Fukushima Earthquake Research Paper

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On March 11 2:46pm the pacific coast of Japan experienced an earthquake reading a 9.0 on the Richter scale. Within less than an hour a tsunami crashed against the coast 10 kilometers inland destroying millions of buildings leading to the death of 19,000 citizens (“Fukushima Accident” World Nuclear Association. July 2016, World-nuclear.org, 27 October 2016). At the time a total of eleven nuclear reactors were operating at four different locations Fukushima Daiichi, Fukushima Daini, Tohoku's Onagawa, and Japco's Tokai. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is 250 kilometers northeast of Tokyo. Operating 6 different nuclear reactors. At the time only three were completely functional; reactor units 1, 2 and 3. Reactors 4, 5 6 were not operational. Our main purpose is to understand how the reactors responded to the earthquake and after the tsunami hit. We also want to understand whether or not the release of radioactive elements into the Pacific Ocean has any severe and chronic impact on marine life. …show more content…

A nuclear fission reactor that produces heat. The primary radioactive element used in the core reactor is a radioactive element, uranium that is then hit with a subatomic particle that splits the single element into two separate elements. As a byproduct of this reaction heat is released which is then harvested and used as renewable energy. In the case of this reactor (BWR) the heat converts water into steam which is then transported into a turbine that drives the generator producing electricity. Afterwards, the steam is then condensed with a seawater cooling system and is recycled back into the core systems. (Shozugawg, Katsumi, Norio Nogawa, 2016. Pp.

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