News about Fukushima

[longship]

35. CS 137 is a big problem

Iodine isn't. It has a very short half life and you can take iodine -- which the Japanese should be doing -- to limit the uptake of the radioactive version.

But the damned Cesium-137 has a half life of 30 years and metabolizes into bones. That's a huge problem.

I don't know what they're going to do about it, but I would be recommending that they seal those reactors up as fast as they can. I don't see any way to clean them up without killing the workers doing it. Hell! Just sealing them up would likely kill a bunch of workers. Just like at Chernobyl.

Somebody's going to have to make that decision. I am glad it isn't me.

This isn't going to go away. They're going to have to do something eventually. They can't just ignore it.

BTW, the exclusion zone is very likely too small. Just saying.

Poor Japan. They're in a lose-lose scenerio.

I do not know about the radioactivity in tuna and such. Small exposures are not generally harmful. Physicists work in those environments for decades and still live long lives. But radioactive food is worrisome because it's absorbed into your body. I hope somebody is monitoring this, just in case.

Frankly, I don't think there are any easy solutions. It won't be doomsday as some here have suggested. But it's a pretty big problem which isn't going away. Japan undoubtedly knows this. Indecision is understandable and probably does not have a huge downside, in spite of what some say.

But if they take the wrong action, it could have a monumental down side. I would rather they wait and get it right than screw it up and make an even bigger mess. They already have screwed things up bad enough. Best to be cautious at this point. I think.

I may be wrong. But I watch NHK news every afternoon and they haven't said much about a solution even though they talk about Fukushima regularly.

It is scary, though.