...although to be fair to the antinuke crowd, I would have to agree with them about the TYPE of reactor.
With all the different, safer nuclear reactor designs that have been developed since, our power reactors are STILL all just remakes of a 1952 submarine engine. There's no possible reactor design in the world less refined and more primitive than that...
...except the 1942 graphite-core type, designed to produce bomb-making material, that the Russians tried to use to generate electricity. And we all know what happened with that one.
Err.. isn't it that "Certain Radius" that we are worried about?
Also, many elements that are potently part of the fallout act differently in the body then the carbon-14 that is in the coal. Iodine-131 for instance tends to concentrate in the thyroid. The problem isn't just for people, but for the pants and animals that make up the food we eat.
Iodine-131's half life is 8 days; that means in 90 days, it will have diminished to 1/2000 of its previous amount, and will be essentially undetectable in 90 more. You'll lose the season's crops for human consumption, but you might can salvage some value by converting to feed for the animals you'll have to postpone slaughtering for about the same time.
As for wildlife, which ones does Japan have that live long enough to get cancer that might be in the area? Tortises and maybe dolphins, anything unreplaceable?
While perhaps your assertion of the difference between coal fired emissions and those of the damaged reactors isn't quite accurate, according to the link, it DOES show that a whole lot of other exposures that we ignore or take for granted are far stronger. Yup, there's a whole lot of 'hysteriaizin' goin' on!
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With all the different, safer nuclear reactor designs that have been developed since, our power reactors are STILL all just remakes of a 1952 submarine engine. There's no possible reactor design in the world less refined and more primitive than that...
...except the 1942 graphite-core type, designed to produce bomb-making material, that the Russians tried to use to generate electricity. And we all know what happened with that one.
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Also, many elements that are potently part of the fallout act differently in the body then the carbon-14 that is in the coal. Iodine-131 for instance tends to concentrate in the thyroid. The problem isn't just for people, but for the pants and animals that make up the food we eat.
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Wait, what? When did we start eating the pants off of the animals?!
(I'm SO sorry.. but I spit-took when I read that and simply couldn't resist...)
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As for wildlife, which ones does Japan have that live long enough to get cancer that might be in the area? Tortises and maybe dolphins, anything unreplaceable?
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http://xkcd.com/radiation/
While perhaps your assertion of the difference between coal fired emissions and those of the damaged reactors isn't quite accurate, according to the link, it DOES show that a whole lot of other exposures that we ignore or take for granted are far stronger. Yup, there's a whole lot of 'hysteriaizin' goin' on!
VARGR
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