Nuclear Disaster in Japan

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Detection of iodine-131 and xenon-133 from Fukushima up to March 29 - image provided by BfS

As a result of a 14 meter tsunami wave[1][2] and a 9.0-magnitudes earthquake the Fukushima I Daiichi[3] atomic power plant in Japan experienced a nuclear catastrophe of a level higher than the 1979 Harrisburg accident, maybe turning out to become even worse than the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] including several explosions, fires, failing cooling systems,[12] meltdown of fuel elements and uncontrolled releases of high amounts of radioactivity[9] since March 11, 2011. Unit 1 exploded on March 12, 2011 at 6.36 AM UTC[13][14], unit 3 exploded two days later on March 14 at 2.01 AM UTC[15][16][17] and eventually also unit 2 blasted in the following night (14/3/11 9.10 PM UTC) damaging the reactor core and as officially confirmed releasing serious amounts of radiation[18][19]. Also unit 4 which had all nuclear fuel in the reactors spent fuel pool exploded March 14 at approximately 9 PM UTC[20].

Another 6.5 earthquake occured on March 28 160 kilometers from Fukushima I Daiichi[21]. An even stronger quake at 7.1 having its epicenter in distance of 120 kilometers to the Fukushima NPP took place April 7 causing the emergency workers at Fukushima I Daiichi again to be evacuated from the site, while two of three emergency power systems failed due to the aftershock at the Onagawa NPP[22][23]. A nuclear meltdown occured in unit 2[24], the Japanese government ended up to admit on March 28[25] - "The battle to save the four crippled reactors is lost", Japanese officials conceded March 31[24]. Operator TEPCO informed not to be able to guarantee preventing another meltdown[21]. The IAEA informed on March 31 about a possibility of a "recriticality" at the Fukushima plant, which means a nuclear chain reaction would resume leading to more radiation releases, although the reactors were automatically shut down on March 11 due to the quake[12]. April 12 NISA classified the Fukushima disaster to INES level 7[5][4].


"Fukushima means 'fortunate island' but the region's luck melted down along with the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the earthquake and tsunami."[26]


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The atomic disaster in Fukushima has been classified an INES 7 accident by the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) as demanded by Greenpeace and experts already long time before. Japan declared an "atomic power emergency" on March 11. Thousands of residents have been evacuated from the 20 kilometer zone around the stricken nuclear power plant. The disaster was caused by an interaction of a heavy earthquake of magnitude 9 destroying supplies and parts of buildings and a tsunami wave about 14 meters high destroying the emergency power generators. The emergency power batteries bridged a couple of hours, before the cooling systems failed totally. Exposed without any or enough water the fuel rods of one or more reactors melted down at up to 2,700 degrees.

As a result of the earthquake and the explosions in four reactors of the nuclear Daiichi complex several reactors' containment was damaged. A particular threat in this catastrophe is unit 3 of the NPP, a MOX fueled reactor containing large amounts of plutonium which is of special health risk due to its high energy radiation as a substantial alpha emitter and due to its specific toxic characteristics as well as because of its long-term halftime of more than 24,000 years.

New threats of catastrophic extend at the Daiichi units are uncovered every few days - often by foreign experts, while Japanese authorities and the operator of the blasted reactors yet downplay the impacts of the catastrophe and in many cases would not concede the incidents before being published by other hand. By April 9, some of these possible threats uncovered by a US newspaper are: a collapse of containment structures due to the weight of tons of water poured for cooling onto the reactors; a molten core could melt through the bottom of the pressure vessel; a new hydrogen explosion destroying the containment and releasing large amounts of high radioactive substances; increased risks caused by seawater that had been used in the emergency cooling operations.

A fire occured close to block 4 on April 4 and was quickly extinguished after it had been recognized.


INES Catastrophe Level Dispute

Since April 12, the Fukushima disaster is classified at INES level 7 by the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)[5] - the highest possible catastrophe classification of the IAEA[4][27]. Until this day both NISA and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had refused to raise the INES level from 5 to the highest possible category, while since March 25 Greenpeace demanded the IAEA to classify Fukushima as an INES level 7 accident like Chernobyl 1986 based on a study[28] they had published[29]. Several other nations' radiation protection authorities had already classified it to level 6[30]. Japan was reported on March 31 to be considering to increase the accident level to INES 6[9].

