Japan rocked with 8.9 earthquake.

[Karen]

It is still ongoing, yesterday's news seemed bad, but at least today they have restored power to one of the reactors.

The other news is much worse, they have dug down a couple inches 50 kilometers away in several spots, and found very high radiation. This is very bad, as the areas around there have many farms, and grow a lot of Japan's produce.

It is just terribly scary, and even if it isn't in the forefront of the news, Japan will be dealing with this for many, many years to come. And even the damage from the earthquake and tsunami will take time and care to repair, the nuclear situation is just making it more tragic.

[smokey the elder]

(geek hat on)
The problem with radioactivity is, it depends on which isotope. Iodine 131 is the stuff that goes to the thyroid. This stuff has a half life of 8 days. So even if it did get into fish, it would decay rapidly to inert (stable) elements.

On the other hand, you have strontium 90, which has a half-life of 28.8 years; and cesium 137, about 30 years. Sr 90 is the isotope which is like calcium and goes into the bones; and Cs 137 is in the sodium group. These are what made the milk dangerous after Chernobyl. It is the longer half-life isotopes that are the worst, especially since they like to get into the system and hang around, causing great amounts of damage.

(geek hat off)

[pomtzu]

I don't think the U.S should be in a panic state over any radiation that might reach us. Sure, none would be ideal, but the small amounts that could get here are certainly not going to be a threat to the food and water supply and our lives - IMO. I've had enough x-rays in my lifetime for dozens of people, and I'm not glowing yet, and I'm certain I won't die from radiation poisoning. The U.S. needs to be a lot more worried about the pesticides that we use - the amounts that get into the soil and water and food that we eat. I'm a lot more concerned about that, than the possibility of somewhat elevated radiation levels from the Japan disaster.

[smokey the elder]

I found this incredible graphic showing the amount of radiation you get from different sources. http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[Kirsten]

Now they say Plutonium is leaking, they detected neutron beams several times, which means that now the really bad stuff is set free. Things are getting pretty scary!

The article I read was a German one, otherwise I would post a link. And on German tv, they say that radiation in Fukushima has never been as high as today...

[Karen]

The news grows continually worse. NHK right now says they have detected cesium in the soil 50 km from the plant, 5 cm down, that is over 1000 times normal.

This is just bad, and the fact that the Japanese just had people evacuate within 30 km makes this even more horrifying. I am glad the American government told every American within 50 miles (about 80 km) and I hope many Japanese heard that and moved away also.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

They are saying that dangerous levels are reaching Tokyo now and some of the water is contaminated as well as some foods.