Wednesday March 16th, 7:15 am.
Workers are back at reactor number 4 today after needing to abandon it because of heightened radiation levels.
The U.S. Navy is reporting increased radiation levels 200 miles from the reactors. The background radiation has increased to rx Atsugi” href=”http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63166″ target=”_blank”>20 millirems over 12 hours. This is equal to .02 Rem. Radiation in Tokyo briefly increased to 0.809 microsieverts (.0809 millirems). As I stated yesterday, a lateral cervical x-ray is .170 rem. With these numbers, I don’t believe that there is any real danger to people in Tokyo at this time.
Even with a worse case scenario, most experts agree that there would not be a big enough explosion to put any radiation into the jet stream. The designs of these reactors are very different to the one in Chernobyl, and the risk of such a powerful explosion is minimal.
If there was a catastrophic release of radiation, it would take 5-15 days for it to reach California, and significant amounts wouldn’t complete the 5,000 mile voyage. There is still no increase in radiation reported at www.RadiationNetwork.com.
While urging his readers not to panic, Dr. Brownstein is still recommending most people should take 12-13 mg of iodine per day (this is the amount that is found in the Japanese diet and should be tolerated by most people). It is also roughly 10x the amount in the typical American diet. He states that this will prevent 96% of any radioactive iodine from attaching to the thyroid gland. This is significantly less than is found in the 130 mg dose that is recommended for acute radiation exposure.
In related news, the Surgeon General is stating that stocking up on iodide would not be an overreaction, and that it is good to be prepared.
I am recommending that people with low thyroid symptoms to start taking iodine/iodide. Low thyroid symptoms include low body temperature (lower than 98.6 F), cold hands and feet, difficulty with weight loss and thinning hair. I have 3-4 shipments of iodine coming in, so please call ahead for availability. If you have Iosol, I’m recommending 6-7 drops per day.
