專家稱日本核事故危害或言過其實
Dire warnings of radiation spreading from Japan's embattledFukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to deadly effect across Japan, or even to California, are likely overblown, they say.
日前，對於日本地震所帶來的各種可怕的後果傳遍世界，稱日本福島第一核電站的核輻射擴散將對全日本、甚至美國加州造成致命後果。科學家稱，這種警告也許說的有點兒過了。
Radiation is all around us, varying with the number of miles we fly, the elevation of our towns, and the minerals in our environments, scientists point out. We live with it, and most of the time it is harmless.
科學家指出，我們四周到處是輻射，輻射多少和我們乘坐飛機的裏數、我們居住地方的海拔以及環境的礦物質有關。人類就生活在輻射當中，而且大多數時間我們所受到的輻射是無害的。
A buy-upof potassium iodide tablets, which some say guard against some effects of radiation exposure, is “premature” in America, he says, and concerns over contaminated Japanese exports are also alarmist.
有人認爲碘化鉀藥片可以起到一定的防輻射作用，於是人們大量買進這種藥片。布希伯格認爲這一舉動在美國還“爲時過早”。他說，有關日本出口貨物受到污染的說法也是危言聳聽。
Fukushima is not Chernobyl, scientists repeat, and even Chernobyl was not as deadly as popularly believed.
科學家一再強調，福島不是切爾諾貝利，而且切爾諾貝利也不像人們所想的那麼可怕和危險。
And even then, Chernobyl was a very different incident from what is now unfolding at Fukushima Daiichi. Chernobyl’s reactor lacked a containment facility, unlike the Fukushima plant, whose GE-made containment vessels have withstood both an earthquake, tsunami, and thus far, a partial meltdown.
儘管都是核事故，切爾諾貝利事故和現在福島第一核電站發生的事故也是不同的。切爾諾貝利核電站的反應堆缺少防範設施，而福島核電站有美國通用製造的防範設施，而且福島核反應堆已經經歷了一場地震和一場海嘯，迄今爲止，也只是部分核心熔燬而已。
