Gaye Levy
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Recent news that thousands of fuel rods are being removed from Fukushima has raised a lot of questions and concerns across the globe. Is the extraction safe or is this the beginning of Armageddon? Does TEPCO really have the expertise to do this and are the oversight mechanisms credible? Add to this our speculation relative to the long-term ramifications of Fukushima on our food supply, our health, and the health of future generations and we have cause for worry.
In early 2012, a year after a massive tsunami severely damaged the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, I connected with Joy Thompson who, along with her husband Randall, worked as health physicists during the Three Mile Island clean-up. With this latest news about the extraction of the fuel rods, I felt it was time to once again reach out to Joy and get her assessment and opinion on the long term effect of Fukushima to the environment and to humanity.
Joy was gracious in providing some thought-provoking answers. Not the answers I hope for or wanted, but answers none-the-less.
What Does the Defueling of Fukushima Mean to Us?
First, the defueling operation at Daiichi unit 4 is probably among the riskiest industrial operations ever attempted, much less under emergency high-stress conditions.
While reports from concerned parties everywhere (including NRC/DoE, French and Russian and German nuclear officials and IAEA) have varied on how long the pool was essentially empty after the disaster onset, and how much burned – and for how long – there is wide agreement that a significant portion of the spent fuel assemblies in the pool are probably damaged.
Damage comes from just brittleness and corrupted by salt water all the way to broken with spilled crumbled fuel and loose rods. The Japanese government admitted last month that the boron ‘blades’ absorbing stray neutrons between fuel bundles in each of the assemblies have long since corroded away. We do not have reliable figures on how much boron is being maintained in the pool either. This is a nightmare scenario.
Alas, the many other intractable issues present at the reservation make it imperative that what fuel can be removed must be removed – quickly – if for no other reason than to be able to say they tried to do “something” to mitigate what’s going to be an extremely ugly end game. There is a 90% probability for a 7.0+ earthquake in the next three years; it could bring these unstable ruins down.
The most likely bad news events from the defueling operation will be criticalities in the pool caused by broken/dropped rods and/or fuel sludge. If these boil off too much water or include the ‘fresh’ core that was in the pool during shroud work in the containment, we could witness your basic open air meltdown. On open air meltdown would release contamination to atmosphere equivalent to thousands of Hiroshima bombs. If they have to abandon the site the rest of ’em will go. That’s half again as much radioactive gnarl as has been released by all the bombs, all the meltdowns, all the other nuclear opposes added together from the beginning. Not good.
Perhaps this is all for show, they already know it’s a hopeless task, and are just setting us all up for the failure scenario. Guess we’ll see what Plan B entails when it’s called for.
I am not very optimistic on this, but who knows? Do I swear off Pacific seafood for the duration anyway. Contaminates concentrate up the food chain, but even the plankton and krill are contaminated. No tuna. Sardines, anchovies, squid, shellfish, crustaceans, seaweed are all contaminated as well off the northeastern coast of Japan, and soon the west coast of the Americas. None of the isotopes escaping are the same thing as potassium-40 in bananas, so don’t buy that propaganda.
Now, to your other questions . . .
Fukushima Today – An Interview with Joy Thompson
1. Some of the people on the West Coast are trying to point to jellyfish die-offs and such as being harbingers of the whole Pacific dying. Is that a realistic fear?
No, it’s not that realistic. While radioactive contamination can certainly weaken life forms to the point of making them susceptible to diseases they’d normally be immune or resistant to, the organisms involved have been demonstrating high stress and die-offs all over the world for some years – since well before Fukushima.
Something is certainly unhealthy in the oceans, and we humans are no doubt largely responsible with our filthy habits. It could be increased methane due to global warming, seawater ‘layers’ flipping, oxygen depletion from nitrogen run-offs, open oil gushers and Corexit, etc. Definitely disheartening developments to be paid close attention, most likely harbingers of worse things than Fukushima.
2. What about people (like my friend George) who have thought about moving back to the Pacific Northwest. Is buying a home on the West Coast a bad idea now? And if so, just how bad an idea is it?
