Iceland became the first European country to receive radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, but scientists emphasise that it poses absolutely no risk to public health.
The devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck Japan nearly two weeks ago did damage to, among other things, the Fukushima nuclear power plant. While the situation at the plant is now more or less stabilised, radiation from the reactor was released into the atmosphere and will drift globally.
Reuters reports that Iceland is the first European country to receive this radiation, having drifted over the Pacific and North America before reaching here.
However, the levels of radiation are very low, the Icelandic Radiation Safety Authority contends. They emphasise that radiation levels from Fukushima now reaching Iceland are 0.0001% to 0.00001% that of the radiation that reached Iceland after the 1986 Chernobyl incident, which was also far below levels capable of harming human health.
Media outlets the world over have had somewhat uneven reporting on Fukushima radiation, ranging from the reasonable to the inaccurate.
Despite more sensationalist reporting, radiation levels reaching other countries from Fukushima are far below the constant background radiation that most people are exposed to every day. For comparison purposes, refer to this chart.
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