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The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan which began on March 11, 2011. The proximate cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , which resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged nearly all of the power plant's backup energy ...
- 11 March 2011; 12 years ago
- INES Level 7 (major accident)
- 1 confirmed from radiation (lung cancer, 4 years later), and 2,202 from evacuation.
Mar 19, 2024 · Fukushima accident, disaster that occurred in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi (‘Number One’) nuclear power plant on the Pacific coast of northern Japan, which was caused by a severe earthquake and powerful series of tsunami waves and was the second worst nuclear power accident in history.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- What was the Fukushima accident?The Fukushima accident was an accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi (“Number One”) nuclear power plant in Japan. It is the second worst nuclear...
- How did the Fukushima accident happen?An earthquake and tsunami led to power loss in the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Without power, the cooling systems failed in three reactors, and their...
- What happened after the Fukushima accident?Immediately after the Fukushima accident in 2011, radiation levels increased in food, water, and the ocean near the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Becaus...
- Did anyone die as a result of the Fukushima accident?Nobody died as a direct result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, in 2018 one worker in charge of measuring radiation at the plant died of...
Aug 23, 2023 · The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is in the town of Okuma, in Fukushima Prefecture. It sits on the country's east coast, about 220km (137 miles) north-east of the capital Tokyo.
- The Two Fukushima Plants and Their Siting
- Events at Fukushima Daiichi 1-3 & 4
- Inside The Fukushima Daiichi Reactors
- Fuel Ponds: Developing Problems
- Radioactive Releases to Air
- Radiation Exposure on The Plant Site
- Radiation Exposure and Fallout Beyond The Plant Site
- Public Health and Return of Evacuees
- Managing Contaminated Water
- Irid and NDF Involvement
The Daiichi (first) and Daini (second) Fukushima plants are sited about 11 km apart on the coast, Daini to the south. The recorded seismic data for both plants – some 180 km from the epicentre – shows that 550 Gal (0.56 g) was the maximum ground acceleration for Daiichi, and 254 Gal was maximum for Daini. Daiichi units 2, 3 and 5 exceeded their max...
It appears that no serious damage was done to the reactors by the earthquake, and the operating units 1-3 were automatically shut down in response to it, as designed. At the same time all six external power supply sources were lost due to earthquake damage, so the emergency diesel generators located in the basements of the turbine buildings started...
The Fukushima Daiichi reactors were GE boiling water reactors (BWRs) of an early (1960s) design supplied by GE, Toshiba and Hitachi, with what is known as a Mark I containment. Reactors 1-3 came into commercial operation 1971-75. Reactor capacity was 460 MWe for unit 1, 784 MWe for units 2-5, and 1100 MWe for unit 6. When the power failed at 3:42 p...
Used fuel needs to be cooled and shielded. This is initially by water, in ponds. After about three years underwater, used fuel can be transferred to dry storage, with air ventilation simply by convection. Used fuel generates heat, so the water in ponds is circulated by electric pumps through external heat exchangers, so that the heat is dumped and ...
Regarding releases to air and also water leakage from Fukushima Daiichi, the main radionuclide from among the many kinds of fission products in the fuel was volatile iodine-131, which has a half-life of 8 days. The other main radionuclide is caesium-137, which has a 30-year half-life, is easily carried in a plume, and when it lands it may contamina...
By the end of 2011, Tepco had checked the radiation exposure of 19,594 people who had worked on the site since 11 March. For many of these both external dose and internal doses (measured with whole-body counters) were considered. It reported that 167 workers had received doses over 100 mSv. Of these 135 had received 100 to 150 mSv, twenty-three 150...
On 4 April 2011, radiation levels of 0.06 mSv/day were recorded in Fukushima city, 65 km northwest of the plant, about 60 times higher than normal but posing no health risk according to authorities. Monitoring beyond the 20 km evacuation radius to 13 April showed one location – around Iitate – with up to 0.266 mSv/day dose rate, but elsewhere no mo...
Permanent return remains a high priority, and the evacuation zone is being decontaminated where required and possible, so that evacuees can return. There are many cases of evacuation stress including transfer trauma among evacuees, and once the situation had stabilized at the plant these outweighed the radiological hazards of returning, with 2313 d...
Removing contaminated water from the reactor and turbine buildings had become the main challenge by week 3, along with contaminated water in trenches carrying cabling and pipework. This was both from the tsunami inundation and leakage from reactors. Run-off from the site into the sea was also carrying radionuclides well in excess of allowable level...
The International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning (IRID) was set up in August 2013 Japan by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Japanese utilities and reactor vendors, with a focus on Fukushima Daiichi 1-4. In September 2013 IRID called for submissions on the management of contaminated water at Fukushima. In particular, proposals ...
Learn about the causes, consequences and lessons of the 2011 nuclear accident in Japan, and how the IAEA supports the recovery and decommissioning efforts. Find out how the IAEA strengthens nuclear safety worldwide and reviews Japan's plans to discharge treated water from the plant.
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Mar 10, 2021 · How did the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown in Fukushima affect Japan and the world? Learn about the causes, consequences, and controversies of one of the worst nuclear catastrophes in history.
Mar 16, 2022 · On March 11, 2011, the Fukushima nuclear disaster began after an earthquake with a magnitude of nearly 9.0 struck off the east coast of Honshu, Japan’s main island. The tsunami it unleashed tore ...
