{"id":2491,"date":"2011-04-12T08:54:29","date_gmt":"2011-04-12T06:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/?p=2491"},"modified":"2013-03-01T00:44:01","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T22:44:01","slug":"day-32-fukushima-raised-to-7-on-the-ines-scale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/12\/day-32-fukushima-raised-to-7-on-the-ines-scale\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 32: Fukushima raised to 7 on the INES scale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>11:20(CET)\/09:20(UTC)\/18:20<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/english.kyodonews.jp\/news\/2011\/04\/84805.html\">NISA has increased<\/a> the level of the Fukushima accident to 7 on the INES scale, 7 is the highest level on the scale. Before Fukushima only Chernobyl was on that level, \u00a0t<a href=\"http:\/\/www-pub.iaea.org\/MTCD\/publications\/PDF\/INES-2009_web.pdf\">he descriptions of levels 5, 6 and 7 are these<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Level 7. <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Major release of radio active material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended \u00adcountermeasures<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Level 6. <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Level 5. <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Limited release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of some planned  countermeasures.<\/li>\n<li>Several deaths from radiation.<\/li>\n<li>Severe damage to reactor core.<\/li>\n<li>Release of large quantities of radioactive material within an installation with a high probability of significant public exposure. This could arise from a major criticality accident or fire.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The levels are as you can see quite loosely defined. We have been expecting it to be be increased from 5 but it has not been clear if it was gonna end as a 6 or a 7.\u00a0Up until today Fukushima was a 5 on the scale due to the severe core damage(any one of the items on the list for INES 5 is enough by itself to classify it as a 5). Now NISA has upgraded it due to the large releases of radioactive material, even though there is yet no\u00a0assumption\u00a0that the release will lead to large scale health effect.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.world-nuclear-news.org\/RS_Fukushima_moved_to_Level_7_1204111.html\">World Nuclear News<\/a> has published a map from IAEA of the fallout from Fukushima (attached at the end) and writes this about how much radioactive materials has been released in total.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;As a result of re-evaluation, total amount of discharged iodine-131 is estimated at 1.3&#215;10<sup>17 <\/sup>becquerels, and caesium-137 is estimated at 6.1&#215;10<sup>15<\/sup> becquerels. Hence the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has concluded that the rating of the accident would be equivalent of Level 7.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One can see from the map that the majority of fallout has landed in a limited area, it remains to be seen how large parts of that area wont be fit for agriculture anymore.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oecd-nea.org\/rp\/chernobyl\/c02.html\">Chernobyl released<\/a> 17.6*10<sup>17<\/sup> Bq of I-131 and 85*10<sup>15<\/sup> Bq of Cs-137, so compared to Chernobyl we are looking at around 10% of release\u00a0of the\u00a0volatile\u00a0fission products.<\/p>\n<p>However TEPCO also announced today that the total amount of radioactive material released might <a href=\"http:\/\/english.kyodonews.jp\/news\/2011\/04\/84828.html\">exceed that of Chernobyl<\/a> if they can not stop the leakage of radioactive water. It is good to keep in mind though that this release is going into the sea where it will quite quickly dilute, in Chernobyl everything went into the air and then could be spread over farmland, cities etc. Anything going into the sea will have very limited, if any, health impact.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2011\/WORLD\/asiapcf\/04\/12\/japan.nuclear.reactors\/index.html\">Chief cabinet secretary Edano<\/a> made this statement about the INES level.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>&#8220;The change in the level reminds us the accident is very big. What&#8217;s different here from the Chernobyl accident is that we have not yet seen a direct impact on the health of the people as a result of the nuclear accident. The accident itself is big, but we will make, as our first priority, our utmost effort to avoid any health impact on the people.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This statement is very important and it\u00a0highlights\u00a0a fact that media now seems to neglect, <strong>the raising of the INES level is due to the total amount of radioactivity released (most if it was released during the first week), not due to expected or already\u00a0occurring\u00a0health\u00a0consequences. So far the Fukushima accident has not killed a single person<\/strong> and it seems unlikely the radiation dosages to the public have been so large that they can cause any significant(i.e detectable) increase in cancer rates. The increase on the INES scale doesn&#8217;t mean the situation has turned dramatically worse, it is just a raising of the level due to the high releases that\u00a0occurred\u00a0initially.<\/p>\n<p>The Neutron Economy has a very good blog post,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/neutroneconomy.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/fukushima-daiichi-to-ines-level-7-some.html\" target=\"_blank\">Fukushima Daiichi to INES Level 7 &#8211; Some Numbers on Why<\/a>, about the INES rating, Fukushima and\u00a0eventual\u00a0consequences\u00a0if one applies the <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Linear_no-threshold_model\">Linear No Threshold model<\/a> of the risk of radiation exposure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-2494\" href=\"http:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/12\/day-32-fukushima-raised-to-7-on-the-ines-scale\/radionuclide_disposition_iaea_31_march_2011\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2494\" title=\"Radionuclide_disposition_IAEA_31_March_2011\" src=\"http:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Radionuclide_disposition_IAEA_31_March_2011.