Thanks, but I think I will pass on glowing in the dark

 Tuesday April 26^th 2011 marked the 25^-year reunion since the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine. Nuclear fallout and dust could be detected on a measurable level as far away as Ireland and Scotland. The recent tsunami in Japan damaged the Fukushima plant, releasing radiation amounts that are the same, if not more than Chernobyl and has been measured as far away and the Midwestern United States. At the time, there had been a run on iodine pills, a common cure and prevention for radiation poisoning in small doses. 

            Today, we are constantly surrounded by radiation; almost everything emits a small amount, even China dinnerware. A chest x-ray or a flight from New York to Los Angles exposes you to a slightly larger amount, but barely comparable to the disasters. People cannot sense or feel or taste or smell radiation, in very large amounts it’s a silent killer but it’s a part of our everyday life. It’s understandable for people to be scared of something that can kill or cause cancer and not even know it.

            The effects of radiation after the Chernobyl accident can still be seen today in the area surrounding the containment zone. There has been a spike in heart defects in children born since the disaster, so much that it has been labeled “Chernobyl Heart,” the rates of mental illness and physical deformities has grown significantly as well. This is one of the reasons why people are so scared of large amounts of radiation; it not only affects them, but their children and grandchildren.

            I see the threat of nuclear disasters as minimal, but the handling of the disasters is what scares me more. Chernobyl was allowed to continue to leak radiation for months after the disaster while a containment structure was being created. The container was only meant to last 20 years, today its rusting through and leaking radiation and there is no funding to build a better, long lasting containment structure.  The accident on 3 Mile Island was better managed and containment was almost instant compared to Chernobyl. It’s the fear of not knowing how much radiation one is exposed to at any time is what frightens people and increases the fear when a nuclear disaster strikes. 

(Radiation Dose Chart from http://xkcd.com/radiation/)

http://news.discovery.com/human/nuclear-radiation-fear-chernobyl-110425.html