Crew of USS Ronald Reagan exposed to radiation in Japanese waters (Canada, government)

[HappyTexan]

The ship passed through a radioactive cloud.
Our helicopters there got radioactive dust on them as well.

I hope all are OK.

Here in the US..the DOE has taken a number of additional steps to monitor.
More details in the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/wo....html?ref=asia

"The Pentagon was expected to announce that the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which is sailing in the Pacific, passed through a radioactive cloud from stricken nuclear reactors in Japan, causing crew members on deck to receive a month’s worth of radiation in about an hour, government officials said Sunday."

[BentBow]

Radioactive clouds are to be expected to come down the coast of California, and across the nation in the coming months.

[Willsson]

Perspective from one blogger...

7th Fleet repositions ships after contamination detected

The source of this airborne radioactivity is a radioactive plume released from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. For perspective, the maximum potential radiation dose received by any ship’s force personnel aboard the ship when it passed through the area was less than the radiation exposure received from about one month of exposure to natural background radiation from sources such as rocks, soil, and the sun.

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The low level radioactivity was easily removed from affected personnel by washing with soap and water. They were subsequently surveyed, and no further contamination was detected.

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We remain committed to our mission of providing assistance to the people of Japan.

[NHartphotog]

Radiation isn't magic and you won't grow 2 heads because you are exposed to it, like when you go out in the sun, or fly in an airplane.

Here's a site that shows you how to calculate the radiation exposure you get every year, just from being alive: Calculate Your Radiation Dose | Radiation Protection | US EPA The average exposure is about 620 mrem from all sources over a year. The health risk of one millirem (mrem) of radiation dose is a 1 in 8 million risk of dying.

For instance, you get 26 mrem from the sun every year, if you live at sea level. You get 90 mrem if you live on the Colorado Plateau. 200 mrem from the air and radon gas (particularly in granite bedrock). 1 mrem for every thousand miles you fly in an airplane.

[sanspeur]

Has anyone ever had a CT scan?

The authors predicted that lung cancer will be the most common radiation-related cancer followed by colon cancer and leukemia. Of the 29,000 people who may get cancer from CT scans done in 2007, about 50 percent will die, the researchers estimated. If CT scan use remains at its current level or higher, eventually 29,000 cancers every year could be related to past CT scan use.

CT Scan Radiation May Cause Cancer Decades Later, Study Finds - Bloomberg

[Driftwood2011]

Originally Posted by BentBow

Radioactive clouds are to be expected to come down the coast of California, and across the nation in the coming months.

I wouldn't worry about getting radiation in the US.

1. Radiation would have to be put into the jet stream for that to happen. It cannot get their on its own, the jet stream is that high up.

2. If it does reach the jet stream, which no meteorologist has yet stated they believe it will, it will go to the north of America and primarily to Canada. Then, there is no guarantee it will deposit there. It can travel onward.

3. When Chernobyl went, it was in western Russia. Because the radioactive cloud could not reach the jet stream, as this one won't, its affect was in eastern Russia and Europe. Why? Because the radiation hangs in the air as the Earth revolves. It came down on the area which had moved under the cloud during the movement.

I don't live near California, but for those who do and are worried, do not rely on the media to present science on the matter.

I think the Japanese are in for some bad times though; and probably western Russia and Mongolia as well.