Radioactive Surf Coming to Los Angeles From Japan? Maybe Not (Here's Why ...)
So Japan is releasing 11,000 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific, the same ocean we happen to enjoy right here in Southern California.
Radioactive waves?
Should we be afraid? Should surfers cancel that planned weekend session? Will your bikini disintegrate in nuclear--tainted saltwater?
No way, says Luca Centurioni, a Scripps Institute of Oceanography physical oceanographer. In fact, the La Jolla-based academic tells the Weekly ...
... particles dumped into the ocean from the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant wouldn't reach Southern California until at least "1.8" years from now (yeah, that's how scientists speak).
Paddling around near San Onofre.
Centurioni, in fact, says that reports of Japanese tsunami debris reaching the Pacific Northwest already don't make sense. "I don't think that's possible," he says.
"We've been looking into time scales -- how long does it take for a water particle to reach the West Coast from Japan," he says. "We're talking about anything between 1.8 to 3 years."
On top of that, he says the concentration of radioactive water would likely be diluted beyond any serious health concerns:
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