Fukushima crisis: Japan rises to highest level to Chernobyl

Nuclear Security Agency of Japan has decided to increase the severity of the Fukushima nuclear accident 5 A maximum of 7, which equates to the one in Chernobyl in 1986.
The agency said that the reactors damaged from the tsunami of 11 March at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have been releasing massive amounts of radioactive substances into the air, posing a risk to human health and the environment of the area.

However, the level of radioactive emissions registered since the beginning of the nuclear accident in Fukushima is equivalent to 10% of those measured after the Chernobyl disaster, which occurred when the reactor was operating at full capacity, whereas Japan had operations arrested by the earthquake.

Fukushima Nuclear Accident

The spokesman for the Nuclear Security Agency, Hidehiko Nishiyama, explained that, unlike Chernobyl, the radiation level Fukushima, despite being high, allows operators to work on site to stabilize damaged four more units.

However, the company that owns the plant, TEPCO, said shortly after the amount of radiation released could exceed the issued following the Chernobyl accident and the Fukushima Nuclear Accident.If Fukushima still emitting radioactive material, the amount may exceed that of a nuclear incident occurring in 1986 in Ukraine, said Junichi Matsumoto, of TEPCO.
Nishiyama has insisted that the two accidents, the only ones that have been rated INES-7, are different, as in Chernobyl exploded reactor core, while hydrogen detonations Fukushima affecting the external building units.

The increased severity of the accident at the international level is based on provisional estimates of the Japanese nuclear agency, which has detected high concentrations of cesium and radioactive iodine in the area.According to Nishiyama, emissions of iodine 131 from the beginning of the crisis terabecquerel over 10,000, down from the hundreds of thousands of terabecquerel cast at Chernobyl (Ukraine).

Fukushima and the Ecology

Shortly before the news is confirmed, a new fire has been extinguished and alarm bells ringing at the station. This time has been the No. 4 reactor that has experienced the fire, according to Kyodo news agency reported. In the area there has been no change in radiation levels, according to the same source.
The fire was spotted by a worker at 6.38 am (21.38 GMT Monday) in a building near the exit to the sea water reactor. According to TEPCO, the company operating the plant, the operator detected smoke in the place where the test samples of water south of the plant and immediately alerted fire fighters work at the facility, which quelled the fire.

Fukushima: The catastrophe of Japan and the future of nuclear energy

The six reactors at the nuclear plant in Fukushima-Daiichi were designed to be automatically stopped if there was an earthquake measuring over 6.2 on the Richter scale. When Japan was hit on March 11 by an earthquake of intensity 9, the strongest in its history, nuclear safety systems, as expected, stopped nuclear fission reactions in the three active reactors.
But after the nuclear shutdown, the radioactivity of the fuel is still generating about 6% of heat from the reactor at full capacity. And this heat production decreased only slowly over a period of months to years.

Fukushima and the nuclar energy

During normal operation, the core of a reactor with fuel rods is totally immersed in water and housed within a steel containment vessel. The heat produced by nuclear fission raises the temperature of boiling water to cause, and the high pressure steam produced drives a turbine to produce electricity, after passing through the turbine, the steam is condensed and cooled water returns to the core reactor, thereby achieving a constant temperature of 300 º C in the water under a pressure of about 75 atmospheres. All the reactor in the nuclear energy cooling system keeps running with power.

The earthquake crippled the grid, which was activated the emergency cooling system powered by diesel generators. Unfortunately, they were placed in a shallow part of the building complex of reactors, perhaps unwarranted confidence that the retaining walls would protect them against the sea, a tsunami and the ecology.

Future of the nuclear Energy

By the tsunami, an hour after the earthquake, the water had flooded the area where diesel generators and they stopped. Activated the emergency cooling system operated with batteries, but these were quickly exhausted.

Thereafter, he began to raise the temperature of fuel rods in the reactor core and glimpsed a disaster due to the inability to keep them fully immersed in water for losses due to boiling. Firefighters used several interconnected trucks to inject water under pressure in the reactor in the nuclear energy core affected. But the boiling water and steam became more rapidly than it could be replaced.

Fukushima threatens fight against climate change

Climate Summit in Cancun (Mexico) 2010, Japan noted for his opposition to extending the Kyoto Protocol and its commitment to a UN agreement that both signatory countries as emerging economies limit their greenhouse gas emissions .
A few months later and after the disaster of Fukushima, the Japanese firm position on climate change loses steam. Japan might reconsider its promise to cut emissions by 2020, said an official of the Ministry of Environment in the press Japan.
Later, Yukio Edan, Chief of Staff of the Government came to the fore to qualify the bad news: Tokyo will have to analyze the impact of the crisis on many policy Fukushima and industries, and climate change will be one more. Japan plans to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by 25% in 2020 to reach 1990 levels. However, this goal now seems a little more diffuse. "Right now, we have not decided whether to review that goal and we are not at a stage where we can make a decision," Edan said.

Fukushima and the Ecology

Even more direct was Hideki Minamikawa, administrative vice minister of Ministry of Environment: "It is true that our goal of reducing [emissions] will be affected significantly," recognized as recorded by the newspaper 'Yomuri'. Minamikawa is these days at the meeting in Bangkok on climate change, a prelude to the upcoming UN summit in Durban (South Africa).

The truth is that the complex of Fukushima was a fifth of all nuclear power in Japan and the disaster forced Japan to rethink energy policy. While reviewing the security measures of various plants throughout the country, international representatives gather in Bangkok expressed concern about the future.

The chief negotiator of the European Commission, Artur Runge-Metzer, acknowledged that the crisis of confidence in the nuclear impact on international negotiations on climate. "Nuclear is one of the energy that emit few greenhouse gases, the origin of climate change," said European press conference. Runge-Metezer also stressed the need to rethink our model of development, alternative technologies and renewable energy.

Fukushima and the nuclear energy

For its part, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, on Friday joined the voices of warning about the consequences of the catastrophe of Fukushima in the fight against climate change. Following the announced suspension of some nuclear power plants in Germany and the growing pressure in some countries against the extension of power plants or building new facilities, the nearest future resembles the past.

The gas and coal are back on the table. Looking to house, in late February, Miguel Sebastián defended the commitment of the Spanish Government for coal to ensure our security and energy independence. A month later, the data said that the main energy source in Spain in March had been the wind.
However, since international agencies warn: the abandonment of nuclear power using fossil fuels would increase by 0.5 gigatons of CO2 emissions by 2035, according to Fatih Birol. And Durban expected.