Sunday, March 4, 2012

Discovery of Neptunium-239 in Iitate-mura Finally Published by a Peer-Review Magazine (Nearly One Year after the Discovery)

A paper by a researcher at Tokyo University about discovery of neptunium-239 and other short-lived nuclides in Iitate-mura seems to have finally been accepted and published by Environmental Pollution, a peer-reviewed scientific magazine. It was made available online on January 20, 2012, and is published in the April 2012 issue of the magazine.

It took nearly 1 year for off-line readers to know about the discovery. The researcher took the samples of soil, plants and water in early April last year.

In August last year there was an article of neptunium-239 having been discovered in Iitate-mura, 35 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, by a researcher at Tokyo University. The article was written by a husband and wife comedian couple. (For more, see my post on August 15, 2011.) They were criticized for not revealing the source (name of this researcher) or the details. Their response was that the researcher was submitting the paper to a peer-reviewed magazine.

Well here it is, published by a peer-reviewed magazine nearly one year after the accident, and now utterly irrelevant except for some academic curiosity. The information, as it sat in limbo of peer-reviewing process, was not used to educate, warn people in Fukushima, particularly in Iitate-mura, so that they could decide what to do. If they had known their soil and vegetation were extremely contaminated with short-lived radionuclides with strong radioactivity, they might have done things differently.

I hope the researcher at least warned the villagers privately.

From Sciencedirect.com:

Environmental Pollution

Volume 163, April 2012, Pages 243–247

Deposition of fission and activation products after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident

* Katsumi Shozugawa (a), Corresponding author
* Norio Nogawa (b),
* Motoyuki Matsuo (a)

* a Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
* b Radioisotope Center, The University of Tokyo, 2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan

* Received 22 August 2011. Revised 24 December 2011. Accepted 1 January 2012. Available online 20 January 2012.

Abstract

The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, damaged reactor cooling systems at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The subsequent venting operation and hydrogen explosion resulted in a large radioactive nuclide emission from reactor containers into the environment. Here, we collected environmental samples such as soil, plant species, and water on April 10, 2011, in front of the power plant main gate as well as 35 km away in Iitate village, and observed gamma-rays with a Ge(Li) semiconductor detector. We observed activation products (239Np and 59Fe) and fission products (131I, 134Cs (133Cs), 137Cs, 110mAg (109Ag), 132Te, 132I, 140Ba, 140La, 91Sr, 91Y, 95Zr, and 95Nb). 239Np is the parent nuclide of 239Pu; 59Fe are presumably activation products of 58Fe obtained by corrosion of cooling pipes. The results show that these activation and fission products, diffused within a month of the accident.
-----------------------------------------------------
Highlights

► We collected environmental samples near the Fukushima nuclear power plant. ► We observed 239Np and 59Fe along with many fission products. ► 239Np is evidently an activation product of 238U contained in nuclear fuel. ► 239Np is also parent nuclide of 239Pu. ► Our results show that activation products diffused within a month of the accident.

If the data in the paper is not much different from what the researcher had put on his own website last year, Iitate-mura had several thousand becquerels/kg of neptunium-239, exceeding one of the two sampling locations in front of the Fukushima I plant gate. Iitate-mura also had a host of other radionuclides in amounts exceeding the immediate vicinity of the plant or the front gate of the plant or even inside the plant.

You can see the charts for yourself, here. They are from the researcher's presentation last year, not from the paper submitted and accepted at Environmental Pollution.

47 comments:

Stock said...

Humans can be 26000% over the limit for Contaminated Meat
Of course, the calculation is only illustrative of the fact that a massive amount of deadly radiation was released from Fukushima.

This shows that just the Cesium alone, as officially reported is enough to push all humans to being 26,000% over the limit for being contaminated meat (using 500Bq/kG).

Now the reality is that humans won't get all the Caesium, we can share that with all the rest of the animals and plants in the world. Share the Pain!!!!!!!!! Something to be thankful for, LOL, ouch.

Here is the news story and the calculation

AND THIS IS COOL POLL, stop by and fill out of the poll, 30 seconds.

http://nukeproffesional.blogspot.com/2012/03/humans-can-be-26000-over-limit-for.html

no6ody said...

"It is error alone which needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself." Thomas Jefferson

"Being actively critical of something one is dependent on is thought to be psychologically uncomfortable, and therefore avoided in favor of increased perceptions of legitimacy, trust, and desirability.
(...) once something (such as unfamiliarity) increases the extent to which people feel dependent on the government, they will place more trust in its operation, rather than seeking independence or finding faults in the government’s abilities.
(...) not only do people trust in the government more when they feel unknowledgeable about a threatening social issue, but they also appear motivated to avoid learning new information about it."

