This is somewhat disturbing. I noticed that the Driggs, Idaho Ustream meter, which can be observed in real time by clicking the "USA" link on the navigation bar at the top, has spiked up to as high as 140 CPM (counts per minute). Per the Geiger counter owner, normal background radiation is 20 CPM. 140 CPM is thus 7x background, although 140 is an extreme and not average sampling value. On the CerebralProgrammer Ustream site for this Geiger counter notes included:
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Station Log:
6/27/11 Significant increase detected in gross beta gamma levels. System tests provide normal results. Radon levels are down currently and not correlative to increased beta / gamma.
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A few days ago on June 24, 2011 I captured another 2 minute or so sampling at around midnight showing a CPM from the same meter as high as 100 CPM.
The closest EPA RadNet monitoring site to Driggs, Idaho is in Idaho Falls, Idaho which is 49 miles away in a straight line per the graphic below:
The EPA RadNet monitoring station is 40 miles East of Idaho National Lab, which is one of the nation's first nuclear test sites. Plutonium contaminated nuclear waste from nuclear weapons manufacture is stored on the grounds. Activist groups have long battled for cleanup of nuclear waste at the facility, siting that much of it sits on top of the Snake River Aquifer. Radioactive waste is shipped in to Idaho National Lab from other facilities for treatment and storage.
The EPA gross gamma and beta counts do not really show any unusual spikes in recent activity if examining the RadNet monitoring station data from Idaho Falls:
Note: I can not personally vouch for this, but activist Alexander Higgins, who writes a popular blog, claims that the EPA re-calibrated their RadNet monitoring stations to understate radioactive fallout coming from Fukushima Daiichi. The article he wrote is titled Confirmed: EPA Rigged RADNET Japan Nuclear Radiation Monitoring Equipment To Report Lower Levels Of Fukushima Fallout.
If there (hypothetically) is recent unusually high radioactive fallout blowing in to Driggs, Idaho from the Idaho National Lab nuclear waste dump(s) you would expect the EPA air monitoring station to pick up on it since Idaho Falls is only half the distance to INL as Driggs (where CerebralProgrammer's Geiger counter is located) is to INL (see previous geographic map).
Also the wind is not blowing due East, but rather the most recent wind forecast I obtained shows the wind is blowing primarily from South to North, with a slight Northeast angle:
If the elevated radiation reading shown at Driggs, Idaho really is coming from Fukushima (as one would naturally expect), for example, this would require a detailed isotope analysis by a nuclear expert to prove it really is from Fukushima. Unfortunately, in May the EPA discontinued much of its testing of radioactive isotopes as per OpEd News:
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The EPA announced in early May that it would cease testing air, rainwater, tap water and milk, as iodine 131 levels, the isotope with the shortest half-life, had fallen to normal atmospheric levels (EPA test results here). It has been reported at several websites that both NILU and the EPA were pressured to discontinue testing -- or at least to discontinue publication of the test results. The "pressure" has been variously attributed to the U.S. government, the Japanese government and the United Nations, although I have seen no hard evidence to substantiate any of those claims.[1]
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There is a petition started by Lucas Whitefield Hixson which requests that the President, Congress and EPA reinstate the radioactive isotope testing as mentioned above. If you have not signed it already, the petition is available here.
Any comments or tips (especially from nuclear experts) would be appreciated.
Sources:
[1] Fukushima - The Elephant in the Room, OpEd News
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