Few Chernobyl radiation risks from Russia fires

[Dogmudgeon]

The latest radiation scare runs head-first into Science:

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre67b1yk-us-russia-heat-chernobyl/">Few Chernobyl radiation risks from Russia fires
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent (Reuters)
Posted 2010/08/12 at 9:16 am EDT

LONDON, Aug. 12, 2010 (Reuters) — Fears that fires scorching forests near Chernobyl may reawaken dangerous amounts of radioactive fallout and propel it into the air are overblown, scientists say, and the actual health risks are very small.

Even firefighters tackling the blazes, which officials say have hit forests in Russia's Bryansk region polluted by radioactive dust from the 1986 Chernobyl reactor disaster, are unlikely to run any added nuclear contamination risks.

The amount of radiation in smoke would be only a fraction of the original fallout, they say.

"Of the total radioactivity in the area, much less than one percent of it will be remobilized," said Jim Smith, an expert on Chernobyl and a specialist in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Britain's University of Portsmouth.

...

It said there may be a slight increase in radioactivity in the nearby environment due to re-suspension of caesium-137, "but it would be very much lower than the natural radioactivity." (emphasis is mine -- d)

...

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre67b1yk-us-russia-heat-chernobyl/">Read more at Science Daily.

--d!

[Kolesar]

1. Growing potatoes is right out

"Most of the radioactivity is in the soil, which will not be affected by the fires, and only a small proportion is in the vegetation," Smith said in a telephone interview.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Is your normal reaction to a forest fire to rush out and plant potatoes?

Granted they'd come up baked, but it would require a very slow burning fire and a great deal of patience.