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In the short and medium term the effects of the iodine and the caesium release will dominate the effect of the accident on farming and the general public. In common with almost all soils, the soil at the reactor site contains uranium , but the concentration of uranium and the isotope signature [ 160 ] suggests that the uranium is the normal ...
The early effects on Japanese public opinion and government policy were felt. NGOs and anti-nuclear groups gained credibility, including Greenpeace, which launched a study on the impact of the Fukushima crisis. [citation needed]
The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The proximate cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , which resulted in electrical grid failure and damaged nearly all of the power plant's backup energy ...
Cesium (Cs-137) is the primary isotope released from the Fukushima Daiichi facility. [160] Cs-137 has a long half-life, meaning it could potentially have long-term harmful effects, but as of now, its levels from 200 km outside of Fukushima show close to pre-accident levels, with little spread to North American coasts. [156]
The 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami that ravaged parts of Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11, 2011 killed about 20,000 people and drove thousands from their homes in the prefectures of ...
John Price, a former member of the Safety Policy Unit at the UK's National Nuclear Corporation, has said that it "might be 100 years before melting fuel rods can be safely removed from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant". [11] Problems in stabilizing the Fukushima I plant have hardened attitudes to nuclear power.
In December 2011, as Japan completed "step 2" of its control roadmap at Fukushima, U.S. NRC chairman Jaczko visited the plant and said afterwards "that there was no longer enough energy in the reactors at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant to produce an offsite release of radiation, but pointed out that a large cleanup task remained".
The toxic effect of the plutonium to the public under these conditions is much less than that of iodine-131 and caesium. During a loss of cooling accident, the fuel is not subject to such intense mechanical stresses, so the release of radioactivity is controlled by the boiling point of the different elements present.