Fukushima: which is worse for you, radiation or paranoia?
Monday, January 6th, 2014[ by Charles Cameron — frankly, I’m more concerned about the spiritually and socially corrosive impact of fear, myself ]
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I know, technically radiation and paranoia are incommensurables. But still…
Blog-friend Cheryl Rofer posted today at Nuclear Diner, pointing out the fallacies in some recent reports about Fukushima, spreading like wildfire on the web:
I particularly like the “Fukushima melt-through point” in one of the illustrations in that apparently original source, reproduced here. That’s referring to the China Syndrome, in which the melted reactor core melts down through the earth. But once it gets to the center, does it keep climbing, against gravity, to that “melt-through point”?
How much outrageous or stupid stuff does it take to discredit a source? For me, the misuse of the tsunami map and the belief that a core could melt clear through the earth, against gravity, are quite enough.
Boom!
I recommend Chery’s whole piece, both to read and to circulate. And she includes a number of other more specific sources worth takeing a look at, including:
Radiation Basics True facts about Ocean Radiation and the Fukushima Disaster Is the sea floor littered with dead animals due to radiation? No. Three Reasons Why Fukushima Radiation Has Nothing to Do with Starfish Wasting Syndrome
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So: which does more harm to us in the long run, radiation — or paranoia?
