China Detects 10 Cases of Radiation Contamination, 2 In Hospital

According to an article at The Sydney Morning Herald, "China has detected 10 cases of radioactive contamination among passengers, aircraft, ships and containers arriving from Japan since March 16, quarantine authorities said on Saturday. On Wednesday, radiation exceeding permitted levels was detected on two ships from the Japanese port of Chiba, near Tokyo, in the ports of Nantong and Zhangjiagang, Li Yuanping, spokesman of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on its website." Meanwhile, airborne radiation from Japan is detectable in China, but thus far not considered a danger.

Re:The next trend in air travel?

[Anonymous Coward]

They had a big BBQ in chernobyl some time ago but the assholes who lived next door complained and called the fire department.

Re:Long term health tracking

[AHuxley]

France, UK, US and Canada have the right idea - just dont track it. Any issues are in the distant past and shrouded in national security, nation building, export deals, patriotism and commercial secrets.
If the press still keeps on digging, the patients privacy kicks in to stop any questions about epidemiology. Still having issues? Stop offering/teaching so much about epidemiology.
Back to simple industrial toxicology, long term old people get sick... any detectors that spike are faulty and get removed for servicing for a few weeks.
With no hard data its your expert vs nothing.
If your still interested read and watch http://www.zerohedge.com/article/tellurium-129-presence-proof-inadvertent-recriticality-fukushima [zerohedge.com]
"Newly released TEPCO data provides evidence of periodic chain reaction at Fukushima Unit 1"
http://vimeo.com/21881702 [vimeo.com]
The hard data is been released, the press is just not very good. http://cryptome.org/0003/fukushima-areva.zip [cryptome.org]
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/attempt-pour-concrete-fukushima-pit-crack-generating-1-sieverthour-fails-new-unmanned-drone- [zerohedge.com]

Re:The next trend in air travel?

[cyfer2000]

I think it is lost in translation or that Aussie news website is spreading FUD. The Chinese news [tutechanw.com.cn] I read has information like this

1. 1, Two tourists, one 70 years old the other one is 77 years old, were found radioactive March 23. Both were from places far away from Fukushima Daiichi site.
2. 2, The 77 years old showed strong but harmless radioactivity. The other one had less radioactivity.
3. 3, Both were sent to hospital at March 23:15.
4. 4, The 77 years old took a hot water shower in hospital.
5. 5, The 70 years old did nothing but sleep.
6. 6, Both left hospital at March 24 00:20am with their own clothes.
7. 7, No mention about luggage.

Re:PR perhaps?

[Anonymous Coward]

What a troll. A quick search of Google shows China sent a search and rescue team not 2 days after the quake, and has been continuously sending aid since then.

But when I see the words "wasn't really participating much" it only sounds to me like somebody just wants more.

Re:They really don't like Japan huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are still wild boar in Germany??? On less panicky note:

About 2 percent of the 50,000 boars hunted are above the legal radioactivity limit, Reddemann said. And the government's radiation protection office says some mushrooms have registered up to 20 times the legal cesium limit. .......
European officials insist that occasionally eating contaminated boar meat or mushrooms does not pose an immediate health risk. Public health agencies are typically conservative in setting limits for radioactivity in food.

Eating 200 grams of mushrooms tested seven times above the legal cesium limit, for example, would amount to the same exposure as the altitude radiation taken in during a 2,000-mile flight, according to Germany's Office for Radiation Protection.

In Austria, authorities say that eating the unlikely amount of 2 pounds of contaminated boar meat that is 10 times above the legal cesium limit would amount to two-thirds of an adult's normal annual radiation intake by food.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014654517_apeugermanyradioactiveboars.html

So, in reality, in Bavaria people panic lots it seems. You would have to eat boar meat every day for months and months to be affected by this. There ain't that many animals left in ALL of Germany! There is only a problem if you plan on actually farming certain crops in soils that received lots of cesium fallout.

Anyway, here are some facts,
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/cesium.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium#Health_and_safety_hazards

Radiocaesium does not accumulate in the body as effectively as many other fission products (such as radioiodine and radiostrontium). As with other alkali metals, radiocaesium washes out of the body relatively quickly in sweat and urine.

So while Cesium is a problem and somewhat persistent, it is not as dangerous as Strontium-90. It acts kinda similar to Potassium in our bodies. And here's how Cesium decays,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cs-137-decay.svg

vs. Potassium-40 we have in our bodies (and no, not from bombs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Potassium-40-decay-scheme.svg

So what does this mean???

It means that Cesium is no more dangerous than Potassium-40 for most of us.

Potassium-40 is the largest source of natural radioactivity in animals and people. An adult human body contains about 160 grams of potassium, of which a small fraction is potassium-40. From the isotope abundance and half-life it can be calculated that this produces about 300,000 disintegrations per minute continuously throughout the life of the body.

Therefore we need to achieve 5,000 Bq dose of Cesium-137 in our bodies to get the same level of exposure to similar level radiation as from Potassium-40. So what is the limit in Germany? 600 Bq/kg for meat while 0.5Bq/kg is background. So, how much of the meat would you have to continuously eat per day to maintain at least 5000Bq in your body?? Not sure, but certainly more than recommended amount of meat in a healthy diet!! (maybe Bavarian "healthy diet" is all meat though)

PS. Potassium-40 accounts for most of our radiation dosage. But that is only about 390uSv/year! Safe levels are 10mSv, meaning that safe levels of Cs-137 in your body seems to be closer to 125,000 Bq. Cancer limit is about 100mSv/yr, meaning 1,250,000 Bq Cs-137. So, 600 or 2000Bq/kg, I would certainly destroy that, but eat it. But then I don't eat that much meat to get me even within 1mSv, never mind 100.

Anyway, this is just to put something in perspective. Cs-137 is not that great to have, but I would trade that for smog or coal any day. At least one can monitor how much Cs-137 is in your body - I can't monitor how much soot and microparticles of carcinogens I ingest/inhale/absorb thanks to fossil fuels.