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3. Nuclear Radiation Detection Rate Detector Sensitivity Scales

Reported Fukushima Radiation Levels

Scale

Rems/Hour

Sieverts/Hour

Danger Level after 1 Hour

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 Rems 100 Rems 1 mRems 10 mRems 100 mRems 1 Rem 10 Rems 100 Rems 500 Rems

0.1 Sv 1 Sv 10 Sv 100 Sv 1 mSv 10 mSv 100 mSv 1 Sv 5 Sv

Background radiation Low level radiation Daily human limit RATE Do not stay here Substantial exposure Strong exposure Extreme danger 50% chance of death CDV-715 highest scale

10Sv 400Sv 10 mSv 400 mSv

Human Radiation Damage - "Linear No Threshold" For years, we were told that low-level radiation won't hurt us. Exposure Limits were set at what were believed to be "safe levels", AKA "acceptable levels". In reality, there are no "safe levels". Most scientists now concede that ANY amount of radiation CAN be harmful (there is no minimum threshold, above which damage "occurs"). Ionizing radiation damage is cumulative, and is proportional to exposure. Reduce your total exposure, to protect your health. A very small exposure is worse than no exposure. Is it inevitable that these Fukushima radioisotopes will rise into the atmosphere, and be carried by the jet stream to the west coast of Canada and the United States? Yes. Will this radiation result in thousands of new cancers in California? No. Will the overall cancer rate in California rise slightly due to increased background radiation? Yes. Can anyone say by how much? No. The GE Mark 1 Reactor Design Who was the person who decided to store the used fuel rods, now containing plutonium, in a cast cement tank, ON TOP of the reactor? These rods should have been stored ANYPLACE ELSE. Who APPROVED this design? Pure insanity. INFORMATION FLOW - We Still Don't Know Things are worse than we are allowed know Tokyo Electric Power ---> censored info ---> Japanese Government --->

more censorship ---> available information to outside world Wouldn't we do the same thing? Reduce panic. Prolong ignorance. Sanjay Gupta Is Ill-informed Most people are getting their Japan radiation information from CNN. EVERY time that Sanjay has opened his mouth since March 11, he has demonstrated his utter lack of knowledge about radiation. I just wish I had written everything down. On ONE DAY, in ONE interview, he made FIVE absurd pronouncements. At one point, he tried to explain the difference between a dosimeter and a Geiger counter - he failed miserably. On Tuesday March 22, he said something to the effect - "These short half-life isotopes will decay quickly, but NOT if they are buried underground, where it will take decades". WHAT? They will decay underground JUST AS QUICKLY as above ground. The half-life of an isotope DOES NOT VARY, no matter where you put it. There are 5th graders who can put this guy down. Somebody needs to gag this guy, because he is making all his listeners dumber than dirt. And they wanted to make him Surgeon General? AHH-HA-HA-HA. I don't think so.. Practicing neurosurgeon? That is just plain scary. I guess he cuts into people's brains, in between spewing disinformation to the masses. Sometimes, PHD simply means Piled Higher and Deeper. It doesn't mean he is smart - it simply means he put up with a ton of academic hoop-jumping. 40 100 100 240-590 100

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4. CPM vs. mR/hr - Probe Sensitivity

Geiger Counter Probe Model # CPM Full Scale mR/Hour Full Scale Sensitivity CPM/mR/hr

Meter

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Ludlum 44-2 CDV-700 #6b Bicron 50 EWGM Bicron 2000 Ludlum 44-6, 38 Eberline 120 Pan Ludlum 44-7 End Ludlum Model 3 Ludlum 44-9 Pan

200 300 600 2,400 2,400 6,000 4,200 5,000 6,600

5 mR 0.5 mR 0.5 mR 2 mR 2 mR 5 mR

40 600 1,200 1,200 1,200 1,200

2 mR 2,100 2 mR 2,500 2 mR 3,300

Meter faces will vary by a factor of 80 to 1, in terms of the correspondence between Counts per Minute and

milliRems/hour. Some example meter readouts are shown above. Probe sensitivity is the big factor here. A very sensitive probe will require fewer counts to determine mR/hour rates. Put another way, at a given mR/hour rate, more counts will be observed using a very sensitive probe.

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4.5. CPM vs. mR/hr for a given CPM/mR/hr

From Least Sensitive -----------> over 5 Times More Sensitive

True mR/hr

mR/hr = 600

(CDV-700) CPM @

(Bicron 50) (Bicron 2000) mR/hr = 1,200

CPM @

mR/hr = 2,500

(Ludlum) CPM @

mR/hr = 3,300

(Ludlum) CPM @

0.01 0.02 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 50 100 200 500 1 REM

6 12 30 60 120 300 600 1,200 3,000 6,000 12,000 30,000 60,000 120,000 300,000 600.000

12 24 60 120 240 600 1,200 2,400 6,000 12,000 24,000 60,000 120,000 240,000 600,000 1,200,000

25 50 125 250 500 1,250 2,500 5,000 12,500 25,000 50,000 125,000 250,000 5,000,000 1,250,000 2,500,000

33 66 132 330 660 1,650 3,300 6,600 16,500 33,000 66,000 165,000 330,000 660,000 1,650,000 3,300,000

Trying to provide a direct "CPM to mR Scale" from the above chart above this one. 0.01 mR/hr equals background radiation levels.

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5. US Citizen Annual Radiation DOSE

Radiation Source Average Annual Whole Body Dose (millirem/year)

Natural:

Cosmic Terrestrial Radon Internal (K-40, C-14, etc.) Manmade: Diagnostic x-ray Nuclear Medicine Consumer Products Others (fallout, air travel, etc.) Average annual total

27 mR 28 mR 200 mR 40 mR

Sun, quasars Rocks, water Most of total -> dirt Food, breathing 295 (82%)

39 mR 14 mR 11 mR 2 mR

10 = 390 mR Barium colon? Salt, smoke detectors Occupational 66 (18%)

360 mRem/year

360 (100%)

Source: University of Rochester, annotated

Suggested Annual 5,000 mRem Occupational Limit (5R) Individual Suggested Annual 500 mRem Occupational Limit (0.5R) Pregnant Woman

360 above = 7%

360 above = 72%

DISCLAIMER I know very little about nuclear radiation. Although the author has tried to be as accurate as possible, errors are possible. I could not find a Radiation Detection summary like the above. So, I made this ionizing radiation detection summary chart, to help myself understand the technology. I hope that it helps you. I am an electronics engineer by trade, who knows little about nuclear radiation. Please verify all data above. Nuke dudes, please correct me I'm trainable! This stuff has always intrigued me.

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Vaughn's Summaries 2006, 2011 Vaughn Aubuchon ... All Rights Reserved www.vaughns-1-pagers.com

This Vaughns Nuclear Radiation Detection Information summary web page was updated on 2011-03-2