[JBaymore]

NY Times:

"The international agency, which is based in Vienna, said Sunday that its team measured radiation on Saturday of 0.4 to 3.7 microsieverts per hour at distances of 20 to 40 miles from the damaged plant — well outside the initial evacuation zone. At that rate of accumulation, it would take 225 days to 5.7 years to reach the Japanese government’s threshold level for evacuations: radiation accumulating at a rate of at least 20 millisieverts per year."

The above assumes that the radiation dosage level remains the same. Most of the radiation is coming from Iodine... which has a very short half-life. And the radiation escaping the reactor area is decreasing. For comparison, nuclear plant workers are routinely allowed to be exposed to 50 millisieverts a year.

best,

..................john