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Ask Slashdot: Radiation Detection For Tokyo Resident?
An anonymous reader writes "I'm an American who is living in Tokyo. Stories have started popping up about 'radiation hot spots' in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures so I have begun to worry. I live on the first floor of my apartment building and right by our washing machine there is a gutter out there that is clogged with rain water and mud, which has me especially worried because my wife and I are planning to have kids soon. Obviously no one from the government is going to come by to check our gutter so I feel the need to take matters into my own hands. I have absolutely no idea so I'm asking you guys. What kind of radiation detector should I get? A Geiger Counter? If it measures Gamma rays is that enough? Are alpha and beta dangerous too? I know no one has all the answers regarding radiation but any advice you guys could give me would be great."
Ask Slashdot anything you want! No need for prior research or common sense.
Take them like a man.
Even the Setagaya hotspot, caused by a forgotten stash of highly radioactive radium, which was orders of magnitude worse than anything else found in Tokyo, was nowhere near the point where it would have posed any danger to the people in the vicinity.
This is just not something which is worth worrying about, much less spending money on. Save your money for the thing your kid actually needs.
http://fukushima-diary.com/
Fukushima-diary reports that a neutron ray was measured in Tokyo. Neutron ray is emitted from Uranium 235 wich came from MOX with Plutonium and can not be measured by most of the Geiger counters.
Read radical news here
When they talk about "radiation hot spots", they're not talking about anything that will be a problem unless you're standing on it 24/7 for a decade or so.
But, to provide more detail, alpha isn't a problem unless you eat the emitter (or inhale it), beta isn't a problem unless the emitter is in contact with your bare skin, and gamma can be a problem, assuming you live next to it for a while....
If the muddy spot bothers you, hose it off.
And good luck with the kids....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/breaking-news-neutron-ray-measured-in-tokyo/
Read radical news here
Son, it sounds to me like Japanese radiation might be the least if your worries.
http://www.gizmag.com/iphone-radiation-detector/20077/
If I remember high school science, alpha radiation sources is OK as even dead skin cells will block alpha radiation.
Utter fearmongering nonsense. Neutrons occur naturally everywhere as secondary particles from cosmic rays.
There is an app for that: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rdklein.radioactivity - and no, it's not one of those fake geiger counter apps, but instead a clever hack using the CCD of the internal camera for detecting beta and gamma radiation. All you have to do is cover the camera, so only radiation events will show up on the CCD. The app counts the events and checks against an established calibration table.
.http://www.hps.org/fukushima/
The rest of their site has a lot of great information about radiation in general. These are the guys to trust. Most others are very confused about radiation, but these are the experts.
I don't know about a radiation detector, but I do have some entertainment suggestions for your music player, assuming of course that it doesn't get fried by the radiation...
"Christmas at Ground Zero" by Weird Al
"Hot Frogs On The Loose" by Fred Small
On a more respectful note, there is also Small's "Cranes Over Hiroshima".
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
And the dose rate - if I read the photo correctly - isn't significantly above (the very low) natural background rates for neutrons.
Disclaimer: It's been years since I looked up the natural background rates for neutrons, and I'll bet the natural background rate has more to do with your altitude than it does your latitude or longitude. No idea what it's supposed to be in Tokyo, but I do know that the numbers on the screenshot illustrated do not indicate any cause for alarm.
Fukushima-diary reports that a neutron ray was measured in Tokyo. Neutron ray is emitted from Uranium 235 wich came from MOX with Plutonium and can not be measured by most of the Geiger counters.
Neutrons come from fission, fusion or radioactive decay. All of these processes produce photons and electrons which are detected by geiger counters. If a significant neutron flux was being produced, whatever was producing them would be sending geiger counters crazy.
Perhaps you should educate yourself in basic physics rather than passing on the unfounded ravings of crazy people?
FWIW, in the week of the meltdown exactly one significant neutron flux was detected. This was probably caused by a prompt criticality in the melting core.
Leave?
Nuclear Energy: Our Misunderstood Friend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4W7GkcFawo
It shouldn't be a problem if you're not around it most of the time. We're exposed to cosmic radiation every time we go outside, which is rare for the common slashdotter, I know, and we tolerate it just fine. Bananas are radioactive due to their potassium, but you don't see people trying to ban the sale of them.
If you want to clean out the gutter, and are concerned about the radiation, get some good rubber gloves and some clothes that you can throw away. Unclog the gutter and flush it out for a few minutes. Throw away the gloves and the clothes afterwords.
wind direction indicator.
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
You should contact Safecast. I believe they will even lend you a device and the data will be incorporated into their map.
Oh, yeah, and you asking Slashdot this question is like asking PETA how to skin a deer. Hope you have the persistence to scan through all the highly modded posts insulting your intelligence to actually find useful answers to your question . . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Rather than geiger counter, there are plenty of electronic pocket dosimeters which can also show accumulated dose. Your main concern is measuring gamma. These dosimeters will run from $200 to $600 for a basic model. Some even can show dose rate graph over time. http://www.dosimeter.com/survey-meters/digilert-100-survey-meter/
There are some bulky Geiger counter wristwatches you can buy. Polimaster makes some, for example. They're pricey, but they'll do that job. An alarm goes off if it detects too many Sv, which you can set after establishing a baseline for where you live. Since it's a small counter, it takes about a minute for it to accumulate enough statistics to warn you.
Just never take the thing on a flight. It'll beep without end at high altitude. If you explain why it's beeping, you'll be detained.
Well, what the best device is depends on what it is you want to measure. Alpha particles are not harmful if on the outside - they can't penetrate the skin - but can be exceptionally nasty if ingested. Beta particles can travel further and through more, but still aren't exceptionally dangerous at the kinds of doses you're likely talking about. Even radioactive particles that emit gamma aren't dangerous in low quantities.
The limestone caves in the Peak District are considered dangerous enough that guides can't go down them on consecutive tours and sections are off-limits to potholers. You should probably wait 10-15 mins after going on a tour before getting into a car if there's a group of you. The source of the radioactivity is a mix of uranium-containing ores and radon-bearing igneous rocks. If you were to encounter anything comparable in Tokyo, you'd be in serious trouble,
In reality, the biggest hot-spot reported to date was due to antiques. In all probability, uranium ore (a very popular mineral for adding a yellow tint to glazes and glass in the 1800s and early 1900s) would be what was found, although depending on the instruments used, radon-based paints (very popular for its glow-in-the-dark properties) is another strong possibility. Neither could be considered remotely a health hazard to your average citizen. In fact, given the volcanic nature of Japan, radon-bearing rocks are almost certainly your number 1 health hazard. For that, you'd want a Geiger counter (only if paranoid) and a decent extraction fan (radon is a gas).
If you're worried about fallout, then put a small plastic tray on the roof to collect rain and borrow a Geiger counter. If the rainfall contains nothing of significance now, then it won't do in the future. It takes a LOT to put something as heavy as dust as high up as the cloud layer.
