Jon Utley on Terrorism and Panicked Responses to Radiation

Japan’s panicked Fukushima evacuation of some
130,000 persons was unnecessary, but it serves as a great warning
for us. For most of the evacuees, their first year exposure was
about 2 REMs of radiation, fifty times below where it causes
illness. Some were exposed to 22 REMs, still far below the sickness
level of 100 REMs. Yet the Japanese were basically following
American civil defense guidelines. Irrational fear of radiation
permeates Washington’s civil defense and nuclear regulatory
guidelines. That’s a problem, writes Jon Utley, because the U.S.
will eventually be targeted with a radioactive terrorist attack—and
the greatest danger might be the government’s response.

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