Atomic Power Emergency Declared

An atomic power emergency had been declared by the Japanese government on March 11[1], while up to 300,000 residents (other sources talk about "over 200,000"[31][32] or 77,000 [33]) had been evacuated in a zone of 20 kilometers around Fukushima I Daiichi and Fukushima II Daini[3][18]. Several emergency power generators failed supplying the emergency cooling systems with electricity[30]. The authorities confirmed the release of radioactive elements such as cesium and iodine[34]. Also a fire occured on March 15 at 0.40 AM UTC at unit 4[19] - a reactor unit that had not even been in operation when the tsunami hit the Japanese coast on March 11.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, spokesman with NISA explained April 3: "It would take a few months until we finally get things under control and have a better idea about the future. - We'll face a crucial turning point within the next few months, but that is not the end."[6].

Nuclear Meltdowns Conceded

Independent experts say that a nuclear meltdown must have happened[35][36][37]. "The cores of the three reactors[38] are believed to have partially melted", the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on March 14[19][39]. According to the German news "Tagesschau" Japanese officials also confirmed a nuclear meltdown in Fukushima[35]. This had been confirmed by a statement of Chief Secretary Yukio Edano on Sunday saying that at least one nuclear meltdown occured [30], eventually confirmed by the Japanese government on March 28: a nuclear meltdown of fuel elements - maybe melting through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor[40][24] - happened at unit 2[24] already shortly after the earthquake and tsunami of March 11[41]. Japanese officials called it a "partial meltdown"[42]. This seems not to be correct due to the limited volume and high temperatures in the core[43] as explained in section Causes Of The Disaster. The operator had indicated already March 15 that a meltdown could have happened as the fuel rods had been damaged[19]. GE's head of safety research for this type of reactor told The Guardian newspaper he would believe the reactor core of unit 2 to already have melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel and at least some of it would have reached the concrete floor beneath[12].

Earlier Edano had stated also a nuclear meltdown in reactor 3 of Fukushima 1 to be "possible"[30]. This was again topic of concern on March 26, while scientist Sebastian Pflugbeil suspects the meltdown to happen already for several days due to the high releases of radiation[44]. Meanwhile (31/3/11) we have to talk about "three raging meltdowns in progress"[9]. Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said on March 12 that the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core[45]. Nuclear engineer Arnold Gundersen, who worked for years in leading position for the atomic industry, on April 7 said in a broadcasting a nuclear meltdown in the spent fuel ponds at unit 4 is going[46]. The fuel is totally exposed to the air, while it should be covered by five meters of water, he explained[46]. According to an internal Areva paper on Fukushima, on fresh air a core meltdown would occur, leading to a large release of radiation due to a lack of retention of fission products[46].

In an interview published April 2, Greenpeace expert Wolfgang Sadik expressed concerns about the officials searching for zirconium outside the reactors - which actually means: they are looking for traces of the melted reactor core[47].

An internal Areva paper on the Fukushima disaster reported meltdowns at temperatures up to 2,700 degrees[46].

The hydrogen building up in several units (especially unit 1) is a symptom of damaged fuel rods in the cores of the reactors[2].

Unit 2 is believed to have gone back into criticality with a nuclear chain reaction coming and going[6]. "Since unit two is showing signs of fission happening, the chances of something more catastrophic happening at that site are increasing," Mary Olson, director of the Southeast Office of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) explained in an interview on April 8[6].

Extension Of The Evacuation Zone

First, an area of 3 kilometers had been evacuated on Friday, March 11. Later it was enlarged to a 10 km evacuation zone and then to 20 km, while residents of the 20-30 km zone were advized not to leave their houses[48][49][1]. On the very first day a BBC reporter spoke about a prohibition zone of 60 kilometers.[50] March 25, Japan's government urged the residents of the 20-30 km zone to leave the area, too[51][52][53][24]. More than 10,000 people are still in the area, NHK reported[54] Japan's government considers to recommend residents outside the 30 kilometer zone to le

