Fukushima Fallout Was Almost Twice as Bad as Official Estimates, New Study Says
Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Plant, March 14, 2011 DigitalGlobe via Getty Images This spring's nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant released almost double the amount of radiation the Japanese government has claimed, according to a new analysis. The authors say the boiling pools holding spent fuel rods played a role in the release of some of the contaminants, primarily cesium-137 - and that this could have been mitigated by an earlier response. Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Air Research examined radiation monitoring stations throughout Japan and the rest of the globe, extrapolating their findings from initial radiation-release estimates. They say the amount of cesium-137, a long-lived isotope that persists in the atmosphere, was about twice as high as the Japanese government's official estimate. That number (3.5 × 1016 bequerel, for those of you keeping track) is about half the emission from Chernobyl. The researchers also say about 20 percent of...