Japan ups nuke crisis severity to match Chernobyl

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:43 pm

Article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake

The Japanese disrespect for the people at Chernobyl and 500,000+ liquidators is astounding, thousands of square miles affected and thousands of deaths and cancer cases are not equal to a couple of lettuces next to the plant with a trace of radioactivity. It pisses me off really, they don't know what they are talking about, or what the people in Ukraine went through, it is like saying three mile Island was just like Hiroshima. Simply outrageous. Also these japanese liquidators that get paid 5,000 dollars a day to operate a machine to drain water are called heroes suposedly because they are saving the nation, and some dare to compare them with the ones at Chernobyl who carried parts of the reactor by hand for a single payment of 100 dollars, Unveliebable!!

Cherokee (3.8 mt) Joined: Mar 17, 2008 Posts: 402

With all due respect, Teller, but I think the severity of the Japanese catastrophe is still quite unclear. After all, most of the Chernobyl-related deaths so far occured years after the accident.
If one wants to criticise the Japanese, then it's for their extreme reluctance to widen the evacuation-zone any sooner. Thousands of people still live in areas where they receive considerable radiaton-doses. Yeah, that is indeed outrageous!

Btw, why on earth should a gov treating its liquidators like sh*t - as did the USSR - make a catastrophe automatically more severe?
Not that Japan is being exactly kind to its own liquis: There are reports of totally unqualified people being forced to perform complicated tasks in the damaged plant, wading thru radioactive puddles with completely insufficient protective clothing and even sleeping on the ground in the rooms next to the reactor! How good of a treatment is that?

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 11:17 pm

I think the Japanese accident will not get any worse because the fuel cools at a rapid rate, the worst was the first 7 days or so, and now they have more cooling than they did at the beginning of the crisis, it is becoming a media sensation rather than a real risk.

Thousands and thousands gave their lives and hundreds of thousands saw thier life ruined to solve the Chernobyl crisis, and this scale suggests both accidents are alike, it is criminal. Also the families of Japanese liquidators dare to compare their relatives with the ones at Chernobyl, this is an outrage.

NO ONE has died from radiation poisoning at Fukushima, and no one will, and they dare to put it on the same level as Chernobyl, also you can’t scale it on the Nuclear accident scale based on what might happen until it does actually happen.

Also the reactor vessel and the containment at Fukushima is intact as far as I know, you could live for years next to the plant without any noticeable effect, liquidators at Chernobyl would happily trade 10 minutes at Chernobyl for a hundred years working at Fukushima, there is no need to evacuate no one whatsoever, it is ridiculous, people in Ukraine and Belarus live now at extremely far more contaminated areas, at Chernobyl there were areas far from the plant where you would receive a lethal dose in minutes, and many people did, the levels of radiation facing liquidators from both sides are at least a millon times different, also the Mayak disaster in 1957 was way worse than Fukushima, and only scales 6.

From now on this scales means nothing, you can assign it randomly. If Fukushima is a 7 Chernobyl should be like a 25.

Cherokee (3.8 mt) Joined: Mar 17, 2008 Posts: 402

Maybe the INES-scale is indeed too conservative and should inlcude an eight level for mega-desaster à la Chernobyl.
Be it as it may, I think the map above illustrates fairly well that Fukushima is quite a large-scale disaster itself and that it is irresponsible to not evacuate the pop within a 30km zone.
And yes: No one has yet died from radiation in the region - but saying that no one will, is as premature as implying that the radiation will have no noticeable effect on peoples health. What even makes you think that? I mean, would you want to live in an area where you receive your annual radiation-dose within a few days? Guess not.

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 12:33 am

Yes, it is responsible to evacuate at first but I think they can go back now, it is understandable that people fear anything nuclear, and specially the japanese, but the worst impact here is economic, not radiological, and level 7 is simply stupid, I can't imagine a Chernobyl liquidator having spend almost 30 years in a wheelchair because of the accident watching the news and seeing "Fukushima the same level as Chernobyl", it can't be allowed.

Cherokee (3.8 mt) Joined: Mar 17, 2008 Posts: 402

How about asking one of the Chernobyl-liquidators herself what she thinks about Fukushima - ok, of course she can't speak for the 800'000 others, but a brief search on google indicates lots of sympathy from former liquidators for their Japanese counterparts and the residents of the region in general:

Natalia Manzurova, liquidator from Prypiat, interviewed by AOL-News on March 22:

Quote:

But experts say Fukushima is not as bad as Chernobyl.
Every nuclear accident is different, and the impact cannot be truly measured for years. The government does not always tell the truth. Many will never return to their homes. Their lives will be divided into two parts: before and after Fukushima. They'll worry about their health and their children's health. The government will probably say there was not that much radiation and that it didn't harm them. And the government will probably not compensate them for all that they've lost. What they lost can't be calculated.

What message do you have for Japan?
Run away as quickly as possible. Don't wait. Save yourself and don't rely on the government because the government lies. They don't want you to know the truth because the nuclear industry is so powerful.