Japan

Yet you still posted them as if they meant something. Curious. Since we both agree that "SOLID" cancer numbers are going to be impossible, perhaps we should focus on the numbers that are solid, like actual amounts of radiation released, and WHO-reported death tolls. 19 miles is more than 50% greater than 12. In what world is "more than half again as large" anything resembling similar?Besides that, who cares? Evacuation areas and even exclusion zones are precautions. The only numbers that matter when discussing the severity of a nuclear disaster are the amount of radiation released and (more significantly) the death toll.You seem to enjoy focusing on irrelevancies and data you know and acknowledge is suspect. Why is that, I wonder?

Because you weren't paying attention, I suppose you would find it curious. As Taq and I have already stated previously on this thread, all cancer related injuries and cancer related deaths from nuclear power would have to be speculative. How can anyone specifically know which specific cancer was caused by this or that and know how many specific years life expectancy was shortened because of it or will be shortened because of it? To show you equally SPECULATIVE examples I supplied concedingly dubious numbers. Thanks for finally conceding that solid numbers for cancer deaths and cancer related illness from nuclear power is nearly impossible to ascertain, and thus the dangers/risks from nuclear power can never be fully described with "SOLID" numbers. However, if you would like, we can meet on this forum in 60 years and go over the revised data then. (If I live downwind from a similar Fukushima-designed nuclear plant still in operation in the US, you can recognize me by my head-sized goiter. Hey, at least it's not a death statistic, right?) (+12 miles)I added bolding this time to help you absorb the relevant information, which you seemed to completely ignore.You wrote: "Not nearly comparable"? I disagree, +12 miles around Fukushima does compare to 19 miles around Chernobyl. Maybe the people who lived there all their life care. To a lesser extent, the billions of dollars lost in damages/abandonment matters.Why do you only want to focus on death tolls? Why is that, I wonder?Edited by dronester, : there>their

This is a good measure of the total activity released, but it can also be misleading with regards to risk. Specific isotopes (e.g. Iodine-131) can become part of the body and do more harm than the same amount of radioactivity from a different isotope that passes through our digestive system or is excluded from our bodies. Given the ample warning before major failures I would suspect that the risk is much lower in this case than the straight comparison of Bq's between Fukushima and Chernobyl might indicate.

We cannot overlook the fact that the govt of Japan has reacted to this better than the soviets did. People have been evacuated faster.I guess as years pass statistics might show a spike in certain types of cancers that could be interpreted as " above background levels". Saying for certain that they are from radiation may be little harder.So far Chernobyl released 10x the radiation that Fukushima has, and the levels of radioactive fission products is not the same. Chernobyl's core was completely exposed. If the used fuel ponds were to become completely exposed then things might take a turn for worst.I also cannot see Japan having a giant zone like around Chernobyl, I might be wrong, but I think they will clean it up if at all possible. Japan being a free country will have to handle this different than soviets did.

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"I hate to advocate the use of drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they always worked for me." - Hunter S. ThompsonAd astra per aspera

lol, I just said bout the same thing, I was writing my last msg while you were posting your msg, I agree competly. Japan is a free country and this benifits the people of Japan.

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"I hate to advocate the use of drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they always worked for me." - Hunter S. ThompsonAd astra per aspera

More people lived closer to Chernobyl than to Fukushima as well.The straight comparison of radiation emissions was given simply because that's the metric used for designating this a Level 7 incident. Once you pass a certain threshold of total radiation emission, you're at Level 7, that's that. Fukushima has passed that limit over time, while Chernobyl basically exploded and burned for a while in a very sudden emission of a lot more radiation all at once, blowing past that threshold like it was nothing.But the point is that every statistic in which anyone actually has a real number indicates that the Fukushima disaster, while certainly a disaster, is not anywhere near the level of severity of Chernobyl.

And Chernobyl, while a disaster, is really not that big a disaster. Life goes on in Kiev.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Indeed true. If we were to remember the discussions back at the nucelar power thread...

quote:

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Coal — world average 161 (26% of world energy, 50% of electricity)
Coal — China 278
Coal — USA 15
Oil 36 (36% of world energy)
Natural Gas 4 (21% of world energy)
Biofuel/Biomass 12
Peat 12
Solar (rooftop) 0.44 (less than 0.1% of world energy)
Wind 0.15 (less than 1% of world energy)
Hydro 0.10 (europe death rate, 2.2% of world energy)
Hydro - world including Banqiao) 1.4 (about 2500 TWh/yr and 171,000 Banqiao dead)
Nuclear 0.04 (5.9% of world energy)

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If Fukushima doubled the total of all deaths attributed to nuclear power, it would still be the safest form of power generation.Hey, does anybody remember that earthquake and tsunami Japan had about a month ago? They killed around 10,000 people.Fukushima hasn't killed anyone so far.

I just watched a documentary titled Witness: Disaster in Japan on the National Geographic channel. Doesn't seem to be on-line yet anywhere, but I expect segments of it will show up on-line, but it's best watched in HD. There seems to be a lot of previously unseen footage. Here's a description from Witness Disaster in Japan with National Geographic: I expect it will be rebroadcast, get your TiVo's ready.--Percy

Is going to be run again Sunday 17th at 9pm EDT here.

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"I hate to advocate the use of drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they always worked for me." - Hunter S. ThompsonAd astra per aspera