what happened to the fukushima nuclear power plant
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (福島第一原子力発電所事故, Fukushima Dai-ichi ( pronunciation) genshiryoku hatsudensho jiko) was an energy accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture, initiated primarily by the tsunami following the Tōhoku earthquake on 11 March 2011.[6] Immediately after the earthquake, the active reactors automatically shut down their sustained fission reactions. However, the tsunami disabled the emergency generators that would have provided power to control and operate the pumps necessary to cool the reactors. The insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen-air explosions, and the release of radioactive material in Units 1, 2 and 3 from 12 March to 15 March. Loss of cooling also raised concerns over the recently loaded spent fuel pool of Reactor 4, which increased in temperature on 15 March due to the decay heat from the freshly added spent fuel rods but did not boil down to exposure.[7]
List of nuclear power accidents by country The world's worst nuclear accident has been the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union, one of two accidents that has been rated as a level 7 (the highest) event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.[9] Note that the Chernobyl disaster may have scored an 8 or 9, if the scale continued. The accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after an unsafe systems test led to a rupture of the reactor vessel and a series of steam explosions that destroyed reactor number four. The radioactivity plume spread to the surrounding city of Pripyat and covered extensive portions of Europe with traces of radioactivity, leaving reindeer in Northern Europe and sheep in portions of England unfit for human consumption. A 30 kilometres (19Â mi) "Zone of alienation" has been formed around the reactor.[10]