Tag: radiation

Radiation hazards onboard ship

Risk of chemical contamination The spill and spread of industrial chemicals across the coastline of British Columbia is a possibility as slower-moving tsunami debris from Japan approaches the west coast, according to experts observing its movements.The risk of chemical contamination is sizable, especially considering that many of the tsunami-affected areas on the Japanese coast were industrial and used many different types of toxic chemicals in manufacturing operations." could be a real threat," said Dr. M. Sanjayan, the lead scientist at conservation group the Nature Conservancy. "For example, it's very hard to imagine how 50 drums with something could all show up at the same time, unless it's an event like this. That's where it can be a little dangerous."Finding one drum of, say, paint thinner, or something you might find in your garage, it's not hugely toxic. But if you find 50 of them all washed up on a rocky shore and then breaking and leaking, then you have some problems."The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is one of the few organizations keeping tabs on debris movement, constructing models that attempt to predict the movement of the debris as it follows ocean currents. It is also handling cleanup ...

25-year-old Pacific Pintail continues to transport radioactive material The Pacific Pintail, carrying its Mox nuclear cargo, surrounded by protest vessels and protection crew in 2002. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianAn ageing nuclear cargo ship has been rescued from the scrapyard to save money transporting plutonium and other radioactive materials around the world, prompting accusations that maritime safety is being jeopardised.The 25-year-old vessel, Pacific Pintail, has been brought back into service to make dozens of international shipments between nuclear plants over the next three years. Last month it moved three kilograms of plutonium under armed guard from Sweden to the US.The Pintail was laid up at Barrow in Cumbria two years ago for decommissioning, but has been resurrected after a 44m plan to build a new nuclear cargo ship was abandoned as too expensive. An internal report seen by the Guardian admits that the continued use of the old ship "will present some PR difficulties".But the problems could be managed, the report said, by preparing a "stakeholder communications plan" and by giving the boat a new name. It has subsequently been renamed the Oceanic Pintail.The report was drawn up in November 2010 by International Nuclear Services, a company owned by ...

UK P&I Club warns The UK P&I Club has become aware that several containers imported to the United States have been placed on hold at their discharge ports due to unacceptable levels of radiation. The radiation is caused by scrap metal containing Cobalt-60 which could have inadvertently been incorporated into the product during manufacturing. The containers placed on hold were booked as bath products and originated in China and India.US Customs & Border Protection has processes in place to detect and prevent these products from entering the United States. If CBP orders the container to be returned to origin, the Club offers the below advice to lines:Container must be isolated until it is placed on the ship Labelled "Marked" with the United Nations (UN) transportation index required by marking the container with Yellow Radiation Level III signs on all sides The manifest should list the cargo as IMDG / IMO radioactive materials section 7 Do not open signs should be placed on the container doors along with the radioactive signs Transport Radiation Level shall not exceed two (2) milliSieverts (2 mSv = 2 mRems) at any point of the external surface. The container should be placed within the ship so ...

It will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material to get across the ocean Radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been found in tiny sea creatures and ocean water some 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Japan, revealing the extent of the release and the direction pollutants might take in a future environmental disaster.In some places, the researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) discovered cesium radiation hundreds to thousands of times higher than would be expected naturally, with ocean eddies and larger currents both guiding the "radioactive debris" and concentrating it.With these results, detailed on April 2 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team estimates it will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material released at Fukushima to get across the Pacific Ocean. And that information is useful when looking at all the other pollutants and debris released as a result of the tsunami that destroyed towns up and down the eastern coast of Japan."We saw a telephone pole," study leader Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist and oceanographer at WHOI, told LiveScience. "There were lots of chemical plants. A lot of stuff ...

