Radiation higher than estimated

The Fukushima nuclear disaster released twice as much radioactive caesium-137 into the atmosphere as Japanese authorities estimated, reaching 40 per cent of the total from the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, a report says.

The new estimate of much higher levels of the cancer-causing radiation, comes from worldwide sensors. Study author Andreas Stohl of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research said the original estimate came only from data in Japan, and missed emissions blown out to sea.