• Question: do you know about the Japanese nuclear power station, will the nuclear radiation harm the country around?

    Asked by tianxx to Charlie, Eoin, Jemma, Julian, Steve on 22 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Charlie Ryan

      Charlie Ryan answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      Hi tian all i know about the japanese nuclear power station is what i have seen on the news. I do think though that the radiation isn’t as bad as people think – it seems to be very low levels, in areas that have for the time being been evacuated. I really think it isn’t as bad as people fear.

    • Photo: Eoin Lettice

      Eoin Lettice answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Hi tianxx,
      Good question. I really don’t know all that much about radiation but from what I read, the situation seems to be slowly coming under control. Hopefully the radiation leaks will keep reducing and pretty soon they will be back to normal levels. It may have a slight impact on the surrounding countryside but probably (and hopefully) not so much that it is dangerous to human health.
      I think, for the future we need to look at alterantive ways of producing energy – things like wind and wave energy and solar power!
      Eoin

    • Photo: Stephen Moss

      Stephen Moss answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Hi Tianxx

      It’s currently difficult to know how much radiation has been released from the power station, and whether or not it has contaminated the surrounding area. The Japanese government is sending out messages intended to reassure the people, but interviews that I have seen suggest that the people don’t really believe what they’re being told. If there has been contamination then those affected areas are likely to be uninhabitable for many years – this is what happened a long time ago with the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine.

    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      It’s pretty scary stuff, but I hope that they authorities have it under control.

      One of the biggest concern about radiation is the damage that it can do to DNA. It can mutate DNA, which introduces errors that can lead to diseases like cancer. Other mutagens are thinks like UV radiation (from the sun, or from tanning beds) which causes mutations in skin cells that can lead to melanoma, and cigarette smoke, whihc causes mutations in lung cells that can lead to lung cancer. Because radiation can persist a long time in the environment, even low levels can stick around a long long time.

      However, we pick up radiation all the time from the sun and rocks X-rays, so it is not all radiation that is bad – just if the exposure levels are too high. At the moment it sounds like the releases have not been in the health-worrying range, fingers crossed that it stays that way.

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