Friday, March 18, 2011

Current California Radiation Levels - EPA RadNet

Captured California Nuclear Radiation information For Today.

Due to the heightened interest in West Coast radiation monitoring data, I have curated this selected list of  EPA RadNet data including a snapshot of RadNet Map View which contains monitoring data and additional contextual information from EPA's Radiation Protection Programs.


These Radiation Measurements were capture in real-time for future comparison
CA: EUREKA
Map data ©2011 Europa Technologies, INEGI - Terms of Use
Map
Satellite
Hybrid
1000 mi
1000 km
EPA RadNet Interactive Google United States Radiation Level Map
Eureka California Monitor Information:
Fixed Monitor Location: CA: EUREKA
Measurement Start Date/Time: 03/18/2011 05:02:39 PM
Measurement End Date/Time: 03/18/2011 06:02:47 PM
Beta Gross Count Rate (CPM): 14
Gamma Energy Range 2 Gross(CPM): 1958
Gamma Energy Range 3 Gross(CPM): 1216
Gamma Energy Range 4 Gross(CPM): 378
Gamma Energy Range 5 Gross(CPM): 176
Gamma Energy Range 6 Gross(CPM): 109
Gamma Energy Range 7 Gross(CPM): 138
Gamma Energy Range 8 Gross(CPM): 63
Gamma Energy Range 9 Gross(CPM): 30
Gamma Energy Range 10 Gross(CPM): 34

San Francisco Monitor Information:
Fixed Monitor Location: CA: SAN FRANCISCO
Measurement Start Date/Time: 03/18/2011 05:36:52 PM
Measurement End Date/Time: 03/18/2011 05:46:58 PM
Beta Gross Count Rate (CPM): 9
Gamma Energy Range 2 Gross(CPM): 2057
Gamma Energy Range 3 Gross(CPM): 1317
Gamma Energy Range 4 Gross(CPM): 384
Gamma Energy Range 5 Gross(CPM): 210
Gamma Energy Range 6 Gross(CPM): 134
Gamma Energy Range 7 Gross(CPM): 162
Gamma Energy Range 8 Gross(CPM): 102
Gamma Energy Range 9 Gross(CPM): 30
Gamma Energy Range 10 Gross(CPM): 38

San Jose Monitor Information:
Fixed Monitor Location: CA: SAN JOSE
Measurement Start Date/Time: 03/18/2011 01:55:19 PM
Measurement End Date/Time: 03/18/2011 02:55:27 PM
Beta Gross Count Rate (CPM): N/A
Gamma Energy Range 2 Gross(CPM): 1876
Gamma Energy Range 3 Gross(CPM): 1136
Gamma Energy Range 4 Gross(CPM): 354
Gamma Energy Range 5 Gross(CPM): 162
Gamma Energy Range 6 Gross(CPM): 111
Gamma Energy Range 7 Gross(CPM): 153
Gamma Energy Range 8 Gross(CPM): 58
Gamma Energy Range 9 Gross(CPM): 37
Gamma Energy Range 10 Gross(CPM): 51

Sacramento Monitor Information:
Fixed Monitor Location: CA: SACRAMENTO
Measurement Start Date/Time: 03/18/2011 05:00:08 PM
Measurement End Date/Time: 03/18/2011 06:00:16 PM
Beta Gross Count Rate (CPM): 44
Gamma Energy Range 2 Gross(CPM): 1305
Gamma Energy Range 3 Gross(CPM): 738
Gamma Energy Range 4 Gross(CPM): 206
Gamma Energy Range 5 Gross(CPM): 118
Gamma Energy Range 6 Gross(CPM): 64
Gamma Energy Range 7 Gross(CPM): 77
Gamma Energy Range 8 Gross(CPM): 52
Gamma Energy Range 9 Gross(CPM): 26
Gamma Energy Range 10 Gross(CPM): 41

Anaheim Monitor Information:
Fixed Monitor Location: CA: ANAHEIM
Measurement Start Date/Time: 03/18/2011 05:07:30 PM
Measurement End Date/Time: 03/18/2011 06:07:38 PM
Beta Gross Count Rate (CPM): 54
Gamma Energy Range 2 Gross(CPM): 2866
Gamma Energy Range 3 Gross(CPM): 1685
Gamma Energy Range 4 Gross(CPM): 500
Gamma Energy Range 5 Gross(CPM): 257
Gamma Energy Range 6 Gross(CPM): 172
Gamma Energy Range 7 Gross(CPM): 194
Gamma Energy Range 8 Gross(CPM): 122
Gamma Energy Range 9 Gross(CPM): 38
Gamma Energy Range 10 Gross(CPM): 49

