Radiation Risks – READ CAREFULLY

Radiation Risks – READ CAREFULLY

750 RADS in AZ possible. look at your home on the map

Everyone: I recommend that you keep this info handy as news of the approaching  fallout

is eventually released to the American public, though that will happen far  too late to do anyone any good, as is usual for our gooberment and our

gooberment-controlled media.

There is no level of exposure to radiation that is beneficial.

There is no level of exposure to radiation that is harmless.

Even very low doses of radiation pose a risk of cancer

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,161038,00.html

Please keep these facts in mind when you see the talking heads of the news

media trying to placate the public by saying things like “it’s not  dangerous”.

The word dangerous, in this context, is highly subjective and relative.

It  is also beside the point.  There is no level of radiation that is good for

you, so any level of exposure is automatically not good for you.

Please keep in mind that I earned the “3R” Modifier to my MOS when I was  in

the Army, which was the result of my attending the two-week “short course”

on Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense.  I was certified to serve as

an NBC Equipment Officer while I was in the Army, and I know a thing or

two  about NBC Warfare.

The “international” standard for radiation measurement is the “Sievert”,

which is a metric standard.  One thousandth of a Sievert is a

“millisievert”, which is what the news media has been using to report the  levels of radiation in Japan:

“Dose rates of up to 400 millisievert per hour (mSv/hr) have been reported  at the site.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12745186

Here in the USA, we have for decades used Rems and Rads, which are based

upon an English standard.  The differences are somewhat confusing, so I am

going to break this down to more easily understood measurements.

If you have old surplus Civil Defense dosimeters or Radiation Survey Meters

(also inaccurately called “Gieger Counters”), these will be in  measurements

of Roentgens or Rads, not millisieverts, so knowing how to convert between

the two standards will become important very shortly.

No, the following conversion is not scientifically precise, but it is  close

enough for our purposes on the ground.  Nuclear physicists may split hairs

as often as they split atoms, but that does not mean that we, as the  people

who actually have our lives on the line, cannot come up with a more useful

way of measuring our own level of risk.

A “Rem” and a “Rad” are virtually interchangeable for field measurements.

True, they are not exactly equal, but they are close enough.  One  thousandth

of a Rad is called a “millirad”.  One thousandth of a Rem is called a  ”millirem”.

One “Rad” is roughly equivalent to .876 Rem, more than close enough for me

to calculate them as equal.  By the time you worked out the exact

conversion, you might be cooked, so don’t worry about the fine differences

when you are trying to calculate whether you should close the door to your  underground shelter.

1 millisievert (mSv) = 100 Millirems (or Millirads)

10 millisieverts = 1000 Millirads = 1 Rad

So, roughly speaking, you need 10 Millisieverts to equal one Rad.

Looking at the above news report from the BBC, we see that today the  Japanese are admitting to 400 Millisieverts per hour of radiation on the

ground within 20 miles of their former nuclear reactor complex.  That  roughly equates to about 40 Rads per hour.

Holy Scheisse, Batman!

The effects of radiation are cumulative, so 40 Rads per hour will result  in  a total of 80 Rads of exposure in two hours,

120 Rads of exposure in three  hours, and so on.

100 Rads, or about 1000 Millisieverts, will result in the symptoms  commonly  referred to as “radiation sickness”.  200 Rads, or about 2000  Millisieverts,

will make you as sicker than the proverbial dog.

Considering that 400 Rads would definitely put you in a hospital, and 600  would absolutely, positively kill you dead, 40 per hour is bad news,

folks.

After about ten hours of exposure at that rate you would definitely wind  up

deathly ill and would have a 50-50 chance of winding up dead.   IF you

survived, you would also have about a 50 percent chance of developing some  form of malignant cancer.

After about 15 hours of exposure at that rate, you would not have to worry  about ever getting cancer, because you would be dead in a few weeks to a

month.  600 rads of exposure will be 100 percent fatal.

40 rads per hour will definitely ruin your day.  The level at what used to  be the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has apparently risen a LOT higher

than that, because the entire facility has been completely evacuated as of  2000 hours MDST today:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/15/japanese-nuclear-panic-rises-agency- says-radiation-leaking-atmosphere/

Break out your Survey Meters and your dosimeters, folks.  You need to  check

these out and confirm that they are recently calibrated and zeroed  properly.

I last checked my dosimeters in January of 2011.  Now you know why I check  their zero at least once every year.

I have issued out dosimeters to myself and my wife, and to two of our  neighbors who travel outside of our immediate area on a regular basis.

They  can phone in the readings from their dosimeters every day or two, and I  can  re-zero dosimeters that are brought back to my house.  If they can tell me

where they traveled to each day, I can calculate where they might have  been  exposed to radiation.

Mine are military surplus dosimeters, so these are designed to survive the  abuse of field conditions.  We have a neighbor who has some of the old

Civil  Defense dosimeters, but I don’t know how well they will hold up under  field

use.  From looking at them, I believe that they may be designed for only  light use.

Use what you have, and forget about being able to buy any dosimeters or  Radiation Survey Meters now that the balloon has gone up. There never was

enough of this equipment to outfit everybody.  Anything that was available  last week is long gone now.

In a pinch, you can check the current Radiation readings that are  available  online :  http://www.blackcatsystems.com/RadMap/map.html .

http://www.radiationnetwork.com/

Not every city is represented, and these will only work for as long as the  websites and/or the Internet are allowed to continue to operate.  (NOW we

really know why Barry wanted his very own “Internet Kill Switch”, don’t  we?)

If anyone doubts my math, please check it for me:

http://unit-converter.org/UnitConverter/convert?uc_class=28&uc_value=10&uc_ sigdigits=5&uc_unit=532&uc_cat=4&commit=Convert

http://unit-converter.org/UnitConverter/convert?uc_class=28&uc_value=10&uc_sigdigits=5&uc_unit=532&uc_cat=4&commit=Convert

http://www.stevequayle.com/ARAN/rad.conversion.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rad_(unit

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/RadiationSafety/quan_units/units.htm

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060623054613AABfm36

–Jack Foote, KE7FDZ

As a soldier, I see things a little differently than other folks  sometimes.

Some folks might see an obstacle.  Other folks might see an opportunity.

I  see a natural choke point with flank security.

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