If you are absolutely paranoid, take a roll of 35mm film into a pitch-black room and unroll it. Cut it into squares. Put each square between two pieces of cardboard that are just thick enough that absolutely no light will get through. Use duct tape round the edges to seal the sandwich up. Radioactive dust is the biggest problem and dust is worst in the corners of rooms, since they're hard to clean. Put a film sandwich in all the corners in your house. Leave them there for, say, about a week. Gather them up and take them to anyone with a darkroom to develop. If the squares are completely fogged over, THEN you can worry. And buy a better vaccuum cleaner. If the film shows little or nothing, then you can be absolutely certain that the only thing that you're in danger of is a heart attack from self-induced stress.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
There are cards from JPLABS (www.jplabs.com) available in a lot of stores.Pick one up.
Did you know they're packed with radioactive Potassium-40?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose
I think it's all a communist plot.
I hope that was a sarcastic post. U-235 has a half-life of 700 million years which is the only reason that there is any left around in nature. As such it is barely radioactive. The only time you have to worry about it is if there is so much that it is near a critical mass (=52kg sphere) or if you are likely to eat it since it is highly toxic.
People don' t eat mud, right!? Neither do people eat radioactive caesium, strontium, or plutonium. See, no problem! Man and radioactive isotope can peacefully coexist!
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
FLAWLESS VICTORY!
Can't believe noone posted the obligatory XKCD yet?
http://xkcd.com/radiation/
Chances are you are getting WAY more radiation from your regular dental check-ups.
Oh, and before i forget - make sure you ONLY travel to and from Japan by boat, since flying will expose you to several orders of magnitude of radiation.
You cannot do this at home. The equipment you can afford (and use) will basically be able to tell you when to run, but that is it. Radioactive substances have highly different toxicity and the direct radiation effect is often not what counts. Example: Plutonium is completely harmless unless ingested. You skin shields completely against its radiation. However when ingested, if comes close to cells and becomes the most deadly substance known to mankind. Also, air happens to shield its radiation! So measuring it requires a very, very thin layer of the substance to be measures, or better vacuum. And very specialized and expensive equipment.
I advise to invest the effort instead in healthy living. If you can, move far away from Tokyo. Other than that you best bet is to hope for the best.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
As others have noted, ingesting the material is hazardous. This includes inhaling the material. Wear a face filter if dealing with anything suspicious like that. Otherwise, consider putting on rubber gloves with the mask, and removing the gunk from the gutter to somewhere safely away from you.
u-235 doesn't emit "neutron rays", it decays by alpha emission into Th-231, with a half life of 700 million years. You can even hold a piece of the metal in your hand, wearing just the gloves of a rad suit so you don't have ingestible particles left on your skin. Sure, in a running reactor or exploding old-style fission bomb it can absorb neutron and then fission into many things including neutrons, but there are no exploding reactors or atomic bombs in Tokyo. In general, you need never worry about neutron fields, the situations that would put you in one are generally uniformly fatal.
My guess is that 20-25% of the readership of Slashdot has studied enough physics or radiochemistry to have all the answers as pertains anyone in Tokyo. Possibly more, as it was a good portion of the A-level physics syllabus when I was in school and if you wanted to go to University you typically took one of the traditional hard sciences (at least) regardless of what you were applying for.
I have the minor added advantage that my A-level computing project was a radioisotope identification expert system (you fed in the energies, it determined what combination of isotopes was the most likely to produce that combination) but anyone with a radiochemistry reference book and sample data from geological surveys and nuclear spills could provide as good (or better) conclusions than what was ultimately a very trivial bit of code.
In other words, there should be 100,000+ people on Slashdot who could write a University-grade paper on everything the original poster asked.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
As long as you wear a tinfoil hat (and suit) you will be quite safe from alpha and beta particles.
If this were any other topic that required technology, the majority of highly modded posts would point to various resources on how to approach the technology. Some posts would even include first hand accounts. However, if it is dealing with nuclear power, which apparently the majority of Slashdoters are completely sold on, the highest modded posts are, "don't bother." Any ideas on the discrepancy? If you LIKE the technology, then shouldn't you be trying to get more people involved? What geek hasn't wasted $300 on some device they didn't really need? Why is it not worth it this time and who are you to judge that for a fellow geek?
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
From http://health.phys.iit.edu/extended_archive/9503/msg00074.html:
.
re: The Radiation Dose from a "Reference Banana."
Some time ago (when I almost had time to do such things) I calculated the dose one receives from the average banana. Here's how it goes:
On page 620 of the CRD Handbook on Rad Measurement and Protection, the concentration of K-40 in a "Reference Banana" is listed as 3520 picocuries per kilogram of banana. For those of us who are stuck in certain unit ruts, this is equivalent to 3.52E-6 microcuries of K-40 per gram of banana.
An average "Reference" banana weighs (masses) about 150 grams (I think.) So, the ICRP Reference Banana contains about 5.28E-4 microcuries of probably deadly K-40.
Federal Guidance Report #11 lists the ingestion dose (committed effective dose equivalent) for K-40 as 5.02E-9 Sv/Bq or (again, for those of us who are "unit-challenged," 1.86E-2 rem per microcurie ingested.)
Thus, the CEDE from ingestion of a Reference Banana is 5.28E-4 x 1.86E-2 = 9.82E-6 rem or about 0.01 millirem.
I have found this "Banana Equivalent Dose" very useful in attempting to explain infinitesmal doses (and corresponding infinitesmal risks) to members of the public. (Interestingly, the anti-nukes just HATE this, and severely critisize us for using such a deceptive concept.)
Would love to go into more detail, but have to get back to our DEADLY Human Radiation Experiments (i.e., eating bananas.)
The same table in the CRC Handbook lists 3400 pCi/kg for white potatoes and 4450 pCi/kg for sweet potatoes - so you could carry through the same sort of calculation for Reference Potatoes. Interestingly, raw lima beans come in at 4640 pCi/kg, "dry, sweet" coconut comes in at 6400 pCi/kg, and raw spinach (yum!) comes in at 6500 pCi/kg.
Considering the fact that the DOE has officially stated that "there is no safe dose of radiation" my advice to you all is to stop eating immediately.
Oh yes! Almost forgot. Regarding K-40, go into your local grocery store, buy some salt-substitute (there are two common brands, and the one in the white and orange labeled container works best) spread some out on a table and check it out with a GM survey instrument. There it is folks, deadly radioactivity in your grocery store!
Yours for healthful diets . .
Captain Internal Dosimetry
aka Gary Mansfield, LLNL, (mansfield2@llnl.gov)
Disclaimer:
Neither Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the University of California, nor the Department of Energy recommends eating bananas.
-------
The point of course, is to make people realize that the notion that "there is no safe dose of radiation" isn't necessarily correct. Your granite countertops have trace particles of uranium in them. The Capital Building in Washington DC has so much granite in it that it wouldn't be qualified as a nuclear facility because it already emits too much radiation. We consume radiation all of the time from a variety of sources and our bodies rid themselves of it naturally.