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Nov 7, 2011
On the Perpetuation of Ignorance: System Dependence, System
Justification, and the Motivated Avoidance of Sociopolitical Information
Steven Shepherd, Aaron C Kay

Thanks for the truth, Arevamirpal!

Racket from the Brackett in 5... 4... 3... 2...

Anonymous said...

And now all of the Neptunium 239 had decayed into Plutonium 239 ... how lovely...

Chibaguy said...

I think for the most part we have forgotten why we come into this world. Basically, it is to ensure our existence. Peer review will not do this. Other mammals/animals/species obviously have a hierarchy and they abide by it during peaceful times but when danger is evident those at the top warn of such danger and protect.

I go to a huge pond almost once a week to feed the birds. There are various kinds but two of them run this lake. They come right up and scream for food. It sounds like a scream. However, when there is a threat like me jumping the fence or bringing my dog they waddle as fast as they can into the water to get the rest of the ducks/birds to swim away.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

"Failing to prepare is like preparing to fail."
Benjamin Franklin

Atomfritz said...

Thank you!

This reminds me of some story in the Prometheus series, where some unknown men warned people not to stay in the village inmidst the radiation plume.

I am beginning to learn about mass psychology to understand why "sheeple" behave this way and nobody's quotes from the APA magazine article made me curious.
So I searched in hope to find the whole article in the net.
And bingo, it is available as sample reading:

http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/psp/sample.aspx

Second sample article in the list. (Didn't include direct link, because there are other sample articles which might be interesting) Still reading the long 17-page article.
Highly interesting, highly recommended.

Chibaguy said...

@ex skf - please keep your comment section as is. You have a certain pest that is an old nuke engineer under the guise of a woman. Let's just say he is old and paid to be old.

Anonymous said...

OT
Chibaguy, your pond story reminded me of the U of W study on crow behavior.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110709/crows-remember-their-enemies-110709/

If humans could just be as concerned about their own communities as these intelligent birds.
Maybe any interested ornithologists in Japan could don the TEPCO decontamination outfit and harass a few crows. At least one species would learn the danger and adapt.

Anonymous said...

Shareholders to sue Tepco for $67 Billion. LMAO!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/05/us-tepco-lawsuit-idUSTRE8240RY20120305?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Business+News%29

Machomaker said...

#Atomfritz

The Dissociative Cognitive State

Myth is metaphorical description of the intense mystic-state experiencing that results from visionary plants. Myth reflects dissociative phenomenology or dissociative-state experiencing, not ordinary-state experiencing.
http://www.egodeath.com/mobile2.htm

A simple thought is mostly not far away.

Anonymous said...

Shareholders to sue Tepco for $67 Billion. LMAO!

HAH! Best of luck to them for even trying.

Anonymous said...

quote: 'Shareholders to sue Tepco for $67 Billion.'

If I understood the report right, the sue the top managers for neglect and not the company itself.

Would be nice if these top 25 managers would have to 'share the pain' as well.....

Anonymous said...

Chibaguy, interesting you also think Karen Sherry is not a woman. I am a woman who has suspected for awhile that "she" isn't. No proof, of course, just a gut feeling that this person doesn't write in a woman's voice.

Anonymous female said...

Sigh. Geez, people, can't any of you google her, or is that too hard??? She's female. She worked for Nuclear Fuel Services in Tennessee as a nuke fuel operator for less than a year before they fired her( I wonder why? )then she ran for some political office and lost. She's also got a Facebook page where she's got the Jesus thing going.

Anonymous female said...

HERE. This is the second time I post this info. Not hard to find at all.

Karen Sherry Brackett
Oil & Energy Professional
Johnson City, Tennessee (Johnson City, Tennessee Area) Oil & Energy

LinkedIn
Karen Sherry Brackett’s full profile.

Past
Nuclear Fuel Operator at Nuclear Fuel Services

Karen Sherry Brackett's Experience

Nuclear Fuel Operator
Nuclear Fuel Services
2009 – 2009 (less than a year)

Anonymous said...

The disaster is so huge and the people so confused. Now all the data coming out means nothing after they have bombarded by a years worth of numbers and such. They are numb. Bet noone comments in Japan media either..smile and be happy, it OLD news.

The fact the radioactive material is there..still..alive and well..along with NEW Iodine 131..well thats just to be ignored.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

"Fiddle Dee Dee"
Scarlet O'Hara
Gone With The Wind

LOL, "I will just can't think about that right now. I will think about tomorrow. After all tomorrow is another day." Scarlet GWTW

Best two female character quotes I can think of for the circumstance. =) Can't believe you all think I do not write in a female voice and worse yet that I write in the voice of an old man.

Anonymous said...

