"Catastrophic nuclear reactor meltdowns could happen every ten to 20 days"

From The Daily Mail:

Devastating nuclear reactor meltdowns like those at Chernobyl and Fukushima could happen every other week, according to a disturbing new study.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, fear similar catastrophes could occur around the world every ten to 20 days - 200,000 times more frequently than previously thought. And they said people in Western Europe are highly likely to be affected by radioactive fallout from such a disaster.

The researchers based their gloomy predictions on the operating hours of all civil nuclear reactors and how many meltdowns there have been. They also warned that half the radioactive caesium-137 produced, which was released following the Chernobyl and Fukushima meltdowns, would spread over an area reaching as far as 10,000 kilometres (about 6,200 miles) from the reactor.

Western Europe is likely to be contaminated once a year, according to the research team led by Jos Lelieveld, director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry.