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| Fig. 1: Illustration of the reactors overheating at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. (Source: (Wikipedia Commons) |
The Fukushima nuclear accident occurred in 2011 due to 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake and tsunami which hit the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. [1,2] It is the second worst nuclear disaster of all time behind the Chernobyl disaster, where both incidents are rated level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. [3] Three of the nuclear reactors in the plant overheated as seen in Fig. 1. [4] Approximately 900 PBq (9.0 ×1017 Bq) of radioactive substances were released into the environment causing over 100,000 people to be evacuated. This is 1/6 the amount of radioactive emmissions released from the Chernobyl incident when converted to iodine. [3]
The immediate and long term dangers that the Fukushima nuclear accident posed have led to calls of action by various governments in our world. The Japanese government has greatly reduced the reliance of nuclear power from nuclear power contributing to 30% of its energy source prior to the incident to now about 5%. [4] Due to the reduced reliance of nuclear power, Japan primarily looked towards energy supplied by coal and natural gas in the short term. [5] Three days following the incident, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany announced it would suspend its extension of the operating lives of their nuclear power plants. [6,7] Within a few months following Fukushima, Germany had permanently shut down eight of their plants and decided to phase out the use of the remaining 9 by 2022. This comes to be a powerful decision as 13.3% of the electricity supply in Germany during 2021 was provided by nuclear power. [6,7] Likewise, Belgium was also prompted to act strongly in response to the Fukushima disaster with plans to exit nuclear power completely by 2025. France, on the other hand, maintains a pro-nuclear stance with 78.8% of its electric supply coming from nuclear power. [8] Following the Fukushima incident the French government did a comprehensive review of their nuclear operations as well as numerous risk analysis studies. The French stance on nuclear power as a source of energy has not changed significantly due lower susceptibility of the natural disasters that caused Fukushima. Despite many countries promising to decrease their reliance on nuclear energy, the effect lasted only a short time. Fig 2. demonstrates the sharp dip in nuclear power consumption following Fukushima in 2011 going from 25.99 EJ (2.599 × 1019 Joules) consumed in 2010 to 22.91 EJ in 2012. [5] However, this trend was short-lived as in the recent years nuclear power consumption has gone back up.
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| Fig. 2: World Nuclear Energy Consumption. [5] (Source: P. Patel) |
The Fukushima accident will be remembered as one of the worst events in the history of nuclear power. The disaster posed many negative impacts on the Japanese people and has greatly influenced the future of nuclear energy. Governments from all over the world closely monitored the incident and have strengthened their saftey measures accordingly. Overall, the world nuclear energy consumption was temporarily disrupted immediately following Fukushima, however, has been rebounding since as seen in Fig. 2.
© Pujan Patel. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] A. Trinh, "Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Disaster," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2018.
[2] M. LaMonica. "Japan 'Astonishingly Unprepared' for Fukushima Disaster," CNET, 5 Mar 12.
[3] K. Kurokawa et al., "The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission: Executive Summary, National Diet of Japan, 2012.
[4] J. Sharma, "International Reaction to Fukushima Disaster," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2018.
[5] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021," British Petroleum,June 2021.
[6] M. Eddy, "Nuclear Plant Closing Reflects Overhaul of Germany Energy Production," New York Times, 12 Jul 15.
[7] G. Amiel, "France to Dim Its Reliance on Nuclear Power," Wall Street Journal, 18 Jun 14.
[8] B. Wills, "The Fukushima Disaster," Physics 241, Stanford University, Winter 2019.
