Nuclear Disaster Like Chernobyl

Russian authorities said a nuclear disaster like Chernobyl was unlikely to hit the nuclear plant in Japan, but experts have refused to rule out this scenario.

"There can be no repeat of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Fukushima, said Sergei Novikov, spokesman for the company's official Russian Rosatom nuclear." The worst possible scenario in Japan is what happened at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States in 1979 when fuel melted, but remained inside the reactor. "

The spokesman explained that at Chernobyl in 1986 was the nuclear reactor that exploded sending radioactive clouds across Europe, while the explosion at the plant in Fukushima was caused by overheating radioactive steam, while the reactor appeared to be intact.

However, independent experts said there was always a risk of a Chernobyl-style disaster.

"If there was a fuel crisis in the active zone of the reactor and the situation is under control, then the reactor can explode like Chernobyl," said environmentalist Vladimir Slivyak Eco-Defense.

"If the reactor is not cooled coming hours the situation can be developed in accordance with the scenario of Chernobyl, when the merger of the heart caused a massive release of radioactive material," agreed Mr. Leonid Rikhvanova chemistry of Tomsk Polytechnic University.