Group Warns EPA ready to increase radioactive release guidelines - As Nuclear Alert for Fukushima Reveals a Meltdown Has Started

The EPA is preparing to dramatically increase permissible radioactive releases in drinking water, food and soil after “radiological incidents,” according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

What is termed a guidance that EPA is considering - as opposed to a regulation - does not require public airing before it’s decided upon.

EPA officials contacted today in the Atlanta and D.C. offices had no response on the issue as of 6 p.m.

The radiation guides called Protective Action Guides or PAGs are protocols for responding to radiological events ranging from nuclear power-plant accidents to dirty bombs.

Drinking water, for example, would have a huge increase in allowable public exposure to radioactivity, the group says, that would include:

A nearly 1000-fold increase in strontium-90

A 3000 to 100,000-fold hike for iodine-131

An almost 25,000 rise for nickel-63

The new radiation guidance would also allow long-term cleanup standards thousands of times more lax than anything EPA has ever before accepted, permitting doses to the public that EPA itself estimates would cause a cancer in as much as every fourth person exposed, the group says.

These relaxed standards are opposed by public health professionals inside EPA, according to documents PEER said it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

PEER is a national alliance of local state and federal resource professionals

Source:  The Tennessean

NUCLEAR ALERT FUKUSHIMA...MELTDOWN STARTED - PLUTONIUM LEAK OF RADIATION OFFICIALS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JV09rHS1JY&feature=feedf

The contradictory reports are confusing the public.
Expert on ABC News Admits Slow Meltdown is Already Happening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfegXmTRZdM&feature=feedf

This is a copy - the original was pulled from the Internet. This is heartbreaking!

Radiation in Massachusetts Rainwater Likely From Japan

I found this posted late yesterday on Free Republic.
Full text:

A text message from my nephew in Japan. He works for a contractor that services news organizations worldwide.

MARK - ARRIVED HERE ONE WEEK AFTER QUAKE. 145 MILES FROM REACTORS. AREA IS INDUSTRIAL WAREHOUSE COMPOUND. WE HAVE TRUCKS FOOD WATER FUEL GENERATORS BATTERIES BEDDING HYGIENE CAMERAS DISH AND RADIOS DROPPED HERE 8 DAYS BEFORE QUAKE. 2 - 6.0+ QUAKES HERE SINCE. BUILDINGS OK. 3 NEWS TEAMS USING OUR STUFF. BUSY. NRC AND DOD HAS WAREHOUSES IN HERE. DOD JUST SET UP SECURITY. NRC GUYS HERE ARE PISSED. THEY WANTED MILES OF TRASH BURNED BEFORE IT COULD BLOW AND FLOAT INTO THE NORTH PACIFIC GYRE. NOW IT IS CONTAMINATED AND BURNING MAY BE BAD. US STATE DEPARTMENT AND JAPANESE GOVERNMENT STOPPED THE BURN. RESUPPLY HERE SLOW. BE HOME MAY 15-20. BACK HERE IF CONTRACTS SIGNED BY JUNE. GITD GARY-

Source: TEXT FROM JAPAN

Radiation In Massachusetts Rainwater Likely From Japan

BOSTON -- Health officials said Sunday that one sample of Massachusetts rainwater has registered very low concentrations of radiation, most likely from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged earlier this month by an earthquake and tsunami.

John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, said that radioiodine-131 found in the sample – one of more than 100 that have been taken around the country – has a short life of only eight days. He said the drinking water supply in the state was unaffected and officials do not expect any health concerns.

Nevada and other Western states also have reported minuscule amounts of radiation, but scientists say those presented no health risks.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said the in-state sample was taken in the past week, but they did not say where. The testing is part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency network that monitors for radioactivity.

State officials said similar testing was done in California, Pennsylvania, Washington and other states, and showed comparable levels of I-131 in rain.

Massachusetts testing last week of samples from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs showed no detectable levels of I-131, health officials said.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. directed the Department of Environmental Protection to collect additional samples for testing from several water bodies across Massachusetts. Results will be available over the next several days.

In Japan, mounting problems, including miscalculated radiation figures and inadequate storage tanks for huge amounts of contaminated water, stymied emergency workers Sunday as they struggled to bring the country's nuclear complex back from the edge of disaster. Workers were trying to remove radioactive water from the nuclear compound and restart the regular cooling systems for the dangerously hot fuel.

Source:  HuffPost Green

Video:  Radioactive iodine-131 DETECTED in rain water - Massachusetts - March 27, 2011

Video:  URGENT - USA / Europe - Radiation and Jet stream FORECAST UPDATE - march 27, 2011

Also, Congressman Ed Markey is suggesting people within a 20 mile radius from a Nuclear plant take potassium iodide as a precaution.  Isn’t that peculiar, just as the EPA is upping the allowable levels?!?  See Here: Group Warns EPA Ready to increase Radioactive Release Guidelines.

I’m with him!!  Better to err on the side of caution!

Related:

Dr. Mercola:  Why 95% of Japanese May Not Suffer from Radioactive Iodine Exposure

Potassium Iodide Runs Low As Americans Seek It Out