Fukushima Ocean Radiation Won't Quit 210
mdsolar writes with an update on how the oceans around Fukishima are doing. From the article: " The Fukushima disaster caused by far the largest discharge of radioactivity into the ocean ever seen. A new model presented by scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts estimates that 16.2 petabecquerels (1015 becquerels) of radioactive caesium leaked from the plant — roughly the same amount that went into the atmosphere. Most of that radioactivity dispersed across the Pacific Ocean, where it became diluted to extremely low levels. But in the region of the ocean near the plant, levels of caesium-137 have remained fixed at around 1,000 becquerels, a relatively high level compared to the natural background. Similarly, levels of radioactive caesium in bottom-dwelling fish remain pretty much unchanged more than 18 months after the accident."
The article suggests run-off from contaminated land and possibly a leak in the plant itself are to blame for the levels not dropping as expected.
I can haz... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I thought metric solved these issues (Score:4, Funny)
The petabecquerel is an imaginary thing like orgone energy, homeopathy, human reason and Canada.
Obligatory: http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120326002953/simpsons/images/8/87/Blinky_Art.png [nocookie.net]
Re:I thought metric solved these issues (Score:4, Funny)
Canada, tooi? I thought only Belgium was imaginary.
Re:I thought metric solved these issues (Score:2, Funny)
> It just makes them harder to read for us non-nerds, so I always restore the numbers to normal size when I quote them.
I for one thank you, sir. You can't possibly imagine how many times I searched for notes at the bottom of the page, at the end of articles and everywhere, thinking those numbers were indexes to footnotes.