Tuesday, March 6, 2012

"Asian Pollution Linked to Air Violations in U.S.": Implications for Fukushima Fallout



Published in the Arizona Republic Mar 5, 2012 p. A2.

The brief article states that poor air quality recorded in Maricopa County AZ was caused in some cases by pollutants that originated in Asia.

[excerpted] "Atmospheric scientists were able to analyze pollution samples and determine their sources, according to a new report published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The scientists built models based on two episodes in 2010 when pollution levels were so high in Asia that significant contaminants rode the jet stream across the Pacific Ocean to the western US

Majia here: I tracked down the source article:

Transport of Asian ozone pollution into surface air over the western United States in spring” J. Geophys. Res., 117, D00V07, doi:10.1029/2011JD016961 [Abstract] http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011JD016961.shtml

Key Points
Using a high-resolution global chemistry-climate model and observations
Asian pollution contributes to high-O3 events in western U.S. surface air
Develop a space-based indicator to inform Asian influence on U.S. surface O3

Slide Show http://www.agu.org/journals/jd/

"Spatial patterns of daily maximum 8-h average ozone in western U.S. surface air on June 20–22, 2010, showing (a) CASTNet (circles) and AQS (squares) observations, (b) results from the surface layer in the GFDL AM3 model, and (c) the enhancements due to Asian anthropogenic emissions, calculated using the same 8-h interval identified for the MDA8 in the base simulation."

MAJIA HERE: This article demonstrates clearly how pollution from the East moves to the West

More research (including images) on this subject can be found here

"Dust from Asia is seen streaming eastward toward the Pacific Ocean in this satellite view, where red is the highest concentration of dust. Photo © Colin Seftor (Raytheon) and Christina Hsu (UMBC)
http://forces.si.edu/atmosphere/04_00_11.html"

MAJIA HERE: What are the implications, beyond the known transport hazards of lead and mercury?

The obvious answer, from my point of view anyway, is the transport of FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT.
 
And BOOSTING TRANSPORT OF FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT was the use of salt water on the reactors.

Uranyl peroxide enhanced nuclear fuel corrosion in seawater by C. Armstrong et al.
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/6/1874.abstract

[abstract] The Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident brought together compromised irradiated fuel and large amounts of seawater in a high radiation field. Based on newly acquired thermochemical data for a series of uranyl peroxide compounds containing charge-balancing alkali cations, here we show that nanoscale cage clusters containing as many as 60 uranyl ions, bonded through peroxide and hydroxide bridges, are likely to form in solution or as precipitates under such conditions. These species will enhance the corrosion of the damaged fuel and, being thermodynamically stable and kinetically persistent in the absence of peroxide, they can potentially transport uranium over long distances.

FUKUSHIMA IS A GLOBAL PROBLEM





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