The Fukushima Catastrophe by The Numbers

THE FUKUSHIMA CATASTROPHE MARCH 11, 2011 An earthquake with the magintude of 9.0 hit the coast of Honshu, Japan - the largest recorded earthquake in the history of the country- creating a 10m high tsunami. 9 MAGNITUDE ON MARCH I1, THE PRESSURE EARTHQUAKE INSIDE UNIT I'S REACTOR ROSE TO 1.5 TIMES THE NORMAL LEVEL MARCH 11, 2011 Japan declared a nuclear emergency after four nuclear power stations were hit, knocking out electrical power to the cooling system and the backup generators. RADIATION LEVELS WERE 1000 TIMES HIGHER THAN NORMAL LEVELS AA AA 19 PEOPLE HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF RADIATION EXPOSURE MARCH 12, 2011 At 3:36 pm, at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 exploded after the pressure in it more than doubled, injuring four people, but leaving the reactor's containment intact, MARCH 12, 201I At 8:20pm, TEPCO attempted to flood Unit 1 with seawater, as a means of cooling it. This was a last resort as seawater ruins the reactor. MARCH 13, 2011 Unit 3 was declared an emergency, and vented to release excess steam in order to lower building pressure, and then water with boric acid was pumped in to prevent a meltdown. MARCH 14, 2011 An explosion in Unit 3 tore apart its building. 11 people were injured and Unit 2's cooling pumps were disabled. Unit 2's core suffered major damage causing the fuel rods inside it to be fully exposed. MARCH 15, 201I Attempts to fill Unit 2 with seawater failed, and at 6am it exploded like Units 1 and 3 had. Pressure in Units 1 and 3 however, began to stabilize. 141 PEOPLE ARE FEARED TO HAVE BEEN EXPOSED MARCH 15, 201l -9AM 8:30 am 3,713 microsieverts/hour more in just a half hour Radiation levels at the front gate reached 8,217 microsieverts per hour at 8 AM climbing to 11,930 by 9 AM. Other Units had increasing radiation levels creating serious concern for the public's health. 9:00 am 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 microsieverts RADIATION DOSES FOUND NEAR FUKUSHIMA MARCH 16-17 MARCH 15, 201l - 10AM MARCH 29 A fire was reported on the fourth floor of Unit 4, due to exposed fuel rods. Units 5 and 6 also had rising temperatures. 50 - 70 KM: 1.6. --******** 50 KM: 6.42 uSv/h 30 - 30 - 50 KM: 15.1 uSv/h ---.. 20 - 30 KM: 11.9 14.3 uSv/h KM: MARCH 16, 201I Fuel shortages made evacuation difficult from the exclusion zone. 200.000 evacuees began facing inadequate shelter and dwindling food supplies, as well as freezing temperatures. O- 20 A fire broke out in Unit 4's reactor building. MARCH 17, 201I Water was dropped on the used nuclear fuel rods in Units 3 and 4 by helicopters. At 7am Unit 3 was doused with water cannons. Power levels reportedly began to be restored. FUKUSHIMA LEVELS OF RADIATION IN SOIL 40 KM NORTHWEST OF FUKUSHIMA MARCH 19, 201I Radioactive iodine-131 and caesium-137 was 200,000- 120.0000- detected in milk, leafy vegetables, and tap water near the Fukushima plant. 1,000,000- E 150,000- 800.000- 100,000 - 600,000- 400,000- 50,000 - 200,000- 0- Cs-137 |-131 184,670 MARCH 20, 2011 Fukushima begins to regain power. RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN EVACUATED WITHIN A 20 KILOMETER RADIUS FROM FUKUSHIMA MARCH 22, 2011 230,000 UNITS Fukushima Daiichi begain emitting radioactive caesium-137 and iodine-131 at levels approaching those of Chernobyl. OF POTASSIUM IODINE WERE DISTRIBUTED POTASSIUM IODINE TO EVACUATION CENTERS TO BLOCK RADIOACTIVE IODINE FROM ENTERING THE MARCH 24, 201I THYROID. 3 workers were injured after highly radioactive floodwater seeped through their clothes to be exposed to an estimated 2 - 6 Sieverts. ausing their skin below the ankles MARCH 25, 201I Unit 3's core had been breached, resulting in highly contaminated water full of non- volatile material including cobalt-60. Milk Evacuation zones were expanded by 10 km. 3 PLANT WORKERS SUFFERED FROM ACUTE RADIATION SICKNESS MARCH 26, 2011 RADIATION WAS FOUND IN SPINACH 75 KM AWAY FROM FUKUSHIMA Thanks to two U.S. Navy barges, fresh water became available instead of seawater to top off the nuclear reactor. This lowered radiation levels to a still high 170u/Svh. 75 KILOMETERS 75 KILOMETERS MARCH 29, 201I RADIATION LEVELS FOUND AROUND UNITS I-4 ON MARCH 29 Radioactive water coming from the basement of Unit 2 began seeping into piping trenches outside the main reactor buildings, less than 70m away from the seashore. RECOMMENDED MAXIMUM AMOUNT (4,000 BQ/L OR LOWER) IODINE- 131 (130,000 BQ/I) CESIUM - 137 (32,000 BQ/1) CESIUM - 134 (31,000 BQ/I) 60,000 90,000 120.000 150000 30,000 BQ/I POPULATION LEVELS 100-20OKM AROUND FUKUSHIMA 12 7,874,600 100 ----*20O KM: MARCH 30, 2011 PEOP, 10 Extremely radioactive water halted repair on the reactors. 3,338,900 100 KM. MARCH 31, 201l 100 200 KM 100 KM The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that people urgently needed to be evacuated from localized TOTAL POPULATION UP TO 200 KM hotspots northwest of the plant, containing levels of radioactivity one or two orders of maginitude above the evacuation threshold. