vapor. So it may be much easier to transport than plutonium which tends to form oxides.
Sr-90 uptake in plants and concentration in milk are its method of entering the body. Once there it concentrates in bones and is reputed to cause bone cancers and leukemia.
Also there is a much higher fission yield of Sr and its predecessors (Kr and Rb) than generation of Pu”
“
I was a child at the time of the Chernobyl desaster and we learnd that only a small amount (<3%) of the Strontium in the reactor was released and most landed in the direct perimeter of the plant.
Cs-137 and Sr-90 have nearly the same physical half-life but the biological half-life in human body of Cs is only about 110 days. In comparision to Sr it is about 18 years.
If Sr can be transported with steam, and steam is coming out of the plant till today this could be a bad thing for the long term in that region. “
It is possible to detect “minute amounts” of Sr-90 just about everywhere in the northern hemisphere as a result of above-ground nuke testing, with more in the downwind areas from Chernobyl.
So, both 89 and 90, but at very low levels - 1 click/sec.
Likely source is one of the steam ventings early on.
Grrrr. 1 Bq = 1 click/sec.
And Henny Penny right on schedule. The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Minute amounts, ie, inconsequential. But *DO* go on.
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