Professor Hunderman
Comp 252
4/6/15
Fukushima The nuclear arms race of the 1940s gave birth to countless advancements in science and technology. A seemingly limitless source of relatively clean energy had been discovered. Nuclear power did not come without risks, as the smallest error could lead to a disaster of unimaginable proportions. The events at Fukushima served as a reminder that when . The Fukushima Daiichi disaster will have lasting effects on the environment, and the public’s opinion of nuclear energy will ultimately decide the fate of the industry.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant sits on the east coast of Japan in the Fukushima Prefecture. The plant has a total of 6 boiling water reactors, which were designed …show more content…
The disaster at Fukushima cemented many Japanese people’s distrust in nuclear technology. All of Japan’s nuclear power facilities were shut down following the 2011 earthquake and have not been in operation since. The future of nuclear power in Japan will be exponentially affected by the events that took place at Fukushima. New safety standards and precautions will be introduced to prevent future accidents. The Japanese public will ultimately require incredibly high safety standards before they trust the technology again. If the nuclear power industry fails to improve in the eyes of the public, nuclear power will go extinct in Japan. The social effects of Fukushima were felt globally. Germany revised its nuclear energy policy, moving away from the …show more content…
The size of the tsunami was roughly two times larger than what the plant was designed to handle. The crippled reactors melted, resulting in the largest nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Land within 20 kilometers of Daiichi is now uninhabitable, and water contaminated with radionuclides has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean since March 2011. If the Japanese public decides nuclear technology is not to be trusted, they may abandon nuclear energy as a source of electricity altogether. The disaster at Fukushima