Fukushima Rated as Bad as Chernobyl

On the 26th of April, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant n the Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine) suffered a nuclear accident that rated a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale, rated as a “Major Accident.” It was the only peacetime nuclear event ever to be given the highest rating.

Until today, when Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced that they would be raising the rating of the Fukushima nuclear crisis to a level 7.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered at the hands of the category-9 earthquake that struck the Sendai region of Japan last month. Since then, engineers have been working nonstop to minimize the danger the plant could cause, including the leakage of radiation.

But even this morning, April 12, another fire was reported at the power plant after another offshore earthquake and subsequent tremors rocked the Japanese coast again.

http://youtu.be/PrfruH2hO6k

Sources: ABC News and The Australian

2 thoughts on “Fukushima Rated as Bad as Chernobyl”

  1. The Japanese situation is a tragedy with many aspects, from the purely technical through their apparent difficulties in releasing good information. It’s going to be awhile before the radioactive dust settles and a clear picture emerges.

    I’ve worked in the US nuclear industry over twenty years. One perspective that’s absent in the media is an insider’s take on how a nuclear power plant really operates day to day. It’s a far different world, both good and bad, from what people normally perceive. It is not The Simpsons and not Star Trek. Current media conversations sometimes remind me of casual drivers discussing with great confidence what it’s like to compete in the Daytona 500.

    My book “Rad Decision: A Novel of Nuclear Power” provides a needed portrait of the industrial nuclear power world. It also happens to culminate in an accident very similar to the Japanese tragedy. (Same reactor type, same initial problem – a station blackout with scram.) Rad Decision is currently available free online at http://RadDecision.blogspot.com . (No adverts, nobody makes money off this site.) Reader reviews are in the homepage comments – there are plenty of them. There is also a paperback version available and a PDF download.

    Rad Decision shouldn’t convince any reader that nuclear is perfectly safe or horribly unsafe. Instead it provides the reader with some background and perspective so they can make more informed judgements. Unfortunately, my media presence consists of this little-known book and website, so I’m not an acknowledged “expert”. Sorry about that. I just happen to do the nuclear stuff for a living.

    1. James, thanks for dropping the note & looks very interesting! As you imply, I imagine it is more of a grey topic than a black or white one. Thanks for the work you’ve done to create a more accurate picture of that world.

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