... about doses due to the radiation leak in Japan: see here. This is the first person who has drawn a comparison with radiotherapy doses, something I'd fought shy of doing on this blog as it can be misleading. (I'll be getting around 50,000 mSv over 5 weeks, albeit to a small part of me)
This does not belittle the fact that the Japan situation is a mess (and friends in the UK civil industry are astonished at how some of it has been handled) but it does give an alternative perspective to some of the other horror stories the media are happily peddling.
I should note that I totally disagree with the writer's idea of moving from ALARA which is a really good practice whatever industry and whatever unchosen risk is being assessed. I guess the important thing is to know the difference between ALARA and safe/dangerous.
Comments
No! No! NO! What a load of sh..!
I'm going to disagree big time on the careless blase nonsense perpetrated by Wale Allison. Here is someone who reads a lot of books but has never experienced the true effects of radiation. As you know, Catriona, I currently work on a nuclear-authorised site but that is, in many respects, an aside. Here is a list of people I know who have died as a result of radiation:
My aunt (Jospehine)
My uncle (Peter)
My aunt (Alex)
My cousin (Michael)
Plus one cousin who only lived a few hours.
Don't be giving me any nonsense about radiation being safe - these are one and two generations removed from the comparatively low dose my grandfather received as a result of Hiroshima. The results of sin carry on to the next generation and the next.
Hi Andrew,
I certainly don't agree with everything he says and I'm not going to buy 'radiation is completely safe'... but I don't agree with some of the other stuff being peddled either.
I don't intend to get into a long, public online debate on the rights and wrongs of all things radioactive. But just to note that pretty much everyone has had X-rays, is happy to use smoke detectors, and a whole heap of other stuff that involves ionising radiation.
I'm still glad that someone is going to nuke any potential stray cancer cells that might be lurking.
(I have made minor edits to the post since your comment!)
OK
Apologies for the rant, but a large slice of my family are no longer with us while supposedly respectable academics lull us into complacency (who is funding the research?).
(I would add luminous watches to the list...)
When it comes to radiation there's no such animal as "safe" but a useful distinction can be made between controlled and uncontrolled releases.
Apology accepted, rant permitted, and I am truly sorry about your relatives.
"Who is finding the reserach" I don't know in this case but can tell you my former employers did work funded by environmental and anti-nuclear groups as well as the civil industry and we didn't give either of them the answers they wanted if they weren't what we honestly believed (I am on record somewhere as having said 'no you can't' to a utility operator). At least in the UK civilian and medical use is properly regulated (you spot the gap... ).
Truth is I've forgotten more about radiological protection and the biological effects of ionising radiation than most people ever knew ... that's why I get annoyed with careless, sensationalist reporting.
Truce?! :-)
As an alternative to the info from the various news organisations (which I find incredibly sloppy in their use of language and their inability to provide a context for the information they supply), I have been reading the World Nuclear News website.
Although they are a (the?) trade body they seem to be trying to offer an objective view of the incident and the resulting events.
I wonder what your view of the site is?
Kennedy
Hi Kennedy, I have to confess, to my shame, I wasn't aware of this site, but what they are saying does look balanced and well researched. The IAEA is the organisation I am familiar with and they, too have some decent reporting.
It's a mess for sure, and it is easy to critiicise how it's been handled based on inaccurate information and half-truths, but there is still some irresponsible reporting going on.
My son pointed me at this:
http://xkcd.com/radiation/
Yes, I've seen this too, courtesy a Gatherer on extended overseas leave - it's pretty accurate information and the way it's presented is, I think, helpful.