One hundred rems can cause radiation sickness and 500 rems likely will cause death.

WSJ: Japan's Nuclear Crisis Escalates

Almost 30 people died from radiation sickness in the immediate aftermath, and several hundred were hospitalised.

ECONOMIST: Nuclear power: Little to fear but fear itself | The

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan advised residents living within 30 km (18.6 miles) to stay indoors or risk radiation sickness.

FORBES: Blackouts, Panic And Eventually A Big Buying Opportunity

Not only would this have caused radiation sickness, but without rapid medical treatment such a sudden dose could have been fatal.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Spacecraft go to film Sun in 3D

The International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization say 28 emergency workers died of radiation sickness in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

CNN: Chernobyl's 25-year shadow

Everywhere I turn, I hear that unless radiation levels get improbably high, nobody will get sick, as if acute radiation sickness is the only consequence of exposure.

FORBES: 1st Person | Facing an Unsettled Future After Radiation Exposure

The crew of 144 were poisoned - nine died of radiation sickness soon after the emergency, and the others were ill for years before their premature deaths.

BBC: Eyewitness: Tragedy of Soviet nuclear submarine K-27

This leisurely rural existence is restful in only the most superficial ways: two members of the family suffer from radiation sickness and have been ordered not to work hard.

NEWYORKER: Black Rain

And while the Fukushima Daiichi power plant situation isn't yet stabilized, keep in mind that the death toll for the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has risen above 10, 000, and no one has died of radiation sickness.

CNN: Why does 'nuclear' scare us so much?