Overall Discription:
On
March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by 9.0 magnitudes around 2:46 pm and after 30
minutes into the disaster, coast of north-eastern side of the Japan was hit by
a 15 meter tsunami. The strength of the tsunami was enormous. It washed away many
towns and cities entirely and killed over 19,000 people. The coastal ports were totally destroyed and
there were only outlines of the buildings near the coast. Out of the stuff that
the tsunami destroyed, the most devastating damage done by the tsunami was the tsunami
hit on the nuclear reactors located on the coast of Fukushima. There were four
reactors along the coast but the most damaged nuclear reactor was the “Fukushima
Daiichi Reactor”. These four nuclear reactors were extremely important for the
Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, because the reactors supported significant
amount of electricity production around Japan. When the tsunami hit the
reactor, it automatically disabled 12-13 back-up generators and the cooling
system shut down. This led to build up of heat within the reactor and
eventually caused the nuclear reactor to go through a meltdown.
Result (in Japan) :
– About 2,400 workers were exposed to high frequency of radiations as a result
of recovery work at the Fukushima Plant.
-Three TEPCO employees at the Daiichi and Daini plants were killed from the
earthquake and tsunami.
-There are no reports of death or radiation sickness from the nucler accident.
– Though the sea water to cool down the nuclear power plant is contaminated,
the radioactive materials inside the reactor are safe.
-Approximately 150,000 people were evacuated.
Result (Out Japan):
-Countries with nuclear power plants are trying to be eco-friendly (ex:
Germany)
-Nuclear Power Plant is being held as the new problem all over around the world
-Protests against nuclear power plants has increased drastically
Opinion:
I feel like having nuclear reactors are one of the steps towards completely
going green. As of right now, creating electricity with only eco-friendly
technologies is impossible so while we are searching ways to create more
efficient tools, we will need nuclear power plants. However, when we are
finally able to find something that can be replaced with nuclear power plants, I
would love to push towards going green rather than risking something like this
SOURCES:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/fukushima_accident_inf129.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18718486
http://www.oecd-nea.org/press/press-kits/fukushima.html
http://world.time.com/2012/07/05/report-fukushima-nuclear-disaster-was-manmade/