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Q. How can radiation hurt us?
A. Too much radiation in a short time can cause deadly radiationsickness, with its signature symptoms of nausea, dizziness and hairloss. High doses can also cause cancer decades later. It can lead to congenital defects in future children of exposed adults.
Q. So how much radiation is too much radiation?
A. Natural background radiation in the environment variesgreatly at different places on Earth, depending on altitude,geology and other factors. In theory, any increase in radiation can lead to a higher risk of cancer. In practice, though, population studies find no apparent elevated risk of cancer even at the highest levels of background radiation. And the most respected radiation experts say people can tolerate at least 10,000 millirems(100 millisieverts) in a short period with no discernible harm. On the other hand, much larger doses - like 400,000 millirems or 4,000millisieverts - will cause radiation sickness and cancer in many people. That would be the rough equivalent of 40,000 chest X-rays.
Q. Weren't the workers at the nuclear plant treated for burns after coming into contact with radioactive water? What if someoneswam in the ocean off the coast of Japan?
A. The kind of radiation levels the workers experienced causesunburn-like burns in about a half-hour to an hour. But swimmingnear the plant is banned, and radiation levels of water dumped inthe ocean decline quickly with distance from the complex.
Q. What radioactive elements are leaking and what are the risks?
A. Measurements so far have focused mostly on iodine and cesium,which were responsible for most of the radiation dose to the public at the Chernobyl disaster. Radiation from iodine-131 dissipates quickly, falling by half every eight days, so that it's virtually gone in 80 days. Its danger is that if inhaled or swallowed, it can concentrate in thethyroid and cause cancer. Cesium radiation sticks around much longer, taking 30 years to decline by half and 300 years to virtually disappear. Cesium can build up in the body and high levels are thought to be a risk for various other cancers. Still, researchers who studied Chernobyl could not find an increase in cancers that might be linked to cesium.
Q. Will ocean creatures be harmed by the discharges of theradioactive water?
A. Experts say animals very near the plant may face problems like higher rates of genetic mutations, but that this would probably happen within only maybe a half a mile or so.
A. Experts say animals very near the plant may face problems like higher rates of genetic mutations, but that this would probably happen within only maybe a half a mile or so.
The Mainichi Daily News
The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) are considering paying lump sums of 1 million yen to residents evacuated from areas near the tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9f728a817d45.jpg[/atsimg](Caption:The headquarters building of the Tokyo Electric Power Co., also known as TEPCO, at the base of the communications tower in the middle, is seen in Tokyo Monday, March 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
Payments are also being considered for affected farmers and fishermen. The payments would be a stop-gap to tide those seriously impacted by the Fukushima nuclear crisis over as TEPCO and the government go through the long and laborious process of determining who is eligible for further compensation and the exact extent of the damage inflicted.
Full Article