07/04 Fukushima not as bad as Chernobyl

Fukushima not as bad as Chernobyl

This March 24, 2011 aerial photo taken by a small unmanned drone and released by AIR PHOTO SERVICE shows damaged Unit 4 of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan. (AP Photo/AIR PHOTO SERVICE)

VIENNA (AP) -- The Japanese nuclear accident that has sparked worldwide radiation fears ranks "in between" those that occurred at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, a U.N. expert said Wednesday.

Wolfgang Weiss, chairman of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, said it's far too early to even begin an assessment of the situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant because the crisis there is ongoing.

But, he noted, while radioactivity from the 1979 Three Mile Island incident in the United States was largely contained, traces of fallout from Fukushima detected around the world are "much, much, much lower" than traces seen at similar distances after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine.

The six-reactor Japanese complex was crippled by an earthquake-triggered tsunami on March 11 and has been seeping radiation into the environment. Authorities are struggling to get the situation under control and have indicated that could take months.

When reporters asked Weiss how he compares the Japanese crisis to its two predecessors, he said: "It's in between. It's not as dramatic as Chernobyl, but it's certainly much more serious than" Three Mile Island.

Weiss, who also heads the radiation protection and health department at Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection, noted that Fukushima's proximity to the Pacific Ocean was beneficial in containing the contamination and exposure to people.

This March 30, 1979, file photo shows an aerial view of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pa. The small dome at center is where the "incident" occured. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File)

"The Pacific takes it all and there we have huge dilution," Weiss said.

Fred Mettler, a member of the U.N. committee, agreed, noting that in contrast to Fukushima Chernobyl was surrounded by land. During that disaster, hundreds of people were exposed to very high doses of radiation and 135 got acute radiation sickness, he added.

"We haven't seen any of that at Fukushima, so the early management by the Japanese here is very different from what happened at Chernobyl," Mettler said.

Online:

U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation: http://www.unscear.org/

(Mainichi Japan) April 7, 2011