Fukushima radiation equals 20 nuclear bombs but will stay dangerous much longer

Professor Tatsuhiko Kodama, head of the Radioisotope Center at the University of Tokyo, testifies before the Committee on Welfare and Labor in the Lower House of the Japanese Diet. Very emotional — yet clear and rational —testimony.

"Based on the thermal output, it is 29.6 times the amount released by the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In uranium equivalent, it is 20 Hiroshima bombs.

“What is more frightening is that whereas the radiation from a nuclear bomb will decrease to one-thousandth in one year, the radiation from a nuclear power plant will only decrease to one-tenth.

“In other words, we should recognize from the start that just like Chernobyl, Fukushima I Nuke Plant has released radioactive materials equivalent in the amount to tens of nuclear bombs, and the resulting contamination is far worse than the contamination by a nuclear bomb.”

If English captions don’t appear, be sure to click the “CC” button on the lower right of the YouTube player. For more Kodama videos, or for French or German language, go to Green Action Japan.