Is Japan safe after Fukushima nuclear disaster?

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The radiation levels in Tokyo are equal or lower than New York.
The radiation value of Fukushima city is equal to the Global average.
Food, water, people are safe in Japan.

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　IT IS TOKYO SAFE?

  The prophets of the (nuclear) apocalypse, with increasing insistence, make absurd proclamations on social networks, websites, magazines (etc.) regarding the incident of Fukushima daiichi. These “prophets” are often mythomaniacs, eco-terrorists, J-haters and generic idiots, who base their irrational and absurd claims on unreliable and unscientific (if not invented on purpose) sources.

  After March 11, instead of helping, a number of not-so-ethic, and not-so-documented people have speculated and raved about the tragic events that hit our beloved Japan. I should mention that infamous Italian journalist who spoke of "Tokyo evacuated and radioactive." Well, after the disaster I was in Tokyo twice and I find it crowded and busy as always. If You check the radiation levels of the capital city of Japan, on reliable sources on Internet (http://radiationnetwork.com/Japan.htm or http://www.jnto.go.jp/eq/eng/04_recovery.htm). You will find that the levels are equal or lower of those of New York, London or Rome. SO, *TOKYO IS SAFE*.

　IT IS JAPAN SAFE?

  I don’t underestimate the situation in the zone of the crippled atomic power plant. But, conversely of the statements of the prophets of apocalypse, Japan isn’t in danger. I would like to highlight that the relatively small fallout after March 11 was due by the explosion of hydrogen accumulated in crippled plants and not, like in Chernobyl, by the explosion of nuclear reactor itself, that projected an immense radioactive cloud up to the stratosphere. The alert level is currently set on “3” on a scale of 7 (International Nuclear Event Scale - INES) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Nuclear_Event_Scale ).  The incident is “serious” but the consequences will be limited to a ground area of approximate 500 km2. The surface of Japan is equal to 377,944 km2. So, only 0.13% of the ground surface of Japan will have radiation issues for the next decades. Here, You can find an updated map of the radiation levels all over Japan: (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eq/eng/04_recovery.htm)

  As you can see, the radiation values of Japan are LOWER than that of New York or London. The radiation level values in the prefecture of Fukushima (outside the small exclusion zone) are comparable to those of New York, London, Hong Kong (etc). The value of Fukushima city is equal to the Global average.

SO, *JAPAN IS SAFE*.

　IT IS NORTH AMERICA SAFE?

  The prophets of apocalypse, always ready to invent new sensational “facts”, intensively talked about the radioactive fallout, from Fukushima crippled plant, that will hit North America. Well, this fallout never occurred. Here, You can check the current radiation levels in USA: http://radiationnetwork.com/ . Values are updated every minute. Here, the link to the radiation levels of Hawaii and Alaska: http://radiationnetwork.com/AlaskaHawaii.htm

SO, *NORTH AMERICA IS SAFE*.

　IT IS PACIFIC OCEAN SAFE?

  In a desperate search of new sensational “facts”, the prophets of apocalypse, then, shift their “acute” and “noble” attention to the Pacific Ocean environment. A number of maps showing the Ocean tainted by the radioactive scourge circulate on Internet. Well, these are just unreal, colorful, cheap computer simulations. The volume of Pacific Ocean is equal to 714 million cubic kilometers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean). Compared to this immense volume, the volume of the radioactive water flowing from the crippled plant due to tsunami and, subsequently, to the small leaks and the natural flowing of water under the plant is, simply, ridiculous. The radioactive levels of water that reach the Ocean decrease exponentially with distance. The radiation issue will be limited to the sea water in the immediate vicinity of nuclear power plant. Again, here are the real time radiation levels for Hawaii and Alaska: http://radiationnetwork.com/AlaskaHawaii.htm

  Here you can see the radiation level of the sea area in front of Fukushima Daiichi. Values are measuread starting with an area of 2 km of radius an up to the open sea. Measurements were taken on December 3, 2013.

SO *PACIFIC OCEAN IS SAFE*

AFTER 2,000 NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS, IT IS THE MANKIND SAFE?

  The prophets of apocalypse have a tendency to non give scientifically documented data, to invent data and to selectively forgive the events of the past. Yes, the events of the past. For decades, dozens and dozens of nuclear weapons tests were performed in the atmosphere and above the atmosphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_testing). The Nuclear Powers, after some decades, realized that such kind of test are unsafe for its own populations.        An emblematic case is the Congressionally funded study done by National Cancer Institute is USA regarding US fallout exposure of citizens. The study measured the per capita thyroid doses, in the continental United States, of Iodine-131 resulting from all exposure routes from all atmospheric nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Test_Site). Such kind of studies convinced the Governments to ban atmospheric and exoatmospheric nuclear tests.

  The nuclear weapon tests where than done underwater or, mostly, underground. Over *2,000* nuclear explosions have been conducted, around the World up to date. I truly hope that such kind of test no longer be carried on. And I hope that the denuclearization process continue, because atomic weapon are one of the worst and most evil invention on the mankind.

