7 April 2011
The country's
nuclear safety agency said a small level of radioactive iodine and caesium
particles were reported in the rain falling on the island of Jeju off the
country's south coast but it was not enough to cause public health concern....
The Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) said it expected to find radioactive
materials since iodine and cesium particles have been floating in the air
for the past three weeks. "Rain will pick up such particles as they fall
from the sky," Yonhap quoted the institute as saying. -- Some South Korean schools close over radioactive rain concerns:
Reuters Alertnet, 7 April 2011
Such evidence
is a reference point for atmospheric contamination
impacting the entire geographical region. Of greatest concern are reports
of confirmed atmospheric spread of Cesium.
Every United Nations
member country has the responsibility to report accurate information regarding
the spread of toxic, infectious or otherwise hazardous materials that constitute
a public health emergency of international concern. See:
World Health Organization: Revised International
Health Regulations. PDF
International
public health discussions transition to Bioaccumulation. See: Radionucleotides: Ecological Risk Analysis: Guidance,
Tools and Applications: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Please note the following background discussion "International Biosecurity:
Protecting Agricultural and Public Health Infrastructures."
----------------------------------------------------
6 April 2011
From: Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net
Pathobiologics International
Biodefense Threat Analysis & Communications Center
Url: http://www.pathobiologics.org/btac
Subject: International
Biosecurity: Protecting Agricultural and Public Health Infrastructures
On 2011 March 11 05:46:23 UTC there occurred a magnitude 9.0 earthquake
near the east coast of Honshu, Japan. [1] The earthquake was followed by
a tsunami that devastated the northern pacific coastal region [2] and eleven
of Japan's nuclear reactors automatically shut down. [3] On March 12,
2011, [4] failure of the cooling system at Tepco's Fukushima No 1 power plant,
prompted emergency protocols, as evidence of core damage was suspected due
to environmental detection of Cesium. [5] On 15 March 2011, following
the evacuation of teams from the Fukushima plant in Japan points,
the international emergency management community was called to begin discussions
associated with containment and control of this radiological emergency,
that presented a threat to all countries in the region and the United States
through the Humanitarian Resource Institute International Disaster Information
Network. [6]
For close to two weeks, teams in Japan continued to work toward containment
without an organized international team to assist emergency operations. During
this period, we observed uncontrolled global environmental contamination
with Iodine 131 [7] with the United Nations' International Atomic Energy
Association reporting radiation levels 1,600 times above normal in seawater,
12 miles from the Fukushima plant on 22 March 2011. [8] On 5 April
2011, seawater samples taken near the facility validated contamination
with radioactive iodine at 7.5 million times the legal limit and radioactive
cesium at 1.1 million times the legal limit. [9]
The potential for devastation of the environmental, agricultural and
public health infrastructure in the United States, by natural or man made
disasters, requires contingency planning measures that support surveillance,
containment and control, through collaboration with all members of the international
community. For your reference I have re-published the paper "Agricultural
Security and Emergency Preparedness: Protecting One of America's Critical
Infrastructures" [10] through Pathobiologics International and the Humanitarian
University Consortium.
References:
1. USGS: Magnitude 9.0 - NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN: 2011 March
11 05:46:23 UTC. Url: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.php
2. Map: Impact of Japan tsunami and earthquake: CNN. Url: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2011/japan.quake/map/
3. Japan's nuclear reactors shut down after earthquake: Wired, 11 March
2011. Url: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-03/11/japan-earthquake-nuclear-reactors
4.
Japan battles to stave off possible nuclear meltdown: Guardian UK, 12
March 2011. Url: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/12/japan-tsunami-nuclear-meltdown
5. Radioisotope Brief: Cesium-137 (Cs-137): CDC: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/isotopes/cesium.asp
6. International Disaster Information Network:
Humanitarian Resource Institute. Url: http://www.humanitarian.net/idin
7. Radioisotope Brief: Iodine-131 (I-131): CDC: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/isotopes/iodine.asp
8. Japan says high seawater radiation levels are no cause for alarm, CSM,
22 March 2011. Url: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20110322/wl_csm/371407
9. Japan's ocean radiation hits 7.5 million times legal limit: LA Times:
5 April 2011. Url: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-nuclear-20110406,0,2697428.story
10. Agricultural Security and Emergency Preparedness: Protecting
One of America's Critical Infrastructures. Stephen M. Apatow, Biodefense
Threat Analysis Discussion Paper ASEP-2011-4, Pathobiologics International,
April 2011. Url: http://www.pathobiologics.org/btac/ref/ASEP-2011-4.html
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