Fukushima: radiation levels almost 170 times that of Hiroshima atomic bomb
The amount of radioactive caesium that has leaked from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is roughly 168 times that released by the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the plant has released 15,000 tera-becquerels of caesium-137, which lingers for decades and could cause cancer.
Just days earlier it was reported that – 5 months after the accident -
TEPCO said it detected the highest radiation levels to date, recording 10,000 millisievert an hour– the maximum level their devices can even measure.
In comparison, 450 millisievert is the increase in lifetime dose to the most heavily exposed people living near Chernobyl. Many of these people or their children developed cancer and other diseases.
The radiation measured at the Fukishima plant is more than 20 times higher an hour, compared to the Chernobyl lifetime dose.
1,7 millisivert a year is the maximum allowed radiation level for civilians.
source: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/108783