I was in the park the other day wondering why frisbees get bigger and bigger the closer they get - and then it hit me.
Googled for "ratiation detectors for Japan". Found this interesting link, among other things.
I was going to echo the general attitude that the fears are probably misguided, but somewhere in the Church literature (I'm "Mormon") I was reading several months back, I noted that we had sent a bunch of radiation detectors to the Touhoku area.
So they apparently are either taking the risk seriously, or they are wanting to provide our members with a way to check and avoid unnecessary worries.
But you might check with your nearest church or community group with which you have some sort of affiliation. Or, in fact, do not assume that the "government" would not send somebody by to check your gutter. Go ahead and check with your nearest yakusho (cho-yakusho -- town/subdivision -- or ku-yakusho -- ward, not the LDS kind, but the division of the large city kind). If your wife is Japanese, she should be able to find out pretty easily, if you can convince her that it's okay to ask. If not, look up the phone number of the place you go to get your gaijin registration taken care of.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
So the story others have pointed towards talks about a "neutron hotspot" someone found. The measured level of neutron radiation is 464 nano-Sieverts/hour. That's an annual dose of 464*24*365= about 4 million nano-sieverts/year, or 4 milli-sieverts/year. Background radiation varies in the world from around 2-6 milli-sieverts/year. So essentially the additional neutron radiation is about equal to a normal background radiation. Basically these so called "hot-spots" are completely harmless. If you're especially worried because it's "neutron radiation", and "extra harmful" well, the sievert unit is already calibrated to account for the additional damage that neutrons impart.
If these "hot spots" (more like slightly warmer spots) actually exist it makes me wonder what causes them. Just random variation? Some form of bio-accumulation? What? Mushrooms for instance bio-accumulate certain radioactive elements, to the point where in some parts of Europe you still can't eat the wild mushrooms because of Chernobyl.
AccountKiller
Adafruit.com sells a Geiger counter kit. They specifically state that it's not for life-or-death situations, but it sounds to me like all you really need is a little peace of mind. For $99, plus shipping and a little elbow grease, this should do the trick.
If, on the other hand, you have reasonable cause to think that there is a real threat in your area, then disregard my suggestion. I don't know enough about the subject to provide the answers you need.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
Utter fearmongering nonsense. Neutrons occur naturally everywhere as secondary particles from cosmic rays.
yes you are right this "background" radiation does occur naturally and no your are wrong their is reason to fear as their is no known safe level of radiation.
This so called "natural" radiation is thought to be the causes of some cancers.
"...most scientists and regulatory agencies agree that even small doses of ionizing radiation increase cancer risk, although by a very small amount. In general, the risk of cancer from radiation exposure increases as the dose of radiation increases. Likewise, the lower the exposure is, the smaller the increase in risk. But there is no threshold below which ionizing radiation is thought to be totally safe."
http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/OtherCarcinogens/MedicalTreatments/radiation-exposure-and-cancer
Nothing you buy can compete with the high tech equipment and experienced personnel of a lab.
If you are really worried, just take a sample to a lab and have them analyze it.
This company [1] for example started doing radiation tests for manufacturers after the Fukushima incident.
I don't know if they would do it for a private individual as well, but it doesn't hurt to ask. If they don't, just look for another one.
[1] http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110522005028/en/TUV-Rheinland-Japan-Introduces-Radiation-Protection-Measurements
This kind of fear is exactly why your nickname is . You're 250km away & I'm sure the government is still scrambling for long-term housing for the people in REAL shit, not your fear of a few smoke detectors, camping lannterns, bananas & duct tape being unwound. Solution: buy iodine tablets. They're available at every snake oil dealership & contain mostly sugar so they'll go down easily. Be sure to blast Stars & Stripes 24/7 & display as much american flags as you can fit on your front porch or it won't take affect & you'll get FIV. It's the feline equivelant to HIV but I hear there's plenty of cats there.
Our body has mechanisms to deal with cellular and genetic damage to a certain extent. Eventually something will kill you, worry about what is likely to kill you and not what kills out guy out of fifty million.
In other words, there should be 100,000+ people on Slashdot who could write a University-grade paper on everything the original poster asked.
But even assuming you're right, that leaves 10,000,000+ who know bugger-all about it but might nevertheless post an answer; from the fact that he asked in the first place, we can assume that the questioner will have trouble distinguishing the two.
To the OP: as the proud recipient of an A grade in A-level physics, I'd advise wrapping the baby in aluminium foil, and re-aligning the gutter to improve the flow of chi energy into your washing machine.
Your drain isn't worth worrying about.
Gamma rays go straight through you. Hardly any hit you. Any source of gamma rays in your gutter would have to be very concentrated to provide any cause for concern over a protracted period.
Alpha and beta particles have such short range that its doubtful that any can get from the gutter into your apartment, let alone hit you.
The worst thing you could do (assuming the mud has alpha or beta emitters in it) is to go and clean the drain (put yourself in range of the emitters by being in contact with it). So leave it as it is.
most scientists and regulatory agencies agree that even small doses of ionizing radiation increase cancer risk, although by a very small amount.
Actually, "most" is probably overstating the case. This is called the linear-no-threshold model, and it the model which has been in use so far, because it is the one that is the most cautious. However, there is not enough data to to support it. It was chose out of caution, not based on evidence.
As data slowly accumulates, people are starting to lean towards the view that it is, in fact, not correct. Small exposures to radiation do not seem to cause harm. This is likely due the body's repair systems, evolved while living in a world where even our own bodies are radioactive.
Utter fearmongering nonsense. Neutrons occur naturally everywhere as secondary particles from cosmic rays.
yes you are right this "background" radiation does occur naturally and no your are wrong their is reason to fear as their is no known safe level of radiation.
This so called "natural" radiation is thought to be the causes of some cancers.
"...most scientists and regulatory agencies agree that even small doses of ionizing radiation increase cancer risk, although by a very small amount. In general, the risk of cancer from radiation exposure increases as the dose of radiation increases. Likewise, the lower the exposure is, the smaller the increase in risk. But there is no threshold below which ionizing radiation is thought to be totally safe."
http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/OtherCarcinogens/MedicalTreatments/radiation-exposure-and-cancer
Maybe, but the risk is utterly not worth worrying about. Every second of your life you have ~5000 decays of potassium 40 within your body. If you were to remove that potassium you would die. A few tens of becquerels of extra radiation external to your body is a ridiculously small extra risk.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium-40
yes you are right this "background" radiation does occur naturally and no your are wrong their is reason to fear as their is no known safe level of radiation.
Utter BULLSHIT..
There is NO LINK between cancer and radiation in humans at below 100mSv/yr acute radiation dosage or 400mSv/yr prolonged radiation dosage or 4000mSv/lifetime (you can't exceed either of the limits). Period.
And now you are trying to spin this into "there is no known safe level of radiation"??? Seriously. Get a life. Radiation is a *stressor* like 1000s of other things that are far more carcinogenic that you choose to expose yourself to. WTF do you think formaldehyde does to you? Or gasoline? Or submicron dust from car breaks on the street?? All of these are far more dangerous than radiation because these target specific areas of your body.