Well, so long as you aren’t planning on living basically IN or ON the water (like as a commercial fisherman or on a houseboat), I don’t see that being there is any worse than being anywhere else. The most serious danger to humans will come from the atmospheric fallout (still circling and coming down in the rain from 3/11/2011). Which will increase again if there are criticalities during unit-4’s defueling. But the rain falls on us all, it can be as contaminated in Charlotte or Paris as it might be in Seattle.
If you’ve a choice, do try to put some mountains between you and everything west of you. It’ll help some.
3. Do you think housing prices are reflecting the radiation risks to the West Coast?
Sorry, don’t know what housing prices out there are doing right now. Could be correction [deflation] from the whole economic Mega-Scam that brought us down in 2008.
4. Do you still eat shellfish? How do you determine what’s safe to eat and what isn’t?
I never liked shellfish, actually. I do still eat occasional trout (which I love, and is abundant locally in these mountain streams). Admit to being unable to resist smoked salmon on occasion, but eat it so rarely that I truly wouldn’t miss it if it weren’t available. Haven’t eaten tuna in years due to mercury/heavy metals contamination.
I grow quite a bit of our food organically on my acreage – have half an acre in truck vegetables, another half-acre in pumpkins, melons and winter squash, apple, peach, cherry and pear trees, and a small vineyard with concord, muscadine and zinfandel grapes. I grow a large number of herbs, and manage 10 acres of forest-grown medicinals.
I should note here that wild-grown ginseng hit nearly $900 a pound this year. Some of my Mama ‘Sangs are more than 20 years old – one of those roots can go for thousands in China, and there are always Chinese buyers at the autumn exchanges. So far, however, I just keep planting seeds and only harvest what I use in tinctures. I have a healthy stand of elder that is proving lucrative. Elderberry tinctures were proven in side-by-side medical studies during the swine flu epidemic to work better to prevent infection or shorten duration than Tamiflu. Friends who are nurses will buy all I can make.
My land is bordered by state game lands and national forest, where abundant black/raspberries, blueberries, wineberries, persimmons and sloes grow wild. I also harvest acorns to leech and make flour out of it to enrich bread and cornbread. I grow only heirloom Indian corn, dry and store it whole to grind on demand. I frequent area tailgate markets in season and the regional farmer’s market.
I’ve found the trick to getting really great deals on bulk produce is to show up at the end of the day on Saturday. Many vendors bring their harvest just for the weekend, and are willing to practically give it away as they’re packing up so as not to have to throw it out. Get great ripe tomatoes, cukes, eggplant, squash and beans by the peck or bushel that way, but then you’ve got to preserve it right away.
I am able to preserve a great deal of our bounty, grown, traded for or bought. I also dehydrate most everything in my nifty solar dryer. Made it a couple of years ago out of salvaged windows and untreated boards from a neighbor’s sawmill. Can some condiments and pickles, make wines, wine vinegars, balsamic and hard cider with much of the fruit. We have a couple of pet Pekin ducks, get 2-4 very large eggs a day. Plus a neighbor with bees for raw honey. I don’t do bees (though I’d like to) because we’ve too many bears. Out here you learn to share with the wildlife, who do a very good job of cleaning out downed POM fruit that would otherwise draw hornets. Dogs do a good job of keeping them out of the compost and away from the house. Cats are great vermin eradicators – field mice, rats, moles, voles and gophers.
My best advice to those who want to commit to surviving by learning to do for themselves is to move to the country, or a small town surrounded by countryside. You can produce a lot even on two or three acres, and make friends with neighbors who produce much more. Barter is the primary means of trade for home-grown foodstuffs out here, your skills and hobbies may be more valuable than you thought!
There are small farms locally specializing in organic/free range poultry and meat if you eat meat. We could hunt if we needed to. Stay low on the food chain if you do hunt – avoid all carnivores, go lightly on the venison, stick with small animals (rabbit, etc.) and birds (turkey, grouse, etc.). Their metabolism is fast enough for biological half-life of the worst isotopes to be short. Plus, they don’t live long enough to accumulate too much.
Basically, eat locally as much as possible, get to know your farmers. When there’s plumes/fallout, avoid green leafies and berries, or build a greenroom off a south-facing wall. In the end, we’ve all got to eat. Even when we can’t avoid contamination. We’ll all die when our time comes anyway, might as well enjoy the ride. It’s a good way to live.
