DOH: No Signs Of Radiation In Washington - News Story - KIRO Seattle
http://www.kirotv.com/news/27175733/detail.html
"The Washington State Department of Health released a statement Saturday afternoon assuring residents that no signs of radiation have been detected in the state following the nuclear explosions in Japan."
Of course there haven't! What there has been detected, right here in the linked article, is some half-assed reporting by someone who can't tell the difference between a nuclear explosion and a non-nuclear explosion at the nuclear plant, dammit! Which is what, so far, has really happened with respect to the damaged reactors in Japan. So far, the reactors themselves haven't been breached, and are not leaking radiation. What happened is that some of the water sprayed over their superheated containments to bring down their temperatures dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen because of the extreme temperatures, which then rapidly recombined, the result being an explosion -- one not involving any radioactive materials. Are we okay with that?
Furthermore, if there is a leak from those reactors, or a real nuclear explosion, the radioactive materials from that would be far more likely to fall out over Japan than anywhere else, though they could drift as far west as China, as far north as the Tunguska Peninsula of Russia, or as far south or east as Midway or Wake. The likelihood that they could travel all the way to Washington State is so low that if you made a bet of $1 on it and it somehow managed to pay off, you'd win several million dollars as a result. So you can breathe now, folks. {grouse grumble snarl}
"The Washington State Department of Health released a statement Saturday afternoon assuring residents that no signs of radiation have been detected in the state following the nuclear explosions in Japan."
Of course there haven't! What there has been detected, right here in the linked article, is some half-assed reporting by someone who can't tell the difference between a nuclear explosion and a non-nuclear explosion at the nuclear plant, dammit! Which is what, so far, has really happened with respect to the damaged reactors in Japan. So far, the reactors themselves haven't been breached, and are not leaking radiation. What happened is that some of the water sprayed over their superheated containments to bring down their temperatures dissociated into hydrogen and oxygen because of the extreme temperatures, which then rapidly recombined, the result being an explosion -- one not involving any radioactive materials. Are we okay with that?
Furthermore, if there is a leak from those reactors, or a real nuclear explosion, the radioactive materials from that would be far more likely to fall out over Japan than anywhere else, though they could drift as far west as China, as far north as the Tunguska Peninsula of Russia, or as far south or east as Midway or Wake. The likelihood that they could travel all the way to Washington State is so low that if you made a bet of $1 on it and it somehow managed to pay off, you'd win several million dollars as a result. So you can breathe now, folks. {grouse grumble snarl}