There is NO KNOWN TOTALLY SAFE LEVELS OF BREATHING OXYGEN. Oxygen is the strongest free radical creator in our body. Now go, and deal with it.
You sound like someone that can't understand that they do not live forever. Hell, I hope you do not drive or get out of the house as that is far more dangerous than if you didn't evacuate from Fukushima and and proceeded to lived 2km from the reactor for next 100 years. But I guess sometimes it is futile to explain magnitude of danger if people have preexisting dogma about something.
"There is no totally safe level of radiation" just like it is not totally safe sitting on your ass typing this up. Yeap, nothing is totally safe.... Geez!
http://www.jumpjet.info/engaging/RadMeter/canary.htm Get a live canary too.
Here is a way to build your own radiation detector to check a sample.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVj69R66Agg The coolant used is an air duster can turned upside down. Any self respecting slashdotter should have one of these.
So basically what you need is isopropyl alcohol 99%, a clear sided container with the bottom painted black, a bright flashlight, a small rag or tissue, and an air duster can.
Should be able to build it in 10 minutes. If you have a hot source you will see many streaks of radiation. With background radiation you will only get the occasional streak. Maybe one every 20 seconds.
You used to be able to get a Geiger counter on eBay for well under $100 (which is itself a rip-off because in Eastern Europe they are really cheap). After Fukushima people went crazy in countries as far away as America thanks to our media's 24-hour *F*E*A*R* cycle. Prices jumped up to $1000 and were sold out for many months in advance. They've fallen back to $400. Still a rip-off, but wait and they will keep falling.
Please read the Guide to Radiation Detectors:
http://linuxslate.com/Guide_RadMeters.html
Also, reviews of a couple of inexpensive, portable detectors at the same site (Linked in above article)
Disclaimer: That is my website.
I will only speak to the use of some detection equipment, not to whether you need it or not.
;-) certifications that the device is calibrated with a known source of
I will also not attempt to define the types of radiation you need to be monitoring or maybe being exposed to.
You should be an informed consumer of the data that these devices can give you. Simply using them without that knowledge is a stress magnet without end.
Make sure whatever path you choose that you use devices with a verifiable calibration ($). Meaning you are buying from a professional company that provides
NIST (USA) or Japanese/EU equivalent (apologies to nationalists with a cert grudge to bear
energy. (I don't have time to explain this fully, please look it up for your location). This ensures that you are getting real data that you can then use to make decisions.
To keep track of how much ionizing radiation one has been/is being exposed to I recommend using the following devices:
Use a Film Badge Dosimeter or a TLD (crystal dosimeter) Badge. You wear the badge (the size of a postage stamp on a pin) for a period of time (usually 30-90
days) then send it in and the company tells you how much radiation the badge (and whatever was near it) was exposed to.
Pluses: Cheap, accurate, pin them on a child's clothing, ease of use. No batteries. No dials/screens to misread/misunderstand and stress out about. It can provide
the data points necessary to make medical decisions. Buy one for each person in your house, and one for the house itself. You can then correlate the people
dosages vs the house dosage and make comparisons (provided they are all used for the exact same amount of time).
Minuses: It only tells you AFTER the exposure. Each type of badge has a max amount of radiation it can measure. Meaning if it is exposed to an amount over the
limit.....it only tells you that you went over.....not by how much.
The following item is battery powered, susceptible to misinterpretation for a given situation, and require regular calibration/re-certification (yearly).
"Chirpers": These are belt clip battery powered ionizing radiation detectors. One can use them to detect ionizing radiation of certain types and energy levels, and
audibly chirp when a set threshold of radiation measured.
Pluses: Instant warning of overexposure.
Minuses: Expense. No "history" of the amount it has been exposed to, only a simple "spot" reading. Very easy to let down ones guard and "believe" you are safe because it is
not chirping. Not an actual substitute for knowing the levels of ionizing radiation one is being exposed to. Most models only measure a limited range of
ionizing radiation. The devices can become "saturated' and unable to accurately respond in some situations.
Geiger counters are a complex topic. If you don't have the time/background to take a deep dive into the topic and understand their strengths and weaknesses
(inverse square, particle contamination etc), then you might want to find someone who can teach you the basics.
Best wishes to you and yours from me and mine.
The risk of drowning increases as your exposure to water increases. There is no known safe level of water.
...and spread your paranoia there.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
They have Geiger Counters at most government facilities now and will come and check areas of concern. Out of curiosity I went to a nearby civic center and had my cars air filter checked out after I drove through Fukushima (on the Touhoku expressway) and it didn't read higher than normal. Then a week ago there were concerns over mushrooms from the area and my wife had some checked out. It's not just government facilities offering the service - depending on where you are community centers and other groups, supermarkets, and even a few taxi services have counters. In Tokyo independent groups have been regularly checking parks, gutters, etc. but they've not yet found any dangerous levels of radiation within Tokyo.
Otherwise they have basic detectors at many major electronics stores - they won't give you finite readings but an alarm will go off if the radiation level is too high. It's one of those alarms that detected the jar of material in Setagaya-ku - which by the way was not related to the reactor, it was a jar of radioactive powder that had been used as "medicine" in the 40's/50's.
Maybe you should read the news or check the facts before panicking and asking stupid questions on Slashdot.
I am standing in the rain now...tastes like mutant juice to me....
To directly answer you question, cs-137 is the main nuclide of concern at this point. beta and gamma.
However, most areas of concern and "hotspots" are to the northwest. Levels in tokyo weren't much of a concern even during the event as a plume blew overhead.
Outside of 80km, levels are low enough that there is very little risk. You should be getting less than 5 rem over the next 50 years. For perspective, the federal limit for US workers is 5 rem in any single year. You and your family should be safe.
There might even be a few of us here who have some actual experience in radcon and health physics. You just have to be careful to take our advice and not the advice of the others who don't know quite as much, who in a perfect world would keep quiet, but in the real world many of whom will have a lot to say.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
There were 2 radionucleides released which are particularly important: iodine-131 and cesium-137. Of those, ioidine-131 is about 1000x more radioactive and has a half-life of about 8 days. It has already done its damage and decayed. Only 0.01% remains. In other words, the horse has already left the barn. If you wanted to do something, then the time to do so was within 2 weeks after the meltdown.
Your chances of having been harmed are small.
Don't take anything you read on slashot too seriously.
Liner No Threshold is a popular but hardly universally accepted model. Most of the data for that model is from discreet relatively high exposure events rather than much mower continuous dosing.
Data from radiologists suggests that there exists an 'ideal' exposure that minimizes mortality and morbidity and that it is a bit above background radiation in most places.
It's worth noting that if LNT is true, that would make radiation the only toxicity in existence that shows no threshold in a multicellular organism. A most extraordinary claim.
Meanwhile, the "hot" spots are not as hot as background radiation in other cities where people live entire lifetimes without incident.
