The disaster in Japan has all of us concerned with the prospect of radioactive contamination, both in Japan and even here in the United States, since the jet stream normally flows from Japan to the West Coast of this country. It's a bad situation, and we're monitoring it closely. However, to put things into some sort of perspective, let's look at another source of radioactive contamination:
Between 1945 and 1968, the United States, alone, conducted 1054 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons tests. Some were conducted in the United States, while others took place out in the Pacific Ocean, in various locations. In addition, we detonated two devices in Japan at the end of WWII. While some of these tests were underground tests, many were done in the open air or at ground level. Even the underground tests spewed radioactive fallout. Russia, England, France, and others also conducted nuclear weapons tests, in may locations around the planet. For now, though, I'm just discussing the American testing.
A single nuclear weapons test generates far more radioactive waste than we're seeing from the Fukushima power plants, and does it explosively and pumps that waste high into the atmosphere, where it is carried by upper level winds to remote locations before settling back to Earth.
1054 Nuclear weapons tests! Imagine 1054 nuclear power plants failing. That is contamination on a grand scale. Now, my point here is that there's a lot of panic and anxiety surrounding the Fukushima plant failures, and there has definitely been radiation leaked. Some of it, on a very small scale, is arriving on the US West Coast as I write this.
We survived those 1054 nuclear blasts. That's not to say that there were no consequences from them. Some people were made ill, and probably died prematurely due to those tests. In Japan, the WWII bombs killed large numbers of people. But, the Fukushima releases pale when compared to the massive amount of radiation released by even a single above ground nuclear weapons test.
We need to deal with the current disaster and try to prevent any such disasters from occurring again, but there is a perspective that we must examine before running for the hills and declaring doom for all. We've been through far, far worse releases of radioactive materials. 1054 times, in fact, just in tests by the United States.
I oppose the use of nuclear power to generate electricity, and have since it began. I also oppose ignoring history when it comes to our fears about radioactive materials being released. We've had much, much worse releases in all those tests. And yet, here we still are. Fukushima does not represent doom for everyone. It is a disaster that will be limited in its effects, just as every one of those 1054 nuclear tests had consequences that were limited in their effects.
Lets fix the problem in Japan and consider shutting down nuclear power generation, but let's, please, not panic and forget our perspective.
Information from:
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/
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