USGS Study Claims Fukushima Nuclear Nightmare Posed No Danger to US, Only Low, Safe Levels of Radiation Detected

The Intel Hub
February 23, 2012

In a move that many have seen coming for months, an official US government study on radiation levels in the United States after the multiple Fukushima nuclear meltdowns claims that only low levels were recorded in the US after the disaster and that they posed no danger to the public.

The USGS led study at first seems to expose the fact that the government covered up radiation levels but then goes on to claim that no danger was posed and the small release was actually somewhat good because it helped scientists test their capabilities for detecting radiation.(To downplay disasters)

An article published on the official USGS website summarized the study:

Fallout from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power facility in Japan was measured in minimal amounts in precipitation in the United States in about 20 percent of 167 sites sampled in a nationwide study released today. The U.S. Geological Survey led the studyas part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP). Levels measured were similar to measurements made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the days and weeks immediately following the March 2011 incidents, which were determined to be well below any level of public health concern.Many NADP sites are located away from major urban areas so that they are more representative of the U.S. landscape as a whole. This study is complementary to EPA results, and together these data will allow for a better picture of the deposition of radioactive fallout across the United States.

“Japan’s unfortunate nuclear nightmare provides a rare opportunity for U.S. scientists to test an infrequently needed national capability for detecting and monitoring nuclear fallout over a wide network,” explained USGS director Marcia McNutt. “Had this been a national incident, NADP would have revealed the spatial and temporal patterns of radioactive contamination in order to help protect people and the environment.”

Amospheric Deposition Program (NADP) sites where USGS measured ¹³⁷Cs in precipitation samples

Precipitation was collected at monitoring sites within the geographically extensive NADP network. USGS scientists detected Iodine -131, Cesium-134, and Cesium-137, the primary radioactive products released during an incident such as this one. These detections were most frequently found along the West Coast, in the central and northern Rocky Mountain States and the eastern United States where precipitation fell most heavily in the weeks after the Fukushima disaster.

The study released today adds important new information from NADP’s network and provides a more detailed picture of fallout in precipitation over most of the Nation. The EPA had used the rapid-response RadNet to monitor network fallout from Fukushima immediately following the incident. RadNet sites provide information about levels of radiation in the Nation’s air, drinking water, precipitation, and pasteurized milk. The levels of radioactive fallout measured at RadNet and NADP sites were similar, and while the USGS does not assess human health risks, the EPA RadNet monitoring confirms that radiation levels were far below any level of concern for human health in the United States. More information on EPA’s findings is available online.

This is the second time samples from the NADP network have been used to measure radioactive fallout. The first time was after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The NADP network allows scientists to sample fallout at a wide range of sites, including rural and isolated areas.

“This analysis provides scientifically valid measurements of radioactive fallout in precipitation over North America, which helps add more details to the picture of fallout in the U.S in the weeks following the Fukushima incident,” said Greg Wetherbee, USGS chemist who led the study. “NADP and USGS demonstrated that this network enhances national capabilities to monitor radionuclides in precipitation following releases to the atmosphere.”

The release of radioactive elements occurred in mid-March, 2011, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that severely damaged the Dai-ichi nuclear facility. Gases and small particles (in liquid or solid form) can be transported very long distances in the atmosphere. Many agencies and organizations worldwide detected radioactive fallout in air and precipitation in the days and weeks following the nuclear power facility incident and explosions, even in regions far away from the Japanese facility, such as over North America and Europe. Radioactive fallout in areas far from the source of the release can be detected and quantified by analyzing environmental samples, including precipitation. It is estimated that it took 18 days for the radioactive particles to circle the earth.

The USGS is the lead federal agency within NADP and was responsible for the detection, identification and analysis of levels of the three radionuclides in environmental samples collected by the NADP.

NADP, originally established in 1978 to measure acid rain, is operated by more than 100 federal, state, and local agencies and organizations, including the USGS and EPA, and is housed at the University of Illinois. NADP monitors and regularly reports on the air and precipitation quality related to nitrogen pollution, acidity, plant pathogens, and mercury deposition to lakes, rivers, and streams.

A USGS report and article published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, as well as a map of NADP sites with observed fallout can be found online.

This report in some ways supports the numerous articles that the alternative media has published in regards to increased levels of radiation being recorded in the United States but is also being used to downplay their dangers.

ENENEWS notes that Portland Oregon (where the co founder of The Intel Hub resides) recorded some of the highest levels of Iodine 131 in the country.

I-131 was quantified and adjusted for decay to the time of sample collection for five whole-water wet-deposition samples from California, Colorado, and Washington. The activities of the quantified I-131 ranged from 29.6 to 1,090 pCi/L, and calculated deposition values ranged from 211 to 5,100 Bq/m2. Several weeks transpired between sample collection and analysis of the I-131 in the water samples, which were prioritized for analysis from west (high priority) to east (low priority). Therefore, I-131 activities likely decayed in most of the samples before they could be measured.

WA98:

We now find ourselves in a country being led and controlled by mad nuclear scientists who openly claim that a massive earthquake anywhere in the United States would only pose a low level of danger to our nations nuclear power plants. (the exact opposite of reality)

Everyday we read headlines detailing different problems with nuclear power plants in the US yet the controlled environmental groups continue to preach nonsense carbon reducing schemes while ignoring real obvious environmental threats.

It is time for the American people to demand that corrupt government officials and nuclear industry lackeys either address the real safety problems or immediately close the plants because as the research above shows, whenever a radiation release does happen, the government works to cover up and openly lie about the dangers.

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