Frank N. von Hippel from The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists contrasts the effects of Fukushima radioactive releases with that of Chernobyl

A little background on Professor Hippel:  He is a theoretical physicist, Professor and Co-Director of the Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He played a major role in developing cooperative programs to increase the security of Russian nuclear-weapons-usable materials. He is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials.


Hippel's assessment of risk to the population, from this article, seems restricted to estimates of the initial radiation release from Daiichi. Given the significant ongoing problems at Fukushima, and the fact that approximately 1 billion becquerel of contamination continues to be released into the environment on a daily basis from the site, the article is not as forward looking as some of us would hope for. Nevertheless, it still provides a good baseline comparison to Chernobyl.  View the article here