Friends,
Japanese authorities today raised the severity rating of the slow motion disaster occurring at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to 7. Now I know what you’re saying (he really does. it’s kinda creepy. – ed), “On a scale of what? 1 to 10? 1 to 100? I need context.” This is a 7 on a scale of one to Chernobyl, where Chernobyl also equals 7. There’s no need to panic though. Just listen to the soothing words of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan…
“Right now, the situation of the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plant has been stabilizing step by step. The amount of radiation leaks is on the decline,” he said. “But we are not at the stage yet where we can let our guards down.”
The amount’s on the decline! Hooray! Maybe this is just some bureaucratic way to divert more resources to the problem. Like the difference here between a storm warning and an urgent storm warning…
And a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which runs the plant, suggested it could even end up being worse than Chernobyl.
Oh. Dear.
“The classification of seven means there’s a leak of radiation into the wider environment; and although it’ll be interpreted as being ‘the same as Chernobyl’, it’s not the same,” said Paddy Regan, professor of physics at the UK’s University of Surrey.
It’s not the same! Paddy says so.
And what Paddy says, goes. For now.
– bob