Higher than normal radiation level in Cali coast? Some claim they were Fuku'd.

[Kyriakos]

“It’s not something that we feel is an immediate public health concern,” said Dean Peterson, county environmental health director. “We’re not even close to the point of saying that any of this is from Fukushima.”

Although the radiation levels were clearly higher than is typical, Peterson emphasized that it was still not unsafe for humans. A person would need to be exposed to 100 microREMs of radiation for 50,000 hours before it surpassed safety guidelines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he explained.

Peterson admitted he was “befuddled” as to why radiation levels were higher than normal, but he was skeptical that the Fukushima meltdown could be the cause. He noted that many innocuous items could spike the radiation levels in an area, including red-painted disposable eating utensils.

“I honestly think the end result of this is that it’s just higher levels of background radiation,” he said.

http://www.hmbreview.com/news/healt...0-74de-11e3-9c9d-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story

So it seems that radiation along the Californian coast is these days often claimed to be around 500% higher than the average. Health officials and the government state that there is no cause for alarm. I like the allusion to "red-painted disposable eating utensils" as being more probable to be a significant cause. I suspect that those are native to the Cali coast only. Which still would make it strange that so many fish-dwelling creatures along the coast seem to "melt" without much link to ever using such a utensil.

-Any other (better) sources for the current Cali radiation issue? I tried to find something in sites i had heard about before, but (so strange...) they do not have this story. Maybe there was no room after they included the 40nth story on some lame celeb/other. Only Huffpost had some pieces on the negation of this being an effect of Fukushima's radiation leak. They say they weren't Fuku'd.
Also: If you have read anything on the story, what is your view?

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

"Counts per minute is a standard way for Geiger counters to measure radiation, but it does not directly equate to the strength or its hazard level to humans. Those factors depend on the type of radioactive particles and isotope."

"Although the radiation levels were clearly higher than is typical, Peterson emphasized that it was still not unsafe for humans. A person would need to be exposed to 100 microREMs of radiation for 50,000 hours before it surpassed safety guidelines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he explained."

Yeah, this. Amateur video, probably associated with the Natural News manufactured panic button. There's nothing linking anything they claim to be from Fukushima to Fukushima, it's all speculation, and therefore, fear-mongering.

 

[Kyriakos]

"Counts per minute is a standard way for Geiger counters to measure radiation, but it does not directly equate to the strength or its hazard level to humans. Those factors depend on the type of radioactive particles and isotope."

"Although the radiation levels were clearly higher than is typical, Peterson emphasized that it was still not unsafe for humans. A person would need to be exposed to 100 microREMs of radiation for 50,000 hours before it surpassed safety guidelines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, he explained."

Yeah, this. Amateur video, probably associated with the Natural News manufactured panic button. There's nothing linking anything they claim to be from Fukushima to Fukushima, it's all speculation, and therefore, fear-mongering.

Part of that is even in the quote in the OP I do want to read just how much the factor of a risk actually exists or not, which is why i asked for more sources if people know of main news-sites carrying info on this... His talk of painted utensils increasing radiation 5 times only in a select area (Cali coast) does not seem to reflect well on his argument, though.

Btw, despite the radiation story not being there in most known to me US sites, the starfish melting in Cali coast story exists in a lot of other places. And one would wonder if it is actually so safe for a human to have this level of radiation around when it can cause a starfish near the coast to melt:

Starfish are dying in massive numbers due to a disease outbreak that melts the animals into a white goo, leaving researchers scrambling to explain the troubling phenomenon.

Dubbed Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, the disease is most prominent on the Pacific Coast, ranging from Southern California to Alaska, where at least 10 species of sea stars have reportedly been afflicted. According to the Associated Press, up to 95 percent of sea star populations in some tide pools have been killed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/starfish-deaths_n_4215015.html

 

[Bugfatty300]

And one would wonder if it is actually so safe for a human to have this level of radiation around when it can cause a starfish near the coast to melt:

Well, yeah. If radiation fallout was actually melting ocean life then I doubt the divers who saw it would have lived long enough to tell anyone else about it. So radiation doesn't seem to be a likely explanation.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, yeah. If radiation fallout was actually melting ocean life then I doubt the divers who saw it would have lived long enough to tell anyone else about it. So radiation doesn't seem to be a likely explanation.

