Seems like they began that process several weeks ago. Sure they increased it to a 7 but its no Chernobyl. Chernobyl released 100x more hard & persistent radiation directly into populated areas. They hid the fact this was happening and screwed everything up through sheer incompetence. But you can ignore the facts while you do your chicken little act.
>> Chernobyl released 100x more hard & persistent radiation >> directly into populated areas.
TEPCO claim says that the current estimate of the release is 10% of Chernobyl’s with a potential to be as bad as Chernobyl if it is not contained. So by pure mathematics it already can’t be “100x”.
And based on past history I take anything TEPCO cum grano salis.
Given that it is at a 7, and that it can't be cooled for 3 months, then what's unfactual about saying it continues to spew for 3 months and that it rivals Chernobyl?
This following is from the Japanese themselves:
Japanese officials have admitted that the nuclear crisis in Fukushima could become worse than Chernobyl.The admission came after regulators Tuesday upgraded the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a seven on the International Atomic Energy Agency's accident scale - on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the worst ever.
And from Forbes.com:
TEPCO: Radiation From Fukushima May Be Worse Than Chernobyl
By OSHA GRAY DAVIDSON
Chernobyl radiation hotspots of Cesium-137 in 1996 (Image via Wikipedia)
An official of Fukushima nuclear power plant operator TEPCO concedes that “the amount of (radioactive) leakage could eventually reach that of Chernobyl or exceed it.”
The statement followed an announcement yesterday by the Japanese government that it was raising the “significance level” of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDI) to a 7 on the International Nuclear Events Scale — a classification previously only assigned to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.