While the expected cancer risk to humans caused by the radiation released over the Pacific Ocean are small, trace amounts of radiation have already reached the North American continent, in particular parts of the North West Coast of the United States.

According to estimates, 80 percent of the released radiation was deposited in the ocean and the other 20 percent was mostly dispersed within a 50 km radius to the northwest of the power plant in the Fukushima Prefecture. The radiation released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was largely concentrated in Japan and over the Pacific Ocean. Over the last five years the cost for utility scale solar has declined by 78 per cent, and by for wind by 58 per cent.”īased on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), both the Chernobyl and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disasters were categorized as level 7 events - defined as a major release of radioactive material, with widespread effects, requiring planned and extended countermeasures. In the meantime, renewable energy solutions are getting cheaper. The management of nuclear waste in increasingly burdensome and the cost of decommissioning plants is escalating. “This is why we are demanding more transparency and better governance around nuclear power and the risks involved, and a better assessment of its mounting costs. “Our local presence and ongoing activities to help the communities impacted by radioactive contamination in Chernobyl and Fukushima gives us first-hand experience of the human and environmental consequences of nuclear disasters,” said Adam Koniuszewski, Chief Operating Officer of Green Cross International, who recently shared the stage with former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan for a conference on nuclear power. The number of deaths from the nuclear disaster attributed to stress, fatigue and the hardship of living as evacuees is estimated to be around 1,700 so far. The evacuation involved a total of over 400,000 individuals, 160,000 of them from within 20km of Fukushima. The stress-related effects of evacuation and subsequent relocation are also of concern. This includes people who were exposed to radiation or other stress factors resulting from the accident, and who are consequently at potential risk from both long and short-term consequences.Īs with the Chernobyl nuclear accident, which impacted 10 million people, Japan is expected to see increased cancer risk and neuropsychological long-term health consequences. Another explosion in the building housing Reactor 2 on March 15 released even more radiation, and thousands of people left their homes as workers used helicopters, water cannons and seawater pumps to try to cool the overheating facility.Report says 32 million people in Japan are exposed to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disasterġ1 March, 2015 | Geneva: Approximately 32 million people in Japan are affected by the radioactive fallout from the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, according to the 2015 Fukushima Report now available from Green Cross. The facilities where Reactors 1 and 3 were located exploded on March 12 and 14, respectively, prompting the government to evacuate everyone within a 20km radius. As crews searched the rubble for survivors and the nation reeled from the earthquake and ensuing tsunami, the nuclear disaster unfolded over the course of several days. As a result, residual heat caused fuel rods in all three reactors to partially melt down. READ MORE: Fukushima Timeline: How an Earthquake Triggered Japan’s 2011 Nuclear Disasterĭuring the emergency, each of the three operational nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plant shut down successfully, but the backup power and cooling systems failed. The Fukushima disaster is considered the second-worst nuclear disaster in history, forcing the relocation of over 100,000 people. On top of the already-horrific destruction and loss of life, the natural disaster also gives rise to a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan causes massive devastation, and the ensuing tsunami decimates the Tōhoku region of northeastern Honshu.

Japan reactor meltdown