Thanks in advance!
~Jordan
Fukushima is near the epicenter of the huge earthquake from a few years ago, that then caused a devastating tsunami. This was one of the worst recorded disasters in human history, causing over 15,000 deaths along the eastern coast of the main island of Japan.
The earthquake caused some damage to the reactors, and nearby roads but they were still functional. However the tsunami knocked out power, destroyed the cooling pumps and wiped out the roads. Without the pumps to pump cool water into the reactors to control their temperature, many of the reactors started running out of control and leaking radiation. Without roads, it was impossible to get equipment in to repair the reactors.
So the few engineers who managed to make it to the reactors spent months trying to put a band-aid on what was essentially a spurting artery. Even now, the site is still leaking radiation into the surrounding area and the sea. And they have no idea what to do with the nuclear waste (irradiated debris and water) that continues to build up as they try to repair the site.
There a six nuclear reactors at the Fukushima location. The massive earthquake caused power to fail throughout the entire region. The nuclear reactors automatically shutdown upon loss of off-site power and due to the seismic shaking. Immediately after a nuclear reaction shuts down, it is still generating "residual heat" which can be up to 10% of maximum power. So, if the reactors were rated for 800 megawatts electric, that means they generated about 2400 megawatts of heat and 10% of that is 240 megawatts of heat immediately after shutdown. That heat must be dissipated otherwise the heat will build up, boil off the water, and start melting the fuel assemblies. About 45 minutes after the earthquake, the tsunami hit the plant and destroyed the diesel fuel tanks that were providing fuel to the diesel generators that were providing power to the emergency cooling pumps. The battery back-up system engaged and kept the cooling pumps going for another eight hours, but once the batteries depleted, there was no other power source and the heat began to build up.
Once the heat reached a certain level, the zirconium fuel cladding started reacting with the cooling water and forming hydrogen gas. A few days later, the accumulation of hydrogen gas caused an explosion that blew apart the upper part of the reactor buildings for reactors 1, 2 and 3. Reactors 4, 5, and 6 were already off-line and defueled for planned maintenance. While this was happening, the operators were desperate to cool the reactors so they ended up using raw ocean salt water. This was good because it kept things cool, but bad because it causes a huge amount of corrosion. There is some controversy regarding whether the operators were trying to vent the hydrogen before it exploded, but couldn't get permission from the government. Once the upper part of the reactor buildings were blown off, the radioactive cooling water was allowed to boil off to the atmosphere and it carried some radioactive iodine and cesium along with it. This required evacuations of a few hundred thousand people to avoid excessive radiation exposure to members of the public.
To this day, the reactors need to be kept cool because they are still generating residual heat. Also at each reactor, there are spent fuel pools which also generate heat and need to be cooled. These are a less serious concern than the reactors, but still cannot be ignored.
The three reactors that were running at the time of the earthquake suffered partial meltdowns. There is also significant damage to the buildings, piping and possibly the reactor vessels. Nobody knows for sure, because the buildings are too radioactive to send people in. Instead, they are sending in robots to try to get readings and take pictures and video. However, even the robots suffer radiation damage.
Enough damage was done to the buildings to allow radioactive water to leak into the ground and then into the ocean. The company cannot seem to stop it and the Japanese government has stepped in to help get control of the situation. The company is trying to rebuild enough of the plants so they can be decommissioned properly, however the damage to the reactor buildings and the cranes is severe. They also have to deal with millions of gallons of contaminated water.
An earthquake off the coast of Japan caused a tsunami(over sized tidal wave). The tsunami hit destroying electric power lines to the nuke plant. The nuclear reactors had backup battery power for less than 24 hours. This power helped exchange water which cooled the nuclear reactors. When the backup power was depleted the water cooling the reactors overheated. The nuclear rods overheated releasing more radiation.
Cracks developed in the containment facility due to the earthquake and tsunami. Radioactive water has seeped into the ocean and nearby underground watertable.
Airborne radiation has affected the area as well. Maps showing the affected areas usually include wind dispersal results.
One theory is before the North Korean president died he was shooting mussels over japan and one landed out in the ocean close to the Epic Center of the big Earth Quake, about 14 months before the Earth Quake a Missile was shot over Japan and landed in the ocean and never detonated And where it landed out at Sea was to Deep to recover the Dud Missile. It may have been a large Mega Ton Nuke Missile with a time delay detonator on it. And when it exploded in over 2 miles of ocean it shook the Planet and may have triggered an Earth Quake. Since the Earth Quake in Japan Researchers have went to the depths to find where the Epic Center was and they say it was at the bottom of a Shelf on the Asian Pacific rim of Fire and was a Earth Quake that the researchers say there is proof of it.
Even though there is proof of it korea Celebrates what has happened. North and South Korea Both do not like all The Nuke Energy Plants on Japan they have to many of them and the whole japan Population are Nuclear control Junkies as Korea see japan! Korea Would love to reorganize The Whole Japan so called country and Clean house of all the nuclear power plants because they build them just short of being on the Shore lines.
In the Day when japan Built the power plants the designs were the best for the Times. Today they have safer nuke power plants that still have some Hazardous Risks . They have Started some clean up and as i understand they have taken the whole power plant and shut it down . What they could do is Remove as much Nuclear fuel as they can and demolition the whole Power plant and find a Buyer for the Damaged Fuel clear the Sight that the Plant sits on and never ever build any thing on the land again or Build a Sewage Plant on top of the Plant Sight so that it keeps all Hazardous waste that can not be cleaned up under concrete so it goes no place.
Removing the Power plant 100% and covering the sight with Concrete , Earth Quake and Tittle Surge caused it, korea may not have anything to do with it other then korea does not like japan Because of its Nuclear Power control Power minds.
1 It was decided to build a reactor in a zone at risk of tsunamis.
2 an earthquake caused a tsunami.
3 The reactor got damaged.
It may be that the tsunami exceeded its design limits, or that the reactor was not built to its specification.
4 some countries that were planning nuclear reactors are either reviewing those decisions or have changed their plans, i believe.
Stephen pretty much nailed this one.
A non-earthquake and tsunami proof nuke was built by Big Energy in Japan over the objections of wiser minds. But greed over-ruled those commonsensical objections. We don't possess the technology to build "safe" nukes nor to safely dispose of the foreseeable waste.
The rest is history...
Tsunami
An Earthquake.
It was shaken apart.
I would prefer a brief explanation of what caused it and what efforts were taken to remediate/ resolve the issue. 10 Points to the best answer! :D
Thanks in advance!
~Jordan
