by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | March 15, 2011
Cynthia McCollough, a medical physicist with Mayo Clinic, said the Japanese classified the reactor crisis as a level 4 out of 7, meaning an "Accident with Local Consequences." The Three Mile Island accident in 1979, a partial core meltdown, rated a 5 on the scale. "There were no health effects after Three Mile Island," McCollough told USA Today. "The only effects were all stress-related."
Chernobyl, on the other hand, which was linked to thousands of thyroid cancers, rated a 7.
"Chernobyl was the equivalent of 1 million Three Mile Islands," David Brenner, director of the Columbia University Center for Radiological Research, told the Daily Beast.
However, on Tuesday, France's Nuclear Safety Authority decided to upgrade the crisis to a 6, meaning a "Serious Accident," citing suspected damage to a concrete vessel surrounding reactor number 2 designed to contain radioactive gas and dust.
Most experts believe that much of the radioactive material now getting released will be carried out to sea by the wind and safely dispersed.
In the meantime, some writers worry that the media focus on the uncertain dangers of the reactor obscures the known tragedies from the quake.
"Like the word 'cancer,' the association of the words 'nuclear' and 'meltdown' strikes an emotional chord in people around the globe," write Ben W. Heineman Jr. and Cristine Russell at the Atlantic. "But we don't yet know, and may not know for weeks to come, the true magnitude of the technical problems or the degree of human exposure to radiation. But what we do know now is that thousands of people have died as a result of the earthquake and tsunami."
According to most recent figures, more than 3,000 people were killed by the disaster, with the total death toll expected to reach more than 10,000. At least 500,000 residents are camping out in evacuation shelters. Nearly 1.4 million Japanese are believed to be without running water.
Want to help?
Relief agencies say what they most need right now is cash. An easy way to make a donation to groups delivering aid on the ground is to text the words "Japan" or "Quake" to 80888 to donate $10 to the Salvation Army. Or text "RedCross" to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross, which is working with its Japanese counterpart to help survivors.
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