(no subject)

[siannan]

Can't sleep. clown will get me.

I look at the devastation in Japan and the news about the nuclear reactors and I worry.

Comments

[notargent.livejournal.com]

I've been afraid to look at the news. Usually when something penetrates my shield of willful ignorance, it's something pretty awful.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

It's gotten worse, an explosion has happened, but no one is saying it's a meltdown, yet.

[gamine.livejournal.com]

Radiation/radioactivity is overrated.

[auntiesiannan.livejournal.com]

There are lots of people in the Chernobyl area who would disagree with that.

[gamine.livejournal.com]

True, but that was more of a government disaster than a radioactive/nuclear disaster. The plant was poorly designed (no containment over the reactor), people weren't warned of what had really happened until Sweden picked up radioactivity, and until the sarcophagus was finished (nearly eight months after the initial explosion), radioactive gases were released into the air.

I play with hot isotopes on a daily basis. I don't get sick.

[auntiesiannan.livejournal.com]

Your experience != everyone else's.

[gamine.livejournal.com]

I know I'm sounding like a dipshit here in debating, and maybe in a few years, I'll be on my deathbed eating my words, but there are different forms/strengths of radiation, and I've studied it since 1996, safety wise. The isotopes I play with (and every one I've worked with has handled and played with) are sealed in glass tubes and I'm only exposed to beta radiation, which is harmless as long as I don't eat it or breathe it. Believe me, I panic whenever anyone gets throwing up here. I know the dangers.