Fukushima Daiichi

It has been almost a year since Japan was thrown “into the most severe crisis since World War II” (“Japan Quake”).  In early March of 2011, Japan had a severe earthquake, reaching a magnitude of 9.0.  This earthquake, the largest in Japan’s history, then caused tsunami waves to rise and engulf many of the areas surrounding Tōhoku and Miyako.  The earthquake also caused a set of nuclear meltdowns and the worst nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl incident in 1986.

When the earthquake and tsunami hit, many of the reactors shut down automatically, while others did not because of a failure of the cooling system (Kinver).  The reactor can be shut down and nuclear fission can be stopped; however, there is still an abundance of heat, which is what the cooling system is needed for.  In Fukushima, reactor 1’s cooling system failed to operate, and the back up generators were not working either.  Because of the lack of back up generators, the cooling of the reactor could not occur, creating potential for a nuclear meltdown (Kinver).

At first, Japan thought that everything would be fine and there was no cause for concern because they had been pumping water into the reactors and trying to keep them cool and trying to prevent an actual meltdown.  “A meltdown occurs when nuclear fuel rods cannot be cooled, thus melting the reactor core and causing a release of radioactivity” (“Six Days Later”).  Japanese officials and analystsfelt there was no reason to worry because even if there was a meltdown, no radioactive material should escape because the plants were built specifically to prevent that from occurring. This changed though when the first reactor went into meltdown and caused an explosion on March 12th (Black).  This explosion caused a minor leak of radioactivity (within the legal limits) in the local area of Fukushima, which made the government evacuate only the local areas.  Two days later, another explosion occurred, this one at reactor 3.  It has been observed that both explosions occurred because of a hydrogen build-up, in addition to their cooling systems failing (“Japan Quake”).  During this time, officials mentioned that the cooling system at reactor 2 was also failing, causing concern for a third explosion.  This third explosion occurred on March 15th, causing the radiation level to exceed the legal limits and causing an evacuation of much of the surrounding areas.  The radiation levels were high enough to get into water plants and cause concerns for infants.  The government could not control the spread of it, causing problems for the rest of Japan.  Food and water was contaminated throughout the country, and the area had been evacuated for months.  Over the year, the radiation levels lowered, but there was still some in the air in September.  We obviously, and thankfully, can not compare this to the disaster in Chernobyl, where people still can not live in the area and radiation caused unbelievable amounts of illnesses and deaths.

It was not until December of 2011 that the Prime Minister could say that the reactors and plants were stable and people could begin to come back to the area.  This was only possible with what we now know as the “Fukushima 50”, who stayed back to help control the disaster and preventing and uncontrolable meltdown of Chernobyl proportions.  The question now is whether many of these people want to come back to this area, in case anything triggers the reactors to start up (Tabuchi).  As of right now, only 8 of the 54 reactors in Japan are operating becauseof the communities fears of more disasters.

The disaster has caused international debate among officials, analysts, and scientists on the safety of nuclear power.  Some think that nuclear power’s benefits outweigh the dangers, while others, like many in Japan, feel that it is not worth it and that we should do more with renewable energy instead.

Refrences

Black, Richard. “Struggle to Stabalise Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Plant.” BBC.co. 13 March 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12726628>

Kinver, Mark. “Japan Earthquake Triggers Nuclear Shutdown.” BBC.co. 11 March 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12711707 >

“Japan quake: Fresh explosion at Fukushima nuclear plant.” BBC.co. 14 March 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12729138 >

“Six days later, Japanese still confronting magnitude of quake crisis.” CNN.com. 16 March 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-16/world/japan.disaster_1_nuclear-plant-reactors-nuclear-crisis/2?_s=PM:WORLD>

Tabuchi, Hiroko. “Japan’s Prime Minister Declares Fukushima Plant Stable.” New York Times. 16 December 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. < http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/world/asia/japans-prime-minister-declares-fukushima-plant-stable.html >