Radiation from Japanese factories is 168 times the atomic bomb

A newspaper in Japan said that radioactive cesium-137 leaked from Fukushima I nuclear power plant equivalent to more than 168 atomic bombs falling on Hiroshima city during World War II.

Tokyo Shimbun newspaper reported that the Japanese cabinet published a report on the radioactive activity of the Fukushima I factory before the House Committee of Technology and Innovation. According to this report, the amount of radioactive cesium-137 (Cs-137) that 3 reactors at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant released from March 11 has reached 15,000 tera becquerels (Bq).

Meanwhile, the amount of uranium in the atomic bomb that the US military dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 had a radioactivity of 89 tera becquerels (Bq), 168 times less than the amount of radiation leaked. from nuclear power plant in trouble last March.

Bq is a unit of measurement of radioactivity (the ability of a substance to emit radiation). For any substance, if there is a decaying nucleus every second, we say the radioactivity of that substance is 1 Bq.

A resident lives near the Fukushima I nuclear power plant
radioactive concentration test in April (Photo: AP)

No official has confirmed the authenticity of the report. However, the Japanese government objected to comparing atomic bombs with nuclear power plants. An official said that the atomic bomb was built for mass murder and widespread destruction, while nuclear power plants served human life.

"It is unreasonable to make a simple comparison between the atomic bomb and the nuclear power plant based on the amount of radioactive isotopes ," the official commented.

The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed most of the victims by the tremendous temperature of the explosion in midair and the amount of radioactive material from the dust cloud. In contrast, there were no nuclear explosions occurring in the Fukushima I. Plant, where hydrogen gas explosions damaged the reactors. Thus the radioactive material from the molten fuel rods in the reactor escapes.

A survey by the Japanese government showed that some areas within a radius of 20 km from the Fukushima I nuclear power plant have a radioactive concentration 25 times higher than the safe level. Therefore, the Japanese government decided to establish a forbidden zone around the factory for decades. Prohibited area has a radius of 3km around Fukushima I.