Here are two other frightening data points. 1. Some years ago, NHK (national TV) had a special on the effect on wildlife in Fukushima Pref. There has been a tremendous increase in the animal population because humans evacuated farmland. It is all growing back into forest. That part is okay. But some animal species that eat a lot of plants are highly contaminated. Wild boars are common in Japan. They are omnivores, eating lots of plants. Biologists have been trapping and shooting them. Animals taken up to 50 km from the reactors are too contaminated for human consumption by factor up to ~6,000. (I don't recall the units, but anyway, they exceed the limits by that much.)
The boars seem pretty healthy despite their contaminated tissue. I am not sure if that is good news or bad news. 2. Tadahiko Mizuo has a degree in nuclear engineering. During the cold war, he monitored North Korea with 1960s instruments on the roof of the Engineering Dept. building. That building was torn down some years ago, so those instruments are gone, but anyway, after the accident the government dragged him and other superannuated experts out of retirement and asked them to analyze soil samples for radioactivity. Some of the samples they sent him were so hot he was afraid to work with them, and he wasn't sure where to store them at night. He risked harming someone, or contaminating the locked cabinets. - Jed
