Bogus Radiation Map Circulating Among Journalists
Zealots are popping up all over the map to use on Japan’s reactor problems to their benefit. Yesterday we saw dimbulb Ann Coulter try to minimize and downplay it in a publicity bid, and this morning we saw relgious zealots proclaiming the end of the world (see here.)
On the professional anti-nuclear greenpeace / union of concerned scientists end of the map it appears that someone has manufactured a bogus rad map to make radiation dangers appear significantly worse than reality, and the NYT ran with it as a science article.
A note about predictions of future radiation doses: in recent days a map has circulated the internet, purporting to predict high doses to the Western U.S. This map bears the seal of the Australian Radiation Service, which did not produce it. The map has been refuted by the U.S. NRC, and experts state that it more closely resembles predictions for doses after deployment of a nuclear weapon than those for a situation such as that unfolding at present.
What’s wrong with the map? See here but it involves arbitrary units and logarithmic scales…
Note that the NYT article now correctly attributes the map to the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty organization, and it’s really designed to demonstrate nuclear weapon fallout patterns.
Since the plumes in the case of Fukushima are not being blown miles high as they would in a nuclear explosion, the utility of the map is still really in question.