How Fukushima is the Deepwater Horizon of nuclear accidents

Last week I came across a well-written piece in Slog, The Stranger’s blog , by Goldy about the Fukushima reactors. The writer admitted they succumbed in the early stages to peer pressure and a basic understanding of the science to reassure readers that Fukushima was not Chernobyl. I could relate. I spent time espousing that theory myself . Today, with our technology, it would be impossible to produce a similar explosion. (It certainly doesn’t mean the environmental damage could be worse.)

“No, the better metaphor for Fukushima is turning out to be last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a disaster that dragged on for months, steadily spilling millions of gallons of toxic crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico,” Goldy writes. “Like last year’s Gulf spill, corporate and government incompetency/misinformation has made the severity of the Fukushima leak impossible for the public to measure. Likewise, Japanese government officials are now admitting that the release of radioactive materials may too continue for months .”

Now comes the news of the evacuation area expanding .

Goldy continues.

In both Japan and the US, government regulators knew about the potential for a massive environmental disaster , yet left responsibility for preventing and reacting to such an event in the hands of corporate interests who proved totally unprepared for dealing with such a foreseeable scenario. And, just like in the Gulf, it will take years before we learn the true environmental and human health impact of the Fukushima disaster… if ever.

At Chernobyl, the worst was over in days, and the last of the graphite fires were extinguished within two weeks. Compared to Fukushima, the initial release of radioactive materials was immense, the fallout setting off radiation alarms 680 miles away in Sweden. But with a half-life of eight days, the threat from iodine-131, the radioactive contaminant with the most immediate health impact, dissipated quickly.

Now comes the news of aftershocks disrupting cleanup and officials pumping radioactive water into the sea. Also, it’s hard to get a clear picture because the reactors are so radioactive in places that it’s not safe to go in and get accurate data.

Goldy is right: “Fukushima is a slow motion disaster, one which will likely fade from the headlines, possibly long before its emissions are capped.” It always takes an incident to result in a regulatory change - even though our energy policies our heading the other way. Not only would I go as far to couple it with the BP Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico - you can also add the deaths in a West Virginia coal mine explosion last year and the possiblity of the tar sands coming your way .

“Energy is ugly” or “energy kills” will now become a more common refrain.