Nonsense
"And the analysis contradicts previous claims, such as by the United Nations Science Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, that the nuclear disaster would cause no deaths."
The UN study was done by scientists. This study was done by an anti-nuclear zealot (Prof. Jacobson) whose main claim to fame was getting a study published in Scientific American two years' ago, that, in calculating the greenhouse gas emissions of nuclear energy as compared to wind and solar, included in the nuclear sum carbon emissions from thermonuclear war! (Nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants are two entirely different things and there is precious little link between one and the other.) And this unadulterated excrement was published in a formerly respected magazine. (The magazine is held in contempt my many scientists for about the last decade. They depend on advertisement revenue like other rags, e.g. from BP, Shell, Exxon, etc.)
What "nuclear disaster"? It is a non-fatal industrial accident that Japanese (and worldwide) authorities turned into a calamity by forcing unnecessary, prolonged evacuations. Unless, the radioactive backround level of Cornwall, England scares you, which is about what exists in the evacuated areas. Radiophobia is harming people in Japan. 3-4 old reactors are toast and will have to sit there for a few decades while the radioactivity fades away. It can be managed. 95 people died in Nigeria last week when a gas pipeline leaked, and then exploded. That is 95x more people than will die from the Fukushima meltdowns.
"The first study to estimate the global health impact of the release of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster concluded that it might eventually cause 130 deaths and 180 cases of cancer, mostly in Japan, though the range of possibilities varied widely. While the number seems small relative to the scope of the disaster, the study focused only on the radiation, excluding the immediate, actual deaths that occurred during the catastrophe."
The author of this short piece for Smart Planet is clearly ignorant, or an anti-nuclear zealot. The "immediate, actual deaths" from the nuclear accident were zero. There were two drownings due to the tsunami. One heart attack due to the earthquake (crane operator). The tsumani killed almost 20,000 people. This was the catastrophe. Does Smart Planet even have an editor?
