Fukushima Daisies....and what that means for humans

Debi said:
Which still doesn't change the main question....what is the radiation doing to us?
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Not a whole lot to be honest. Obviously, the closer you get to the site the higher rad levels are going to be - but I don't think anyone is growing anything for human consumption in the surrounding area. Nearby fish and other creatures in the waters offshore are also off-limits to catch and eat, and that's completely understandable as well. Make no mistake, we'll be seeing the effects of Fukushima for centuries to come, but I would advise people to take the sensationalist rhetoric with a grain of salt. And as big of a deal as Fukushima was (and let's not downplay exactly what happened), the carcinogens released by that facility after the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami is a fraction of what's emitted by the world's coal and petroleum-burning power plants on a yearly basis.

Make no mistake, there is a substantial area in Japan that simply wont be able to grow crops for the foreseeable future thanks to elevated rad levels, but I wouldn't write-off the entire country or the Pacific Ocean as dangerously contaminated.

In fact, the biggest risk is probably from chemical contamination getting into the local food chain there. People tend to forget this, but the Tsunami leveled oil refineries, chemical producers, and various manufacturing facilities which likely introduced thousands of tons of potentially harmful toxins into the environment. Think of heavy metals like mercury or plastics and polymers and how they are ingested or absorbed into animals such as fish and birds and accumulate over time.
 
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^ Interesting! Thanks for the link.

Ugh, that's a LOT of coal plants. :anguished:
 
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surge said:
I'm not a big fan of nuclear energy. I'm aware of what the proponents say, but Fukushima and Chernobyl are the only things I need to know. There is no way to really, properly, dispose of the waste, and it's dangerous. Yes, there have been only a few accidents, but those accidents have been doozies.
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For what it is worth, there are currently 438 nuclear power plants operating around the world today (source), but 33 accidents in the history of industrial nuclear power generation (source). Your phrasing makes it sound as if they are very commonplace when in fact they are not. On disposing of nuclear waste you and I agree - there are no great solutions, only varying forms of good solutions. There are some good alternative designs that unfortunately aren't being used anywhere other than on a very small experimental scale (pebble bed reactors come immediately to mind); the prevailing economic conditions and state of the infrastructure make me think that they're not going to be deployed anytime soon.
 
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The Doctor said:
For what it is worth, there are currently 438 nuclear power plants operating around the world today (source), but 33 accidents in the history of industrial nuclear power generation (source). Your phrasing makes it sound as if they are very commonplace when in fact they are not. On disposing of nuclear waste you and I agree - there are no great solutions, only varying forms of good solutions. There are some good alternative designs that unfortunately aren't being used anywhere other than on a very small experimental scale (pebble bed reactors come immediately to mind); the prevailing economic conditions and state of the infrastructure make me think that they're not going to be deployed anytime soon.
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I didn't mean to imply that accidents are commonplace; I did say there have been only a few of them. :)
 
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surge said:
I didn't mean to imply that accidents are commonplace; I did say there have been only a few of them. :)
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The whole fact that they are accidents waiting to happen, or purposeful terrorist gold mines is enough...

We have plenty of genius minds like Elon Musk - let the man work his magic...

I know some folks who work at a nuclear power plant. They have missiles parked outside to defend the plant. During September 11th they had jets. Do we really want to have to spend money like that for something so risky?
 
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