IT’S NOT OVER YET! THE FUKUSHIMA FACILITY IS STILL LEAKING RADIATION

INTO THE AIR

DAY 14 MARCH 25, 2011

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of

North Carolina, USA

THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR FACILITY

Radiation leaks and threats of partial melt down developed in four of the six reactors as a result of the quake/tsunami.

A 7-10 M TSUNAM FOLLOWED IN ABOUT 10 MINUTES

The tsunami was devastating, inun-dating towns, im-mobilizing air-ports, destroying buildings, and treating everything (e.g., people, cars) in its path as debris.

RADIATION CRISIS LINGERS ON IN JAPAN

DAY 14FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011

WARNINGS ABOUT THE WATER

• The continuing emission of radioactive vapor prompted urgent warnings about drinking the tap water at locations as far away as 300 km south of the facility.

WARNINGS ABOUT EXPORTED FOOD

• The international community is being warned about the possibility of safety concerns associated with Japan’s vegetables, milk and seafood.

ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE FACILITY

• Outside, steam continued to rise Friday from several reactor buildings at the Fukushima-1 nuclear facility.

A DEADLY ACCIDENT

• Workers laying cables in the turbine building of Reactor-3 slipped into radioactive water and were exposed to 300,000 times the normal level of radiation.

MARCH 25: WORKERS REMOVED AFTER EXPERIENCING RADIATION

WORKERS BEING TREATED

• The workers were trans-ferred by ambulance to a specialized hospital Friday.

ON THE INSIDE OF THE FACILITY

• Inside, work continued in the effort to bring automated cooling systems back on line in order to prevent an even potentially worse spread of radiation.

ON THE INSIDE OF THE FACILITY

• Pure water and pumps supplied by the United States military is being brought to Fukushima-1 to cool the reactors.

ON THE INSIDE OF THE FACILITY

• Pure water will replace the sea water that was used earlier on Day 12 to cool the rods; the sea water was causing corrosion because of the accumulation of salt.

IT HAS BEEN A DIFFICULT 2-WEEKS FOR JAPAN

DAYS 2 - 13 MARCH 12th –24TH

GOAL:

PREVENT A MELT DOWN AT THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR FACILITY

WHOSE NORMAL COOLING SYSTEM WAS DISRUPTED BY THE

EARTHQUAKE

AERIAL VIEW: THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR FACILITY

RADIATION CLOUD AT THE FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR FACILITY

NO-FLY ZONE ABOUT FUKUSHIMA

DRY SPENT FUEL POOLS

• By days 6-7, Japanese efforts were focused on the pools used to store spent nuclear fuel, now dry or nearly so, because the consensus was that the dry rods could heat up and spew intense radiation.

WORKING TO AVERT DISASTER

• Emergency workers tried helicopter water drops, heavy-duty fire trucks, and water cannons to cool down Japan's dangerously overheated nuclear reactors and spent-fuel pools.

HELICOPTERS COLLECT SEA WATER TO DROP ON FUKUSHIMA REACTORS

A RACE AGAINST TIME

• 140,000 people within a 33 km radius of the plant were told to stay in their houses indefinitely; while the increased risk from radiation stymied search and rescue operations, already out of time in terms of the “golden window”, and slowed humanitarian assistance.

DAY 12: ELECTRICITY PARTIALLY RESTORED

• Restoration of electricity made it possible to pump sea water into the spent fuel pools and reactivate/accelerate the cooling process.