#1 Way to Protect Against Fukushima: the Right Air Purifier

EUGENE, Ore. - Sept. 15, 2014 - PRLog -- Three years after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima, radioactive materials continue to spew into the air and sea. Quantities have been vast, but information is increasingly difficult to obtain since the Japanese State Secrets Law was enacted in December 2013:

According to Nuclear Expert Harvey Wasserman, "The quantities and make-up of radiation pouring out of Fukushima are now a state secret, with independent measurement or public speculation punishable by up to ten years in prison. Fukushima pours massive, unmeasured quantities of lethal radiation into our fragile ecosphere every day, and will do so for decades to come."

The authorities assure us everything is fine and always has been, but 24/7 live video of the Fukushima nuclear disaster site (www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/index-j.html) shows ominous emissions day and night (http://majiasblog.blogspot.mx/) — and measurements of radiation captured in air filters (www.enviroreporter.com/2012/03/highest-radiation-in-l-a-air-yet/) and on EPA monitors (www.enviroreporter.com/2014/08/u-s-air-radiation-surges-higher/) show reason for concern about what we're breathing, not just in Japan, but in North America, Europe, and all over the Northern Hemisphere.

The number one way to protect yourself and your family from Fukushima, short of moving to the Southern Hemisphere, is to purify your air using a true HEPA-filter air purifier.

You need to filter out hot particles from Fukushima. A hot particle is a microscopic piece of radioactive material — a fragment of nuclear fuel or a particle formed by the interactions between radioactive substances, nuclear fuel, and reactor structural materials. It can contain cesium, strontium, plutonium, and uranium, among many other radioactive substances.

The hot particles spewing from Fukushima travel on the jetstream, around the entire Northern Hemisphere, again and again.

Hot particles that are inhaled or swallowed can become lodged inside the body, constantly irradiating a small area. This kind of internal radiation is almost never considered in official estimates of radiation danger, which concentrate only on external radiation — although internal radiation may be much more dangerous than external.

In April 2011, a month after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, everybody in Seattle (and much of the West Coast) was reportedly breathing in 5 to 10 radioactive hot particles a day (rense.com/general94/gund.htm). (At least, everybody who didn't have an air filter....) Some of the highest readings were actually taken in St. Louis! It just depends how the wind blows and where the rain falls.

It's not "only" the day-in day-out hot particle emissions from Fukushima, and the frequent large but unacknowledged emission events coming from Fukushima (www.fukushimafaq.info/plasma-webs-fukushima/), that can end up in our bodies — it's also the particles spewing from the Japanese facilities burning vast amounts of wreckage left over from the earthquake and tsunami — much of it radioactive. Japan mixes highly radioactive debris with less radioactive debris to make the load within "acceptable" radiation guidelines, and the filters used are reportedly only 1 micron, allowing hot particles to escape easily into the air.

All these emissions join the jet stream for multiple trips across the Pacific to North America and on around the Northern Hemisphere. Every time it rains, new fallout containing hot particles comes to earth. Every time the wind blows, hot particles are kicked up and redistributed.

As if the danger from Fukushima is not enough, there are more than 400 nuclear power plants around the world, almost all in the Northern Hemisphere, with over 100 in the U.S. alone — many of the same design as Fukushima, many located on fault lines and seacoasts, many vulnerable to terorist acts.

But isn't someone monitoring air quality? “There is no systematic testing in the U.S. of air, food and water for radiation,” according to University of California (Berkeley) nuclear engineering Professor Eric Norman. (www.enviroreporter.com/radnet-air-monitoring)

The website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (radiation.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23013/Article/35333/What-is-EPA-doing-about-tracking-radiation-in-our-environment-from-Fukushima) assures you that "EPA’s RadNet system continuously monitors radiation levels in the air throughout the U.S., 24 hours a day, 7 days a week" and that everything  is perfectly fine. But they don't link to the actual EPA monitoring site (www.epa.gov/radnet/), which is ridiculously and unnecessarily hard to use.

You will see why the EPA doesn't want you to look at its monitoring efforts — if you go to a site that's keeping an eye on the EPA, such as EnviroReporters.com's RadNet Air Monitoring (www.enviroreporter.com/radnet-air-monitoring), you'll learn that most of the time, most of the EPA monitors are turned off or otherwise not working. On August 6, 2014, only 44 out of 124 beta monitors throughout the U.S. were functioning, as is usual. On August 6, 2014, RadNet Air Monitoring reported, "There is a noticeable sharp beta radiation trendup wards at a number of stations across the country. Such a wide distribution of rising beta detections suggests a major source 'upwind' of the nation. The ongoing triple meltdowns at Fukushima Dai-chi are such a major source."

What should you look for when choosing an air purifier to filter out Fukushima hot particles? Choose an air purifier that uses a true HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter, developed by the U.S. government to protect from radioactive particles. They trap particles in multiple ways, using glass fibers. A true HEPA filter will be specified as capturing up to 99.97% of particles of the size 0.3 microns.

Make sure the air purifier design provides a secure seal for the HEPA filter, such as a rubber gasket instead of a loose piece of open-cell foam rubber.

Make sure the air purifier will circulate enough air to clean the area(s) you want. You may want to buy multiple air purifiers to cover areas where you and your family  sleep, work, and play — or consider installing a HEPA filter on your whole-house heating/cooling system.

The best inexpensive air purifier we've found that appears to be up to the job of filtering out hot particles is the Honeywell True HEPA Compact Tower Allergen Remover. We wrote a review of it here (http://www.fukushimafaq.info/choose-air-purifier-remove-r...), which includes more info on how to choose an air purifier that will remove Fukushima hot particles (http://www.fukushimafaq.info/choose-air-purifier-remove-r...).