Philippines safe from Japan nuke meltdown: scientists

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Government scientists assured the public on Sunday that any nuclear meltdown in Japan will not affect the Philippines.

Department of Science and Technology (DOST) officials said unlike previous nuclear meltdowns such as Chernobyl, nuclear power plants in Japan have structures aimed at stopping the spread of the radioactive waste.

“Radiation, to minds of many, connotes negative effect,” said Dr. Alum dela Rosa, director of the DOST’s Philippine Nuclear Research Institute. “Radiation may reach us but from our interaction with the international atomic agency, we are ascertain that the design of this reactor is a boiling water reactor.”

“It is US-designed, it is different from Chernobyl design,” she explained.

DOST Secretary Mario Montejo told the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) that the situation in Japan should not be compared with Chernobyl.

“We have to distinguish that the plant in Japan is different from Chernobyl,” he stressed.

“It has [a] containment [unit],” he explained. “Even if there is meltdown, the radioactive waste is contained in reactor inside the structure.”

In a worst-case scenario, any radioactive cloud from Japan will not affect the Philippines, he added.

“Iyung worst case ng meltdown, for the next 3 days, it is not going to the Philippines to Australia,” Montejo said. “Even if, for the sense of comfort, ang wind pattern outside of Japan, ‘di pupunta sa atin.”


Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com (click the link for the full story)