Nuclear Meltdown

Japanese nuclear crisis may be next Chernobyl

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-16 10:55

KIEV - The explosion at the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant is as dangerous as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a Ukrainian nuclear expert warned in Kiev Tuesday.

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The crisis at the damaged Japanese nuclear power plant is a very serious disaster to the whole world, Tatiana Tymochko, head of the Ukrainian Ecological League, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

Tymochko said the effect of the Japanese nuclear plant explosion is "comparable with the effect of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine."

"Today, it is a direct and real threat to natural ecosystem and human health," she said.

Tymochko disagreed with the majority of experts who believed there would be no much contamination from the Fukushima accident.

"Any nuclear power plant explosion threatens natural ecosystem due to radioactive contamination. The human being is also a living organism, so every person is subject to the potential danger after the explosion," she said.

According to Tymochko, the radiation from Japan will also affect other countries.

She reminded that after the Chernobyl accident, some Western European countries, located thousands miles far from Ukraine, felt the pollution effects.

"Therefore, the radiation from Japan is dangerous for many other countries," the ecologist said, adding that "it is difficult to predict where it will go, I think that radiation can affect such countries as Russia, the United States and Australia. It will depend on the air mass movement."

Radiation is invisible, you cannot taste it, smell it or feel it on your fingers, Tymochko said.

The situation has been tense in Japan, as the quake caused Fukushima No 1 nuclear power plant to experience several explosions and a leak of radiation into the atmosphere.

The Fukushima nuclear accident was rated by the Japanese authorities as level four on an international scale, while the Chernobyl accident was the worst at seven on the 1-7 scale.