On 3/22/2011 1:39 AM, marbux wrote: > On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 3:43 PM, Jim Darrough <jdarro...@gmail.com> wrote: >> The amount of radiation you can expect to receive is zero. Anyone who tells >> you that we in the U.S.A. are going to receive any dose at all is ignorant >> of how this works, or is trying to sell advertising. > It's already happened, if I recall correctly in Seattle. See e.g., > <http://rt.com/usa/news/japanese-nuclear-radiation-reaches-usa/>. > There have also been reports that some passengers arriving at major > U.S. airports from Tokyo have been triggering radiation detectors at > the airports. I have set off radiation detectors at Schipol, Newark, Gatwick, and Dulles airports. Big deal. Usually flights crossing the Rockies and those near-circumpolar flights to Europe are exposed to higher radiation than normal. Triggering a detector in and of itself is no cause for alarm nor is it indicative of global radiation contamination. > I spent 20-plus years in no small part studying the fate of toxic > pollutants in the environment, as part of my legal practice suing > polluters and the government agencies that are supposed to regulate > them. I am also the co-author of three treatises on the subject of > toxic pollutants. > Then you are aware of the importance of not being an environmental whack job. Having the most reliable data and keeping clear of bandwagon hysteria ploys separates the geeks from the freaks. Scaring the public is a tactic and usually isn't a means to make friends. > In my studied opinion, when faced with airborne radioactive pollutants > whose half-lives are measured in the hundreds of thousands of years, > it is beyond question that the tendency of such pollutants to disperse > and to bio-accumulate in food chains leaves no room for doubt that the > contamination from the Japanese emissions will be global in scope. > What isotope has been released with that kind of half-life? How do you suppose it will hitch a ride across the entire Pacific Ocean and in what quantities? Perhaps there might be a future issue outside of Japan, but for now seeing as Japan imports almost everything and is in pretty piss poor shape, how about lending a hand over there before sending premature alarms up here? I have lived through Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Russian and Chinese nuke tests and my mom and uncle were exposed to more fallout in the 40's and 50's and we are doing fine. I would suggest if it bothers you to not purchase Japanese milk & broccoli for awhile.
I think I'll take Mr. Darrough's opinion seeing as he actually works inside Oregon State's reactor and has seen duty on two US nuclear wessles. Folks, I am usually among the first to call conspiratorial foul and yell about government greed and disinformation. I also have a son stationed 40 miles from Tokyo who has yet to be recalled. The fact is, Japan is very far away and the nuclear radiation emitted from these disasters, while dangerous at the sites, is not YET a threat outside Japan. Can we keep guessing, non-primary sourced information, agendas, and emotional content not pertinent to Linux etc off of here? If you want to make statements and suppositions prior to any damaging affect reaching Oregon, how about posting them on cnn.com or in the Weekly please? Kaplan _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list euglug@euglug.org http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
