Introduction
This paper is about the health hazards of nuclear material as depicted by the Fukishima nuclear power plant meltdown and the role of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in safeguarding the American public against nuclear disaster or exposure to nuclear material and the agency’s commitment to the nonproliferation of nuclear material through their association with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
This paper will depict the cause of the Fukishima nuclear power plant meltdown; the size of the area evacuated around the Fukishima nuclear power plant and how many people were displaced; in addition my opinion as to the preparedness of the world for natural disasters such as the meltdown that occurred at
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The Fukishima nuclear power plant accident is one of the worst natural and nuclear disaster in the history of Japan, the disaster was caused by the high waves from the Tsumanin that followed an earth quake on March, 11 2011. The water dumped by the waves flooded the plant, resulting in a chain of catastrophic events in the plant. The major cause of Fukishima nuclear plant meltdown was the lack of electricity that results from the water damage to the backup generators that were located in the basement (”Inside Japan’s Nuclear,”2012). 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
On March 28, 1979, at 4:00 A.M. Eastern time, the worst accident in commercial nuclear power history happened. It was a nice day in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and then it all happened. This accident was rated a 5 on a scale that only goes to 7. The scale is called International Nuclear Event Scale. It all started inside the secondary-system where the pilot-operated relief valve was stuck open releasing large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant. This horrific accident caused many scientists to worry about nuclear energy, as well as concerning scientists that it could be a danger to the world, so this caused many safety concerns among activists and the general public which resulted in in new regulations for the nuclear industry, and has been cited as a contributor to the decline of a new reactor construction program that was already underway in the 1970s. Even though this sounds like it should have caused many people to develop cancerous cells, epidemiological studies analyzing the rate of cancer in and around the area since the accident, determined there was a small statistically non-significant increase in the rate and thus no causal connection linking the accident with these cancers has been substantiated. After
On April 26th, 1986, operators at the Chernobyl Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, ran what they thought to be a routine safety test. But fate was not on the side of these operators. Without warning, reactor #4 became unstable, as it had been operating at a low power for a possible shutdown and the reactor’s design caused it to be unsafe at this level of power. Internal temperatures rose. Attempts to cool the system produced the opposite effect. Instantly, the nuclear core surged with power. At 1:23 p.m., the reactor exploded. The first blast ripped off the reactor's steel roof. The second blast released a large plume of radiation into the sky. Flames engulfed the building. For ten long days, fire fighters and power plant workers attempted to overcome the inferno. Thirty-one of them died of radiation poisoning. Chernobyl was the worst nuclear disaster in history. It unleashed radiation hundreds of times greater than the atomic bombs exploded over Japan during World War II. [1]
Leading the disaster, Nuclear reactors require an element cooling with a particular finished objective to uproot the created warmth delivered by radioactive rote. Despite when not delivering power, reactors still make some warmth, which must be cleared with a specific end goal to forestall harm to the reactor center. Cooling is by and large refined through fluid stream, water in Chernobyl s case. The issue at the Chernobyl plant was that taking after an emergency shutdown of all force, diesel generators were expected to run the cooling pumps. These generators took around a minute to fulfill full speed, which was respected an inadmissible long time for the reactor to be without cooling. It was recommended that the rotational power of the backing off steam
“Workers at the plant were performing tests on the system. They shut off the emergency safety systems and the cooling system, against established regulations, in preparation for the tests. Even when the warning signs of dangerous overheating began to appear, the workers failed to stop the test. Xenon gases built up and at 1:23 a.m. the first explosion rocked the reactor. A total of three explosions eventually blew the 1,000-ton steel top right off of the reactor” (History).
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...
According to WNA, what happened during the meltdown was that the staff running the reactor did not follow the correct procedure and when they were supposed to follow through with one action they neglected to stop something from happening, therefore resulting in the meltdown of only one reactor out of four. The total meltdown could have been easily prevented if the engineers running the plant had followed through with all plant procedures. The meltdown was an unfortunate accident and many nations turned from nuclear power soon afterwards until more recently when the technology was used to handle all possible situations with the most extreme care. The United States is best known for its procedures with rectors. The US has set in place plans to handle any and all actions in the event of a nuclear situation.
According to Allen and Derr (2015), natural surveillance is included in the physical design giving the capacity for detection opportunities (p. 112). Therefore, security, location and function of the Grand Gulf Nuclear station is important for access control systems and duress alarms. An access control system for this station allows for the detection of authorized personnel and allowing selected personnel access to only area need. Additionally, as a part of the high-tech element are duress alarms and these alarms allow for exposure of any elements linked into the river or unauthorized personnel. Furthermore, this increases the opportunity to recognize people attempting to commit a crime and limits access to the premises (Allen & Derr, 2015, p. 112). The proper access control
Chernobyl was the greatest nuclear disaster of the 20th century. On April 26th, 1986, one of four nuclear reactors located in the Soviet Union melted down and contaminated a vast area of Eastern Europe. The meltdown, a result of human error, lapsed safety precautions, and lack of a containment vessel, was barely contained by dropping sand and releasing huge amounts of deadly radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere. The resulting contamination killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people and devastated the environment. The affects of this accident are still being felt today and will be felt for generations to come.
