ABSTRACT
On Saturday, March 12, 2011-less than a year after I completed my PhD thesis on New Zealand’s nuclear history-a newspaper journalist called me, wanting information for a story he was writing on the unfolding Fukushima nuclear disaster. In response to his question as to whether New Zealand was in any immediate danger, I suggested he speak to a nuclear physicist and an atmospheric scientist. I recommended New Zealand’s Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS Science), the National Radiation Laboratory (NRL), and the Meteorological Service (MetService) as places he should call to find these scientists. In an email response, sent later that day, I wrote about the radioactive fallout received in New Zealand through the 1960s, when bombs were being tested in nearby Pacific waters, and pointed out that atmospheric circulation patterns meant that radiation released in the Northern Hemisphere would be unlikely to threaten New Zealand.
