Saturday, March 19, 2011

Zero Chance of Contamination for Tokyo: Sir John Beddington UK's Chief Scientific Advisor.

News Flash: Update from Sir John Beddington, the UK's Chief Scientific Advisor. The British Chamber of Commerce reports of a briefing held at the British Embassy in Tokyo: https://www.bccjapan.com/asp/general.asp?contentid=108


My favorite quote:


Q: Why is the French giving different advice?
Sir John: Their advice is not based on science.




Q: Is there any chance of contamination in Tokyo?
Sir John: Implications to people in Tokyo - none.

Q: You now advise to "consider leaving" - at what stage would you change that to "leave"?
Sir John: Only in the worst case scenarios. The reason we said "consider leaving" - there are major disruptions to transportation and supply chain in the whole of Japan. We are NOT advising that people leave due to the risk of radiation. Even IF a plume were to reach Tokyo, it would not pose major health risks.

Q: What does plausible worst case mean? Is there an implausible worst case?
Sir John: Implausible - all reactors and all ponds go up at the same time and extreme weather conditions bring the plume to Tokyo; it's not sensible to consider this.

Q: How do we know if the Japanese government is telling the whole story?
Sir John: There would be a series of explosions at the reactors - the Japanese government cannot hide that if it were to be the case.


A marvelous round of applause to Marc Abela!

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