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University of Alaska Scientists: Fukushima Radiation May Be Making Alaska Seals Sick
Zero Hedge ^ | January 26, 2014

Posted on 01/25/2014 11:50:54 PM PST by Zakeet

Preface: Leading Scientist On Fukushima Radiation Hitting West Coast of North America: “No One Is Measuring So Therefore We Should Be Alarmed

American sailors on the USS Reagan got really sick after having snowball fights with radioactive snow blowing off of the coasts of Fukushima.

University of Alaska professors Doug Dasher, John Kelley, Gay Sheffield, and Raphaela Stimmelmayr theorize that radioactive snow might have also caused Alaska’s seals to become sick (page 222):

On March 11, 2011 off Japan’s west coast, an earthquake-generated tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant resulting in a major nuclear accident that included a large release of airborne radionuclides into the environment. Within five days of the accident atmospheric air masses carrying Fukushima radiation were transiting into the northern Bering and Chukchi seas. During summer 2011 it became evident to coastal communities and wildlife management agencies that there was a novel disease outbreak occurring in several species of Arctic ice-associated seals. Gross symptoms associated with the disease included lethargy, no new hair growth, and skin lesions, with the majority of the outbreak reports occurring between the Nome and Barrow region. NOAA and USFWS declared an Alaska Northern Pinnipeds Usual Mortality Event (UME) in late winter of 2011. The ongoing Alaska 2011 Northern Pinnipeds UME investigation continues to explore a mix of potential etiologies (infectious, endocrine, toxins, nutritious etc.), including radioactivity. Currently, the underlying etiology remains undetermined [i.e. scientists don't yet know what caused the seals' sickness, but they think it might have been Fukushima radiation]. We present results on gamma analysis (cesium 134 and 137) of muscle tissue from control and diseased seals, and discuss wildlife health implications from different possible routes of exposure to Fukushima fallout to ice seals. Since the Fukushima fallout period occurred during the annual sea ice cover period from Nome to Barrow, a sea ice based fallout scenario in addition to a marine food web based one is of particular relevance for the Fukushima accident. Under a proposed sea ice fallout deposition scenario, radionuclides would have been settled onto sea ice. Sea ice and snow would have acted as a temporary refuge for deposited radionuclides; thus radionuclides would have only become available for migration during the melting season and would not have entered the regional food web in any appreciable manner until breakup (pulsed release). The cumulative on-ice exposure for ice seals would have occurred through external, inhalation, and non-equilibrium dietary pathways during the ice-based seasonal spring haulout period for molting/pupping/breeding activities. Additionally, ice seals would have been under dietary/metabolic constraints and experiencing hormonal changes associated with reproduction and molting.

Here are some pictures of the sick seals:

Many other West Coast animals have gotten sick. Scientists need to get to the bottom of what is making them sick, whether it’s radiation or something else.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Japan; News/Current Events; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: alaska; environment; fukushima; fukushimaradiation; japan
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Unfortunately, libtard environmentalists such as the meat head can only get concerned about genuine proven hazards ... like global warming!

1 posted on 01/25/2014 11:50:55 PM PST by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet

This is a very real disaster (not a conspiracy/plot by sodomite scientists to take our guns away) and it’s only going to get worse because there is no way to stop the radioactive leakage, and the Japanese and American govts are covering it up. I can easily see the entire Pacific Ocean becoming a gigantic dead zone with no life as an endless stream of radioactive water is poured into it.


2 posted on 01/26/2014 12:25:12 AM PST by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

Wha?!

Nuke plants are safe! They’re safe safe safe.They are safe!

Rush makes everyone who suggests otherwise bite the you are a tree hugger sandwich anytime it is breached.


3 posted on 01/26/2014 1:01:33 AM PST by stanne
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To: stanne

If we didn’t have idiot environs standing in the way they COULD BE safe. We are using 1950s tech. There are lots of reactor designs that could be be built that are far safer then what we have. Only the hysteria about the word “ nuclear” prevents any kind of rational thought or action in this area.

