Turning Japanese

Unless you're blind, deaf, in a coma or are kept in a dimly lit dungeon, you know of the catastrophic Japanese earthquake and concomitant tsunami. Over 4300 people have been killed with somewhere near 10000 more missing. It's been called a "tragedy." It isn't. It's a natural disaster. Folks on the Interwebz have called it some sort of portent to End Times, the Second Coming and any other eschatological tripe that the Jesus lunatics believe. Then there's the situation at the Daiichi plant and its reactors, which is being used to scare Americans by being falsely reported.

Firstly, what is being spread by air as of early today is not radiation, it's contamination. There's a difference. It's known as "airborne contamination." And the levels in the air are nothing to worry about, especially if you're in America. The highest readings I've heard of thus far are 121mrem/hr near the site. Added up over time (time being spent outside), it can do some damage. Ten hours outdoors in a day would give you a bit over 1 R, which in my field, is 1/5 of the yearly limit imposed by the DOE. The evacuation area of 20km around the plant basically means residents are safe from being crapped up, for distance is a huge factor in protection from radiologically contaminated things, with distance and shielding. 


Secondly, you need to know what kind of contamination is present. That's what I'm waiting to hear. I haven't heard word one if what's actually present-- alpha, beta, gamma or neutron. These things matter.


I read this afternoon about Americans on the west coast buying up potassium iodide pills to offset potential problems to the thyroid cause by radiation poisoning. America, even if there is a total meltdown, you have NOTHING TO FUCKING WORRY ABOUT. Could the Daiichi plant turn into another Chernobyl? Probably not. Why? Because Daiichi has something which Chernobyl was lacking: containment vessels. And those containment  vessels are still in tact, doing their job containing the really bad shit. There would have to be a blast so strong that it destroys the vessels, which is highly unlikely. Even with winds, the shit in the air over Japan during and after this hypothetical meltdown would do no damage to the US. At most, you may get something barely above background. And my the way, you pick up on average 360mrem per year just by living (though some places it's much higher, like India). If you fly or microwave often, you'll pick up more. I work in the nuke industry doing demo; I pick up MUCH more than the normal human. I also fly 6-10 times per year, and every physical I've had has shown no anomalies. I would have zero problem leaving for Japan tomorrow to do decon work at the site.


So calm down, folks. Do some good and make a Red Cross donation to help the victims of the disaster. Send a care package. Try to learn something about radiation and radioactivity before jumping to conclusions and/or believing what news anchors and supposed "experts" tell you.