Who said it would be harmless? It’s just not that bad. A pilot will typically rack up around 1-2 mSv of radiation every year and the EU allows air crew a maximum exposure of 6 mSv. That’s about the same as you’ll get from background radiation in the Fukushima exclusion zone (and that’s assuming it doesn’t reduce over time).
I think long term, these elevated levels (especially considering that the surrounding area includes farm land) could still have a negative impact on health.
There wasn’t an explosion scattering radioactive material across the region, like with Chernobyl, so the radiation is probably what is being released by the reactor. When that is brought under control, or at least sealed, then the levels could well return to normal. If that happens within a couple of months, the exposure might not be much more than Three Mile Island.
A lot of people talking about the incident tend to talk about it in terms that indicate they think it is. That’s all and I wish there was more honesty or at least more measured and less dismissive discourse.
It’s just not that bad. A pilot will typically rack up around 1-2 mSv of radiation every year and the EU allows air crew a maximum exposure of 6 mSv. That’s about the same as you’ll get from background radiation in the Fukushima exclusion zone (and that’s assuming it doesn’t reduce over time).
Well, that depends on where you are at in the exclusion zone, but pilots do have a significantly increased cancer risk. It’s not negligible. You’re right that it should decrease overtime if they can get it under control and sealed eventually.
There wasn’t an explosion scattering radioactive material across the region, like with Chernobyl, so the radiation is probably what is being released by the reactor. When that is brought under control, or at least sealed, then the levels could well return to normal. If that happens within a couple of months, the exposure might not be much more than Three Mile Island.
Well, I’m hoping for the best, like everyone else.
Has anyone posted this chart yet?
http://xkcd.com/radiation/
It’s pretty good.
News! (sort of)
Tsunami dog reunited with owner
This matters, damnit! I love comparing the lost & confused look the dog has @ 0:15 with his face at the end of the clip.
Also, Japanese have problem sorting valuables that are washing onto the shore.
Safes are washing up along the tsunami-battered coast, and police are trying to find their owners — a unique problem in a country where many people, especially the elderly, still stash their cash at home. By one estimate, some $350 billion worth of yen doesn’t circulate.
//…
Yasuo Kimura, 67, considers himself one of the lucky ones. The tsunami swallowed and gutted his home in Onagawa, about 50 miles (75 kilometers) south of Ofunato. He escaped with his 90-year-old father and the clothes on his back. But he still has money in the bank.
That’s not the case for many of his longtime friends and acquaintances, said Kimura, a former bank employee.
“I spent my career trying to convince them to deposit their money in a bank,” he said, staring out at his flattened city. “They always thought it was safer to keep it at home.”
Quaro
1685
There is no chance that things go to Three Mile Island territory in a few months. They’ve already dumped enough material, including 50k tons of radioactive water, to make Three Mile Island look like a paper cut. Unit 4’s unspent fuel rods were likely the worst offender here. Ballpark estimations on the water alone put it close to Chernobyl territory, and they only released it into the ocean to make room for even more radioactive water.
The primary concern is contamination, not radiation per se. If everyone in the area wore air filters and suits all the time, you are right that the radiation itself isn’t a big deal. But there is indeed quite a bit of concern about material release:
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan released a preliminary calculation Monday saying that the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had been releasing up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour at some point after a massive quake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11.
The disclosure prompted the government to consider raising the accident’s severity level to 7, the worst on an international scale, from the current 5, government sources said. The level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale has only been applied to the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/84721.html
Quaro
1686
I came here to post exactly that. And the stunning thing is that that isn’t the worst news; last I heard the confirmed dead & missing are in the tens of thousands, not to mention something like 150,000 people still living in refugee shelters.
Sigh Those poor people. At least they have a functioning, relatively efficient government, unlike us.
Yeah if something like that happened here we would be fucked.
JonRowe
1689
No totally wrong, our government is great at handling disasters on home soil… Just, block out 2005 from memory.
That being said, I think the scary part about this problem is that it is like a game of Tapper or Diner Dash, once they “serve one customer” another one comes in the door. It has been going that way for a month now, and they seem to be taking 1 step forward and 2 steps backward all of the time. We cooled down the reactor, oh wait, now we are leaking radioactive water, fixed that, oh great another earthquake… on and on…
I really hope they can figure out something spectacular fast.
Quaro
1690
The US, in some respects, is better prepared. Japan has no equivalent to a NEST team, their NRC equivalent doesn’t have the same teeth, and they don’t the depth of experience in their military either.
The Japanese government couldn’t have taken charge from TEPCO, even if they thought they were bungling things.
Japan raises nuclear severity level from 5 to 7, the Chernobyl level, due to the total amount of radiation emitted so far. They now estimate about 1/10 of that in the Chernobyl disaster, although with no comparable environmental or health effects due to the different nature of the release. Most of that radiation would have been released early on, and major new leaks are not expected; however, Tepco still cannot say when the minor leaks will be plugged.
Headline says: The first pictures from the deathzone (directly translated).
http://politiken.dk/fotografier/nyhederfoto/ECE1253106/foto-billeder-fra-doedszonen/
I know the nuclear disaster is serious, but hate how the media frames it. Look at the first picture and then imagine those dogs in colour… I don’t think that headline would have worked.
newbrof
1693
hate how the media frames it
too bad, that the media is anti-nuclear… why can’t we have happy nuclear reactor pictures these days?
Can you at least agree that the only thing that’s dead in the “dead zone” are animals that were left without food and those who died of the tsunami?
Kalle
1695
Yes, too bad. It makes insufferable douchebags like you think that NUCLEAR DEATH RAYS is actually a real concern.
Meanwhile the tsunami victims are still missing in the thousands and whatever casualties caused by the release of nuclear materials will only be a footnote to the real disaster that took place.
Yes. People outside Japan dwelling exclusively on the nuclear issues are being self-centered. Collapsing buildings and seawater scraping the land bare dwarf these issues.
Mordrak
1697
What do you mean by dwelling? It’s the most relevant to issues at home. Within the US, most people live within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant. The damage and suffering from the earthquake and resulting tsunami is terrible indeed, but not as broadly relevant to local policy.
I’d say that in several parts of the US earthquake preparedness and how to respond (as a nation) is still much more relevant to discuss than nuclear safety.
And I’m anti-nuclear (I even have an old Greenpeace membership and “no nukes”-badge somewhere)… it’s just that the stupidity of the media and people like Newbrof are pushing intelligent people away from that side. And I’m more worried by global warming than by the problems of nuclear power.
newbrof
1699
the release of nuclear materials will only be a footnote to the real disaster that took place
The release of nuclear materials will be relevant for many, many years in Japan.
And I’m more worried by global warming
man up!
Mordrak
1700
Well, I’m certainly not defending newbrof, but I think it’s just realistic that the nuclear issue would persist longer in the news cycle because it’s relevant and is still ongoing. The clean up effort and dealing with displaced individuals is going to be a long and slow going process. I feel complaining about the amount of coverage of the nuclear issue compared to the overall disaster is like complaining about the continued coverage of terrorism after 9/11 instead of the cleanup efforts and rebuilding (or failed rebuilding) of the twin towers.
