Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster

On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit with a tsunami that was cause by an earthquake off the coast of Japan. The earthquake was called a “megaquake” because it registered a 9.0 on the Richter scale. It is the most powerful earthquake known to have hit Japan. The Fukushima nuclear power plants were located on the eastern part o Japan. On the day of the tsunami and earthquake, reactors 5 and 6 were shut down for maintenance. Reactor 4 was being de-fuelled. Unfortunately, the reactors that experienced a full meltdown were reactors 1, 2, and 3 which were not shut down.

Nuclear fuel rods are put under a pool of water because the water acts like a barrier to the radiation and does not let it out. When the plants lost electricity they lost the ability to keep replenishing the cooling water used to keep the radiation in check. The pressure of hydrogen gas in reactor 1 and 3 caused an explosion which led to a meltdown. A nuclear meltdown is when molten fuel falls to the bottom of the reactor’s containment vessel. When reactor 2 exploded, the explosion damaged a pressure suppression system which led to a nuclear meltdown. Japan’s fix to get the fuel rods back underwater was to use salt water. However, the problem with salt water is that it corrodes the pipes that are meant for fresh water and it ruins the reactor.

Japan was highly upset with the Fukushima incident and issued an investigation headed by Yotaro Hatamura. Japanese residence who lived up to 30 km were ordered to evacuate the area due to the radiation levels. Japanese authorities admitted that the soft policies contributed to the nuclear disaster. Fukushima was the second largest nuclear meltdown only behind the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine. Since the Fukushima disaster, countries such as America, Germany, and Spain have gone away from nuclear power plants.