Andreas Drahotský

Matyáš Průdek

Addressing Immediate Concerns and Containment Measures for the Fukushima Nuclear Incident.

At 2:46 PM on Friday 11th of March 2011 an earthquake, with a 9.0 rating on the Richter Scale, centered 130 km offshore from the city of Mendai, shook the entirety of Japan. After an approximate 3 minutes of movement the earthquake subsided. However, the threat still continued. In consequence, the tremors had created an exceptionally large tsunami which was heading directly towards the Japanese coastline. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was in the direct path of the Tsunami and it was only a matter of minutes before the plant was hit. Although the operators on site initiated an automatic shutdown of the reactor, their efforts were proven to be in vain, as only seconds after the earthquake subsided, the reactor building was flooded by mass amounts of water and the scram was not completed. Critical infrastructure was damaged and the lower floors of the reactor building are being flooded. The international community has been informed of the events and is intending to take action immediately. A meeting is to be held as soon as possible and those attending it will be tasked with creating comprehensive containment measures, as the situation develops and to estimate the impacts the event may have on the general population and the environment.

Documents

• Study guide

Matrix