Collecting information that helps us to assess the “sustainability” of nuclear power is turning out to be what I call a “stamp-collecting exercise”: a new twist comes up almost daily each different and bigger than the last. This is turning into a really scary thread which wasn’t what I expected when it started out.
I read (track down where) that an article has been published in a health journal attributing a large increase (?14000) deaths in the US to the radionuclide plume.
The site I found this link on is [url=http://www.infowars.com/radionuclide-blankets-united-states-authorities-insist-levels-are-harmless/]Radionuclide blankets US[/url]. It also includes a discussion of the types of radionuclides that are emitted in nuclear plant meltdowns and their relative danger.
Xenon 133 has been released globally it is considered a far more inert and harmless form of radioactivity in comparison to the far more dangerous iodine-131 caesium-134 and caesium-137. The above link also shows dispersion of the more dangerous isotopes.
http://zamg.ac.at/pict/aktuell/20110321_fuku_Xenon-Simulation.gif