Rad Porn and other radiation devices

[Yokohammer]

Well, it had to happen.
Nothing but BS from the gov't and media, so I got one of these:



My first quick readings:

* Around 0.1 µSv/h in the house, which is normal.

* 0.23 µSv/h in the garden on the south (Fukushima) side of the house, which is a bit high.

* 0.16 µSv/h on the north side of the house (opposite Fukushima), which is close enough to normal.

The difference between the south and north sides of the house is interesting but quite logical. If the winds blow radioactive crap up from Fukushima it's going to collect more on the side of the house that faces Fukushima.

So. Nothing too scary at the moment, but the contamination is definitely there and detectable with my new toy.

[Iraira]

[quote="Yokohammer"]Well, it had to happen.
Nothing but BS from the gov't and media, so I got one of these:
My first quick readings:

* Around 0.1 µ]

Have you measured your urine and fecal matter? While you're at it, rub one out and dosimeter it. Too much information is never enough information.

[Yokohammer]

Have you measured your urine and fecal matter? While you're at it, rub one out and dosimeter it. Too much information is never enough information.

I sincerely hope you're not deriding my dosimetric diligence.
You're probably just jealous of my new geek-of-the-week status.

[matsuki]

[quote="Yokohammer"]I sincerely hope you're not deriding my dosimetric diligence.
You're probably just jealous of my new geek-of-the-week status. ]

It's Iraira...he really wants to know how radioactive your scat porn materials are

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Does it make those clicking sounds, sorta like the cicada that used to chirp in summers here?

I'm kinda disappointed...I'd hoped it would look like the radios they used to use on Lost in Space.

[Yokohammer]

Does it make those clicking sounds, sorta like the cicada that used to chirp in summers here?

I'm kinda disappointed...I'd hoped it would look like the radios they used to use on Lost in Space.

Yeah, it chirps every time it detects a gamma quantum or beta particle. So it'll do that scary accelerating-chirp thing if you approach something that's highly radioactive. It does a bunch of other neat little measuring tricks too. Admittedly it's not much to look at (it really needs a jacob's ladder spark thing like Dr. Frankenstein had in his lab), but it does the job and is supposedly very accurate.

Made in the Ukraine ... which kind of figures if you think about it. I checked out all the reviews I could find for the various models, and this one seems to have the best rep. I've never had a made-in-the-Ukraine product before, but this one is quite nicely made.

[CrankyBastard]

Cool!
I like the blurb on the box that says, 'Helps to avoid radiation hazard in everyday life'!!
I'd get me one, but I'd most likely forget to charge it or loose it in a drawer along with the iPhone I got.

[Taro Toporific]

...I'd get me one...

I gotta buy me Geiger Counter too just to check stuff at the supermarket.

The problem is the raving asholes at "Safecast" et al have not the foggiest on how to[color="DarkRed"] properly[/color] measure our impending doom.

[Coligny]

Have you measured your urine and fecal matter? While you're at it, rub one out and dosimeter it. Too much information is never enough information.

Chokonen, pack yer team I'm heading with the filming gear to Yokohammer's boneyard, Try to come up with some background scenario not including godzilla, we ain't got the mollah to pay for that license. Also need some gangaroo (after accident) with regular JK lookalikez (pre meltdown). I think we can go with a titul like "Invasion of the mutant gangaroo at fukushima exclusion zone, super happy fun rape party". Maybe we can summon some old ones (talking aboot Cthulluh, not Greji) for a softcore version.

[Coligny]

I gotta buy me Geiger Counter too just to check stuff at the supermarket.

The problem is the raving asholes at "Safecast" et al have not the foggiest on how to properly measure our impending doom.

I think they have more problems with properly displaying their results rather than measuring them... Once again... My former geography teacher would have killed each and everyone of them in a shitstorm of half empty coffee cups and second hand smoke for doing such an incompetent job...

