Friday, February 17, 2012

More on Minami Soma's Mysterious Black Dust: Spectrum Analysis by Prof. Yamauchi, and High Alpha Radiation Detection by an NGO

The data sheet of the black dust with over 1 million Bq/kg of radioactive cesium from Minami Soma, as Professor Yamauchi measured, from Naoya Fujiwara:

Minami Soma's Assemblyman Koichi Ooyama says he simply took the sample to a laboratory in Minami Soma instead of waiting for the city officials to come back to work on Monday. The result, presented in his blog, was:

dried soil
Germanium semiconductor detector for 600 seconds
718,000 becquerels/kg [of radioactive cesium]
margin of error 10%

He says the sample was from a different location than the sample that Professor Yamauchi had tested. Assemblyman Ooyama says he will be giving a press conference at 11AM on Monday February 19.

In his blogpost, Ooyama mentions OPCOM institute of isotopes. It is an arm of the NGO called HCR (Heart Care Rescue) which has been active in supporting people in the nuclear disaster since last March.

HCR's Facebook page has additional information of the surface radiation levels of this mysterious substance:

【今消されたツイート】「黒い粉」通報によりHCRの専門部会OPCOM Institute of Isotopes緊急出動、放射線測定を済ませて只今帰還。南相馬市営住宅の駐車場でγ+β+α:61.321μSv/h、γ+β:15.622μSv/h,残り45.699μSv/h:α線!

(Tweet that just got deleted) Emergency survey by OPCOM Institute of Isotopes, special arm of HCR, upon the discovery of "black dust". In the parking lot of a public housing project of Minami Soma City, measurement was:

γ+β+α:61.321μSv/h
γ+β:15.622μSv/h
which means α: 45.699μSv/h

If this is the same public housing apartments that the blogger "Night that never ends" wrote about, then people, including children, have been living there.

10 comments:

Darth3/11 said...

Where is this soot coming from? Fallout clouds?

farfromhome said...

Darth - that is the question huh?

How concerned should the people of Minami Soma be? Again, I fear that this could easily be breathed in.

Anonymous said...

Strange nobody seems to know what this substance is made of. I guess it would be an interesting clue.
Also since when is it there ?
I also thought of some kind of soot.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

The blogger "Night that never ends" seems to have started collecting the samples in December last year.

I've read a tweet by Fujiwara saying it may contain organic material. He was mentioning bioconcentration. For now, treat it as rumor. I'll try contacting Professor Yamauchi.

CaptD said...

Here is my explanation of the Black G☢☢

I believe that the reason for the high Cesium counts is the interaction of Earth Quakes (EQ's) with the Corium(s) with the groundwater below the complex and that may even be cause of the Black Dust that is now being widely observed in Northern Japan.

EQ's + H☢T Corium(s) + Ground water = (Hydro Corium) Fissioning

Fissioning + Time => Radioactive Steam Releases => Black Dust aka Black G☢☢

Anonymous said...

If the NGO HCR could explain how they get to a figure in equivalent doserate (Sv/h) for alfa (as well as for gamma and bèta), as this is a bit mysterious to me.
many thanks.
Jan Vande Putte

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

@Jan Vande Putte, according to the latest info, they say there was no alpha. Information is not from HCR but from the assemblyman. I'm writing the post.

Anonymous said...

Cyanobacteria was mentioned by mochizuki, and another post mentions organic matter. A further mentions "appeared after rain".

Total blue sky stuff, but does rain + soil + organic matter + cyanobacteria => a pile of black stuff?

and does rain + soil + nuclides of Cs + organic matter + cyanobacteria => a bigger pile of black sutff where you could see none before?

Just asking.

Maybe add "genetic mutation" into the second equation.

Anyone want to take this on a bit further?

M.

Anonymous said...

cyanobacteria was also mentioned in other posts at this blog also.

Google cyanobacteria and you will see it is ubiquitous, almost as old as life on earth. no surprise that it's there, as is everywhere else in Japan, in the world.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 11:06 AM, your comment somewhat misses the aim of my suggestion [naturally, I did a little light reading first] which was asking if any analysis of this stuff can confirm (a) it is a variety of blue-green alga, (b) that it is intimately associated with soil-plant debris and radioactivity, and (c) - if so - what science lies beyond that ?

Reasonable questions, I thought.

Your intervention seems not to advance the enquiry.Actually, it seems to be telling me, "Shut Up".

Can't see the point!

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