You might be a little freaked out about 11,500 tons of radioactive water being dumped into the Pacific Ocean in Japan, where workers are still scrambling to stabilize an earthquake-crippled nuclear power plant called Fukushima Daiichi. In fact, the words "radiation" and "nuclear" give many people the creeps.

And that's partly because these are concepts that you aren't too familiar with; take a minute to learn the basics here. When you get down to the actual risks involved in the Japan nuclear disaster, things aren't so bad for the general public.

It's true that radioactive particles from a nuclear disaster like this do get into the food supply, but so far there's no indication that there's cause for alarm. The particles emitted from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant bind to dust, which is how they travel through the air and eventually fall on the ground, according to CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

When cows eat contaminated grass, those particles can get into milk. Large surfaces of leafy veggies are at risk because they present a greater surface area for the particles to fall on; that's why several green vegetables can no longer be exported from certain areas near the nuclear power plant. Still, levels detected so far pose little risk, Gupta said. And so far there is no contamination of beef in Japan, the government said Friday.

Radioactive particles disperse the farther they travel, so by the time they get to the United States from Japan they are not concentrated enough to pose any health risk. The state of Washington and California have both reported low levels of radioactivity in milk; however, this milk is safe to consume, experts say.

And how about what that water might do to fish? If you're still craving sushi, it seems that, unlike after the Gulf oil disaster, there isn't as much concern about the safety of fish from Japan, Eatocracy reports. Fishing in the prefectures near to the nuclear plant - Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate - has been suspended since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which makes it less likely that tainted fish will reach the market.

But there is justified concern for the health of the Japanese workers who are struggling to control Fukushima Daiichi, and getting exposure to doses of radiation far higher than the general public. While they are probably not experiencing any health effects right now, their long-term health should be monitored, experts say.

Minuscule amounts of radiation detected in the United States do not pose any risk to Americans' health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Thomas Frieden reiterated Tuesday.

"We do not expect radiation to reach problematic levels," he said on a conference call with reporters.

Despite a low-level of concern, Frieden said, agencies such as the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were all actively monitoring the air, the food and the water supplies in the U.S. for any evidence of contamination.

Dr. William Jones, acting director for the FDA's division of food safety, echoed Frieden's sentiments.

"There is a great deal of monitoring going on for any product that comes into this country," said Jones. "Anything contaminated to level where it could pose a concern would be detected."

Also at issue on Tuesday's call: Whether Americans should be taking or stockpiling potassium iodide pills.

"I understand that there are a lot of people who want to have [the pills]," Frieden said, "But I want to say unequivocally that there is no reason for anyone in the U.S. to take potassium iodide pills at this time."

Potassium iodide pills (also known as KI pills) can be helpful for people in the immediate vicinity of a nuclear accident, by preventing the thyroid gland from taking in radioactive iodine. However, KI pills only protect the thyroid and are not recommended for wider consumption, Frieden said, due to the inherent health risks associated with taking the pills, such as allergic reactions, stomach upset, inflammation of the salivary glands and certain thyroid conditions.

"Potassium iodide is part of the broader strategy on how we would prepare for exposure in the event of significant incident," he said, "but we don't anticipate any scenario where we would need potassium iodide in the U.S. from the incident in Japan."

Frieden and his colleagues at the FDA went on to say that there are no devices or pills that can protect the entire body from radiation, despite claims made by some online retailers.

"There is nothing that is currently approved as a silver bullet," said Patricia Hansen, a senior scientist at the FDA. "Those claims are fraudulent."