Blog Three: Worst Spill in 6 Months is Reported at Fukushima

Summary: Almost 100 tons of radioactive water drained from one of the storage tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that was badly damaged in March 2011 due to an earthquake and tsunami. These natural events led to meltdowns of three of the nuclear reactors in the plant. While the storage tank did leak a significant amount of water, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (operator of the plant) stated that the location of the leak within the plant was far enough from the plant’s waterfront to have drained into the Pacific Ocean. The radioactive water was tested and found to contain 3.8 million times the acceptable amount of strontium-90, an elemental isotope which is easily absorbed into the body, much like calcium, and is known to be a potential cause of bone cancer as well as leukemia. Some critics of TEPCO have said the company has been very slow to react or acknowledge problems, which seems to be a logical critique – the company did not report an incident (in which high levels of strontium-90 were found much closer to the ocean in a previous spill) for five months. Since the Fukushima disaster in 2011, the plant has had to pump the radioactive water into storage tanks, in order to prevent it from reaching the ocean. To date, over 340,000 tons of water are stored: equal to over 135 Olympic-size swimming pools. To put this in better perspective, 240 gallons of water make up one ton.

Analysis: While this issue is not immediately a global social problem, it certainly affects a great number of people, especially those who live in the area. I think it’s also quite important to note that, while the company is taking precautions to avoid the water seeping into the ocean, we still do not know what the extent of the damage was, even from the day of the disaster. For all we know, much of that water did in fact make it to the ocean. It seems to me that the company would hide the truth or dampen the blow by not giving all of the facts. They waited five months to let people know that high levels of strontium-90 were found closer to the ocean than was safe. So, why wouldn’t they lie about or hide something else? Personally, I am not a huge nuclear power fan – quite the opposite actually. I believe in more sustainable energy sources, like solar or wind. Why is that? The reason why is because of incidences like this. An earthquake and tsunami occurred, two things entirely out of anyone’s control, and potentially millions of people were exposed to toxic chemicals like strontium-90 and may suffer long-standing effects. This doesn’t even include the toxic waste released into the air or water during every day operation of the plants. Solar power and wind power use natural elements of the earth and convert them to usable energy. What kind of waste do these operations emit? None. They are totally clean, sustainable sources.