DailyDirt: Don't Just Give People Numbers... Draw Charts?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

A number is often meaningless without a unit attached to it, but sometimes a unit is useless if it's an unfamiliar one. Given all the reporting on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a few helpful folks have created some charts to better explain what the radiation dosages mean. These graphs aren't perfect, but they attempt to put some uncommon figures into context. If you don't know what a sievert is, check out these charts. By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.
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Filed Under: charts, fukushima daiichi, infographics, radiation, sievert, xkcd


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  • icon
    PopeRatzo (profile), 4 Apr 2011 @ 8:41pm

    um

    If those graphs are all accurate, then the cancer rate should not have spiked around Chernobyl.

    I know I'm swimming against the "nukes are safe as milk" tide here, but I bet in 1950 you could have produced similar charts about why smoking is not really dangerous. But those were times when we weren't as scientifically sophisticated as we are today. Right?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 4 Apr 2011 @ 10:38pm

      Re: um

      PopeRatzo wrote:
      If those graphs are all accurate, then the cancer rate should not have spiked around Chernobyl.

      Did it spike? As far as I read, about 18 million people were exposed to the radiation. The main health hazard was radioactive iodine, which led to 4000 extra thyroid cancer cases, causing about two dozen deaths out of the 50-odd attributable to Chernobyl.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    lrobbo (profile), 10 Jun 2012 @ 8:07am

    Interesting charts.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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