Some Very Smart People Say We Should Not Worry

March 14th, 2011 12:52am CST
UPDATE 3/14/11 7:10am CST Please CLICK HERE to find information to donate to Japanese relief efforts.

Only time will tell...

As we watch the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan and deal with conflicting information and patent errors, as well as one outright hoax, some very learned scientists have written and spoken out against rampant alarmism.

We hope and pray that they are correct. Most prominent, is this piece from Business Insider by MIT research scientist Dr. Josef Oehman which has gone viral:

"I have been reading every news release on the incident since the earthquake. There has not been one single report that was accurate and free of errors (and part of that problem is also a weakness in the Japanese crisis communication). By “not free of errors” I do not refer to tendentious anti-nuclear journalism – that is quite normal these days. By “not free of errors” I mean blatant errors regarding physics and natural law, as well as gross misinterpretation of facts, due to an obvious lack of fundamental and basic understanding of the way nuclear reactors are build and operated.  I have read a 3 page report on CNN where every single paragraph contained an error.

We will have to cover some fundamentals, before we get into what is going on."

I cannot begin to stress the importance of his scientific critique. The piece is long but highly recommended as it breaks down the actual physics and materials involved in this crisis.

Please also read Professor Barry Brook's work referencing the Oehman essay and adding to the understanding of the particular activity within the type of reactor found in the Fukushima Daichi complex.

The diagram above shows the design used at Fukushima Daiichi

USAToday notes:
"Cynthia McCollough, a medical physicist and professor at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, notes that the International Atomic Energy Agency has rated the danger from the damage in Japan a 4 on a 7-point scale. That's lower than the risks caused by the meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, which rated a 5, and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, which rated a 7. Thousands of people did develop thyroid cancer after Chernobyl."