Hotspots

Like the weather report, we can find out the average amount of radiation being emitted where we live and work, and where our food is grown. However, it's hard to settle for "average" when what people really want to know is, how about in my yard? At my bus stop? On my child's playground?

Government monitors cannot, in all practicality, be everywhere. So groups purchasing measuring equipment and taking it upon themselves to monitor their personal space now exist. Some of them are finding what are called "hotspots". These are isolated spots where radiation from the chemicals released from the Fukushima nuclear generators--Cesium and Strontium--are abnormally high.

How do you explain a hotspot?

One explanation goes like this. The chemicals are floating in the air, and then the wind blows and it starts to rain. The wind drives this radioactive fallout in a certain direction, and the rain carries it to earth. Maybe it sticks to the fallen leaves. Maybe it settles into the mud. Maybe fallout-sprinkled water accumulates on a roof.

Do you have a spot in your yard where, after a heavy rain, the sodden leaves tend to end up? Is there a place where the runoff from your roof tends to accumulate? When the rain pelts your driveway and washes it clean, does the debris run downhill then settle in the cracks in the concrete?

Wind, rain, accumulations of dust/mud/leaves--these all have the makings of hotspots.

One scientist says, in effect, don't worry about hotspots. No one stands at the bus stop all day, and no one eats mud or fallen leaves. The worst effects of radiation are cumulative.

On the other hand, this has never happened before, and no one is a hundred percent sure.