nuclear-news

Problems in assessing health effects of Fukushima radiation

some of the radiation to which people are being exposed around Fukushima is inside the body; it comes from radioactive materials that contaminated their food or water.

Radiation’s Unknowns Weigh on Japan, New York Times, By MATTHEW L. WALD June 6, 2011 As officials in Japan agonize over what constitutes a safe radiation dose for people who live near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, the state of the science has been a daunting problem. Studies on the effects of exposure are based mostly on large doses delivered quickly by atomic bombs, while radiation from the Fukushima disaster would more likely result in small doses delivered over many years.

 So far the debate in Japan has centered on the risks to children. Government guidelines set after the disaster allowed schoolchildren in Fukushima Prefecture to be exposed to 20 times the radiation dose previously permitted. The new level is equal to the international standard for adult workers at nuclear power plants.

After a huge outcry from parents, the government lowered the permissible level and promised that it would pay to remove contaminated topsoil from school grounds.

But the debate is not limited to children; the authorities have to weigh the risks of allowing thousands of people, including the elderly, to be exposed to levels that remain far above natural background radiation…….

The most obvious difference is that the bomb survivors’ exposure in 1945 was nearly instantaneous. People in the Fukushima area are confronting regular levels of contamination in the range of 5 to 10 times what people are normally exposed to in natural background radiation.

What is more, some of the radiation to which people are being exposed around Fukushima is inside the body; it comes from radioactive materials that contaminated their food or water. At Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many of the victims experienced only a quick external irradiation……..http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/business/energy-environment/07radiation.html

June 7, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, Japan