Posted today:

IEER: Japan Radioactive Iodine Releases May Exceed Three Mile Island by 100,000 Times

Author: Arjun Makhijani, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
Published on Mar 26, 2011 - 10:21:18 AM

TAKOMA PARK, Maryland, March 25, 2011 - The damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan continue to release radioactivity into the atmosphere....While Chernobyl had one source of radioactivity, its reactor, there are seven leaking radiation sources at the Japanese site. Together, the three damaged reactors and four spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi contain far more long-lived radioactivity, notably cesium-137, than the Chernobyl reactor.

"This accident has long since passed the level of Three Mile Island," said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER).

"While the releases are still considerably below Chernobyl, they have already reached a level that could affect the region around the site for a prolonged period...

The primary risk of concern with iodine-131...Cesium-137 contamination is the main reason that a huge exclusion zone (about 1,000 square miles) still needs to be maintained around Chernobyl.

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