Professor Chris Busby on Fukushima risks
BBC Radio 4 The World This Weekend
Sunday 13th March 2011 13.00

BBC Host- Dr. Christopher Busby, specializes in examining the effects of radiation in the past. He's advised the govt here and been a spokesmen for the Green Party. What does he believe are the potential risks?

Busby- The risks depend, of course, upon the amount of material that's leaking out of the reactor, and I'm afraid I don't know what that is, I'm not sure that we have a lot of information. We know what the levels of radioactivity are in terms of gamma dose rate at the perimeter fence. It seems to be about 20,000 times natural background in terms of the dose rate. But the problem with that is that it doesn't tell us anything about the alpha emitting particles or other substances which don't give off gamma radiation which are emitted by these types of reactor.

BBC Host- So, there is a distinction to be drawn from the radiation that can be measured and the radiation that can be absorbed.

Busby- That's right. Absorbed in the sense of inhaled and ingested. That's the real problem. The real problem is inhalation of particles which are alpha emitters. And these just do not register on a geiger counter. You have to have special equipment to register these. And they float around, they're invisible, and they can be inhaled. And this seemed to be the main problem following the Chernobyl accident, which of course was a much larger accident, but nevertheless. Clearly if you're pumping water into this damaged reactor, the water will be turned into steam, the steam will come out and carry a lot of these radionuclides with it. In a sense, what you're doing is you're diluting the radioactive material in the reactor and then flushing all those radioactive poisons out into the environment, in the water.

BBC Host- And indeed, the authorities say, in part, that letting out steam is an attempt to try and reduce the risk of a more serious outcome.
Busby- Of course, of course
BBC Host- ...But, in doing that, as you say, there's a potential risk. They're doing things like, obviously, moving people away from the site as far as possible...

Busby- Quite right

BBC Host- but also distributing iodine pills. What's behind that?

Busby- That is very wise, because one of the main radioisotopes, which is a gas that comes out of these reactors, is iodine. Radioactive iodine. And iodine is absorbed by the thyroid gland and, of course, we saw a very large increase in thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl accident so one of the first things you do in these sorts of situations is you give people normal iodine, nonradioactive iodine, which fills up the thyroid gland with normal iodine so no more can be absorbed.

BBC Host- You've obviously advised the British govt in the past on radiation risks but you also have been a speaker on science technology for the Green Party. Do you think perhaps because of your politics you tend to see this in a perhaps a slightly more skeptical way, a more cynical way than maybe some others in the industry?

Busby- I've seen an extreme effort to try and downplay the possible dangers in this by all of the people who are talking, by the Japanese Govt, exactly the same scenario, incidentally, which rolled out after Chernobyl, all of the same things. It's like some horrifying replay of history.

Thanks to Chris Bush in USA for the transcript