Tokyo Radiation, Believe the Hype?
Here is an interesting post by Simon and Henrietta Cozens, Missionaries to Japan, on the situation / scare / panic / calm in Tokyo and surrounding areas due to increased radiation / Western media sensationalism / lack of awareness. Their post entitled, "Radiation in Tokyo - how to read a Geiger counter" relays the following:
"Sorry to get all evidence-based on you but I’m hearing people panicking and fleeing Tokyo because of the oncoming radiation apocalypse. Now this is the sort of thing that could easily be overtaken by events but let’s have a look at how much radiation is hitting Tokyo right now.I remember learning that there are three types of radiation: alpha, beta and gamma. Alpha does loads of damage but is very slow and can be stopped by a piece of paper; beta is a bit faster but can’t get you if you’re inside; gamma rays are fast and do damage but there are relatively few of them. But we talk about “radiation” as if it were all the same. Anyway, let’s measure some radiation.There are two things to notice: a spike in the middle, and the fact that radiation generally appears to have gone up a bit.
The important question is, how much? To answer that you need to know what the background radiation was. Thankfully, the site owner has put up a background sample, and here’s a screen-grab of that."
One Simon and Henrietta Cozens, Missionaries to Japan blog reader commented:
"I do not want to see people panic, either. Japan needs clear thinking and expert decision-making to handle the nuclear containment issue. However, for most reasonable people, the current fear is of what *may* happen, realistically. Japan is all about being prepared, right? Although radiation levels are not harmful in Tokyo *at the moment*, if I had children or was of childbearing age, I would be a little worried about the biological effects should the worst case scenario become a reality, and the wind direction be unfavorable."
You can read the rest of the story and comments here. Arigato to BT'er @onmugen for providing the link to the story! Oh! As Simon says: "...I am very impressed that it’s (Fukushima Dai Ichi Nuclear Plant) still standing. Those engineers deserve a medal for this one."To understand the meltdown, check this out![ad]
