UNDERSTANDING RADIATION by Donald R. Riley
“Mythology distracts us everywhere. For the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. You must not be afraid to follow the truth no matter where it is found.” – Thomas Jefferson
How are Permissible Radiation Limits Set? US Regulatory examined the question of permissible radiation limits, concluding that most people that get a small dose of radiation are not harmed by it, but in fact are benefited. The report’s final conclusion was just the opposite. In the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents, fear of radiation was much more harmful than the effects of radiation itself. Announcing that no amount of radiation is small enough to be harmless (LNT) created and nurtured phobic fear of radiation, when none was justified by the facts. Prof. Allison concludes that setting the present permissible radiation limit, with a good margin of safety results in a level about 1000 times the current figure.
NATURAL BACKGROUND RADIATION Mrem/yr
* US Average * Chernobyl Forced Resettlement ** * Colorado Plateau * Kerala, India * Gerais, Brazil * Ramasari, Iran * LNT (Linear No Threshold)
300 500 600 1,300 2,300 48,000 300
** In areas where the natural background plus Chernobyl contribution exceeded the limit, 200,000 people were forcibly resettled. Ref: ‘Underexposed’, table 10, page 80.
What should we learn from Fukushima? 1. Radiation doses were below background levels elsewhere in the world. 2. With 25,000 non-nuclear deaths and zero nuclear, the Fukushima event cannot be considered a nuclear catastrophe. 3. To date no radiation exposure health effects have been reported from the Fukushima incident. 4. All the damage has been from depression, despair and even suicide among 100,000 people who have been evacuated from their homes within a 12 mile radius.
Radioactivity and Its Real Impact A Taiwan steel company accidentally mixed some highly radioactive cobalt into a batch of steel rebar used in the construction of 1700 apartments. People living in these buildings were subject to radiation up to 10 times that received from the natural background. 15 years later, past and present apartment dwellers were surveyed. Normal incidents would have predicted 160 cancers among the 10,000 residents. To their astonishment they discovered only five cases of cancer - 97% lower than the anticipated amount. Exposure to high levels of background radiation had apparently bestowed upon residents "an effective immunity from cancer.“ The Taiwan incident illustrates the enormous gap between radiation science and the popular perception of the dangers of nuclear power. One year after Japan's Fukushima accident, much of the world is running away from nuclear energy on the grounds that its risks are too great for a modern society to bear.
Nuclear Industry Record With fourteen thousand five hundred reactor-years of nuclear power production we have not seen a fatality apart from the limited number of deaths that occurred as a result of Chernobyl. Very few industries have produced such a low toll of damage to the environment or the public. That basic fact is much too little appreciated by the public.
NEWS STORIES ON DEATHS News Stories • • • •
Auto Accidents Industrial Accidents Asphyxiation Radiation
•
Source: New York Times Information Book, 1974-1978
120 50 20 200
Deaths /year 50,000 12,000 4,500 0
LNT (Linear No Threshold) Among many increases in life span and health, a dose of 0.15 Gy would likely prevent 10,000 breast cancer deaths – with better than 99% certainty – if given to a million women. How many more lives must be forfeited to a thoroughly discredited regulation that prevails? Ref: book ‘Underexposed’ by E. Hiserodt, Pg. 229.
Nuclear Power - Radiation Wade Allison, Oxford University, United Kingdom RED 40,000mGy per month fatal dose to Tumour cells in radiotherapy
Gray (Gy) is the SI unit of absorbed dose of Joule/kilogram (100 rads). The amount of electricity required to light a 1 watt LED for 1 second.
YELLOW 20,000mGy per month non-fatal dose to healthy tissue in radiotherapy with few % chance of cancer
Sample radiation dose limits
2/21/2015
GREEN 100mGy per month conservative safe dose limit in any circumstances (AHARS – As High As Relatively Safe) BLACK dot in green 0.08mGy per month (1mGy/yr) public limit recommended by ALARA/LNT 10
“Mythology distracts us everywhere. For the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. You must not be afraid to follow the truth no matter where it is found.” – Thomas Jefferson
Right Click here and select “Open Hyperlink� for a short video from the people of Japan thanking countries around the world for the assistance they received after the earthquake / tsunami. The URL is: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=SS-sWdAQsYg&vq=medium