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mrbluze writes:
"Rachel Nuwer from the Smithsonian Mag gives a good summary around a paper entitled "Highly reduced mass loss rates and increased litter layer in radioactively contaminated areas" (Oecologia, March 2014):
In the areas with no radiation, 70 to 90 percent of the leaves were gone after a year. But in places where more radiation was present, the leaves retained around 60 percent of their original weight.
... the Chernobyl area is at risk of fire, and 27 years' worth of leaf litter, (researcher) Mousseau and his colleagues think, would likely make a good fuel source for such a forest fire. This poses a more worrying problem than just environmental destruction: Fires can potentially redistribute radioactive contaminants to places outside of the exclusion zone, Mousseau says. 'There is growing concern that there could be a catastrophic fire in the coming years.'
A forest fire burning radioactive plant debris could be catastrophic. The Fukushima disaster is likely to have the same problems locally, but it poses additional risks because radioactive water continues to flow into the sea at an alarming rate, which will likely affect oceanic bacterial levels in a similar way."
(Score: 2) by bucc5062 on Tuesday March 18 2014, @06:34PM
then you'd be a good contestant on Fear Factor /grin. Most would not. Either way, should we accept such a condition or strive to have the cleanest environment we can live in. Perhaps there is an argument for "acceptable" pollution, but the OP's comment smacked more of "who cares, its a big ocean" without considering that enough companies take that position, then the ocean's not that big any more.
So a couple of drops, drink away. a cup, or maybe two? Even sterile it starts to get funky. Drink it all the time (not a one off)? then perhaps even you'd not take the bet.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 2, Funny) by Fluffeh on Tuesday March 18 2014, @08:57PM
Sorry, I'm going to have to Bear Grylls [youtube.com] this conversation with some pee-drinking-goodness.