Japan: Fukushima different from Chernobyl

As Ukraine remembers Chernobyl, Japan says the severity of its nuclear accident is much less than Ukraine's, but they do say it is the country's most severe disaster, since World War Two. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, said on Tuesday that the Fukushima nuclear accident is different from Chernobyl. Yukio Edano said, "It's not a matter of which accident is more serious, but the nature of the accident is different. We were able to stop the explosion inside the nuclear reactor, and the spread of radiation is overwhelmingly little compared to Chernobyl. And I think there is a big difference in terms of how we dealt with the situation." TEPCO wants a cold shutdown of the crippled nuclear power plant within six to nine months, a timeline that experts say will be tough to meet. Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency says workers have detected water leaking from the containment vessel of Unit one, and TEPCO has sent a pair of robots into the reactor to investigate, finding no major leaks. Meanwhile, a Japanese official say TEPCO will start depositing initial compensation payments of 1 million yen per household on Tuesday into bank accounts of people, who have been forced to evacuate due to leaking radiation. In addition, marking the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident, a group of 87 Japanese anti-nuclear groups issued a joint statement criticizing TEPCO's failure to prepare adequately for a large tsunami as immoral and criminal.