NOAA Study: Radiation From Fukushima Very Dilluted, Seafood Safe 267
JSBiff writes "Ars Technica is reporting on a study by NOAA scientists who surveyed the ocean near Fukushima, which concludes that while a lot of radioactivity was released into the water, as would be expected, it diluted out to levels that pose little risk to wildlife or humans, and that the seafood is safe to eat. Perhaps we needn't worry so much about "millions of gallons of radioactive water" being released into the ocean, like it's a major environmental disaster, as it's really not — the ocean is many orders of magnitude larger than any accidental release of radiation which might happen from a nuclear plant."
Re:Sanity vs. politically motivated scaremongering (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Natural radiation levels (Score:2, Informative)
Here is a much more readily comprehensible chart courtesy of XKCD. [xkcd.com]
Wrong - did you read the article? (Score:5, Informative)
I know, I know, this is slashdot, but there IS a link to a fine article summarizing the study. The study, in this case, wasn't a "statistical model" sort of study - they actually went around in a boat for months, sampling water, wildlife, etc. No assumptions - actual empirical evidence.
They aren't NOAA scientists... (Score:3, Informative)
The linked article/summary is inaccurate as the scientists who did the study are not NOAA folks. They're from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Stony Brook University, and the University of Tokyo. [author affiliations from the actual paper from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [pnas.org] ]. The study was funded by the Moore Foundation, National Science Foundation, and WHOI.
So please redirect all government conspiracy comments to the university/academic conspiracy forum.
Re:Sanity vs. politically motivated scaremongering (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, as a firefighter... you know nothing of what you say.
Especially with high rises. A hole in one side of a building is a huge heat producer. A hole in two sides produces a f*cking blow torch. Every time.
You probably don't even know what a stack effect is, let alone should you be making comments on fire behavior.