Radioactive fallout from Fukushima is comparable to Chernobyl – ‘evacuation is necessary' in Iitate

[Barrett808]

26 March 2011 (Asahi Shimbun) -- Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, crippled by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, has discharged more radiation than the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the United States, according to calculations by the central government.

It has already reached a level 6 serious accident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).

Separately, calculations made by experts place the level of soil contamination in some locations at levels comparable to those found after the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

With the Fukushima plant continuing to release radiation, there is the danger that the contaminated land will be unusable for many years. ...

Cesium-137 levels of 163,000 becquerels per kilogram of soil was detected in Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, about 40 kilometers northwest of the Fukushima plant, on March 20. That was the highest figure in the prefecture.

According to Tetsuji Imanaka, an associate professor of nuclear engineering at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, if the Iitate figure was converted to one square meter, the figure would be 3.26 million becquerels.

After the Chernobyl accident, residents who lived in regions with cesium levels of 550,000 becquerels ore more per square meter were forcibly moved elsewhere. ...

Radioactive fallout from Fukushima is comparable to Chernobyl – ‘Iitate has reached a contamination level in which evacuation is necessary’

[asjr]

1. I feel as if I am in a movie theater

watching a disaster film made in Hollywood. Only this time there may be no sequel. The entire planet is on its last leg and we do nothing to stop it.

[Snoutport]

2. except we keep kicking at that last leg.

poor earth

[spin]

3. It sounds like much of Japan will have to be evacuated ...

before all this is over.

What a nightmare.

[Kablooie]

4. It the fallout area is comparable to Chernobyl it would affect all of N. Japan above Nagoya.

Chernobyl area 150,000 sq. meters.
That would be approximately a 240 mile radius if my screwy math is correct.

[TheWraith]

8. Your screwy math is extremely wrong.

The Chernobyl exclusion zone has a radius of 19 miles, not 240.

[Kablooie]

11. That's the exclusion zone. The overall contaminated area was 150,000 sq k.

"Some 150,000 square kilometres in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are contaminated and stretch northward of the plant site as far as 500 kilometres. An area spanning 30 kilometres around the plant is considered the “exclusion zone” and is essentially uninhabited. Radioactive fallout scattered over much of the northern hemisphere via wind and storm patterns, but the amounts dispersed were in many instances insignificant."

My source:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/features/chernobyl-15/cherno-faq.shtml

And if some sources are to be believed, the IAEA minimizes the damage description because they support nuclear energy development.

[TheWraith]

15. The IAEA is a scientific organization, as opposed to the ones making those accusations.

And if you want to define "contaminated" as "had even one speck of particulates drop on it," sure. By that standard, it's unsafe to be within a couple hundred miles of a coal power plant, too, or 100 feet of someone smoking a cigarette.

[reorg]

17. Universities are scientific organisations, the IAEA is not

Scientific organisations are typically institutes doing research in a special field, or associations of scientists with similar aims. The IAEA is not doing any research, it is a (multi)government agency tasked with promoting (safe) nuclear technology:
http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/index.html

By contrast, Tetsuji Imanaka, the source for the article cited in the OP, does appear to be a researcher:

According to Tetsuji Imanaka, an associate professor of nuclear engineering at the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute, if the Iitate figure was converted to one square meter, the figure would be 3.26 million becquerels.

After the Chernobyl accident, residents who lived in regions with cesium levels of 550,000 becquerels ore more per square meter were forcibly moved elsewhere.

"Iitate has reached a contamination level in which evacuation is necessary," Imanaka said. "Radiation is still being released from the Fukushima plant. The areas of high contamination can be considered to be on par with Chernobyl."

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103250204.html

Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute

[xchrom]

5. recommend

[KittyWampus]

6. The link bears no credible sources of information for these claims. I would like verification

[PoliticAverse]

7. Here is the article...

from NHK about the 163,000 becquerels Cesium-137 level:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/23_28.html

Here is the chernobyl fallout map:

(From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Nuclear_Power_Plant_Exclusion_Zone )

Map link: ttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Chernobyl_radiation_map_1996.svg?map

[Barrett808]

10. It's Asahi Shimbun:

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103250204.html

[TheWraith]

9. Unrec for posting an "article" off of your blog.

Both for self-promotion reasons and for having no linked source for this information.

[fascisthunter]

14. and what about the content?

[TheWraith]

16. Content is meaningless without a verifiable source.

Anyone can make things up and post them on the internet claiming to be fact.

[Thunderstruck]

12. Look...STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT!

It's fine. Everything is fine.

Someone will be along in a minute to tell you the core temperatures are near freezing. It's ok.

[caraher]

13. Rubbish headline

The headline is at best extremely misleading - what the article says is that some local soil concentrations of Cs-137 are at levels comparable to levels recorded after Chernobyl. That's certainly bad news. There's obviously a serious contamination problem!

But the headline suggests that the *total* quantities released are now comparable, which is completely unsupported by the article. The only comparison the original article made was with the total release from Three Mile Island, which obviously the Fukushima disaster eclipsed very early on (mainly because TMI didn't involve a large release of fission products).

[reorg]

18. even the best headline cannot make up for poor reading skills

it is not "completely unsupported by the article" that the total quantities may be comparable to those released in Chernobyl.

"To calculate the spread of radiation using the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan estimates the discharge rate for radioactive iodine per hour from the Fukushima plant based on radiation measurements taken at various locations.

Using those figures to make a simple calculation of the amount of discharge between 6 a.m. March 12 and midnight Wednesday results in figures between 30,000 and 110,000 terabecquerels. Tera is a prefix meaning 1 trillion.

The INES defines a level 7 major accident such as Chernobyl as one in which radiation of more than several tens of thousands of terabecquerels is released.

The Fukushima accident is already at a level 6, which is defined as having a radiation discharge of several thousands to several tens of thousands of terabecquerels.

The discharge of radioactive iodine at the Chernobyl accident was said to be about 1.8 million terabecquerels."


This appears to be a comparison between the total release from Chernobyl with the total release as of 23 March in Fukushima, resulting in the conclusion that: "With the Fukushima plant continuing to release radiation, there is the danger that the contaminated land will be unusable for many years." Like in many areas around Chernobyl.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103250204.html