@12:29,
No cause for concern.
Every day there are innocent children heading off to school with dosimeters around their necks ensuring that future peer-reviewed studies will have a gold mine of information.

Anonymous said...

I just think you're a stupid bint, personally.

Anonymous female said...

> Can't believe you all think I do not write in a female voice and worse yet that I write in the voice of an old man.

Not all. And to me you write in the voice of a nutcase.

Anonymous said...

"Fiddle Dee Dee"

Well here's one of the best male quotes *I* can think of in this circumstance too: "Frankly my dear, I (or anybody else for that matter) don't give a fuck."

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Look I get that you are all frustrated about the current findings in this article and are taking it out on me because you want me to scientifically confirm or disprove your suspicions or fears. Plus, because I have worked in the industry you see me as "untrustworthy" or "questionable". The only reason I did not comment further on this post was because it basically would have just been a repeat of what I have already shared.

Earthquake simulations deal with mechanical function and not chemical function at this point. Before any valves, filters or disks failed there was a fuel failure. Fuel outside of water with proper configurations maintained could have easily survived a few minute shake up with no problem what so ever. Water is a moderator and that compounded the shake up problem. That is where the first problem occurred, then the cladding failed which extremely compounded the problem. If the reactor had had a water drop out system and noble gas injection system for earthquake response. Fukushima would still be a operating plant today. They would have had flood and quake damage to repair but that would have been the limit to it. When those first two problems were allowed to run unchecked then valves and disks and filters and clogged sump pumps and so on so forth all came into play like a giant domino effect. This articles findings only proves in fact my theory.

Does that make me a "stupid bint" or a "nutcase" or outcast? Only if you fear the truth or if you have reasons yourself for hiding it. There's no blame in nuclear accidents that occur due to a combined tsunami and earthquake. That's ridiculous to suggest that these people are at fought. For heaven's sakes they are the bravest people in the industry. I would have been right on the heels of all the Americans who tore the front gate down in exit and I would have made everyone leave with me so the place could have been properly bombed and the chain reactions stopped. And as "crazy" as that sounds that was the most appropriate action to take to save the most land mass from contamination but it does not matter now because it is as they say water under the bridge.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Sorry that should be "fault" and not fought.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

What is important to date is for all the lessons of Fukushima to be learned and applied in the future. So, that future disaster may be averted because even if we move to thermal and wind and solar and natural gas which I am for all forms of energy production but I am also for space exploration as well. Chemical, Solar and nuclear are the three we know for certain we can use in space to date. We need nuclear for medicine to fight cancer and we need "nuclear" for life. Just because something has the word "nuclear" on it does not mean it is a bad thing. "Nuclear" and "radiation" both are two words that are vastly misunderstood. Now I know these words scare people and I understand it is that fear that draws the insults and I am sorry that everyone can't have the clearance to know what I know about energy because if you could you would not fear it. You might see things that should and could be improved but you would not fear it anymore than you would fear a bad muffler or someone smoking a cigarette. What you must understand is that while finding and making known system failures in filters and discs and so forth is very important because all of those issues need to be addressed as well; but if only those problems are addressed and the origins of the problem are missed. Then we failed to prepare for the next tsunami and the next earthquake no matter where they occur.

So, please do not vent your fears and frustrations on me because by doing so you are disclaiming the truths of water and fuel problems during earthquakes and that would be a tragedy. The nuclear fuel industry is a trillion dollar monkey on all of our backs until it is 100% safe. I take great personal risk to speak up when I do and it is only because I understand my ethical role in responsibility to the public that I do so. Please, do not let that risk be made in vain.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Please also do not misunderstand my statement above. Bad mufflers and smoking cigarettes are very bad for you. Plus, naturally I do not mean to state that a smoking cigarette is equal to contamination. I am talking about the general fear of nuclear power plants. I am sorry that did not come out as clearly as I intended.

Anonymous said...

Brackett, what the hell are you talking about? Can't you see no one wants to read your crap? Can't you see everyone wants you gone?

I'm so sick and tired of your lengthy nonsense I'm getting ready to check out of this blog.

Anonymous said...

Sigh. Geez, anonymous female. I can google, but has it ever occurred to you that not everyone is who they say they are on the internet? This Karen Sherry Brackett may exist but what guarantee do you have that the "nutcase" posting here is even her? Perhaps I am wrong and it really is she but talk about embarrassing yourself.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone asked her to scientifically confirm or disprove our suspicions or fears? I thought just about everyone was asking her to get the hell out of here.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

A nuclear bomb works by slamming two very small amounts of highly enriched uranium together. The shaking of the earthquake created microbombs at the molecular level which were resultant of two primary factors: 1) water and 2)damaged cladding.

