Update: Lost the link to the original article, but here’s another one – Japan nuke radiation higher than estimated

Well, that’s a bit of a relief, isn’t it?

But read the headline if you want to raise your blood pressure  a few degrees:

The Fukushima nuclear disaster released twice as much of a radioactive substance into the atmosphere as Japanese authorities estimated, reaching 40% of the total from Chernobyl, a preliminary report says.

Panic stations!!!

The estimate of much higher levels of radioactive cesium-137 comes from a worldwide network of sensors. Study author Andreas Stohl of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research says the Japanese government estimate came only from data in Japan, and that would have missed emissions blown out to sea…

about a fifth of the cesium fell on land in Japan, while most of the rest fell into the Pacific Ocean. Only about 2% of the fallout came down on land outside Japan, the report concluded.

Experts have no firm projections about how many cancers could result because they’re still trying to find out what doses people received. Some radiation from the accident has also been detected in Tokyo and in the United States, but experts say they expect no significant health consequences there.

So, is this cause for concern? Who are these “experts”? And what are “significant” health consequences? Did the government know all along? Will the figures double yet again at some future date? Maybe we should all panic and jump into the (radioactive) sea right now!

There is a lively discussion in the comments.  You have to scroll down a ways until you get to an intelligent, nuanced comment by someone who’s actually read the article, but those kind are such a bore, don’t you think?