More (radioactive) nonsense from Japan

How many times are we going to hear from "Japanese officials" that "everything's fine" over there and that the radioactivity "while high, is still within safe and acceptable limits for exposure to radioactivity"?  I don't know if we'll be able to count that far.

The latest this morning:

Radiation in Japan seawater, soil may be spreading

Terrific, eh?  Into the ocean.  Yay.  It just keeps getting better and better.

At the same time all the "authorities" are saying everything's still okay, there was this, from this same article:

Contaminated water inside Unit 2 has tested at radiation levels some 100,000 times normal amounts, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

Workers also discovered radioactive water in the deep trenches outside three units, with the airborne radiation levels outside Unit 2 exceeding 1,000 millisieverts per hour — more than four times the amount that the government considers safe for workers, TEPCO said Monday.

But wait!  There's more!:

New readings show contamination in the ocean has spread about a mile (1.6 kilometers) farther north of the nuclear site than before. Radioactive iodine-131 was discovered just offshore from Unit 5 and Unit 6 at a level 1,150 times higher than normal, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told reporters.

Not finished there, there's also this:  "TEPCO officials said Sunday that radiation in leaking water in Unit 2 was 10 million times above normal..."

Nice, huh?

Adding to the Japanese troubles was another  6.5 earthquake 

off the battered coast of Miyagi prefecture in the northeast.

Those poor people.

Meanwhile, from the "authorities" here in the States who have said we "have nothing to be concerned about regarding radiation coming over here, there's this from the Boston Globe (the one in MASSACHUSETTS.  yeah, THAT one, on the EAST COAST of the US):

Elevated radiation found in rainwater

Low levels of radioactive iodine linked to the nuclear disaster in Japan were detected in a sample of rainwater in Massachusetts, state health officials announced yesterday. 

I'm not suggesting we--any of us--freak out about this or that anyone panic or over-react and I understand they need to keep the populations calm but I'm just saying this whole mess isn't done and it's bigger than anyone seems to be have reported or is reporting.

Nuclear power, for the long range, especially compared to clean, renewable energy sources, has far too many additional costs, like these, above, for us to pursue it any further.

Nuclear power should now be considered--officially--"old technology" that didn't pan out.

Try to have a great week, y'all.

Links:   http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110328/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/28/state_steps_up_monitoring_after_radioactivity_found_in_rainwater/