Why people don't give a shit about Fukishima.

[questionseverything]

131. http://www.bradblog.com/?p=8420

According to Greenpeace Germany's statement, based on their analysis from Dr. Helmut Hirsch:

The total amount of radionuclides iodine-131 and caesium-137 released since the start of the accident until March 23rd, as reported by the two institutes require the Fukushima accident to be reclassified to the same level as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster twenty five years ago in April 1986. In fact so high are the releases that they...amount to three INES 7 accidents.

In contrast to the Chernobyl accident which involved one nuclear reactor, Fukushima has suffered major failures at four.
...
Dr Hirsch concludes, "Taking all the releases from the Fukushima-daiichi reactors together this [is] obviously an INES 7 with the possibility that it is three INES 7's, taking each reactor separately which results in a release of 100,000 Tbq each."

"From the very beginning this accident looked potentially devastating in terms of radiation release. It is far from over, and today we have further evidence of a very real risk of reactor core meltdown with potentially catastrophic effects. The nuclear industry and the IAEA have claimed since Chernobyl that such an event would not take place in a western reactor. Their dangerous complacency over decades has now led us to an utter catastrophe for the people of Japan, and the accident is not over," said Heinz Smital nuclear expert of Greenpeace Germany.

Hirsch and Greenpeace are also [critical] of the INES scale as the basis on which nuclear accidents are assessed by national governments and the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. The INES scale was intended to be applied in the case of one accident at one site. At Fukushima, the accidents have been at multiple nuclear reactors, suffering two critical failures - reactor cooling and spent fuel storage. The INES scale was never designed for such an eventuality because the nuclear industry and the IAEA considered such things not possible.