[ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post] The spread of particles with plutonium and cesium, from Fukushima nuclear fuel

Sat May 21 05:27:07 CDT 2016

"Everything I’m finding here is millions and billions of very, very 
small particles that are spread pretty much everywhere."

Could it be...atoms? :-)

The Wikipedia page on radiation effects from Fukushima puts these 
numbers into perspective, see the section "Plutonium isotopes"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_effects_from_the_Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster

Does any of the experts here have any comments on what is written on the 
Wikipedia page, any errors or things worth adding?

/Mattias Lantz

On 05/21/2016 10:04 AM, Roger Helbig wrote:
> I am quite sure that particles containing Plutonium have not been
> spread anywhere beyond the immediate reactor - is that in fact true
> and if so, then this more lies from the Gundersens who may in fact be
> advisors to Bernie Sanders and his anti-nuclear losing Presidential
> campaign -
>
> Roger Helbig
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: nuclear-news <comment-reply at wordpress.com>
> Date: Sat, May 21, 2016 at 12:56 AM
> Subject: [New post] The spread of particles with plutonium and cesium,
> from Fukushima nuclear fuel
> To: rwhelbig at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
> New post on nuclear-news
>
> The spread of particles with plutonium and cesium, from Fukushima nuclear fuel
>
> by Christina MacPherson
>
> Expert: Billions of pieces Fukushima nuclear fuel have spread pretty
> much everywhere — “It’s truly frightening… wherever there’s cesium,
> there’s plutonium” — Atomic bomb had one pound of uranium… Fukushima
> had hundreds of tons — TV: “Abundant quantities” of plutonium are
> being found (VIDEO)
> http://enenews.com/nuclear-engineer-billions-plutonium-particles-fukushima-nuke-plant-spread-pretty-everywhere-frightening-cesium-going-be-plutonium-atom-bomb-1-pound-uranium-fukushima-reactors-hundreds-tons-tv?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29Fairewinds
> Japan Speaking Tour Series No. 3, Feb 24, 2016 (emphasis added):
>
> Maggie Gundersen, Fairewinds Energy Education Podcast host: One of the
> things that you’ve talked about and [environmental scientist Marco
> Kaltofen, PhD, PE] have talked about is internal radiation exposures
> and hot particles. What’s the difference between a bomb exploding and
> a nuclear plant exploding in the hot particles?
> Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds’ Chief Engineer and former nuclear
> engineer (emphasis added): Most of the bomb exposure was from a direct
> flash that was over in seconds. There wasn’t a significant amount of
> contamination on the ground because the bomb went off 1,000 feet in
> the air. So there was not a lot of radiation residual left on the
> ground for hot particles to get into people’s lungs… That’s not what
> we’re seeing at Fukushima Daiichi. Everything I’m finding here is
> millions and billions of very, very small particles that are spread
> pretty much everywhere. We’ll know a little bit more about that in the
> future… There’s no comparison between a bomb and what happened at
> Fukushima. A bomb obliterated maybe a pound of uranium and it was a
> thousand feet in the air, so most of it went up almost immediately;
> whereas each of the nuclear reactors at Fukushima had 100 tons of
> uranium in them so that the quantity of radiation that’s spread out
> throughout the countryside is orders of magnitude higher at Fukushima
> than it was at Nagasaki.
>
> Fairewinds Japan Speaking Tour Series No. 2, Feb 17, 2016:
>
> Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds’ Chief Engineer and former nuclear
> engineer (at 2:30 in): We found a parking lot at a supermarket [in
> Fukushima] that had a large radioactive source right in the middle…
> that people were walking over and driving over. It was loaded with
> black radioctive dust just wherever you go – it’s everywhere…
> AG: One of the samples that one of my fellow scientists collected
> showed plutonium –and significant amounts of plutonium. It was in a
> square meter… he was getting 19 disintegration per second [becquerels]
> of plutonium. That stuff is going to be around for a quarter million
> years…
> Maggie Gundersen, Fairewinds Energy Education Podcast founder: That
> plutonium was part of the core that came out then in the explosion,
> correct?
> AG: Yeah, the only source it could ever have come from is inside that
> nuclear reactor.
> MG: And the plutonium is being redeposited at locations that where
> unanticipated?
> AG: Yeah, it’s everywhere.… It is everywhere, and we’re very careful,
> we’re wearing gloves all the time, respirators all the times…
> AG: Wherever the ground is exposed, there is a high level of radiation
> in the mountains around here… it’s all going to run right off and into
> the Pacific Ocean…
> MG: You talked about the plutonium — where was that found?…
> AG: The plutonium was found in a farmer’s field about 10 miles from
> the power plant, it was found because that’s where they looked. If
> it’s sitting out in that farmer’s field, it’s everywhere. Wherever
> there’s radiation — cesium — there’s going to be plutonium, and that’s
> truly frightening… It’s pretty clear that significant amounts of
> plutonium are scattered throughout the hillsides… plutonium has got a
> 25,000 year half-life, so it’s a quarter of a million years before
> it’s gone.
>
> Discovery, Dec 27, 2015: “Although only limited areas of Fukushima are
> allowing residents to come back, that doesn’t mean these areas are
> safe. You can still find dangerous radioactive elements such as
> cesium, strontium, and plutonium in abundant quantities here.”
>
> Fairewinds’ podcasts here: No. 2 | No. 3 — Watch Discovery broadcast here
>
> Christina MacPherson | May 21, 2016 at 7:56 am | Categories: Fukushima
> 2016 | URL: http://wp.me/phgse-nDS
>
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-- 
Mattias Lantz - Researcher, PhD
ランツ マティアス
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Division of Applied Nuclear Physics
Uppsala University, Box 516
SE - 751 20, Uppsala, Sweden
phone:  +46-(0)18-471-3754
cell:   +46-(0)730-454-384
fax:    +46-(0)18-471-5999
email:  mattias.lantz at physics.uu.se