[Coligny]

[quote="Yokohammer"]Well, it had to happen.
Nothing but BS from the gov't and media, so I got one of these:



My first quick readings:

* Around 0.1 µ]

Can we have an idea of the price, their website in a little obscur on this topic... (ordered one from gamma scout, but there is a 5 month backlog)

[Typhoon]

I gotta buy me Geiger Counter too just to check stuff at the supermarket.

The problem is the raving asholes at "Safecast" et al have not the foggiest on how to[color="DarkRed"] properly[/color] measure our impending doom.

Most of them have probably not heard of natural background radiation or the concept of calibration.

[Yokohammer]

Can we have an idea of the price, their website in a little obscur on this topic... (ordered one from gamma scout, but there is a 5 month backlog)

I got it from that large on-line shopping site that has the same name as a river in South America, but if I try to write the name here it'll just come out as a bunch of ass-terisks.

The price was JPY 68,800. Kinda expensive, but after doing a lot of reading I learned that most of the el-cheapo made-in-China ones don't stabilize and are hard as heck to get a realistic reading off of. This one integrates the readings over time and is nice and stable. And accurate.

It's the ECOTEST TERRA-P+. You'll find it if you do a search on Ama ... you know.

Make sure you get the TERRA-P+ and not the older TERRA-P. Well, the older one supposedly isn't bad either, but the newer version is better, so they say.

[nikoneko]

I got it from that large on-line shopping site that has the same name as a river in South America, but if I try to write the name here it'll just come out as a bunch of ass-terisks.

On the ebay powerseller forums back when I used to actually use that cesspool people took to just calling it the River as any post about it would get pulled. Maybe we should just do that here too haha.

[Coligny]

I got it from that large on-line shopping site that has the same name as a river in South America, but if I try to write the name here it'll just come out as a bunch of ass-terisks.

Fascinating river, despite the huge amount of new models available some idiots try to sell second hand ones for double the market prices... The limit between war profiteering and stupidity is blurred a bit more everyday...

[Yokohammer]

Fascinating river, despite the huge amount of new models available some idiots try to sell second hand ones for double the market prices... The limit between war profiteering and stupidity is blurred a bit more everyday...

Yeah, be careful. There are plenty of new ones available now so the prices aren't too bad. Got mine of the co.jp version of the river, and there were plenty.

What surprises me is that there don't seem to be any reasonable made-in-Japan models. At least none easily available. It's all China, Russia, America, and the Ukraine. I'm sure that'll change (I can envision the Japanese engineers working all-nighters on it now), but for the time being there's not much unless you want a laboratory model, and I can't see any reason to go that far.

[Coligny]

Yeah, be careful. There are plenty of new ones available now so the prices aren't too bad. Got mine of the co.jp version of the river, and there were plenty.

What surprises me is that there don't seem to be any reasonable made-in-Japan models. At least none easily available. It's all China, Russia, America, and the Ukraine. I'm sure that'll change (I can envision the Japanese engineers working all-nighters on it now), but for the time being there's not much unless you want a laboratory model, and I can't see any reason to go that far.

Yea... we REALLY NEED a Tepco branded model with a fake display saying just "all is fine" with printed unicorns farting rainbows in the back...

[Russell]

[Coligny]

[Yokohammer]

Thanks Russel. Nice article, and that's precisely the point.

I trusted the officially announced figures in the beginning, but over the past few months it has become abundantly clear that the authorities are fudging the numbers and can't be trusted. That could be partly due to the fact that they don't really know what they're doing.

For example, my simple measurements yesterday already showed outdoor radiation levels higher than the official figures. Why? If you read the fine print you discover that the official values are measured in the middle of town over asphalt or concrete. In the very beginning they were publishing figures measured 2.5 meters above ground! But they've changed that to a more reasonable 1 meter and 0.5 meters. But the problem is that most of the town where I live is farming land, which means it's mostly soil and vegetation where the radiation levels are almost invariably higher. My measurements were made at a height of about 1 meter over the soil in our garden, giving me readings of 0.22~0.23 µSv/h compared to the official figures of 0.09 µSv/h from one source and 0.13 µSv/h from another. That's a significant difference. Not high enough to make me fear for my life or even health, but it's nice to know.

