Happy Places

Some Simple Pleasure

“U.S. nuclear facilities remain safe,” Mr. Jaczko told two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees, which had originally planned to consider his agency’s budget for the coming fiscal year at the hearing. “We will continue to work to maintain that level of protection.”

"Reactors are designed to meet the challenges of “the most severe natural phenomena historically reported,” he said. For earthquakes, that means any that occur within 200 miles of the reactor, and a margin of error, he said. . . .

"Some members of the committee seemed satisfied with Mr. Jaczko’s replies and turned to a variety of other energy questions. “I personally believe that nuclear energy must be part of any portfolio of renewable energy sources that will fuel this country moving forward,” said Representative Bobby L. Rush of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the House Energy and Commerce Committee."  (source)

The good thing in Japan right now, I read this morning, is that the wind is blowing the radiation out to sea.  O.K.  Just for the moment, let's listen to the experts.

"But health and nuclear safety experts agree that even if radiation levels around the plant reach Chernobyl-like levels, Japan's disaster will not pose a health hazard to the United States.

The United States is thousands of miles from the leaks and once the radiation gets into the air, it disperses and dilutes as the wind blows it, said Nolan Hertel, nuclear engineering researcher at Georgia Institute of Technology. Radioactive particles travel with the wind and fall out onto the ground. The amount that will reach the United States will be too little to cause health problems.

"It’s not like there’s a big blob of it and it’s all going to stay together. All this stuff is either gaseous or highly diluted," Hertel said."  (source)

You think?  They are the experts, but I'll take wagers right now, with odds, that the food chain is going to have its way.  I'm thinking plankton to small fish to big fish to market.  I'm no expert and I'm probably not right and will have heavy debts to pay.  O.K.  I'm not really a gambling type, so the offer has expired.  No bets.  And I do not want to trivialize any of this at all.  The psychological damage from this event for those who are not physically devastated is catastrophic.  Where are people's "happy places" now?  The past?  Another galaxy?

It is difficult to think about this.  It is difficult not to think about it.