5. What about salmon and other migratory fish?
See above.
6. And bottom fish like halibut?
I’d avoid halibut, flounder, and of course crabs and shellfish/crustaceans. The bottom habitat of all our coastal shelf waters are contaminated with a gross amount of pollutants chemical, heavy metal, radioactive, and just plain filth. Heck, I even avoid catfish, because a sad number of our lakes and rivers are just as polluted. The heavy stuff always sinks, ends up in whatever’s living there.
7. Would you care to speculate about how many people will die – ultimately – prematurely due to the Fukushima accident? What are you colleagues saying?
Cancer rates will rise, likely to the point where your chances of being diagnosed in your lifetime are sure if you live long enough, but treatments and cures are always possible. We can hope.
DNA-related birth defects – different from developmental issues due to exposures during pregnancy – probably will take another generation to show in significant numbers. General weakness due to constant low level and internal bombardment will probably claim as many as air pollution from burning coal does now. In fact, they’ll likely claim it comes from coal instead of Fuku. Even if we quit burning coal today.
Unless you are vaporized to a greasy shadow on the wall they will never admit radiation killed you. Or shortened your life. It’s all an academic exercise in cost-benefit analysis (premeditated random murder) and damned statistics used to deny culpability. Truth be told, there will be some millions of premature deaths worldwide just from Fukushima so far. They’ve four more Level 7 disasters lined up waiting to happen there, so the numbers could easily go up. Sad but true, take precautions where you can.
8. What’s with the positioning of nuclear power as an answer to global warming? First: Is there global warming, second is nuclear power really the solution or more of a problem? And third, what’s the Big Numbers Game on our heads about?
Yes, there is global warming. It is evident in the melting of the ice caps and glaciers, increasing droughts, floods, and severe storms. Yes, humans are contributing to it by means of our filthy industrial habits. Burning fossil fuels, mostly. We can and absolutely should cut it out – stop fouling our nest.
But the climate will continue to change anyway. We should put our energies into adapting. If it gets too warm to grow apples and cherries, plant peaches and oranges. Consider installing drip-hoses and re-routing your gray water to the crops if there’s a drought. If you’re careful of the soaps/detergents you use for bathing and dishwashing, etc., your crops will thank you.
If things need disinfecting or grease-cutting, don’t use bleach – use vinegar. Baking soda as scouring powder, etc. Investigate making your own soaps with glycerin instead of lye. And don’t forget – sunshine is the best disinfectant and laundry freshener there is!
No, nuclear power is NOT the answer to global warming. We can adjust and adapt to different ways of doing things. All we have to do is do it. The big numbers game on our heads is propaganda and Money-Talking. They aren’t satisfied to have impoverished billions of us with their stupid economic Monopoly game, they want everything else too. Everything. Fuck’em, I say.
Caveat: In their (small) favor, the MoneyMasters are no longer investing in nukes. Truth is, there is not enough money on this planet to build the 4,000 new nukes we’d need within the next 20 years to put a dent in anthropocentric global warming. In fact, they’re locked into a grand ‘austerity’ plan for the next 20 years that is going to seriously diminish the demand for energy everywhere. Building new nukes is a total fool’s errand, absolutely unnecessary. Not gonna happen.
9. As long as we’re talking nuclear power, do you buy Iran’s claim that they are only in it to building a nuclear power infrastructure?
Sure, why not? Israel could turn ’em to glass if they tried to make bombs. But Iran is seismically as unstable as Japan, they need a nuclear power infrastructure like they need bullet holes in all their heads. They have plenty of sunshine and wind. They should develop those.
10. If the Israelis do, indeed, bomb the Iranian installations, how is that likely to be (compared to Fukushima or Chernobyl, for example)?
Meh. Just another bomb. Somebody’s exploding one somewhere every year or so, sometimes more. Even the Israelis aren’t dumb enough to bomb a site stuffed with already-enriched fuel. If they bomb, they’ll bomb before there’s fuel (or bomb facilities outlying that would cripple the project), and they’ll use bunker-busters, not nukes. Israelis talk tough, but they aren’t suicidal.
