Wednesday 16th March 2011
Fuel rod fires: Fallout in Honshu
Fuel rod fires: the fallout in Honshu is mapped on www.llrc.org.
We advise that Honshu should immediately be evacuated to the maximum possible extent. Reassurances about radiation exposures issued by the Japanese government can not be believed; they are based on the ICRP invalid risk model which
ICRP itself has admitted cannot be applied in accident situations. The basic concept of radiation dose is generally recognised to be invalid for many types of internal exposure relevant to the present emergency. In addition to gamma-emitting isotopes of Caesium and Iodine, there is an extremely high probability that Plutonium and isotopes of Uranium are being released. The use of water in contact with the reactor cores entails the release of Tritium. Carbon 14 is also likely to be present. None of these alpha- and beta-emitters will be included in gamma readings, leading to severe underestimates of the potential genetic damage once they are ingested, inhaled or absorbed into human tissue. The present emergency is therefore exactly similar to the Chernobyl disaster which has had a huge impact on human health – (More on Chernobyl)
A disagreement between LLRC’s Professor Chris Busby and Professor Ian Fells, a well-known supporter of nuclear energy.
Yesterday we posted animations of the plumes from Reactors 1 and 3. Some people have not been able to see the animations. This is because they are created as “mht” files. Not all internet browsers can view them. Microsoft Internet Explorer works but Mozilla Firefox, for example, doesn’t. We are working on this problem. We’d be grateful to anyone who can help – if that’s you, please email us: info [at] llrc.org