Tiny amounts of radiation from Japan reach Nev.

Tiny amounts of radiation from Japan reach Nev.

news.yahoo.com

RENO, Nev. – Minuscule amounts of radiation from Japan's damaged nuclear plant have reached Las Vegas, but scientists say it poses no health risk.

Extremely small amounts of the radioactive isotopes iodine-131 and zenon-133 reached a monitoring station by the city's Atomic Testing Museum this week, said Ted Hartwell, manager of the Desert Research Institute's Community Environmental Monitoring Program.

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Well, there is no denying that radiation is making its way to the US, but I still do wonder if it really is miniscule amounts or not. Would there be a chance of plutonium making its way here if it was released out into the open from one of the reactors in Japan? I would guess that if only miniscule amounts of radiation have made it here so far, then if a small amount of plutonium escaped there would probably be no worries about it coming here, right? I'm no expert.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

If I'm not mistaking it takes a very, very miniscule amount of plutonium to kill a person. It makes no sense why the U.S isn't monitoring it. :\

I am curious, do we have any test results from say, hawaii?

Originally posted by CoincidenceX
If I'm not mistaking it takes a very, very miniscule amount of plutonium to kill a person. It makes no sense why the U.S isn't monitoring it. :\

If I remember my studies correctly, it only takes a particle 1/100,000th of a gram, or as small as a particle of dust, of plutonium to enter your body to kill you.

Yeah I understand about only needing miniscule amounts of plutonium to kill. What I meant was, since there has been so much radiation released already, yet only small amounts have made it to the states, if just a small amount of plutonium was released then it probably wouldn't make it here. But, like I said I am no expert, just a guess.

Originally posted by CoincidenceX
If I'm not mistaking it takes a very, very miniscule amount of plutonium to kill a person. It makes no sense why the U.S isn't monitoring it. :\

It actually makes perfect sense if you think about it in regards to the US policies and procedures, don't let a good tragedy go to waste. There's no profit in prevention, ever!