0
What happened in Japan when the power plant exploded and is there radiation in the air?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
First, the nuclear power plant CANNOT explode, and it didn't. What has apparently happened is that after the earthquake on March 11, 2011, the power plant was SCRAMMED, which means an emergency shutdown procedure. This prevents the nuclear fission reaction from continuing.
It is the heat of nuclear fission that boils the water into steam, and the steam turbines generate electricity. But even after the reactor is shut down, there is still LOTS of heat in the core, and you need electricity from some other source to power the pumps that circulate the cooling water. The nuclear power plant included a number of auxiliary diesel generators to generate enough electricity to cool the reactor core, but the diesel engines were disabled by the tsunami. The tsunami also destroyed all of the electrical power wires in the area, so with no power being generated by the reactor and no electricity available to run the coolant pumps, the reactors overheated.
We still aren't sure what has happened, but some of the uranium fuel rods appear to have been partially melted, and some radiation has been released into the environment. Some radioactive iodine-131 has been detected in the water supplies in Tokyo, but at very low levels. Iodine-131 has a half-life of only 8 days, so it is pretty radioactive, but it will all be gone in just a few months. However, radioactive iodine can cause thyroid problems, especially for infants, which is why the Japanese government has asked people not to drink the tap water. An "activated charcoal" water filter can remove even trace amounts of iodine from the water.
One of the problems with measuring radioactivity is that our detectors are SO GOOD these days that even very low - as in, "harmless" - levels of radioactivity can be detected. So far, nobody has been sickened by radiation, although several technicians have exceeded their "yearly safe allowances" for radioactive exposure.
If you are in the United States, you are certainly at a much greater risk of having an airplane crash on your house than you are from radiation for the leaking Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
What country suffered a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March and what catastrophe followed?
Japan, and a nuclear plant exploded
What places have been exposed to radiation?
Los AlamosHiroshimaNagasakiChernobylThat nuclear power plant in Japan
What happened after plant first became able to live on land?
Adaptive radiation spread them into many land niches
What from the earthquake triggered the tsunami in Japan?
Well to start of a earthquake happened and then the tsunami and well that's when this all happened causes children drowned and the right after that radiation plant started leaking it infected the farmers land and now they can't use that farm land for the nest 3,000 years no official cemeteries to bury their dead so that means that there may be an epidemic lets hope no well and then animals run lose like crocodiles and zoo's wiped out. Then people didn't know about the radiation so they ate the vegetables and things that were infected with radiation then the wost has just begone the radiation has leaked into the ocean... the means fishing in the U.S may be not safe but most definitely our economy has gone down. Its gone down because Japan has stopped all production of milk and everything that has to do with produce. So that The scoop about Japan May God Help Them ...
After plants moved to land what happnend?
adaptive radiation formed mant new land plant species
What happened to the nuclear power plant after the earthquake in japan?
they exploded
Why did the Japan's nuclear plant exploded?
It exploded because, seawater into the cores of the wrecked reactors fast enough to keep up with the steady heating.
Did Japan's nuclear plant pop?
As of March 20, Japan's nuclear plant is leaking radiation, but it has not collapsed yet.
Who will be affected by radiation leak in Japan?
Mostly people in Fukushima since that is where the Radiation Plant is.
When and where was there a tsumini?
There was one in japan recently. In 2011 the Tsumini hit Japan and there nuclear power plant exploded, causing many deaths.
What country suffered a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March and what catastrophe followed?
Japan, and a nuclear plant exploded
How did the radiation leak in japan ocurr?
Due to a nuclear power plant.
What places have been exposed to radiation?
Los AlamosHiroshimaNagasakiChernobylThat nuclear power plant in Japan
Was the place of nuclear plant in japan right?
Yes, the explosion happened in Japan. It was very tragic.
How much danger does the US face with Japan's nuclear plant radiation fallout?
The U.S does not face much of a threat from the radiation in Japan but it may quite be possible for the minimal amounts of radiation to get here, possibly the amount a microwave emits when activated.
What is entailed in the state of emergency at the nuclear power plant in Onagawa Japan?
The radiation levels rise, causing 1,000% more radiation than normal.
Why is the possible collapse of a nuclear power plant in Japan such a danger?
since it is a NUCLEAR power plant, radiation can be released, which is really harmful to people and others. :)
