Nine Mile Point Oswego, NY
Nuclear power plants have always interested me, I grew up in central New York which has a nuclear plant located in the city of Oswego on the coast of Lake Ontario called Nine Mile Point. Since the advancement of technology in the late 20th century during the Cold War and the nuclear arms race between Soviet Russia and the United States the subject of nuclear power has been highly debated for many reasons. One of the largest issues concerning nuclear power is the the instability of the reaction and reactors in which the power is generated. While the instability of these nuclear power plants may be slightly blown out of proportion by the general public it is certainly a concern among any nuclear specialist. The largest concern being bad weather (natural disaster), a mechanical, or structural issue.
On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit Eastern Japan effecting four of the regions nuclear facilities, Fukushima Daiichi had the worst outcome of the four. Unfortunately the Fukushima Daiichi power plant was located directly on the coast of Japan therefor suffering not only from the original shake of the earthquake but from a tsunami following shortly after. Of course any nuclear disaster of this magnitude will create debate upon debate regarding the safety and health issues of such a power plant.
First, lets discuss the facts and figures of the Fukushima disaster. During the initial stage of the earthquake all three effected reactors at Fukushima automatically shut the power supply down as they were suppose to. However, unlike the other three sites the Fukushima site was directly effected by the tsunami (flooding) therefor lost just over 90% of their backup generators which are suppose to supply the backup cooling systems with power. The Fukushima Daiichi plant was declared a nuclear emergency the night of March 11. This is the first large aspect of the disaster which went wrong. Due to lack of efficient cooling of the nuclear fuel rods inside the reactor they began to “melt down” which is a worst case scenario for any nuclear plant. At this point the site has little to no power for anything, lighting, backup coolers, any tools they may need had to run off of batteries. As time went on the reactors kept getting hotter, building up air pressure (hydrogen) so the workers released the air pressure of each unit on a scheduled basis. However when releasing air pressure in unit three it built up in another area of the unit therefor creating a massive explosion damaging much of the outer containment vessel.
The Fukushima plant from a distance as the reactor explodes leaving a trail of smoke
Another similar explosion happened in unit four happened a day later creating a large scale radioactive leak. Only days after the the first radioactive leak at Fukushima was detected scientists find it spreading quickly through Eastern Japan and over the Pacific Ocean towards the Western United States. According to a recent article titled California Slammed With Fukushima Radiation by “George Washington” at inforwars.com seaweed tested off the coast of Southern California had a roughly 500% greater presence of iodine-131 than anywhere else tested in the United States. The recent disaster at the Fukushima site has also brought up the debate over what radioactive levels are safe for human contact. How long can one withstand, and on what level can they withstand radioactive waves to maintain a healthy life? Should we as world citizens, and intelligent humans educate ourselves on these issues?
http://akiomatsumura.com/2012/04/682.html
http://www.infowars.com/california-slammed-with-fukushima-radiation/
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/fukushima_accident_inf129.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_Nuclear_Power_Plant