Alaska Ping
Alaska Ping
It is the old story. Dangerous radioactive materials with fast half-lives give off lots of radiation, but decay very quickly.
Far less dangerous materials that give off tiny amounts of radiation have long half-lives, and last a long time.
The idea that really dangerous radioactive materials last centuries is a myth.
The closed-off region around cherobyl is teeming with healthy wildlife. Hmm. Maybe the critters know something.
There are billions of people in the world, if fewer than 16,000 had died between March of 2011 and the start of 2012, it would be pretty unusual. The fact that more of them died in that time is not remarkable.
A nuclear scientist could have told them that. Radioactive particles still have their chemical properties. As a rule of thumb, the lighter they are, the more able they are to travel, because the heavier ones sink in the air or water.
Lighter isotopes also generally have shorter half lives, so they can’t travel too far before they are no longer radioactive. The most dangerous isotopes are the medium sized ones, especially if of elements that are easily absorbed by plants and animals. But in addition to everything else, they tend to disperse.
You likely have some of these in your body, but too few to even notice.
In any event, the Pacific Ocean has about 180 million cubic miles of water. However much medium sized radioactive particles released from Japan would be spread out in this.