Fukushima Surpasses Chernobyl

The Fukushima catastrophe has passed Chernobyl in some infamous categories.

One dubious category is the transparency and lack thereof.

Chernobyl was more open so that people could take better precautions.

Fukushima was a human caused disaster, in the wake of a natural disaster, which may be happening more often now.

I have previously written on the subject of the dangers of nuclear power plants (e.g. Childhood Leukemia Linked To Government Carelessness, The Fukushima Coverup).

Here is a recent update on Fukushima:

• “[It's] important to understand that the Fukushima release consisted of multiple radionuclides with distinct modes of release, chemical properties, radioactive half-lives, and behavior in the environment, all of which influence the potential for environmental harm. [...] cesium-134 and cesium-137 were also released in significant quantities and pose greater potential risks to human and ecosystem health due to their reactivity, mobility in the environment, and biological availability.”
• “River runoff and groundwater discharge from contaminated areas, along with seafloor sediments off of Fukushima, are expected to supply relatively small but continuing doses of radioactivity to the North Pacific for years to come […] in the three years since the accident, Fukushima-derived radionuclides have spread throughout the North Pacific.”
• “The total input of 137Cs to the North Pacific from Fukushima are poorly constrained, with estimates ranging from 14 – 90 PBq [90 petabecquerels, i.e. 90 quadrillion becquerels].”
• “~76 PBq  [of cesium-137 due to global fallout from nuclear weapons testing was] still present in the North Pacific in 2011 [...] in the worst case the Fukushima disaster [...] may initially have tripled the total amount of radioactive cesium in the North Pacific.”
• Researchers estimate up to 181 PBq of cesium has already been released during the Fukushima disaster (90 PBq of 134Cs + 91 PBq of 137Cs)

According to the National Research Council — Committee on an Assessment of CDC Radiation Studies: “35 PBq of Cs-134 and 70 PBq of Cs-137″ were released during Chernobyl disaster.

• Chernobyl = 105 PBq of Cesium-134, -137
• Fukushima = Up to 181 PBq of Cesium-134, -137 (releases ongoing “for years to come”)

(EneNews, emphasis added; see also this). Surpassing Chernobyl is notable because there are estimates of about a million people dying as a result of that disaster:

Nearly one million people around the world died from exposure to radiation released by the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl reactor, finds a new book from the New York Academy of Sciences published today on the 24th anniversary of the meltdown at the Soviet facility.

(Environment News Service). When the government changed the name of the Department of War into the Department of Defense, and took up nuclear weapons, it lied to the people about the dangers.

And still does.