Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

I have tried to define a nuclear disaster in my own words and this is what I came up with: a nuclear disaster could be defined as, depending on the severity, the involuntary and accidental emission of radioactive materials or radioactivity to such a level that becomes susceptible to harm public health.

First, I believe that it is important to be knowledgeable about what exactly is “radioactivity” or “radioactive materials”, and why they are so harmful and dangerous to a person’s health. Another question to address regarding the matter is, why, if nuclear power can cause radioactivity, and radioactivity can lead to death or harm public health to such an extent, why does humans still decide to generate their energy through nuclear plants? What are the cost/benefits of this energy source, and what can be done to approach this dilemma?

INES

As there are measurements for almost everything, like earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis etc. there is also a measurement for a nuclear disaster, it is called INES or The International Nuclear Event Scale.

Hours after the earthquake which happened prior to the tsunami, the diesel engines that are supposed to refrigerate the central of the nuclear plant Fukushima Dai-ichi, stop working.

The company announces a state of emergency and they start evacuating the people that live nearest the nuclear plant. The pressure inside the plant kept increasing with time. The INES declares that with a process which involves the decrease of temperature they will alleviate the pressure and isolate the radiation to prevent the disaster from happening.

Next day, there is an explosion next to the container that holds the radioactive material, which destroys the building that worked as a “shell” in case accidents like this happened.

The explosion happened because without the cooling process the temperature level rose to its maximum tolerance. The chemicals that were used to neutralize the pressure were highly volatile which cause the explosion.

Now the evacuation take a 20 kilometer radius.

Next day, a new explosion takes place, very similar to the first explosion, but this time it is certain that there is further damage of the plant, thus creating a leak of radioactive material.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company has evacuated al personal which is not essential to the plant. The company Engineers are continuing to try to cool off the reactor by pumping seawater .

The Day after, anyone living inside a 30 kilometer radius is recommended by the authorities not to leave the home. Now, the accident is ranked 7 in the INES scale.