WORLD & NATION
MARCH 25, 2011
Stories by Alex Miller
Graphic by Bree Shepard
JAPAN
The effects of the radiation from the
Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant
ARE BEING FELT outside the Japan's
borders, as efforts to contain
the nuclear crisis continue.
According to the BBC, Officials
in Singapore discovered traces
radioactivity in certain food
items imported from Japan. The
BBC is also reporting that several
countries, including the US,
Australia and Russia, have instated
safeguards to check incoming food
products from the region of Japan
affected by the Fukushima 1 power
plant.
4
Vice President Joe Biden
CALLED FOR THE UNITED STATES
TO STEP UP ITS EFFORTS in returning
America to its position as a world
leader in college completion
rates. In WasHngton, Biden
addressed the "Building a Grad
Nation Summit" with his "College
Completion Tool Kit" plan, which
emphasizes a shift injocus from
high schdoT cOihpIetidh ■ T6"c6llege
completion, as well as "developing
action plans, embracing performance-
based funding, and aligning high
school graduation standards with
college entrance standards," reports
Reuters News. Though no monetary
aid was included with the plan, Biden
highlighted the need to make education
more affordable.
1
As A NO-FLY ZONE EXPANDS OVER LIBYA, the
's military intervention
faced its first setback when a U.S. F15 fighter jet
crash-landed on the night of Monday, March 21,
reports The New York Times. U.S. military officials
reported that the crash was a result of mechanical
malfunctions, rather than enemy fire, and that both
pilots successfully ejected and are safe. Meanwhile,
heavy fighting continues on the ground and air
strikes continue to target radar and anti-aircraft
defense systems.
RMESTINE
Israeli-Palestinian tensions took an ugly turn in the past
week as violence escalated on both sides. In response to more than 50
rockets and mortars fired into Southern Israel over the weekend, Israeli
forces responded with attacks against Hamas positions, reports The
Washington Post. One attack, in which Israeli forces returned fire on a
house from which multiple rounds were fired into Israel, left four dead
and 12 wounded, with three children included in the casualties.' More
recently. The Jerusalem Post reported that a Hamas official has declared
an Israeli air strike killed four Hamas militants.
Nuclear reactor crisis continues in Japan
By Abbey Brinkey
Staff Writer
The worst may not be over for Japan.
On March 11, a devastating earthquake hit
Japan. Then came the tsunami. Six hours later,
once everyone thought it could not get any
worse — it did.
The nuclear power plant at Fukushima
Daiichi was declared in a state of emergency.
This crisis is much greater than what
happened in 1979 at Three Mile Island,
according to Reuters.
"The major problem in Japan has been
the loss of cooling (produced by the loss of
electric power due to the tsunami damage),"
said David Dobson, associate professor of
geology, in an email interview. "The Three
Mile Island event was also caused by a loss
of cooling."
"At Three Mile Island, there was a
significant release of radioactive material
when radioactive coolant was released into
a nearby river," said Dobson. "Although
there are still unknowns, it is reasonably clear
■ that the Japanese incidents are already more
severe than what happened at Three Mile
Island — and they're not over yet."
However, The Wall Street Journal reports.
the situation at Fukushima Daiichi is not
quite the Chernobyl incident in 1986.
Chernobyl is known as the worst nuclear
incident in history. A reactor exploded and
released harmful radioactive smoke into
the air; fifty deaths were directly attributed
with this incident, and thousands more were
considered connected.
"The concerns involve both the reactors and
their fuel rods, as well as the 'ponds' where
spent fuel is stored," explained Professor of
Geology Marlene McCauley in an email. "The
reactor rods and spent fuel must both be kept
cooled with water."
March 15, a large fire broke out in the Unit
4 nuclear reactor, due to the instability caused
by the earthquake, Reuters reports. That same
day, white smoke was seen emitting from the
plant.
"White smoke — meaning the steam
release — would not necessarily be a good
thing," Keith Holbert, associate professor and
director of the Nuclear Power Generation
Program at Arizona State University, said in
an interview with Reuters.
"This releases some short-lived
radioactivity," McCauley said of the steam
release. "It isn't a huge problem unless you
are nearby; it's pretty low level and short
lived."
March 18, Japanese military fire trucks
were put to work spraying water into the
Unit 3 nuclear reactor, details CTV News.
NHK — a Japanese reporting organization —
disclosed that, while this was occurring, the
Tokyo Electric Power Company was working
on restoring power to Units 1 and 2 of the
nuclear reactors. According to The Wall Street
Journal, the company was successful.
"Our priority right now is to try and cool
them (the spent fuel pools) down first,"
an official from the Tokyo Electric Power
Company told Reuters.
The biggest concern at the moment is
containing the radiation that could leak into
the environment. Currently, there is talk
about encasing the reactors in cement to
prevent any leaks as well as burying the core,
reports The Wall Street Journal.
"Burying the reactor core is an option —
but not a great one," said Beverly Cea, who
attended Guilford in '74-'75. "Just think of
how long — 1000-plus — years it will be
before anyone can go near it."
"The reactors are pretty well-shielded, steel
inner cores, concrete containment around
that, etc," said McCauley. "The storage ponds
for spend fuel are not usually at all as well
protected. If those ponds' water all boils off,
the heat from the spend rods can get quite
extreme and the explosions that ensue may
put more, and longer-lived, radiation into the
environment."
300 workers have stayed behind to work in
groups of 50, reports The Guardian. They are
risking not only their health, but their lives as
well.
"My eyes well with tears at the thought
of the work they are doing," Kazuya Aoki,
a safety official at Japan's Nuclear Industrial
Safety Agency, said when speaking to Reuters.
Dobson spoke of the chances of a
catastrophe like this hitting America.
"We don't have the same degree of
earthquake and tsunami risk that the Japanese
do because of their geologic setting, so crises
like this are not as likely here," Dobson
said. "However, we have our own weather
and geologic risks that could affect nuclear
reactors, and the potential for engineering
failure or human error (as in Three Mile
Island) is always present, not to mention
terrorist attacks or other incidents."
Japan — along with the rest of the world
— watches with baited breath and crossed
fingers that another catastrophe does not hit
this already-ravaged country.