[Gathnet] Fallout approaching CA

[Stuart Gathman]

As the fallout from Japan approaches CA, the news reports don't offer
much perspective on how bad it really is.  For comparison, a US coal
power plant emits ~360 mCi / 10^9 KWH in airborne particles.   Emissions
from unfiltered coal plants in developing countries (including Mexico)
emit 100 to 1000 times as much (filtered plants capture 99%+ as ash). 
Unfortunately, the news reports don't mention the current rate of
release from the Japan reactors (or what their generating capacity was
when operational  (maybe there is no good way to estimate the rate of
airborne particle release), but background readings are as much as 400
milli-sieverts/hr. 

Now I need to find out how mCi and milli-sieverts(mSv) relate.  I know
you multiply curies (Ci) by a "quality factor" to get rem (= 10 mSv)
depending on how the type of radiation affects biology.  The radiation
from coal plants is mostly in the form of Radon.  The stuff from a
nuclear reactor would be different, I don't know much beyond that.

As a rough estimate, assume the "quality factor" is ~1, and the 7
affected nuke plants normally generate ~10^9 W (140 MW each).   Filtered
coal emmision for that amount of power would be .36 mCi / hr ~ .0036 mSv
/ hr,  up to 3.6 mSv/hr for unfiltered coal.   Background readings don't
translate directly to rate of release, so I don't know where to go from
there.  If the 400 mSv/hr were a rate of release, that would be 100000
times equivalent coal power - but keep in mind coal does it
continuously, not just after earthquakes.  1000 hr ~ 40 days, so IF 400
mSv/hr were a rate of release, it would release in an hour what a coal
plant releases in 10 yr.

Scott and Anita, are you going to have KI pills?  US manufacturers have
sent their current inventory to Japan (where they are needed more). 
Bampa, do you still have a Geiger counter?  I remember you showing me
one as a kid.