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After a major earthquake in Japan on Friday, thousands are struck homeless and dead. The earthquake, measuring a 9.0 on the Richter scale, was a devastating blow to Japan. This earthquake created a massive Tsunami that flooded the northeastern coast.
As a result of this epic natural disaster, nuclear power generators at Fukushima Dai-ichi have had several problems. According to the Omaha World Herald “Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the reactor fire was in a fuel storage pond — an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool — and that ‘radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere.’”
Nuclear energy generators run on special rods that must be concealed by both warm and cool water.
The rods serve as the hot part of the reactor, getting up to 2,000° F. If all the water in the reactor turns to steam, such as in Fukushima, the rods become uncovered and radiation is exposed.
According to the Omaha World Herald “if the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, nuclear officials said. But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.”
Experts stated that most of the leaking radiation was apparently in steam from boiling water. “It had not been emitted directly by fuel rods, which would be far more virulent,” stated the IAEA.
