Earthquake. Tsunami. Nuclear meltdown.
After the 9.0 earthquake hit Sendai, Japan, at 2:46 p.m. March 11, the country faced a tsunami and, now, a nuclear crisis is continuing to unfold. The death toll stands at 4,100, with an estimated 11,000 still missing.
This disaster — both natural and man-made parts — has had unprecedented media coverage, greatly due to the fact that Japan is so technologically advanced and connected.
In just moments after the quake, there were videos and photos uploaded and broadcast around the world. After the tsunami struck, images quickly spread, showing the widespread devastation. These were all the more mesmerizing — terrifying — because Japan is a highly industrialized nation: That wave sweeping cars, boats, trucks, ships, houses, planes across fields, highways, bridges could just as easily be here in the United States. Unlikely, sure, but Americans could empathize.
This disaster feels more real and pervasive than others in recent history, such as the tsunami in Indonesia or the earthquake in Haiti, partially because of the difficulty getting on the ground coverage in those areas and partially because Japan is a more developed country, there is more to destroy.
With each day, the reports of the failing nuclear power plant become worse, shifting from likely no damage to the potential of major catastrophe: There isn’t any water in the cooling tanks, there are reports of fires and explosions, they’ve expanded the evacuation zone, countries are evacuating their citizens.
Right now, it’s unclear if or how the release of radioactive material into the environment would transpire.
If it’s severe, it could be catastrophic release that might devastate hundreds of square miles. If it’s less extreme, the containment structure may hold and only a small amount of radioactive material would be released.
By comparison, experts have said the problems at Fukushima Daiichi plant are less severe than Chernobyl but more severe than Three Mile Island.
Among the concerns in the aftermath of this disaster is, could it happen here?
More specifically, could an earthquake trigger a nuclear meltdown in the U.S.?
According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the plant most likely to be damaged in a quake is Indian Point, Buchanan, N.Y., followed by Pilgrim, Plymouth, Mass., and third, nearby Limerick, with a one-in-18,868 chance of suffering core damage from an earthquake.
To be sure, if there was a major earthquake here, we’d need to worry about the buildings collapsing first. But it’s far easier to repair physical damage than nuclear damage.
For those advocating nuclear energy as an alternative to oil or coal, it would behoove us to proceed with extreme caution, and fully consider how devastating it could be.