March 11, 2011 was when disaster struck Japan. A natural disaster caused by unnatural means. Earthquakes and tsunamis struck the island of Japan. The magnitude of the earthquake was 9.0, the largest earthquake to hit Japan in over 1,000 years. Less than an hour after the earthquake, a huge tsunami hit, causing 7,000 people to die and 10,000 people to go missing. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was affected, as well six of its reactors.
In the following days of the disaster, the Japanese were hard at work to keep anything more disastrous from happening with the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. They had to keep the nuclear fuel rods inside the power plant from melting down. These fuel rods must be kept cool. The only thing that kept the rods cool for the time being were batteries and when they eventually died, there wasn’t any more electricity to keep the rods cool.
The rods began heating up. The government felt it would be better for the people living within kilometers of the plant to leave for their own safety in case anything did happen to the plant. Radiation levels were rising in one of the reactors. As it turns out, the rods just could not be cooled. The radiation levels got so high, the gas in reactor 1 caused an explosion. The roof blew right off. In an effort to cool reactor 1 off, they started pouring seawater and boric acid into the reactor.
More and more citizens were being told to evacuate in a wider radius surrounding the power plant. Cooling was starting to fail the other reactors. Two days after the first explosion, another once occurred. Radiation levels increased in the area and later that same day, one more explosion happened. The radiation levels were making it difficult for people to work on solving the problem. Only two of the six reactors seemed to be doing just fine. The military was pouring seawater on two other reactors from helicopters to keep them cool. 600 liters of seawater total was estimated to have been used.
The water surrounding the area seemed to be radiation-free, but the crops on the other hand, were not doing so well. Other things that were damaged were possibly pumps and other safety systems. A few weeks later, though, the water situation changed and radiation had been found. The water had been contaminated. Japan had to ban all exports that had been contaminated.
It is said that Fukushima Daiichi won’t be generating anymore in the future. The damage is far too severe. As of a month after the accident occurred, the Japanese government were still struggling to keep the reactors under control. An estimated 27,000 people were either dead or missing and about 240,000 people were left homeless. The government estimated it would have cost $300 billion for recovery efforts. It was one of the most expensive natural disasters to date. Food producers were losing money. People were afraid of the repercussions.
To bring in more money, they planned on raising tourism in other parts, unaffected parts, of the country. Over time, the problem has gotten better. Business has returned to “prequake levels” and a sales manager is quoted as hoping it stays that way.
Sources:
- http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/120129/japans-fukushima-nuclear-power-plant-leaks-water-at-
- http://e360.yale.edu/feature/anatomy_of_a_nuclear_crisis_a_chronology_of_fukushima/2385/
- http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2061803,00.html
