Health Impacts of Fukushima

Roughly 130 people are likely to die from radiation exposure and another 180 die from cancer as a result of the March 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima-Daichi nuclear power station in Japan, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers.

The researchers presented a wide range of possible fatalities from the disaster, estimating that 15 to 1,300 people could die from direct radiation exposure. The scientists also said that an estimated 24 to 2,500 people could contract cancer from exposure to radiation following the meltdown.

Reporting in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, the researchers settled on the figures of 130 direct exposure fatalities and 180 cancer fatalities as their best estimates of the health impacts. Nearly all of the people affected live in Japan.