U.N. panel says Japan nuclear workers may have got higher radiation: report

[PamW]

2. Perspective?

How does the amount of radiation exposure received by the workers; including the extra 20% above what TEPCO reported; how does that compare to the amount of radiation we all get whether or not we work at a nuclear power plant.

One has to remember that there's plenty of radioactive material in the Earth which is a result of the thermonuclear reactions in the stars whose supernova created the material this planet is made of.

Then there's the radiation that we all receive from cosmic rays because the universe is just filled with unshielded thermonuclear fusion reactors that we call "stars".

Additionally, there's all the radiation exposure that is used for medical diagnosis and treatment.

To get a better understanding of the radiation we all get whether or not we work at a nuclear power plant, let alone a nuclear power plant that has had an accident, see:

http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/radrus.htm

as well as the following from Professor Richard Muller of the Physics Department at University of California - Berkeley:

The Panic Over Fukushima

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444772404577589270444059332.html

The good thing about science is that it is true, whether or not you believe it.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson

PamW