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PBS’s Miles O’Brien: If radiation standards were enforced, there’d be a dramatically larger evacuation… “And that’s not going to happen” — “An eerie post-apocalyptic scene” around Fukushima (VIDEO)

Published: March 10th, 2012 at 10:43 pm ET
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Title: Near Fukushima, a Big ‘Guessing Game’ Over Radiation’s Long-Term Risks
Source: PBS NewsHour
Date: March 9, 2012

RAY SUAREZ: Sunday will mark a year since the massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. The pair of tragic events killed as many as 20,000 people, and led to the partial meltdown [See full meltdowns at three reactors via New York Times] of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plants.

[...]

MILES O’BRIEN: [...] We were traveling with scientists from the University of Tokyo, driving through abandoned cities and towns that once bustled with life, silent now, except for the menacing crescendo of our Geiger counter. It is an eerie post-apocalyptic scene.

[...]

This is the town of Okuma. We’re on Highway 6. We are about a kilometer from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, getting particularly high readings, 34 microsieverts per hour. This is an area where it is hard to imagine they will be remediating and repopulating any time soon.

The readings were 15 times what is considered permissible for radiation workers, 300 times more than the acceptable dose for average citizens. But if that standard were enforced here, it would prompt a dramatically larger evacuation. And that’s not going to happen.

So the Japan government has said the standard for radiation workers, 20 millisieverts a year, will apply to everyone for now. [...]

Watch Near Fukushima, a Big ‘Guessing Game’ Over Long-Term Risks on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Watch the report and read the transcript here

Compare this radiation dose map below published by Japan’s government with the map used by PBS above:

SOURCE: Asahi

See also: Nuclear Expert: Fukushima risk underestimated -- 5% of young girls will get cancer living in 20 milliSv/y for 5 years -- "Actually worse than that" -- Hot particles NOT included & only counts cancers, not other effects (VIDEO)

Published: March 10th, 2012 at 10:43 pm ET
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23 comments

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March 10th, 2012 | Category: Audio/Video Clips, Japan (Fukushima)
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23 comments to PBS’s Miles O’Brien: If radiation standards were enforced, there’d be a dramatically larger evacuation… “And that’s not going to happen” — “An eerie post-apocalyptic scene” around Fukushima (VIDEO)

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