Safecasting Daiichi

Earlier this month we received our first measurements from inside the evacuation zone and talked about how they illustrated the point that “closer to the plant” doesn’t automatically mean higher readings. To illustrate that point even furthers, Safecast volunteers Akira Sugiyama and Tatsuhiko Kodama were able to take a bGeigie all the way across the…

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Safecasting inside the evacuation zone

If you’ve been following our measurements and discussions surrounding them, you know we’ve been saying that the decision to evacuate people in a set radius from the Fukushima Daiichi plant is flawed. Wind, weather, topography and many other factors ensure that radiation isn’t higher the closer you get to the plant, and lower further away,…

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How I spent my Sunday in Fukushima

The Safecasting drives officially started after my last trip to Japan, so I’ve been watching from afar as Pieter and an ever growing volunteer team of total heros have set out time and time again to try and map the radiation levels in the areas surrounding the Fukushima plant, as well as the rest of…

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Safecasting in Oshima Island, Japan

My wife and me went for the week-end to Izu Oshima, it is one of the closest island accessible from Tokyo. The black sand beaches and its volcano offer quite good landscapes. We already went several times in past years but not since the March 11th events. 私と妻は、週末伊豆大島を訪れました。伊豆大島は、東京から最も行きやすい島のひとつです。黒砂の海辺とその火山がなかなかいい風景を形成しています。私達は今までにも何度かこの島を訪れていますが、3 月 11 日以降は今回が初めてです。

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Safecasting Kita-dake, Japan's second highest mountain

Due to the electricity saving campaign going on in Japan, my company decided to trade some of our Saturdays and national holiday for a full week of holidays in July. In order to escape the heat and the crowd of Tokyo, I aimed for cooler altitude in Yamanashi prefecture. To be precise, I was aiming…

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Safecasting in Honolulu, Hawaii

Aloha from Hawaii! Thanks to Pieter for allowing me to use the bGeiger  to take readings around Honolulu. On Saturday July 16th at 11pm, we mounted the bGeiger to my Prius in theparking lot of a Starbucks (see inserted picture), dropped off Pieter at his hotel in Waikiki, then I drove along Waikiki beach, and…

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Hikone measuring

After three weeks monitoring every day and reporting nearly every day, we have to conclude that measuring radiation in Hikone, although only 60km from Tsuruga (where there are 5 nuclear power-plants), is more like taking temperature of a not-sick child. Let’s hope it will stay this way. About two weeks ago, we were standing ready…

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Cesium 134 and 137 in Tokyo rooftop dust

[This is a guest written article, views expressed are the authors alone and may not be endorsed by Safecast] This is a gamma spectrum of dust wiped from a Tokyo rooftop.  The detector is located at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Physics Department.  The results are estimates because of the low weight of dust in the sample.…

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Volunteer report: Safecasting Miyagi by Rob Kneller

[This is a guest written article, views expressed are the authors alone and may not be endorsed by Safecast] This is a guest post by Bob Kneller JD, MD, MPH who is working at the University of Tokyo, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology. Bob took the bGeigie system when he drove up end May…

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Measuring hot particles from air filters

[This is a guest written article, views expressed are the authors alone and may not be endorsed by Safecast] In the last month we have received 22 vehicle air filters from safecasters.  These came from vehicles used primarily in Fukushima City, Tokyo, and Iwaki.  The Fukushima City filters had total radiation levels that averaged about…

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