Japan’s Disaster
James Rincon
March 17, 2011
Agenda
Historical Nuclear Disasters
Earthquake
Tsunami
Nuclear plant incident
Current Efforts
Lasting Effects and Concerns
Future precautions
Technology innovations
History
Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating
Station
– Occurred in March 28, 1979 in Pennsylvania,
USA
– Considered Worst in U.S. history
– Classified as a level 5 on the International
Nuclear Event Scale (Accident with wider
consequences)
– Voluntary evacuation of local area (within 5mi)
History
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
– Occurred in 26 April 1986 in Ukraine
– Considered Worst in history
– Classified as a level 7 on the International
Nuclear Event Scale (major accident)
– Only event to have that classification
– Widespread severe contamination of surrounding
areas
– Lead to mass evacuation of those areas
– Massive fallout and contamination
– Thousands resettled. City abandoned
Tohoku Earthquake
Occurred on 11 March 2011 near the coast of
Honshu (NE Japan)
Moment Magnitude of ~9.0 (Mw)
– So large it may actually the shift wobble of the earth
slowing its rotation
Largest in Japanese recorded history
Earthquake alone was devastating
Foreshocks and subsequent aftershocks in
magnitude > than 6.0 (Mw) also affected area
Millions if not billions of dollars in damage
Hundreds of casualties
Tsunami
Occurred on 11 March 2011 near the coast of
Honshu (NE Japan)
Triggered by the earthquake
Caused a 30ft swell in all directions
Devastating effect on Japan
– Swept large structures such as cars, buses, boats, ships
and even buildings
– Estimated number of individuals dead is as high as 10,000
– Rescue efforts are slowly ceasing in place of recovery
efforts
Wave also reached across the Pacific all the way
from Alaska to South America
Minimal damage in those areas. No significant
casualties reported
Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear plant
Run by TEPCO
Cooling system failures caused by the
earthquake and subsequent tsunami
are the main causes for this event
Fires and explosions followed and the
fear of widespread contamination from
the nuclear fuel being exposed
Been unable to restore cooling system
Current Efforts
Evacuation of surrounding area up to 50
miles
Non-essential U.S. citizens are being flown
off the island as a precaution
Other countries such a China are taking
similar precautions
Major search and rescue and recovery
operations are taking place
– Aid from many countries and organizations
including the U.S. military, NRC, charitable
organizations, etc…
Concerns
Legislators are concerned with the safety of nuclear power
plants.
President Obama has ordered the inspection of every U.S.
plant by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Volatility in Global markets due to the disaster (mass
disruption to supply-chains)
Health problems for the individuals near the affected area
(first responders, plant workers)
Paranoia in areas not affected (potassium idodide shots,
personal dosimeters)
Related to the disaster are also misplaced individuals and
looting (although not as high as if this had occurred in an
underdeveloped country)
– Looting has been low
– People have for the most part opened their homes to affected
individuals
Precautions
Nuclear power plants will be able to
handle earthquakes of greater
magnitude
They will be built in areas not likely
prone to earthquakes (i.e. not along
the san Andrea's fault line)
Not built along the any coast
susceptible to tsunamis
Innovations
Social media has greatly helped in the
effort to communicate with the
affected individuals (Facebook, Twitter,
etc)
Numerous sites are now providing RSS
feeds relating to disaster relevant
information (radiation level readings in
particular areas, seismic activity
readings, etc)
Additional Information
http://www.usaid.gov/
Thank you
