March 16, 2011
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Page 5
Chaos in Japan
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fron t
patterns helped, shifting Tuesday
night to the southeast, blowing any
The troubles cascaded Tuesday
potential radiation from the plant
at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant,
toward the sea.
where there have already been ex
"It’s not good, but I don't think
plosions at two reactor buildings
it s a disaster," said Steve Crossley,
since Friday's disasters. An explo
an Australia-based radiation physi
sion at a third reactor blasted a 26-
cist. "If the radioactive material gets
foot (8-meter) hole in the building
out, it's a major problem. That doesn't
and, experts said, damaged a vessel
appear to be happening in Japan,
below the reactor, although not the
and that's the big difference. As
reactor core. Three hours later, a fire
long as you are not near it, it doesn’t
broke out at a fourth reactor, which
pose a health risk."
had been offline for maintenance.
Though Kan and other officials
In a nationally televised address.
urged calm, the developm ents fu
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said ra
eled a growing panic in Japan and
diation had seeped from four of the
around the world amid widespread
plant's six reactors. The International
uncertainty over what would hap
Atomic Energy Agency said Japa
pen next. In the worst case sce
nese officials informed it that the fire
nario, one or more of the reactor
was in a pool where used nuclear
cores w ould c o m p letely m elt
fuel rods are stored and that "radio
down, a disaster that could spew
activity is being released directly
large amounts of radioactivity into
into the atmosphere." Long after
the atm osphere.
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers, mobilized to wash away radioactive material emitted
the fire was extinguished, a Japa
from a nuclear power plant damaged by Friday's earthquake, put on protective gear Tuesday on their
The radiation fears added to the
nese official said the pool might still
catastrophe that has been unfold
arrival in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (AP photo)
be boiling.
ing in Japan. Four days after the 9.0-
Depending on how bad the blast most intense, the leak released a
magnitude earthquake and tsunami,
was at Unit 2, experts said more radioactive dose in one hour at the
millions of people strung out along
radioactive materials could seep out. site 400 times the amount a person
the east coast had little food, water
If the water in the storage pond in normally receives in a year. Within
or heat, and already chilly tempera
Unit 4 boils away, the fuel rods six hours, that level had dropped
tures dropped further as a cold front
could be exposed, leaking more viru dramatically.
moved in. Up to 450,000 people are
lent radiation.
A person would have to be ex
in temporary shelters.
Experts noted that much of the posed to that dose for 10 hours for
Officials have only confirm ed
leaking radiation was apparently in it to be fatal, said Jae Moo-sung, a
about 3,300 deaths, but officials
steam from boiling w ater— and the nuclear engineering expert at Seoul's
have said the toll was likely to top
falling radiation levels suggest the Hanyang University.
10,000 in one o f the four hardest-
situation could be stabilizing.
R a d ia tio n e lsew h e re nev er
hit areas. Experts involved in the
Government spokesman Yukio reached that level. In Tokyo, 170
2004 Asian tsunami said there was
Edano said the radiation leak poten miles to the southwest, authorities
no question more people died,
tially affected public health. But reported radiation levels nine times
me no . 3 nuclear reactor o f the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
d esp ite Jap an 's high sta te o f
authorities and experts said the risks a normal level— too small, officials at Minamisoma is seen burning after a blast following an
preparation, and like the earlier
to the public diminished the farther said, to threaten the 39 million people earthquake and tsunami in this handout satellite image taken on
disaster, many thousands may
the distance from the plant. At its in and around the capital. Weather Monday.
never be found.
Low Risk of Radiation Fallout in Oregon
c o n t i n u e d f r o m fron t
the normal radiation experienced
from the environment.
For radioactive particles to
reach the U.S., aircurreftts would
require them to be deposited into
the upper atm ospheric je t stream,
which would involve the kind of
explosion than seems highly un
likely at the Fukushim a Daiichi
plant says Kathryn Higley, head
of the Oregon State N uclear Engi
neering and R adiation H ealth
Physics departm ent.
“For any particles to reach the
U.S., they would have to reach into
the upper atm osphere and that
would require a significant event
that would need to generate a lot of
heat,” Higley said Monday. “Of
course, once it gets up there, it can
stay up there for some time, but
even then it’s going to be mostly
cleaned up simply by rain.”
Higley said the atomic bombs
d ro p p e d on H iro s h im a and
Nagasaki in 1945 would have been
far more likely to have deposited
radioactive particles that might
have reached the U.S. sim ply be
cause the plumes that were cre
ated by the blasts.
“Even then, you’d get more ra
diation exposure from a chest X-ray
than you’d get from that,” she said,
noting that a person would need
hundreds of X-rays to develop can
cer.
The threat of nuclear radiation
caught the world’s attention in 1979
when the core of one of the two
units at the Three Mile Island nuclear
plant in Londonberry, Pa., suffered
a meltdown, which resulted in the
threat of radiation exposure for thou
sands of nearby residents and live
stock.
In 1986, the nuclear reactor at
Chernobyl in the Ukraine, experi
enced a much more severe explo
sion and large-scale radiation fall
out that caused more than 300,000
residents to be resettled. The nearby
city of Pripyat was abandoned.
Higley said the Chernobyl disas
ter, though, showed how nuclear
fallout is restricted.
“That was a significant disaster,
but exposure to radiation was con
tained to the surrounding areas,”
she said. “Even at Chernobyl, the
explosion did not send particles high
enough for them to travel great dis
tances.”
At the time of the Three-Mile
Island and Chernobyl accidents,
Oregon received power from the
Trojan nuclear facility located in
Rainier, where protests had begun
as early as 1977, two years after its
construction.
The Trojan plant produced as
much as 12 percent of the state’s
energy needs at one point, but it had
several design problems that caused
it to be shut down at least once.
Portland General Electric shut the
plant down permanently in 1992
following a release of documents
that showed a number of scientists
believed the plant might not be safe
to operate.
Decommissioning began in 1993.
Nuclear power continues to be a
significant resource for power-hun
gry nations despite the threat of
accidents.
Although one study showed in
fant mortality rates to be higher in
areas downwind of the Three Mile
Island plant, a 1999 report by a Co
lumbia University epidemiologist
found that no deaths or significant
long-term health problems were as
sociated with the accident.
The plant at Three Mile Island
remains operational and is expected
to continue operations through
2034.