Fukushima Nuclear Disaster - The Safety Limit Numbers Game!

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After the powerful earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, and the subsequent damage to the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, we have been given an endless supply of numbers relating to radiation levels.

The government and mainstream media have made every effort to inform us that radiation levels are safe and there is no cause for concern. Yet the authorities found it necessary to increase the legal limits for radiation exposure in order to achieve this.

Information from official sources is either hard, or impossible to obtain. Much of the data available is often old, or simply not shown, except for a message saying everything is normal.

Initially, we were given the impression that workers were able to enter the damaged reactors at the Fukushima power plant, but apparently this is not so and have been unable to enter since the days immediately after the disaster struck.

According to reports, the most recent radiation levels (detected by robots) are between 49 and 57 millisieverts per hour. The limit of exposure for emergency workers in Japan is 250 millisieverts a year, which means they would exceed safety limits within just a few hours.

As we already know, higher than normal radiation levels are not just restricted to within the reactors, but are being recorded as far away as the United States, so we can only imagine what the levels are really like much closer. One reporter was quoted as saying that the levels in Tokyo were so low that you could get more radiation from smoking a single cigarette. I wonder if he would care to go there and put this statement to the test?

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In a recent article by The New York Times they gave this description following the disaster "Vital cooling systems at the plant were knocked out, and the ensuing hydrogen explosions at four of the plant's six reactors blew off their roofs and littered the site with radioactive debris."

Unlike many other materials, the danger from radiation doesn't get washed away in the rain, or lessen over a short period of time, it is dangerous for a very long time. The Chernobyl accident may only have caused the death of around 60-100 people initially, but the death toll now is reportedly nearer to one million (or more), as a result of cancer related deaths due to lower levels of radiation exposure.

The Fukushima nuclear accident could be just as risky as the one in Chernobyl (maybe even worse) and may leave its mark on Japan for the next 20-30 years. It is also possible that the disaster could affect people much further away, which is why the authorities need to take this more seriously and give more thought to protection rather than playing around with the numbers.