April20,2011Vol.110.docVIP

April 20, 2011 Vol.110 Jason W. Crockett Nuclear Crisis After Earthquake and Tsunami Although officials at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been able to keep the reactors cool in recent days, concerns now center on highly radioactive water in basements and tunnels underneath the plant. People within a 20-kilometer radius of the plant have been evacuated, although the United States recommends an 80-kilometer evacuation zone. The damage suffered by the Fukushima plant after the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11 has raised new questions about the safety of nuclear power around the world. One of the first nuclear accidents that alerted people to the risks of nuclear power occurred in 1979 at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Mechanical failures and operator error led to the release of contaminated nuclear reactor coolant, causing 140,000 people to flee the area around the plant. Government investigations later determined that the amount of radioactive material released was not enough to significantly raise the risk for cancer and other diseases, but the accident led to increased regulation for nuclear power plants in the following years. The worst nuclear disaster in history happened at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986. During testing on one of the reactors, a sudden power surge led to a series of explosions that caused the reactor to rupture. The resulting fire threw a cloud of contaminated smoke into the sky, causing the evacuation and eventual resettlement of more than 350,000 people in the surrounding area. Officials in Finland and Sweden measured increased radiation in the atmosphere immediately after the accident, and abnormal radiation levels are still being found in plants and animals as far away as Bavaria, Germany. Despite the dangers of nuclear power, many supporters argue that it is safer than other power sources such as oil or coal. Proponents say that nuclear power plants do not emit greenhouse gases and produce de