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WHAT
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a catastrophic failure at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in a meltdown of three of the plant's six nuclear reactors. The failure took place when the plant was hit by the tsunami triggered by the Thoku earthquake. Radioactive particles were released into the atmosphere and ocean, contaminating groundwater, soil and seawater which effectively closed local Japanese fisheries.
WHEN
on 11 March 2011, as consequence of the earthquake in the NE of Japan at 2:46 pm; the plant began releasing substantial amounts of radioactive materials beginning on 12 March; on April 12 2011, the Japanese authorities declared that the level of contamination was 7 (maximum!).
WHERE
Fukushima is the capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It is located in the northern part of Nakadri, the central region of the prefecture, on the biggest Japanase island, Honshu, in the NE of the Pacific Ring of Fire
PEOPLE INVOLVED
Although no short term radiation exposure fatalities were reported some 300,000 people evacuated the area, approximately 18,500 people died due to the earthquake and tsunami, and as of August 2013 approximately 1,600 deaths were related to the evacuation conditions, such as living in temporary housing and hospital closures.
ACTIONS TAKEN
1. Evacuation: The government initially set in place a 4stage evacuation process: a prohibited access area out to 3 km, an on-alert area 320 km and an evacuation prepared area 2030 km. Prime Minister Kan instructed people within the on-alert area to leave, and urged those in the prepared area to stay indoors. The latter groups were urged to evacuate on 25 March;
2. Cooling reactors: during months, asking the US help. On 10 August, the spent fuel pool was switched from the water-injection system that functioned some 5 months to a circulatory cooling system. For the first time since the 11 March disaster, all four damaged reactors at the plant were using circulatory cooling systems with heatexchangers.
Photo: A Fukushima resident talks about her experience at a symposium on the declaration of basic human rights in November.