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110406-1-1.pdf as at April 10, 2011
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/09/japan.nuclear.reactors/?hpt=T2 as at April 9, 2011
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fukushima_I_Nuclear_Power_Plant&oldid=418460202 as at March 12, 2011
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 http://www.katu.com/news/119665959.html as at April 12, 2011
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/sinister-seven-what-japans-new-nuclear-crisis-rating-means-20110412-1dc5l.html as at April 12, 2011
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114812554680215.html as at April 11, 2011
  7. ↑ http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,753938,00.html as at April 1, 2011
  8. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFRXHEeUUPQ as at March 31, 2011
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=604AB3FA803FF3647DF6E34EC5E8C8A0 as at March 31, 2011
  10. ↑ http://www.b92.net/eng/news/world-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=04&dd=02&nav_id=73575 as at April 6, 2011
  11. ↑ http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhnwsy_us-energy-advisor-fukushima-worse-than-chernobyl_news as at April 7, 2011
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/31/3178263.htm as at March 31, 2011
  13. ↑ http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/kan/topics/201106/pdf/chapter_iv_all.pdf as at March 11, 2012
  14. ↑ http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/wordpress1/index.php?p=2 as at March 12, 2011
  15. ↑ http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/77606.html as at March 14, 2011
  16. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMCa-Zo_ZEU&sns=fb as at March 14, 2011
  17. ↑ http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html as at March 14, 2011
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698 as at March 12, 2011
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78063.html as at March 15, 2011
  20. ↑ http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031504-e.html as at March 11, 2012
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/videos/panorama/Regierung-bestaetigt-Kernschmelze-article2955351.html as at March 29, 2011
  22. ↑ http://www.faz.net/s/RubB08CD9E6B08746679EDCF370F87A4512/Doc~E4A56AC441109477AB81B18ADC1CC6262~ATpl~Ecommon~Sspezial.html as at April 8, 2011
  23. ↑ http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,755717,00.html as at April 7, 2011
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114219250664111.html as at April 7, 2011
  25. ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/videos/panorama/Regierung-bestaetigt-Kernschmelze-article2957576.html as at March 29, 2011
  26. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/12/18/3913291.htm as at December 21, 2013
  27. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/world-scale-for-rating-nuclear-accidents-20110412-1dc3m.htmlas at April 12, 2011
  28. ↑ http://www.greenpeace.de/fileadmin/gpd/user_upload/themen/atomkraft/HH_INES_Rating_Fukushima_23_03_2011.pdf as at March 25, 2011
  29. ↑ http://www.contratom.de/2011/03/25/atomunfall-in-japan-hat-hochste-ines-stufe-7-erreicht/ as at March 25, 2011
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 http://www.contratom.de/2.0/index.php?mod=blog&artikel=1808 as at March 12, 2011
  31. ↑ http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/0,1518,750690,00.html as at March 13, 2011
  32. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named wiki_quake
  33. ↑ http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/0,1518,755214,00.html as at April 7, 2011
  34. ↑ http://www.greenpeace.de/themen/atomkraft/nachrichten/artikel/erdbeben_in_japan_regierung_ruft_atomaren_notstand_aus/ as at March 12, 2011
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/fukushima126.html as at March 12, 2011
  36. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/ondemand100_id-video874640.html as at April 5, 2011
  37. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/ondemand100_id-video874626.html as at April 5, 2011
  38. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named worldwatch_statusreport
  39. ↑ http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,83389_cid_14917321,00.html?maca=de-aa-news-855-rdf as at March 16, 2011
  40. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named gardian_Japanlost
  41. ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/videos/panorama/Regierung-bestaetigt-Kernschmelze-article2957576.html as at March 29, 2011
  42. ↑ http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kernschmelze&oldid=87029695 as at March 29, 2011
  43. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named wikipedia_nachzerfall
  44. ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/mediathek/videos/panorama/Ist-der-Super-GAU-laengst-da-article2947616.html as at March 29, 2011
  45. ↑ http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110312-japanese-government-confirms-meltdown as at March 13, 2011
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named monitor_ausserkontrolle
  47. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named spiegel_riss
  48. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named cnn_widen
  49. ↑ http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/incident/index.html as at April 10, 2011
  50. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12720219 as at March 12, 2011
  51. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fgw-japan-nuclear-plant-20110326,0,7076764.story as at March 25, 2011
  52. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named xinhuanet
  53. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named msnbc_threemileisland
  54. ↑ http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-world-tv as at March 25, 2011
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