The only exception was the one in Setagaya but that turned out to be bottles of radium that had been there for 50 years or so with no reason to notice them.
You're OK.
And just clean the gutter out.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Other posters have pointed out that this is the linear no threshold model, and we use it because it is the worst case scenario. Honestly, it is probably wrong. In fact, there has been recent speculation based on data from areas of the country with high natural radon concentrations that small doses of radiation are good for you. The theory goes that a small dose stimulates your body's natural genetic repair mechamisms, thus decreasing cancer occurance across the board.
We regulate using the worst models, assuming the highest exposure possible (example: if there is radiation in a stagnant lake we assume you drink that as your sole water source from birth to death, and regulate accordingly). Did you know peanuts naturally produce aflatoxin? Its a carcinogen. If you eat peanut butter toast for breakfast every day for most of your life, you have a measurable cancer risk increase. Radiation gets the press because it is abstract and scary. In reality, something mundane will probably kill you. And no one will care, because they will understand it. But god forbid you keel over within fifty miles of a nuclear plant. Because then the boogeyman (eherm, I mean radiation) must have gotten you.
Greenpeace Japan just came out with a report on supermarkets a couple days ago and they are pro-consumer.
They might have some info.
Generally the radiation went over Tokyo and landed in Shizuoka destroying the green tea crop.
There are a couple hotspots though the main one I think is some idiot who was storing bottles of radioactive water.
I doubt your gutter is a problem but then again you could clean it out..
The main issue for you is that for infants, extremely slight contamination of Tokyo water, shellfish and produce from Chiba/Ibaraki/Miyagi/Fukushima are the main issues I think. So here's what you do. Don't ask slashdot. Ask some experts and if possible ones in Tokyo.
My guess is that by not buying things from those areas, and giving your infant and wife bottled water you are okay but don't listen to me.
Best,
Matt R.
They have been written up in the news before and the US Government bought up all their Rad Stickers at one point for use in Japan. Look at the Rad Stickers and the Nuke Alert device.
http://www.ki4u.com/products1.php
First and foremost, as others have posted this is too late to worry about it, AND there is nothing to really worry about.
BUT, if you want to approach this as a fun sort of science-fair project that will only tell you 'IF' and not 'HOW MUCH', read on.
You have 3 dirt-cheap and easy ways to detect radioactivity:
1) take an unexposed roll of film (B&W might make it easier to see) and place it near to suspected source. Go develop the film. If you see alot of 'static' then there might be something there. (make sure the place that develops it does the whole roll and doesn't try to malipulate/enhance the image for you) Tell them you will pay for all frames including the 'blank' ones. *For bonus points, you make a frame that you can mount strips of unexposed film to and 'aim' the film at the suspect areas. (make sure you keep the film away from the light)
2) (must be done at night) grab an old phosphor screen (like from an old television), as radiation hits it you will see small flashes of light like static
3) Use a smoke detector. as beta particles pass through the detector, the alarm will go off
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
yes you are right this "background" radiation does occur naturally and no your are wrong their is reason to fear as their is no known safe level of radiation.
This so called "natural" radiation is thought to be the causes of some cancers.
Not sure if troll or just an idiot.
Colorado, for instance, has a much higher level of radiation than most other states in the US, because it is at higher altitude (less protected by the atmosphere) and, more importantly, there is quite a bit of naturally occurring uranium in the ground here. Yet, the state has some of the healthiest citizens and longest lifespans in the country. The effect of background radiation on health is much less significant than the effect of exercise or a healthy diet or genetics.
So please, before you continue spewing this FUD, educate yourself about how radiation actually works.
this was very helpful thank you
Some come with data ports and you can help map Japan at http://radiationnetwork.com/
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Don't bather about a Geiger Counter or any thing else ... run .. get out ... escape!.
Every day there could mean a half-year less of your life.
Is living at a Company that treats you as a slave and sleeping in a pill-box and everyone calling you Giagan-kun what you where born to become?
NO.
Get out. Pronto.
It's the only way to be sure.
Then you don't have to worry. You'll know it's hot!
If Mr/Ms Anonymous wishes to contact me, I can check the gutter etc for him/her. I've checked out friends' places in Chiba and elsewhere. Immediately after Fukushima, prices on detectors rocketed past $1200; now they're back down around $300 and in plentifu supply. The cheapest sensible devices available in Japan at the moment are probably one of the Soeks range. This is a detector, not dosimeter. It doesn't log data, and there's no PC connectivity, for example.It only runs 10 hours on a battery, though. For dosimeter, the DosRAE2 is readily available and, again, reasonably priced. It runs 400 hours between recharges and is designed to be worn as a badge. Lots of alarms. The PC software for logging data and managine multiple DosRAE2 badges is laughably bad, though. If you really want one of these things, I'd definitely go for the simple geiger counter (i.e. Soeks), because you get a very visual idea of what's going on around you. Many of the people using these things around Japan aren't capable of interpreting the results. Hotspots within Tokyo: not seen anything comparable to yer average granite lobby, and nothing anywhere near, say, Colorado.
There are three types of radiation you have to deal with when it comes to fallout. Alpha, beta, and gamma.
Alpha radiation can't even go very far through the air. Few inches give or take. It isn't dangerous to you at all unless ingested.
Beta radiation goes a little farther but isn't dangerous unless very concentrated and close, or is ingested.
Gamma radiation is what you would have to worry about the most, but significant levels aren't going to accumulate near you unless you're directly in the path of the fallout. In which case there would likely be much higher radiation readings between you and the plant.
As for alpha and beta, you won't be able to easily test for these. These are mostly rather transient in nature. Gamma rays you can easily test for, just buy a Geiger counter online and make sure it works. Your local university would probably be glad to help you calibrate it, talk to the physics or nuclear engineering department.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
My guess is that the questioner would pick an answer from someone who knew bugger all 99.999% of the time. Given the odds of this occurring by chance alone are virtually nil, it's safe to assume the questioner can indeed distinguish the two even if they're absolutely guaranteed to get the categorization totally wrong.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I bet a C14 atom in your DNA turning into N14 can't be very good for your health and yet we coexist with it peacefully.
I'll give you a good comparison: If you live in Mexico City (about 2km above sea level), you get more radiation then you got in Tokyo in any day during or after Fukushima due to having 2km less atmosphere buffering radiation from the Sun.
Fun part? There is no statistical cancer or child birth defect spike in Mexico City in comparison to any other city.
maybe other geeks want to learn more about this...
What's safecast? http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2488758&cid=37800318
and purchasing dosimeters? http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2488758&cid=37800322
Can covered camera phones really measure radioactivity?http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2488758&cid=37800214
it's the discussion my friend....
is easy, but i (a physicist who lived in jp until April) found the available information sufficient. Hotspots due to forgotten garbage/material from times when people were less careful exist around the planet and are difficult to detect.
