Is Rainwater Radiation in US Cities Linked to the Japan Disaster?

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A political blog has highlighted a screenshot from an EPA database indicating elevated levels of radioactive iodine in rainwater across several US cities, attributing this to the Japan nuclear disaster. While the data appears legitimate, there are concerns regarding the blogger's interpretation, particularly the comparison of EPA drinking water standards to rainwater and the presence of older data from 2004. Some participants in the discussion clarified that the entries are actually from 2011 but presented in a confusing format. There is skepticism about the media's portrayal of the situation, with claims of a lack of timely data release and inter-agency disputes being dismissed as overblown. The EPA acknowledges that increased radioactive levels in rainwater were anticipated following the Japan incident, confirming that recent precipitation data shows elevated radiation levels above historical norms.
Galteeth
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This link was found on a political site I frequent. The blogger has posted a screenshot of an EPA database search showing high levels of radioactive iodine in rainwater of some US cities. he is suggesting this is a consequence of the Japan disaster. The data itself appears to be legit, though I am skeptical of his interpretations. For one, he is comparing EPA standards for drinking water to rainwater. Two, though many of the listings are from this year, a large number seems to be from 2004 (which "begs" the questions ((using that in the colloquial sense, not the rhetorical sense)) what happened in 2004?). Nevertheless, these levels from a laymen's point of view seem to be quite high. Thinking skeptically, it would seem that this should be bigger news. Can anyone shed some light on this and put this data in context? Thanks.


http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/04/23/japan-nuclear-radiation-rainwater-update-idaho-iodine-levels-14066-epa-limit-19907/
 
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As someone on the JREF forums pointed out, the entries are actually all from 2011, just ordered differently.
 
Galteeth said:
The data itself appears to be legit...
On what do you base that? All I see is a spreadsheet.
 
Links to credible data on airborne iodine-131 n the UK are here:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/NationalPressReleases/2011PressReleases/

I don't know what the official UK "safe level" is, but these numbers are stated to be below it.

The press tried to turn this into a scare story about data "not being released for 72 hours", and "a row between the Scottish and UK health protection agencies". Yawn...
 
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russ_watters said:
On what do you base that? All I see is a spreadsheet.

you can go to the EPA site and search
 
Galteeth said:
you can go to the EPA site and search
Did you?
 
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/rert/RadNet-Precipitation-Data-Public-Release-FINAL.pdf

"Elevated levels of radioactive material in rainwater have been expected as a result of the nuclear incident after the events in Japan since radiation is known to travel in the atmosphere - precipitation data collected in several states show elevated levels of radiation in recent precipitation events. In all cases these are levels above the normal background levels historically reported in these areas."
 

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