Fukushima: Nukes, Radiation and what you might do
The issue in Japan concerning the Nuclear Power plants bubbling over with radiation, which is now confirmed to be in the United States. Since you cannot see, taste, or have an immediate response to this radiation-at this time, you probably say: “Ho Hum, where is the sports page?” But like the Great Plagues of past your entire future and the future of your children and their children are for the most part doomed to consequences of radioactivity.
I did locate a very interesting documentary made in England in 1965-the height of the cold war when we were all seriously concerned about nuclear war. Young readers today are not aware of the situation then and may discount the advent of a future nuclear as an historical event. The point of this documentary, although the radioactivity remains the same, the effect on the human body remains the same, and to make matters more interesting the responses of the governments all follow a same path of management of the ignorant populace.
Note in this film that breeding females are separated; house owners are forced to take in refugees. Hospitals use a triage method of treating the ones most likely to survive and the rest of the burn and radiated people are left on the trash heap only to be mercifully shot. The list goes on and I subscribe to the premise as a retired military-trained in this horror- that North Korea, as an example, could lob missile to us as well as the more sophisticated Chinese and Russians. There is no such thing as peace- just interludes of non-war.
Fukushima and the other 450, or so, world nuclear plants are old and need to be shut down. That is not going to happen since there is so much profit in electricity and the residue of so called deactivated lead and isotopes for the war industry. These reactors are obviously prime secondary targets. Warmongers are basically psychopaths bent on world destruction.
Lets take a look at this film:
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Now we must consider the shipmates who have been radiated Aboard the Aircraft Carrier The Ronald Regan. Wherein we started with 21; the toll is now over 70. I am sure that the count will go much higher no matter what the Navy can do to stop the radioactivity aboard the ship from Fukushima reactors. Consider that there are about 5000 crew persons on that vessel. Consider that there are several million Japanese citizens already exposed to the radiation.
Since ignorance is bliss let us see what the story is currently about the sailors aboard the mighty Air Craft Carrier.
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There are no government discussions about the Fukushima radiation, however the public and the newspapers are starting to become involved. Considering the time frame of decades or millennia of time, it will be back to “Ho Hum”; all the while the radiation is piling up.
If you are very rich you could fly about the world, forever keeping ahead of the fall out, but in the end, the world weather patterns will engulf everything. There is no safe haven.
I am sure that the political elite in Washington and other countries have their mile deep bunkers well stacked with foods and amusements. Scientists are already considering how to get to new habitable planets in our universe.
We do know that riots and pitchfork rebellions will evolve. The old nuke bunkers around Washington DC have been recently restocked with food and water. So who will have access to these sites? Certainly not you and me.
From my point of view I have purchased K103 Anti Radiation Tablets –Thyroid poisoning- from Amazon.com. This is for thyroid protection and it is critical for children and young adults who are susceptible to thyroid cancer. If the government is not warning you about this, you must make your own decision. For an example if you are downwind from a nuclear explosion.
I have also purchased from Amazon.com a SOEKS (Defender) dosimeter, made in Russia that is the latest and best for measuring radioactivity on vegetable store shelves, meats and food stuffs in general. It is also good for daily radiation monitoring about your workplace and home, while maintaining a log record for spikes as well as continued surges.
The wearing of an N-95 medical mask is of little to no value if you must traverse a hot spot area full of dust. Your best bet is to follow the Israeli model of self-defense and have access to a gas mask.
Considering effectiveness vs. cost, my research leans towards the Israel military gas mask with a NATO 3 hour filter. (amazon.com). To understand the proliferation of obsolete gas masks available they are NOT gas masks per se but dust masks designed for chemical spills, firefighters and such. The true gas mask is designed, depending on the filter design to protect against nuclear radiation from alpha and beta particles, and most chemical war agents of nerve gases. Let me reiterate about nerve agents. The most feared is the newer of VX series wherein a pin drop on exposed skin will cause death. This is a persistent toxic agent and will remain in droplets on bushes, grasses, buildings etc. The older nerve agents like Sarin and Tabun affect the respiratory system and you are protected in that regard with a gas mask. However the worst is the mixing of various other agents with the toxic chemical such as cyanide, aka: Canister Cracker, which breaks down the filter in 30 minutes. Older agents such as lewisite and mustard that evolved out of WW1, still in use today mostly affect the skin and lungs. Chlorine, one of the first agents affects the lungs.
The Israel gas mask has a civilian grade and a military grade although the filters are the same. Israel has an effective warning system, once sounded for the populace to head for fall out shelters, much like our forgotten Civil Defense fall out shelters. The ones in Germany I visited were built under lakes. Also each Israeli home is required to have a “Safe Room” for bomb and rocket attacks. The best we have is some very old 1957 brochures on beefing up your basement or constructing a cement shelter in the back yard.
Currently there is a proliferation of the small yellow box that was used in civilian defense years and years ago and marked a Geiger counter. This was marked in “Rem’s” for danger levels. 600 rems and you were dead. These are obsolete and if still sold must be calibrated. The issue is that radiation is cumulative and dosage may be acquired over a period of time until it reaches a danger point. This is a dosimeter. All X-ray technicians like in the dentist office and hospitals wear a dosimeter indicator and when it reaches a certain point you find another job where there is no radiation.
The SOEKS dosimeter is quite sophisticated and reads radiation levels at a distance and will record the level of radiation as well as “beeping” if you are not acquainted with the measurement scale of the dosimeter, the golden rule is the closer you get to the source, the higher your exposure. The SOEKS allows you to read the amount of radiation at a distance.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/explained-radioactivity-0328.html
The Japanese government has currently raised the threshold of radiation poisoning level from 1 MilServ per year to 20. Please note the You Tube clips of workers at the Fukushima damaged tanks and collapsed structures. The boss wears a red filter and the “homeless workers” wear a white filter. Guess which is the better filter for Alpha radiation?
May God Bless us all, and in the mean time PREP and grow food. There is nothing that the government can do, to my knowledge, to clean up the drifting radiation.
Old Timer,
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