Aestu wrote:
Bombs were tested in the atolls in the Pacific which are as far from us as Japan and nothing came of it (here). I don't think this cloud should worry us either, since it's not causing immediate damage to those in Japan but the atoll bomb tests did.
The situations are considerably different.
I'm guessing the reason the fallout from the Marshall Islands (and other near-equatorial test sites) not spreading very far is the northern hemisphere jet stream passes much further north than the Marshal Islands. Upper-level eastward movement is great in the 25N to 50N latitudes, where in the 0-10N range, it's much calmer. Despite the calmer upper-level winds, fallout from some of the explosions traveled hundreds of miles in a single day. Knowing the fallout in some explosions can travel hundreds of miles in a day with calmer upper-level winds, it's highly possible that fallout can be carried a greater distance in the same time with higher and stronger winds... especially when the jet stream passes directly over Japan and the USA.
It's still too early to say if the Japanese cloud should be a worry to us or not, since we have no way of knowing how much radiation will be produced in the coming days and weeks. We also don't know if the plants will explode the fallout high into the atmosphere, if it'll be a long and steady stream of radio active steam being released into the air, etc. Lastly, we don't know what type of fallout will be produced with what other radioactive isotopes will be discharged.
To me, having no concern is to hope for the best case scenario; however, you should always prepare for the worst.
