Yesterday's Tuesday Video looked back at Chernobyl with a rare glimpse into the dangers of radiation- but now we're finding more factors which will fortunately prevent Fukushima from reaching those levels. According to the Guardian:

A concern for the people not just of Japan but the Pan Pacific area is whether Fukushima will turn into the next Chernobyl with radiation spread over a big area. The answer is that this scenario is highly unlikely, because of the wildly different design of the two reactors.

The reason why radiation was disseminated so widely from Chernobyl with such devastating effects was a carbon fire. Some 1,200 tonnes of carbon were in the reactor at Chernobyl and this caused the fire which projected radioactive material up into the upper atmosphere causing it to be carried across most of Europe. There is no carbon in the reactors at Fukushima, and this means that even if a large amount of radioactive material were to leak from the plant, it would only affect the local area.

The Japanese authorities acted swiftly and decisively in evacuating people living within 20km of the plant, and ensuring people living within 30km of the plant remained in their homes, with windows and doors closed. The radiation measured so far at Fukushima is 100,000 times less than that at Chernobyl.

This is reassuring news indeed but there is the possibility of nother looming disaster being overlooked in the nuclear panic: The freezing post-tsunami north east of Japan where hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeles. Some areas are experiencing blizzards and temperatures of -5C. There are temporary evacuation shelters while food and fuel are in short supply.

Please check this post for how you can help and Google's more comprehensive list of ways to help.

---

---