Arguments Against Fukushima

The disaster had more of an effect on eastern Europe’s nuclear experimentation and use but “While no-one in the West was under any illusion about the safety of early Soviet reactor designs, some lessons learned have also been applicable to Western plants” (World Nuclear Association). Since the Chernobyl disaster was majorly caused by human error and under qualified scientists, to work with nuclear reactors today you need to be insanely qualified. Since the accident, Soviet-designed reactors’ safety has improved greatly, even in smaller ways. Automatic shutdown mechanisms now work faster, and other safety mechanisms have been sped up. Even new equipment has been installed such as automated inspection equipment. Several scientist and reporters have even said an accident like Chernobyl is virtually impossible with today’s technology (World Nuclear Association).

This article focuses on the fact that even after seven years, lethal levels of radiation have been detected at a destroyed nuclear power plant. The high levels of radiation could eventually lead to cancer through mutations in their genetic code. Furthermore, an expert warned that it could lead to a global catastrophe if the leaks were not taken care of properly. Water had been contaminated around the area of the power plant had seeped into the ground, which could cause

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

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.

Fukushima Daiichi is the prime example of what happens when mother nature decides to pay a surprise inspection of one of mankind’s manmade modern marvels. It doesn’t take a genius to see the benefits of nuclear power. It does take a genius however to engineer a facility that can hold up safely against anything life can throw at it. Since man has focused his attention on nuclear energy as a power source in the mid twentieth century only a handful of major nuclear accidents, or disasters, have occurred. Fukushima Daiichi was among the handful of major nuclear accidents. On the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), a scale that rates nuclear accidents from 1-7 with seven being the

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)

also with the continuing threat of a nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. For the past several days, tens of millions of people have been living with the fear of major radiation leaks from the crippled plant” (EIU).

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," 2012)

Since some countries in the region have already embarked on the nuclear energy option and some others are planning to do so, an increased attention in the country has been given to protective measures in case of a nuclear/radiological emergency. Experience from nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and recently, in Fukushima showed a lack of sufficient capacity for screening internal contamination of the public and pointed out the necessity for its development [1]. Additionally, increasing the national applications of nuclear technology in industry, nuclear medicine and researches involved radioisotopes utilization, resulted in legal and technical provisions adopted on the national level supporting protection of the public and radiation workers against

Every Friday in Japan, the lawn of the office of the Prime Minister fills up with hundreds of Japanese citizens to protest in concern about the country’s ongoing nuclear program in spite of the meltdown of the Fukushima-Daichi power plant. 170 miles north of Tokyo, the meltdown happened in 2011 after a back to back earthquake and tsunami devastated cooling capabilities within the plant, which subsequently led to the meltdown of one of the reactors. This even displaced tens of thousands of people from their homes. (Junko, and Mullen Jethro) Although no deaths have been attributed to the explosion or subsequent nuclear fallout yet, the full repercussions of the event have yet to been fully experienced. A plan is still being developed of how

The earthquake which took place on March 11, 20111 in the Tohuku District, Japan triggered a massive tsunami which eventually caused a nuclear power plant outbreak. The tsunami, 14-metres in height struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which is located in the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the Fukushima Prefecture. This resulted in loss of power to the reactors of Units 1, 2 and 3.Along with this damage, the cooling system failed to work and there were hydrogen explosions which ended in damaging the nuclear plant. The damages also include extensive release of radioactive substances into our atmosphere and our earth. This accident certainly did loads of damages to Japan and its people. There are lots of theories regarding

An earthquake centered 130 km off shore of the city of Sendai in Miyagi caused 11 nuclear reactors that were operating at 4 different nuclear plants to shut down on March 11, 2011(Fukushima Accident, 2015). The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0, which is classified as one of the worst earthquakes/ greatest earthquakes on the earthquake scale, the tsunami following the earthquake was about 560 sq km resulting in over 19,000 human deaths. The earthquake and tsunami caused the following nuclear units to shut down, Tokyo Electric Power Company 's (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi 1, 2, 3, and Fukushima Daini 1, 2, 3, 4, Tohoku 's Onagawa 1, 2, 3, and Japco 's Tokai, total 9377 MWe net (ibid).

On April 26th, 1986 at 1:23 (UTC +3) in the morning, the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred. Pripyat, Ukraine was the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and the incident that occurred there left those in the vicinity with a slew of medical conditions. In fact, the living children of those affected are still dealing with the mutations and other health problems associated with the radiation today. The entire city of Pripyat was abandoned, and is still considered uninhabitable due to the lingering radiation. Unfortunately, Pripyat wasn’t the only area affected. The rest of Europe and even as far as Canada were hit with the radiation, and people, animals and the environment alike, faced both short and long term, as well as immediate health effects.

The radioisotopes found in the nuclear wastes have a long life. This means that they may stay in the atmosphere in some ways or the other. In essence, this makes the soil and water to be contaminated. The mixed wastes cause chemical reactions and may lead to dangerous complications. The wastes are usually buried deep in the earth surface. However, the residues can be used to make deadly weapons of mass destruction. As much as nuclear energy is environmentally friendly, it is still prone to accidents. Some measures have been put in place to prevent accidents. However, the risk of more recent Fukushima has ben an associate to nuclear energy. Smaller radiations can leak and may have devastating effects. The symptoms are inclusive of vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and fatigue. On one way, it may solve the energy problems but we must be careful not to solve one problem and create another problem (Durrani &

Nuclear power plant’s radioactive gases can cause numerous fatalities and damage to the surrounding communities, which can be deemed uninhabitable if radiation were to be leaked. One way a radiation leak can happen is if they crack due to aging structures or the fractures can be caused by natural events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornadoes. In March of 2011 the Fukushima Daiichi plant was cracked by the massive earthquakes and tsunamis that occurred in Japan. The radiation affected