11. Is nuclear terrorism inside the US a real threat, or is it a sales job on the American people?
Heh. You can answer this one.
Since Fukushima we are told the worst case of radioactive pollution the planet’s ever seen is no big deal, right? So we’re supposed to be terrified of some disgruntled teenager blowing an IUD/pressure cooker with an X-ray source mixed in? I wish they’d make up their damned minds.
This used to be the “Home of the Brave,” strange as that seems these days. Our own government is doing most of the terrorizing lately far as I can see, and no. They are not really serious about anything but keeping people terrified (dead people aren’t afraid). And while they don’t care when or how we die, they won’t kill themselves just to kill us. They don’t have to help us stay alive, so probably won’t.
Caveat: If de ebil terrier-ists blow the hell outta my little town tomorrow, I will stand corrected. Unfortunately for the terror-mongers, if they blew the hell outta my little town, nobody would miss it.
12. As an expert in nuclear affairs, do you ever get the sense that you (and your colleagues) are more subject to government surveillance than regular people? Do/should nuclear scientists be more alarmed about government surveillance than anyone else?
Not any more!!!
I and my colleagues left the nuclear industry decades ago. But yeah, they’ve been tapping our phones since submarine days. You learn not to say things they might take the wrong way. Or say ‘hi’ to them, especially on holidays when you’re waiting for Mom to come to the phone.
The assumption of constant surveillance is given for whole classes of people in this (and other) countries. Welcome to our world!
13. If you were a regular working stiff in Japan, would you still be there?
Most likely not. But then, I’m not Japanese. If I were in the southwest of that country I might stick around. If I were Tokyo-north, I’d have bugged out two and a half years ago.
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About Joy: Joy Thompson was part of a 3-person investigatory team with her husband Randall and colleague David Bear during the immediate recovery operation at TMI-2 in 1979. As health physics personnel, the team monitored on-site radiation levels, releases of radioactive contamination into the environment and doses to workers. The Thompsons went on to establish a family entertainment business with their children, and took up homesteading in the mountains of North Carolina. Joy maintains a blog about homesteading, self-sufficiency, current issues and organic gardening, Wise Living Journal.
For an informative, fascinating and somewhat shocking account of Joy and Randall’s experience at TMI, I recommend that you read the article Investigation: Revelations about Three Mile Island disaster raise doubts over nuclear plant safety.
The Final Word
As good as I am about reaching out to people, I sometimes struggle with just the right questions. For assistance with this article, I asked George Ure (Peoplenomics) to help formulate questions using his investigative nose for news. He was, after all, the news director at a leading Seattle radio station for years and years.
I would also like to thank Joy for her willingness to publicly share her thoughts with us. She has endured much as a result of her frankness over the TMI cover-up and is a great friend to Backdoor Survival when it comes to being honest and forthright.
As I said at the onset, the answers to these questions are not what I had hope for and yet they are not unexpected. May God help us all as we navigate around the fallout from Fukushima in the ensuing years.
Bargain Bin: When it comes to protection from radiation, a few things should be on hand.
Home Health Physics: Health Physics is the applied science of radiation exposure control, radioactive contamination control, and environmental monitoring. This little eBook offers methods of keeping your home safe during those times when radioactive fallout or contamination might be threatening your neighborhood. It was written by Joy and-and Randall Thompson and David Bear and is a free download.
iOSAT Potassium Iodide Tablets: These were back ordered for weeks and highly inflated price-wise after Fukushima. Be sure to get a package now for each family member. The way these tabs work is that they fill the thyroid gland with potassium iodide, thus reducing the chance that harmful radioactive iodine will enter and cause sickness or cancer.
NukAlert: Radiation Detector/Monitor: The NukAlert is a personal radiation meter, monitor, and alarm that will promptly warn you of the presence of dangerous levels of radiation. It is designed to be attached to a key chain so that you can keep it with you at all times.
N100 Respirator Masks: You want the N100 respirator masks and not the less effective N95 masks. These two were in great demand after Fukushima so if you did not pick up a pack or two then, get them now. This Moldex 2730 is NIOSH certified to have a filter efficiency of 99.97% or greater against particulate aerosols free of oil.
