Worried about Japan's radiation in Pacific?

[ReneeDr]

I am very upset over the nuclear radiation water spilling into our precious Pacific Ocean. I know it's a big body of water and it will disperse eventually, but what about the safety of our diving in those waters nearby? We were planning a dive trip to the Philippines soon and now have put that on hold to see what happens. I see no mention in the news about what this disaster will do to the fish of the world or how far this radiation will travel through the world's oceans.

Now that we are seeing the damage to the Earth that nuclear disaster's create, how can any of us support building and using nuclear power. There must be some eyes opening now towards a safer power source.

 

[Saudi-Diver]

I don't have any figures to hand but I would say that the petrochemical industry has done as much if not more damage to the Oceans of this world, but neither you or I are going to give up the freedom of personal transport. Sadly if we want energy were going to have to pollute unless a really radical technology is waiting in the wings. We have forgot the Earth is our life support machine. Personally I would have still gone on the Dive Holiday.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Look at the bright side ... you shouldn't need a dive light ... :shocked2:

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[LouieLouie]

Unless you're planning to dive off the very beach where the power plant is located in the next few months there is absolutely no reason to worry whatsoever.

 

[CuNanoTube]

There is no reason to worry in a few months the radiation will be so dispersed you will probably get more radiation exposure eating a banana, unless you dive the beach next to the plant.

 

[Guba]

The vast majority of the readioactive isotope being spilled seems to be Iodine-131. The half life of that material is about 8 days, therefore, it will dissipate fairly quickly by converting into Xenon 131 (which is stable). In the time it would take to reach the Phillipines, the amount of I-131 would not only be widely scattered, it would also have transmuted into a harmless material.

Now, if plutonium is leaking from the Japanese facility, that's a whole other ball game.

 

[carlcz]

Since the flight distance from Manila, Philippines to Tokyo, Japan is:1,860 miles / 2,994 km and there are an estimated 70 million cubic miles of water in the Pacific, which equates to 187,189,915,062,857,142,857 gallons, (187 quintillion gallons or 187,189,915,062 billion gallons); so even IF they dumped 1 Billion gallons into the Pacific; this would equate to a DROP of SWEAT in a Waterpark. I, personally would not cancel my trip, but I do realize that the fear of radiation is quite visceral and unnerving...

 

[BDSC]

Now that we are seeing the damage to the Earth that nuclear disaster's create, how can any of us support building and using nuclear power. There must be some eyes opening now towards a safer power source.

I fully support building more nuclear reactors in this country. It's either that or more coal fired plants and folks seem to want that even less. Wind and solar will never be the answer in our lifetimes. I hope more power companies will start adding more nuclear ASAP.

 

[diversteve]

more info: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/world/asia/05japan.html?_r=1&ref=world

 

[ijdod]

I'd be more worried about the nuclear tests done in the Pacific during the cold war, to be honest.