[ RadSafe ] Nuclear-News Claims] Extremely radioactive particle found in Japan - 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in Japan

Mon Apr 28 18:12:34 CDT 2014

I personally would not trust any “gamma spec” ID of mixed radio-isotopes based on a NaI spectrum.  Any serious researcher would have the sample analyzed by HPGe. NaI detectors simply do not have the energy resolution necessary to differentiate specific gamma energies in a complex mixture of gamma emitters. NaI detectors have their uses but this type of gamma spectroscopy isn’t one.  All one needs to do is compare HPGe and NaI spectra from “dirt” in your backyard to realize how useless NaI detectors are for this purpose.

Phil Simpson
Engineer III
MMPEI
University of Michigan

On Apr 21, 2014, at 2:36 PM, Emer, Dudley <EMERDF at nv.doe.gov> wrote:

> Dan / Jaro
> Attached is an XRF of a rock sample from the Harding pegmatite in New Mexico.  Note the high concentration of Rubidium, Cesium, Nickel, and rare earths. His SEM/EDS scan may indicate that his  "black sand" is a rare earth mineral with just Cs 137/134 attached.  Its common that rare earth minerals have densities over 3.x g/cc
> The spectral interpretation is based on  10 minute count which is very noisy and calling  Co-60 and Am-241 based on that  is just not warranted.  Note the Pb-212 peak complex looks more like it would be due to Pb x-rays from his shield as I don't see a 238 peak unless the Ra224 is mislabeled. 
> Does anyone have the raw data and papers?
> 
> Dudley Emer
> Geophysicist
> National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec)
> National Center for Nuclear Security 
> Nevada National Security Site, Mercury, Nv
> U.S. DOE Contractor
> 702-295-7808 office
> 702-794-5824 pager
> 702-343-6208 cell
> email: emerdf at nv.doe.gov
> Mailing address:
> P.O. Box 98521
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> Las Vegas, Nv 89193-8521
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Jaro Franta
> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2014 10:06 AM
> To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear-News Claims] Extremely radioactive particle found in Japan - 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in Japan
> 
> FYI, in case you haven’t seen this already:
> 
> http://www.bostonchemicaldata.com/wpi/mKaltofenNagoya2014.pdf
> 
> High Radioactivity Particles in Japanese House Dusts
> Marco Kaltofen, Nuclear Science and Engineering
> 
> Hypothesis: The Fukushima Dai‐ichi accident released very high activity
> inhalable dust particles that travelled long distances.
> Introduction: The 2011 earthquake and resulting tsunami in Northeastern
> Japan led to damages to four of the six nuclear power units at the Fukushima
> Dai‐ichi Station. Radiological materials escaped from the reactor units at
> the power plant site via air‐borne plumes of contaminated gases, aerosols
> and particles, and by contaminated wastewaters.
> Airborne dusts can transport radioactive materials as isolated individual
> particles containing high concentrations of radioisotopes. Alpha and beta
> emissions related to fission wastes and dispersed fuel particles are
> hazardous when inhaled or ingested. Radioactively‐contaminated
> environmental dusts can accumulate in indoor spaces, potentially causing
> significant radiation exposures to humans via inhalation, dermal contact,
> and ingestion. These heterogeneously distributed hot particles can be
> difficult to detect and measure, making it likewise difficult to determine
> radiation dose to residents of contaminated areas.
> 
> Methods: Dust samples contaminated with Fukushima‐related fission products
> were identified using gamma spectrometry. A set of high activity hot
> particles were isolated from the house dusts by autoradiography and physical
> separation of identified hot spots on air filter media. After isolation, hot
> particles were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy/energydispersive X
> ‐ray analysis. (SEM/EDS).
> 
> Results: The median total activity of eighty four Japanese bulk house dust
> samples studied was 2.5 KBq kg‐1. The mean total activity was 71.6 KBq kg‐
> 1 with σ = 339 KBq kg‐1. Most of the activity detected was due to 134Cs,
> 137Cs, 60Co and 226Ra. Short‐lived 131I decayed away after gamma spectral
> measurements were made, but before hot particle analyses were completed.
> Cesium isotopes were in concentration ratios definitive for Fukushima
> discharges.
> The large difference between the mean and median resulted from the
> contributions of two samples with activities above 1.0 MBq kg‐1 and a
> micron‐scaled particle with activity greater than 1.0 PBq kg‐1. The
> particle was collected from a home in Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya is 460 km from
> the accident site. The particle’s activity was 310 Bq as measured by gamma
> spectrometry. Its beta activity was 285 Bq. It contained both fission
> products and decay products of 238U at percent levels. X‐ray microanalysis
> of this particle mapped varying concentrations of tellurium up to 48.0 %,
> cesium up to 15.6 %, rubidium up to 1.22 %, polonium up to 1.19 %,
