Guest guest Posted March 12, 2011 Report Share Posted March 12, 2011 helolo, some news clippings from Japan on health hazards of radioactive emmision. Officials said even before the explosion that they had detected cesium, an indication that some of the fuel was already damaged. In the form found in reactors, radioactive cesium is a fragment of a uranium atom that has been split. In normal operations, some radioactivity in the cooling water is inevitable, because neutrons, the sub-atomic particles that carry on the chain reaction, hit hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the water and make those radioactive. But cesium, which persists far longer in the environment, comes from the fuel itself. Safety officials saidthat the levels of radiation were not large enough to threaten the health of people outside the plants, and that the evacuations had been ordered as a precaution. The plants’ problems were described as serious but were far short of a catastrophic emergency . The safety officials said there was “no immediate health hazard†to residents from the leaks, which they described as “minute,†and people were urged to stay calm. kunda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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