The enviros also magnify the problem by blocking any attempt to put the spent fuel in proper storage. Instead it sits RIGHT NEXT to the reactors, and in the case of Fukishima ON TOP of the reactors.


4 posted on 01/26/2014 1:15:32 AM PST by Kozak ("Send them back your fierce defiance! Stamp upon the cursed alliance! To arms, to arms in Dixie!)
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To: stanne

Blue collar workers die in large numbers to keep from using Nuclear energy.

I don’t know what this Japanese fiasco is about but it seems to be a nightmare of some sort, related to incompetence, the Japanese are destroying their image, and this incompetence just keeps dragging on.

I still want America to do some nuclear.


5 posted on 01/26/2014 1:57:39 AM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: ansel12

I meant to say that blue collar workers die in large numbers because nuclear energy isn’t used.

The world accepts fossil fuel losses of working men, without pause or guilt, but nuclear is a whole different ballgame.


6 posted on 01/26/2014 2:02:32 AM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: Kozak

Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has not been “anything of concern” in Alaska since the 2011 tsunami, the state commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Commissioner Larry Hartig said the state has not seen concerning radiation levels from tsunami debris or in the water since the event and has no plans to launch its own radiation monitoring team.

“We’re talking about such small units in the millionths, billionths or trillionths level and how you relate to a dose that’s relevant to people. It just shows that you get more radiation risk from eating a banana than eating a tuna in that area.”

http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/dec-fukushima-radiation-not-concern-for-alaska/article_26787c32-840d-11e3-95c1-001a4bcf6878.html


7 posted on 01/26/2014 3:02:20 AM PST by Viktor1959
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To: Viktor1959

I only eat atlantic and gulf seafood. Call me a chicken little, but I do not trust pacific seafood.


8 posted on 01/26/2014 3:32:11 AM PST by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget (God punishes Conservatives by making them argue with fools.)
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To: LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget

You like that BP Oil taste. :)


9 posted on 01/26/2014 4:46:34 AM PST by angcat
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To: angcat

Im sure everyone involved is being told to shut thier mouths or else. No real emergency news coverage, no emergency respose from governments. This is an international disaster that has it’s benefits for those in control and those who will be directly effected. Fukashima is thier gift that will keep on giving, eventually poisoning us the last on the food chain.


10 posted on 01/26/2014 5:01:17 AM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: Zakeet
“No One Is Measuring So Therefore We Should Be Alarmed”

Spoken like a true alarmist kook. If we chose to be alarmed by everything that wasn't being measured, we would spend our entire lives in sheer panic.

11 posted on 01/26/2014 5:07:26 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
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To: stanne
"Nuke plants are safe! They’re safe safe safe. They are safe!"

As it has been said before, more people have died in the passenger seat of Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile than in all of the nuclear releases from US powerplants in the history of nuclear power.

12 posted on 01/26/2014 5:12:57 AM PST by norwaypinesavage (Galileo: In science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of one individual)
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To: ronnie raygun
I know Ronnie you could not believe how stupid most Americans are. This does not bother them because it is not being told to by Oprah and Good Morning America.
13 posted on 01/26/2014 5:15:36 AM PST by angcat
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To: angcat

I seem to remember the BP disaster was going to cause the “ entire Gulf of Mexico to be a Dead Zone”....


14 posted on 01/26/2014 5:31:28 AM PST by Kozak ("Send them back your fierce defiance! Stamp upon the cursed alliance! To arms, to arms in Dixie!)
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To: Kozak
I remember all that. I wonder why this is all ingnored?
15 posted on 01/26/2014 5:42:44 AM PST by angcat
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To: Zakeet

True facts about Ocean Radiation and the Fukushima Disaster

http://deepseanews.com/2013/11/true-facts-about-ocean-radiation-and-the-fukushima-disaster/


16 posted on 01/26/2014 5:46:34 AM PST by Vision (Tune out, drop back)
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To: chessplayer
"This is a very real disaster (not a conspiracy/plot by sodomite scientists to take our guns away) and it’s only going to get worse because there is no way to stop the radioactive leakage, and the Japanese and American govts are covering it up. I can easily see the entire Pacific Ocean becoming a gigantic dead zone with no life as an endless stream of radioactive water is poured into it."

