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26 Apr 2011 14:03

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World: Health effects of Chernobyl disaster still hard to quantify

  • Chernobyl at 25: Today marks 25 years since Chernobyl blew up, plagued as it was by a mixture of poor decision-making by its chief operator, Anatoly Diatlov, as well as a critically flawed reactor design. All these years later, officials and experts still debate the health effects resulting from the crisis; the UN concluded about 6,000 youths would/have suffered thyroid cancer as a result, while other scientists and organizations insist the magnitude of the problem is much greater, in the tens of thousands. Now, the containment sarcophagus around Chernobyl is decaying, to boot, so the building of “the shelter,” an enormous arch that would cover the entire plant, becomes more important than ever for the surrounding areas. source

12 Apr 2011 20:52

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World: Experts: Forget the scale. Fukushima isn’t as bad as Chernobyl.

  • Fukushima was not as bad as Chernobyl. If Fukushima is a level 7 accident, maybe we need to go back and recalibrate the scale and add a level 8 or 9.
  • University of Southern California Prof. Najmedin Meshkati • Expressing frustration that Fukushima was rated on the same level as Chernobyl, a 7 on the nuclear accident scale. Japan’s own Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says it’s only 10 percent as bad as Chernobyl. On top of that, nobody has died from the post-quakeaccident and 21 workers have gotten minor illnesses from radiation. At Chernobyl, a number of people died — dozens immediately and many more from cancer years later. If we’re somehow putting Chernobyl on the same level as Fukushima, something’s wrong about the levels.  source

15 Mar 2011 10:28

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World: UPDATE: Fukushima’s radiation levels drop significantly

  • 11.9 the current peak radiation count, in milli-sieverts per hour
  • 400 the peak radiation count in milli-sieverts per hour – which was hit last night
  • 300k the peak mSv/hour count at Chernobyl – to keep things in check source
  • » It’s no longer at its peak, and that’s a good thing: The International Atomic Energy Agency says that the decrease happened over a six-hour period. And the IAEA makes a good point that you should keep in mind. “This is a high dose-level value, but it is a local value at a single location and at a certain point in time,” they say. In other words, even if you’re within the 20-mile radius where radiation is likely to hit, the level will most assuredly be far lower than these peak levels. It’s still high, though – one milli-sievert per hour is equal to the yearly legal limit of radiation you’re supposed to get. (see our earlier posts about this topic here and here)

14 Mar 2011 23:40

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World: UPDATE: What does “400 times annual legal limit” mean?

  • 400 the amount of radiation in the air, in milli-sieverts per hour, according to the given estimate
  • 40 the amount of radiation that is, in roentgen per hour – which, don’t get us wrong, is very high
  • 30k the amount of radiation in Chernnobyl had – which Fukushima doesn’t touch source
  • » This is an extremely large jump: One milli-sievert per hour is the legal annual limit for radiation in a year. Our earlier estimate showed a level of 8,217 micro-sieverts. 1,000 micro-sieverts equals 1 milli-sievert. So we went from 8,000 to 400,000 in a couple of hours. This is still no Chernobyl, but this is a huge jump. If it jumps to 1,000,000 micro-sieverts, it leads to radiation sickness – and then we’re in trouble.

14 Mar 2011 21:13

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World: Some quick math: How does Fukushima compare to Chernobyl?

  • » To explain: This number comparison is to emphasize the difference between an actual going-to-kill-us-all meltdown and what’s happening in Fukushima. While things could get worse from here, right now, the worst of what’s happening in Fukushima is 0.002739 percent as bad as the worst of the Chernobyl disaster. 400 rontgen is enough radiation to kill you. 10,000 micro-sievert equals 1 rontgen. Chernobyl was pushing out 30,000 rontgen per hour at its core – enough to kill someone in 48 seconds. This is an important point to make – while levels are higher than normal, this is extremely minor on the scale of a real disaster. Oh, and one more thing – Fukushima only hit its 8,217 micro-sievert peak for a very short period. Chernobyl’s level was sustained.