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. .
The meltdown of Chernobyl's fourth reactor was the result of a series of errors in the reactor design, operations, and a failure to follow established safety protocols. These human errors resulted in more than 400 times the radioactivity of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb being released into the environment (Salge & Milling, 2006). This caused a massive economic, environmental, and human toll to the region. Improved reactor design and proper adherence to safety procedures could have prevented this disaster.
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
Nuclear power has always been a controversial issue because of its inherent danger and the amount of waste that the plants produce. Once considered a relatively safe form for generating energy, nuclear power has caused more problems than it has solved. While it has reduced the amount of traditional natural resources (fossil fuels), used to generate power like coal, wood, and oil, nuclear generating plants have become anachronisms. Maintaining them and keeping them safe has become a problem of immense proportion. As the plants age and other technology becomes available, what to do with these “eyesores” is a consuming issue for many government agencies and environmental groups. No one knows what to do about the problem and in many areas of the world, another nuclear meltdown is an accident waiting to happen. Despite a vast array of safety measures, a break in reactor pipe or a leak in a containment vessel, could spell another environmental disaster for the world.
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).
One similarity between the Chernobyl and the Fukushima nuclear disasters is that they both evacuated the areas surrounding the sites where the accident took place.Fu...
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...
March 11, 2011 rocked the peace and brought the world to its knees while witnessing one of the largest energy disasters in history, the Fukushima Accident. This disaster occurred because of a tsunami that resulted from a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. Failed safety protocol for tsunami resistance led to the meltdown of three of the six nuclear reactors resulting in the emission of a substantial amount of radioactive material. In response to this grave incident, President Barack Obama addressed his “Speech on Japan” to the Americans and Japanese affected by this horrific event. Obama delivered this speech in hopes of implanting the idea of safety within the mindsets of his listeners and reassuring success for the future. Barack Obama behests a hopeful atmosphere through demonstrating careful consolation of the people affected and explicating confidence in the recovery of Japan.
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.
Most people have bad feelings towards nuclear power because of three major incidents, Three-mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and more recently Fukushima in 2011. It is because of these events that many dislike the idea of nuclear power and have a misunderstanding of what actually happened in these events. According to the World Nuclear Association, “These three significant accidents occurred during more than 16,000 reactor-years of civil operation. Of all the accidents and incidents, only the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents resulted in radiation doses to the public greater than those resulting from the exposure to natural sources. The Fukushima accident resulted in some radiation exposure of workers at the plant, but not such as to threaten their health, unlike Chernobyl. Other incidents (and one 'accident ') have been completely confined to the plant.” (WNA). Each plant had its problems, but the only plant to actually cause damage and the loss of human life was the ukraine reactor in Chernobyl. 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 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 plans to handle any and all actions for the possible event of a nuclear situation. According to the Nuclear Safeguards Infrastructure Development and
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.
On April 26, 1986 a nuclear explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in present day Ukraine caused catastrophic damage. A systems test at a reactor took a turn for the worst when there was a sudden surge of power. Unskilled worker attempted a shutdown but only caused an even greater spike in the power surge. A reactor vessel ruptured and a succession of explosions followed. A total of thirty operators and firemen were killed in a short amount of time. (“What is Chernobyl”) The amount of radioactivity released was two hundred times greater than that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Following the accident into present- day there is a larger number of radiation related deaths as people are exposed to unhealthy amounts of radiation.
On March 11 2:46pm the pacific coast of Japan experienced an earthquake reading a 9.0 on the Richter scale. Within less than an hour a tsunami crashed against the coast 10 kilometers inland destroying millions of buildings leading to the death of 19,000 citizens (“Fukushima Accident” World Nuclear Association. July 2016, World-nuclear.org, 27 October 2016). At the time a total of eleven nuclear reactors were operating at four different locations Fukushima Daiichi, Fukushima Daini, Tohoku's Onagawa, and Japco's Tokai. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo. Operating 6 different nuclear reactors. At the time only three were completely functional; reactor units 1, 2 and 3. Reactors 4, 5 6 were not operational. Our main purpose is to understand how the reactors responded to the earthquake and after the tsunami hit. We also want to understand whether or not the release of radioactive elements into the Pacific Ocean has any severe and chronic impact on marine life.
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.
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.