This was due to the conservative approach to earthquake design and construction of nuclear power plants in japan resulting in a plant that was provided with sufficient safety margins. There were no indications that the main safety features of the plant were affected by the vibratory ground motions generated by the earthquake on 11 march 2011. Japan has declared an emergency at two nuclear power plants as technicians struggle to restore crippled cooling systems and prevent catastrophic meltdowns following the devastating earthquake and.
Also some other clips that aid in. At japan s number one nuclear power plant following the catastophic earthquake yesterday. Fukushima japan nuclear power plant explosion 12 march 2011.
A powerful explosion hits a badly damaged japanese nuclear power plant as a huge relief operation continues after friday s devastating earthquake and tsunami. On march 11 2011 a chain of devastating natural disasters struck the pacific coast of japan. The 2011 japan earthquake tsunami and nuclear disaster ellie kitanidis october 24 2012 submitted as coursework for ph240 stanford university fall 2011 introduction.
This paper describes the damage sustained by the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant during this unpredicted major natural disaster and the events that. On march 11 2011 eastern japan was struck by a magnitude 9 0 earthquake and an enormous tsunami over 13 m in height which together killed over 20 500 people and resulted in the evacuation of over 320 000 people from the devastated areas. By now more japanese have died from the closing of japan s nuclear power plants following the 2011 tohoku quake than from the tsunami and the earthquake combined which was about 20 000 people.
Image 1 of 6 the crippled fukushima dai ichi nuclear power plant. Japan s fukushima region transformed from rural haven to ravaged wasteland when the earthquake and tsunami struck in march 2011. Tepco officials reported that tsunami waves generated by the main shock of the japan earthquake on march 11 2011 damaged the backup generators at the fukushima daiichi plant although all three of the reactors that were operating were successfully shut down the loss of power caused cooling systems to fail in each of them within the first few days of the disaster.
However their spent fuel pools still required cooling. At the time of the tÅhoku earthquake on 11 march 2011 reactors 4 5 and 6 were shut down in preparation for re fueling. The fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant comprised six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by general electric ge and maintained by the tokyo electric power company tepco.
