Nextgov, Feb. 19, 2014: The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier experienced radiation levels 30 times above normal while its crew conducted disaster relief operations off the coast of Japan in March 2011 […] according to a new analysis published on Monday. […] Reagan crewmen filed an amended lawsuit […] The suit also charged that sailors aboard the Reagan “have been and will be required to undergo further medical testing, evaluation and medical procedures, including but not limited to chelation therapy, bone marrow transplants and/or genetic reprogramming.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper, Feb. 19, 2014: […] the cases are heart-breaking. Lindsay Cooper and Kim Gieseking [have] debilitating thyroid issues. Thomas McCants […] was diagnosed with leukemia, he told CNN. […] Navy Officer Steve Simmons […] lost all control of his legs. […] The Reagan also sailed through the post meltdown nuclear plume for hours leading to a thorough decontamination. […] That account fits with prior reporting by CNN’s Bill Weir who tried to get on the ship for a story, and was waived off by commanders citing radiation concerns. […] So what is the reason dozens of sailors and Marines exposed to radiation are having these health problems? Does the Navy, and do these experts know everything that went on at Fukushima?
Asia-Pacific Journal, Temple University Japan Professor Kyle Cleveland, Feb. 17, 2014:
- MR. MUELLER, USS Ronald Reagan: […] we were 100 nautical miles away […] it’s about 30 times what you would detect just on a normal air sample out at sea […] we thought based on what we had heard on the reactors that we wouldn’t detect that level even at 25 miles. So it’s much greater than what we had thought. We didn’t think we would detect anything at 100 miles. […] If it were a member of the general public, it would take — well, it would take about 10 hours to reach a [Protective Action Guidelines] limit […] it’s a thyroid dose issue.
- DANIEL PONEMAN, Deputy Secretary at U.S. Dept. of Energy: Okay, but the net of all this is that the amount of release that is detected by these two episodes whatever you would call them, is significantly higher than anything you would have expected […]
- MUELLER: Yes sir. The number specific number we detected was 2.5 the times 10 to the minus nine microcuries per milliliter [2.5 x 10^-9 uCi/ml = 2.5 pCi/L or 2,500 pCi/m^3] , airborne, and that’s particulate airborne.
Nature, May 2013: “Mean fractions of gaseous phase 131I were relatively constant with distance, with mean gaseous fraction 80.4% [19.6% particulate]”
The above conversation was first reported by Lucas Hixson of Enformable.com in March 2012
Tepco said it was “safe”