Radiation from Japan Reactors Detected in US
March 28, 2011 | Government, Health
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The question is will the radiation be “a problem”. The next question would be “Should American’s be concerned?”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Health officials and nuclear experts say no. Given the tiny amounts of radiation being detected, people are exposed to much more radiation on an international airline flight.
But radioactive iodine from Japan’s quake-crippled nuclear reactors has found its way across the U.S., with traces showing up in Western states including California, Washington and Nevada, as well as in North and South Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Concerns about radioactivity on the East Coast came after trace amounts of the radioactive isotope Iodine-131 were found in rainwater samples in Boston, Massachusetts. Public health officials there said the material matched particles released by the reactor in Sendai, Japan.
Subsequent tests of drinking water in Massachusetts did not find any radioactivity, because rain water falling into drinking water becomes so diluted. The radioactivity in Iodine-131 decays very quickly – it has a half-life of 8 days. The half-life span means that only half of the level of radiation will be present in eight days, and so on until it dissipates.
Pennsylvania’s Gov. Corbett states that testing done in six regions of the state over the weekend lead them to believe there’s no risk to the public and that state agencies will continue to monitor the situation.
Virginia State Helath Commissioner Karen Remley said “To date, none of Virginia’s multiple monitoring systems has detected a level of radioactive material that would pose a public-health concern.”
Nuclear-plant operators Progress Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. in North Carolina and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. said they have detected trace amounts of radiation but also state there is no risk to the public.
This article was written by: Dennis Micheals
