More Japan nuclear fearmongering
Here’s an example of what seems to qualify as reporting from Japan about the nuclear reactor these days. It was the featured story when I went to my yahoo email, which means it’s getting huge coverage.
The gist of it is this: something really really bad might happen in the future at the nuclear reactor.
(*Bangs head on desk at the terrible reporting*)
So, can’t the reporters tell us *what* the leaking material *is*?? I mean, that makes all the difference in the world! If that water was the cooling water from being dumped on the core, yes it’ll be radioactive, but the effects will be transient. However, if there was truly a breach and core material leaked, then that is indeed a far more serious issue.
It’s not like the engineers there wouldn’t know which material it is. The question is, why isn’t that being reported?
If core fuel material was leaking – or if the fission products like cessium, for example, was what’s escaping – then that sure as hell IS serious. But if it’s irradiated water, it’s nothing to sneeze at but by that same token it’s not radiation from a material with a half life measured in decades (Cs-137: 30 yrs, Sr-90, 28-some years). There is a HUGE difference in how this should be approached depending on what exactly is leaking, and again, the trained engineers and technicians on site will be able to tell what it is.
Can’t the press send someone with just a modicum of science training over there to write actually informative stories? Please? Stuff like that is practically useless in that there’s no context or perspective on the release; it’s only a report that it’s happening, nothing more. That’s hideously superficial reporting.
Ahhh… perspective. From CNN, oddly enough:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/25/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T2
Much of the lack of details might be coming from the utility company being less than forthcoming with the government. And then the government doesn’t want to sink the economy by releasing too much information. The news people feel compelled to write a story with limited data because that’s all they have.
The people of Japan must be under great stress. The story about tap water in Tokyo being unsafe for babies must have rattled everybody. All of this is on top of the massive earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese people are incredibly stoic. Imagine the chaos and looting if it were in California.
Drudge had the headline “10,000 TIMES NORMAL” early this morning. I clicked on the article and there was a mention that water in one of the reactor buildings had radioactivity 10,000 times normal, but they never said what the normal amount was. That would have been helpful.
ElMondoHummus says, “Can’t the press send someone with just a modicum of science training over there to write actually informative stories?”
That would put a crimp in the message and deflate rampant hysteria.
Mr. Frank says, “The news people feel compelled to write a story with limited data because that’s all they have.”
Actually, there is more reliable info available on line than you might think. Take the workers hospitalized story as an example. Conventional ‘journalism’ makes it sound horrific. In reality they received a skin dose that created 2nd degree burns. Not fun, but not life threatening though there is an increased statistical probability of developing skin cancer down the line.
There is a fine line in incidents such as this where it is difficult to know how much to tell the public (assuming reliable up to date info is available in a fast moving, ever changing situation). Tell them too much and there is panic, tell them to little at first and then as they learn more there is panic. Panic can kill.
When it comes to radiation/radioactivity its all portrayed as scary. Except when its not scary because no one tells you that eating lots of bananas increases your radiation exposure.