' . . . Yoichi Shimatsu – former editor of the Japan Times Weekly, who led the field research for an architectural report on structural design flaws that led to the tsunami death toll in Thailand – wrote a couple of days ago:
"The Pacific jetstream is currently flowing due east directly toward the United States. In the event of a major meltdown and continuous large-volume radioactive release, airborne particles will be carried across the ocean in bands that will cross over the southern halves of Oregon, Montana and Idaho, all of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas, northern Nebraska and Iowa and ending in Wisconsin and Illinois, with possible further eastward drift depending on surface wind direction."
The timeline of the UN’s forecast is suprising, given that the earthquake hit on March 11th, and Accuweather formerly estimated the following times for radiation – in a worst-case scenario – to reach the West Coast:
Calculated time for radioactive particles to cross the Pacific from the power plants in Japan to big West Coast cities if the particles take a direct path and move at a speed of 20 mph:
Cities Est. Distance (miles) Est. Time to Cross Pacific (days)
Anchorage 3,457 7
Honolulu 3,847 8
Seattle 4,792 10
Los Angeles 5,477 11
But it is vital to note that many experts are saying that only extremely low levels of radiation will hit Americans. As the New York Times reports:
"Health and nuclear experts emphasize that radiation in the plume will be diluted as it travels and, at worst, would have extremely minor health consequences in the United States, even if hints of it are ultimately detectable. In a similar way, radiation from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 spread around the globe and reached the West Coast of the United States in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule." . . .'
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/un-radiation-to-hit-us-by-friday.html
No comments:
Post a Comment