
Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last year will claim around 1,300 deaths and cause 2,500 cases of cancer, say researchers. This is in stark contrast to government assurances that the leak wouldn’t have any impact on health.
Around 80 per cent of the radioactive material was dumped into the Pacific Ocean, and some has washed up on the shores of North America and Europe. The main death toll will still be in Japan, estimate Stanford University researchers, and there will be only a small risk to health among people living in Asia and North America. Indeed, the researchers estimate that just 30 Americans will die from exposure to the dumped material.
(Source: Energy and Environmental Science, 2012; doi: 10.1039/C2EE22019A).
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