Fukushima on level with Chernobyl

[David Johnson]

Japanese authorities have raised the severity rating of their nuclear crisis to the highest level, seven, the same as Chernobyl.

"We have upgraded the severity level to seven as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," said Minoru Oogoda of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), the government's nuclear watchdog.

One official from Tepco said that radiation leaks had not stopped completely and could eventually exceed those at Chernobyl, Reuters news agency reported.

Don't panic!!!

[img]http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/imageArchi ... ll_003.jpg[/img]

Cheers
D

[Arginald Valleywater]

I think they have been lying wholesale since day one.

[max_tranmere]

People don't seem to be as panicked about this as they were about Chernobyl. I specifically remember kids at school pointing up into the sky back in 1986 and saying "see those clouds, they are radioactive", and "I'm not going to eat any lamb anymore because all the sheep are affected from having eaten radioactive grass which has become contaminated by the radioactive rain." Rather predictably their fears were proven to be misplaced. Thankfully no one is freaking out regarding the Japan thing, either justifiably or unjustificably.

[spider]

I read the other day that there are still sheep grazing on hillsides in Wales that can not enter the food chain because they are feeding on grass contaminated by Chernobyl fall-out.

[jimslip]

With the PR machine of the Nuclear Industry always giving us the best possible scenario and "World's Greatest Arsehole", Jeremy Clarkson 'aving a laugh about it all, like "Like who cares 'bout a bit of radioactivity, cos I'm a real bigoted proper geezer and I 'ate foreigners and I spread Caesium 137 on me toast in the morning, never did me any 'arm !wey, hey, hey!"

Here's a few interesting perspectives:

[RoddersUK]

I'm not sure Clarkson is the greatest arsehole. He is up there with a few of them though. Twatt that he is.

[RoddersUK]

The word truth aint in the Jap fucking dictionary!

[Sam Slater]

Very observant of you, Rodders. 'Truth' is an English word and so wouldn't be in the Japanese dictionary.

They do, however, have a Japanese equivalent: 真実

[Sam Slater]

Bit silly comparing Fukushima to Chernobyl. It's not the amount of radiation but the rate that's the biggest danger.

Just to add something about the dangers of nuclear power: hundreds of oil-rig and coal miners die every year, around the world. Japan has over 50 nuclear reactors, has suffered the biggest earthquake in their recorded history, plus a massive tsunami on top, for good measure. After all that only one nuclear plant threatened to cause havoc and as far as I'm aware no one yet has died from what's happened at Fukushima.

I think this says a hell of a lot about the safety of nuclear power.

Finally, because everything on Earth is exposed to solar radiation, and because there are plenty of naturally radioactive rocks within the Earth's crust (uranium etc) then as a coal miner you'll be exposed to 10-20 times more radiation, per year, than a nuclear power-plant worker. You're also over a thousand times more likely to die underground from poisoning, flooding, mechanical failure and oxygen starvation, plus the regular tunnel collapses.

Of course, when nuclear goes bad, it goes very bad. Statistically, though, they're safer than other methods of energy production.

[BRFOT]

"as far as I'm aware no one yet has died from what's happened at Fukushima."

Not necessarily the issue unfortunately, I think only 29 people died at Chernobyl and mostly because the Soviet engineers radiation protection consisted of thick gloves and a hat, its the long lasting fallout which gets into the soil, plant life etc, even now vast areas around Chernobyl are uninhabitable and will be for hundreds of years. Russian official estimates put the death rates from fallout cancer at 4000+ but non govt bodies estimate its probably closer to 100,000. There are pictures of the city closest to Chernobyl which even now is totally abandoned, many of the people living there had children born with horrific deformities - the legacy of nuclear fallout and damage will not be evident for 20 years, and Japan is a far smaller place with a far higher population density then the Soviet Union was.