Should We or Should We Not Worry About the Radiation?
There are lots of opinions about the Fukushima incident. Some say that things will be all right, whereas some say that they will get worse.
The word “radiation” is on everyone’s lips or minds these days, and the topic is extremely debated in the media. There are lots of opinions about the radiation as well, some of the experts stating that we have nothing to worry about, and now, some of them saying that we should start preparing for something bad to happen. The reality is that the situation has worsened in these past few days. In the first days when the reactor suffered the damage, the people who work there, tried to do everything they could in order to prevent a meltdown. Explosion after explosion took place at the nuclear reactor, on March 15th, the fourth reactor suffering from an explosion as well. Unlike the other explosions, this one caused more damage, and the radiation levels in the area, grew very fast. Hours after that explosion, the radiation levels were 1000 times higher than the previous levels. Yesterday, on March 16th, the radiation levels grew again, this time the people being removed from the area, as the officials considered that the area was too dangerous.
Ian Hutchinson, professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that the levels of radiation which were released in the atmosphere were pretty high. He said that the levels could be placed between the Chernobyl disaster from 1986, and the Three Mile Island incident from 1979. He said that it is unknown where the radiation cloud will end up. The decisive factors when it comes to the direction in which these clouds will travel are the winds and the weather. The reality is that there are lots of factors to take in consideration when it comes to incidents of this kind. First of all, there are different types of radioactive materials, and that means that there are different types of radiation. Some of them might travel faster, might travel longer, and might lose their power in time, and so on. In the case of the Chernobyl disaster, the radioactive plume managed to travel large distances, mainly because the radioactive material exploded in the air, and because the radioactive clouds traveled at the altitude of 60,000 feet.
Kelly Classic of the Health Physics Society, said that 5 percent of the core from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was sent into the air, and that was the main reason why the radioactive plume traveled for such a long distance, affecting numerous countries from Europe. The researchers said that people should not worry too much about the situation, because the Fukushima reactor is much better prepared for such disasters, than the Chernobyl power plant was. They said that the only way in which radiation might spread over vast distances, would be if it would manage to infiltrate into the soil, or if an explosion would completely destroy the containment building, thus allowing the radioactive plume to travel freely in the atmosphere. The researchers also observed the fact that despite of the numerous explosions which took place at the Fukushima reactor, the radioactive material is under control. One of the reasons for that is the fact that the Japanese reactor uses a different cooling system than the one which was used in Ukraine. Instead of graphite, the Japanese system is based on water.
It has been stated that the fuel pellets from the Fukushima nuclear reactor have most likely melted, and that is kind of dangerous. Because of that, there are higher chances for radioactive material to be sent into the air. The problem is that the Japanese officials are unwilling to cooperate with the media about this topic. They do not want to reveal if the fuel pellets have been melted, and that complicates things. The experts have stated that the effects of the fission are the biggest things we should worry about now. They have discovered that iodine-131 and cesium-137, and strontium-90, have been released into the atmosphere. The iodine-131 has a lifespan of 8 days, but it moves very fast in the atmosphere. Cesium-137 moves slower in the atmosphere, but it can attach itself to debris. This means that it will fall on the ground, and it will stay there until its lifespan ends. The problem is that cesium-137 can last for three decades or even more, which means that the area where it will land will be radioactive for decades. The Environmental Protection Agency said that this can be a problem, because cesium-137 is known for the fact that it can increase the risk of developing cancer.
Another problem is the fact that the majority of the scientists do now want to tell the truth about the situation. After all of this will end, it is very likely that they will say that there weren’t any risks for contamination, and that people worried too much, and so on. The majority of the nuclear scientists would swear that the nuclear reactors are 100 percent safe, and that the reason why they cause incidents once every few decades, is because of the human incompetence. The majority of the people said that the reason why the nuclear reactor failed was because of the earthquake, but there are few scientists who said that it should have worked even under those circumstances. After the earthquake and the tsunami, the nuclear reactor had technological failures, and this is the main reason why the temperature from the core could not be reduced.
The scientists said that people should not worry about the incident, but the people still worry, and they have a right to do it. This wasn’t the first time when such a thing happened, and there are very high possibilities that a similar event will happen sometimes in the future. Nuclear power might be safe, but because of the people, and their intentions and carelessness, it isn’t safe at all
