Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Disaster Expected to Release 800 Terabecquerels' Worth of Cesium-137 Reaching North America by Next Year 2016

""By 2016, nearly as much radiation from the Fukushima disaster will have reached the North American West Coast as was initially scattered over Japan during the nuclear explosions, according to professor Michio Aoyama of Japan's Fukushima University Institute of Environmental Radioactivity.

In March 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered multiple nuclear meltdowns at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. A massive cloud of radiation was ejected into the atmosphere, settling all across Japan and into the Pacific Ocean.

Approximately 800 terabecquerels' worth of cesium-137 (Cs-137) alone is expected to reach North America by next year, accounting for just 5 percent of the Cs-137 spilled into the ocean as a result of the disaster.

Radioactivity already arriving

Radioactive cesium does not naturally occur on planet Earth and is found only as a result of human nuclear activities. Cs-137 is widely considered one of the most dangerous byproducts of nuclear activity, because it mimics the activity of potassium and therefore accumulates in soil and plants, and is actively taken up by the human body.

Aoyama says that approximately 3,500 terabecquerels' worth of Cs-137 have been released into the sea from the Fukushima plant since March 2011, plus an additional 1.2 to 1.5 terabecquerels that was first released into the air but later fell into the sea. Based on measurements of the pace at which the Cs-137 has been moving eastward, Aoyama recently calculated that 800 terabecquerels would reach the West Coast of North America by next year.

Notably, 800 terabecquerels is nearly as much as (80 percent of) the 1,000 terabequerels that Fukushima operator Tokyo Electric Power Company says fell over Japan following the disaster.

In April, researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announced that they had detected traces of Cs-134 in waters collected at the shores of Vancouver Island. Because this isotope has a half-life of only two years, the only likely source of this contamination is from the Fukushima disaster.

Based on this and other studies, Aoyama said that the 800 terabecquerels he has predicted might already have arrived at North American shores.""

http://www.naturalnews.com/050098_Fukushima_radiation_plume_West_Coast.html

FINDER Continues Rescue Hunt in Nepal Earthquake Aftermath as Heart Beat Detector Device Saves Lives

""The latest tech from NASA just saved the lives of four people trapped in the rubble left from the recent earthquake in Nepal. NASA's FINDER (Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response) located people by using a microwave radar that could sense and then locate their heartbeats. The prototype devices are a joint effort from NASA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate. Weighing in at the size of a suitcase, two of the devices were brought to aid the humanitarian effort in Nepal.

NASA's FINDER can detect a heartbeat through 30 feet of debris, 20 feet of concrete, or from 100 feet away in the open air. The device can pinpoint the location of a live person to a five-foot range. FINDER can even tell the difference between animal and human heartbeats; so, precious man-hours won't be wasted trying to free a trapped goat from a fallen building, when saving a person trapped under the same debris would be a better use of man-power.

FINDER is only a prototype at the moment, and NASA has plans to market the tool commercially.""

http://www.slashgear.com/nasas-new-radar-detects-heartbeats-saving-4-lives-in-nepal-06382451/

All Life on Earth in Danger of Extinction by Massive Volcanic Exodus

""The world is woefully unprepared for a massive volcanic eruption that could kill millions of people and destroy much of modern society, a leading group of scientists have warned.

In a new report on the risks posed by natural disasters, experts at the European Science Foundation concluded that large volcanic eruptions posed the greatest risk human survival.

They calculated that there is between a five to 10 per cent probability of an explosive eruption large enough to cause huge numbers of deaths, alter the climate and poison the atmosphere occurring by the end of the century.

The ash cloud thrown out from this eruption reached more than 26 miles (43km) into the atmosphere and triggered temperature changes that led to widespread famine and epidemics.

The summer following the Tambora eruption is known as 'the year without summer'.

The scientists warn, however, that rising population levels and increasing reliance on global travel could mean the impacts of a similar eruption could be far more severe.

Writing in their report Extreme Geohazards: Reducing the Disaster Risk and Increasing Resilience, the experts warn that there needs to be an international response to prepare for such a disaster and to monitor for similar events.

