Questioning Stats on "Normal" Background Radiation / Video

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 2011-03-27 10:32

I would like to know what, exactly, was the normal, worldwide, natural (ie naturally occurring from rocks, etc.) background reading of radiation prior to the thousands of nuclear tests and bombs dropped in the world.

This time lapse video shows all the nuclear events from 1945 to 1998 globally http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY. As we know many forms of radiation stick around for many hundreds of years, doesn't each release add to the global background "norm?"

If so, why do we think that gauging the safety of releases to "normal" background levels is meaningful?

‹ Should we take maximum air contamination or some sort of cumulative contamination? Why are the fuel rods in storage tank still hot & emitting? ›