A nuclear safety expert, Dr Helmut Hirsch shows how the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has already released enough radioactivity to be ranked at Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) alongside Chernobyl.

According to the INES handbook the radiological impacts outside a nuclear complex can be described through (a) the release of radioactive material into the atmosphere and (b) the radiation doses.
Following (a) will be applied. This is because releases can be estimated more precisely compared to received radiation doses. Besides this an INES rating of 6 is the maximum when based on radiation doses only.
For the rating the releases into the atmosphere are in J-131 equivalents. Specific factors for different nuclides are given to specify the J-131 equivalent. The factor for rare gases, for example, is 0, for Cs-137 it is 40 and for Pu-239 the factor is 10,000.
INES level 7 – more than a couple of 10,000 J-131 equivalents
INES level 6– some 1,000 to a couple of 10,000 TBq J-131 equivalents
INES level 5– some 100 to a couple of 1,000 TBq J-131 equivalents
INES level 4– some 10 to a couple of 100 TBq J-131 equivalents
The IAEA states it not being appropriate to use exact numbers to define ratings as early estimations are inevitably rough estimations only. To provide some orientation the IAEA suggests 50,000, 5,000 and 500 TBq.

Hirsch takes into account cumulative effects from multiple readings related to all four runaway reactors to make this determination.

Fukushima releases to date
There have been estimations on releases from Fukushima Daiichi reactors, two are known to the author.
On 22.03.2011 the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) (www.irsn.fr) published an estimation covering reactors 1 – 3 and the time period between 12.03.2011 and 22.03.2011: 90,000 TBq j-131, 10,000 TBq Cs-137 (plus specification covering other nuclides).
On 22.03.2011 the Austrian Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) (www.zamg.ac.at) published estimations covering the total release of J-131 and Cs-137 in the first four days. This estimation has been specified on the 23.03.2011: 400,000 TBq J-131, 85,000 TBq Cs-137…
Fukushima
The release of J-131 and Cs-137 alone (as stated through IRSN) corresponds to a 500,000 TBq J-131 equivalent.
Taken all Fukushima Daiichi reactors into consideration this is obviously an INES 7 event.
Each reactor considered individually results in more than 100.000 TBq per block (all releases divided by three and proportionally to the inventory) – three INES 7 events. If the release is not divided proportionally different ratings are possible.

UPDATE NEWS ADVISORY: 10 mil. times normal level of radioactivity in water at No.2 reactorNote – Via Kyodo News

Meanwhile the US has a serious nuclear waste problem as explained by this report

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