Post by John on Nov 17, 2013 13:50:07 GMT -5
The world around us is in chaos. Natural disasters of greater magnitude every year are now common headline; however, what happens a week later? A month? Do these disasters simply rectify themselves, slip away into the aether as they do in the news? I listened to Obama address the nation for 35 minutes on Wednesday and I don't recall him once mentioning the Typhoon in the Philippines. The world we live in runs on misdirection and shock-news. We must not be so naive. People all around the world are still picking up after the disasters of this decade, Haiti did not magically restore to the last undamaged point. Nor did New Orleans, or Fukushima, the focus of this post.
So with that being said, when was the last time you heard a single thing about Fukushima? As an Engineer, I have been following the situation with bated breath, but what about you? Two years ago, Japan was devastated by a massive earthquake that produced one of it's largest Tsunamis ever recorded. For those unfamiliar with the plate conditions in Japan: Japan is an island that is flanked by a system of 14 separate semi-major faults. As an island nation, these faults are the basis for it's creation, and thus the activity on these faults due to seafloor spreading and convergence of plates causes Japan to be a major seismic hotspot (As well as a volcanic hotspot!). When the earthquake struck, the cooling lines for the nuclear reactor at Fukushima were severed, this prevented cool ocean water from reaching the extremely hot radioactive cesium cores that produced much of Fukushima's electricity. Of Fukushima's 4 reactors, 3 have melted down. Due to damages at the facility, upon the tsunami's landing, Ocean water flooded the facility, reaching the now melted down cores. This water was now highly irradiated. Much of the effort over the last two years has been to contain this now hazardous waste water within the facility. A task that has led to the heroic deaths of many of the facilities technicians (the exposure has not killed them yet, however they will certainly not live a full life due to the damage done by the radiation). In order to do this, laborers were brought in to build containment tanks and repair the cyclical lines within the facility. There has always been a waste leak at the facility and thousands of gallons of radioactive water have been spilling into the pacific ocean every year for the last 2 years. However, in June of this year, a major leak was found in one of the containment tanks. Hundreds of thousands of tons of water have spilled into the pacific ocean, poisoning the wildlife around the area. Due to ocean currents, water off the coast of southern California has begun to show traces of the same cesium isotope that was used in the Fukushima reactor. These isotopes have also been found in commercial fishing catches of Tuna, Salmon and other commercial fish (and not at levels safe for consumption by humans). The worst part of this situation is the condition of reactor 2 (the undamaged reactor). In the event of a major earthquake on any of Japans 14 major faults, it is possible that this reactor could fail as well, the results of which would be catastrophic. The significance of this event are beyond the scope of most peoples understanding. We have poisoned our lifeblood, the oceans, and there is nothing that we can do about it, besides wait until the cesium isotopes have completed their breakdown via the halflife of the particular isotope (30 years for cesium 137). I would love to provide a more in depth analysis of the situation, but I have to return to work. Read this article and everything else you can find in regards to the Fukushima disaster and be educated on the situation. It is an event that we, as scientists, will educate our children on, and they will do the same for theirs. A tragedy.
billmoyers.com/2013/11/15/what-you-need-to-know-about-fukushima/
So with that being said, when was the last time you heard a single thing about Fukushima? As an Engineer, I have been following the situation with bated breath, but what about you? Two years ago, Japan was devastated by a massive earthquake that produced one of it's largest Tsunamis ever recorded. For those unfamiliar with the plate conditions in Japan: Japan is an island that is flanked by a system of 14 separate semi-major faults. As an island nation, these faults are the basis for it's creation, and thus the activity on these faults due to seafloor spreading and convergence of plates causes Japan to be a major seismic hotspot (As well as a volcanic hotspot!). When the earthquake struck, the cooling lines for the nuclear reactor at Fukushima were severed, this prevented cool ocean water from reaching the extremely hot radioactive cesium cores that produced much of Fukushima's electricity. Of Fukushima's 4 reactors, 3 have melted down. Due to damages at the facility, upon the tsunami's landing, Ocean water flooded the facility, reaching the now melted down cores. This water was now highly irradiated. Much of the effort over the last two years has been to contain this now hazardous waste water within the facility. A task that has led to the heroic deaths of many of the facilities technicians (the exposure has not killed them yet, however they will certainly not live a full life due to the damage done by the radiation). In order to do this, laborers were brought in to build containment tanks and repair the cyclical lines within the facility. There has always been a waste leak at the facility and thousands of gallons of radioactive water have been spilling into the pacific ocean every year for the last 2 years. However, in June of this year, a major leak was found in one of the containment tanks. Hundreds of thousands of tons of water have spilled into the pacific ocean, poisoning the wildlife around the area. Due to ocean currents, water off the coast of southern California has begun to show traces of the same cesium isotope that was used in the Fukushima reactor. These isotopes have also been found in commercial fishing catches of Tuna, Salmon and other commercial fish (and not at levels safe for consumption by humans). The worst part of this situation is the condition of reactor 2 (the undamaged reactor). In the event of a major earthquake on any of Japans 14 major faults, it is possible that this reactor could fail as well, the results of which would be catastrophic. The significance of this event are beyond the scope of most peoples understanding. We have poisoned our lifeblood, the oceans, and there is nothing that we can do about it, besides wait until the cesium isotopes have completed their breakdown via the halflife of the particular isotope (30 years for cesium 137). I would love to provide a more in depth analysis of the situation, but I have to return to work. Read this article and everything else you can find in regards to the Fukushima disaster and be educated on the situation. It is an event that we, as scientists, will educate our children on, and they will do the same for theirs. A tragedy.
billmoyers.com/2013/11/15/what-you-need-to-know-about-fukushima/
