Question:
I'm going to Japan summer of next year, and I'm excited and nervous. As long as everything stays stable there with the nuclear technology, I should be going. Will it be bad for my health? I know that there was no explosion, but even leakage could have exposed the entire country to radiation. Maybe not a lot, but enough to cause concern. Would I be okay? Is the food safe to eat there now? The thing I worry most about are my reproductive organs. I don't want radiation leaving me infertile...
Answer:
You would be fine going today unless you plan to go within 12 km (about 7 miles) of the Fukushima plant. Even then there isn't all that much danger unless you plant to camp next to the buildings.
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…
Historical status:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2011…
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/
- Will it be bad for my health
No. http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kids/KP…
- but even leakage could have exposed the entire country to radiation
Detectible and harmful are two different things. You get radiation all the time.
http://www.xkcd.com/radiation/
- I don't want radiation leaving me infertile
You will get more radiation from the airplane trip to Japan then you will get being there. Note that most of the radiation leakage (about 80%) is from iodine-131 which has a half-life of about eight days.
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