The horrific effects of the earthquake and resulting tsunami have literally shaken Japan to its core and as if that were not enough, the country is now struggling with a potential nuclear meltdown.
The ongoing crisis in Japan raises questions pushed aside in recent decades in the rush to develop more and more nuclear reactors around the world – supposedly for peaceful purposes.
When was the last time you heard a debate over the disposal of hazardous waste or accident prevention measures at nuclear facilities? And has anyone in our country mentioned lately the possibility of a natural catastrophe that might unleash radioactive fallout?
Korea’s Airang News reminds us:
In 1979, large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant escaped at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania, United States, resulting in the release of radioactive gases.The accident prompted the evacuation of roughly 140-thousand people, and although no leaks were reported outside the plant, 11 out of every 1,000 local residents has suffered from cancer since the accident.
Now consider this CBS report on the developing nuclear crisis in Japan:
Japanese officials were struggling Sunday with a growing nuclear crisis and the threat of multiple meltdowns, two days after the country's northeastern coast was savaged by a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
A partial meltdown was already likely under way at one nuclear reactor, a top official said, and operators were frantically trying to keep temperatures down at the power plant's other units and prevent the disaster from growing even worse.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Sunday that a hydrogen explosion could occur at Unit 3 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, the reactor that could be melting down. That would follow a blast the day before in another unit at the same power plant, as operators attempted to prevent a meltdown by injecting sea water into it.
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