Nuclear industry apologists, pundits, vested interests, and public relations professionals would love you to believe that the Fukushima Daiichi was not really catastrophic. Even the Washington Post recently published an editorial (PDF at Beyond Nuclear) with the misleading and callous statement:
“Following the scary but ultimately non-catastrophic Fukushima nuclear crisis…”
which has lead to outrage from good people who know better. I am not sure what motivated the Washington Post to publish such a trivializing misrepresentation, but it certainly had nothing to do with understanding the facts.
Fukushima most certainly has been a catastrophic event due to the multiple meltdowns and the massive amounts of radiation spewed forth into the world. Here are some numbers and facts regarding very real effects to date caused radioactive catastrophe:
KMB48 