They estimate that it could cost between £340 million ($500 million) and £2.3 billion ($3.5 billion) a year to increase the level of monitoring for catastrophic volcanic eruptions, but the benefits that an early warning could give would be ten to hundreds of times greater.

The report states: 'Although in the last few decades earthquakes have been the main cause of fatalities and damage, the main global risk is large volcanic eruptions that are less frequent but far more impactful than the largest earthquakes.

'Due to their far-reaching effects on climate, food security, transportation, and supply chains, these events have the potential to trigger global disaster and catastrophe.

'The cost of response and the ability to respond to these events is beyond the financial and political capabilities of any individual country.

'An international geopolitical response will be required, where science has a unique and key role in preparation, response and mitigation.'

The report, which was presented at the general assembly of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna on Tuesday, examines the main geohazards facing the world including earthquakes, drought, asteroid strikes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, avalanches and wildfires.

It said that large to extreme earthquakes and tsunamis had been more common in the past 2000 years and this had focused the world's disaster response resources onto this threat.

But it concluded that the risk posed by volcanic eruptions is potentially far more serious.

Pointing to recent eruptions like the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull, which caused widespread disruption when it threw clouds of ash into the atmosphere.

It created the highest level of air travel disruption in Europe since the second world war and cost the European economy around $5 billion.

However, the researchers said that this eruption was relatively minor - rating between three and four on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI).

By comparison, the volcanic eruption in 79AD of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in Italy was around VEI5. Mount St Helen's explosion in 1980 was also VEI5.

The report states that there has been around 20 eruptions greater than VEI5 since 1500 with only the Tambora eruption reaching VEI7.

However around 75,000 years ago the explosion of a supervolcano at the site of Lake Toba on Sumatra in Indonesia was one of the world's largest known eruptions - rated VEI8.

It caused a global volcanic winter that lasted around 10 years and has been linked to 1,000 years of cooling.""

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3039652/Will-volcanic-eruption-destroy-humanity-Scientists-warn-world-begin-preparing-explosive-global-catastrophe.html

Trigger Bomb Plotted at Yellowstone to Erupt Supervolcano Ahead of Schedule

""A man on trial in Canada for an alleged plot to derail a passenger train wanted to trigger a catastrophic natural disaster by blowing up Yellowstone Park, his trial heard.

Tunisian student Chiheb Esseghaier spoke of the ‘death and destruction’ an eruption of the massive supervolcano beneath the national park would cause in the US, the court heard.

‘Wouldn’t it be great if my enemies’ worst national disaster could happen?’ an undercover FBI agent reported Essaghaier, 30, as saying, according to the The Canadian Press.

Yellowstone Park, which straddles Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, sits atop a swelling reservoir of magma 55 miles across and 30 miles wide. In parts it reaches depths of nine miles.

It is this subterranean lake of molten rock that heats the park’s famous geysers, but it has also been the cause of eruptions in the past that were so massive it has been dubbed a supervolcano.

Experts are divided on the impact an eruption of the supervolcano may have, but most say one would be catastrophic for the entire world.

In his third week of testimony, the undercover FBI agent said Essaghaier was ‘very passionate’ about the idea of triggering the Yellowstone volcano.

But in the end the doctoral student at the Université du Québec is said to have decided the idea was hopeless.

‘No. We cannot do anything to make the volcano erupt. It’s very deep. I don’t have any access,’ Essaghaier is alleged to have told the agent.

The court also heard that Essaghaier and his co-accused, Palestinian national Raed Jaser, considered a plot to poison soldiers and another to kill world leaders with a sniper rifle.

Studies have suggested that previous eruptions of Yellowstone Park’s supervolcano, which has lain dormant for 70,000 years, were a thousand times more powerful than the one in Mount St Helens in 1980.

When the super volcano last erupted about 640,000 years ago a cloud of ash covered the whole of North America and affected the global climate with an effect similar to a nuclear winter.

If it were to explode today, some say, the Yellowstone volcano would cover cities as far as 1,000 miles away with a layer of ash up to 10ft deep, killing all wildlife and making as much as two thirds of the U.S. uninhabitable.""

http://www.patriotnetdaily.com/terror-suspect-planned-to-blow-up-yellowstone-supervolcano-in-hopes-of-triggering-a-catastrophic-natural-disaster/