Removing radiation from water onboard ship

[ICtheC]

I know that ships use flash distillation to remove salt and impurities from the sea water but does it also remove radiation. Since we read that the radiation from fukushima is just 100 miles off the US shore - it is a concern to us and we will be drinking only bottled water onboard if it comes from a safe source. Need to know whether to budget for that expense.

Thanks for any info!

[sail7seas]

HAL permits guests to bring bottled water aboard. No need to budget; bring as much as you wish.

[CruiserBruce]

The water from Japan has incredibly low radioactivity. It has some microscopic materials that can be identified as radioactive, and specific from the Fukushima reactor. Beyond that, it is NO danger to you.

 

Air with the same materials arrived more than a year ago. Are you glowing?

[Mary Ellen]

You know your food will be prepared with the same water? All dishes will also be washed with water distilled on board. I'm not seeing any way around that. :confused:

Edited July 16, 2015 by Mary Ellen

[Sopwith]

Your chances of dieing or becoming seriously injured driving to and from the ship are at least 1,000,000 times higher than the chance of any signifant health risks from radioactive isotopes in the water. Relax and enjoy the cruise.

[Mary Ellen]

You'll also need to bring a whole LOT of water if you don't want to shower/bathe/shampoo with the distilled water. Washing your hands frequently is very important on a cruise. That will require even more water.

[POA1]

From Deep Sea News:

 

http://www.deepseanews.com/2013/11/true-facts-about-ocean-radiation-and-the-fukushima-disaster/

[Khaos WolfKat]

From Deep Sea News:

 

http://www.deepseanews.com/2013/11/true-facts-about-ocean-radiation-and-the-fukushima-disaster/

 

That article rules! It was made even more awesome, due to the fact that she not only used the Simsons as a handy visual guide, but that she referenced xkcd as well!!! I squeed! :D

[take us away]

You may receive more radiation having dental x-rays than many days at sea so no worries. The flash distillation will probably not do anything to the minute levels of radiation.

[chengkp75]

Cruise ships generally use a combination of flash distillation and reverse osmosis to make fresh water from sea water. Lets look at both methods.

 

Flash distillation. This method boils sea water in a vacuum (to lower the boiling point, and save energy). The steam produced is then condensed into distilled water. Last time I checked, cesium has a much higher boiling point than water, so no cesium would carry over to be condensed in the drinking water.

 

Reverse Osmosis. This method pressurizes sea water to about 3000 psi, and then squeezes it through a membrane whose pore size allows water molecules through, but not larger things like sodium or chloride ions that make up sea water. Again, cesium and other radioactive isotopes from a reactor are far larger than these particles, so they will not be passed to the drinking water.

 

If you want to drink bottled water, that is your decision to make, but as others have stated, all water onboard, including all water used in food preparation, ice, etc., is made from the same source, so you will be exposed to any perceived radiation from these sources as well.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We don't worry about drinking water on the ships.

It is better than what comes out of our taps at home.

[hunt182644]

My cousin and wife only glowed for a few days after their cruise.:D

[chengkp75]

Couple more points.

 

You don't remove radiation from something, you remove the radioactive particles. Quickly scanned a couple articles on water contamination with radioactive particles, and both reverse osmosis and charcoal filtration are among the recommended processes. All water outlets on the ship like ice makers, bar guns, and the water/drink dispensers in the buffet and at the service stations in the other dining venues use charcoal filters to remove the chlorine from the water (not for taste, but for maintenance reasons in the equipment).

 

Now, water that is subject to intense radiation can have the hydrogen change to tritium, which does have a half-life of about 12 years, but tritium gives off very low amounts of beta emissions when it decays, and also when formed into tritiated water and ingested, it has a half life of 7-14 days in the body, so you would need quite a lot of severely concentrated tritiated water to cause harm. Tritium is also naturally occurring through the interaction of hydrogen and water vapor in the atmosphere with cosmic rays.

 

Finally, how do you know the bottled water is "from a safe source"? I remember a couple decades ago when Perrier was found to have high levels of benzene in it, as an example.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I know that ships use flash distillation to remove salt and impurities from the sea water but does it also remove radiation. Since we read that the radiation from fukushima is just 100 miles off the US shore - it is a concern to us and we will be drinking only bottled water onboard if it comes from a safe source. Need to know whether to budget for that expense.

Thanks for any info!

Welcome to Cruise Critic...

[richstowe]

This should eliminate all radiation plus it regrows hair .

 

[IRL_Joanie]

The water from Japan has incredibly low radioactivity. It has some microscopic materials that can be identified as radioactive, and specific from the Fukushima reactor. Beyond that, it is NO danger to you.

