When it comes to the truth about radiation and health effects,
there are no experts who are honest - not in government, not in science, not anywhere. Yet, people would rather
listen to liars than challenge their assumptions about the sources of the so-called truth and disregard the purveyors
of actual truth on this topic: the non-creditialed self-taught. - Andrew Kishner, May 18, 2013
'Deception, Cover-up and Murder in the Nuclear Age' is our six-year effort and free web-based book. Click to read the book here
What you can learn in the book: Every cancer and leukemia
since 1945 can be fractionally blamed on one thing: nuclear testing fallout. 'Chernobyl fallout' was 90-95% from Chernobyl and the rest from a covered-up U.S. nuclear release. There are dozens of nuclear reactors orbiting us - many have crashed on Earth. The U.S. may have replicated a 'Hiroshima' inferno on actual humans (in cages in Nevada). Your cremated remains mixed into water would be undrinkable per the EPA because of its strontium-90 levels.
MORE
April 30, 2013 - While LaScram
LaSalle Falls Apart, Operator Asks NRC If They Can Put a Hemi
In It- Exelon is proceeding with a formal request to the NRC for a mega-power boost (aka
'uprate') at the LaSalle plant to increase thermal output by a whopping 12.5%. Also, it has
been learned that the culprit of the technical shutdown of LaSalle Unit 1 reactor on
April 27th was the same exact valve that failed
following a scram in February 2011 due to a welding defect. The recommended fix (buy a new one, duh!) was apparently not heeded;
Status: LaSalle 1 is being restarted (at 22%). LaSalle 2 is at 1% power.
April 29, 2013 - Map of eastern U.S. nuclear plants that
have no containment vent filters (which is a 'Fukushima lessons learned'
that 'wasn't implemented')- enlarge image
April 25-27, 2013 - April 25: LaSalle Unit 2 restart attempt results in a
scram - reason: condenser leak. April 26: NRC
announces 'Special Investigation'
into April 17th events; April 27: during Unit 1 startup process, operators
were forced to shut reactor down after leak was detected in the primary containment
April 17, 2013 - LaSalle County
Nuclear Generating Station is hit by lightning - both reactors scram - pressure
builds in containment - radioactive gases vented from containment - monitoring fails -
vents from Unit 2 not filtered - leaks and other problems not reported until days later - our initial report
and our analysis of the types of radioactive gases released
in unfiltered vent
PREFIXES, CONVERSIONS & EQUIVALENTS
Multiples/submultiples
Prefix
What we usually call it
Symbol
1015
peta
million billion times
P
1012
tera
trillion times
T
109
giga
billion times
G
106
mega
million times
M
103
kilo
thousand times
k
10-2
centi
hundredth
c
10-3
milli
thousandth
m
10-6
micro
millionth
µ
10-9
nano
billionth
n
10-12
pico
trillionth
p (or µµ)
10-15
femto
f
10-18
atto
a
Curies Symbols
...is short for...
What we usually call it
PCi
petaCurie
million billion Curies
TCi
teraCurie
trillion Curies
GCi
gigaCurie
billion Curies
MCi
megaCurie
million Curies
kCi
kiloCurie
thousand Curies
Ci
Curie
a curie represents the radioactivity of one gram of pure
Radium-226
= 0.037 Becquerel
a curie is an amount of radioactive material that is decaying at a rate
of 3.700 x 1010 disintegrations per second
mCi
milliCurie
thousandth of a Curie
µCi
microCurie
millionth of a Curie
nCi
nanoCurie
billionth of a Curie
pCi
picoCurie
trillionth of a Curie = 2.22 disintegrations per minute (dpm)
= 0.037 disintegrations per second (dps)
fCi
femtoCurie
million billionth of a Curie
1 picocurie (pCi) = 0.037 Bq
Becquerels symbols
...is short for...
