UC Berkley Topsoil Radiation Analysis for Strawberries, Kale, etc.

[Cheryl Nelson]

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2525

[Cheryl Nelson]

Brian, I don't know.  As Einstein said in regards to using nuclear energy to create steam for energy, "That's a heck of a way to boil water."  I imagine he's say the same thing about using nuclear energy to sweeten strawberries.  ;-)

[Cheryl Nelson]

One thing you could do, Kim, is get this winter's firewood now and shelter it.  After fallout is so widespread, you could rinse the firewood off first, then shelter it.  Does radiation get inside trees?  I don't know.  You should probably have a geiger counter and test it after rinsing to see if that does the trick.  If not, we need to find a solution.

[Kim B]

Now, if burning radioactive wood in a wood stove in a basement where as the smoke is diverted up through a chimney outside, would the radioactivity still get into the basement through the heat of the woodstove???  OF course I can see the radioactivity blowing out into one's backyard through the chimney.  It is too bad heat doesn't make it inert.

[Cheryl Nelson]

Okay, you have to build an underground, earth temperature home so you don't need to heat.  Just have lots of blankets and sweaters and such. 

Now, how to cook...

[Cheryl Nelson]

You said it, Pat.  Crap.  In areas of the world (like the desert) animal droppings are dried and used like wood to fuel fires.  But as said as I said that, I realized that if milk is coming out radioactive out of cows, you have to assume everything else is, too.  Double crap!

[pat staley]

Crap....What are we going to do if we can't burn the wood?  Furniture?  That is if we have a house standing.

[Cheryl Nelson]

It's a danged if you do, danged if you don't proposition.  Imagine having to burn firewood to keep warm in the winter, say if the electric grid is down.  Any ideas on alternatives to wood?

[Rosemary S]

Those are interesting readings. MDA stand for "maximum radiation dose allowed". I was looking specifically at ceasium-137. Some readings decrease over time and other increase over time. What I did find out when I started a paper on farming in a contaminated zone is this: fibrous roots absorbed more radiation than tap roots. Trees do become radioactive and when the wood is burn it releases all the radioactivity absorbed into the wood grain. Russia did a lot of research on this. The root zone for most plants is about 18 inches deep (about 46 cm) and can be deeper for some plants. If you plow under radioactive soil, it will percolate downward. The only draw back is that eventually, it will reach aquifers and contaminate underground water source.