10 years after the Fukushima accident

10 years of fukushima

The past March 11, 2011 will always be remembered by everyone, especially by the Japanese. It is the day of the most intense earthquake in the entire history of the country. It was 9.1 on the Richter scale and created a 15-meter tsunami that struck the entire northwestern coast of Japan. Since the earthquake was devastating, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant it ran out of power and triggered the core meltdown of 3 of its 6 reactors.

In this article we are going to review the ten years since the Fukushima accident

Serious injury

victims of the nuclear accident

Despite the fact that we have learned from failures throughout history, there are still many serious wounds to close. Fukushima is marked by the rest of the history of nuclear power that was a man-made disaster. There is still a contaminated area that will take decades to clean up, a plant whose dismantling raises questions about possible problems and thousands of cubic meters of toxic waste that have accumulated without a solution. There are also legal problems and a deep mistrust of the population about nuclear energy.

Almost 2.500 people are still officially missing. To the fatalities are added 6.000 people with serious injuries and damages worth about 235.000 billion euros not including all the cleanup of Fukushima Daiichi and its surroundings. At that time, half a million residents were evacuated from included in the forced emptying area 20 kilometers around the nuclear power plant. Now there are 36.000 people who are still unable to return, although many think that the real figure may be much higher than the official figure.

State aid for all the people who had to leave and the plant operator's talks for all the evacuees have been exhausted. The damage is still quite serious even a decade after the disaster. One of the city is that it was completely the radius of mandatory evacuation of is the one that suffered the most. There are hardly any people who have been able to completely rebuild their lives after this disaster.

Aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear accident

high ration levels

It is evident that such a nuclear disaster generates abundant psychological consequences, while other physical diseases such as hypertension or diabetes have become much more common products of stress. In the exclusion zone there is 2.4% which is still an area of ​​difficult return due to the existence of large amounts of radioactive waste which can lead to death. There are also some suspicions about the healthiness of the areas that are being opened during this time.

Greenpeace has denounced that 85% of the entire decontamination area for which the government is responsible it still shows toxic levels of cesium that can be dangerous to the people who live there. However, the Japanese government ensures that all health risks are controlled and that the areas that are being opened are totally safe. It tries to bring a message of tranquility to the Olympic games so that it can become the perfect showcase for the recovery of the area. The Olympic torch will start later this month on Fukushima. The journey to Tokyo, Fukushima host several of the competitions. Experts reveal that no harmful effect on the health of the inhabitants has been found that can be attributed to radiation exposure.

Social solidarity

polluted water in fukushima

This is where social solidarity comes in. It is important that there is solidarity on the part of the people who have not suffered this catastrophe. Evacuees should be encouraged to return as Tokyo It has invested nearly $ 27.000 billion in decontamination of buildings, roads, and other surfaces. It has also included the removal of millions of square meters of the topsoil and vegetation that have accumulated in the mountains of black plastic bags that are still pending to know how to store them in the long term.

All authorities try to attract companies in both the technological and fishing sectors, among others. Rebuilding Tohoku is critical so that all of Japan can be revitalized. We must promote the recovery of the entire economy and populations. Arguably the most serious problem so far is the dismantling of Fukushima. And is that the most controversial thing there is is the process of removing the molten fuel from the reactors. It may cost close to $ 750.000 billion and will not possibly be completed until 2050.

Some studies and reviews have found radiation levels higher than expected in the provisional covers of two of the reactors. There is still no real assessment of the molten fuel condition of the rubble, but all the plans that can be made are quite dangerous. Many people think that the news is doing makeup to make the population much calmer.

Today the most immediate problem is that it is not known what to do with contaminated water. The contaminated water was used to cool the reactors and that which has leaked underground despite the installation of an ice barrier. The nuclear plant has a processing system that helps eliminate most of the radioactive elements that are dangerous. However, it cannot remove tritium, which is an isotope of hydrogen that occurs naturally in the environment.

The government advocates pouring the polluted waters into the Pacific gradually over the next few decades, although the proposal has been completely opposed by the fact that the fishing sector begins to raise its head in this area. If the polluted waters are dumped there could be another worse disaster.

With all this we make a brief summary of the news after the 10 years of the Fukushima accident.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.