First, the bad news you know
I’m watching NHK where I just learned that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant’s #3 storage pool contained MOX (plutonium mix) fuel and that its floor may have cracked from the earthquake or explosion. Snow is now falling on northern Japan, 28,000 people have evacuated, over 8000 people are in shelters without food and sufficient heat and 13,000 are dead or missing.
I don’t want to sound like an apologist for the nuclear industry but a Terra-watt of coal energy does result in more deaths than a Terra-watt of nuclear energy. I would like to see nuclear power live up to its promise of safe and clean energy but this accident is a sad reminder that many have failed to take the long view and plan for the event that happens ever 500 or 10,000 years.
Is there any good news?
Yes there is some good news but, like the glimmer of hope in the bottom of Pandora’s box, it is very difficult to find. I can’t do anything about earthquakes, tsunamis or other disasters but I’m going to try to post as much good news as I can find so that we can crush hopelessness and help the people of Japan overcome these terrible disasters.
Anyone who has survived this tsunami and earthquake has already survived something worse than the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents. But in the information vacuum resulting from the tsunami, bad news travels fast and far. The news media is eager to hype this bad news and the nuclear industry is in “cover your *** (CYA)” mode, so they’re afraid to reveal anything beyond the absolute minimum they are required to by law. Recent updates at the TEPCO website and the IAEA have not been helpful. The ecological, biological and psychological effects of nuclear accidents seem much worse because we know so little and have so little control. TEPCO has failed to release timely and accurate information so that people can understand the risks and decide for themselves how to act upon this risk. It seems their fear of panic is likely to create the conditions where panic might occur even in a country which has been remarkably stoic in adversity.
So what is the good news?
- The highest published reading, 400 millisieverts, was between two reactors. The level at the power plant’s gate was lower and in populated areas much lower. The levels reported elsewhere appear to be within the 0.1 to 1.0 microsieverts/hour range. NOTE: I mistakingly reported nanoGreys as microsieverts. A nanogray is 0.001 microsieverts a microsievert is 0.001 millisieverts. So the highest number reported here is 0.000953, about 1/400,000th the level between the two reactors. It makes you appreciate the heroism of the power plant workers.
- Japanese food such as sushi, miso soup and komubu assures that many already have enough iodine to reduce the absorption of radioactive iodine.
- The Japanese culture of cleanliness including the practice of wearing anti-pollution face masks should reduce exposure.
- The power plant is very near the sea and falling rain and snow should help remove radioactive dust from the air. Much of this dust will land on tsunami debris which must be disposed of anyway.
- The disaster is unfolding before the growing season for most crops.
- There are no reports of large amounts of cesium 137 or strontium 90, most of the reports only say “radiation”, much of this is likely radioactive water (tritium?) and Chlorine-37 (injected seawater activated by neutrons). These don’t bioaccumulate for long in humans, its biological half life is around 10 days.
- The prevailing winds tend to blow over the Pacific where rain and wind will dilute the radioactive isotopes.
- If anyone outside of Japan is reading this, don’t worry about iodine unless you like miso soup, radiation may be measurable in your country but it is extremely unlikely to have measurable health effects.
This is only my first post on this topic. I hope it has been helpful. Please let me know if you hear of more good news or if I’ve made any mistakes here.
