[MAXIMUM ALERT] Neptunium 239 Potentially Detected In Saint Louis 9/14/11 Radioactive Rainfall. Updates and video will follow shortly.
The source has a calculated average 2.4 day half life. The half life matches Neptunium 239. Np239 decays into Plutonium 239. The source would probably be Americium 243 created in the MOX fuel reactor at Fukushima Unit 3
Updated to add:
IF WE ARE LUCKY, the source will not be Americium 243 but rather Uranium 239 (in Fukushima); given the 2.4 day half life of Np 239, it is possible that source came directly across the jet-stream as Np-239. The result would be higher levels of Np-239 and Plutonium 239 the further west one went from Saint Louis.
UPDATE 9/17/11:
The video below records raw data being taken from the 1.33 mR/hr radioactive rainfall which fell in Saint Louis, Mo on 9/14/11. This data was taken after shorter half life contamination had mostly burned off.
The data shown is from one hour total count readings taken of the radioactive source, and local background. The raw data from the later part of the video has yet to be fully analyzed.
UPDATE: 9/20/11 After taking considerably more data over a 120 hour period, the MAXIMUM ALERT remains in place. The longer half life fallout detect continues to bear the signature of Neptunium 239. See the updated blog video at
Longer Half Life Fukushima Fallout With a Neptunium 239 Signature Hits Saint Louis
STAY OUT OF THE RAIN!
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I want to THANK YOU for your efforts to monitor radiation levels so that the public can be informed.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your careful explication of methodology and your openness to alternative interpretations.
Your efforts are very much appreciated. Thank you.
+1
ReplyDeleteI have a few questions:
ReplyDelete1: What are you measuring with?
2: What is the minimum gamma energy that your device can detect?
3: How do you explain the excellent fit when you use two data points, and why is it somewhat worse when you have 3 data points instead?
4: Why is not your first data point from the Excel chart included in the fit?
1. It is a Medcom Inspector Surface Contamination Meter
ReplyDelete2. You can see the specs here
http://medcom.com/products/inspector-alert
3. Two data points will always have an excellent fit because 1 line can ALWAYS be exactly drawn between 2 points.
4. I left out the first data point because I thought it was still in the transition point between the Short Half life component and the Long Half life component of the fallout. Further analysis shows that to NOT be the case.
see the updated charts and video at
http://pissinontheroses.blogspot.com/2011/09/longer-half-life-fukushima-fallout-with.html
5. Thanks for the eye towards detail.
I would suspect Thallium 201 with a 3.04 day half life. It is abundant in the earth's crust and can come from coal mining, coal burning, uranium mining and any metal smelting facility. The heavy sulfur content in coal now helps separate Thallium from the rest (sulfuric acid) and there are really dirty coal plants to the west of where these readings were taken. Anyway, most of the radiation we detect in the rain is from coal plants and uranium mining. That is why we aren't seeing these spikes on the west coast.
ReplyDeleteRichard, thanks for contributing; the more people looking for alternative answers the better. Unfortunately, Thallium 201 can be ruled out because it has NO natural abundance; see
ReplyDeletehttp://periodictable.com/Isotopes/081.201/index2.full.dm.prod.html