Little chance of radiation reaching Bay Area, officials say

03/15/2011
By Victoria Schlesinger

Radiation sign. Image courtesy of Tim Van Gorp.

As the world watches the catastrophe caused by a massive earthquake in Japan unfold, Bay residents are also worried that radiation from four debilitated nuclear plants could drift over the Pacific and impact the region. Officials maintain that such a risk is very small and while they are monitoring the situation, they’ve been given no cause for concern yet. That could change if a full meltdown occurs at one of the plants. Scientific American has a good primer on what happens during a nuclear reactor meltdown. [Read more - San Jose Mercury News, Scientific American]

Tags: , , , , , ,

Comments are closed.

Featured Video

SF Environment Director Melanie Nutter talks about SF climate change policy at TEDx

Follow Us!

Recent Comments

Ineke: Nuclear energy? NO THANKS!...
Alex: I agree that pg&e should have gotten their P.R. down. With all the news...
Alex: that example is not the same. have you ever read through a pg&e bill? h...
Alex: I agree that pg&e should have gotten their P.R. down. With all the news...
Alex: Have you read all the contracts? I think since the meter is owned by the co...
Alex: Rob, You're saying, if you want to know about smart meters, learn about ...
Alex: I'm with you, Liza. It's sad to see people afraid of something that they ha...
Alex: what does this mean? "outsmart the smart meters?"...
Debbie: Because frightened people are much easier to control. I haven't read enough...
Christine Sculati: With so many national parks in the Bay Area and California, this would be a...

Field Notes Blog

French radiation organization says exposure risks are no longer negligible

Just as farmers markets are swinging into full bloom, there’s very disturbing news about radiation from Japan reaching new levels in Europe. And if...
Read more »

Super graph on normal and abnormal radiation exposures

Did you know that sleeping next to someone blitzes you with 0.05 millionth of a sievert of radiation per night? That eating a banana...
Read more »

UC Berkeley study: Using fear backfires on climate change

It’s been a point of maddening frustration for scientists and environmentalists that as the predictions on global warming grow more dire, the public seems...
Read more »

Got News?

Send story tips or news items for The Daily Catch:

[email protected]

We want to hear from you!

Who we are

Way Out West is a news site for the Bay Area dedicated to daily coverage of local green news.

We're camping out at public meetings, traipsing through parks, and sticking our noses into green tech research to bring you relevant local stories that matter.

WOW is produced by two local environmental journalists for you, our eco-savvy readers. We'd love to hear what you want from this site.