On March 11, 2011 following a major earthquake, a tsunami disabled the cooling a power supply of three Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan causing the reactors to melt and release large amounts of radioactive materials. These radioactive materials from the three reactor contaminated the water and it caused over 100,000 people to evacuate their homes. The contaminated water problem, brought up again in August 2013 affected the clean up process which could take decades.  

When the earthquake hit, all the nuclear reactors shut down. After a few seconds into the earthquake, the controls rods within the core and the nuclear chain reaction stopped as well. The earthquake also destroyed the external power supply of the reactors so the plant could not produce electricity on its own. When the tsunami hit, it flooded the diesel generators, which caused them to fail. The emergency diesel generators kicked in after that, but they were only designed to provide power for eight hours. When the eight hours were up, everyone was afraid that the reactors would melt, and they would but that would take a couple days. Many things were used to try to cool down the plants such as venting the steam and other gases out or injecting sea water mixed with boric acid to make sure the rods remained covered with water.

This disaster in Japan was the most extensive release of radioactivity since the Chernobyl accident in 1986, however unlike Chernobyl, Japan was hit by natural disasters. The radioactive contamination hit communities 25 miles away forcing thousands of people to evacuate. Even though deaths and illnesses from the radioactive materials were unlikely, long-term health effects and even cancer remain possible.

On December 19, 2011, Japan’s environment minister announced that 15 billion dollars were distributed for the decontamination and cleaning of the area around the Fukushima Daiichi plant. He also announced that it was expected that it would take up to 40 years to decontaminate everything completely and it would cost the Japanese government about 75 billion dollars.

In a Bloomberg article, it states that on April 11, 2014, Japan’s cabinet designated coal as an important electricity source, while giving nuclear power the same importance in Japan’s new energy strategy. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing for the coal industry, while many hoped he’d use the Fukushima accident to switch to renewables.

 

References:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-13/post-fukushima-japan-chooses-coal-over-renewable-energy.html

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Fukushima-Accident/

Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation

http://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R41694.pdf