RADSticker nuclear radiation exposure determining dosimeter: The purpose of these stickers is to provide timely personal radiation exposure information in an event of an accident at a nuclear power plant or a nuclear or dirty bomb explosion. Low in cost, the RADSticker will help you determine whether you will need for medical treatment.
3M Duct Tape: Duct tape is an absolute necessity when sealing off a space to shelter in place. For this purpose, you want something better than the cheap stuff you get at the dollar store.
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63 Responses to “Fukushima: Is Anyone or Anything Safe?”
Just came upon this. Doesn’t sound promising at all.ENENews
US/CANADA RADIATION UPDATE, Nov. 24, 2013
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3z7tyaeIr8#t=13
Thank you so much for a quick response. I think there will be a NukAlert under the Christmas tree
this year. Gaye, your link is cheaper than the one I was going to purchase. Saving money is always
good!
Hi, Brinda. First, I would think last year’s salmon isn’t too bad. You went to all the trouble to catch and preserve it, and I expect ate quite a bit before and after. Radiation dose (and contamination) is cumulative. Maintain augmented levels of potassium and calcium – don’t overdose, you just want an ample supply. This will help a lot to prevent incorporation into your tissues, cesium/strontium should go on through for the most part. We’re all going to ‘get used to’ chronic low-level doses, so look around for various foods, herbs and housekeeping hints that will keep it to a minimum and/or boost healing abilities.
On the NukAlert you’re right. It’s not so much the need to know, as the courage to know and the confidence to act properly on what you know. Radiation is not something that falls under the heading of “what you can’t see/don’t know can’t hurt you.” You’d be warned when the plume is overhead and fallout falling (circles the planet every 40 days or so), warned that the rain or snow are hotter than usual, warned that the dog tracked in some hot stuff and you need to mop and wipe the kitchen floor good, etc., etc. There’s a hundred things to know. That knowing won’t diminish the quality of your life at all. But may save you time in life that is precious. Enjoy it!
Joy, could you give a few good reasons to have the NukAlert. Gaye has one sitting on her desk and I have thought about it for many months. Tom Horn says it is a status symbol in Washington, D.C.
It is not about the symbol but about the importance of having it on your keychain.
For me . . . it is about the need to know. 🙂
Last year we did subsistent fishing and caught our limit of salmon (Alaska). We have most of it in the freezer or in pint jars from smoking and canning. We are not quite sure what to do about last years catch.
Joy do you feel we should keep it, have it checked or should we throw it away?
If we keep it should we have an analysis done and what are the steps for this process.
I am confident, that we are not the only ones who need to know. I want to thank both you and Gaye
having taken your time to give us the truth.
We will not be harvesting salmon or any other fish this year from the pacific. Will it be safe to go into the Interior and harvest trout or other fish from the lakes?
Anyone heard about what they *the scientists* are discovering which can help with radiation exposure? I will have to find it but according to study(ies), turmeric appears to help the body rid or protect the body from radiation. As I have posted, my family lived near Hanford. Now how was it that I have survived when the siblings I grew up with did not? I didn’t have any answers to this but when read about this study, I had to check. If you choose to check, do “turmeric and radiation protection. I’ve been doing turmeric for almost a decade now so perhaps it HAS helped me to survive. BUT if I developed cancer, I’d have to stop if I were going to have radiation treatment because I do used it regularly.
Whatever is happening, I am sure I will have a supply of turmeric and will be working at growing it next year. It’s like ginger, in that it’s a root, so here’s why my inexperience will shine *sarcasm*. One thing I Know, no matter what the challenge, there is much we can live and learn from.
