One recurring theme that has emerged after Fukushima is the tendency of nuclear experts to underestimate (publicly at least) the severity of the disaster.
Today we received further proof of this when the Japanese government more than doubled the estimate for the amount of radiation released from the plant in the immediate aftermath of the crisis in March.Government watchdog The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency also said that the meltdowns of the plant's reactor cores--at least one of which we now know suffered a total meltdown—happened much more quickly than Tepco has previously suggested, making it clear that the plant operators' desperate attempts to cool the reactors by dumping sea water on them were largely unsuccessful.
According to news reports, NISA now estimates the total amount of radiation released into the atmosphere in the first week of the crisis at 770,000 terabecquerels. This compares with NISA's previous estimate, released on April 12, of 370,000 terabecquerels for the first month of the crisis. NISA has pointed out that most of the radiation was released in the first week.
The new estimate brings falls in line with another government watchdog, the Nuclear Safety Commission, which has projected the total radiation release at 630,000 terabecquerels, Dow Jones reported.
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