Plus, there is also the added factor of the frequency bombarding the fuel from the bedrock as a result of the quake. You combine these factors with the domino of quake and tsunami system failures and Fukushima can happen anywhere.

Anonymous female said...

>Perhaps I am wrong and it really is she but talk about embarrassing yourself.

Riiiiight, she writes the same crap on her Facebook page and same style of writing in other comments from years ago peppered around the net, but she is an old nuke engineer from the 70's. Whatever....

Anonymous said...

A nuclear bomb works by slamming two very small amounts of highly enriched uranium together.

On the other hand, you don't seem to have two brain cells to rub together.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Please, let's all stay on subject like we all agreed to not so long ago. Areva's posts are more important.

Anonymous said...

"I take great personal risk to speak up when I do and it is only because I understand my ethical role in responsibility to the public that I do so. Please, do not let that risk be made in vain."

WTF? You have a Facebook page where you write crap and you write stupid drivel in a very popular blog's comment section(here) that Google can bring up on a simple search of your real name and you are worried about risk??? What is the imaginary top secret info you are writing about that could get you in trouble? I bet the people at Nuclear Fuel Services are laughing their asses off. Not only will no one ever hire you again in the nuke industry but I would bet if you tried politics again, that would go nowhere fast, especially if people google you a read a sampling of the the crap you write here.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Don't be ridiculous, I never give away top secret information. Nuclear topics are always very bi-polar in open public discussions. Most people are either 110% for it or 110% against it and there simply is no room for them to logically consider either the improvement of it or the possibility of it's continued use. It is very obvious that the majority of hate posters on this site are too afraid to even consider the good applications of nuclear energy. It's no different in the nuclear production industry. To suggest something may be improved upon or safer is just as volatile a topic. Fortunately researchers know better and are open minded enough to discuss possibilities. I have offered help here and while it has been very nicely accepted by some, obviously no one can please everyone all the time.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh yes a nutty American who has trouble converting sieverts to rem is offering her unequalled help to TEPCO and JGov.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

Now come on? Do any of you really think that a clogged sump pump caused Fukushima? Yes, it did not help but come on? The system was having problems before any clog happened. That's about as crazy as the people who blame Israel. If you want to understand the problem then go directly to it's source. The fuel engineered and produced by Japan caused their problem. Period.

Anonymous said...

I thought the Fuku nuke disaster was caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami hitting a badly situated old geezer of a nuke plant they were negligently still running, but that is just me.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Ms. Brackett, there are hardly any "hate posters" here.

Also, please stop posting unfounded information as if it were a definite fact. Japan relies on imported nuclear fuel (both uranium and MOX). Japan does enrich imported uranium, assemble fuel rods and tries tn recycle used fuel (unsuccessful so far), but hardly enough at all for the needs. Japanese companies that assemble fuel rods are all joint ventures with the foreign companies like WH and GE.

Please stop your misinformation.

Anonymous said...

Wow. The nuclear industry is always branding anti-nukes as stupid but here we have an awesome example of a real life female Homer Simpson that worked for them and is a shining example of pro-nuke genius.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

One of their reactors was a research reactor. Plus, in Ibaraki they have been doing fuel research for years. I understand joint ventures and also understand the reason why some American companies do research over seas is because the people and their government have more lax standards. Areva if I had been calling these other posters the names I have been called perhaps you would understand that there are hate posters because I have been their target far too long without any offer of protection from you in fair play as a site administrator. Even Rush knows when to apologize? Just saying, it's something you might want to think about for the success of your own work here.

Anonymous said...

Brackett, that's enough. Just get out. Now you're threatening the site admin? Just go away. GO AWAY.

Anonymous said...

It's like some crazy cosmic joke where the universe is not amused enough with denying Karen Sherry Brackett the ability to think, so it has endowed her with the ability to write. In these blog comments.

Anonymous said...

WhoTF is Rush?

Anonymous said...

Brackett, you called the site admin TEPCO shill, remember? Do you expect to be "protected" for being arrogant and stupid? I don't think so.

Karen Sherry Brackett said...

LOL, here is yet another one of my comments mysteriously deleted: "How in the world do all "anon" expect Areva to succeed if you continuously bully anyone who posts here that does not fit into your "understanding" of the situation? Ever wonder if your bullying is not doing more harm than good? Are you not just proving by your own actions that Japan's safety culture is non existent? Why would anyone new post here upon seeing how I am constantly bullied? You all do Areva a great disservice by not being professional. If you do not agree with what I post then use science to argue your point but do not use a six years old debate tactic because it just will not cut it with me. My skin is far too tough to ever give in to bullying. :D LOL"

Anon 11:50 PM - Thank you for the reminder.

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Fiddle Dee Dee, indeed.

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