It is my honest estimation that the distraction for carrying a Geiger counter all the day in Tokyo increases the likelihood of getting in a traffic accident more than it will lower your probablility of dying from effects of radiation (as an untrained an unqualified person you may have wrong alarms and yet not measure in a way suitable to detect a hotspot).
If you are very concerned, then check the places where you work and live (since only the radiation there will weight in heavily) by hiring somebody to measure it who knows what he is doing (i am sure this exists in Tokyo). In Japan he will be polite enough not to make fun of you.
Maybe you should be careful charging others as uneducated in basic physics. There are isotopes that will produce neutrons with very little other forms of radiation. Even if the source has other forms, neutrons can be far more penetrating and will go further from the source, depending on what it is made of and where it is located. Some sources could be emitting mainly neutrons and alpha particles, the latter of which is easily blocked and/or poorly detected by most Geiger counters.
This is not to say there was an elevated neutron level, or that such a level was coming from nuclear fuel.
Am I the only one whos first thought is do some basic maintenance and unblock your gutter?
Seriously, if you think the potential problem is in mud etc in your gutter get rid of the mud etc in your gutter! As others have said, it's vanishingly unlikely that you have a radiation problem, but getting your drainage to work properly will reduce all sorts of other risks, from bad smells and overflowing waste pipes to various insect breeding grounds.
Virtually serving coffee
Many people here will tell you there is nothing to worry about, everything is ok. Of course they will not be the one to have to bring up a child who grows up with one of the many issues related to bioconcentrated mutagenic radio nuclides.
When released into the environment radioactive isotopes will end up in the food chain, where they are bio-concentrated. Some portion will be consumed by humans. The longer more radioactive isotopes are leaked into the food chain from any source the more incidences of cancers will increase through ingestion.
So it's not radiation from your gutters that are going to be a problem for your child, it's the type of radionuclide that you and your child are exposed to that causes a problem. You maybe in luck, but in Japan now the sad fact is that the food chain, especially marine life, will be bioconcentrating radionuclides for the forseeable future. The level of concentration is the question and you are essentially looking at how long it takes for radionuclides to move through the food chain until it becomes available for human consumption. Some food areas will be worse than others but marine life will be the biggest area for concern.
You should investigate the World Health Organisation reports on the after affects of Chernobyl, it's called "The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident" and develop an understanding of bio-concentration of radioisotopes. The predominant difference is it's radio isotope fallout was airborne, Fukushima's is largely going into the ocean.
Your biggest concern is radioiodine exposure as your child grows. Children are highly vulnerable to this form of radionuclide in the form of Thyroid Cancer. The data from the above report showed few incidences until six years after the accident (the gestation time for that cancer) then a steady rise until the funding was cut on the project. Other radionuclides produce different cancers, depending on the exposure.
Radioiodine is short lived but the issue is whether or not the spent fuel in the cooling pools are reaching criticality or not. Generally you would expect a short window of time but if the radioisotope is still being produced then it is an ongoing issue. Unfortunately the lack of information available on the Fukushima plant status makes this determination difficult.
There is a risk, anyone who says there isn't is a liar. Without better information what cannot be assessed is the level of risk.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I can say one thing with confidence.
The amounts of radiation that you need to be concerned about regarding yourself is probably not worth discussing if it's considered safe for you to live where you are.
However, the amounts of radiation that you need to be concerned about regarding a fetus is another subject entirely. There is a very small window of acceptable exposure for a pregnant woman.
You should really talk with a medical expert, not the internet. Hopefully there aren't too many out there trying to profit off of the increased fear that will try to give you false or uneducated information.
For that extra geek cred, go for a scintillation detector rather than a straight Geiger-Muller tube (?valve).
That'll let you say not just "it's hot", but "it's hot" with what it's hot with.
A spectrum analyser versus a crystal set.
Suitable app: http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~marek/pra/index.html
57 microSv/hr hotspot in Kashiwa.
I heard there some empty flats in Ramsar and Guarapari.
"Stories have started popping up about 'radiation hot spots' in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures so I have begun to worry."
Yes. Because of the paranoia regarding radiation in Tokyo, people are buying Geiger counters and other instruments sold at exorbitant prices to the gullible who are running around looking for anything of concern. The example "hot spots" I've read about would require you to stand in the "hot spot" for a year to receive the equivalent of an X-ray. This is NOT a significant health concern. It may be an interesting scientific puzzle to find out why these areas exist and exactly what is responsible, but I suspect that half of them will be found to be due to variations in natural materials (e.g., some rocks are more radioactive than average), and most of the other half will be due to poor recycling/disposal of materials (e.g., radioactive metal getting mixed into scrap steel that is subsequently used for construction, which is illegal but inevitable). A tiny fraction of detections might be due to irresponsible and/or illegal storage of radioactive materials (e.g., fire alarm components or tracer materials). The fact is, radioactive materials are easy to detect in minuscule amounts, which is why they make such great tracers for all sorts of useful industrial and scientific purposes. Unfortunately people don't always treat the materials with the caution they deserve. However, easily detectable != health concern all the time, and that's what people seem to be forgetting.
I'm not saying "leave it to the professionals", but out of health concern you are probably completely wasting your time. Tokyo and the whole eastern side of Japan have been thoroughly surveyed and the work is continuing. If you're curious from a scientific standpoint, it might be interesting to investigate, although it's more likely to generate a lot of unnecessary fear and feed into the already-existing paranoia if you wander around with an instrument. If you were going to an area nearer Fukushima, the story might be different.
Here is a link to a BBC report on various radiation doses in units of the Standard Banana
"Go Figure: What bananas tell us about radiation"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15288975
This seems to be the consenus advice:
Don't Panic (TM).
Wash fruit and vegetables.
Wash your hands.
If the gunk in the gutter glows in the dark, hose it down.
Avoid granite lobbies of office buildings.
Do not fly to Colorado.
Eat no more than 500 (peeled) bananas per day.
Good luck with the reproduction thing, but don't expect much help on that from /..
HTH
--
Valuable free advice, dispensed at a web site near you.
Your biggest concern is radioiodine exposure as your child grows. Children are highly vulnerable to this form of radionuclide in the form of Thyroid Cancer. The data from the above report showed few incidences until six years after the accident (the gestation time for that cancer) then a steady rise until the funding was cut on the project. Other radionuclides produce different cancers, depending on the exposure.
Iodine is of no concern to the OP's child. With a half-life of only 8 days, it will be long gone even before the child is born.
Radioiodine is short lived but the issue is whether or not the spent fuel in the cooling pools are reaching criticality or not. Generally you would expect a short window of time but if the radioisotope is still being produced then it is an ongoing issue. Unfortunately the lack of information available on the Fukushima plant status makes this determination difficult.
Spent fuel in the pools is certainly NOT reaching criticality as of now (months after the accident). Even if it were, any produced iodine would be trapped in the fuel assemblies/pools and would not, under any circumstances, reach the food chain.
In summary: Parent poster is troll spreading misinformation.
You're probably worrying unnecessarily for reasons people have given, but if you're worried about it, just clean the gutter.
