Expert: Radiation On Imported Japanese Cars Not A Threat
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A radiation protection expert says Japanese companies are doing what they should be doing to make sure that their industrial products, like cars that they export around the globe, are free from any contamination.
Some industry experts believe if the nuclear accident hurts Japan's exports, it'll be due to disruptions in operations, not because reactor damage contaminates products.
Automakers in Japan are only now beginning to restart operations, and some, like Nissan, have said publicly that they're checking for any traces of radioactive material, before they're shipped.
Dr. Stephen Musolino, a health physicist at the Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island, said, "If something like that happened in this country, we would have extensive monitoring put in place, and it would never get into the export stream."
Musolino said the interaction between radiation and metal is similar to that of dust on a desk, "And you could clean it off, decontaminate it, and restore it to a clean state again."
He says metal does not absorb radiation, and any possible contaminates, if found, could be safely removed.
Reported by Steve Tawa, KYW Newsradio 1060
