These people are the UK Govt's Chief Scientific Advisor and deputy director for emergency preparedness at the Department of Health respectively, and I think their words deserve more prominence:
And it's not as if they have any particular reasons to cover things up, an accusation that could plausibly be levelled at the Japanese government. Their comments are backed up by the USA (which due to the military presence has its own radiation monitors) and also Australia.
Thanks to Justin, here is the full transcript. The JT quote above is actually not quite taken verbatim from the conference but seems a fair paraphrase to me (search for "unequivocally" in the page).
"Unequivocally, Tokyo will not be affected by the radiation fallout of explosions that have occurred or may occur at the Fukushima nuclear power stations."
And it's not as if they have any particular reasons to cover things up, an accusation that could plausibly be levelled at the Japanese government. Their comments are backed up by the USA (which due to the military presence has its own radiation monitors) and also Australia.
Thanks to Justin, here is the full transcript. The JT quote above is actually not quite taken verbatim from the conference but seems a fair paraphrase to me (search for "unequivocally" in the page).
4 comments:
The only thing Beddington didn't cover was the possibility of a fire in the spent fuel rod pools, which has become the crisis du jour at multiple plants at Fukushima. The NEI has come out emphatically against this possibility:
http://resources.nei.org/documents/japan/Used_Fuel_Pools_Key_Facts.pdf
However, I have seen some other quotes from academics contradicting this. If you have any friends who are specialists in the properties of Zirconium, they will be in strong demand in the financial community :)
I hope the Kanto escapes unharmed.
Nevertheless, hope is not a plan.
Keep a weather eye out.
http://park18.wakwak.com/~weather/geiger_index.html
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/47557.html
If possible obtain tape and plastic sheeting. As Americans like to say: Be Prepared. Not panic. Not 'just wait it out and see.'. A plan.
I hope things work out okay. Nevertheless, hope is not a plan.
The academics who are giving the scary quotes about fires in the spent fuel pool are authors of this paper:
http://www.mothersforpeace.org/data/20030122ReducingTheHazardsPdf
I am not qualified to judge its merits.
As a resident of Yamagata in the Tohoku region I'm steadily getting more and more angry with the scaremongering of the Western Media. The contribution of the Chief Scientist to this debate is most welcome - but I doubt it will be taken notice of by most media outlets.
James & Jules - hope you're coping well down South.
Eamon
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