Monday, March 14, 2011

So far, very low risk of West Coast contamination from Japanese nuclear accident, experts say - San Jose Mercury News

As emergency workers struggled to prevent a full-scale meltdown at a Japanese nuclear plant, public health experts said Monday there is little risk that radioactive material could reach California and the West Coast -- unless the disaster gets a lot worse.

And even then, the public health threat probably remains very small.

"Based on the type of reactor design and the nature of the accident, we see a very low likelihood -- really a very low probability -- that there's any possibility of harmful radiation levels in the United States, or in Hawaii or in any other U.S. territories," said Greg Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at Monday's White House press briefing.

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