The Fukushima Accident: What Caused the Meltdown?

(Events of Fukushima Nuclear disaster) The Fukushima Nuclear disaster had many effects on the environment and health, some of its effects on the health are, infection of skin and that is mainly caused because of radiation and chemicals in the water after the incident and little supply of clean water, it also impacted the citizens physiologically (mainly the mothers, kids and workers) who might have diseases as anxiety and depression, problems in pregnancy, related to deficiency of iodine in the body, and some hormones not functioning properly, all these causes might lead to still birth, and miscarriage and finally, radiation syndrome which is caused because of the release of massive amounts of radiation, spread of cancer (as thyroid cancer) because of radiation, and ascend of genetic inheritable diseases As in Diagram 2 (Health Concerns in Fukushima), we can signify that the percentages of cancer increased highly because of the disaster in comparison to nowadays and especially between people of ages (1month-20years)

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,

Demetriou, Danielle. "Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: 2011 Review." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 19 Dec. 2011. Web. 03 May

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

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.

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

On the 11th of March, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the eastern coast of Japan. Emergency shutdown procedures went into effect when the earthquake was spotted, but this was not the main cause of the destruction of the nuclear reactor. The first line of defense was to immediately stop the nuclear fission within the reactor by inserting neutron absorbing rods to stop the reaction. After the engineers successfully stopped the nuclear fission reaction, immense heat and pressure was still prominent and needed to be relieved as soon as possible. Fresh water was brought in and dumped onto the rods but a tsunami inevitably followed as soon as the earthquake was felt as the source of the natural disaster was on the ocean floor. The tidal wave severely damaged the power supply system that was meant to maintain the flow was cold water. On March 12, 2011, diesel powered generators were initiated in an attempt to alleviate the failure of the generators that were powering the entire plant. Unfortunately, the diesel powered generator was insufficient enough to cool the large reactor as the heat building up within was accumulating in large amounts; more than what nuclear engineers originally presumed. Water continued to evaporate causing a hydrogen gas to form when the fuel rods underwent a chemical reaction with the steam. Hydrogen gas is an important element to take into consideration as too much of this element can cause an explosion within the reactor. Workers quickly

Fukushima represents a catastrophe that had world wide implications for the nuclear power sector. On March 11, 2011, following a major earthquake, a 15 m tsunami hit the coast of Japan. This natural disaster caused a great deal of damage to the surrounding areas, but had a particularly dangerous effect on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. In response to the initial earthquake, the operating units at Fukushima were automatically shutdown (Hindmarsh, 5). The 15 m tsunami, which hit the plant, flooded it under several meters of water. This combined caused the entire plant to suffer a complete power blackout. It was not believed that the plant would lose all power, nor that a tsunami of such size could occur (Hindmarsh 28). Resulting from the loss of power, existing cooling functions for the reactors were shut down also and as a result, fuel in the core was damaged, and radioactive material was released into the environment (Hindmarsh 12). Charles Perrow's Normal Accident Theory (NAT) proposes "a framework for characterizing complex technological systems such as air traffic, marine traffic, chemical plants, dams, and especially nuclear power plants according to their riskiness" (“Normal Accidents” 5). Perrow suggests that systems that are highly complex and tightly coupled create the environment for ‘normal accidents’ to occur; that is, accidents that are inevitable (“Normal Accidents” 88-89).

Fukushima catastrophic is a warning to the world about the hazards of nuclear power and contained lessons for the other governments who plan new generation of nuclear power stations. First lesson is the full disclosure on potential risks and share creditable information with the public. Furthermore,

In 2011, a tragic calamity has shocked the entire world. The radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant were released due to the consequent tsunami caused by the the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. Massive amount of radioactive sewage flowed into Pacific Ocean and Japanese sea. Substantial number of dangerous substances were transmitted through air. The radioactive substances not only devastated the environment, but also severely jeopardized the health of all the creatures ranging from Japan to North America. Uncountable innocent marine animals mutated and died, which led to

On Friday March 11th 2011 at 2:46 pm, Japan’s Eastern coast was hit with an earthquake of a 9.0 magnitude. Following the quake, an 18 foot tsunami was triggered causing the pre existing damage to be even more sever. The tsunami caused the AC power to disable in 3 of the plants, which kept the cooling system from working. As a result, hydrogen in the exploded in the fuel rods which stated the release of the large amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding area.The quake and tsunami alone caused 15,893 people to lose their lives. Not only did this devastate the country when it happened, but the disaster is still affecting not only Japan, but surrounding areas, such as the Pacific ocean and parts of the U.S.

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)