Sadly you are a product of the endless anti-nuclear hype. Radiation is invisible and sometimes dangerous, therefore it's scary! You actually have to run the numbers to understand the risks or lack thereof from Fukushima or other radiation spills.

The #1 fact you (and everyone else that thinks that Fukushima is a wide-ranging radiation poisoning disaster) need to absorb is that in the days of above-ground nuclear testing FAR more radioactive substances went into the Pacific Ocean than have from Fukushima. At Bikini Atoll between 1946 and 1958 the US detonated 67 nuclear weapons with a total explosive force of 108 megatons of TNT (that is, 108 MILLION TONS equivalent). ALL of them deposited radioactive materials in the Pacific. Even the smallest surface or underwater bursts deposited far more radioactive matter in the ocean than Fukushima. These types of weapons produce (among others) the exact same radioisotopes as the two most of concern from Fukushima.

The first thermonuclear shot, Mike is described thusly: "Experimental thermonuclear device, produced a crater 6,240 feet in diameter and 164 feet deep. Device itself weighed 164,000 lbs." Almost the entire device, and virtually all of the crater volume became highly radioactive fallout that entered the Pacific.

The biggest shot, Bravo, was a 15 megaton blast (it had been designed to be in the 4-8 MT range, but they were still learning) and had these results: "Largest nuclear test explosion conducted by the United States, produced a crater 6,000 feet in diameter and 240 feet deep. Expected yield 6 megatons (presumed range 4 to 8 megatons). Cloud top 114,000 feet." Again, most of the device and the entire crater volume ended up in the Pacific as highly radioactive material. This was the shot that deposited fallout on a Japanese fishing boat, a famous incident.

If this nuclear testing didn't leave the Pacific "a gigantic dead zone with no life", Fukushima certainly won't. Fukushima has probably resulted in (far) less than 0.1% of the radioactive material going into the ocean as the Marshall Islands test series.

We all remember the enormous impact all those nuclear explosions had on the Pacific fisheries, right? Oh yeah, there weren't any.

I hope this helps cool the vastly overblown hype surrounding Fukushima and it's radioactive output. How many people have died due to Fukushima radiation? Exactly zero. Say a prayer for the 17,000 that died during the earthquake and tsunami instead.

17 posted on 01/26/2014 5:52:52 AM PST by PreciousLiberty
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To: chessplayer
There's 3,500 miles of ocean between Japan and Alaska. Specifically, 3,500 miles of salt water dilution......there's no way any radioactive leakage could even be measured after that distance......

You should be more concerned about the danger of your microwave oven or your glow in the dark watch face.......

As for the sick seals, well that's what happens when their species is protected and their numbers are allowed to grow out of countrol.....

Looking at the pictures and the affected areas on the seals being primarily the face and head, it's obviously a disease reminiscent of mange in canines thats being transmitted via nose to nose contact between the seals.......

If it was radiation then the entire body would be affected.......

18 posted on 01/26/2014 6:07:32 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (Miss Muffit suffered from arachnophobia.....)
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To: chessplayer
there is no way to stop the radioactive leakage

It is the continual leakage that the naysayers refuse to consider. With a bomb, it's a one time thing and X days to half life. With this, it's 24/7/365 for nearly 3 years and no end in sight.

19 posted on 01/26/2014 6:10:40 AM PST by bgill
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To: chessplayer
Fukushima's Radioactive Ocean Plume to Reach US Waters by 2014

And from this article:

Luckily, two ocean currents off the eastern coast of Japan — the Kuroshio Current and the Kuroshio Extension — would have diluted the radioactive material so that its concentration fell well below the World Health Organization’s safety levels within four months of the Fukushima incident.

20 posted on 01/26/2014 6:17:33 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (Miss Muffit suffered from arachnophobia.....)
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