 

Air with the same materials arrived more than a year ago. Are you glowing?

 

 

Joanie

[prescottbob]

Cruise ships generally use a combination of flash distillation and reverse osmosis to make fresh water from sea water. Lets look at both methods.

 

Flash distillation. This method boils sea water in a vacuum (to lower the boiling point, and save energy). The steam produced is then condensed into distilled water. Last time I checked, cesium has a much higher boiling point than water, so no cesium would carry over to be condensed in the drinking water.

 

Reverse Osmosis. This method pressurizes sea water to about 3000 psi, and then squeezes it through a membrane whose pore size allows water molecules through, but not larger things like sodium or chloride ions that make up sea water. Again, cesium and other radioactive isotopes from a reactor are far larger than these particles, so they will not be passed to the drinking water.

 

If you want to drink bottled water, that is your decision to make, but as others have stated, all water onboard, including all water used in food preparation, ice, etc., is made from the same source, so you will be exposed to any perceived radiation from these sources as well.

 

Excellent explanation. Thank you.

 

Bob:)

[chengkp75]

And another point, here's a link to a study that involves Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

 

The salient point is that the levels of the longest half-life and most important isotopes, Ce-137 is "expected to peak in 2015-2016 at 5 becquerels per cubic meter", while Canada's standard for Ce-137 in drinking water is 10,000 becquerels per cubic meter. So, the isotopes from Fukushima will add only a negligible amount of "radiation" to the sea water.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDAQFjAFahUKEwiM4uGE1d_GAhUKkw0KHeBbBU4&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffukushimaupdate.com%2Ffukushima-radioactivity-monitoring-in-the-north-pacific-ocean%2F&ei=NKWnVYz4LoqmNuC3lfAE&usg=AFQjCNEzHVnsVoRQfXQAKKHeaTeape9-qA

[ICtheC]

thanks for all the good info - especially chengkp75

excellent explanation and puts it all in perspective.

I did look up how they distill water for ship use but

wasn't aware of the particle info.

We come from a generation that was exposed to multiple x-rays

chest x-rays every year for tb, dental, machines in the shoe stores

to see if the bones of the feet fit into the shoe properly, as well as the

medical x-rays over and over.

So now we try to avoid radiation from any source when we can.

[chengkp75]

thanks for all the good info - especially chengkp75

excellent explanation and puts it all in perspective.

I did look up how they distill water for ship use but

wasn't aware of the particle info.

We come from a generation that was exposed to multiple x-rays

chest x-rays every year for tb, dental, machines in the shoe stores

to see if the bones of the feet fit into the shoe properly, as well as the

medical x-rays over and over.

So now we try to avoid radiation from any source when we can.

 

Me, too. And I was of the generation exposed to asbestos aboard ships, so DW figures all my time now is gravy!

[Sir PMP]

I know that ships use flash distillation to remove salt and impurities from the sea water but does it also remove radiation. Since we read that the radiation from fukushima is just 100 miles off the US shore - it is a concern to us and we will be drinking only bottled water onboard if it comes from a safe source. Need to know whether to budget for that expense.

Thanks for any info!

 

No it cannot be removed, that's why everyone is walking around the promenade deck so energized...

[BruceMuzz]

The residents of Denver Colorado receive higher radiation doses every day of the year (from natural radioactive Uranium in the mountains) than the residents of Fukushima received during their big crisis.

Haven't heard too many dire news reports from Denver lately.

[Boytjie]

thanks for all the good info - especially chengkp75

excellent explanation and puts it all in perspective.

I did look up how they distill water for ship use but

wasn't aware of the particle info.

We come from a generation that was exposed to multiple x-rays

chest x-rays every year for tb, dental, machines in the shoe stores

to see if the bones of the feet fit into the shoe properly, as well as the

medical x-rays over and over.

So now we try to avoid radiation from any source when we can.

 

You may want to avoid flying too then. ;)

[ICtheC]

chengkp75

 

Our daughter was exposed to asbestos in a school where she was

working and she now has severe asthma and has to carry a mask

in case of exposure to any irritants and also a epi-pen.

Hope you are doing better than she is!

 

 

Boytjie

 

Yes, we avoid flying now - we are coming home by train

There was an article about pilots getting sick from the bad air coming

into the plane since 50% of the air is pulled in from outside

plus the added radiation of course.

[Keith1010]

You have asked a good question.

 

When on board I would ask the Chief Engineer about this just to get his take.

 

In the interim I just would not worry about it.

 

Keith