Nuclear Radiation Reaches Europe

[Musicology]

Published today in 'La Republica' (Italy) data on the arrival in Europe of high intensity radiation arriving from power stations in Japan.

Today it has arrived over Iceland, later today should pass over UK, then France and in 2 days (estimated) over Italy and south/east. UK media silent, as usual. Italians buying volumes of bottled water and dried foods.

http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2011/03/22/news/giappone_22_marzo-13933612/?ref=HREC1-1

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

That's a bummer, man.

[Armel P]

With all of the stuff I've heard on NPR since the disaster happened I feel quite comfortable stating that whatever radiation from Japan has reached different parts of the world, that radiation is harmless. It probably amounts to a fraction of a dental x-ray. I have no fears about the radiation... except for the 20 mile radius around the reactors, of course.

[Hurricane]

http://xkcd.com/radiation/

I'm not too worried.

[JuniperWoolf]

Yeah, if I lived in Europe I really wouldn't be too concerned about it. Once there was a forest fire in BC that turned the sun pink in the UK and it didn't affect people with respiratory disease, I think that's just how air dispersion works.

[yanni]

'A Chernobyl on steroids'

In the 10 days it burned, Chernobyl put out 1.76 × 1018 becquerels of iodine-131, which amounts to only 50 per cent more per day than has been calculated for Fukushima Daiichi. It is not yet clear how long emissions from the Japanese plant will continue.

Similarly, says Wotawa, caesium-137 emissions are on the same order of magnitude as at Chernobyl. The Sacramento readings suggest it has emitted 5 × 1015 becquerels of caesium-137 per day; Chernobyl put out 8.5 × 1016 in total – around 70 per cent more per day.

"This is not surprising," says Wotawa. "When the fuel is damaged there is no reason for the volatile elements not to escape," and the measured caesium and iodine are in the right ratios for the fuel used by the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Also, the Fukushima plant has around 1760 tonnes of fresh and used nuclear fuel on site, and an unknown amount has been damaged. The Chernobyl reactor had only 180 tonnes.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20285-fukushima-radioactive-fallout-nears-chernobyl-levels.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

[JCamilo]

But what everyone does not know, is that Mozart is the responsable for this.

[DocHeart]

Everyone's been going on at me about drinking and smoking too much and working too many hours and not getting enough exercise. If this radiation thing is gonna kill us all, then I'm so glad I didn't listen to them.