Fukushima disaster

WHAT
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a catastrophic failure at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in a meltdown of three of the plant's six nuclear reactors. The failure took place when the plant was hit by the tsunami triggered by the Thoku earthquake. Radioactive particles were released into the atmosphere and ocean, contaminating groundwater, soil and seawater which effectively closed local Japanese fisheries.

WHEN
on 11 March 2011, as consequence of the earthquake in the NE of Japan at 2:46 pm; the plant began releasing substantial amounts of radioactive materials beginning on 12 March; on April 12 2011, the Japanese authorities declared that the level of contamination was 7 (maximum!).

WHERE
Fukushima is the capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It is located in the northern part of Nakadri, the central region of the prefecture, on the biggest Japanase island, Honshu, in the NE of the Pacific Ring of Fire

DETAILS OF THE EVENT

the largest nuclear incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the second (with Chernobyl) to measure Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, initially releasing an estimated 10-30% of the earlier incident's radiation; in August 2013, it was stated that the massive amount of radioactive water is among the most pressing problems that are affecting the cleanup process, which is expected to take decades; the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission found the nuclear disaster was "manmade" and that its direct causes were all foreseeable (predictable).

PEOPLE INVOLVED
Although no short term radiation exposure fatalities were reported some 300,000 people evacuated the area, approximately 18,500 people died due to the earthquake and tsunami, and as of August 2013 approximately 1,600 deaths were related to the evacuation conditions, such as living in temporary housing and hospital closures.

ACTIONS TAKEN
1. Evacuation: The government initially set in place a 4stage evacuation process: a prohibited access area out to 3 km, an on-alert area 320 km and an evacuation prepared area 2030 km. Prime Minister Kan instructed people within the on-alert area to leave, and urged those in the prepared area to stay indoors. The latter groups were urged to evacuate on 25 March;

2. Cooling reactors: during months, asking the US help. On 10 August, the spent fuel pool was switched from the water-injection system that functioned some 5 months to a circulatory cooling system. For the first time since the 11 March disaster, all four damaged reactors at the plant were using circulatory cooling systems with heatexchangers.

COMMENTS BY THOSE AFFECTED

Fukushima victims take a stand with human rights declaration
"Those who caused the accident switched from having responsibility, to escaping from responsibility. In essence, they are trivializing the disaster, cutting the amount of compensation and announcing the crisis is over." - Nomura, 53, wrote the draft of the Fukushima human rights declaration; "We want Fukushima to return to the way it was, where we can eat tasty rice, vegetables, fruit, fish and meat without the slightest fear," says one passage in the declaration.

Photo: A Fukushima resident talks about her experience at a symposium on the declaration of basic human rights in November.