Visualizing Environmental Science

Nuclear Energy 435

© AIR PHOTO SERVICE/AFLO/Nippon News/Corbis

Unit 1 Unit 2

Unit 3

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and many will be unable to return. Farmers had to aban-

don their crops, and high radiation levels will limit sea-

food catches in the area for at least decades. The Nuclear

Safety Commission estimates that cleanup of the Fuku-

shima Daiichi site alone will cost at least $250 billion.

The Link Between Nuclear Energy

and Nuclear Weapons

Fission is involved in both the production of electricity

by nuclear energy and the destructive power of nuclear

weapons. Countries that own nuclear power plants have

access to the fuel needed for nuclear weapons (by

reprocessing spent fuel to make plutonium). Responsible

world leaders are concerned about the consequences of

terrorist groups and states of concern (such as Iran and

North Korea) building nuclear weapons. These concerns

have caused many people to shun nuclear energy and

to seek alternatives that are not so intimately connected

with nuclear weapons.

There are several hundred metric tons of weapons-

grade plutonium worldwide. Storing plutonium is a se-

curity nightmare because it takes only several kilograms

to make a nuclear bomb as powerful as the ones that de-

stroyed the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in

World War II. However, since the 2001 terrorist attacks

in the United States, the security of plutonium stockpiles

and nuclear power plants has been increased substan-

tially to reduce the chance that terrorist groups could

steal plutonium and enriched uranium and use them to

make nuclear weapons.

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in

Japan created a tsunami that severely damaged the Fu-

kushima Daiichi nuclear power station. The tsunami dis-

rupted both the normal power supply and two backup

systems that pump cooling water. Without cooling water,

three of the six reactors at the plant underwent melt-

down. An explosion caused by a buildup of hydrogen

in an overheated vessel caused severe damage to one of

the reactors (Figure 17.18). The Fukushima Daiichi ac-

cident contaminated both the ocean and surrounding

land. People from neighboring areas were evacuated,

GENIA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images, Inc.

NG Maps

Global

Locator

…iÀ˜œLޏ]Ê1ŽÀ>ˆ˜iÊUʈ}ÕÀiʣǰ£ÈÊ

The arrow indicates the site of the explosion. The upper part of

the reactor was completely destroyed.

Health consequences of Chernobyl

Uʈ}ÕÀiʣǰ£ÇÊ

This 14-year-old is recovering from thyroid cancer. A significant

(25-fold) increase in thyroid cancer in children and adolescents

occurred within a few years after the accident.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,

>ÀV…ÊÓ{]ÊÓä£ÓÊUʈ}ÕÀiʣǰ£nÊ

This photo, taken a few days after the accident, shows the

severely damaged unit 1 (far left) and badly damaged unit 3 (right).