High officials claim that the Fukushima disaster was over-rated

Jul 9, 2012 06:48 GMT  ·  By

UK's ministers argue that the media created an untruthful image of the Fukushima nuclear disaster from March 2011, and that this made people throughout the world – British citizens in particular – fear this energy source more than they should.

On account of UK's population being confused with respect to the real threats posed by nuclear energy to public health and environmental protection, this country's high officials asked for the Environment Agency and the Office for Nuclear Regulation to work together and clear things up a bit.

Thus, it is expected that the general public will come to understand that, given the fact that nuclear power is one of the main energy providers in the UK, one cannot simply dispatch of it so easily.

Entitled “Devil's Bargain? Energy Risks and the Public,” this new report was put together by the House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee.

Its main purpose is that of conveying unbiased information with respect to nuclear power since, apparently, British citizens are rather cautious when it comes to hearing the government make a case for this energy source.

As well as this, it is argued that, in spite of the Fukushima nuclear disaster being classified as an incident similar to Chernobyl, the truth is that the overall radiation levels were significantly lower and no deaths were reported.

Andrew Miller, the chairman of the Science and Technology Committee, told the press that “Fukishima was no Chernobyl, but the public were left with a confusing picture of the real risks from the accident partly because it was classed as the same magnitude.”

It seems that, by means of this report, UK's high officials are trying to justify their decision to remain faithful to nuclear power, regardless of Germany's and Italy's almost immediate switch to safer energy sources.

Business Green has more information on this topic.