Natural radiation measurements in France with comparisons around the world Bruno Comby August 10, 2018 To: Environmentalists for Nuclear – Canada and Environmentalists for Nuclear - USA I’m back in Houilles again at work for EFN now after one month of holiday in southern France. The round trip for my holiday was 2300 km, by electric car as I had already done last year. As I often do, of course I took my Geiger counter along for the trip. The radiation measured on a sailboat in the middle of a lake such as the Salagou Lake (or on the ocean) is significantly lower than on solid ground: about half. This is due to the fact that deep water is an excellent radiation absorber (used as such in nuclear power plants). Therefore it absorbs most of the terrestrial radiation which is about half of the total radiation (with of course no change on cosmic rays coming from the sky). See photo below of 0.05 microSv per hour of average radiation counts in the middle of the Salagou lake, while standing on solid ground the usual measurement would be about twice that amount in most locations (including shores of the Salagou lake) : 0.1 microSv per hour. In the nearby countryside, I have discovered a new local radiation hot spot in France in nature (publicly accessible) near the former Areva uranium mine of Lodeve. The radiation count there goes up to 4.8 microSv per hour (see photo below), that’s a 100 times more than in the middle of the Salagou lake, and 50 times more than the usual background radiation, but still 20 times less than I measured inside an inhabited house in Ramsar near the Caspian sea. 4.8 microSv per hour is higher than the radiation level today in the forbidden zone around Fukushima, and it is about the radiation level today when standing outside in front of the accidented reactors on the site of Fukushima. There is no danger for humans at such levels. Of course the radiation levels inside the accident reactors is still much higher (and dangerous for humans). Enjoy your summer. Bruno
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