Fukushima Radiation Blows Past Chernobyl

As the twenty-fifth anniversary of Chernobyl passes, Fukushima looks set to overtake it as the world’s worst nuclear disaster. Two weeks ago Fukushima was raised from a level 5 disaster to a level 7 like Chernobyl. But nearly two months after the crisis began, Fukushima is still emitting radioactivity, while Chernobyl’s emissions had been contained at this stage.

Robots sent into the Number 1 reactor building have recorded the highest reading of radioactivity so far found at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since the emergency began almost two months ago. Two robots found 1,120 millisieverts of radiation an hour was being emitted from the stricken reactor. This level of radiation is more than enough to cause immediate radiation sickness if a human being were exposed to it. The Tokyo Electrical Power Company (Tepco) which runs the Fukushima facility has begun to use robots because it has become impossible to send workers into the plant for long enough to take accurate readings.

Source: WSWS.org

Fukushima and Chernobyl, similar but different

Early on, Japan’s official Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) didn’t think the damage at Fukushima was serious enough to be considered an “accident.” Ten hours after the plant was struck by an earthquake and battered by a tsunami, NISA called the situation a “serious incident,” a level 3 ranking on the IAEA scale. Even after radiation levels in the Fukushima main control room had spiked to 1,000 times normal levels, radioactive steam had been vented into the environment, and hydrogen explosions had demolished large parts of two reactor buildings, sending radioactive debris a thousand feet into the air, NISA only raised the threat assessment to level 5 — the same as the far less catastrophic accident at Three Mile Island.

Only on April 12, over a month after the crisis began, did NISA upgrade the crisis at Fukushima to level seven.

“In hindsight, their assessment of the situation was faulty,” says professor emeritus of nuclear engineering, Kenji Sumita.

The Soviet police-state clampdown on information about Chernobyl was many times worse. People surrounding the area (in what is now Ukraine) were told that a nuclear power plant had experienced only a minor accident. They weren’t told that plumes of intensely radioactive smoke were blowing across fields where dairy cows grazed. Unsuspecting resident gave their children milk with high levels of radioactive iodine, causing a spike in thyroid cancers starting ten years later.

Although thyroid cancer is treatable if caught early, and rarely results in death, the residents around Chernobyl were never told that they had been exposed to radiation and needed annual thyroid checkups. Many died needlessly.

One of the biggest differences between what happened at Chernobyl and the crisis at Fukushima is the amount of resources the two countries possess to minimize long-term effects. The Soviet Union was, we now know, facing financial collapse. Though it spent billions on Chernobyl, it simply abandoned vast amounts of contaminated land — making them into exclusions zones.

So apparently the difference is Japan isn't lying as much to the world as Russia did during Chernobyl. Of course this wonderfully in depth article doesn't even go into the differences of the nuclear explosions or meltdowns. Thanks Forbes! Oh yeah, that's right you only care about money.

Source: Forbes

Japanese Nuclear Crisis

By Sharon Squassoni

Mar 14, 2011

Q1: How bad is the damage to Japan's nuclear power plants from the earthquake?

A1: Japan operates 54 nuclear power plants that provide about 30 percent of Japan's electricity (compared to the United States' 104 plants providing 20 percent of total electricity). Of the 54, 11 automatically shut down with the tremendous earthquake on March 11. This is the first and very important step in reactor safety. Many nonnuclear electricity generating stations (natural gas, hydro, etc.) also shut down, particularly in the northeast of Japan. The critical difference is that nuclear reactors require continuous power after a shutdown to keep the radioactive fuel cool.

Of the 11 that shut down, one had a fire (Onagawa), one had a partial core meltdown and a hydrogen-fueled explosion that destroyed the containment building but not the steel containment vessel (Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1), and a third appears also at risk for partial core meltdown because fuel rods have been exposed (Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3). In a last-ditch effort to cool the cores of Units 1 and 3, officials injected seawater into them, which means the end of the useful life of those reactors.

Q2: How does this compare to Chernobyl or Three Mile Island?

A2: This is not a Chernobyl. The International Atomic Energy Agency has rated Japan's nuclear emergency "4" on the International Nuclear Events Scale (INES), which runs from 1 to 7. Three Mile Island was rated a 5; Chernobyl was rated a 7. Chernobyl has been the most severe accident yet. The nuclear chain reaction there could not be controlled for a variety of reasons (including the reactor's design), and the lack of a containment structure around the reactor meant widespread radioactive contamination. The situation in Japan is much more like Three Mile Island, where a partial core meltdown occurred because of loss of coolant. Radiation levels have risen, not just within the facilities but also at the perimeters, and there have been at least two worker deaths and several illnesses. The detection of Cs-137 in the air suggests the fuel has partially melted in one of the reactors.

Q3: What does this mean for citizens of Japan and for the future of nuclear power in general?

A3: The government of Japan has taken the precautionary measure of evacuating citizens in a 20-kilometer zone around the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini reactors (10 reactors in all) to minimize the potential health threats. It is too soon to tell what impact this will have on nuclear power in Japan, in light of the tremendous challenges of responding to the devastation caused by the earthquake, tsunami, and aftershocks.