We got an email this morning saying that the firm is closing the Tokyo office temporarily.

I guess that's not surprising, Perkins.

ita, I hope you can go home after the review.

It's not at all a dumb question, Fred, particularly considering the number of people in this country saying, "What should I do? Are we all going to die?" The answer is, "No, no, a thousand times, no." I keep wanting to grab news people and say, "Get a grip. This isn't On the Beach."

I'd guess that in the worst case scenario, this could increase background radiation in the U.S. by a tiny percentage, something like the amount of radiation you'd pick up from one cross-country flight and well within normal variations. Chernobyl spewed way more radioactive material into the atmosphere than is possible with the Japanese situation. At Chernobyl, the core was critical and then entire core exploded. A core breach at the Japanese reactors will leak a stream of radioactive particles. Many of these particles are very short lived, so amounts of radiation near the reactors will be way higher than even a few miles away. At any rate, the World Health Organization estimates that the people in living in the highly contaminated zone near Chernobyl received about 33 millisieverts (mSv) of exposure, or the equivalent of three to five cat scans. Those people's cancer rate is maybe 3 percent higher than the general population. Acute radiation syndrome, from as much as 1,000 mSv, was diagnosed in 134 people who worked at the plant and only 28 died. Most of the rest are still around today.

eta: MSNBC has a pretty good piece about radiation [link]

I can't see straight enough to drive right now.

Is there somewhere to duck out and lie down for a bit? Ugh, sorry you're having to deal with that.

At any rate, the World Health Organization estimates that the people in living in the highly contaminated zone near Chernobyl received about 33 millisieverts (mSv) of exposure, or the equivalent of three to five cat scans. Those people's cancer rate is maybe 3 percent higher than the general population. Acute radiation syndrome, from as much as 1,000 mSv, was diagnosed in 134 people who worked at the plant and only 28 died. Most of the rest are still around today.

And made about eleven hundred square miles uninhabitable -- though people snuck back in. And of course the borders aren't magical, there are increased radiation and its accompanying issues on the other side of it. The 5,000 people who work there are strictly monitored for contamination, but obviously that isn't a fool-proof scenario. Those deaths will go on for a while.

I'm glad to hear Japan isn't in for that.

Experts are going to Japan.

Noriyuki Shikata, Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations and Director of Global Communications at Prime Minister's Office of Japan, tweeted this morning that the Japanese Government is planning to receive a team of experts from the IAEA, and on March 15, eight experts of the U.S. NRC.

"They will give technical advice to respond to Fukushima I," said Shikata. "In our utmost efforts to resolve the situation of Fukushima Daiichi, Japanese Government will closely collaborate with these U.S. experts. Japan truly appreciates the U.S. assistance of dispatching nuclear experts to Fukushima in addition to help by US Forces in Japan and USAID."

At worst, Trudy, there could be a swath of land that's contaminated with radioactive particles and it would take a lot of work to clean up. The problem is that there are some long-lived isotopes you wouldn't want to live with for years or, in particular, ingest. I don't want to downplay the magnitude of the potential problem, but the "we're all going to die" scenario coming from some media is not helping.

My boss doesn't fully seem to understand what going home sick entails, but I'm going to go lie down in my car and then go home.

Experts are going to Japan.

The experts offered when this first happened.