Water radiation soars at Fukushima No. 1 [Strontium readings spike 6,500-fold in one day]

[caraher]

21. Slightly yes, mostly no

On one hand, in some sense that area is already evacuated "forever" in that it will not be fully usable for productive purposes again during the lifetime of anyone around today. And that's if nothing more goes wrong.

But the "off the scale" radiation levels aren't remotely large enough to have a measureable effect on the structural integrity of engineering materials like steel and concrete. The precariousness of the structures derives entirely from earthquake and flood damage. Levels of exposure that are bad for the health of humans - which is what most monitoring instruments are concerned with - won't make materials brittle.

The problem is not that ongoing radiation is weakening structures - it flat-out is not. The problem is that structures are already compromised, and further damage might result in further releases.

It should be noted that as bad as it may be that there's a lot of potentially dangerous material stored at those reactors, our failure in the US to deal realistically with existing reactor waste means our own spent fuel pools are packed with far more of the stuff per reactor. A big lesson for us is that, regardless of the future of fission in the US, we need to get serious about doing something more intelligent with our waste. For all the opposition it sparked, we'd be far better off with the waste in Yucca Mountain than distributed at reactor sites across the country. We're currently doing pretty much the stupidest thing imaginable short of, say, dumping it all into the nearest river.