The End

I think during this whole thing all the attention has been on the plant and what could happen next. Also all the attention on what it could do to the enviornment of Japan and surronding countires that are so close to each other and how radiation is being leaked into the water and the air just makes the risks that much worse. But we often forget about the true victoms in all this , the ones that actually suffered and those are the citizens of Japan and those areas that got hit the worst. The lives for the past 13 weeeks have been indescribable and one could only imagine what they may be in fact going through. There are over 100,000 evacutees in numerous shelters that are over crowded. And then you have the death toll and those missing. 15,401 have been confirmed dead amd another 8,146 still considered missing. No one has ever given much thought to these people, just the drama around the plant. To us that may seem like the only thing actually going on. But in reality so much pain and suffering is going on. So to end this i thought i would step away from the enviornmental issues and give some attention and tribute to those who have suffered, they need all the help and support they can get.

No one saw it coming

It came as a shook when the 9.0 earthquake hit the coast of Japan on March 11. This is because it was never thought that that area could get a earthquake that powerful. So that is why the area of Sendai wasnt prepared for anything like this, it wasnt suppose to happen. See on the crust on the ocean floor off the coast is old in fact its over 140 million years old, older crust is cooler and denser unlike its younger counter part. And history was on there scientists side to back that up. Worst part was Sendai was considered to be one of Japan's best prepared city's for a Tsunami.

April 7
Another earthquake hit Japan today with this one reaching up to a 7.1 magnitude. Much like other earthquakes that followed the 9.0 on March 11 this was an aftershock but the strongest one on recored yet. This even caused a Tsunami warning to be issued but was eventually lifted an hour later. It fourtunetly didn't cause anymore damage to the already crippled Fukushima nuclear plant which has been out since all this started March 11

Massive Earthquake hits Japan, sparks Tsunami

One of the biggest earthquakes in Japans' history sparked a Tsunami on it's east coast.It swept homes, cars, and boats as fires burned out of control. Warnings of a Tsunami blanketed the entire west coast going as far away as Canada, South America, Alaska and the entire U.S. west coast. Officials confirmed that 60 people had already died and that 56 people were reported missing. The death toll is expected to grow given the next few days. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the Japan had closed four nuclear plants as a precaution. One plant declared a state of emergency as a result of the cooling systems as a mechanical failure. Thousands of residents close to the plant were ordered to evacuate.

Change of pace

Well when I started this it was after the crisis began. So i never got a chance to talk about the beggining stages but only the results of the crisis. So I figure I should describe the original problems.

Good News....With bad news (depends on your view)

Well today the U.S. Nuclear indusrty said they dont expect a lot of health problems as a result from the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant. "Tony Pietrangelo, chief nuclear officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, credited what he described as the Japanese government's speedy response in evacuating a 20-kilometer zone around the stricken nuclear plant". But in other news today it was announced that Japan's green tea is contaminated with radiation.

Water Problem Fixed

The problem every one faced at the crippled Fukushima plant was their D Day on June 20th ; the day that the first of the reactors are due to over flow. But problem solved folks. Tanks started on there on Saturday to the plant. The new tanks should help prevent any further enviornmental damage in the area. There are 370 tanks due to arrive at the plant from now through August, and the first two were due to arrive on Saturday. All the tanks are expected to house a total of 40, 000 tons of radioactive water. The plant has been leaking water since the disaster on March 11.

Levels of Radiation in the air after accident

On the same day the report was released that fuel melted through the reactrors, they also released the measurements of the radiation leaked into the air as well. I'll start off by saying that the Japanese government more then doubled their estimate on radiation leaked into the air. They think that 770,000 terabecquerels got leaked into the air during the first six days. A number much greater then 370,000 terabecquerels. This number though equals to about 15 percent of what the 1986 Chernobyl disaster released. But the bigger issue is there was more radiation leaked into the air then intially thought.

Japan Says that fuel may have melted through three reactors

The Japanese government finally admited Tuesday that the damage to the Fukushima nuclear plant was worse then they oringinaly expected. And as well they werent prepared for the inncident. In a report being submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Japanese government says the fuel in three reactors may not have just melted the core but the containment vessels as well. The report (750 pages) awknowledges the flaws in the reactors. Among those flaws was the location of the spent fuel cooling pools that were high up in the buildings.

Plant Could Leak More Radioactive water

The plant has nearly has 110,000 tons of contaminated water stored. That could fill 40 olympic size pools. Managing those growiing pools of water is going to be a major challange with the beggining of the month long rain season to begin soon. And the plant is running out of storage space. So engineers have begun
installing equipment supplied by the French company Areva to decontaminate the water. Tepco plans to start operating the equipment June 15. But if the method doesnt work one of the reactors could run out of storage space June 20 and it could leak into the sea. The same could happen to a second reactor the next day. The Utility has alread dumped 10,000 tons of water in the ocean in early April

Two Workers Exceed Government's Exposure Limits

At the Fukishima plant two workes have more then double the government's limit. The announcement was made today by the Japanese government. TEPCO says the more workers could hav been exposed to high levels of radtiaon and are getting tested. The two workers are in good health now, but to give you an idea of how much exposure they had it would equal out to more then 1,000 abdomial x-rays. The two workers ad been wqorking on the third and fourth reactors, the reactors the company has had ahard time keeoing control of. Exposure can lead to long term health problems like cancer and massive doses can quickly be deadly but no one has died in the Fukishima disater, on of the worst in the history of nuclear power.