CHERNOVIL VS FUKUSHIMA

The two nuclear power plants, one in Ukraine (1986) and one in Japan(2011), caused alarm in the world with different reactions and consequences.

Causes.
A string of explosions attributed to human error and technical in the fourth reactor at Chernobyl, located about 100 kilometers from Kiev,were the cause of the accident at Chernobyl. It was a fault that hadbeen predicted by Western experts, warnings were ignored by the Soviet authorities.
In the case of central Japan, located less than 300 miles from Tokyoand was considered an extremely safe plant, the quake crippled thecooling systems of the plant and caused explosions in three of thereactors, raising the level dangerously of radioactivity.

Consequences.
The accident at Chernobyl spread 200 tons of material fuse with aradioactivity of 50 million curies, equivalent to 500 atomic bombs of Hiroshima. To lower the temperature, Nipponese authorities

ordered controlled opening of the valves of the reactors, despite the risk thatthe transported

radioactive steam released.

Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, acknowledged that theoperation amounts of radiation

released "minimal", but "bearable" to people. The UN nuclear agency expressed concern that there has been damage to the reactor core 2 of the plant.

Contamination

The toxic cloud released by the Chernobyl affected more than five million people, but international health authorities have never dared to link the Chernobyl radioactivity with increased mortality in the Ukrainian regions, Russian and Belarus affected, and increase in the number of patients with cancer and respiratory aiments. Organizations like Greenpeace estimated at about 200,000 dead due to nuclear catastrophe.

For the moment,several dozen people have been contaminated by radiation dismissed by Fukushima, while about 200 are being examined. The authorities decided to evacuate some 200,000 people who live near the plant and have also established a perimeter warning or 'Ground Zero' of 30 kilometers. Thousands of people, including diplomats and journalists, are leaving Tokyo for fear of radation.

Government's attitude

At first, the Soviet Television concealed the catastrophe and showed images of Chernobyl plant in perfect condition. The newspaper "Izvestia" was the first to report the failure of one of the reactors at Chernobyl with a note of eight lines of the council of Ministers of the USSR into a corner of its page.

The japanese authorities have reported since the beginning of the fault, but the confusion is greater by the day in regard to the danger of an accident at the plant, the possibility of a leak and the radiation levels in the vicinity.