Fukushima’s doses tallied

[PamW]

26. Answer..

I said I work for a University that is a contractor to the US Dept. of Energy. Some "think" that means I work in the nuclear power field.

However, I have NEVER worked for the nuclear industry and have never received a dime from the industry that runs nuclear power plants.
( Maybe one of my mutual funds is invested in a nuclear utility - but that's about the extent of it )

The comparison with Hiroshima is apt. Following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were people who said that those cities would be uninhabitable for a thousands of years. However, in just a few years both cities were repopulated.

If you want to be a good environmentalist; then you need to learn some science. You need to learn that the world is radioactive naturally, and in spite of all the hype; Fukushima has contributed that only marginally. You need to compare the radiation doses due to Fukushima to the radiation doses that Mother Nature inflicts on us. You will then see that the additional dose is marginal. The reason the doses from Mother Nature are handled in stride is that we have a DNA radiation damage repair mechanism in our biological machinery just as we have an immune system to protect us from germs.

People additionally add to their radiation exposure by living at altitudes above sea level, by flying in airliners.... and all those have zero effect on your health because they are within the ability of the repair mechanism to manage.

If you want to feel sorry for the environment, feel sorry for a country that puts 14,000 tons of alpha radiation emitting Uranium and Thorium into the air each and every year:

http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html

PamW