Fukushima Nuclear Plant Released Far More Radiation than Government Said

[LaMenchos]

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Released Far More Radiation than Government Said

Global radioactivity data challenge Japanese estimates for emissions and point to the role of spent fuel pools
By Geoff Brumfiel and Nature magazine | October 25, 2011

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fukushima-nuclear-planet-released-more-radiation-government-said&WT.mc_id=SA_DD_20111025

The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March released far more radiation than the Japanese government has claimed. So concludes a study1 that combines radioactivity data from across the globe to estimate the scale and fate of emissions from the shattered plant. The study also suggests that, contrary to government claims, pools used to store spent nuclear fuel played a significant part in the release of the long-lived environmental contaminant caesium-137, which could have been prevented by prompt action. The analysis has been posted online for open peer review by the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

[Emily]

Re: Fukushima Nuclear Plant Released Far More Radiation than Government Said

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...estimated.html

Fukushima Plant May Have Emitted Double Radiation Than Estimated
October 26, 2011, 11:28 PM EDT


By Tsuyoshi Inajima

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan may have released more than twice the amount of radiation estimated by the government, a study by European and U.S.-based scientists said.
[snip]
?There is strong evidence that the start of the release occurred early, already during or shortly after the automatic emergency shutdown of the reactors triggered by the big earthquake,? the authors said. This ?may indicate some structural damage to the reactor units during the earthquake.?