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Fukushima nuclear power plant,
Fukushima, Japan. |
The vagaries of the great earthquake that struck northeast coast of Japan on Friday afternoon are not over yet. After the horrendous tsunami following devastating earthquake, Japan is bracing for yet another catastrophe. This time, it is the turn of nuclear explosion. Earlier today, there has been an explosion reported in the reactor No. 1 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant sending jitters across Japan and the neighboring countries Russia, China, Korean peninsula and surrounding islands. Though this explosion has been attributed to a minor hydrogen ignition, if the failure of the coolant system of the nuclear reactor as reported earlier is anything to go by and the ensuing high temperatures within the system are not brought under control, this could lead to a catastrophic event like nuclear meltdown. Nuclear meltdown, a term used to describe the phenomenon of overheating of the nuclear fuel rods within the core reactor system in the absence of coolant causes fuel rods to meltdown like a molten mass, which in turn is susceptible to uncontrollable fission reaction and releases enormous amount of energy within the core system. This triggers a series of massive explosions, breaches the steel containment vessel, and thereby releasing large amounts of radioactive nuclides such as plutonium, zirconium, cesium, and iodide among others into the atmosphere.
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"Sarcophagus" of Chernobyl 4
Nuclear Reactor, Ukraine. |
This, no doubt reminds one of what happened on that fateful Friday night of April 25, 1986 and the worst man-made tragedy that shook the world when two catastrophic steam explosions occurred in the Reactor Number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
located in the erstwhile Soviet Union (now in Ukraine) resulting in fire, a series of additional explosions and a nuclear meltdown releasing large amounts of radioactive elements including plutonium, iodine, strontium, and cesium into the atmosphere, the repercussions of which are being felt even today.
More than one hundred types of radioactive nuclides have been detected in the atmosphere days after the accident, says IAEA report. Nearly 200,000 people are believed to have been relocated as a result of this accident.
More than 30 firemen and emergency clean-up workers died within three months of the accident due to Acute Radiation Sickness and nearly 1800 cases of thyroid cancer have been documented in children.
Many more developed psychological disorders became addicted to widespread drinking and suicides.
The effect of Chernobyl radiation was felt much of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, much of northern hemisphere and as far as Sweden and Finland due to northerly wind patterns. According to IAEA, the accident at Chernobyl was approximately 400 times more potent than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
It is the sheer magnitude of nuclear explosion that is frightening and a cause for much concern.
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Radioactive cloud (Red & yellow) seen
days after Chernobyl accident spreads
across much of northern hemisphere and
Europe. |
There are already several reports indicating that the radiation levels are reaching more than one thousand times above the normal near the plant site in Fukushima though the Japanese authorities later trounced these reports.
Yet the manner in which the evacuation zone is being extended from the initial 5 km to now 20 km zone certainly gives a reason for suspicion. The official communiqué of Japanese government however puts the radiation levels at about eight times to that of the normal level near ground zero. Some scientists argue that the security systems at Fukushima nuclear power plant are far more advanced than that in Chernobyl at the time of the accident and a protective dome will cover the Fukushima plant in the event of any catastrophic incident, thereby preventing any radioactive material leakage into the atmosphere.
However, it should also be noted that the more sophisticated Fukushima plant is one hundred times more powerful than the one at Chernobyl and therefore the devastation could also be huge should security systems fail.
As of now, there is very little information that is coming out of Fukushima and that the situation is still unclear.
We all pray and hope the damage will be contained and minimal if any.
