Thursday, March 17, 2011

So if all those nuclear reactors melt down, is everyone in Japan basically gonna get cancer?

Question:




Answer:


No but the risk increases 1%. I mean I'm sure these reactors are nothing compared to other things we can get cancer from: smoking, pesticides, genetically modified chickens, tanning, living in polluted cities, bad mood etc. I am sure there are many mini nuclear accidents that happen in the world and we know nothing about them (like nuclear military tests in oceans and deserts).

OK, this is an excerpt from a website I found about Chernobyl case:

"2. How many people died as an immediate result of the accident?

The initial explosion resulted in the death of two workers. Twenty-eight of the firemen and emergency clean-up workers died in the first three months after the explosion from Acute Radiation Sickness and one of cardiac arrest.

3. How many people were evacuated?

The entire town of Pripyat (population 49,360), which lay only three kilometres from the plant was completely evacuated 36 hours after the accident. During the subsequent weeks and months an additional 67,000 people were evacuated from their homes in contaminated areas and relocated on government order. In total some 200,0000 people are believed to have been relocated as a result of the accident.



4. What are the major health effects for exposed populations?

There have been at least 1800 documented cases of thyroid cancer children who were between 0 and 14 years of age when the accident occurred., which is far higher than normal. The thyroid gland of young children is particularly susceptible to the uptake of radioactive iodine, which can trigger cancers, treatable both by surgery and medication. Health studies of the registered cleanup workers called in (so-called “liquidators”) have failed to show any direct correlation between their radiation exposure and an increase in other forms of cancer or disease. The psychological affects of Chernobyl were and remain widespread and profound, and have resulted for instance in suicides, drinking problems and apathy."

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