One of the most significant environmentally damaging instances in history was the Chernobyl incident. In 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant in Ukraine exploded. It became one of the most significant disasters in the engineering community. There are different factors that contributed to the disaster. The personnel that were tasked with operating the plant were unqualified. The plant’s design was a complex one. The RBMK reactor was Soviet design, and the staff had not be acquainted with this particular design. As the operators performed tests on the reactor, they disabled the automatic shutdown mechanism. After the test, the attempt to shut down the reactor was unsuccessful as it was unstable. This is the immediate cause of the Chernobyl Accident. It later became the most significant nuclear disaster in the history of the
The oldest Fukushima nuclear reactor was built at 1960s. Unit 1-5 reactors were built with the older design, GE(General Electric) Mark 1 design. To keep the reactors compact and economical, the Mark 1 design had its reactor buildings small. Instead of putting the generators inside the reactor buildings, they are put into neighbouring structures that house turbines. Unfortunately, the turbine buildings were far less sturdy, especially their doors. On the other hand, the reactor buildings were built strong and stable, with thick concrete walls and dual sets of sturdy doors. However, even though the reactor building itself had strong protection, backup power generators are critical safety equipment and it should have been put inside the reactor buildings. The cooling systems of the nuclear plants run on electricity which pulled from the nation's power grid. For situation wh...
The use of nuclear power in the mid-1980s was not a popular idea on account of all the fears that it had presented. The public seemed to have rejected it because of the fear of radiation. The Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union in April of 1986 reinforced the fears, and gave them an international dimension (Cohen 1). Nevertheless, the public has to come to terms that one of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. The current largest sources of energy are the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas. Fear of radiation may push nuclear power under the carpet but another fear of the unknown is how costly is this going to be? If we as the public have to overcome the fear of radiation and costly project, we first have to understand the details of nuclear energy. The known is a lot less scary then the unknown. If we could put away all the presumptions we have about this new energy source, then maybe we can understand that this would be a good decision for use in the near future.
The energy industry is beginning to change. In today’s modern world, governments across the globe are shifting their focuses from traditional sources of power, like the burning coal and oil, to the more complex and scientific nuclear power supply. This relatively new system uses powerful fuel sources and produces little to no emissions while outputting enough energy to fulfill the world’s power needs (Community Science, n.d.). But while nuclear power seems to be a perfect energy source, no power production system is without faults, and nuclear reactors are no exception, with their flaws manifesting in the form of safety. Nuclear reactors employ complex systems involving pressure and heat. If any of these systems dysfunctions, the reactor can leak or even explode releasing tons of highly radioactive elements into the environment. Anyone who works at or near a nuclear reactor is constantly in danger of being exposed to a nuclear incident similar to the ones that occurred at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi plants. These major accidents along with the unresolved problems with the design and function of nuclear reactors, as well as the economic and health issues that nuclear reactors present serve to show that nuclear energy sources are not worth the service that they provide and are too dangerous to routinely use.
Technological and accidental hazards can be occur without warning and can be both hazardous material incidents and failures at nuclear power plant. In some cases, victims that have been exposed to harmful chemicals or radiation show little to no symptoms until several years later. There are an increasing number of new substances and chemicals being manufactured which has increased the likelihood of a hazardous material spill or release. This also increases the risk to the environment and to the health and safety of a community.
Based on the ethical approaches of unilateralism, beneficence and non-maleficence, the following changes are proposed: 1) improve safety standards by implementing more stringent safety checks and review measures such as decommissioning old nuclear plants that fails to meet the minimum safety standards; 2) enhance international cooperation between governments, international organisations and law enforcement so as to ensure full compliance from nuclear regulators with regards to safety matters; 3) ensure proper radiation monitoring and follow-ups on affected population in the event of a nuclear catastrophe so as not to let the incident where TEPCO withholding scale of radiation leakage and not updating them; 4) develop new means of disposal of radioactive wastes which are detrimental to the health of humans and at least ensuring that they do not come close to human activity; 5) establish a Disaster Recovery Framework (DRF) which defines the roles and responsibilities for documenting, maintaining & testing its contingency plans & recovery procedures and also regular training for DRF in activating contingency plans & executing recovery
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.