Chasing Clean Air

Radiation From Japan Arrived To Southern California This Morning

I woke up in sunny Southern California to learn that radiation from Japan arrived earlier than expected today.

We're told not to worry.

It's tiny amounts of radiation. We get more radiation just walking the dog, talking on a cell phone...

No one has mentioned a potential cumulative effect over a period of days/weeks/months? I guess they'd say the same "it's safe".

Maybe it is. I'm no scientist.

What happens if the third reactor with plutonium blows? (I read plutonium is heavy and unlikely wouldn't be carried by wind)

I don't feel like worrying, I feel like calling Obama and Governor Brown. I just did. To share how I feel about nuclear energy in California.

Be heard

To leave a message for President Obama: (202) 456-1111

To leave a message for California's Governor Jerry Brown: (916) 445-2841

We have old nuclear power plants sitting near fault-lines in earthquake country. I don't believe Obama when he says our 104 nuclear plants are safe. How can he know?

Who Is Testing For Radiation in America and British Columbia's West Coast?

Given the magnitude of Japan's tragedy, it's the story on North Americans lips.

A lot of us are helping, and you can too.

Japan Fundraiser To donate $10 to the Red Cross to aid Japan text REDCROSS to 90999

But in California there's also a hushed conversation, a self-centered conversation you might say given Japan's massive suffering, but it's going on quietly in coffee shops, cell phones between friends, strangers at the gym, and consumers at pharmacies wanting to know about iodide tablets:

Is it time to prepare for potential nuclear fallout from Japan's wind blowing to America's west coast?

On the news 3/16/11 a Japanese government spokesman said he,

"Can't rule out possibility of a melt-down."

I'm not educated well enough on this subject, and there are conflicting ideas out there.

Yet...

Writing from earthquake prone California where we're supposed to be prepared at all times for an earthquake that may or may not occur, I'm not sure why health officials in America are playing down potential radiation fallout from Japan.

The distance between Japan and California is approximately 5,500 miles.

We still don't know how the nuclear plants will fare with time.

As of this writing there hasn't been a for sure total nuclear meltdown but if it's possible, let's get educated.

A few days after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, Stockholm, Sweden--1000 miles away--is thought to have experienced radioactive rain which got into their soil because winds carried nuclear particles.

Japan's 8.9 Earthquake Causes Nuke Plant Radiation 1000x Above Normal: What Californians and Nuclear Regulatory Commission Can Learn

Are California's two active nuclear power plants safe should a major earthquake occur?

According to news reports, in the aftermath of Japan's 8.9 earthquake, people are being evacuated near the Japanese Fukushima Prefecture Nuclear Power Plant due to radiation levels a 1000x more than normal.

The emergency cooling system of this 40 year old plant has not been functioning properly.

Authorities fear a meltdown.

Since I started this piece, there was an explosion of exterior walls containing nuclear reactor, and with more aftershocks bombarding the infrastructure...

Are California's two active nuclear power plants safe should a major earthquake occur? California is on the same Pacific Ring of Fire as Japan, where the world's biggest earthquakes and volcanic action take place.

In 2008, the active Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near San Luis Obispo was found to be located within 1/2 mile of a newly discovered earthquake faultline dubbed the Shoreline Fault.

Prior to new fault discovery, the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant was said to be able to withstand a 7.5 earthquake.

Japan's mega-8.9 earthquake, which I read occurred 80 miles offshore, should be a wake-up call to the Nuclear Regulatory Industry and Americans, who, if they don't know already, should be aware that seismologists have been predicting the big one in California. We don't know where or when. But it's coming.

(I was in Los Angeles for the 6.7 Northridge earthquake. I can't imagine a worse earthquake. The ground shook violently. The sound was loud. Glass shattered. Walls cracked. TVs and computers fell. I thought that was the big one. Not. I can't imagine what the 8.9 Japan mega-quake felt like.)

The active Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant on California's central coast is in an upscale Avila Beach community, (which I happen to really like) with many environmentally-aware and educated folks.

I'm sure they'll pay special attention to whether renewing and funding the Diablo nuclear power plant's license in order to continue operation is wise.

This decision potentially affects everyone.

Winds blow. Waters flow.