Radiation levels at Fukushima plant close to Chernobyl emissions

17.03.2011 13:46
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The worsening crisis at the Fukushima power station in Japan has led to inevitable comparisons with the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster that killed workers at the plant instantly, caused cancers in the surrounding population and spread radioactive contamination. Moldovan scientists say the radiation levels at the plant are close to the level of radioactive material emitted after the Chernobyl catastrophe, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a news conference on March 17, Doctor Constantin Gudima, scientist of the Applied Physics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, said the situation at Fukushima is a level six accident that is similar to the proportions of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. “The Fukushima boiling water reactor is a 40-year-old power plant and it has some glaring design flaws, but the reactors have been switched off for five days, so there is less fresh radioactive material around, and each core is contained within a 20cm-thick steel container, which is then protected by a steel-lined reinforced concrete outer structure. Even in the case of a meltdown, these measures should at least limit the amount of radiation released,” Constantin Gudima explained. Japan is battling to stave off a nuclear disaster after an explosion at the Fukushima nuclear plant in the wake of the enormous March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The plant is among the most powerful nuclear stations in the world.