I don’t share the hate others might for anyone, let alone Dixie. I don’t have time for that, too much looking forward and discovering to do. 😉 I do however understand the right side of the brain thing….being left handed I’ve always done things a bit out of the box. lol BTW: I did live on Whidbey, that’s not the concern, it’s Hood Canal where the Trident Subs are homeported which make the islands a target. You say you have a protective room…are you aware that it will be a target not a protection in event of social upheaval. Consider where you would look if you were hungry or trying to feed your family. Sorry, it’s just my criminal justice training and discussions with the lower side of life people. Find a few places outside your home you can reach temporarily, bury some supplies and make sure only those you trust with your life, know where those caches are and how to find them. Each one could even be used to barter so your main supplies are not touched. If you’re prepping, then you have to prepare for the seedy side of life to rise to the surface. imho
@ Dee, I’m so sorry to hear about your family loses. Your not alone in this. I too have heard and followed the news on the Hanford reactor and your “spot on”. I met one of the Nuclear scientist involved with the clean-up one day (Early 1990’s) and all he could do was roll his eyes to my questions, what a nightmare. The name “Dixie Lee Ray” is still spoken with hatred in this state. Apparently some years ago it was discovered that the waste was leaking into the Columbia Gorge Basin.
@Joy: Thank you for your wonderful information. I had started a folder on Fuku some time ago and will value this information for resourcing. I’m a “right-side-of-the-brain person and I forget numbers. You said in your post “Behave accordingly”. I’m not sure what is going through your mind, I’m not as informed and educated in this area, but I have been trying to compile some information in the event of escalation. My chances of survival in a nuclear event, I hope are good here because of the home I live in. My lower level is partial under ground with the required protective room and my preparedness for an event, not at 100%, but sustainable if everything goes down. I do need to get better educated on what could happen short and long term. I came across this the other day. I’m posting this if any one is interested: WHAT TO DO IF A NUCLEAR DISASTER IS IMMINENT!
This guide is for families preparing for imminent terrorist or strategic nuclear attacks with expected blast destruction followed by widespread radioactive fallout downwind.
//www.ki4u.com/guide.htm
Hi again, dee. I wouldn’t worry too much about those Tridents, they’re mostly troop transports these days rather than Big MAD Deterrents. Most of the Polaris subs are razor blades by now, and the new subs are all little disposable fast-attacks – designed to last only so long, thrown away rather than refueled. Reactors don’t open… Besides, our sub accidents don’t tend to be fires/meltdowns that would really crap up a large area of nearby land. They tend to be “lost at sea” type stuff, and as long as they’re on the bottom, the junior-size reactors aren’t melting.
Governments stockpile prussian blue in capsules to be given in case of serious cesium contamination, but I doubt they’ll ever turn loose of ’em for civilians. Needs a prescription, works by binding cesium (or thallium, which is also highly toxic) in the lower intestine so it’ll go out with the trash instead of being absorbed. Really the best protection against the Big Three radioactive contaminates – iodine, cesium and strontium, several isotopes each – is to ensure your diet includes an ample supply of non-radioactive iodine, potassium, and calcium. Then if there’s a fallout plume coming your way (or contaminated foods), you can supplement. Far less of the radioactive isotopes are absorbed if there’s already plenty of non-radioactive versions available to absorb. Also maintain high levels of anti-oxidants in your diet and supplement regimen.
If you know it’s there (or coming your way), you can be proactive. I hate to say it, but one of these days they’re just going to stop telling us about it. That’s what all this “stress is more harmful than the radiation” stuff is all about. Stress from knowing radioactive iodine is in your air, food and water does not cause thyroid cancer. Radioactive iodine in your air, food and water does.
Joy – Last week I watched the Australian version of the movie “On the Beach”. Folks were handed little suicide kits so that they could inject themselves, their children, and their pets. They then died peacefully. Do you know if those kits really exist? Or suspect?
I have written in the past about “drinking the Kool-Aid” in an end-of-the-world scenario (a global nuclear holocaust and a painful death to humanity). Not everyone liked what I had to say but it did get people to think.
Gaye – Well, that’s certainly a philosophically loaded question. I know nothing of suicide kits, and most probably wouldn’t buy one.
If ever a time comes when that choice should (to my mind) be made for myself, I wouldn’t need a kit. There are certain plants traditionally used by native inhabitants to induce a painless, peaceful death (and no, it’s not Death Angels, an excruciating way to go). While the plants grow almost everywhere, the knowledge of that use is best kept to one’s self for the most part. Like the strict laws regulating lethal substances in medical and veterinary practice, I don’t think having a “suicide kit” handy is a wise choice for people who are prone to depression and/or suicidal ideation, or who have family members who are or may be.