Cheaper than checking if the mud is radioactive, and you'll have a clean gutter.
Right! A round of plutonium for EVERYONE, on me!
Well, there's always this. Looks a bit insensitive, though.
Red to red, black to black. Switch it on, but stand well back.
If it helps you and yours to have peace of mind, I recommend you buy a Geiger counter that measures alpha, beta, gamma and x-ray. A decent machine can cost close to 1000 USD, and just knowing your surroundings can reduce your stress, lead to better health and make the purchase worth every penny.
No matter what anybody tells you, including those with a PhD in physics, radiation can destroy your body's cells. The easiest example to make of this is the sun's radiation and its link between over exposure and skin cancer.
Lastly, I live in Tokyo too and just purchased a counter [this week] because of the recent spate of bad news.... Can you trust the Japanese government with your life?
Just F@%king Do It ... clean the goddam gutter.
:-
Syousef wrote
>> So clean your own fucking gutters before telling others to
How the hell do you know that he does >not
There are all sorts of reasons for keeping gutters clear.
Not sure if troll or just an idiot.
Colorado, for instance, has a much higher level of radiation than most other states in the US,..... ...So please, before you continue spewing this FUD, educate yourself about how radiation actually works.
Please ease up on the language I am just expressing my opinion .
While unlike you I can not say confidently I know how radiation actually works. I am not sure I would even if I had a phd in Nuclear Physics however I know enough to treat something I cannot touch,hear,taste or smell with a healthy dose of fear.
..a tinfoil hat
OK, WTF is A-level something, and what is the meaning of the 'A' there? Is there B-level something? D-level? Not everyone comes from wherever this term is commonly used, and I didn't find anything very illuminating via google. Plenty of sites would just use other cryptic acronyms to explain it. Communications fail, if you ask me.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
People don' t eat mud, right!?
You clearly have little experience with kids (not even much TV watching, not that it really counts, apparently).
NUK-Alert. Google it. It's a $175 portable detector in keychain form factor. I have one. They are simple to use. If you start hearing more than 10 "pings" in 30 seconds, move to a less "hot" locale...
Ask Me About... The 80's!
What has mud and water to do with radiation? If he is worried about hygeine, then absolutely, yes I would say they need to move to a place where the landlord takes better care of the place. But if he is worried about radiation, then I don't think mud and water are a problem. If they are, then we are up a creek, because 2/3 of our planet is water and the other 1/3 is mud.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
I don't know if Tokyo or Japan has rental stores. If so, you might suggest to the nearest one that they buy a good surplus military detector or two (with batteries) and rent them out. I'll bet there are LOTS of people concerned enough to rent one for a day or two just to reassure themselves. Someone could make a TON of money!
There are simple radiacmeters, modern ones, oldfashioned ones that work as well as they ever did. (My US Army NBC Training was back in '62, and I stayed active in it through '65 or so, but I'm definitely out of date. But we had old
Here's a simple gamma dose radiacmeter, very easy to use, simple, bulletproof, $160 US:
http://www.majorsurplus.com/Radiacmeter-IM-179U-Military-Gamma-Dose-Rate-Meter-Issued-Certified-P14342.aspx
Here's the big old IM-174A we used back in The Day for gamma radiation surveys. Some of them might still be around in surplus sales:
http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/southrad/im174apd-1.html
And the old AN/PDR-27. This one's US Navy, but just like the Army one I trained on. Measures alpha, beta, gamma:
http://www.ecrater.com/p/11844783/cr071-geiger-counter-radiacmeter-navy
The problem with the military stuff is finding the appropriate batteries, or some sort of conversion kit to use modern batteries.
There are civilian meters, of course, that you or your rental shop could buy new. It makes far more sense for a rental shop to do this sort of investment though. Not every civilian needs constant or regular monitoring: just the occasional sampling for peace of mind as you describe.
One thing: if you decide to clean out that drain, use rubber gloves, don't raise dust you might breath (or use a dust mask), wash everything outside (so potentially contaminated mud doesn't collect in your inside drains, etc. It's the alpha particle emitters that can really cause problems if they get inside your body.
Actually, I do have a 3 year old son and evacuated my family from my house North of Tokyo back on 3/15 (and feel vindicated now that the radiation contamination maps show our area got hit quite severely . . .).
.), will be modded to hell, so I was trying to be subtle . . .
Sorry, my post was an attempt at sarcasm and was playing off the Japanese government saying that the ocean was contaminated, but since people do not drink salt water there is no problem (people DO eat radioactive isotopes when it contaminates their food, and they are impacted by contaminated salt water when they eat fish). This is Slashdot, so anything that could be construed as anti-nuclear (which, apparently even measuring radiation in Tokyo is here . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
It would be more useful for everyone if the Japanese president had a reliable radiation detector - and a moral fiber attached to it.
(Or the Prime Minister who's actually the Japanese chief executive, but whose title doesn't ring with the title of this story. :P)
--
make install -not war
Most of the anonymous posters here are trolls, and trolls are pretty sold on idiotic trolling. Living under a bridge can turn the most balanced individual into a mouthbreathing asshat
No, measuring radiation isn't "anti-nuclear".
On the other hand, measuring radiation is often pointless, especially when the people doing the measuring (quite likely you, if you're doing it) don't know what the measurements they get really mean.
If, as an example, one of the hotspots they've reported in the Tokyo area were in my back yard, I'd probably plant a monstera on it, to remind myself not to mow the spot. Then I'd ignore it - I don't eat monstera, I won't be mowing it, and I don't lie down under the things.
That was about as subtle as slapping someone with a catfish....
Note, by the way, that if you REALLY want to panic about hotspots, I won't do anything to stop you. I will, however, point at you and laugh at the fool panicking over nothing....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
"alpha radiation" consists initially of helium particles stripped of electrons. it is the most harmful type and is dangerous if inhaled, eaten, or if it gets in your eyes. A thick sheet of paper will protect you from initial alpha emissions, and showering regularly will wash any alph-emittors off the skin.
this is the most harmful in general, because it is persistant. It can strip electrons from other atoms and cause them to be radioactive.
"Beta radiation" is a free neutron and can penetrate skin or clothing when emitted. It is less dangerous, less persistant, but harder to protect from.
Gamma is pure radio spectrum energy, it takes a lot to stop, can go through walls, and is least harmful in general
Check out this project from Tokyo Hackerspace:
http://tokyohackerspace.org/en/project/tokyo-hackerspace-netrad-geiger-shield
"This is the project page for the Tokyo Hackerspace/RDTN Geiger project. This is an Arduino-based geiger counter shield that makes it easy to upload data to the internet and also interchange tubes. Since it's open source and Arduino-based, its also easy to hack this to other interesting applications."
"measuring radiation is often pointless"
Point: Maybe the original poster (located relatively close to Fukushima) wants to assess the situation so they can sleep at night. Do they use science to measure (geek thing to do) or listen to some dogmatic git on Slashdot (called the "ChrimsonAvenger") tell them they are stupid and wasting their time?