What we usually call it
PBq
petaBecquerel
mrillion billion Becquerels
TBq
teraBecquerel
trillion Becquerels
GBq
gigaBecquerel
billion Becquerels
MBq
megaBecquerel
million Becquerels
kBq
kiloBecquerel
thousand Becquerels
Bq
Becquerel
1 Becquerel (bq) = 1 disintegration per second
= 27.03 pCi
mBq
milliBecquerel
thousandth of a Becquerel
µBq
microBecquerel
millionth of a Becquerel
nBq
nanoBecquerel
billionth of a Becquerel
pBq
picoBecquerel
trillionth of a Becquerel
fBq
femtoBecquerel
million-billionth of a Becquerel
1 Becquerel (bq) = 1 disintegration per second = 27.03 pCi
Rem symbols
...is short for...
What we usually call it
Converted to Sieverts (Sv)
TRem
teraRem
trillion Rems
0.01 TSv
GRem
gigaRem
billion Rems
0.01 GSv
MRem
MegaRem
million Rems
0.01 MSv
kRem
kiloRem
thousand Rems
0.01 kSv
Rem
Rem
0.01 Sv
mRem
milliRem
thousandth of a Rem
0.01 mSv
µRem
microRem
millionth of a Rem
0.01 µSv
nRem
nanoRem
billionth of a Rem
0.01 nSv
1 Rem = 0.01 Sv
Sieverts Symbols
...is short for...
What we usually call it
Converted to Rems
TSv
teraSievert
trillion Sieverts
100 TRems
GSv
gigaSievert
billion Sieverts
100 GRems
MSv
MegaSievert
million Sieverts
100 MRems
kSv
kiloSievert
thousand Sieverts
100 kRems
Sv
Sievert
100 Rems
mSv
milliSievert
thousandth of a Sievert
100 mRems
µSv
microSievert
millionth of a Sievert
100 µRems
nSv
nanoSievert
billionth of a Sievert
100 nRems
multiply by 100 to convert Sv to Rem
Symbols often used regarding radiation energies
...is short for...
What we usually call it
TeV
teraelectron volts
trillion electron volts
GeV
gigaelectron volts
billion electron volts
MeV
megaelectron volts
million electron volts
keV
kiloelectron volts
thousand electron volts
meV
millielectron volts
thousandth of an electron volt
µeV
microelectron volts
millionth of an electron volt
neV
nanoelectron volts
billionth of an electron volt
peV
picoelectron volts
trillionth of an electron volt
feV
femtoelectron volts
million billionth of an electron volt
Multiple
choice question
Which of the following is not an
effective way of reducing the external radiation threat to a specific person
from a contamination source in the environment?
a) Time - leave area of contamination and return when
the radiation source has decayed to safer levels
b) Shielding - cover the radiation source with soil,
concrete, cask shielding; and/or cover person - with lead apron, etc...
c) Raise the threshold of harm, so that radiation
exposure will be acceptable and nothing else should be done
d) Distance - evacuate person from the contamination or
move contamination someone else - via waste transport, incineration, DU weapons
use on other continents, etc...
answer
(c)
Length and Area equivalents
1 cm
0.394 inch
1/2 inch
12 millimeters
1 inch
2.5 cm
2.575 sq. km. = 2,575,000 sq. meters
1 sq. mi
1 sq. km.
0.388 sq. mi.
1 sq. meter
3.88E-7 (0.000000388) sq. mi.
Volume and other equivalents
1 cup
8 ounces
1 pint
2 cups
1 quart
4 cups, 32 ounces
1 gallon
4 quarts, 16 cups, 128 ounces
1 teaspoon
1/8 ounce (~ 5 milliliters)
1 tablespoon (3 teaspoons)
3/8 ounce (~ 15 milliters)
Cooks: If you accidentally put in 1 1/2 teaspoons instead of
1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla, vinegar, etc.., just add 3 teaspoons to make up the difference. It works!
