Electric Daily News
May. 10, 2011
Residents living near the Fukushima I nuclear plant are being checked for radiation levels
TOKYO --The Fukushima I nuclear power station suffered an accident triggered by the Richter magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11. The Japanese government announced April 12 their decision to raise the severity of the nuclear crisis to level 7, a "major accident" on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) and the same level as the Chernobyl accident, based on the estimate of the total amount of radioactive material released to the environment during the first month after the outbreak of the accident. Because of this announcement, some media across the world reported that northern Japan had been contaminated with radioactivity.
However, many experts in Japan share the view that the Fukushima I accident is different from Chernobyl. What is the basis for their argument?
The Chernobyl unit was a Soviet-designed graphite reactor. Radioactive material from the fuel was lifted high up into the air by a graphite fire and caused damage throughout Europe. On the other hand, the amount of radioactive material released from Fukushima I is about a tenth of that in the Chernobyl accident. There have also been no reported deaths from the Fukushima I accident. Immediately following the decision by the Japanese government to raise the severity of the accident to level 7, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressed its position that the Fukushima I accident was of a different nature from the Chernobyl crisis.
Haruki Madarame, Chair of the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, which made estimates leading to the reclassification of the Fukushima I accident as level 7, held a press conference on April 25 and stressed the difference from the Chernobyl disaster by pointing out that the Fukushima I accident had caused no direct deaths. The Chernobyl accident resulted in the deaths of close to 30 people and an increased incidence of thyroid cancer. It posed serious health effects. Madarame emphasized that there have been no deaths directly related to the accident and the commission would work to minimize health hazards.
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