Late last night, CNN reported that Japan had announced the new level of the nuclear crisis to level 7 the same as Chernobyl 25 years ago in Russia where 32 people died. This morning many are saying it is too little too late, but with what Japan had to put up with in this crisis, they are being defended.
The question is what does this mean to all of us? Chernobyl ultimately killed almost a million people according to some statistics over the long-term with the incidence of cancer around the site. What will the death toll be with the Japanese crisis? We have heard this week that radiation is now three times what it should be in the United States, but the EPA is still saying that it is safe. How safe is three times what is normal?
When you get down to the long-term, it is the Japanese people who are in the closest vicinity that have the most to lose. They have just expanded the evacuation area around the nuclear plant. People are having to leave their homes. Where will they go? Japan doesn’t have a lot of extra housing for its people. This on top of the continued earth quakes that continue to hamper the operations at the nuclear plant, it makes you wonder if this will be solved any time soon.
The aftershocks in recent days have taken lives in Japan. The structures in Japan can only take so much and with the continued delay on what they need to do at the nuclear plant, what will be the real outcome? It is no wonder that everyone around the world is rethinking their place on nuclear power. We have no control over earthquakes. There is no way to stop one or predict one. It would seem only reasonable to have an energy source that would not be as deadly as nuclear to give electricity.
The Toyota dealers in the United States are now predicting a possible shortage in the coming months with the disaster in Japan. This might actually be a strange way to boost American car sales. Not that anyone would have wanted it this way, but it does show us that we need to bring manufacturing back to our country and to make ourselves less dependent on others.
Related Articles
- VIDEO: Japan nuclear crisis level raised (bbc.co.uk)
- Japan raises nuclear crisis severity to highest level (scientificamerican.com)
- Japan Nuclear Crisis Reaches Chernobyl Level (outsidethebeltway.com)
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