The Davistown Museum

The Davistown Museum Department of Environmental History announces the publication of Fukushima Daiichi: Nuclear Information Handbook: A Guide to Accident Terminology and Information Sources, now available from Amazon.com in paperback ($24) and Kindle eBook format. A preview is available here in PDF format. This handbook is also available at the Davistown Museum, Liberty Tool Company, Hulls Cove Tool Barn, Captain Tinkham's Emporium, and through this website. The handbook is available at Sherman's Bookstore in Bar Harbor, Barnes and Noble, and other independent bookstores. If you are visiting any of these bookstores and the handbook is not in, please bring it to the attention of the manager. Review copies may be obtained by emailing fukushima@enginecompanyno9.org. A review by Kirkus Book Reviews may be found here.

A draft of the print version, which includes updates made after publication, is available in pdf format. As of July of 2012, the Environmental History Department will be posting incoming data pertaining to contaminated tsunami debris collected by state environmental agencies in CA, OR, WA, and AK as well as by private individuals and environmental organizations if and as soon as such data becomes available. Contact information as well as tips and leads would be greatly appreciated. We are particularly interested in identifying hot particle contamination that may have been deposited in the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch debris, which now includes large quantities of tsunami-derived debris. Comments and information from other sources is welcome.

Please note we also have a blog called Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster about the tsunami-caused nuclear accidents in Japan. This blog is no longer active but contains many questions and observations pertaining to the Japan disaster. It will be reactivated in the event of another significant nuclear disaster. Important information about radioactive contamination arriving on west coast USA beaches from the tsunami debris will also be posted on the blog as information becomes available. Pacific coast radiological monitors, please contact the Davistown Museum department of Environmental History if you are able to document the arrival of radioactive tsunami debris over the next several years. We will then begin coordinating information from federal, state, and local sources and posting relevant data on this blog.

The Davistown Museum Department of Environmental History is looking for volunteers to help collect and collate radiological surveillance information pertaining to the situation in Japan. Visitor's to our Japan disaster Blog, please note the questions that have been posted on June 16, 2011. While TEPCO and the Japanese government have been forthcoming on providing extensive data about exposure to ambient radiation levels as measured in microsieverts per hour, no radiometric survey is yet available detailing ground deposition of Cs-137 in Japan. This is the essential information necessary to evaluate the radiological impact of this ongoing nuclear soap opera. While TEPCO subcontractors and Japanese first responders have done a great job in cooling down and controlling the temperature of the melted fuel, fissile activity is ongoing and will continue to result in airborne releases that need to be measured on an hourly basis from all seven point sources until a closed loop cooling system is constructed. Data pertaining to the hourly release of airborne emissions as measured in becquerels per cubic meter of air contamination is still not available. Any individuals who would like to assist us with a comprehensive survey of the radiological impact of this accident please contact fukushima@enginecompanyno9.org.

Below is the first paragraph of the publication announcement. To see the entire announcement, related public service announcement, media memo, hot zone advisories, and preview of the text, click here.

This Handbook is a clearly written and easy-to-read guide to nuclear accidents, including the Japanese disaster, which concerned citizens, first responders, emergency management personnel, and news reporters can easily understand. It is an essential reference for anyone who may in the future have to evaluate the significance, impact, and emissions pathways of any nuclear accident. The text begins with a detailed description of the seven ongoing interrelated nuclear accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi complex. It continues with easy-to-understand explanations of the reporting units, biologically significant radioisotopes, contamination levels of concern, protection action guidelines, and pathways of any nuclear accident. This Handbook also includes information not available from other online sources, such as now-classified U.S. spent fuel inventories, baseline data pertaining to nuclear weapons fallout and other nuclear accident point sources, a comprehensive Chernobyl fallout database, and confidential documents pertaining to fuel cladding failures in an aging nuclear reactor. More...