Gundersen: Death toll from Fukushima disaster to be 1,000 times IAEA estimate

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 Sunday, March 31, 2013 - 18:54 Special to HNN Provided Courtesy Fairewinds Associates
Gundersen: Death toll from Fukushima disaster to be 1,000 times IAEA estimate

Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairwinds Associates, has called the new estimate that the Japanese nuclear tragedy released 20-30 times the amount of cesium that has been reported. Calling this a "game changer," he has estimated 100,000 deaths more than widely released Fukushima data.

"When there’s no liquid inside the containment, there’s no capture of the cesium. So whatever cesium was inside that containment was leaking out of the containment. […] Well that changes the game dramatically. Instead of 1% of the cesium, it’s likely that 20 or 30% of the cesium were released," Gundersen explained.

"I think my leak rate, and the amount of cesium that is in that leak rate, match up a lot better with the exposures people in Japan really got," Gundersen said.

"The IAEA says 100 people are going to die from this. I think it’s going to be a thousand times higher than that.

The difference is in the assumptions. I think my assumptions are supported a lot more by the data in the field, than the IAEA’s hiding behind some old studies."

For the full pod cast, visit: http://www.fairewinds.org/content/hot-air-0