Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

On the morning of April 26th 1986 the world experienced the worst nuclear and engineering disaster ever: the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl. Reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded due various reasons: the design of the reactor itself had a major flaw that would make it unstable when run at low power, and the employees responsible for running the reactor were inadequately trained. Leonid Toptunov, the

This caused reactors 1 through 3 to go into a meltdown and it created a situation where Japan was on the brink of a major environmental disaster. To fully understand the different events there will be a focus on: factors that caused the meltdown, why this did not impact the other three reactors, the consequences, who is responsible and how these incidents can be prevented in the future. Together, these elements will highlight the underlying effects of this disaster and its impact on the region. ("Fukushima Accident")

The Fukushima disaster was caused by an earthquake and its following tsunami which caused a failure in the backup systems (World Nuclear Association, 2016). The tsunami knocked out the generators that powered the cooldown processes for three of the Fukushima power plants which caused the radiation leaks and other complications. Consequentially, the disaster was initially classified as a level 5 on the INES scale. Further investigation after the disaster was under control changed it to a level 7 disaster, the highest level on the INES scale. The estimated radioactive releases were about one tenth of Chernobyl, the worst nuclear disaster in history.

When an 9.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Japan on March 11th, 2011, it was the first of a series of horrific events that Japan would be forced to endure. Many homes, families, properties, and belongings were lost on that day. And when the tsunami rolled over the island, many believed that it was over for them. Not only had people’s lives been put in disarray and desolation, but there had not even been simple necessities available. Food. Water. Communications. And electricity. When the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had been hit by the earthquake and tsunami, the reactors were shut down and so was the electricity. Over the course of months the reactors suffered, extreme heat, fires, hydrogen explosions, and radiation exposures. At the time,

The nuclear disaster in Fukushima occurred at fourteen forty six, Japanese time. The disaster occurred because a major magnitude nine earthquake struck North Eastern Japan and a fifteen meter high tsunami also struck the power plant (Grimston). There were eleven overall reactors that were effected by the earthquake and tsunami. Nine of the reactors cooling systems continued to work after the natural disasters occurred, but reactors one, two and three of the Fukushima Daiichi plant were terribly damaged and could not cool down the fission process. This is what lead to the one, two and three reactors to melt, causing the most detrimental damage to the global community (Grimston). Critics of the disasters say that Daiichi was not up to global nuclear safety standards because the wall the protected the plant was only stable against six meter tall tsunami waves, not the massive

A huge earthquake with size of 8.9 has struck the northeastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. It was the fourth greatest in present recorded history. The few minutes of earthquake trigged massive tsunami, as high as thirty meters destroying 500 kilometers of Japan northeastern coast. Effect of the earthquake and tsunami incited a nuclear disaster in one of the few nuclear power plants along the eastern coast—Fukushima Daiichi, had and worked by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The Fukushima Daiichi plant consolidated six nuclear reactors, three of which were in operation, with the rest encountering routine upkeep. All reactors close down successfully immediately imitating the

On March 11, 2011, Fukushima, Japan; a nuclear powered town, 250 km from Tokyo, was struck with two natural disasters. These further led to three nuclear reactors emptying highly radioactive substances.

The 2011 Japan earthquake could not have been prevented, since natural disasters cannot be avoided, nor predicted; however, several steps could have been taken to reduce the number of buildings damaged. The Japanese government possesses good communication with their people (hence the issued tsunami warning), so the loss of life could not have been avoided. Despite strong communication with the public, the Japanese government could implement building regulations to withstand severe earthquakes and issue an “early warning” messaging system because sometimes, seconds make a difference. Today, the Japanese government is actively working to reduce the amount of nuclear power plants to avoid future complications with radioactivity and public health.

Countless nuclear power plant accidents have been occurring quite frequently since its invention. Some accidents have even been underestimated,

There have been lots of nuclear accident around the world. One of the accident that had a major impact on the world was the Chernobyl disaster. The disaster took place on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The disaster was caused by a reaction explosion induced by design faults and staff application errors. The accident took place in the course of scheduled tests to check the power supply mode in the event of external sources loss. Even after 10 days, explosions and ejections of radioactive substances continued. The release of radiation and radioactive substance polluted the places within 30 km of Chernobyl, and those areas have been closed for a long period of

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake damaged a large portion of the eastern coast of Japan and formed a tsunami that caused nuclear reactors to become unstable. These three nuclear reactors that became unstable, made an already devastated place turn into a very hazardous place to be. The tsunami alone did insurmountable damage to the buildings on the east coast, this also resulted in thousands of people’s deaths. The tsunami blocked multiple roads and highways, cut off water and electricity for millions of households, and created an unfortunate situation for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plants. The nuclear power plants and the tsunami created a national crisis in Japan

On 11 March 2011 in Japan, the Fukushima nuclear power plant was seriously damaged by an earthquake and the radioactive substances were leaked to the surrounding. Local people had to evacuate away and up till now they are living under threat.

Early in the morning of April 27, 1986, the world experienced its largest nuclear disaster ever (Gould 40). While violating safety protocol during a test, Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl power plant was placed in a severely unstable state, and in a matter of seconds the reactor output shot up to 120 times the rated output (Flavin 8). The resulting steam explosion tossed aside the reactor’s 1,000 ton concrete covering and released radioactive particles up to one and a half miles into the sky (Gould 38). The explosion and resulting fires caused 31 immediate deaths and over a thousand injuries, including radiation poisoning (Flavin 5). After the

This paper will address how the Fukushima Nuclear Power plant violated the following NSPE Canons of Engineering Ethics: holding the paramount of safety, health, and welfare of the public, and avoiding deceptive acts. The misjudgment and underperformance by the engineers during the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake caused a large uproar of rejection towards nuclear power in Japan, which could have been prevented if the engineers had not misconducted before the events.

The disaster took place on April 1986, and was caused by inexperienced staff. When the power plant had to undergo a special test, to make sure that sufficient amount of cooling water would be supplied to the reactor in case of a power outage. However, the test had been delayed, because the national grid required the power output more than the expected time. Hence, the test was postponed after midnight where the night shift had to come. The night shift had little experience about such a test as most of them were electrical engineers rather than nuclear. On the other hand, the night shift had to perform the test before the grid needed the power again, otherwise they would have all been fined or fired. Consequently, lead to an unnecessary pressure on the personnel, which in turn increased the probability of making incorrect