nuclear-news

Is Fukushima Worse Than Chernobyl?

Radiation from Fukushima, Food Consumer, 5 Sept 12, 
Radiation from Fukushima ukushima nuclear disaster is not the only thing Americans need to be worried about. As many as 14 states have been polluted by the nuclear tests conducted in the U.S. in 50’s, according to some reports. The clean states are only those in the West like Oregon, California, and maybe Washington as well. By Dr. Mercola

“……When the Chernobyl reactor melted down in 1986, approximately 134 plant workers and firefighters were exposed to high doses of radiation – 800 to 16,000 mSv – and developed acute radiation sickness. Of those 134 workers, 28 died within 3 months of exposure.

In total, more than 160,000 children and 146,000 cleanup workers became victims of radiation poisoning as a result of living and working in that radiotoxic environment, raising the incidence of birth defects, leukemia, anemia, cancers, thyroid disease, liver and bonemarrow degeneration, and overall severely compromised immune systems.

These, however, are only estimates, and according to some data, Chernobyl deaths may actually top 1 million.⁶  Fukushima is the largest nuclear disaster since, but there are many similarities popping up. For one, as the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) points out:⁷ 

“From the beginning, the official nuclear safety experts were at pains to minimize the projected health impacts, as they are doing now for the Fukushima accident.”

According to ISIS, with Chernobyl, they underestimated related deaths by:

• Underestimating the level of radiation by averaging exposure over a large region, such as an entire country, so high exposure doses and health statistics of the most contaminated areas are lumped together with the less and least exposed
• Ignoring internal sources of radiation due to inhalation and ingestion of radioactive material from fallout

• Using an obsolete and erroneous model of linear energy transfer due to external sources of ionizing radiation
• Not counting diseases and conditions other than cancers

• Overestimating the natural background radiation; today’s “background” has been greatly increased by discharges from nuclear activities including tests of nuclear weapons, use of depleted uranium, and uranium mining
• Suppressing and withholding information from the public……. http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Environment/radiation_from_fukushima_0904120707.html

September 5, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, Ukraine