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Reviewing The Fukushima
Disaster And Journalism
Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
Magnetic Field Detector
By Thomas E.
Johnson
May 01, 2012
I read with great interest the opinion column by S. Jacob
Stern on April 30, 2012 on the Fukushima accident.
Unfortunately, he appears to be a victim of the “Google
search” research method. It is also unfortunate that he did
not check here at CSU for information on radiation effects,
where we have some of the premier radiobiologists in the
world.
CSU has an amazing group of researchers who are members of
the National Council on Radiation Protection and
Measurements (Drs. Thomas Borak and F. Ward Whicker) and the
National Academy of Science’s Board on Radiation Effects
(Dr. Joel Bedford), among others. Furthermore, Drs. Whicker
and Borak are also world-renowned researchers for their work
on the effects of Chernobyl. We do not have sufficient room
in this short note to delineate all of the outstanding work
in radiation science and radiation protection that is
ongoing at CSU, but a quick search of our University web
pages should suffice. Finally, at least three of the
graduate students in the Department of Environmental and
Radiological Health Sciences were involved in the immediate
Fukushima response.
As for the details of Chernobyl –– I would invite Mr. Stern
to carefully read the report issued by the United Nations
Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation,
2008, Annex D. It provides details as to the 54 persons who
died due to direct
effects of radiation, and also notes that “…the vast
majority of the population need not live in fear of serious
health consequences due to the radiation from the Chernobyl
accident.” This report, together with the Report of the
Chernobyl Committee, would provide valuable information with
regard to the effects of ionizing radiation for Mr. Stern’s
column.
Fukushima is, indeed, a different situation. Mr. Stern’s
comment that “…this situation could literally destroy all
life on Earth” was an excellent example of collecting
information on the Internet from sources that might include
persons who have not received sufficient training in the
field of radiological science to be able to assess the true
radiation effects. We would hope that a credible journalist
would also employ other resources, such as peer reviewed
articles and reports, to build his or her case.
More than 15,000 people died (possibly many more, our data
is incomplete), and many more were injured due to the
tsunami in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. To
date, no deaths have been reported due to radiation. We
expect that no deaths at all will be attributed to radiation
from this disaster based upon the information currently
available via MEXT (http://radioactivity.mext.go.jp/en/).
Based on our experience and calculations, we were unable to
postulate a scenario wherein all life on Earth would be
destroyed due to a reactor accident. We would welcome Mr.
Stern to meet with us to discuss any scenario, including the
“meltdown” of all 436 power reactors (Nuclear Energy
Institute, March, 2012) in the world.
It is a pity, in my opinion, that Mr. Stern is an unknowing
victim of the type of “journalism” which he so despises.
_Thomas E. Johnson is an associate professor of
environmental and radiological health sciences at CSU. _
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