Thursday, October 25, 2012

Really? Deconstructing Propaganda

Propaganda aimed at managing public perceptions of the Fukushima nuclear disaster never ceases to amaze me with its blatant untruths and distortions. Here is the latest example:

NRA simulates N-disasters / High radiation of 4 plants could spread beyond 30 km Oct 25, 2012 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T121024003544.htm

[Excerpted] Highly radioactive substances dispersed in a nuclear accident could spread beyond the 30-kilometer-radius zones used for disaster management planning, according to diffusion simulation results released Wednesday by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

In worst-case scenarios at four of 16 nuclear plants in Japan, high levels of contamination would be found beyond the 30-kilometer zones set as priority areas in new disaster management guidelines drafted by the NRA....

On maps, the NRA showed points at which the accumulated exposure dose of radiation could reach 100 millisieverts in seven days. These points are on lines in 16 evenly divided directions from each nuclear plant. The International Commission on Radiological Protection has estimated that exposure to radiation of 100 millisieverts would increase the risk of death from cancer or other causes by 0.5 percent...

Majia here: This news report is rather outrageous for several reasons.

First, the news article implies that previously nuclear regulators presumed that radioactive substances would NOT spread beyond a 30 kilometer area.

Here is an image from Safecast taken in 2011. The colors represent radiation monitoring data.


 
I think it is pretty obvious to everyone that radiation does not stay within a 30 kilometer area of a disaster.

Here is another representation of spreading contamination from plutonium from Fukushima produced by Datapoke Datapoke http://www.datapoke.org/blog/89/study-modeling-fukushima-npp-p-239-and-np-239-atmospheric-dispersion/