Riverside Monitor Information:
Fixed Monitor Location: CA: RIVERSIDE
Measurement Start Date/Time: 03/18/2011 04:49:28 PM
Measurement End Date/Time: 03/18/2011 05:49:36 PM
Beta Gross Count Rate (CPM): 72
Gamma Energy Range 2 Gross(CPM): 2328
Gamma Energy Range 3 Gross(CPM): 1403
Gamma Energy Range 4 Gross(CPM): 384
Gamma Energy Range 5 Gross(CPM): 209
Gamma Energy Range 6 Gross(CPM): 121
Gamma Energy Range 7 Gross(CPM): 147
Gamma Energy Range 8 Gross(CPM): 99
Gamma Energy Range 9 Gross(CPM): 49
Gamma Energy Range 10 Gross(CPM): 94

Los Angeles Monitor Information:
Fixed Monitor Location: CA: LOS ANGELES
Measurement Start Date/Time: 03/18/2011 05:09:47 PM
Measurement End Date/Time: 03/18/2011 06:09:56 PM
Beta Gross Count Rate (CPM): 70
Gamma Energy Range 2 Gross(CPM): 2325
Gamma Energy Range 3 Gross(CPM): 1304
Gamma Energy Range 4 Gross(CPM): 356
Gamma Energy Range 5 Gross(CPM): 195
Gamma Energy Range 6 Gross(CPM): 120
Gamma Energy Range 7 Gross(CPM): 142
Gamma Energy Range 8 Gross(CPM): 88
Gamma Energy Range 9 Gross(CPM): 38
Gamma Energy Range 10 Gross(CPM): 53
Note: No information was available for San diego monitoring station
Note: Zero Values for "Beta CPM", "Gamma CPM" indicate data not available.
Related Information: Update 1:30 am Japan time
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has released radiation levels for yesterday in the region of Tokyo Electric Power Corp's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Half a kilometre northwest of the No 3 reactor:
1.50pm - 3.484 millisieverts per hour
5:00pm - 5.055 millisieverts per hour
8:00pm - 3.611 millisieverts per hour

And 1.1km west of the No.3 reactor (west gate area):
8.10pm - 0.4476 millisieverts per hour
9pm - 0.4191 millisieverts per hour

The rise in radiation levels could be due to radioactive substances becoming mixed into the water that the Self Defence Forces etc have been spraying on No.3 reactor and escaping as the water is pumped out again, said Japan's public broadcaster NHK.
To put this into perspective, 100 millisieverts received over the course of a year is the lowest level at which any increased cancer risk is evident. A fatal dose is considered to be 5,000 millisieverts - in one hit.

Sources: 
EPA Central Data Exchange - Link
EPA RadNet Public Radiation Map - Link

More Information:
For more information, please call the California Department of Public Health nuclear emergency hotline at 916-341-3947.
Information on Radiation:
CDPH Website: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/RadiationFAQS2011.aspx
CDC Health Effects and Treatment for Radiation Emergencies:
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/healtheffects.asp
Preparing for emergencies:
San Francisco Emergency Preparedness: http://72hours.org
California Be Prepared: http://bepreparedcalifornia.ca.gov/epo

10 comments:

  1. How does one convert Radnet CPM to millisieverts?

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a great question. It would be very helpful for your readers to understand the conversion between millisiverts (being quoted in Japan) and the units that are quoted by the EPA RadNet.

    Also, it would be useful to know the what values of the EPA RadNet units are considered dangerous (first for children, and then for adults).

    ReplyDelete
  3. The following three paragraphs are excerpted from CNN, but it is still unclear how this correlates to the EPA RadNet data units.

    "G. Donald Frey, a medical physicist and professor of radiology at the Medical University of South Carolina. "The limit for radiation workers in the United States is 50 millisieverts per year, but we try to keep them to less than 5 millisieverts per year."

