British scientific adviser: nothing to fear outside of Fukushima exclusion zone
... Sir John Beddington agreed that the 20km exclusion zone was adequate but he did add that 30km would be extremely safe. However, it is clear that he believes that the 20km exclusion zone is "sensible and proportionate."
He then talked about the worst possible outcome and scenario if a "meltdown" actually happened. Sir John Beddington commented that this would be serious, but, importantly, he stressed that this would only be serious for the local area surrounding the nuclear plant in Fukushima.
Even if a meltdown occurred and you had an explosion then the nuclear material would reach roughly 500 meters into the air. If you add this, he continued, to negative weather conditions which blew into the direction of Greater Tokyo and then rainfall would bring it down then would this then create a major problem?
Sir John Beddington was clear about the answer because he stated "The answer is unequivocally no. Absolutely no issue. The problems are within 30km of the reactor."
After this he commented about Chernobyl and how the situation was much more dramatic because radiation from this nuclear plant lasted for months but even then the 30km exclusion zone was adequate because people outside of this had no problems with radiation. He also stressed that the problem with Chernobyl was because people kept on drinking the water and eating vegetables within the area of contamination.
Sir John Beddington stressed "what I would really re-emphasise is that this is very problematic for the area and the immediate vicinity and one has to have concerns for the people working there. Beyond that 20 or 30 kilometres, it's really not an issue for health."
