2. WHAT CAUSED THE DISASTER?
On the 11th of March 2011 a magnitude 9 earthquake triggered a
tsunami off the coast of Japan.
The 15m tsunami flooded the nuclear plant at Fukushima causing a series
of power failures, cooling problems and a meltdown.
The Fukushima disaster is the worst and the largest nuclear disaster
since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.
3. BEFORE THE EXPLOSION
Before the explosion, reactor 4 was de-fuelled
while reactor 5 and 6 were cold closed for
maintenance and then reopened. The other
reactors were shut down automatically after the
earthquake. In the hours that followed, reactor
1,2, and 3 experienced a full meltdown.
4. The Explosion
• The explosion started on the 11th of March 2011. When the earthquake and
tsunami occurred and wiped out the reactors of the plant then overheated
and blew up. The plant was heavily damaged by not only damage but with
radiation.
• On the 11th-15th of March, the reactors 1-6 blew up and the plant was then
surrounded with radiation.
5. The Casualties
• It is estimated that 1,000 people will die from cancer from the
explosion at the plant.
• 20,000 people died from directly the earthquake and the tsunami at
the start before it blew up.
• 37 people were injured from physical injuries.
6. THE FUTURE
The future of the Fukushima power plant is that the plant will be cemented
so that no more radiation is released and the area near the plant will not be
able to be used for crops because of the radiation in the ground.
As for Japan it will be a hard time living in Japan because some crops have
been removed because of the radiation. The people in Japan are at risk
because the animals with radiation could be killed for meat and then sold to
families for food. When the families eat it and then they get radiation into
their systems and they will have shorter lives. It could possibly spread to
America and infest their country to. How it will spread to America is that
the radiation from the plant will spread to the fish in the sea and the fish
could swim to America.
In early January 2012, all reactors will be cold closed for safety reasons.
7. THE FUTURE 2
100,000 people have been displaced and forced to leave their towns around the
plant after it spewed massive volumes of radiation particles and in January they will
know whether it is safe to come back and live in Japan.
People in Japan have to rethink if they want to have nuclear power for their country
because it will take a 3, 5 10 years or even decades to clean up the power plant.