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also indicated that Fukushima's discharge pipes continued to feed high levels of radioactive material into the the surrounding seawater. 70% OF UNIT I'S REACTOR WAS ESTIMATED MARCH 31, 2011 TO BE DAMAGED TEPCO is accused of releasing incorrect data as well as not providing workers with radiation monitoring badges. NORMALLY, IN 10 YEARS, THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WITHIN THE 100 KM RADIUS WITH APRIL 3, 2011 Yukio Edano, Japan's chief secretary, admits that it could be several months before CANCER WOULD INCREASE BY 11% radioactive materials are no longer released from the plant. DUE TO FUKUSHIMA EXPOSURE, CANCER DIAGNOSES APRIL 4, 2011 WILL INCREASE BY 66% In order to make room in the storage tanks, thousands of tons of radioactive water was released into the sea. IN OTHER WORDS, EXPECT AN EXTRA 103,329 APRIL 6, 2011 TEPCO stopped the flow of the increasingly radioactive water into the sea by injecting 5,000 litres of coagulant. People became aware of the high potential of the cores being melted so far down that cooling water couldn't circulate. CANCER DIAGNOSES IN THE NEXT IO YEARS IN THE 100KM-200KM RADIUS, WITHIN THE NEXT 10 YEARS, THERE WILL BE AN EXTRA: APRIL 7, 2011 120,894 A powerful 7.1 magnitude quake hit the disaster region, marking the largest aftershock yet. In order to prevent another massive explosion, TEPCO began pouring nitrogen gas into Unit 1's heavily damaged reactor. CANCER DIAGNOSES APRIL 11, 2011 THE TOTAL AMOUT OF IODINE-131 AND CESIUM - 137 RELEASED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE With the constant aftershocks, scientists IS ESTIMATED AT A LITTLE OVER 10% OF THE EMISSIONS FROM CHERNOBYL and engineers fear that the clean up process could take decades. The evacuation zone is extended beyond the 20 km radius. INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR EVENTS SCALE MAJOR ACCIDENT APRIL 12, 2011. Fukushima is now a 7 on the Internationl Nuclear Events Scale - the highest rating on the scale - a position also held by the Chernobyl disaster. SERIOUS ACCIDENT ACCIDENT WITH WIDER CONSEQUENCES APRIL 15, 2011 It was estimated that 50,000 tons of highly radioactive water was on site, and it would possibly take 2 -3 months to stabilize the ACCIDENT WITH LOCAL CONSEQUENCES reactors. SERIOUS INCIDENT APRIL 17, 2011 INCIDENT Remote controlled robots entered the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, taking the first photos inside Units 1 and 3's reactors. ANOMALY The robots detected peak radiation levels of around 50 millisieverts per hour inside Units 1 and 3, making it too high for any humans to enter. THE NEED FOR BOTTLED WATER IS TWICE OVER THE GOVERNMENT'S LEGAL LIMIT APRIL 18, 2011 TEPCO established a plan to stabilize the plant within 6 to 9 months. Workers will continue to douse the damaged reactors and fuel pools with cooling water while developing techniques to store and decontaminate used water on the site. To limit the amount of radioactivity released, TEPCO plans to cover the damaged reactors with temporary structures. PEOPLE IN TOKYO BEGAN HOARDING THEIR WATER APRIL 21, 2011 The 20 km evacuation zone was finally being enforced. Unauthorized entry was declared illegal. MAY 5, 2011 Workers entered the buildings housing the damaged Unit 1 reactor in order to install blowers to filter out some of the radioactive isotopes from the air, but didn't last long due to dangerously high levels of radiation inside the building. = 27,000 HOUSEHOLDS WITHIN MAY 13, 2011 It is found that Unit l's reactor was completely melted down. THE 20KM EVACUATION ZONE MAY 16, 2011 A preliminary investigation indicated that the previous fire in Unit 4 may have resulted from hydrogen gas explosion, and not fuel meltdown, meaning cleanup may be much less difficult than anticipated. MAY 18, 2011 4 TEPCO workers entered Unit 2 for the first time since the explosion on March 15th to check on radiation levels. AA EACH RECIEVEDA DOSE OF BETWEEN 3 AND 4 mSV WITHIN 41 HOURS DOO 250 TONS OF RADIOACTIVE WATER LEAKED INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN JAMES ACTON, ASSOCIATE OF THE NUCLEAR POLICY PROGRAM SAID: FUKUSHIMA IS THE MOST COMPLICATED AND DRAMATIC NUCLEAR ACCIDENT EVER CREDITLOAN® SOURCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Fukushima_l_nuclear_accidents http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/15/fukushima-15-march-summary/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12722719 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/04/06/a-timeline-of-the-fukushima-disaster/ http://abcnews.go.com/Health/fallout-fears-health-impact-meltdown-fukushima/story?id%3D13132302 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_effects_from_Fukushima_l_nuclear_accidents http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Fukushima7.png REAL ANSWERS. REAL SOLUTIONS. PEOPLE POPULATION IN MILLIONS LEGAL NEED LIMIT