> dysprosium up to 0.18 %, as well as trace amounts of tin, lead, nickel,
> iron, and chromium. The very hot particle has a calculated volume of no more
> than 0.0012 mm3. Based on its composition as measured by SEM/EDS, its
> density is about 3.6 g cm‐3.
> NaI gamma and EDS spectrometry of hot particles found 226Ra, 134Cs, and
> 137Cs, 241Am, and 230Th as the most commonly detected gamma photon‐emitting
> isotopes. Autoradiographic, gamma spectral and SEM/EDS results demonstrated
> that qualitatively similar particles were present in about 25 % of dusts
> sampled. This quartile of the samples was contaminated with 134Cs, an
> indicator contaminant for the reactor accident, and was autoradiographically
> positive for hot particles. SEM analysis showed that the majority of these
> hot particles were 10 um or less in size, meaning that they were potentially
> inhalable.
> 
> Conclusion: Radioactively‐hot particles on the respirable size range were
> routinely detected, with one as far as 460 km from the release site.
> 
> Research support from: Safecast.jp, D.C. Medich, Ph.D., C.H.P., Microvision
> Labs., and Mr. Jun Ohnishi of Namie, Japan.
> Presented at Worcester Polytechnic Institute 3/19/14. Invited for
> presentation at the 2014 APHA meeting in New Orleans, LA.
> 
> =================================
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Dan McCarn
> Sent: April-05-14 9:24 PM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear-News Claims] Extremely radioactive particle
> found in Japan - 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in Japan
> 
> Jaro:
> 
> Yep, black sands, also found in abundance in coastal areas of India. Since
> there is a fair amount of Zr, the mineral Zircon (ZrSiO4) may also contain
> up to several % U.
> http://www.mindat.org/min-4421.html
> 
> Heavy mineral placers, either modern or ancient are almost always
> radioactive and frequently occur in beach placers or stream placers because
> they are "heavy" and differentiate themselves by either longshore drift
> (beach placers) or in stream placers.
> 
> Dan ii
> 
> Dan W McCarn, Geologist
> 108 Sherwood Blvd
> Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
> +1-505-672-2014 (Home - New Mexico)
> +1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)
> HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com
> 
> 
> On Sat, Apr 5, 2014 at 9:18 AM, Jaro Franta <jaro_10kbq at videotron.ca> wrote:
> 
>> Thanks for the additional hints.
>> 
>> I pasted the video screen grabs next to an ORIGEN graphic showing a
>> pie chart of fission product activity after 3 years post-shut down:
>> Evidently some important species are missing.
>> In the second picture, I pasted the video screen grabs next to Wiki's
>> description of Monazite - some good matches there.
>> 
>> https://db.tt/DgFLkgzW
>> 
>> https://db.tt/2AnuJ5SU
>> 
>> FYI, there is also a transcript of the video sound track here:
>> http://fairewinds.org/hottest-particle/
>> 
>> Kaltofen talks about "black sand," claiming that "this material was
>> vaporized during the accident. It condenses into these small particles
>> and then they aggregate."
>> Hmm.. I thought that condensed ceramic material takes the form of tiny
>> spheres - that's not what I see in the video.
>> 
>> Besides that, isn't Monazite typically in the form of "black sand" ?
>> Like the stuff seen in this great video of a beach in Guarapari, Brazil:
>> http://youtu.be/RvgAx1yIKjg
>> Isn't that the same stuff that was found on a California beach a
>> couple of months ago and blamed on Fukushima ? .was that Kaltofen also ?
>> 
>> Kaltofen adds that "The particle that we examined was a mixture of
>> fission products from a nuclear reactor and nuclear fuels. We looked
>> at materials like Telurium, Radium 226."
>> But while there is no significant Radium 226 activity in irradiated
>> fuel, there is plenty in uranium ore that may be associated with Monazite.
>> 
>> 
>> Jaro
>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Brad Keck
>> Sent: April-05-14 12:51 AM
>> To: ROY HERREN; The International Radiation Protection (Health
>> Physics) Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear-News Claims] Extremely radioactive
>> particle found in Japan - 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in
>> Japan
>> 
>> There were 2 screenshots purporting to be related to chemical or
>> radiochemical analysis.  The there was an energy dispersive x-ray
>> spectrum in which Si was by far the most abundant peak -  little
>> detail was provided, but assuming silicon is the most abundant
>> element,  I don't see how this is nuclear fuel related, even without
>> criticizing the other elemental ID's, which I am sure deserve some
>> criticism.
>> 
>> A second set of images shows photomicrographs with Ce, Zr, Y, Eu, Sm
>> typed in over the image - no data or rationale provided.  I presume
>> they are suggesting these ID's result from gamma spectroscopy, rather
>> than chemical analysis.  Although it is hard to make heads or tails of
>> it with the lack of details, I didn't find any element of it to hold