1 fluid ounce (2 tablespoons)
30 milliliters
1 ounce (by weight)
28 grams
1 pound
454 grams
2.2 pounds
1 kilogram
1 Roentgen (R) = amount of radiation that creates a certain number of ions - created when ionizing radiation
hits atoms or molecules - in a cubic centimeter of air
Gray (thanks to J.B. for helping us fix some errors about Grays conversion)
1 Gray (Gy) = 100 Rad; Gray represents 'absorbed dose' (or what Rad is to Rem)
1 Rad = 0.01 Gray (10 milliGray)
1 milliGray (mGy) = 0.1 Rad
Wikipedia notes that the fission yield of 90Sr is 4.5% and 137Cs is 6.3%.
Area of Earth = 200 million square miles
1 nCi/m2=2.59 mCi/mi22 (U.S. Public Health Service
conversion)
1 mCi/mi2= 0.386 nCi/m22 (mCi/km2) (ibid)
1 nCi/m22 = 1 mCi/km22
Specific Activity
nuclide
half-life
(Ci/gm) (meaning this number is the number of curies in 1 gram of
the nuclide)
239 Pu
24,400 yrs
0.06
137 Cs
30.28
yrs
86.1
90 Sr
28.1
yrs
141.0
131 I
8
days
1.24 x 10 5
(Additional decimal: 1 gram of Pu239 is 0.067 ci)
1 Curie of 90Sr weighs 7 milligrams (how? If 1 gram of Sr90 is 141.0 curies,
then 1 curie is 1/141 or 0.007 grams)
nuclide
half-life
(yrs)
Specific Activity
(Ci/gm)
233
U
1.62 x 10 5
9.45 x 10 -3
235
U
7.1 x 10 8
2.1 x 10 -6
238
U
4.51 x 10 9
3.3 x 10 -7
239
Pu
24,400
0.0061
240
Pu
6,580
0.226
238
Pu
86
17.44
241
Pu
13.2
112.2
RADIOACTIVE-'ACTIVITY'
To determine how radioactive something is:
A* =
0.693 mNA
T1/2AFt
A* = activity of sample (in disintegrations per time)
m = mass of sample
A = atomic weight of radionuclide (easy: it's the number of the nuclide, like
89 for strontium-89)
T1/2 = half-life of radionuclide
(in any unit of time)
Ft = conversion from one unit of
time to the desired unit of time
NA = constant called Avogadro's
number, or 6.022 x 10 23
atoms/mole
Does this formula really work?
Let's try it on radium. We know that 1
curie represents the radioactivity of one gram of pure
Radium-226 and we also know that 1 curie pumps out 3.700 x 1010 disintegrations per second.
So, to prove that 1 gram of radium pumps out 37 trillion disintegrations per second,
let's assign the variables for radium. Lets assign a mass of 1
(gram). We know radium's half-life is about 1,603 years and its atomic weight is
226.0254 (radium 226). For Ft we
want to convert from years to seconds, or 31,536,000 seconds per year.
A* =
(0.693) (1
gram) (6.022 x 10 23 atoms/mole)
= 3.65E10, or 3.65 x 1010
disintegrations
per second
Example. If 1 microgram of strontium-89 (which has a 50.6 day
half-life) was deposited today in 1 meter by 1 meter area of a rice patty near
Tokyo, what is its present activity?
A* =
(0.693) (0.00001
grams) (6.022 x 10 23 atoms/mole)
= 6.43 x 1011 disintegrations
per minute
(50.6 days)(89 grams/mole)
(1440 minutes/day)
Example. If plutonium-238 depositions from Fukushima caused
Namie soils to be 4 becquerels per square meter, what is the activity level?
First 4 becquerels (of pu238) is the same as 108 picocuries (of pu238).
Second, one gram of pu238 is 17.44 curies, or (17.44 x 1 trillion) picocuries.
So, the 4 becquerels per square meter represents 108/(17.44 x 1 trillion) = 6.3
x 10-12 grams.
A* =
(0.693) (6.3
x 10-12
grams) (6.022 x 10 23 atoms/mole)
