Saturday, March 10, 2012

Minimal Health And Environment Impact From One Year Ago Japanese Nuclear Accident

From The Wall Street Journal, "In Japan, Relief at Radiation's Low Toll: A year after Fukushima, its impact on physical health and the environment appears to be far less severe than initially feared" by Yuka Hayashi, Phred Dvorak and Robert Lee Hotz:
A year after the Fukushima nuclear accident, the emerging consensus among scientists is that its effects on physical health and the environment have so far been minimal. There have been no reported radiation-related deaths or illnesses from the accident, even among workers who faced very high exposure. That's a stark contrast with the world's last major nuclear accident, in Chernobyl in 1986, when 28 workers died of acute radiation syndrome within the first year.

"From a radiological perspective, we expect the impact to be really, really minor," said Kathryn Higley, a specialist in tracking radiation in the environment at Oregon State University.

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