  But, this was just an introduction to refresh memory. For decades the prophets of apocalypse squealed that all these nuclear tests have inexorably tainted and condemned the human species. I don’t want to underestimate this problem. It cannot be excluded that a very small worldwide increase of the tumor incidence can be directly linked to these 2,000 nuclear weapons tests done after WWII. But, what certain people don’t know or pretend to not know, is that nuclear radiation is ubiquitous: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation. Ground and rocks are a source of ionizing radiation. The food we eat and the water we drink is a source too (K40, C14 etc.). The air we breath is a source too (mainly from Radon).  Than, there is Cosmic radiation. All these sources are NATURAL. Than, we got ARTIFICIAL sources. The main source of ionizing radiation is medical (CT scans, nuclear medicine etc.). Within artificial sources is included also the annual exposure due to atmospheric and exoatmospheric nuclear tests of the past. The average World exposure due to these nuclear tests of the past is currently equal to 0.005 mSievert/year/person. This exposure correspond to the 0.16% of the overall average annual human exposure to ionizing radiation. This slight increase would surely not cause mass extinction nor two-heads children will born. I’m sorry for the prophets of apocalypse. SO, *AFTER 2,000 NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS THE MANKIND IS (STILL) SAFE*.

 

AFTER CHERNOBYL, IT IS THE MANKIND SAFE?

 

Let’s talk now about Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster. The worst nuclear disaster of the human kind. Personally, I consider the oldest nuclear power plants a serious threat for the populations that live in the surroundings. Even the more recent and more sophisticated nuclear power plants can be a source of risk for the population in case of major earthquakes and tsunamis, severe floods, terrorist attacks (etc).

 

The immense fallout of Chernobyl interested a large part of Europe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster). There were major consequences. 100,000 km2 of land was seriously contaminated. Hundreds of people suffered of Acute Radiation Sickness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_radiation_sickness) and dozens died (mostly firefighters and workers trying to bring the situation under control). About 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer among children seems to be strictly related to the nuclear incident (no Iodine pills were distributed to children after the incident). Luckily, when treated, well differentiated thyroid cancer got a 5-years survival rate of about 96%. There are no a general consensus about the number of tumors and pathologies, directly linked with the incident mentioned above, that will be developed in the next decades. The order of magnitude of cases will be, probably, of x*10exp3. Residual radioactivity was measured in rivers, lakes and reservoirs. About 10 square km of forest died, a phenomenon know as “red forest” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Forest). A number of animals in the exploded reactor nearby area died or ceased to reproduce. In most recent years, about 0.2% of the boars killed in 2010 hunting season in Germany were found to contain radioactive levels above the upper recommended limit. In 2009, the Norwegian Agricultural Authority reported a total of 18,000 livestock in Norway (about 2% of total http://www.norwaypost.no/index.php/news/latest-news/28399-less-than-30-000-livestock-producers) needed to be given uncontaminated feed for a period of time before slaughter in order to ensure that their meat was safe for human consumption. (etc).

 

The after-effects of Chernobyl were expected to be seen for a further 100 years, although the severity of the effects would decline over that period (https://www.slf.dep.no/no/erstatning/palegg-og-restriksjoner/radioaktivitet/fortsatt-nedforing-etter-radioaktivitet-i-dyr-som-har-vært-på-utmarksbeite;jsessionid=F534055A56233E90A6B7B3E96099004F). (etc.).

 

We can affirm that the nuclear incident of Chernobyl is the paradigm of the worst case scenario. The mankind lost, more or less permanently, a territory equivalent to the surface of Kentucky, dozens of lives were lost and the health status of thousands of people was compromised more or less permanently.

 

This is very sad. However, the territory lost is equivalent just to the 0.067 % of the World land surface area and the number of lives lost is negligible compared to the World human population.

 

If we take a look again to the table here reported: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation the average annual exposure to ionizing radiation all around the World (with the exception of exclusion zone) is 0.0002 mSievert/year/person. So, the increase of annual exposure to ionizing radiation all around the World due to the Chernobyl incident is 0.007%. A ridiculously low percentage.

 

In conclusion, the existence of human race wasn’t compromised, mass extinction not occurs nor two-heads children were born.

 

With the exception of the exclusion zone, tourist are safely travelling all around Europe without any kind of fear. Again, my apologies to the pathetic prophets of apocalypse. SO, *AFTER CHERNOBYL, THE MANKIND IS (STILL) SAFE*.

AFTER FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI, IT IS THE MANKIND SAFE?

 

As I previously wrote, the relatively small fallout after March 11 was due by the explosion of hydrogen accumulated in crippled plants and not, like in Chernobyl, by the explosion of nuclear reactor itself, that projected a huge radioactive cloud up to the stratosphere and, than,over the European Continent. The territory tainted by dangerous levels of radiations is about 100x smaller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NIT_Combined_Flights_Ground_Measurements_30Mar_03Apr2011_results.jpg). No cases of thyroid cancer will occur in children because Iodine pills were distributed in time. There have been no acute radiation syndrome fatalities reported due to the Fukushima accident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster). The increased risk of tumor is very close to zero. As I previously reported, the alert level is currently set on “3” on a scale of 7 (International Nuclear Event Scale - INES) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Nuclear_Event_Scale).

 

On the basis of these documentations and evidences and with a bit of common sense, we can consider the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant two orders of magnitude less dangerous than that in Chernobyl.

 

Currently, all nuclear reactors in Japan has been shut down. I don’t recommend to Japan to power up their reactors until all the possible risks are evaluated.

 

The cultivated products, cattle (and derivate) and fishery products outside the exclusion zone are constantly monitored. Often, twice. So, FOOD IS SAFE (and delicious!). Same thing for WATER. (etc.).

 

I visited Japan twice after March 11. It was, always, a memorable experience. Japanese people are wonderful, nature is amazing, food is delicious. And, Godzilla not eat tourists. There are plenty of things to see and to do. I highly recommend to all my friends to visit Japan.

SO, *AFTER FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI, THE MANKIND IS (STILL) SAFE*.