Expert Opinions on Nuclear Accident - Not Mass Media Tabloid Scaremongering

Here are some opinions from experts in the field as to the risk to humans from the nuclear accident at Fukushima. This information is presented to you as a counter balance to some of the hysterical tabloid scaremongering that the mass media have been guilty of.

FDR: THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF

Yes the situation must be take very seriously. Yes, it is prudent to take precautions. Yes, everything is being done at the nuclear reactors. Most importantly, people at refugee centers who have lost their loved ones and homes need your help. And also extremely important is to just report the facts.


First off, here is a fact from Yahoo news about events unfolding currently: 


The government raised the accident classification for the nuclear crisis from Level 4 to Level 5 on a seven-level international scale. That put it on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979, and signified its consequences went beyond the local area.


Moving from a level 4 to a level 5 sounds serious, but what does it really mean? What are the parameters to judge this? How are we to decided what this information means to all of us without an explanation? We can't.


One thing we can judge, though, is we can investigate how many people died at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident. How many people died at Three Mile Island? 


I found the answer on Wikipedia: 


The Kemeny Commission Report concluded that "there will either be no case of cancer or the number of cases will be so small that it will never be possible to detect them. The same conclusion applies to the other possible health effects". Several epidemiological studies in the years since the accident have supported the conclusion that radiation releases from the accident had no perceptible effect on cancer incidence in residents near the plant, though these findings have been contested by one team of researchers.


These are facts. Also, a fact, is that, at Three Mile Island, the evacuation zone was 10 miles (about 16 kilometers). The current evacuation zone from Japanese authorities is 18 miles (30 kilometers).


There is also a wild piece of disinformation floating around the Internet now that claim that winds have shifted from blowing from south to north - away from Tokyo - to north to south into Tokyo. This is patently false.


NHK reports:


The winds are blowing from west to east near the nuclear reactor.


This means that any radiation leaking from the crippled plant is heading out over the Pacific ocean. Currently, it is raining in Kagoshima in southern Kyushu and that rain front is moving from the south towards the north (the prevailing winds in Japan always move from the south or the west) and the Kanto plain (where Tokyo is) will have rain tomorrow.

Weather today, Saturday, March 19, 2011

Weather tomorrow, Sunday, March 20, 2011

(note the rain has moved from the south towards north)

Finally, my friend Michael Anop sends me this great information from experts and not TV pundits.


From News.com Australia eight experts chime in on, "Japan's nuclear crisis is not Chernobyl, say experts"

Some of my favorite quotes:


Sir John Beddington, Chief Scientific Officer for the UK government:

"If you then couple that with the worst possible weather situation ... and you had maybe rainfall which would bring the radioactive material down - do we have a problem? The answer is unequivocally no. Absolutely no issue.

"The problems are within 30 km of the reactor.  And to give you a flavour for that, when Chernobyl had a massive fire at the graphite core, material was going up not just 500m but to 30,000ft (10km).  It was lasting not for the odd hour or so but lasted months, and that was putting nuclear radioactive material up into the upper atmosphere for a very long period of time.  But even in the case of Chernobyl, the exclusion zone that they had was about 30km. And in that exclusion zone, outside that, there is no evidence whatsoever to indicate people had problems from the radiation.

"This is very problematic for the area and the immediate vicinity and one has to have concerns for the people working there. Beyond that 20 or 30km, it’s really not an issue for health.”

Dr Richard Wakeford, Dalton Nuclear Institute and Visiting Professor of Epidemiology, University of Manchester:

“Words like ‘apocalypse’ and ‘catastrophe’ used about the situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant are utterly inappropriate for the position there, as far as the radiation exposure of members of the public are concerned. No expert would use terms like these to describe the situation at Fukushima.

“To put radiation doses into context, many Japanese undergo CT scans for cancer screening purposes, and these scans produce radiation doses of about 10 millisieverts (10,000 microsieverts) - much more than they are receiving from the Fukushima reactors.

“Radiation sickness and other early effects of radiation exposure are caused by high doses of radiation (about 1,000 millisieverts - 1,000,000 microsieverts)."

Dr. Philippe Blondel, Deputy Director, Centre for Space, Atmospheric & Oceanic Science, University of Bath:

The current fears about nuclear safety should not shadow the huge plight of the refugees and the difficulties of on-going search and rescue operations


Absolutely correct. Please help out the relief efforts if you can. In Japan? Here. 

Outside of Japan? Here.



Finally, Japan's Mainichi Newspaper reports:


Kotani Morihiko science and technology advisor for the International Atomic Energy Agency said that measurements of radiation in Tokyo showed no elevated levels and no danger. 

A huge thanks to Michael Anop and Tim Rabone

Great Short Movie Showing Life in Japan in 1963

The Internet Archives come through once again with this great film showing life in Japan in 1963. In those days,  Japan was experiencing an economic boom and was a trophy piece attraction for the United States to show the world that capitalism and American-style democracy was best for the world.

My, how things have changed!

At the start of the film is a 3:53 introduction by Bill Deneen that is mildly amusing. Especially the part where he says something like, "The Japanese economic miracle is too complicated and has too many facets to be all addressed in a 30-minute film... That's why we decided to make into two thirty minute films."

Pretty funny!

Things were really rolling for Japan in the early 1960's and by 1964, Japan returned to full honors in the world stage with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This is an excellently made film that really shows the Japan of 1963... Now, nearly 50 years ago.

If you've ever been to Japan or live here, then you will surely enjoy this film. The best part comes after about 24:00 into the film when the Japanese businessman comes home from work and his wife gives him a bath and a massage!... I knew it! I just knew it! Now why doesn't my wife give me a bath and a foot massage every night?

Oh, the good old days!

TO SKIP THE B&W INTRO GO TO 3:53 IN THE FILM  




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Keywords: 1964 Tokyo Olympics, 1963, Marketing Japan, Mike in Tokyo Rogers, Mike Rogers

1964 Tokyo Olympics Newsreel

Here is a newsreel of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics from the Internet Archives by Universal Newsreels.

Wikipedia says of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics:

The 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport eventheld in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. Tokyo had been awarded with the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequently passed to Helsinki because of Japan's invasion of China, before ultimately being canceled because of World War II. The 1964 Summer Games were the first Olympics held in Asia, and the first time South Africa was barred from taking part due to its apartheid system in sports. (South Africa was, however, allowed to compete at the 1964 Summer Paralympics, also held in Tokyo, where it made its Paralympic Games début.) These games were also the first to be telecast internationally. The games were telecast to the United States using Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, and from there to Europe using Relay 1.



This Olympic Game was a watershed moment for Japan as the Japanese consider this the turning point for Japan into becoming a modern western nation and economic powerhouse. The games were the spark for most of the average Japanese to buy their first TV set.

With the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, consumerism had arrived in Japan.

It was also the last Olympics that Japan did well in medal count in and they came in third after the USA and the Soviet Union! (Note that Western Germany was 4th!)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	36	26	28	90
2	Soviet Union	30	31	35	96
3	Japan	16	5	8	29
4	Germany	10	22	18	50
5	Italy	10	10	7	27
6	Hungary	10	7	5	22
7	Poland	7	6	10	23
8	Australia	6	2	10	18
9	Czechoslovakia	5	6	3	14
10	Great Britain	4	12	2	18