H- Hello! I am Heather Monaghan
M- and Im Marcus Medellin,
J- and I am Jackson Frerking.
M- And we studied the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
H- This disaster occurred on March 11th, 2011,
M- This catastrophe has devastated Japan to this very day and will continue to do so in the future.
H- We visited different museums around Japan to see different effects of the tragedy.
J- Even though Japan does the best they can to fix the damages it caused; some may never be erased.
H- While we were in Japan, we found the Tepco museum and visited it. The original museum was destroyed, but this one was opened to display
exhibitions on the nuclear reactors.
M-While we were there, we saw many of things that all led up to this devastating disaster.
J- They displayed many artifacts from the Fukushima power plant and the Fukushima prefecture.
H- One of the artifacts that we found at the power plant was this pipe.
M- this pipe was found at the site of the disaster and was suspected to have fallen when either reactor 1, 2, or 3 exploded.
H- Other than the rust here and there, this pipe is still in pristine condition.
J- After we saw all the items at the Tepco museum, we decided to keep going.
M- Next we visited the Futuba nuclear crisis museum.
J-Here they showed us pictures, artifacts, and scenes from many different places that were affected.
H- It showed that the ocean is very contaminated with cesium which devastated marine life and caused irreversible damage.
M- This catastrophe had all started off with a massive earthquake that led up to the devastating tsunami. Both natural disasters led to the many
explosions at the Fukushima Nuclear Powerplant.
J- The earthquake came first along with many fore and aftershocks.
H-This had ruptured the subduction zone near the coast and then the tsunami followed. With all this happening, there were many complications at
the Powerplant. The water tanks were burning up, Pumps stopped working, reactors were unable to be cooled thereby resulting in multiple
explosions.
M- Reactors 1, 2 and 3 all detonated.
J- More explosions had occurred that day on many different sites and tanks, as you can see the outcome was horrific.
H-After all of this, the effects of this catastrophe were awful. The towns and cities that were in the range of the explosion, were evacuated and
abandoned.
M-Since there was so much radiation, when it exploded, it spread far and wide and could never be contained which caused detrimental health
effects for the people of Japan.
J- Many families were displaced of their homes for a long period of time after the disaster.
H- Another effect of this tragedy was that radiation has spread far and even to the coasts of North America in just 2 years.
M- This radiation has contaminated many things including the water and air.
J- All of these affects have negatively impacted Japan and other countries to this very day.
H-In conclusion, this disaster was truly devastating when it could have been completely avoided had safety measures been in place, the plant could
have benefited from backup generators that if functioning, could have cooled the reactors and avoided explosions.