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Should this article make a bigger deal about the fact that they are growing food in clean rooms 60 miles from the world's worst nuclear disaster, whose cleanup

Should this article make a bigger deal about the fact that they are growing food in clean rooms 60 miles from the world's worst nuclear disaster, whose cleanup is still ongoing?

Einstalbert 12y ago
That seemed odd to me until I compared it with the passage before it; that Fukushima grows much of the agriculture in Japan seems startling enough, but then I don't claim to know much about radioactive fallout and growing crops within x, y, z miles. I probably wouldn't eat Chernobyl beets.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  Apparently background radiation in Chernybyl is half what it is in Denver. https://sites.google.com/site/radioactivityinbasel/radioactivity-in-other-cities https://sites.google.com/site/radioactivityinbasel/radioacti...
  - lotharbot 12y ago
    The geology building at Colorado School of Mines (a few miles west of Denver) used to have a display case in the main hallway with a Geiger counter running 24/7, and posters explaining what different spikes meant (ie, uranium decay made the needle move to such-and-such number). Sometimes I'd stand in the hallway between classes and watch. It was never more than about 15 seconds between decay events.
cyorir 12y ago
I don't think so. The current cleanup at Fukushima relates mostly to the flow of contaminated ground water directly in the vicinity of the plant, as well as the problem of finding out where to send waste currently stored on site. Airborne radiation is currently not so much of a problem. Even when airborne radiation was a problem, wind patterns tend to carry the contaminated air east, across the Pacific, rather than inland. So ongoing radiation would not be expected to cause major concerns with Fujitsu's relatively removed work. Residual radiation and contamination of the soil used could pose problems, but I do not think they will. Given how low they have gotten the potassium levels, I expect that control over the growing environment and soil will is quite high.
nandemo 12y ago
> Should this article make a bigger deal... Probably no. 60 miles is about 100km. The radius of the evacuation area is 30km.
jmadsen 12y ago
Probably not - because these are grown in "in a sterile, dust-free clean room that once built the brains of high-tech gadgets" Probably cleaner than "normal" produce, with all the pollution it deals with.

Should this article make a bigger deal about the fact that they are growing food in clean rooms 60 miles from the world's worst nuclear disaster, whose cleanup is still ongoing?

Einstalbert 12y ago

That seemed odd to me until I compared it with the passage before it; that Fukushima grows much of the agriculture in Japan seems startling enough, but then I don't claim to know much about radioactive fallout and growing crops within x, y, z miles. I probably wouldn't eat Chernobyl beets.

sliverstorm 12y ago
Apparently background radiation in Chernybyl is half what it is in Denver. https://sites.google.com/site/radioactivityinbasel/radioactivity-in-other-cities https://sites.google.com/site/radioactivityinbasel/radioacti...
- lotharbot 12y ago
  The geology building at Colorado School of Mines (a few miles west of Denver) used to have a display case in the main hallway with a Geiger counter running 24/7, and posters explaining what different spikes meant (ie, uranium decay made the needle move to such-and-such number). Sometimes I'd stand in the hallway between classes and watch. It was never more than about 15 seconds between decay events.

cyorir 12y ago

I don't think so. The current cleanup at Fukushima relates mostly to the flow of contaminated ground water directly in the vicinity of the plant, as well as the problem of finding out where to send waste currently stored on site. Airborne radiation is currently not so much of a problem. Even when airborne radiation was a problem, wind patterns tend to carry the contaminated air east, across the Pacific, rather than inland. So ongoing radiation would not be expected to cause major concerns with Fujitsu's relatively removed work. Residual radiation and contamination of the soil used could pose problems, but I do not think they will. Given how low they have gotten the potassium levels, I expect that control over the growing environment and soil will is quite high.

nandemo 12y ago

> Should this article make a bigger deal... Probably no. 60 miles is about 100km. The radius of the evacuation area is 30km.

jmadsen 12y ago

Probably not - because these are grown in "in a sterile, dust-free clean room that once built the brains of high-tech gadgets" Probably cleaner than "normal" produce, with all the pollution it deals with.