People all over are looking for some historical context regarding the explosions at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, caused by earthquake activity. Chairman of the UW-Energy Institute Mike Corradini says it’s inaccurate to compare the incident to the massive meltdown at Chernobyl. He says the radiological consequences of the Japanese incident are more similar to Three Mile Island.
The 1979 Pennsylvania event resulted in no human casualties but Corradini says it’s too soon to tell if that will be the case here.
He adds in addition to the nuclear incident there is massive disaster from floods and infrastructure destruction.
“This event, although worrisome, is small compared to the devastation the area has suffered,” says the nuclear engineer.
Reuters this morning reported 10,000 may have been killed, and half a million evacuated from their homes in the Asian nation that suffered a massive earthquake and tsunami Friday.