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Radia%onExposuretothe

Popula%oninJapanA6ertheEarthquake

MarcoKaltofen,MS,PE(Civil,MA)

DepartmentofCivilandEnvironmentalEngineering

WorcesterPolytechnicIns%tute

Worcester,MA

kaltofen@wpi.edu

PresentedOctober31,2011,atthe139thannualmee%ngofthe

AmericanPublicHealthAssocia%on,Washington,DC

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Presenterdisclosures

Thefollowingpersonalfinancialrela%onships

withcommercialinterestsrelevanttothis

presenta%onexistedduringthepast12months:

Norela%onshipstodisclose

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Acknowledgments

FairewindsEnergyFounda%on Dept.ofPhysics,WPI Dept.ofCivilandEnvironmentalEngineering,WPI

HanfordChallenge Safecast

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Hypothesis

DustcontaminatedwithfalloutfromtheFukushimaaccidentsisasourceofhumanexposuretoradia%on.

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Radioisotopesindustsreleasedby

FukushimaDaiichiunits

Radioiodine Cesium-134and-137 Cobalt-0 Fissionwastesandneutronac%va%onproducts

Uraniumandplutoniumfuelsandtransuranicssuchasamericiumand

neptunium

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Howarepeopleexposedto

radioac%vepar%culates?

Inhala%onofairbornepar%cles Inhala%onofresuspendeddusts Inges%onofcontaminatedfood

(seaweed,shellfish,beef,milk,spinach,eggs,

teaandfinfishincludingpollockandcod)

Inges%onofsoilsanddusts(pica) Dermalcontact

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Commonmaterialsthatretain

radioac%vepar%culatema`er

Carairfilters,~50M3air/mo.,qualita%ve 37mmairfilters,30M3air/d.,quan%ta%ve Homeairfilters Shoes Se`leddusts Surfacesoils Foodandplants

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Airsamplingsta%ons

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Primaryradioisotopesdetected

Cesium-134andcesium-137 Iodine-131(shortlived) Cobalt-0 Fissionproducts

DetectedaselementsbySEM/EDSandasisotopes

bygammaspectrometry,withtotal&counts.

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Cs-137Distribu%onFukushimaPrefecture

NMEXTandUSDOEData

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PermissibledosesinFukushima

Prefecture,2011

Raisedfrom1mSvyr-1to20mSvyr-1(100mRemyr

-1

to2000mRemyr-1

)

USgeneralpubliclimits:10mRemyr

-1

EPAand100mRemyr-1

NRC

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Collec%ngsamplesfromJapan

Samplingteamincludesuniversityscien%sts,bloggersandfarmers,allwithvariedtechnical

training

Requireseduca%ononsafetyandsamplecare Mustbecognizantofculturalissues Requiressafeandlegalshippingmethods,despiteinvolvingcommoneverydayitems,especiallyforbiologicallyac%vesoils

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AutoradiographscarairfiltersApril2011,X-rayfilmimageanduR/hr.

Sea lem=11.7 Tokyom=18.9 FukushimaCitym=199

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Examiningindividualradioac%vepar%clesIbarakidustsample,collected4/4/2011,

Highzpar%cles,(Eu,Y,Zr,Th,Ce,Sr,Ce),in1to15umsizerange

AnalyzedbySEM/EDSandgammaspectrometry

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Radia%ononchildrensshoes

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Fukushima

48.8uR/hr.=15.4,USAmean

10.uR/hr.=0.8

Elementaryschoolssoils,FukushimaPref.,mean,

(vs.12.7uR/hr.US)

20to359uR/hr.2.-3.5uSv/hr.

I131+Cs137+Cs134MEXTdata

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Cs134+Cs137onchildrensshoes

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Environmentalfateofradioac%vedust

Airbornelevelshavedropped,soillevelsremainhigh,whilefoodchainradia%oncanincrease.

Radia%onisnotuniform.Someareasaremuchhigherthanaverage,forminghotspotswithup

to2.92nCi/62radiocesiuminsurfacedust.

Cleanedareascanbecomerecontaminatedbydustsfromhotspots.Sept.2011NodaCityhousefilters:0.23nCiradiocesiumdespite

generallylowerairlevels.

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Longdistancedusttransport

Bostonairfiltershadslightlyelevatedtotal

andcountsduring

AprilandMay2011.

Sea`leandBostonairfiltershadposi%ve

autoradiographic

resultsduringApril

2011.AllotherUSA

filterswerenega%ve.

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0

10

20

30

40

50

0

1 2 3 4 5 7 8 910111213141511718192021222324252

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Conclusion

Circularevacua%onzoneswerenotprotec%ve;someevacueesmovedtogreatercontamina%on. Airnowcleaner,butdustsremobilizecesium.Cs-134andCs-137nearlyubiquitousinFukushimaPrefectureanddetectablethroughoutTokyo;

Co-0foundindustsfromnorthernJapan.

USsampleshadonlytwoisolatedCs-134andCs-137detec%onsinsoil;Am-241foundoffsite

onlyinoneTokyo-areadustsample;I-131has

decayed.

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The12mileJapaneseevacuaonzone

appearsinadequatetoprotectthepublic

health.IsitmetoreexaminetheUSNuclearRegulatoryCommission10mile

planningzoneforairborneaccidental

nuclearreleases?

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