I am considering a trip to Hawaii this summer, and I am concerned about the risk of radiation exposure while scuba diving and snorkeling. Does anyone know of any credible sources that could shed a light on this? Much of the content online focuses either on radiation in the air, or on the floating tsunami debris, neither of which seems to address my concern.
Safety of diving in Hawaii post-Fukushima?
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smellzlikefish
Contributor
You've been paying the interwebs way too much attention.
Someone somewhere photoshopped a "map" that supposedly shows that radiation is gushing from Fukushima across the Pacific and contaminating Hawaii and California with extreme amounts of radioactive crap. They then put a NOAA logo in the corner of it. I just got briefed by NOAA on the issue of radiation by the very people who regularly test the background radiation of Hawaii's shorelines. These are the same people who would have created such a map if it was authentic and they have no idea who made it, but the background levels of radiation in Hawaii are thus far entirely unaffected. In fact, background levels of radiation in Hawaii are many magnitudes lower than those in your home state of New York.
The only two ways radioactive material might ever get here is through the air or by drifting on the water in the form of debris. I'm not sure what else you are looking for, but your concerns are unfounded. Hawaii is and most likely will continue to be safe for divers with regards to radioactive contamination. However, if you ever see barrels labelled as radioactive, you might be well advised to stay away, but this is a lesson you should with you everywhere.
Someone somewhere photoshopped a "map" that supposedly shows that radiation is gushing from Fukushima across the Pacific and contaminating Hawaii and California with extreme amounts of radioactive crap. They then put a NOAA logo in the corner of it. I just got briefed by NOAA on the issue of radiation by the very people who regularly test the background radiation of Hawaii's shorelines. These are the same people who would have created such a map if it was authentic and they have no idea who made it, but the background levels of radiation in Hawaii are thus far entirely unaffected. In fact, background levels of radiation in Hawaii are many magnitudes lower than those in your home state of New York.
The only two ways radioactive material might ever get here is through the air or by drifting on the water in the form of debris. I'm not sure what else you are looking for, but your concerns are unfounded. Hawaii is and most likely will continue to be safe for divers with regards to radioactive contamination. However, if you ever see barrels labelled as radioactive, you might be well advised to stay away, but this is a lesson you should with you everywhere.
These rumors/stories that keep coming out are driving me crazy. It shows how people can spread panic without knowing what they are talking about. I wish to point out a few small things:
1. 99% of the debris drifting towards the USA were washed out by the Tsunami. If one looks at the timeline of the disaster, these debris were washed out to sea before the reactor incident and before there was any type of release. Therefore they would not be radioactive.
2. If there is any type of contamination on the surface, the odds are, that in over a year of floating in the ocean, it will have been washed off. I wish to also point out the technique used to decontaminatate people and equipment after a radioactive release is to HOSE AND SHOWER THEM OFF. Therefore a year in the ocean is a pretty effective decon.
3. Highly radioactive sources (i.e. Uranium, Plutonioum, etc) are somewhat dense and heavy. It is hard for a large chunk to float across a ocean.
4. There are multiple areas that debris has already washed up in the last 6 months such as Alaska, Guam, and Canada. It highly radioactive items were part of this flotsam, one might expect to have seen multiple news stories about it already, other than the normal stories of junk washing up on beaches.
What I would be concerend about would be the odd plastic drum of chemicals washing up. These can cause the occasionall health issue. We saw quite a few incidents such as these after Katrina. Now, as expected, I expect many people to jump all over me saying I dont know what im talking about. Fine, but just so they know, my credentials include:
-Former Nuclear Weapons officer for the US Army.
-7 years on a WMD/HAZMAT response team.
-Certified HAZMAT technician
-Over 3000 hours of training in HAZMAT Materials
1. 99% of the debris drifting towards the USA were washed out by the Tsunami. If one looks at the timeline of the disaster, these debris were washed out to sea before the reactor incident and before there was any type of release. Therefore they would not be radioactive.
2. If there is any type of contamination on the surface, the odds are, that in over a year of floating in the ocean, it will have been washed off. I wish to also point out the technique used to decontaminatate people and equipment after a radioactive release is to HOSE AND SHOWER THEM OFF. Therefore a year in the ocean is a pretty effective decon.
3. Highly radioactive sources (i.e. Uranium, Plutonioum, etc) are somewhat dense and heavy. It is hard for a large chunk to float across a ocean.
4. There are multiple areas that debris has already washed up in the last 6 months such as Alaska, Guam, and Canada. It highly radioactive items were part of this flotsam, one might expect to have seen multiple news stories about it already, other than the normal stories of junk washing up on beaches.
What I would be concerend about would be the odd plastic drum of chemicals washing up. These can cause the occasionall health issue. We saw quite a few incidents such as these after Katrina. Now, as expected, I expect many people to jump all over me saying I dont know what im talking about. Fine, but just so they know, my credentials include:
-Former Nuclear Weapons officer for the US Army.
-7 years on a WMD/HAZMAT response team.
-Certified HAZMAT technician
-Over 3000 hours of training in HAZMAT Materials
Dove Hawaii twice in the past few months, and this is a non-issue. We heard no report of any kind of flotsam, let alone that of the kind about which you raise concerns. We have several friends who live in the Islands and dive several times a week. They have no concerns either.
DivemasterDennis
DivemasterDennis
altaskier
Contributor
As noted in this other thread started by the same person, there's a good paper on this in PNAS. Not a health issue in Hawaii.
DiveWestOahu
Contributor
don't drink the water (sea water that is)
CaptFlyingDutchman
Contributor
So far I have not gain any super powers. The water must be safe.
grandizer52
Contributor
um...was just in that part of japan...and got more radiation from oening the microwave door to fast...
altaskier
Contributor
Microwave ovens do not produce ionizing radiation which causes molecular bond breaking and chemical disruption; they only cause resonant vibration of water molecules leading to heating.
The dose in certain regions downwind of the plants at the time of the accident is still a bit high; you can see some good maps here. If you were to be in one of the "hot" regions with 20 microSieverts/hour dose rate, in a year you would get a total dose of 175 milliSieverts (mSv). On the one hand this is far below the 5000 mSv dose needed to kill half of those exposed; you would only slightly increase your statistical chance of dying from cancer. On the other hand this is far above the 3 mSv background dose that we all get from living on a planet with natural radioactivity in rocks (and radon gas from soils), and cosmic rays from the sun and other stars.
So we should not worry about Fukushima radiation in Hawaii. Most of Japan is also just fine. However, we should not say that in the Fukushima region there is less risk than from microwave ovens.
The problem is not necessarily the debris. IPRC http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu put out this computer model:
http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/users/...f_Debris_from_March_11_2011_Japan_tsunami.gif
The problem is Tepco dumped a thousand tons of radioactive water into the ocean per day. That's a little bit.
TEPCO seeks to reduce groundwater flowing into reactor buildings
Ahi are now turning up with cesium on the west coast.
Fukushima radiation seen in tuna off California | Reuters
Not to be a fear monger but it's something for physicists and oceanographers to keep an eye on. Frankly I have been disturbed more by the increased amount of garbage washing up on the beaches the last year.
http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/users/...f_Debris_from_March_11_2011_Japan_tsunami.gif
The problem is Tepco dumped a thousand tons of radioactive water into the ocean per day. That's a little bit.
TEPCO seeks to reduce groundwater flowing into reactor buildings
Ahi are now turning up with cesium on the west coast.
Fukushima radiation seen in tuna off California | Reuters
Not to be a fear monger but it's something for physicists and oceanographers to keep an eye on. Frankly I have been disturbed more by the increased amount of garbage washing up on the beaches the last year.
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