|
|
| Fig. 1: An aerial view of the reactors after exploding at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. Reactor 1 to 4 from left to right. (Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
After a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit in March of 2011, the worlds worst nuclear disaster in 25 years took place at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Fukushima, Japan. [1] Unfortunately, the earthquake that hit the east coast of Japan had an estimated death toll of more than 14,000 people. [2] Though the center of the earthquake was many miles offshore, the great movement of the sea floor caused a massive tsunami to hit the mainland, including the nuclear plant. The earthquakes led to a massive estimated 45 feet tsunami wave, which struck the facility a short while later. [1,3]
Not enough time has passed since the Fukushima disaster for us to understand all the environmental effects of the accident. However, we do know that the tsunami caused major damage disabling all AC power to Reactors 1, 2, and 3 of the plant and detaching fuel tanks for emergency diesel generators. [1] When the reactors were unable to be cooled, hydrogen gas was suspected to leak into the buildings. When this happened, deadly explosions occurred within the facility. Fig. 1 shows the aftermath of the explosion damage done to the reactors at the nuclear power plant in 2011. Another result of these explosions would be the fact that huge chunks of radioactove material now was seeping into the atmosphere. [1] The death toll may have surpassed more than 14,000 people, but many more people were negatively effected. [2] On the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, this disaster was deemed as level 7. [4] Level 7 is major and is nothing to take lightly because many people are said to believe that this accident was the worst since the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl. [1] Because of the radioactive material now in the atmosphere, many people were forced to evacuate. Short-lived radionuclides such as Te-132 and Xe-133 were notable sources of external exposure as it was not safe for citizens to live in a 20km radius of the accident. [1]
The Fukushima Disaster will go down as one of the worst disasters in the history of nuclear energy. Japan has lifted its evacuation orders there, but recent cases of cancer among workers from 2011 suggest that Japan could face more consequences. The United States seems safe from this threat, since we see that there is not much contamination off the coast. Hopefully the Fukushima disaster can help us use nuclear energy more safely in the future.
© Bryce Wills. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] A. Trinh, "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Disaster," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2018.
[2] J. P. Christodouleas et al., "Short-Term and Long-Term Health Risks of Nuclear-Power-Plant Accidents," New Engl. J. Med. 364, 2334 (2011).
[3] V. Lakhlani, "Natural Disaster and Safety in the Nuclear Industry - Fukushima Accident," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2018.
[4] K. Kurokawa et al., "The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission: Executive Summary," National Diet of Japan, 2012.
