Scientists detect highest cesium levels in a year in Fukushima!

Scientists detect highest cesium levels in a year in Fukushima
July 04, 2013

FUKUSHIMA--Radioactive cesium levels found in moss on a rooftop in downtown Fukushima exceeded 1.7 million becquerels, the highest levels detected in a year, researchers said.

Ryoji Enomoto, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, who led the team, said radioactive cesium levels were unusually high in the samples collected.

The city is located more than 50 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

“Decontamination works encompassing broad areas are important, but it is also important to find spots where radiation levels are locally high by using simplified measurement tools and to decontaminate the spots,” Enomoto said. “It will help reassure people,” he said.

Enomoto measured radioactivity levels there on June 8. The researchers used a simplified gamma camera to detect the radiation.

A nonprofit group based in the city confirmed the original results; their tests detected 1.78 million becquerels of cesium.

ajw.asahi.com...

Fukushima Shows Nuclear-Terrorism Risks at UN Meeting
Jul 3, 2013 6:55 PM

Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, whose 2011 meltdowns dislocated 160,000 people, may provide a new blueprint for terrorists seeking to inflict mass disruption, security analysts said at a United Nations meeting.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency convened a weeklong meeting of 1,300 diplomats, scientists and security analysts today in Vienna to examine ways to boost protection against nuclear terrorism. It is the IAEA’s first ministerial conference on nuclear security.

“Fukushima sent a message to terrorists that if you manage to cause a nuclear power plant to melt down, that really causes major panic and disruption in a society,” Matthew Bunn, a Harvard University professor and former White House adviser, said at a briefing. “All you need to do to do that is cut off the power for an extended period of time.”

A nuclear-armed terrorist attack on the port in San Jose, California, would kill 60,000 people and cost as much as $1 trillion in damage and cleanup, according to a 2006 Rand study commissioned by the U.S Department of Homeland Security.

“The threat of nuclear terrorism is real and serious, and it will endure for the foreseeable future,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Moniz Ernest said today in prepared remarks.

www.bloomberg.com...

Originally posted by MariaLida
Radioactive cesium levels found in moss on a rooftop in downtown Fukushima exceeded 1.7 million becquerels, the highest levels detected in a year, researchers said.

No, the researchers did NOT say anything of the sort.
And therein lies the problem of ATS users just blindly cut-and-pasting articles from reporters without bothering to try to make any meaningful interpretation of them, or bothering to make any original content.

The Becqueral unit is one of decay rate, but only makes sense when put with the AMOUNT of material that is decaying. eg. 1.7 million becquerels per gram, 1.7 million becquerels per kilogram, 1.7 million becquerels per tonne, etc...

The quote in the article, on the other hand, is much like saying an object was travelling at a speed of 45 miles.

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So how deadly is 1.7 million becquerels per kilogram, anyway?
A quick search says a maximum allowable level in Japan for some foods is 850 becquerels per kg, so I wouldnt be volunteering to eat that moss. In fact, I wouldnt want to be walking on it.

Two words for ya
CHINA SYNDROME

This almost deserves its own thread!

enenews.com... -showing-audio

Fairewinds: Thyroid data means much more radiation must have come out of Fukushima reactors than anyone reported — Medical professionals are talking about how many cancers have started showing up (AUDIO)

After an accident of the magnitude of Fukushima Daiichi, the thyroid readings that they’re getting now at two years should have been something around 5 years.

fairewinds.org...

An enormous amount of radiation was released and its still continuing.

This is a world wide disaster and it should have been dealt with a joint UN world wide effort.

Very curious that it wasn't.