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Fukushima Daiichi Research Paper

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Fukushima Daiichi Disaster

On March 11th, 2011 an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The actual earthquake did minimal damage to all 4 reactors. The resulting tsunami destroyed the 16 diesel backup generators dedicated to cooling the reactors. As a result of overheating, hydrogen explosions damaged Reactors 1, 2, and 3. Reactor 4 was offline for maintenance at the time, but over 1,400 fuel rods in a stored above the reactor were exposed to air. The result was the release of approximately 370,000 terabecquerels of radiation. The situation was declared a Level 7 (major ongoing radioactive accident) by the International Atomic Energy Agency . The only other time this level has been reached was at Chernobyl in 1986.
The impacts of this event on global health will have far reaching consequences. The major aspect of this event that will be focused on is the radioactive cleanup. Following the events of March 11th 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi power plant will be decommissioned and dismantled, which is anticipated to take decades. The main challenges associated with the cleanup are the dangers associated with working with radioactive material, the enormous financial …show more content…

The removal of the spent fuel rods from each reactor is a perfect example. In order to ensure safe removal of each fuel rod, a special crane must be built over each reactor. This crane then moves the fuel rods into specially designed containers that submerge them in water, and then the entire container is moved elsewhere for secure storage. The whole process for fuel removal has never been attempted before and is considered to be extremely dangerous. While this is process is considered to be high risk, it is no less dangerous than another earthquake or natural disaster striking the power plant in its already precarious

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