Fukushima Miami Earthquake Essay

On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami occurred off the east coast of Japan. The tsunami resulted in extensive flooding along the east coast of Japan. Located near the towns of Ōkuma and Futaba on the east coast of Japan the Tokyo Electronic Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) sustained substantial damage. The FDNPP consists of six individual nuclear power reactors. Planned maintenance was being performed on reactors 4, 5 and 6. Reactors 1, 2 and 3 automatically SCRAMed following the earthquake due to input signals received from their Safety System. Initially the remaining decay heat from the nuclear reactors and their spent fuel storage pools was sufficiently maintained by their Emergency Power Generator’s (EPG). However, when the 14m high tsunami breeched the sea walls, reactors 1-5 lost their secondary coolant systems due to their EPG’s failing due to flooding. When FDNPP was constructed …show more content…
Individual points were selected and sampled within each river on four separate occasions: 20-22 July, 10 August, 20-22 September, and 21-22 November 2011. The values were compared to measured precipitation rates: 27.5mm, 0mm, 222mm and 0mm respectively. Radiocaesium contamination concentrations along with various other water quality parameters were assessed.
It was found that the rate of discharge strongly correlates with the amount of radiocaesium concentrations found within the samples. Both dissolved and particulate forms of radiocaesium were found within the samples, with particulate contributing up to 90% during September flooding. It was estimated that radiocaesium discharge during 2011 was only 0.5% and 0.3% of the radiocaesium deposited within the catchment following the FDNPP accident, with the majority remaining within surface