Living in Fukushima was normal for Kumiko and her family until March 11, 2011. Kumiko, a Japanese woman, her husband, and their daughter Momoe know what it is like. Alex wrote “On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture” (Alex, 2013).That earthquake then caused a massive tsunami that struck the coast of Fukushima. The Nuclear Power Plant was on the coast of Fukushima. Because the tsunami struck the plant, the power went out and the workers at the Fukushima Plant were not able to properly shut down the plant. Kumiko and her family were unable to live in Litate along with six thousand other people. Not only could they no longer live in their home, but they were at high risk of getting cancer because of the high radiation. As Kumiko and her family learned to which they were exposed to. The radiation not only affected the people but also the environment. The environmental effects of a nuclear explosion are devastating..
Radiation is not only affecting Japan but it is also affecting the countries around Japan such as the United States. Dr. Richard Wilcox says, " There has been non-stop leakage of substantial amounts of radiation into the Pacific” (“Fukushima Report,” 2013). Because there has been non-stop leakage, the ocean has been continuously contaminated and there is no sign of the leakage stopping (“Fukushima Report,” 2013). The chemical waste that is being spewed into the ocean is killing animals in the ocean and making its way into California (Chossudovsky, 2014). The radiation levels that have been discovered at the beaches in California are not high but they are enough to do much damage (Chossudovsky, 2014).
The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was positioned right on the coast ...
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...adioactive waste directly into the ocean.
Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/041217_Fukushima_radioactive_waste_ocean_contamination.html
Kamarudin, Y. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://techgraffiti.com/10-worst-civilian-nuclear-accidents in-history?image=9 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, How do nuclear plants work, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.duke-energy.com/about-energy/generating-electricity/nuclear-how.asp Tisdall, S. Fukushima nuclear disaster is warning to the world, says power company boss.
Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/19/uk-government new-plant-fukushima-nuclear-disaster-warning Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster World Nuclear News. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Fukushima
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...r. Iodine 131, another radioactive element, can dilute very quickly in the air, but if it is deposited on grass eaten by cows, the cows then re-concentrate it in their milk. Absorbed into the body's thyroid gland in a concentrated dose, Iodine 131 can cause cancer. In the Chernobyl disaster, the biggest health effect has been cases of thyroid cancer especially in children living near the nuclear plant. Therefore, because of the Chernobyl disaster we know to test the grass, soil, and milk for radiation. Also, an evacuation of the Chernobyl area was not ordered until over 24 hours after the incident. Japanese authorities evacuated 200,000 people from the area of Fukushima within hours of the initial alert. From the mistakes and magnitude of the disaster at Chernobyl, the world learned how to better deal with the long and short term effect of a Nuclear Fallout.
The Chernobyl & Fukushima nuclear disasters are similar in many ways, but yet so very different. Lets explore these two disasters, the events that took place, the amounts of radiation released, the effects on the people and the land, and how each disaster was handled then and still being handled now.
Following a severe earthquake and Tsunami, 3 reactors were damaged, similar to Chernobyl. However, the event was contained with minimal nuclear leaks and no deaths. The surrounding area has already been deemed safe. Despite this, many still fear events such as this. The problem is, they should not. “As a nuclear engineer, it is depressing to read the recent reports on the Fukushima nuclear incident — not because of the incident itself (at this point I strongly believe that we will remember Fukushima as evidence of how safe nuclear power is when done right) — but because the media coverage of the event has been rife with errors so glaring that I have to wonder if anyone in the world of journalism has ever taken a physics class.” (Yost, Keith. What happened at the Fukushima reactor? Mit.edu) What he is essentially saying is that the nuclear reactors were properly managed during the event, and a major incident was avoided. He believes it instead to be a testimony to the safety of nuclear
As planned by the TEPCO, in case of a disaster, the main power generators to the reactors are designed to shut down, consequently, shutting down the power that helps generate the coolant for the reactors. After the earth quake, the first step of the emergency procedure went well, however, the Tsumanin waves that followed the earth quake was about three times higher than the barrier built by TEPCO to prevent water from damaging equipments within the complex. The water dumped by the Tsumanin flooded the complex, including the basement that housed the backup diesel generators. With the generators demanded by the flooded the workers had no means of get water or coolant to cool the nuclear reactors, and as would be expected, the reactors began to overheat resulting in the nuclear meltdown of the Fukishima nuclear power plant reactors(”Inside Japan’s
I. (Gain Attention and Interest): March 11, 2011. 2:45 pm. Operations at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant continued as usual. At 2:46 pm a massive 9.0 earthquake strikes the island of Japan. All nuclear reactors on the island shut down automatically as a response to the earthquake. At Fukushima, emergency procedures are automatically enabled to shut down reactors and cool spent nuclear fuel before it melts-down in a catastrophic explosion. The situation seems under control, emergency diesel generators located in the basement of the plant activate and workers breathe a sigh of relief that the reactors are stabilizing. Then 41 minutes later at 3:27 pm the unthinkable occurs. As workers monitored the situation from within the plant, citizens from the adjacent town ran from the coastline as a 49 foot tsunami approached. The tsunami came swiftly and flooded the coastline situated Fukushima plant. Emergency generators were destroyed and cooling systems failed. Within hours, a chain of events led to an explosion of reactor 1 of the plant. One by one in the subsequent days reactors 2, and 3 suffered similar fates as explosions destroyed containment cases and the structures surrounding the reactors (Fukushima Accident). Intense amount...
