Nuclear Power Disasters : Fukushima Daiichi

On March 11, 2011 an earthquake that measured 9.3 Richter scale occurred 43 miles of the coast of Northern Japan. This caused tremendous amounts of damage to the island of Tohouku. What happened is the quake initially destroyed buildings and property. However, a tsunami occurred, which devastated the region and the Fukushima nuclear power plant. ("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.

Nuclear power plants are a safe, clean and reliable source of energy production. They are uniquely qualified to meet the growing demand for energy in the USA.

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 accident began about 4:00 a.m. on March 28, 1979, when there was failure in the secondary, non-nuclear section of the plant. The main feedwater pumps stopped running, which was caused by either a mechanical or electrical failure that prevented the steam generators from removing heat. First the turbine, then the reactor automatically shut down. Then the pressure in the primary

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

When the tsunami caused by the Tohoku earthquake caused the reactors to automatically shut down, build-up of hydrogen pressure began inside, and would eventually cause an explosion. The reactors, at the same time, were overheating, and the facility had tried to cool it off with local water. This did not prove to be successful, and the extreme heat, mixed with the high air pressure, set off a series of explosions. The explosions, along with steam leaks from the reactors, sent radiation all over the surrounding area. This had caused the government to issue a twelve mile evacuation radius around the power plant, and no-one was allowed into the area. Today, some parts of Fukushima are opening back up, and are being deemed safe to live in, five years after the

When the earthquake forced the reactors into shutdown, the cooling systems were overloaded with pressure. The site could no longer create its own power and the cooling systems relied merely off backup generators.

In 2011 Japan was struck by a 9.0 earthquake followed by a devastating tsunami, leaving them with the responsibility to clean up the mess it made. The earthquake created a wave which hit Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant causing many problems. Radioactive leaks were a major problem which was a result of the tsunami. Radiation began to contaminate the Pacific ocean which impacted the fish in it as well. Radiation also contaminated underground water sources because of unreachable fuel rods stored in an unstable building. This tsunami has created a great deal of problems for the citizens of Japan.

After the major earthquake and tsunami that took place in Japan, Japanese officials tried to sort out whether jolted nuclear reactors could slip into full meltdown.

Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island — all known as major nuclear power disasters. Nuclear power might be a good source of power, but in the long run it can be a real hazard and should be banned. If we rely on nuclear power to be our primary power source, it will cause major problems to humans and the environment. Nuclear power is hard to dispose of, expensive to run, and the reactors can easily be disrupted and cause the release of massive amounts of radiation.

However, compared to other similar natural catastrophes, what made the 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami uniquely disastrous was the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.8 The effects of this accident are still seen today— removal of massive volumes of radioactive water is

In 2011 Japan suffered a huge tsunami that devastated more a 1/3 of its country. Three of the six nuclear reactors in Fukushima had a meltdown causing disaster in the whole city. Although the nuclear power caused the disaster this was a freak accident. Japan was not prepared for the tsunami and was not able to take the right safety precautions as they had to flee everybody out of the building. The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission called it a "manmade freak accident". That means that the disaster was one hundred percent preventable and was really due to human error. Today they have accelerated cleanup efforts and all nuclear power plants are more prepared with better detecting equipment to try to prevent a disaster like the one in

Also, the Pacific Marine life has been Severely Affected. Regarding Japan nuclear reactors after the accident, in 2011 31 of Japan’s 50 nuclear power plant reactors were shut down and only 19 were operating which make the power supply in japan become severely constrained. Fukushima accident has harmed Japan in not only in the nuclear field but also in many other fields such as agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; manufacturing; education; industry; tourism; politics. Finally, Tepco has struggled to handle the complex task of cleaning up the accident mess. To prevent further contamination, TEPCO had constructed a frozen soil barrier, but in 2016 they revealed that "the ice wall had failed to stop groundwater from flowing in and mixing with highly radioactive water inside the wrecked reactor buildings, adding that they are technically incapable of blocking off groundwater with the frozen wall”. (Biggs & Humber, 2011; Collins). Critics have blamed the government for leaving the plant in the hands of the same operator who failed to avoid the accident in the first

On March 11th, 2011, the northern section of Japan was hit by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a 15 meter tsunami, causing the death of over 15000 people. (Spacey) Even though the earthquake and the tsunami caused a tremendous amount of deaths in the northern region of Japan, the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused a severe damage to northern Japan’s ecosystem that people still cannot go back to their homes; despite it is 4 years after the disaster. After the earthquake, the tsunami destroyed the power supply used by Fukushima’s three nuclear power stations, causing severe levels of meltdown to be occurred inside the reactors in the timespan of 3 days. It was not until 2 weeks after the tragedy, when the reactors were finally stabilized, and took several months to approach what is called a “cold shutdown condition”, in which the fission in the reactors are completely stopped.(Fukushima A)