Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Disaster

On March 11, 2011, at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan, there was the most extensive release of radioactivity disaster since the Chernobyl accident in 1986 and the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. An earthquake and tsunami struck Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, which caused the backup power systems that were used to cool off reactors in the plant to be knocked out. Three of the reactors experienced fuel melting, hydrogen explosions, and radioactive releases.

On March 12, 2011, radioactive contamination from the plant had not cause any immediate deaths but did force the evacuation of communities up to 20km surrounding the plant affecting ten of thousands of residents. The Japan government later announces that the evacuation zone to be expanded causing 160,000 people to evacuate.

The Fukushima nuclear power complex consists of six nuclear boiling water reactor units operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company. When the earthquake struck, units 1, 2, and 3 that were generating electricity, shut down. Offsite power supplies and backup diesel generators were lost. The tsunami following the earthquake caused flooding which caused units 1, 2, 3, and 4 to be lost. At the time, unit 4 was undergoing a maintenance shutdown in which all of the nuclear fuel had been relocated to the unit’s spent fuel storage pool. Units 5 and 6 continued to stay cool and operate with the power from one generator. With the lack of AC power in the units, heat and pressure built up, fuel rods in the reactor cores overheated, a reaction between hydrogen and steam escaped and exploded. This explosion interfered with any possible efforts made by plant workers to restore cooling and radioactivity began to spread.

The radioactive material was released into the air producing a high amount of radiation near the plant and left the surrounding areas uninhabitable, and contaminated water from the plant was discharged into the sea, which created an international dispute.

Assistance was provided to Japan to deal with the disaster from the United States and other countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In September 2012, Japan announced that it plans to abandon nuclear power by year 2030 and not begin any new construction on nuclear reactors during that time.

The nuclear disaster of Fukushima has initiated a revision of nuclear plant safety requirements around the world.

Now, two and a half years later, Japan’s efforts to clean up the remains from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is some what of another disaster waiting to happen. Tokyo Electric Power Co. was put in charge of the cleanup process from the disaster and now the plant site is storing 90 million gallons of radioactive water while an additional 400 tons of toxic water is flowing daily into the ocean.

Below is an animated from the Washington Post that does a great job demonstrating the disaster and the cleanup plan of the plant that could take four decades to accomplish.

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/preventing-radioactive-leaks-at-fukushima-daiichi/511/

Works Cited

"Fukushima nuclear crisis timeline." Greenpeace. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/nuclear/2012/Fukushima/Fact%20Sheets/Fukushima_Timeline.pdf>.

Harlan, Chico. "For Tepco and Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, toxic water stymies cleanup." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/for-tepco-and-japans-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant-toxic-water-stymies-cleanup/2013/10/21/406f4d78-2cba-11e3-b141-298f46539716_story.html>.

Holt, Mark, Richard Campbell, and Mary Beth Nikitin. "Fukushima Nuclear Disaster." Congressional Research Service I (2012): n. pag. FAS. Web. 26 Oct. 2013.