>> together technically.  But I am sure readers of RadSafe are not the
>> intended audience.  :)
>> 
>> Brad
>> 
>> 
>>> On Apr 4, 2014, at 10:38 PM, ROY HERREN <royherren2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> On the screen one sees on the video at
>>> http://nuclear-news.net/2014/04/04/extremely-radioactive-particle-fo
>>> un d-in-japan-300-miles-from-fukushima-news-banned-in-japan/
>>> there is a graphic at 9:21/17:21, 11:30/17:21, and 12:23 -
>>> 12:34/17:21 that shows Ce, Zr, Y, Eu, Sm on the upper left hand side
>>> of the screen
>> and
>> Ce, Fe, La, Nd, Sm on the upper right hand side of the screen.  At
>> which frame did you see the Si, Rb, O, Cs, Te, Sn, Fe, Pb, etc.?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Roy Herren
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: Jaro Franta <jaro_10kbq at videotron.ca>
>>> To: 'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
>>> List' <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
>>> Sent: Friday, April 4, 2014 6:31 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear-News Claims] Extremely radioactive
>>> particle found in Japan - 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in
>>> Japan
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Where did you see "Ce, Zr, Eu, Sm" ?
>>> 
>>> On this screen grab from the video, all I see is Si, Rb, O, Cs, Te,
>>> Sn, Fe, Pb, etc.
>>> 
>>> https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11686324/Extremely%20radioactive
>>> %2
>>> 0parti
>>> cle%20found%20in%20Japan%20-%20%20300%20miles%20from%20Fukushima.jpg
>>> 
>>> The Si peak might perhaps be for Si-31 (153y HL), but it's a weird
>>> combination of isotopes.
>>> 
>>> Jaro
>>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>>> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of ROY HERREN
>>> Sent: April-04-14 8:27 PM
>>> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
>>> List
>>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear-News Claims] Extremely radioactive
>>> particle found in Japan - 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in
>>> Japan
>>> 
>>> What I saw flashed up on the screen said "Ce, Zr, Eu, Sm".  In the
>>> past I've had problems releasing Sm153 material due to Eu
>>> contamination.  Couldn't the Eu and Sm be the result of a medical
>>> isotope treatment, see http://www.rxlist.com/quadramet-drug.htm?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Roy Herren
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: Brad Keck <bradkeck at mac.com>
>>> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
>>> List <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
>>> Sent: Friday, April 4, 2014 12:03 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Nuclear-News Claims] Extremely radioactive
>>> particle found in Japan - 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in
>>> Japan
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Isn't it amazing that the one hottest hot particle in all of Japan,
>>> just 10 microns in diameter, just happened to get stuck on the blade
>>> of the razor knife used to "sample "'the vacuum cleaner bags, or it
>>> would have been lost for all time ?  Now what are the odds?  :)
>>> 
>>> Interestingly the one x-ray spectrum they show looks a lot like some
>>> sort of silicate - imagine a silicate being found in dust - AMAZING!
>>> 
>>> Happy Friday, Everybody!
>>> 
>>> Bradly D Keck
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Apr 4, 2014, at 4:23 AM, Roger Helbig <rwhelbig at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Has all the red flags that activists salivate at - even "news
>>>> banned in Japan" - probably because it is not news!
>>>> 
>>>> Roger Helbig
>>>> 
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>> From: nuclear-news <comment-reply at wordpress.com>
>>>> Date: Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 8:42 PM
>>>> Subject: [New post] Extremely radioactive particle found in Japan -
>>>> 300 miles from Fukushima - News banned in Japan
>>>> 
>>>> arclight2011part2 posted: " Published on 3 Apr 2014 A highly
>>>> radioactive particle of suspected Fukushima core material was found
>>>> in house dust in Nagoya, Japan. This home is 460 kilometers (300
>>>> miles) from the accident site. This one microscopic dust particle
>>>> has enough rad"
>>>> 
>>>> Extremely radioactive particle found in Japan - 300 miles from
>>>> Fukushima - News banned in Japan
>>>> 
>>>> by arclight2011part2
>>>> 
>>>> Published on 3 Apr 2014
>>>> 
>>>> A highly radioactive particle of suspected Fukushima core material
>>>> was found in house dust in Nagoya, Japan. This home is 460
>>>> kilometers
>>>> (300
>>>> miles) from the accident site. This one microscopic dust particle
>>>> has enough radioactivity to be a real health hazard.
>>>> 
>>>> arclight2011part2 | April 4, 2014 at 3:41 am | URL:
>>>> http://wp.me/phgse-gWB
>>>> 
>>>> Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
>>> http://nuclear-news.net/2014/04/04/extremely-radioactive-particle-fo
>>> un d-in-j apan-300-miles-from-fukushima-news-banned-in-japan/
> 
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