"If, as an example, one of the hotspots they've reported in the Tokyo area were in my back yard, I'd probably plant a monstera on it, to remind myself not to mow the spot."
Ok, Einstein, how would you know where to mow if no one measured? And then you went to Slashdot to ask how you could get your area measured and a bunch of presumptuous shits like yourself post a bunch of nonsensical drivel (such that they are conflicting themselves IN A SINGLE FUCKING POST).
"laugh at the fool panicking over nothing"
I basically cannot take my family back to my house (that I own) NORTH of Tokyo (The prefecture directly South of Fukushima), because of the UNDISPUTED radiation levels (yes, confirmed by the government's own measurements of the ares) are too high for a 3 year old. On behalf of all Fukushima victims (including myself) having to deal with insensitive sadists like yourself: Fuck you.
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
All you need is a lizard. It's all you need. Once the lizard grows beyond normal lizard proportions, you know you're in a radioactive zone.
People don' t eat mud, right!?
Grown-ups, usually not...
Kids on the other hand...
Beware the evil photon, spawn of electromagnetic radiation...
By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
You'll have several radioactive isotypes inside your body right now. Which is completely normal anywhere in the world, at any time since the dawn of time. Even before we discovered radioactivity so not caused by anything man-made. It's in the environment found entirely naturally and consumed in your food and drink. Carbon-15 and Potassium (I forget the number) are two examples. Bananas and brazil nuts are notable sources of the latter. The concentrations of the isotypes vary by region and by analyzing the content in teeth we can find the area a person originated from, even if they lived 20,000 years ago due to them eating them during their lifetime and building their body from their food.
While unlike you I can not say confidently I know how radiation actually works. I am not sure I would even if I had a phd in Nuclear Physics however I know enough to treat something I cannot touch,hear,taste or smell with a healthy dose of fear.
The problem is that we shouldn't fear something just because it is unknown. It is fair to treat it with caution or healthy respect, but this attitude of fear is really destructive. Humans in general are terrible at assessing risk because we are biologically inclined to be more averse to certain kinds of danger than others. Hostavirus, for instance, is an infection that can kill young, healthy people within days, even with treatment, but there isn't an easy answer for how to avoid it completely or any big industry to rally against. Looking at the numbers for nuclear radiation though, it quickly becomes clear that it isn't a significant danger to hardly anyone. However, since it is associated vaguely with atomic bombs and has a clear industry to rail against, it is easier for people to get on board the hate train.
Don't instinctively fear things that you don't understand. That's a terrible outlook on the world. Seek to learn first, and then make an assessment.
A-level physics: "High school physics"
A-level computing project: "High school computing project"
More or less.
Take off every 'sig' !!
Sorry. But Fuck you're stupid. Do us all a favour and spend 30 minutes in an atmosphere composed of 100% Nitrogen. I can guarantee that it'll be a totally painless death. In fact your body won't even tell you it's short on Oxygen because the Nitrogen will be disseminated in its place. Hmm Another thing you can't touch, hear, taste or smell to be approached with idiotic fear.
I say again. Fuck you're stupid.
Are you trying to find out your personal cumulative dose over a short period of time? There are dosimeters, the size of a pen, which are worn when nearby potentially dangerous ionizing radiation. When these change color, the wearer has been exposed to the maximum recommended daily amount of radiation and needs to exit the hazardous zone for a while. These are not useful in finding the source of radiation, however. But ehy are cheap, small, and easy to use. The next step up is the old-style 'geiger counter'. Many of these were produced in the 1950-1960s for radiation safety. They are useful for finding a radioactive source, but are not very sensitive. Additionally, many of them require special types of batteries which have long since worn out. They are cheap on ebay, and I am sure they are available in Japan as well. Th next step up is the current generation of Russian geiger counters. These are small and modern, but cost much more - figure $300 at the minimum. They are more sensitive as well. There is a quality difference between different models. There is at least one web site with reviews of these models, along with the much more expensive modern American models. There are also professional devices which are still more expensive but very good quality. I doubt you'll need those, or know how to use them. The most interesting ones are the home-made ones. there is a yahoo group of hobbyists who build some tools of impressive sensitivity. As far as the alpha/beta/gamma/neutron - again, what are you trying to find? Gamma and neutron radiation are the most dangerous, because they are harder to shield from. They'd be useful for finding radium, radon, uranium, plutonium, and so forth. If I receive a response to this message asking for further information, I can dig up specifics. What I have revealed here it just off the top of my head. I have a friend who is a radiation safety specialist for nuclear power plants. I'll see if I can get him to come here and improve upon my explanation.
Better to be safe than sorry, and the problem is not at all over like many of the nay-sayers believe it is. I suspect many followed it for the first few months and as it drifted out of conversation and western mainstream media, have assumed all the worst is done now.
Check http://www.enenews.com and http://fukushima-diary.com/. Perhaps some of the posts are nothing to worry about, but they provide a far more accurate picture of what you need to be careful about currently, where the hot spots are, what food to avoid, etc.
We have a NukAlert: http://www.nukalert.com/ . It is very convenient
A-level= "advanced", O-level= "ordinary", CSE= "Certificate of Secondary Education", GCSE= "Watch as we totally fuck up the British Educational System:
Right you are, I was trying to be sarcastic. Not only do kids eat mud, but plants grow in mud. People eat plants.
Pretty obvious stuff until you stir up a hornets nest trying to post it on Slashdot with all the pro-nuke freaks so insecure that they don't even what people measuring for radiation . . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
You should clean up the gutter first. Then get the best radiation detection device that you can afford.
Thank you!
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
In summary; AC is full of shit
Just get granny to knit extra sleeves on the baby clothes...
Seems that the Nobel Prize winning scientist whose work on radiation exposure is the basis for our standards today may have lied about there being no threshold: http://spectrum.ieee.org/podcast/at-work/education/radiations-big-lie
At the risk of being flamed by psudo elite computer intellectuals, I do have some experience on this question. Everything I say am telling you is pretty anecdotal but there does seem to be some scientific correlations. I have known people who were children (babies) when an incident very similar happened. The radiation levels were considered low âoeenoughâ to be considered safe. Safe for governments and businessâ(TM) is not the same kind of safe you should subject your children to. Problems seem especially prominent in females. I have seen at least two cases and have read of countless others in where benign growths occur. The thyroid seems to be easily affected along with other parts of the endocrine system even when subjected to very low levels of radiation. The issues seem to be anomalies as in a lot of cases normal endocrine functions are not hindered. I used to live just outside of Tokyo and the fallout coupled with the existing pollution would be issues that have to be addressed when considering having a child. I am not saying it canâ(TM)t be done but some type of action would need to be taken to raise a very healthy child. I have intentionally not moved back to Japan as I am about to have a child and donâ(TM)t want to risk it. If you have the means I would have your child elsewhere and move back after a few years. Then again raising a child in a culture as beautiful and rich in tradition may very well be worth the risk. Hope you come to an informed decision and maybe keep us informed.