Seminar to cover effects of nuclear radiation
The Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed is sponsoring a seminar today on the effects of radiation on the human body and the status of the nuclear power accident in Fukushima, Japan. Also on the agenda is a support system for atomic bomb survivors.
Randy Wada, a Honolulu bone marrow transplant surgeon, said HICARE’s goal is to take "all the knowledge and clinical research information gained from the decades of care of atomic bomb survivors and disseminate it to the world" to use in case of radiation emergencies elsewhere in the world.
Hawaii is one of three areas in the world where there is a significant population of atomic bomb survivors, so HICARE, sponsored by the Japanese and the Hiroshima prefectural governments, is holding the seminars here, Wada said.
The seminar is open to the public from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at Tokai International College, 2241 Kapiolani Blvd., Room 802.
To reserve a seat for today, fax to 356-0313 or email kpatrick@hawaii.edu.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Summits’ snow forecast to stay for a few days
Snow on the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa will likely last into next week, National Weather Service forecasters predict.
Several inches of snow have fallen since Saturday. Web cameras atop both summits show a blanket of snow on the ground.
"It’s wintertime," said Derek Wroe, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. "Temperatures are colder than normal but not unusual for this time of year."
The weather service lifted winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories Wednesday morning. Park rangers opened the road to the summit of Mauna Kea after ice that had accumulated overnight melted.
The weather system that brought the snow has moved away and weakened, but it is still bringing near-freezing temperatures during the day and temperatures in the 20s at night at the summits.
Another weather system in the upper atmosphere is moving in from the west. That system might bring rain to Kauai and Oahu beginning today and will likely keep temperatures on the mountaintops below or near freezing into next week, Wroe said.
