Sieverts

Doing my research, it seems that there are some very interesting facts to be learnt.

Right now, the radiation levels in Saitama, where we live are a mere 0.107μSv. This is microsieverts, which is less than milli (mSv) and much less than a whole sievert.(Sv)

Basically, the levels of radiation at the plant that the workers were exposed to were 100mSv, which, is half their limit for being plant workers. This is just double of regular background radiation in parts of Europe....

I am not saying this is good in any way at all.

(Actually, I just saw that regular workers should have 20 mSv..)

I think that their work is still high risk and the plant has admitted to not having checked the radiation levels regularly enough. The other day, the workers were wearing suits to protect them, but they were standing in highly radioactive water and that water was seeping through their clothing.

But, to put it all into some perspective -

A flight to New York from Tokyo is 9mSv (so the ''fly-jins'' exposed themselves to more than they were actually fearing in the first place..)(This is the figure for flight crew. Passengers would have 0.2 mSv, for a round trip)

Sleeping next to a human for a minimum of 8 hours a night, for one year is 0.02 mSv

(I would dread to think of the statistics if one was sleeping next to Elbi and his farts...!!)

Just one banana has as much as 0.0001 mSv, so think about that!!

Smoking a packet a day exposes you to 3 mSv - 60 mSv

And, finally, and perhaps this is where I should worry, for I have been exposed to more radiation at the hospital this year alone than in my whole life.

A brain CT scan is 0.8 mSv - 5 mSv

A chest CT scan is 8mSv - 18mSv

Anything above 250 mSv doesn't bear thinking about, but if treated early, some patients can recover.

As a precautionary measure, some of the embassies are issuing potassium iodide tablets.

Should there be an exposure to a high does of radioactivity, we will take these tables to counteract the radioactive iodine.

We are very positive this will not happen, but, it does help to be prepared. As you can see, Kitty is guarding them for us.

I think that's enough about sieverts from me. My head is in a spin from it all. God bless the nuclear experts who have to deal with these figures all the time.

Things are still unstable in Fukushima. All we can do is pray and pray and pray. xxx