Germany has shut down seven of its nuclear reactors that are the same design as the Japanese reactors that have failed. It has ordered a safety review at all 17 reactors in the country. And last month congress voted to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas by TEPCO, the Japanese company that built the reactors that have experienced meltdown.
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Are we in danger from radiation blowing our way from melted power plants in Japan? The reality is that the Japanese are the ones who have to worry. It turns out that even a major multiple meltdown in Japan is unlikely to have much of an effect here. Regarding iodine pills, they are only needed in the case of very significant doses of Iodine-131. In order to need them, you’d probably need to be downwind of a nuclear blast, and people over 40 shouldn’t take them at all, radiation exposure or not, because the chances of having an allergic reaction to the pills exceed the chances of getting cancer from radiation poisoning.
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Talk about aflockalypse! Here’s the reason we’re scared about radiation from Japanese power plants blowing our way: Even though it’s been 25 years since the Chernobyl power plant meltdown, birds living near the site STILL have 5% smaller brains (there’s no report on the brains of the HUMANS living in the area). The low-dose radiation released at Chernobyl has proved to have significant effects on normal brain development, shown by the birds’ brain size. Biologist
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The Japanese government has claimed that radioactive material from its stricken power plants has not traveled more than 20 miles from the plants, but the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan has had to clean radioactive material off its decks while 60 miles out to sea. Sailors on deck have received a month’s worth of radiation in a day, as they passed through a radioactive cloud as they arrived in Japan. American helicopters flying missions near the damaged reactors became coated with radioactive particles that had to be washed off.
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