More from the experts:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/science/03radiation.html
Drumbeat of Nuclear Fallout Fear Doesnt Resound With Experts
May 2, 2011
>>>snip
The nuclear disaster in Japan has sent waves of radiation and dread around the globe, prompting so many people to buy radiation detectors and potassium iodide to fend off thyroid cancer that supplies quickly sold out.
The fear is unwarranted, experts say. People in Japan near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant may have reason to worry about the consequences of radiation leaks, scientists say, and some reactor workers, in particular, may suffer illness. But
outside of Japan, the increase is tiny, compared with numerous other sources of radiation, past and present.
Experts say that humans are bombarded by so much radiation from so many other sources, including many natural ones, that
the uptick from Japan disappears as a cause of concern {when} the big picture is considered...
>>>...<<<
...
In the worlds oceans, thousands of decomposing drums of radioactive waste pose bigger dangers than the relatively small amounts of radioactive water released from the Fukushima Daiichi plant...
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...During the cold war, for example, more than 500 {nuclear} detonations pumped the global atmosphere full of deadly radioactive materials, some of which are still emitting radiation....
...Figures from the United Nations put the
total bomb radiation from decades of atmospheric testing at almost
70 billion curies. By contrast, the 1986 accident at the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant released about 100 million curies of the most dangerous materials.
As for
Fukushima Daiichi, Japanese officials
said on April 12 that
the reactor complex had released about 10 million curies. In 1979, the reactor accident at
Three Mile Island released about 50 curies into the environment...
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...Additionally, many experts say,
the threat to the Japanese people is probably low because unlike the radioactive fallout from the cold war and the Chernobyl accident
most of the radiation is believed to have blown out to sea on the prevailing winds...
...But people, rather than sea creatures, are by far the biggest recipients of artificial radiation, and most of the exposure is intentional. According to the United Nations reports,
from1988 to 2008, the number of examinations worldwide in diagnostic radiology more than doubled, to 3.1 billion from 1.4 billion.
(article continues)
<<<snip
Sorry about the butcher job on this article, but I just had so many WTF!?- moments reading it, I couldn't stop snipping. Do read the whole thing if you can.
Taking myself off to a nice corner soon, but first:
Hey, experts?