Monday, March 14, 2011

How Will Leaked Japan Radiation Affect The US?

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According to this article, so far so good, but we'll see what happens in the days to come.

Leaked Japan Radiation No Harm To US

Updated: Sunday, 13 Mar 2011, 4:06 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 13 Mar 2011, 4:06 PM EDT

(NewsCore) - ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Sunday that areas of the continental US, as well as Hawaii and Alaska, are not expected to receive any harmful levels of radioactivity from nuclear plant leaks in Japan.

The comment from the US government's lead regulatory body for nuclear power came as Japanese authorities reported radioactive releases from plants following the massive earthquake and tsunami Friday in the northeast part of the country.

"All the available information indicates weather conditions have taken the small releases from the Fukushima reactors out to sea away from the population," the NRC said. "Given the thousands of miles between the two countries, Hawaii, Alaska, the US Territories and the US West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radioactivity."

The NRC said it is coordinating with the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to provide "whatever assistance the Japanese government requests" as they respond to conditions at several nuclear power plants.

The NRC said it sent two boiling-water reactor experts to Japan as part of a team assembled by the US Agency for International Development. Some of the plants affected by the earthquake are characterized as boiling-water reactors, a classification of the technology used to produce power.

Read more: MarketWatch

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