Expert: ‘Breach of containment’ scariest words for scientists

PORTLAND, Ore. – A physicist who’s been on national news talking about the Japanese nuclear crisis said Friday the word “breach” is one of the most frightening words known to nuclear engineers.

Michio Kaku’s comments came after news that Japanese nuclear experts said they suspect there has been a possible breach at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.

“This is huge. For the first time, they’re using that dreaded word, ‘breach,’ Kaku said during an interview at KATU’s studios. “Plutonium is the most toxic chemical known to science. A speck of plutonium, a millionth of a gram, could cause cancer.”

His own family and friends in Japan have evacuated to the United States. Kaku was in Portland on a book signing tour, but he was probably busier answering questions about radiation from Japan heading to the West Coast.

“Here, we’re so far away, that there’s very little danger,” he said.

Kaku said the amount of radiation leaving Japan is still far less than Ukraine’s disaster in 1986 when a reactor at the Chernobyl plant ruptured.

“Milk in New York City was actually contaminated from the Chernobyl accident,” he said. “You have a piece of Chernobyl in your body and so do I. And so does everyone on earth. But it’s so small it’s insignificant, and that was even greater than the accident in Japan.”

Still, Kaku said he worries the recent reported breach could force workers to evacuate. If that happens firefighters would stop spraying water on the core reactor. He said the meltdown that would follow would likely reach the West Coast.

“Once they evacuate, then we pass the point of no return and meltdowns are inevitable at three reactor sites leading to a tragedy far beyond that of Chernobyl, creating permanent dead zones in Japan,” he said.

Until that point plant workers continue to expose themselves to a year’s worth of radiation every 30 minutes. Kaku calls those brave souls, samurais.

“That is the ethic of the samurai, which means that they have to be willing to commit suicide. They have to be willing to sacrifice their lives for their lord.”

Small amounts of iodine 131 and cesium 137 have been detected in Oregon from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant. Oregon Public Health officials say the amounts of radiation that has been detected are well below levels that would pose a health risk.