Another problem is that people, ourselves included, move around. We have relatives in Kakuda and Marumori, both of which are closer to the Fukushima plant than we are. We also go down to Soma in Fukushima from time to time for shopping (although only once since 3/11 for obvious reasons). The TERRA-P+ is about the size of a mobile phone, although a bit thicker, so it's very portable and will be easy to carry around when we visit those places to check the local levels and avoid any serious hot spots.

The hot spots are really the scary part (the 67 µSv/h quoted in the article posted by Russell is dangerously high ... you don't want to hang around there too long), and since you can't see them, the only way to protect yourself is to measure them.

[Coligny]

[quote="Yokohammer"]

The hot spots are really the scary part (the 67 µ]

yep, and when there is exposed hotspots there is also bigger risk of loose hot particles, i'm pretty sure the Fukushima plant would be forbidden to access without fully autonomous breathing equipment (air bottle) in any other place of the world.

[matsuki]

Chokonen, pack yer team I'm heading with the filming gear to Yokohammer's boneyard, Try to come up with some background scenario not including godzilla, we ain't got the mollah to pay for that license. Also need some gangaroo (after accident) with regular JK lookalikez (pre meltdown). I think we can go with a titul like "Invasion of the mutant gangaroo at fukushima exclusion zone, super happy fun rape party". Maybe we can summon some old ones (talking aboot Cthulluh, not Greji) for a softcore version.

I'm picturing everyone glowing in the dark and making the girls squid glowing orange all over the cameramen....but we definitely need Greji for an obligatory goat scene. Maybe some sort of goat-woman mutant, created from radiation.

[Typhoon]

/mode sarcasm ON

nope,
amateurs, wargarrrbllll

panic sheep blaaaaablaaaa

no risk, all is safe... bleeeeuuuarrrrg...

background radiations, natural occurance, ignoramus, harmlesser than radon gagagagblaaaargggg...

/OFF

Fucking radioactive particles, how do they work?
And I don't wanna talk to a scientist
Y'all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed
Solar eclipse, and vicious weather
Fifteen thousand Juggalos together

[YT]_-agl0pOQfs[/YT]

[Yokohammer]

Hey, we got our own thread!

Not sure that's entirely appropriate, since the subject is not so much the devices themselves, but rather ways to deal with the radiation from the Fukushima nuke plant, and findings regarding the radiation levels.

It ain't porn (I'd rather be able to live my life without ever seeing a damn Geiger counter, thank you very much), and it's only a device-centric discussion in the sense that the devices are used to measure the radiation from the nuclear disaster.

* What are the most useful and reliable devices available?
* How can they be used to best effect?
* Where are radiation concentrations likely to be the highest?
* How do personal measurements compare with the official figures?
* What do you do if you find a hot spot near where you live?

... and more, all for the person wanting to protect himself/herself and his/her family from unnecessary exposure.

That's what I'm talking about. Some of us are in areas where we really should be thinking about these things you know (like, Japan). No need to freak out, but acquiring as much info and understanding about the situation as possible is probably a good idea.

[Taro Toporific]

* What do you do if you find a hot spot near where you live?

Hot spot, schmot spot...

...I have zero info on how to [color="DarkRed"]properly[/color] detect food contamination.

[Yokohammer]

Hot spot, schmot spot...

...I have zero info on how to [color="DarkRed"]properly[/color] detect food contamination.

With very expensive laboratory equipment.
(And no, I'm not being facetious.)

However! One thing that the TERRA-P+ can do that most of the other personal Geiger counter thingies cannot do (and one of the many reasons I chose it) is measure beta-particle flux density, so it can do a very basic check on foods. The trouble is, the procedure is a bit trickier than doing a simple gamma radiation dose equivalent rate measurement, and you probably wouldn't be able to do it while standing around in the supermarket.

