Bill who putters wrote:

Woods Hole Chimes in.

http://www.sciencenewsline.com/natur...910240000.html

The top experts on oceanography.

What is being released from the Fukushima reactors and how dangerous is
it?

One topic still to be learned is how much of what got onto the land. In
the long run that will be worse than what is being leached into the
ocean.

So far, we know that releases from the Fukushima reactors have been
primarily composed of two radioactive substances: iodine-131 and
cesium-137. In large doses, both of these isotopes or radionuclides, as
they are called, can cause long-term health problems. So far, however,
only those working at the plant face the most serious exposure.

I figure some of those workers will die, likely many of them. Heroes of
the most amazing sort who have a lot of time to reflect on the outcome
who go in anyways.

Iodine-131, on the other hand, has a half-life of just 8 days
and so loses much of its potency after just days and effectively
disappears after one to two months.

This is why it's so important to have potasium iodide on hand if you
live near reactors. But wait until the prices drops again. It's cheap
when the demand is low.

Today, people who eat
seafood from the Black Sea, which received a considerable amount of
fallout from Chernobyl (see map), consume a dose of cesium-137 that is
100 times below the one provided by a naturally occurring radionuclide,
polonium-210, that is not considered harmful to animals or humans.

That's 25 years later in a body of water much smaller than the Pacific.
It's why I suggested there won't be much impact on fishing.

I was careful to not make an advance judgment about radiation release on
the land. We know it will be orders of magnitude lower than Chernobyl.
It will still be a mess to anyone not measuring it against Chernobyl.

The land effects remain unknown, not as bad as Chernobyl, and large. If
I'm eating beef that might come from Japan I want to know where it was
pastured.