John Rawlins

Proposal for Fukushima-I post-accident scenario analysis

A retired nuclear scientist gives his take on the events in Japan and the possible dangers to Americans.:

“One possibly worrisome long-term scenario is that the Fukushima-I plant is RIGHT on the Japanese east coast. I wondered about ocean currents and where they might deliver any radiation entering the ocean, AND what uptake and concentration mechanisms might be operable in sea-life in the various ocean ecosystems.

“The contaminants move through the ocean’s various food-chains, ultimately to species humans eat, potentially accumulating near the top of the food chains.

“Here on the U.S. coast we have become attuned to food-chain concentration of mercury in aquatic and other life, although I have no knowledge of the environmental pathways. Are we facing the possibility of a similar problem with some radioactive and heavy element species one, two, or three decades hence? Could my children’s salmon contain Japanese reactor fission products?”

March 16, 2011

Society

Fossil fuels at peak (11-part series)

Retired nuclear physicist looks at peak oil and how it will affect us.

August 12, 2007

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