Possibly.
Then again maybe:

-The divers are androids.

-Radiation has its center in an underwater area not accessible/leaking as heavily to anything being in the coast.

-Starfish were actually studying radiation, as in At The Mountains of Madness.
At the Oceans of Madness?

 

[Bugfatty300]

Who knows. Alas,the ocean, she is a fickle mistress.

 

[Silurian]

500% higher than average background radition is not far from normal.

Background radiation map of Western Europe.

http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Booklets/Development/fig_13.html

 

[Kyriakos]

^That is a Cold War era map (no east Germany or anything else from the Soviet block) so an url just linking to that image is not easy to get much from

 

[Silurian]

I posted it to give people an idea of how background radiation varies. the area covered by the map is not really relevent except for the people who live in high areas.

The map shows that some areas of Greece have areas with a dose less than 90mSv and an area to the south east of your home with over 630mSv. In the high area it is very likely that there will be local areas over 1000 mSv where there are faults in the rock allowing radio active gase to rise to the surface.

 

[Kyriakos]

^Yes, i noticed the high radiation in that map in the Chalkidike peninsula. Kind of strange given that it is basically a large holiday resort. One of the reasons i don't see that map as being correct; and i noted that no context is given for what it is supposed to belong to as a study.

 

[Adjuvant]

There are a number of reasons for abnormally high radiation levels on the west coast, not the least of which that we've nuked the pacific ocean a couple hundred times and that the vessels used in those tests were anchored various places. Take a look around articles about Treasure Island in San Francisco for a solid "dropping sensation" in your stomach. This from wikipedia, alone, might give your garden variety environmentalist an embolism.

"By December 17, 2010, "Navy contractors had dug up and hauled off 16,000 cubic yards of contaminated dirt, some with radiation levels 400 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s human exposure limits for topsoil." In April 2013, Caesium-137 levels three times higher than previously recorded were found (the island hosted "radioactive ships from Bikini Atoll atomic tests and was a major education center training personnel for nuclear war"---the "USS Pandemonium" (PCDC-1) mockup had begun nuclear training in 1957.

I suspect research is in the works to better "harvest" uranium from seawater, naturally occurring and otherwise. Sure, you'd expect the first thought to be, "The algae's absorbing it. Doesn't that mean it's cleaning up the radiation?". I guess it depends on the experiment. Maybe "someone" is dosing the algae with rads to see what their new hybrid plants can take and maybe that research is being done secretly on the west coast. Conspiracy theory? Maybe, but very possible, considering the "ethics" of corporations.

Incidentally, there are current plans to develop Treasure Island for residential and commercial use. Anyone want a cheap condo with a great view?

add: "Want to play a game?" ~ "Joshua", Wargames
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY

 

[Silurian]

^Yes, i noticed the high radiation in that map in the Chalkidike peninsula. Kind of strange given that it is basically a large holiday resort. One of the reasons i don't see that map as being correct; and i noted that no context is given for what it is supposed to belong to as a study.

There is granite in the area which gives off radon gas hence the rise in background radiation.

 

[civ_king]

http://www.hmbreview.com/news/healt...0-74de-11e3-9c9d-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story

So it seems that radiation along the Californian coast is these days often claimed to be around 500% higher than the average. Health officials and the government state that there is no cause for alarm. I like the allusion to "red-painted disposable eating utensils" as being more probable to be a significant cause. I suspect that those are native to the Cali coast only. Which still would make it strange that so many fish-dwelling creatures along the coast seem to "melt" without much link to ever using such a utensil.

-Any other (better) sources for the current Cali radiation issue? I tried to find something in sites i had heard about before, but (so strange...) they do not have this story. Maybe there was no room after they included the 40nth story on some lame celeb/other. Only Huffpost had some pieces on the negation of this being an effect of Fukushima's radiation leak. They say they weren't Fuku'd.
Also: If you have read anything on the story, what is your view?

It is well within safety limits