In the early morning of April 26th, 1986, two explosions tore through the Chernobyl nuclear power plant leaving behind nothing but rubble, nuclear fallout, and the infamy of what will probably long be called the worst nuclear disaster in history (World Nuclear Association, 2013). The cities of Chernobyl and Pripyat remain ghost towns due to extremely high levels of radiation still present 28 years after the explosion. The undeniable environmental effects of the blast couple with the severe health effects to earn the Chernobyl explosion its infamy.
Humans were a victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident which affected their lifestyle and their health. People of Chernobyl were evacuated to clean and safe areas. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2006), there were 116 000 people who were evacuated from Chernobyl region to other safe areas in the summe...
Povinec, Pavel and Katsumi Hirose. Fukushima Accident: Radioactivity Impacts on the Environment. Boston: Newnes, 2013. Print.
So let us take a moment and briefly review a brief review of the tragedies of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake is the largest recorded earthquake at a 9.0 and caused a nearly 50-Foot Tsunami to strike the country already crippled by the mega quake. It has been three years now since the quake and Tsunami hit Japan. In the moments following Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors main power supplies went down, a safety measure assured that, back-up generators would take over and supply the much needed cooling of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. However, the World Nuclear Associates (WNA) recounts what occurred in the two hours that followed a combination of Mother Nature and human arrogance met in what was a series of unfortunate and disastrous events for the power plant and the villages surrounding it.
The convergence of three separate disasters in Fukushima Prefecture – earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis – is not only inimitable in terms of its magnitude and complication, but also about the complex interaction of health problems to which it may have given birth. The major Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) earthquake of 1995 that ultimately resulted in the deaths of over 6,000 people showed that in Japan disasters can affect separate population groups with varying severity and that the senior population are markedly vulnerable. For many villages, such as Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture, May 2011 was the last chance to attain information on the health of the inhabitants before the enactment of a compulsory governmental evacuation order at the end of
On April 26, 1986 there was a terrible accident that killed 30 people. The accident was at Chernobyl, a nuclear plant in northern Ukraine. So much radiation was released that lots of the animals in the area had birth defects. Like lots of the fish in the cooling ponds were mutated. There are mutated giant Wels Catfish that will attack people or Deer that eat the grass that has been infected. 5% or the radiation went up in the atmosphere or downwind. While it was open 6,000 people worked there, but only 2 died the night of the accident, and 28 more died from the radiation. After the accident 400 million dollars was spent on making improvements. The radiation also caused very big problems for people too. There was an increase
The worst one to happen in America is called the Three Mile Accident, it happened in Pennsylvania in 1979. Two nuclear reactors had a meltdown and the disaster was a lever 5. Even though small amounts of radioactive gases and radioactive iodine was released into the atmosphere their hasn’t been any cases of cancer linked with the accident. When radiation gets into the water and gets in the fish it can raise their radiation level but not very high. After the meltdown in Japan scientist did research and found that the levels were increased but it was still below the level of it being dangerous for humans to eat.
March 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm, the north-east coast of Japan suffered a magnitude nine earthquake that resulted in a tsunami. Millions of people were left homeless by the extensive damage. Cities were destroyed and many lives were lost, but worst of all the nuclear reactors in Fukushima could not withstand the powerful forces of the tsunami. Soon after the tsunami struck, millions of tons of radioactive water dumped into the pacific ocean, and onto the land. The destruction of the nuclear reactors has had many effects on the ecosystem, human health, and the economy.
Chernobyl is one of the most environmental catastrophic events in history. The event has caused many environmental problems that will never be able to be recovered, inclduding the fauna, vegetation, and ground waters; however surprisingly there has been a change in the last years including the sightings of many animals thats habitats were destroyed from the event. Chernobyl nuclear disaster was the worst nuclear accident in the world, and is one of only two listed as a level 7 event, which is the highest number, the other being Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The disaster began when two completely untrained scientists did a test on one of the reactors, during the test the power surged causing a flame to ignite to radioactive material, eventually causing the meltdown. Over 200 million people were evacuated from Pripyat. The explosion itself only killed a few people but the long-term effect of the radiation has killed over 300,000 people including 200,000 firefighters, who put there life on the line to contain the radiation.
There was a multitude of causes of the disaster in Japan. The first cause was a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred off the coast of Japan. Japan is located in “The Ring of Fire,” an area in the Pacific Ocean that has multiple faults and earthquakes (Pedersen 13). Tectonic plates shifted off the North Pacific coast of Japan and created a massive earthquake. The next cause was a thirty-three foot wall of water that swept over cities and farmland in Japan (Branigan 2). Martin Fackler, a journalist, stated, “The quake churned up a devastating tsunami” (Fackler 3). The tsunami reached speeds of 497 miles per hour while approaching Japan (Fackler 3). The third and final reason of the disaster was that the cooling systems at multiple nuclear power plants failed. At Fukushima, a nuclear power plant in Sendai, Japan, the radioactive rods began to overheat due to the absence of water, which cools it. Explosions occurred at three of the reactors, which spewed radiation into the air (“Comparing nuclear power plant crises”). In conclusion, the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant issues were the causes of the disaster in Japan, but they also had a myriad of effects.