The Fukushima 50 deserve a bit more than just a passing respect.

Once again we see another country's leaders belittled by the selfless actions of a few brave souls working for the common good.

Not to minimise the seriousness of the problems, or these guy's dedication, but I don't believe the levels of radiation are anything like as high as the media would have us believe. Sure a few hot spots right close up, but it's completely indistinguishable from background levels in Tokyo and other places we are being asked to believe there is/will be a serious radiation problem.

Looks like over 15,000 deaths from the tsunami, and hundreds of thousands homeless, many camping out in freezing conditions with minimal food, and all the media can do is constantly harp on about nuclear meltdown and radiation. Never let grim reality get in the way of a good shock-scare story!

I haven't done the math, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out that the ongoing amount of radioactive material emitted by a select bunch of coal fired stations exceeds this release.

Anyway I think the Japanese authorities have it about right in the 20Km highly-precautionary evacuation on all present information, and that the hysteria in other areas (particularly in the USA) is just plain dumb, or at worst exploitative.