Study of the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean An international research team is reporting the results of a research cruise they organized to study the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean from the tsunami-crippled reactors in Fukushima, Japan. The group of 17 researchers and technicians from eight institutions spent 15 days at sea in June 2011 studying ocean currents, and sampling water and marine organisms up to the edge of the exclusion zone around the reactors.This map shows the sampling stations and cruise track near the Kuroshio Current (shown in yellow and red). Sampling began 400 miles offshore and passed within 20 miles of the nuclear complex. (Credit: Steven Jayne, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the team found that the concentration of several key radioactive substances, or radionuclides, were elevated but varied widely across the study area, reflecting the complex nature of the marine environment. In addition, although levels of radioactivity in marine life sampled during the cruise were well below levels of concern for humans and the organisms themselves, the researchers leave open the question ...

Leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water Japan's crippled nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from a purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean.The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year's end.A pool of radioactive water was discovered midday Sunday around a decontamination device, TEPCO said in a statement on its website. After the equipment was turned off, the leak appeared to stop. Later, workers found a crack in a concrete barrier leaking the contaminated water into a gutter that leads to the ocean.TEPCO estimated that about 300 liters leaked out before the crack was blocked with sandbags.Officials were checking whether any water had reached the nearby ocean.The leakage of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean in the weeks after the March 11 accident caused widespread concern that seafood in the coastal waters would be contaminated.The pooled water around the purification device was measured Sunday at 16,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-134, and 29,000 ...

The greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen France's nuclear monitor said on Thursday that the amount of caesium 137 that leaked into the Pacific from the Fukushima disaster was the greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen.But, confirming previous assessments, it said caesium levels had been hugely diluted by ocean currents and, except for near-shore species, posed no discernible threat.From March 21 to mid-July, 27.1 peta becquerels of caesium 137 entered the sea, the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said.One peta becquerel is a million billion bequerels, or 10 to the power of 15.Of the total, 82 percent entered the sea before April 8, through water that was pumped into the Fukushima's damaged reactor units in a bid to cool them down, it said."This is the biggest single outflow of man-made radionuclides to the marine environment ever observed," the agency said in a press release.Caesium is a slow-decaying element, taking 30 years to lose half of its radioactivity.The IRSN said large quantities of iodine 131 also entered the sea as a result of the disaster, caused by the March 11 9.0-magnitude quake that occurred off northeastern Japan.But iodine 131 decays quickly, having ...

Japan Update The situation in Fukushima is still, at present, a cause for concern. Merchant shipping operating within Japanese waters are recommended to adhere to the navigational warnings broadcasted by Japanese authorities including monitoring all NAVAREA warnings issued through marine radio broadcasts, NAVTEX transmissions and satellite communications.The Government of Japan is still enforcing a mandatory exclusion zone around the damaged nuclear facility at Fukushima with a radius extending 20 kilometres seaward from the facility. However, certain flag states including Australia are stating that merchant shipping should avoid the facility with an cautionary zone extending seaward from the facility by a minimum of 30 kilometres.It is known that certain shipping companies have imposed their own cautionary zone for their ships in excess of 100 kilometres. It is recommended that ships should comply as a minimum with their own flag state's guidance and that of the Japanese authorities.The Japanese authorities are continuing to monitor radiation levels within Tokyo Bay as well as those surrounding ports in Japan. A copy of up to date radiation levels can be found attached to this email. At present, the radiation levels appear to be within safe limits and currently there are no travel restrictions for aviation ...

Estimating surface albedo in the Arctic sea area solely on the basis of microwave data The Finnish Meteorological Institute has developed a new, globally unique method for estimating surface albedo in the Arctic sea area solely on the basis of microwave data. Its advantage over conventional optical methods is that neither clouds nor darkness interfere with measurements.The Finnish Meteorological Institute has developed a unique method for estimating surface albedo in the Arctic sea area. The method helps determine the amounts of solar radiation reflected from the Arctic sea area, information which is very important for climate change research. Albedo describes the ability of the Earth's surface to reflect incoming radiation, and it is therefore associated with the Earth's energy balance. Estimates of albedo affect the accuracy of model calculations pertaining to climate change, but they are also a good indicator of the change that has already taken place.The surface albedo of Arctic regions is particularly important with respect to climate change, because changes in the extent of the ice cover in polar regions are crucial for albedo values. The albedo of the Arctic sea area is still relatively poorly known, but it has a major impact on climate model calculations. ...