Fukushima’s doses tallied

Nature ^ | May 23, 2012 | Geoff Brumfiel

[norwaypinesavage]

Few people will develop cancer as a consequence of being exposed to the radioactive material that spewed from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant last year — and those who do will never know for sure what caused their disease. These conclusions are based on two comprehensive, independent assessments of the radiation doses received by Japanese citizens, as well as by the thousands of workers who battled to bring the shattered nuclear reactors under control.

[norwaypinesavage]

Normally Nature articles should be viewed with skepticism. This one seems to be OK

[Perdogg]

I am concern about the people in Japan, but weren’t we told after Chernobyl that all of the reindeer would unfit to eat and then they discovered that reindeer before Chernobyl had higher levels of cesium 137?

[brivette]

agree.

[SeekAndFind]

Ann Coulter ( courting controversy again ) and a Nuclear Physicist claim: Some radiation is good for you

[piroque]

On Chernobyl and the surrounding area

www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

check this out

[gunsequalfreedom]

Our family is going to move to Japan and buy a house in near the Fukushima site and plan to live there year round. There is open land where we can grow our own vegetables and the area is not overpopulated. There are some really great deals on real estate, particularly near the Fukushima plant and I think it will be a good investment in our future.

[norwaypinesavage]

"There are some really great deals on real estate, particularly near the Fukushima plant and I think it will be a good investment in our future."

Beware of the elevation sbove sea level that you choose. There are ancient monuments located above the Fukushima plant elevation carved in obscure kangi that state (loosely translated): "Do not build at elevations below this mark because of tsunami floods".

[gunsequalfreedom]

I’m going to buy one of the abandoned houses. I’m not planning to build. There are lots of houses just sitting empty. But thanks for the information about tsunami areas. I will definitely avoid those.

[FairWitness]

Ann is right; it's called "hormesis", a well documented observation in toxicology studies:
From Wikipedia: In toxicology, hormesis is a dose response phenomenon characterized by a low dose stimulation, high dose inhibition, resulting in either a J-shaped or an inverted U-shaped dose response. Such environmental factors that would seem to produce positive responses have also been termed “eustress.”

[A Strict Constructionist]

Interesting site, thanks for the link.

[struwwelpeter]

Very difficult to "tally" accurate morbidity rates from radiation. For political reasons, statistics are skewed in either direction. As far as Chernobyl, according to one source:

"Foreign doctors and specialists who have worked on the disaster calculate that during the previous decade (1986-1996) there has been a marked increase in cancer cases. At a minimum, the count of victims is about 75 thousand people. Two American professors, John Gofman and Karl Morgan, predicted that for the next 70 years about a half-million "extra" people will die of cancer...

(SNIP)

"In April of 1991 the Soviet scientist Vladimir Chernyshenko reported that as a result of the disaster at Chernobyl, it was not 32 deaths as officially reported, but rather 7-10 thousand, and the majority of these were firemen and military service members who fought the aftermath of the catastrophe.

-- From CHERNOBYL - NEVIDIMAYA SMERT' (Chernobyl - Invisible Death) in STO VELIKIKH KATASTROF (The 100 Worst Catastrophes) printed by "Veche" Moscow I.Ionina, M. Kubeev, 1999

[rellimpank]

--there was a piece on this in National Review some years ago about a study of U. S. Navy submariners with the same finding--the study was supressed, IIRC---

[piroque]

It takes a while to go thought all her pictures and comments ,but it well worth the time

Gone back a few times over the years for the updates.

[norwaypinesavage]

"For political reasons, statistics are skewed in either direction."

It's important to COUNT the incidents of cancer from an exposure many decades ago, rather than predict them. An actual count (here: http://www.mendeley.com/research/twenty-years-after-chernobyl-accident-solid-cancer-incidence-various-groups-ukrainian-population/) shows a DECREASE in cancer rates.

Large dose radiation exposure caused problems for the responding fire crews, mostly by outright radiation fatalities. Radiation can also increased thyroid cancer rates. However, most of these can be prevented with appropriate iodine treatment. The low dose cancer rate scare stories are simply not born out by actual cancer rate data in exposed populations, both in Japan, and in Russia.