Understanding the ongoing risk from the meltdowns faced by the Japanese people

[kristopher]

Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama of Tokyo University Tells the Politicians: "What Are You Doing?"

Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama is the head of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo. On July 27, he appeared as a witness to give testimony to the Committee on Welfare and Labor in Japan's Lower House in the Diet.

Remember Professor Kosako, also from the University of Tokyo, who resigned in protest as special advisor to the prime minister over the 20 millisievert/year radiation limit for school children? There are more gutsy researchers at Todai (Tokyo University) - the supreme school for the "establishment" - than I thought. Professor Kodama literally shouted at the politicians in the committee, "What the hell are you doing?"

..."When a vast amount of radioactive materials is released, they are in particles. Dispersion of particles is non-linear, and it's one of the most difficult calculations in the fluid dynamics. The nuclear fuel is like sands buried in synthetic resin, but once the fuel melts down, a large amount of super-fine particles is released.

"What happens then? The problem like the contaminated rice hay happens. The pattern of contamination does not follow concentric circles. It depends on the weather. It also depends on where the particles landed - on the material that absorbs water, for example."...

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/07/professor-tatsuhiko-kodama-of-tokyo.html

[bananas]

1. It's difficult to read these.

"When we research the radiation injury/sickness, we look at the total amount of radioactive materials. But there is no definite report from TEPCO or the Japanese government as to exactly how much radioactive materials have been released from Fukushima.

[kristopher]

3. Difficult, but important. nt

[truedelphi]

2. of course, with all the data on radioactive isotopes that have landed

In the Pacific Northwest and in California, Japanese scientists can simply extrapolate as to what
would be in their area.

Except, oops! someone put the brakes on over at the EPA so that the data is not being gathered here either.