    After a single acute exposure of 1,000 millisieverts, people tend to start feeling nauseated and vomiting, Frey said. At 5,000 millisieverts over the course of a few hours, "people start dying."

    After exposure to 150 millisieverts per day, "you're definitely in the range where you have significantly increased risk of radiation-induced cancers." "

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is confusing, as usual with technical news reporting.

    This "100 millisieverts received over the course of a year is the lowest level at which any increased cancer risk is evident."
    and this
    "After exposure to 150 millisieverts per day, "you're definitely in the range where you have significantly increased risk of radiation-induced cancers." " "
    are not consistent statements.

    150 millisieverts per day is 54,750 millisieverts per year. Quite a bit larger than 100 millisieverts per year. In fact it's 54.75 sieverts. If it's 5 millisieverts per hour that's 120 millisieverts per day, and 43.8 sieverts per year. 5 sieverts is lethal.
    So what does it all mean?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm no expert, but I think a good analogy would besomethingh like this; If you drink a gallon of water a day, that is 5.33 oz./hour. That's fine, but that also translates to 365.25 gallons per year, which is way, way too much for one sitting. It all has to do with how fast your body can eliminate what you take in. Or if your body retains it, as in the case of Iodine. It's the acute exposure that is the most dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What I'd like to know is why you people at CAL FIRE NEWS have stopped updating the radiation levels on March 18th. I'm guessing that you are all running for shelter and there's nobody there to do the updates!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Here it is May 6th, a Month since my last post (above) and still the latest info is from MARCH 18th. What is up with that! Japan is still spewing radioactive material 24/7 from not only the FD NPP but from another nuclear power plant as well. You can't buy a geiger counter anywhere. HELLO! is there anybody there at Cal Fire News? How about some real, official news from the people we trust.

    ReplyDelete
  8. OK it's been a month (now May 6th) and the data on this page is still from March 18th. Why has Cal Fire News stopped updating their web page? I for one would sure like to get some factual information from this official site that we can trust.

    ReplyDelete
  9. OK this is really insane. Now it's August 5th, 2011 and still no updates. Still the now ominous March 18th date on all your posted data relating to radiation. I was under the impression that these measurements were taken quarterly in the past. So that means that there should have been an update somewhere back in june, that's two months ago people, WTF. I have since aquired two geiger counters and have watched the background levels go from an average of 10 to 20 CPM back in March, to an average of around 35 to 45 CPM at present, with two occasions where it spiked for several hours at 100 to 200 CPM. It's real people! Yes it may be true that there "is no immediate danger", as all the news keeps saying, but tell that to the parents that are in Philly, with a 48% increase in infant mortality. That increase in varying amounts is nationwide. Do some research, While you still can...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ok, I think I have just entered the Twilight Zone. It is currently April 20th, 2012. It's been a year since the Meltdowns of multiple reactors at Fukushima and I must say that they were right, there is no IMMEDIATE danger. Whew, what a relief. I was sure that when the media stopped talking about the radiation levels and the EPA stopped taking measurements of the rain-water, milk, air and surface water, I was sure that everything was just fine. After all, our leaders would not just hang us out to dry if there were really any danger now would they. Look at a Geiger counter if you want confirmation of things being back to "normal". Radiation levels are low again, no worries then, Right?

    Well I guess that depends on whether or not you agree with the statement "ignorance is bliss", or not. If you do, then it's right as rain. It's a beautiful day. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. Oh, and there is no IMMEDIATE danger to human health from ionizing radiation.

    On the other hand, if you don't happen to be a believer in that whole ignorance thing then you best just love your family and do some digging for the truth. Excuse me, I meant the WHOLE TRUTH. The information required to make intelligent decisions and plans for the future is available, if you look hard enough. A good place to start is NAP (National Academies Press)

    Visit the National Academies Press online, the authoritative source for all books from the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council:
    • Download hundreds of free books in PDF
    • Read thousands of books online for free.
    Here is a title and download link to get you started:
    "Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of
    Ionizing Radiation: BEIR VII – Phase 2"
    Download the PDF here: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11340.html

    If the research is too much for you then I suggest you take your family on a picnic and enjoy the beautiful weather, don't worry, be happy.

    And above all, remember;
    There is NO IMMEDIATE danger.

    PS look up iodine-129
    Good luck to all, Rod(inator)

    ReplyDelete

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