Besides, my adventure has (so far) been …um, adventuresome enough that I’ve learned to cherish even the most painful and frightening of experiences. And hope that when it comes time for me to go, I am still able to remember them lucidly in all their sorrow, joy, pain, pleasure, compassion and grief. When my death comes to claim me, I think (hope?) I will want to meet it eye to eye. That’s just me. Others will of course make their own choices, for themselves.
Wow. So sorry to hear your family has paid so high a price, dee. We’ve far too many “downwinders” of our own to dismiss what is happening in Japan. ‘Authorities’ never admit responsibility, but the numbers don’t lie like people – and corporations – are known to do.
I am a big believer in the old Boy Scout motto – “Be Prepared.” If you know or have good reason to suspect you’re being dumped on, then you have the opportunity to protect yourself and the people you love. ‘Authorities’ don’t love any of us. We’re just the losers in their cost-benefit games. They weren’t aiming specifically at your family, they just didn’t care that your family was in the way.
Don’t be fooled by ‘experts’ who make it their business to fool you. Only 0.0117% of natural potassium is radioactive, but ALL of the cesium from Fukushima is radioactive. Your body can’t tell the difference. No amount of bananas will change your ‘normal’ internal dose of K40. A banana contaminated with cesium delivers excess dose. So does seafood (or anything else) contaminated with cesium. Suzuki has reason for concern, as do we all.
Best of luck to you and yours.
Good on you for trying to stay aware, Sheri. My take on the issue (in nifty should-be-a-poster style) is here –
//www.besthealthdegrees.com/survive-nuclear/
If you aren’t working at the scene of a disaster – but trying to survive one they’re predictably lying about – there are really just a few basic concepts you need to know. And those boil down to keeping the crap away from your family’s lungs and food supply. Clean, clean, clean is the motto, and don’t sleep on the derned floor. Don’t sent it airborne again, wet it down and soak it up (hence the paper towels). Keep a ‘mud room’ for outdoor gear. Don’t leave home without it, don’t wear it into the living area.
They won’t tell you what “shelter in place” means if they issue that order. Keep your windows closed is about the extent of their info. There’s way more to it than that, you can and should know what else is advisable. Ultimately they may end up getting you in the end. Just don’t make it easy for ’em.
Yes, a ‘mud’ or changing room to change from outdoor clothing into home clothing works whether there’s radiation or not. It may sound trite but having a large roll of plastic will come in handy for so many uses. I have a big one plus several sizes of tarps.
Just to add to the discussion. I admit to being skeptic. However when people stand up and speak out knowing their professional lives are at stake, then what they are saying needs to be considered over “professionals” who may be trying to delude themselves as well as the the public. When it comes to radiation. I listen. I am not a professional in the field but someone who has survived low dosage emission leaks from then-called Camp Hanford, now called Hanford Atomic Works. I have lost a mother, 2 brothers and a sister to cancer. Was it due to those low emission releases back in the late 40s and early 50s? The government has said, no. Thing is, check into how many people who lived off the land via farming have that lived down current from Hanford. The little red dots begin to stack up and group together. So while there may be an argument about credentials, I listen not only to those who are suppose to know but also other scientists and individuals who have knowledge of the effects.
To this end I wanted to share : //www.vice.com/read/these-nuclear-physicists-think-david-suzuki-is-exaggerating-about-fukushima This is not a man who speaks unless he knows what he’s talking about.
GoneWithTheWind
You are correct that TMI2 was far, far less than Fukushima is. Didn’t even melt through the vessel once, much less three times. I thought everybody pretty much knew that (if they cared to know anything), and have nowhere claimed any different.
So… I gave the “right” answer to is there global warming? Then what the heck is your problem? I don’t care about the hype on whether human contributions to atmospheric CO2 overload are responsible. I think they do contribute, but you can believe not so. Our beliefs won’t change anything either way. Deal is, global warming is happening. We should adjust and adapt. And clean up our act because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t care how they sell that.
The subject here is Fukushima – real time, not history. It is not Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Chelyabinsk, Hanford, or even Hiroshima/Nagasaki. Why can’t you just deal with Fukushima? I did.