Most Destructive Earthquake in Japan Followed By Nuclear Emergency

Today at around 2.45 pm there was a massive earthquake that literally rocked the world’s earthquake capital Japan. The magnitude of the earthquake was measured as 8.9 which is really huge. The epicenter of the earthquake was not on land but in the Pacific Ocean near Japan’s coast.  But this thing has made the conditions worse. The epicenter being off the coast may sound like a relief at the first sight but then this has produced tsunami. If we go by the statistics, it is the tsunami that has caused more damage to the nation. Lacks of housed, cars, ships and literally everything that came into the tsunami’s way was washed out.

 
Still, there is one more thing that the country is more concerned about. Those are the nuclear reactors in Japan. The various nuclear power plants are shown in the image. The earthquake has brought down the cooling system in the reactors. That is why the government has declared a Nuclear Emergency in the country. The reactor No.1 out of 3 at Fukushima power plant was closed (along with several others) after the earthquake hit the plant. The water levels inside the reactor were observed falling. The cores of the reactors, where actual fission reactions take place, remain hot for a long time even after it is closed. So even after shut down, the cooling action has to take place to avoid any further complications. The heavy water that is used to cool the cores has showed a downward falling trend.

The good this is that there has been no news about leakage of radiation from any of the reactors. Had this been the case, it would have caused much much more damage to the life in near proximity. The other good thing is that as for now, there is no exposure of the nuclear fuel rods that undergo fission after enrichment. The officials are trying to maintain the water levels so as to prevent any possibility of exposure of nuclear fuel rods.

They say that the Fukushima power plant has multiple safety measures installed to facilitate the core cooling process. So there is nothing much to worry about. However, all the residents in the 3(km) radius of the Fukushima power plant are moved out to ensure safety. Around 3000 residents are moved out of the area surrounding the power plant. Though this earthquake was the most powerful in last 100 years or so, earthquakes in general are no new thing for Japan. No wonder, the nuclear power plants must have been designed keeping all this in mind. We can only hope and pray that no further devastation occurs anywhere.