[ RadSafe ] Lichen: was: RE: More Nuclear-News Hype High radiation level at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'

Sun Jul 15 12:45:32 CDT 2012

During the 1970s I’m familiar with many situations where nuclear plant
workers who were hunters showed unexpected measurable elevated Cs-137 which
confused interpreting WBC and the source of contamination.  The source was
often the hunter eating deer. The deer, in the absence of normal browse
[which can have elevated Cs based on soil to plant],  eat anything they can
find in the winter like lichen or stripping tree park.  

As mentioned earlier in this thread, lichen can concentrate fallout
nuclides, but also a deer can injest Cs-137 from eating not just leaves but
tree bark. which concentrates minerals.  I have observed deer stripping bark
off trees during the winter in the yard of a home I visted many times over
20 years, when there are no tree leaves or other plant browse. 

Trees try to hold onto their K [ + Cs unwittingly] when they drop their
leaves in fall, and otherwise lose their K. Minerals like K [and Cs with it]
are stored in the roots and saved in the bark and resorbed to a certain
degree when the tree blooms in spring.

Bottom line: 

[ Fallout concentrates in lichen and bark + in plant based on soil
deposition initially ] è deer concentrate Cs when eating certain foods => to
man when deer meat is consumed, leading to elevated Cs-137.

So hunting and eating deer [and other animals like moose, or  squirrels – no
joke some people do hunt and eat the little rodents] can lead to elevated
levels of Cs-137 in man,  and have made WBC  interpretation more interesting
in certain cases.

Stewart Farber, MSPH

Farber Medical Solutions, LLC

Bridgeport, CT 06604

SAFarber at optonline.net

203-441-8433

From: John R Johnson [mailto:idiasjrj at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 6:35 PM
To: safarber at optonline.net; The International Radiation Protection (Health
Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Lichen: was: RE: More Nuclear-News Hype High
radiation level at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'

Stewart

Information that you probably know. When I worked at CRNL (now CRL) we could
always tell when one of the staff had been eating meat from animals in the
"far" north if tyhey had detectable Cs-137 in their whole body counts (WBC)
and we would ask if they had when we measured Cs-137 in their WBC.

John

On Sat, Jul 14, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Stewart Farber <SAFarber at optonline.net>
wrote:

A bit of relevant history about Lichen and atmospheric fallout of Cs-137.

Lichen makes a very interesting sampling media which shows the unique
ability to greatly concentrate Cs-137 in fallout. It is basically a filter,
concentrating fallout.  This issue was studied in great detail during the
peak levels of atmospheric fallout observed from open air nuclear weapons
testing around 1965. See the reference below:

Hanson, Health Physics Society Journal, April 1967 - Volume 13 - Issue 4,
Cesium-137 in Alaskan Lichens, Caribou and Eskimos

Levels of Cs-137 were measured up to 100 pCi/gram dried lichen in Alaska in
1965. This equates to 100,000 pCi/kg dried lichen. This was in some samples
of lichen sampled from locations that had Cs-137 deposition of about 50,000
pCi/square meter.

The number claimed in the cited report from Japan near Fukushima was a bit
less than 1,000,000 Bq/kg, or 37,000,000 pCi/kg dried lichen. Anti-nuclear
activists/scaremongers always want to make any measured activity look bigger
to their target audience [other anti-nukes, media, legislators,  and many
members of the public]  by stating any measured activity [which may be
accurate in this case] in terms of activity/kg of media which multiplies any
measured value by 1,000 vs. reporting activity/gram which is appropriate to
a media like lichen.

37,000,000 pCi/kg lichen as claimed in Japan would be about 37 times higher
than the 100,000 pCi/kg of lichen at peak fallout levels measured in Alaska
in 1965 [and across the the northernmost areas like Sweden, Norway, and
Finland where there is a lot of lichen]. The elevated levels of Cs-137 in
lichen in the 1960s in many areas of the far North presented an interesting
case because caribou there eat large amounts of lichen. In places like
Lapland [the region comprised of near Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden, and
Finland occupied by the indigenous Laplanders or Sami people] caribou was a
major food source for these indiginous Laplanders,  as they are called who
showed very elevated body burdens of Cs-137 during the 1960s which declined
over time.

Could the airborne deposition of Cs-137 in isolated areas of Japan be 37
times higher than the generalized areal deposition in Alaska in 1965 from
bomb fallout? Seems reasonable. However, I don't have the data at hand, and
have wasted enough time today.   Does 37E6 pCi Cs-137/kg dried lichen mean
anything other than lichen is an interesting sampling media? Doesn't appear
to be a concern in Japan, even if true ---UNLESS large numbers of caribou
are wandering around Japan near Fukushima eating large amounts of lichen as
a major source of their food, and people in Japan are eating caribou as a
large fraction of their diet! Seems unlikely. Have any caribou been reported
in Japan of late?

Stewart Farber, MSPH
Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
Bridgeport, CT 06604
SAFarber at optonline.net
203-441-8433
=========================

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Helbig
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 6:47 AM
To: RADSAFE
Subject: [ RadSafe ] More Nuclear-News Hype High radiation level at
Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'

This level of Cesium contamination seems unusally high like someone misread
or just misreported a meter reading.  They are also claiming high number of
birth defects at Fukushima hospital.  They should perhaps check with the
Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hirsoshima/Nagasaki before taking a
page from the Iraqi propagandists in Fallujah.

Roger Helbig

---------- Forwarded message ----------
New post on nuclear-news

High radiation level at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'

by Christina MacPherson

1,000,000 Bq/kg of cesium detected at Fukushima school. after being
'decontaminated' - "It's obvious they will just leave it" - Local
Official y 13th, 2012   By ENENews  July 11, 2012 post by Koichi
Oyama, Minamisoma city council member, translated by Dissensus Japan:

1.000.000 Bq detected in a school after a decontamination conducted!

A University's research team collected lichen at the entrance of the
gymnastic hall of a school that restarted after a decontamination operation,
and the sample measured the Cesium radiation level, 989.000 Bq/Kg.

It's obvious they will just leave it. I told them my ideas at least, but I'm
not sure if this inspired them to do anything. No one makes decision to get
rid of dangers.
I want to believe that at least "school principal" won't leave the danger at
the place where students walk by. I would go there tomorrow
to make sure.   Read the report here

Christina MacPherson | July 14, 2012 at 6:03 am | Categories:
environment, Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | URL:
http://wp.me/phgse-6Gb

http://nuclear-news.net/2012/07/14/high-radiation-level-at-fukushima-school-
<http://nuclear-news.net/2012/07/14/high-radiation-level-at-fukushima-school
-even-after-decontamination/> 
even-after-decontamination/
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