Fukushima worse than Chernobyl?

Is the nuclear supergain Fukushima worse than the one in Chernobyl??

12/04/2011

Will the health and environmental consequences of the reactor accident in Fukushima, Japan, be comparable to those of Chernobyl? The Society for Radiation Protection discussed this yesterday. The chairman of the company is none other than Sebastain Pflugbeil. Pflugbeil made it clear that radioactive contamination will spread differently in Fukushima than in Chernobyl. He. Because in Japan it does not burn, which is why the radioactive material will hit a smaller radius of up to 500 kilometers, but the population density is much higher and therefore will affect many more people directly. The people in Japan just can not be resettled for hundreds of miles, as was the case in Chernobyl, Ukraine. According to the expert, the population density is up to 40 times higher than in Ukraine. Therefore, many more people will suffer especially from the long-term consequences of the nuclear catastrophe. The health consequences for the population will therefore be far more dramatic than in the former Soviet Union.

Category of international accident scale INES now shows „meltdown“ on
The reactor disaster in Fukushima has now been officially classified by the Japanese authorities as the highest category of the international accident scale INES. The level is now instead of 5, 7. This level reached so far only the nuclear accident in Chernobyl and means the absolute „Meltdown“. A supergau is a situation that is no longer manageable by people according to the current state of knowledge. However, the Japanese government emphasized that the classification is initially only "temporary".

Atomic experts contradict the Society for Radiation Protection
However, because the data is still very poor overall, one can not speak of the fact that Fukushima is comparable or even worse than the reactor disaster in Chernobyl. This opinion, on the other hand, represents the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). Its chairman Wolfgang Weiss rather assumes that the effects „though serious“ but not so pronounced. However, a final and comprehensive assessment can not be made at the present time. The data currently available is insufficient. The committee intends to investigate the health consequences of the nuclear gap over the next two years and then take a clear stand. Until then, comparisons are unobjective.

Atomic Congress in Berlin
Currently, a critical Chernobyl conference is taking place in Berlin. Invited are physicians, scientists and nuclear experts. The meeting will focus on the health and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The renewed effects and current results of the Fukushima supergrail will also occupy researchers and experts for three days. (Sb)

Read about:
After Chernobyl: 600 million people affected
How much radioactive radiation is harmful?
Seven iodine storage facilities provide emergency care
How dangerous is radioactive radiation?
Iodine tablets in Germany inappropriate
Health: long-term consequences of radioactive radiation
What meltdown or super-GAU mean?
Radioactive Radiation: Health Effects

Image: Thommy Weiss