Japan's Nuclear Crisis

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The final assignment for our online Environmental Chemistry class is to discuss the recent nuclear crisis in Japan. This disaster resulted in many fatalities and many more either homeless or in critical damage (2). The Japanese government raised the rating of the crisis at Fukushima Dai-ichi to a level 7 (1). The scale used, the International Nuclear Events scale (INES) started in 1990 to help educate the public on how important certain events are. The scale’s legend indicates that each level is 10 times more devastating than next lowest level (9). The Fukushima Dai-ichi incident is only the second disaster to be ranked at the highest level (the other being Chernobyl in Ukraine), which means it is a “major accident which releases radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects” (9) (1). Even though Fukushima and Chernobyl were both classified as the same disaster level, health-wise, Japan has had but a fraction of the ill effects of Ukraine (1). The nuclear power plant at Fukushima Dai-ichi was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. This power plant is located in the large city of Tokyo where, on the morning of Friday, March 11, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake swept a 230-mile wide path northeast of Tokyo, Japan. This water laden earthquake was ranked fifth largest worldwide since records began (6). In a 225 page report by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), it was stated that the earthquake caused holes in the nuclear reactors as big as 2.8-3.9 inches. Although the report is mostly speculator, a consensus has been reached that whatever holes were caused by the earthquake have only grown larger with time. Expert opinion is that the reactor’s containers are badly damaged, and the fuel rods for three reactor... ... middle of paper ... ...les.cnn.com/2011-03-15/world/japan.nuclear.disaster.timeline_1_power-plant-reactor-containment-structure?_s=PM:WORLD>. (7) Lah, Kyung. "Holes Feared in Two Japan Nuclear Reactors." Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc., 25 May 2011. Web. 18 July 2011. . (8) "The Science Of Japan's Nuclear Crisis." NPR. National Public Radio. Web. 20 July 2011. . (9) Ward, Victoria. "Japan Nuclear Plant: How Fukushima Crisis Rates on Nuclear Disaster Scale." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited, 15 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 July 2011. .

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