Japan's crisis level now equal that of Chernobyl
Source: Agencies |
April 13, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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Japan yesterday raised the crisis level at its crippled nuclear plant to a severity on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing high overall radiation leaks that have contaminated the air, tap water, vegetables and seawater.
Japanese nuclear regulators said they raised the rating from 5 to 7 - the highest level on an international scale of nuclear accidents overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency - after new assessments of radiation leaks from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since it was disabled by the March 11 tsunami.
The new ranking signifies a "major accident" that includes widespread effects on the environment and health, according to the Vienna-based IAEA.
But Japanese officials played down any health effects and stressed that the harm caused by Chernobyl still far outweighs that caused by the Fukushima plant.
The revision came a day after the government added five communities to a list of places people should leave to avoid long-term radiation exposure. A 20-kilometer radius had already been cleared around the plant.
The news was received with chagrin by residents in Iitate, one of the five communities, where high levels of radiation have been detected in the soil. The village of 6,200 people is about 40 kilometers from the Fukushima plant.
"It's very shocking to me," said Miyuki Ichisawa, 52, who runs a coffee shop there. "Now the government is officially telling us this accident is at the same level of Chernobyl."
Iitate's town government yesterday decided to ban the planting of all farm produce, including rice and vegetables. The national government earlier banned rice growing there but not necessarily vegetables.
Japanese officials said the leaks from the Fukushima plant so far amount to a 10th of the radiation emitted in the Chernobyl disaster, but said they could eventually exceed Chernobyl's emissions if the crisis continues.
"This reconfirms that this is an extremely major disaster. We are very sorry to the public, people near the nuclear complex and the international community for causing such a serious accident," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.
But Edano told reporters there was no "direct health damage" so far from the crisis. "The accident is really serious, but we have set our priority so as not to cause health damage," he said.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in a national television address, urged the public not to panic and to focus on recovering from the disaster.
Continued aftershocks following the 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 are impeding work on stabilizing the Fukushima plant - the latest a 6.3-magnitude one yesterday that prompted plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co to temporarily pull back workers.
Officials from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the cumulative amount of radioactive particles released into the atmosphere since the incident had reached levels that apply to a Level 7 incident.
"We have refrained from making announcements until we have reliable data," said NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama. "The announcement is being made now because it became possible to look at and check the accumulated data assessed in two different ways," he said, referring to measurements from NISA and Japan's Nuclear Security Council.
In Chernobyl, in the Ukraine, a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing a cloud of radiation over much of the Northern Hemisphere.
Japanese nuclear regulators said they raised the rating from 5 to 7 - the highest level on an international scale of nuclear accidents overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency - after new assessments of radiation leaks from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since it was disabled by the March 11 tsunami.
The new ranking signifies a "major accident" that includes widespread effects on the environment and health, according to the Vienna-based IAEA.
But Japanese officials played down any health effects and stressed that the harm caused by Chernobyl still far outweighs that caused by the Fukushima plant.
The revision came a day after the government added five communities to a list of places people should leave to avoid long-term radiation exposure. A 20-kilometer radius had already been cleared around the plant.
The news was received with chagrin by residents in Iitate, one of the five communities, where high levels of radiation have been detected in the soil. The village of 6,200 people is about 40 kilometers from the Fukushima plant.
"It's very shocking to me," said Miyuki Ichisawa, 52, who runs a coffee shop there. "Now the government is officially telling us this accident is at the same level of Chernobyl."
Iitate's town government yesterday decided to ban the planting of all farm produce, including rice and vegetables. The national government earlier banned rice growing there but not necessarily vegetables.
Japanese officials said the leaks from the Fukushima plant so far amount to a 10th of the radiation emitted in the Chernobyl disaster, but said they could eventually exceed Chernobyl's emissions if the crisis continues.
"This reconfirms that this is an extremely major disaster. We are very sorry to the public, people near the nuclear complex and the international community for causing such a serious accident," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.
But Edano told reporters there was no "direct health damage" so far from the crisis. "The accident is really serious, but we have set our priority so as not to cause health damage," he said.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in a national television address, urged the public not to panic and to focus on recovering from the disaster.
Continued aftershocks following the 9.0-magnitude earthquake on March 11 are impeding work on stabilizing the Fukushima plant - the latest a 6.3-magnitude one yesterday that prompted plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co to temporarily pull back workers.
Officials from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the cumulative amount of radioactive particles released into the atmosphere since the incident had reached levels that apply to a Level 7 incident.
"We have refrained from making announcements until we have reliable data," said NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama. "The announcement is being made now because it became possible to look at and check the accumulated data assessed in two different ways," he said, referring to measurements from NISA and Japan's Nuclear Security Council.
In Chernobyl, in the Ukraine, a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing a cloud of radiation over much of the Northern Hemisphere.
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