Category Archives: Iodine

Cesium, Iodine, N Pacific, Plutonium, Strontium

North Korean Atmospheric Thermonuclear Test: How much contamination can we expect?

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By Jay T. Cullen

The purpose of this post is to conduct a thought experiment to arrive at (I hope) a useful estimate of how much radioactive contamination might occur if North Korea detonates a thermonuclear weapon in the lower atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean.  There are a significant number of unknowns, not the least of which is the fundamental uncertainty as to whether the rogue nation has successfully tested a Teller-Ulam style thermonuclear weapon or not.  I explain my assumptions and compare the resulting global release of radioisotopes that represent a radiological health concern from such a test to the amounts recently released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) disaster, the Chernobyl disaster and aggregate atmospheric weapons testing in the last century. I invite comments and an accounting of the approach used here and how it might be improved. Continue reading North Korean Atmospheric Thermonuclear Test: How much contamination can we expect? →

Cesium, Iodine, Marine Life, NE Pacific, Peer Reviewed

Updated – No Fukushima radiation found in 2016 Alaskan fish

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Alaska Department of Environmental ConservationNo Fukushima contamination was found in any of the 14 fish Alaskan fish samples that were collected between February and September 2016, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The results, released on the Alaksa DEC website, show that the sampled herring, cod, and pollock, halibut, and salmon did not have any detectable levels of 131I, 134Cs (the Fukushima fingerprint radionuclide with a half-life of ~2 years) or 137Cs in the tissues.  These samples were from across Alaskan waters from Southeast to Bristol Bay and the Aleutian archipelago and the Bering Sea. Results from 2016 are similar to their results from 2015 and are part of the network of institutions monitoring for Fukushima radiation in marine waters and seafoods.

The average minimum detectable concentrations for these Alaskan samples on this gamma spectrometer were 63.7 Bq kg-1, 2.1 Bq kg-1, and 1.9 Bq kg-1 respectively for 131I 137Cs,  and 134Cs. While InFORM does not analyze for 131I, those detection thresholds for cesium are 2-3 times higher than are typical for our biotic monitoring program. This may be due to either a smaller sample size or a shorter time in the gamma spectrometer for the Alaskan samples, but the result remains that levels are well below those where intervention is needed (intervention levels for 131I = 170 Bq kg-1 and 134Cs + 137Cs = 1200 Bq kg-1 according to the US Food and Drug Administration). InFORM monitoring in 2016 found 9 salmon (out of 123) from BC and Yukon rivers with detectable levels (where the minimum detectable concentrations were less than 1 Bq kg-1) of  137Cs after a six hour detector run. These nine samples are currently being freeze-dried for an extended, 2 week long, detection run. Results from this additional analysis are expected probably mid-late spring 2017.

An interesting aspect of these 2016 Alaskan samples is that this was the first time a field-deployable gamma spectrometer has been sent by the US Food and Drug Administration to a site for local analyses of samples. Data from the spectrometer were then electronically sent to FDA scientists for analysis. The thought is that this model could be used in the event of nuclear emergency to allow for more rapid analyses of environmental samples.

Alaska DEC will continue monitoring fish samples for Fukushima radiation for at least 2017 and possibly beyond.

Cesium, Iodine, Marine Life, NE Pacific, Peer Reviewed

No Fukushima radiation found in 2016 Alaskan fish

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Alaska Department of Environmental ConservationNo Fukushima contamination was found in any of the 7 fish Alaskan fish samples that were collected during February and March of 2016. The results, released on the Department of Environmental Conservation website, show that the herring, cod, and pollock sampled did not have any detectable levels of 131I, 134Cs (the Fukushima fingerprint radionuclide with a half-life of ~2 years) or 137Cs in the tissues.  These samples follow on their similar results from 2015 and are part of the network of institutions monitoring for Fukushima radiation in marine waters and seafoods. Continue reading No Fukushima radiation found in 2016 Alaskan fish →

British Columbia, Cesium, Iodine, North America, Peer Reviewed, Xenon

The Impact of the Fukushima on Canada: Health Canada Reports

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By Jay T. Cullen

The purpose of this post is to bring to the attention of interested readers a recently released report that provides comprehensive account of the environmental radiation surveillance activities conducted by Health Canada in the months immediately following the Fukushima accident.  This report includes an assessment of the overall levels of contamination and resulting impacts to the health of Canadians.  Contrary to irresponsible and inaccurate rumors that Health Canada suspended monitoring in the wake of the triple meltdowns, monitoring activities were, in fact, enhanced and expanded to increase the flow of information and improve understanding of the implications of the contamination for environmental and public health.  While there was no discernible change in total background radiation a distributed system of monitoring stations and the rapid collection and measurement of environmental samples tracked the trace levels of atmospheric contamination across the country. The report concludes:

  1. conservative estimates of the maximum individual dose from Fukushima was less than 0.0003 (1/ 3,000) of the typical annual dose for a Canadian owing to natural background sources
  2. the additional dose resulting from Fukushima derived contamination is far less than the normal variation in dose from place to place in Canada
  3. there are likely to be no health impacts related to this small, incremental dose

Continue reading The Impact of the Fukushima on Canada: Health Canada Reports →

Cesium, Iodine, Marine Life, North America

No Fukushima Contamination in 2015 Alaskan Fish

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Alaska Department of Environmental ConservationThe Seattle Times is reporting no contamination in any of the 24 Alaskan salmon, halibut, pollock,  cod, or sablefish that were sampled from 4 different regions in 2015 for the Alaskan Department of Environmental Conservation.

Read the full article.

See the results from the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Presently, InFORM members at Health Canada are running the ~160 salmon samples from over 15 different major BC fisheries collected in 2015 and we will report the results as soon as they become available.