But for people who grow their own vegetables, for example (as do a large percentage of the people around where I live), all you really need to know is the ground contamination level where the stuff is being grown. If the levels are high, don't eat the damn veggies. It's obviously not that easy if you don't know exactly where your food is coming from.

[Coligny]

Fucking radioactive particles, how do they work?
And I don't wanna talk to a scientist
Y'all motherfuckers lying, and getting me pissed
Solar eclipse, and vicious weather
Fifteen thousand Juggalos together

Dood, you stole me ICP...

And science and numbers and stuff are just useless bull when you can't have a single report written honestly and on time aboot the situation.

Learn that when reliable data is unavailable or purposefully misleading the only proper way of dealing is assume the worst case scenario. Now grow up and stop arguing like a toddler pissed not to have the last word. SINCE NOW MARCH 11 some are claiming alll is fine and dandy. Most of them are on the Tepco's payroll or not too far from it... others are just... your run of the mill attention whores... Everyday the situation report states things were worst than previously said, shall we go back to the glorious times when I was asked why I wouldn't eat salad grown around fukushima ? This might be one of the longest lasting trolling i've seen

[Yokohammer]

Hot spot, schmot spot...

...I have zero info on how to [color="DarkRed"]properly[/color] detect food contamination.

Taro,

Here's something I just learned that might interest you.

Every week an independent testing organization takes three types of produce grown in Sendai City and does proper laboratory tests for radiation. The results are announced on the local TV news, and a website I can't locate (I'll keep trying). This week's tests were done on apples, onions (the "tamanegi" kind), and eggplant. The vegetables are washed, as they would be at home, and then tested. No radiation was detected in this week's produce.

Last week they detected 4 Becquerel in a sample of edamame (that's really small ... the legal max. is 500).

Assuming those results are true and accurate, that provides a broad indication of the general safety of produce grown in the area.

Obviously the Sendai data is not going to be of direct interest to you (you're in Azabu?), but there might be other groups doing similar tests elsewhere*. You could sort of check around and collate the info to get a general idea of the safety of the stuff you're buying. It'll require a bit of detective work, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

But then there's the problem of hot spots. There's always a chance that something will be grown in an undetected hot spot that's right near a field where no radiation is detected, for example. For that reason I have to disagree with the title of your post – "Hot spots are easy to find...". No they're not. Unless you're right there with a counter you won't know. If you can't do the measurements, you can only gather as much data as possible and make reasoned decisions based on that data.

* If said groups are being surreptitiously funded by the gov't or TEPCO all bets are off.

[Taro Toporific]

...then there's the problem of hot spots... I have to disagree with the title of your post –]with a counter[/U] you won't know...

If you have a counter, you've got the problem under your control. Easy.

With food contamination---milk and butter are a major concern----a funky 60,000 yen geiger counter won't detect anything subtile. And, I would be crazy to trust any Japanese source of info since so many of the Japanese radiation reports have been "amended" recently.

[Typhoon]

Dood, you stole me ICP...

And science and numbers and stuff are just useless bull when you can't have a single report written honestly and on time aboot the situation.

Learn that when reliable data is unavailable or purposefully misleading the only proper way of dealing is assume the worst case scenario. Now grow up and stop arguing like a toddler pissed not to have the last word. SINCE NOW MARCH 11 some are claiming alll is fine and dandy. Most of them are on the Tepco's payroll or not too far from it... others are just... your run of the mill attention whores... Everyday the situation report states things were worst than previously said, shall we go back to the glorious times when I was asked why I wouldn't eat salad grown around fukushima ? This might be one of the longest lasting trolling i've seen

The one thing that we can agree on is that the info radiating out from the J-Gov and TEPCO should be treated with skepticism.

As for geiger counters, they need to be lab checked and calibrated against a known radioactive source in order to give meaningful measurements:

MAKE | John Iovine: Geiger Counter Sanity Check

Like it or not, measuring radioactive decay is a science.