Is it very Safe to live in Japan to live in?

Question:

I was planning on going to japan in about 2-3 years as an exchange student. My mom brought up the nuclear thing to me and it didn't cross my mind. What is there to worry about? I know a nuclear problem can mess up an area for a long time but I have also heard that radiation only lasts for a few weeks. So what danger is there?

Answer:

It's safe anywhere outside of the immediate area of the power plant and not particularly dangerous there unless you decide to take a tour of the reactors. If anything, the situation shows how safe nuclear power is. Consider that forty year old plants were hit with an earthquake five times the strength they were designed for and yet they still shut down safely. The generators came on like they were supposed to when grid power was cut. Then the tsunami hit and the generators were wiped out. However, the battery backup still worked for the designed eight hours. The problem happened when no new generators could be put in. Even so the problems have been minimal--media scare mongering for ratings not withstanding.


Here is an informative article describing the situation:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fu…

And here is where you find current, factual status information:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsun…

And a slide presentation that describes the effects:
http://www.slideshare.net/iaea/radiologi…

And here is a chart that helps make sense of the numbers:
http://www.xkcd.com/radiation/


And before you come down on nuclear energy, take a look at coal. In the U.S. 20 to 60 coal miners die each year compared to zero nuclear power plant workers. Pollution from coal power plants kill over 20,000 people in the U.S. annually compared to about 100 people killed world-wide from nuclear power over the last forty years. The only thing coal has going for it is that it doesn't have "nuclear" in the wording so therefore it must be safe. It seems that most people have learned about nuclear energy from sci-fi B movies rather than from studying the science.

http://frankwarner.typepad.com/free_fran…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5174391/ns/u…

In addition, you'll get more radiation from your local coal power plant than you will from any nuclear power plant.

http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/tenorm/coala…
http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl…