The atmospheric testing of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s of Hydrogen bombs was far more problematic for the US mainland. There are significant health hazards in and around the plant, in that the levels of radiation are elevated. Scientists can only guess as to how many additional cancer deaths will be caused by the reactor. It is not going to melt through the earth, nor will it cause a groundwater explosion. I’d worry more about eating seafood caught in that area of the Pacific until they get a handle on exactly how much radiation has been absorbed into the food chain. It’s a mess, and it’s going to take some work to clean it up, but it’s not the major industrial catastrophe that many would want to paint it as. Just like anywhere, there are scientists that want to “study” how bad it is, and “study” mitigation strategies so it is their interests to pump up the numbers and the hysteria.
Believe it or not, radiation is not as bad as many would have you believe and exposure to levels higher than our EPA says is safe, actually reduces your risk of cancer. Like I said, the biggest issue is to move back from the plant, and not eat the seafood until they know how bad the seafood is.
Here’s a few statistics for you:
1) Tuberculosis patients in Canada had numerous chest xrays, and developed lung and breast cancer than the general population.
2) A 1991 study by Johns Hopkins School of public health, in a study of 700,000 shipyard workers where many were exposed to 10 times the levels of radiation as their peers, due to nuclear reactor decommissioning, were had a 25% lower cancer rate than those not exposed.
3)In 1983 apartment buildings were accidentally constructed with massive amounts of Cesium 60, real nasty stuff. After 16 years, the 10,000 people who lived there, only developed 10 cases of cancer, compared to the normal for 10,000 people of 170 cases of cancer. These people were exposed to 5 times what the US government says is safe.
#1 should read: Tuberculosis patients subjected to multiple chest X-rays had much lower rates of breast and lung cancer than the general population.
Because in bureaucrat thinking, if 10 is bad and 5 is better, then none must be perfect.
Attempting to make a germ free environment doesn’t keep you from getting sick, it ruins your body’s ability to develop immunity.
Radiation is a normal part of life on earth. So it is illogical to assume that it’s best to receive no radiation at all.