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"380\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Radionuclide_disposition_IAEA_31_March_2011.jpg 380w, https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Radionuclide_disposition_IAEA_31_March_2011-150x106.jpg 150w, https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Radionuclide_disposition_IAEA_31_March_2011-300x213.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Links(English)<\/strong><br \/>\nCNBC\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/id\/42539862\/\">Nuclear Power Fears at New Heights Despite Safety, Viability<\/a><br \/>\nWorld Nuclear News\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.world-nuclear-news.org\/RS_Fukushima_moved_to_Level_7_1204111.html\">Fukushima moved to Level 7<\/a><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong>CNN\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2011\/WORLD\/asiapcf\/04\/12\/japan.nuclear.reactors\/index.html\">Japan nuclear disaster tops scale<\/a><br \/>\nBBC\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-pacific-13017282\">Fukushima: What happened &#8211; and what needs to be done<\/a><br \/>\nReuters\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/2011\/04\/12\/us-japan-idUSTRE72A0SS20110412\">Japan raises nuclear crisis to same level as Chernobyl<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Blogs(English)<br \/>\n<\/strong>NEI Nuclear Notes\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/years-of-unchallenged-mythology.html\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cYears of Unchallenged Mythology\u201d<\/a><br \/>\nDepleted Cranium\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/depletedcranium.com\/on-the-ground-pictures-of-fukushima\/\" target=\"_blank\">On the Ground Pictures of Fukushima<\/a><br \/>\nAtomic Insights\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/atomicinsights.com\/2011\/04\/as-fukushima-gets-moved-from-5-to-7-remember-that-0-deaths-is-still-an-applicable-number.html\" target=\"_blank\">As Fukushima gets moved from 5 to 7 remember that 0 (deaths) is still an applicable number<\/a><br \/>\nIdaho Samizdat\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/blogspot\/Yiuo\/~3\/mZDpzo2C7ns\/fukushima-accident-rating-from-5-to-7.html\" target=\"_blank\">Fukushima accident rating from 5 to 7 on INES?<\/a><br \/>\nAtomic Power Review\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/atomicpowerreview.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/fukushima-accident-level-7.html\" target=\"_blank\">Fukushima Accident: Level 7.<\/a><br \/>\nAtomic Power Review\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/atomicpowerreview.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/level-change-note.html\" target=\"_blank\">Level change note&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\nAtomic Power Review\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/atomicpowerreview.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/apra-special-observations-on-fukushima.html\" target=\"_blank\">APRA Special: Observations on Fukushima Daiichi<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Links(Swedish)<br \/>\n<\/strong>SvD <a href=\"http:\/\/www.svd.se\/nyheter\/utrikes\/fukushima-inte-lika-allvarligt-som-tjernobyl_6084395.svd\">Fukushima inte lika allvarligt som Tjernobyl<\/a><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong>Aftonbladet <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aftonbladet.se\/nyheter\/article12867097.ab\">Lika allvarligt som Tjernobyl<\/a><br \/>\nExpressen <a href=\"http:\/\/www.expressen.se\/nyheter\/1.2399169\/nya-skalv-skakar-tokyo\">Japan skakat av nya skalv idag<\/a><br \/>\nSvD\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.svd.se\/ego\/mainColumn_s185\/http:\/\/www.svd.se\/nyheter\/utrikes\/karnkraftsolyckan-i-japan-uppgraderad_6083893.svd\">Japan uppgraderar k\u00e4rnkrafthaveriet<\/a><br \/>\nDN\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dn.se\/nyheter\/varlden\/karnkraftshaveri-uppgraderas-till-hogsta-nivan\" target=\"_self\">Fukushimaolyckan p\u00e5 Tjernobyl-niv\u00e5<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Blogs(Swedish)<br \/>\n<\/strong>R\u00f6da Malm\u00f6\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/rodamalmo.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/vidden-av-katastrofen-vaxer.html\">Vidden av katastrofen v\u00e4xer<\/a><br \/>\nAPSO sverige\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.asposverige.se\/2011\/04\/spridningen-av-cesium-137\/\">Spridningen av Cesium 137<\/a><br \/>\nBlott sverige svenska preppers har\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/innandetsker.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/fukushima-pa-samma-niva-som-tjernobyl.html\">Fukushima p\u00e5 samma niv\u00e5 som Tjernobyl<\/a><br \/>\nDen svenska argus\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/argus.survivalist.se\/2011\/04\/12\/sjuan-kom\/\">Sjuan kom<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>11:20(CET)\/09:20(UTC)\/18:20 NISA has increased the level of the Fukushima accident to 7 on the INES scale, 7 is the highest level on the scale. Before&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/12\/day-32-fukushima-raised-to-7-on-the-ines-scale\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Day 32: Fukushima raised to 7 on the INES scale<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2491"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2493,"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions\/2493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuclearpoweryesplease.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}