Fukushima Disaster

The Fukushima I nuclear accidents are a series of ongoing equipment failures and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the 2011 Thoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors maintained by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Reactors 4, 5 and 6 had been shut down prior to the earthquake for planned maintenance.The remaining reactors were shut down automatically after the earthquake, but the subsequent 14 metres (46 ft) tsunami flooded the plant, knocking out emergency generators needed to run pumps which cool and control the reactors. The flooding and earthquake damage prevented assistance being brought from elsewhere.

Evidence arose of partial core meltdown in reactors 1, 2, and 3; hydrogen explosions destroyed the upper cladding of the buildings housing reactors 1, 3, and 4; an explosion damaged the containment inside reactor 2; and multiple fires broke out at reactor 4. In addition, spent fuel rods stored in spent fuel pools of units 14 began to overheat as water levels in the pools dropped. Fears of radiation leaks led to a 20 kilometres (12 mi) radius evacuation around the plant. Workers at the plant suffered radiation exposure and were temporarily evacuated at various times. On 18 March, Japanese officials designated the magnitude of the danger at reactors 1, 2 and 3 at level 5 on the 7 point International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). Power was restored to parts of the plant from 20 March, but

machinery damaged by floods, fires and explosions remained inoperable.

On 25 March, Japan's nuclear regulator announced a likely breach and radiation leak in the containment vessel of the unit 3 reactor, the only one at the plant using MOX fuel.Based on global measurements, international scientific groups estimated the radioactive fallout from some of the most easily spread isotopes might approach the levels of the worst nuclear accident, Chernobyl in 1986.[10] Food grown in the area was banned. Tokyo officials declared its tap water unsafe for infants for a short time. On 27 March, radiation in water around the unit 2 turbine measured 1 Sv/h, or 10 million times normal. Workers were evacuated.

On 27 March, the IAEA estimated that workers were exposed to between 2 and 6 Sv/h of radiation from the water near the No. 3 reactor on the previous day,or between 20 and 60 million times normal, the highest levels yet recorded in the accident.

International leaders have expressed concerns about the accidents. The Japanese Government and TEPCO have been criticized for poor communication with the public.On 20 March, the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano announced that the plant would be closed once the crisis was over.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents

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