VietNamNet Bridge – Hydrometeorological experts rejected the rumor that “radioactive clouds and acid rains” from Japan would come to Vietnam.

They said that radioactive clouds and acid rains could not reach Vietnam.

The rumor was spread very fast on March 15 through Yahoo Messenger (YM) and mobile text messages after the fire at the reactor No.4 of Japan’s Fukushima had been reported.

After lunch, Thang, manager of an information technology company in Hanoi, received a phone call from his wife, asking him to pick up their child at kindergarten early because “I have heard that there will have radioactive clouds and acid rains in Hanoi on the afternoon”.

“Actually, I had received YM messages warning about radioactive clouds and acid rains in the morning but I didn’t believe in them. But, so many people told me about it so I decided to pick up my son early,” Thang said.

Teachers were also worried about the rumor. A teacher from the foreign-invested Dream House Primary School in Tay Ho district, Hanoi, said the school asked teachers to not allow pupils to play outdoors when it rained. Outdoor morning exercises were performed inside classes.

“We didn’t want to scare them, so they only told them to play indoors, not the true reason,” the teacher said.

Phan Dinh Son, Director of Bao An Computer and Supermarket Equipment Company in Hanoi, permitted his staff to go home early to avoid “acid rains” in the afternoon.

Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecast, said that “the rumor was false.”

“No wind can bring radioactive dusts from Japan to Vietnam. There is no wind from Japan to China and then to Vietnam. There is only wind blowing from Vietnam to Japan. The current rain is caused by monsoon, not acid rain,” he said.

According to research, radioactive dust of the Chernobyl explosion in Russia in 1986 was blown to Vietnam. Hai said “that wind can blow from Russia to Vietnam, not from Japan to Vietnam.”

A scientist from the Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong confirmed that the rumor is false and doesn’t have any scientific ground.

“Acid rains are caused by the greenhouse effect of industrial factories. Nuclear power plants are built to prevent this phenomenon. It is completely wrong to say that explosions at nuclear power plants cause acid rains,” he explained.

He also said that the institute had been keeping track of the explosions and fires at Japan’s nuclear power plants, but it didn’t detect radioactive dust in Vietnam.

“Radioactive gases from explosions in Japan are at low levels, and Vietnam is very far from Japan. Certainly, we will still keep an eye on the situation,” he said.

Vuong Huu Tan, chief of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, also confirmed that his institute will keep track of the situation in Japan and the change of environment to give timely warnings to the people.

International experts say that it is very difficult to see a similar disaster like the Chernobyl in Japan.

The worry over radioactivity spreading is increasing in Japan after four of six reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plants were on fire or exploded.

Japan has evacuated people in a 20km diameter from the plant. Those who live in the diameter of 20-30km around the plant are requested to stay home.

The radioactive content in Tokyo, around 240km from Fukushima, is 40 times over the normal level but officials said that this level is not dangerous for human.

PV