Paul Cunningham (@RTENewsPaulC) finds the sense of apprehension is heightened in Japan following the blasts at the Fukushima plant during the week and remembers a trip he took to Chernobyl.
Five years ago, I found myself standing outside the Chernobyl nuclear plant. It was approaching the fateful date when, 20 years previously, the little known Ukrainian facility morphed into the world's worst nuclear disaster.
I was on edge. Despite three decades having passed, the plant was still emitting radiation. The staff didn't appear to care or take many precautions as they walked into the still functioning parts of the facility or the research centres. However the surrounding area was - and remains - a grave reminder of what can happen when things go horribly wrong.
The place that spooks the most is Pripyat, a city close to Chernobyl, which was home to 50,000 - most of them workers at the plant. Now it's literally a ghost-town - apartment blocks where no-one lives; a fairground which was due to open five days after the disaster but never did.
Within a few days of the explosion, a 30km exclusion zone was created. It remains in place today, because of the catastrophe at Reactor Number 4 on the 26 April 1986.
Fast forward to 2011, and once again there's been a nuclear accident. Once again, there's a 30km limit. Once again radiation is being released into the atmosphere. Once again I'm on edge.
Radiation has a unique ability to frighten people. In my view, that's not just because it causes cancer, but also as it's beyond our senses. You can't see it. You can't taste, smell, or feel it. But, as in the case of the area around the Fukushima plant, it's out there. Somewhere. To put in bluntly - radiation is scary.
That sense of apprehension is heightened when you hear about three blasts in four days, at a facility which houses six nuclear reactors. Then there are the fires and the evacuation of non-essential staff. Essential staff going missing. Radiation around the plant being found to be eight times to legal limit in Japan. Small wonder the population is very apprehensive watching helicopters pour seawater onto reactors through cracked roofs.
The world has also reacted. Air China has cancelled its flights to the Japanese capital. The French Embassy is advising its citizens to leave Tokyo. Multiple embassies are following-on from France's advice. International companies are relocating their staff to places like Hong Kong and Seoul.
Are you now scared too?
Not everyone is. Earlier this week, the UK Chief Scientist John Beddington stated that any person outside the 30km exclusion zone would be safe. The radiation - while above acceptable limits - will not endanger human health.
The International Energy Agency considered the matter to be very serious. But its chief certainly didn't take advice from the French Embassy: instead he flew into Tokyo to meet with representatives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company and the Government rather than staying away.
So what does the average Japanese citizen think? Well my impression is that they've changed their opinion as the week has drawn on, as the fires and blasts have continued. Initially, there was support for both the Government and plant operators in what was clearly a most difficult problem. There's a respect for leaders here, which has been lost in Ireland. There's also an admirable stoic quality to the Japanese people I've met. They don’t bemoan their lot, but try to make the best of it.
Yet despite that, support for both the Government and the scientists has waned. And for several reasons. The first, and most important, is that the people don't believe they have been supplied with adequate information. There's a suspicion that the political need for people to 'stay calm' is being achieved at the expense of a full disclosure as to what's really going on. People here want to be able to make up their own mind but don't feel they have the data to do just that.
The Prime Minister is reported to have walked into a meeting of executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company and said: ‘What the hell is going on’. Whether that's true or not, it accurately describes what the people of Japan are thinking. The only way to overcome that is for the officials to fess-up; to tell the truth; and manage the reaction.
In something of a rebuke to the Japanese Government, the International Energy Agency on Friday said it also wasn't receiving enough information from the authorities here. It confirmed the suspicions that the people have.
At 7pm on Friday night, things became more worrying. In an internationally recognised system of evaluation, the risk of danger posed by the Fukushima nuclear plants was increased from a 4 to a 5 on a scale of 7. Despite 50 workers at the plant engaging in heroic work trying to keep the nuclear reactors and spent fuel rods cool - the situation was getting worse rather than better.
