The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was severely damaged due to a magnitud

Question

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was severely damaged due to a magnitude 9.03 earthquake and tsunami in March, 2011. Radiation exceeding government-recommended safety limits was subsequently found nearby in drinking water, in milk from farms 30 miles away, and in produce from farms more than 100 miles from the plant. Assume that the nuclear plant leaked radiation consisting primarily of radioactive cesium 137 (half life 30 years), strontium 90 (half life 29 years), iodine 129 (half life 15.7 million years), iodine 131 (half life 8 days) and plutonium-239 (half-life 24,100 years). What will be the short-term and long-term environmental and health impacts of the incident? Are the the benefits of nuclear power stations worth the risks of radioactive contamination?

Explanation / Answer

People who are outside the immediate area could inhale radioactive particles. A nuclear reactor accident could release radioactive iodine and radioactive cesium. Breathing in or eating food contaminated with radioactive iodine can cause thyroid cancer. Potassium Iodide (or Iodate) tablets can help prevent this.

Contamination of food and water can result from radioactive dust that settles on water supplies, crops or grass. Cows or other animals eat, and it works up the food chain. Any suspected foods should be washed.

Radioactive cesium with its long half-life (30 years), can cause more long-term damage, including cancer.

Tap water from Tokyo has been found to contain a small level of radioactive iodine-131, fortunately well below the tolerable limit for food and drink at this time.

Radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms as far as 75 miles from Fukushima exceeded government safety limits. The Japanese government is considering whether to order a halt to the sale of such products from the area.

Radiation sickness has haunted humanity since the atomic bombs dropped, killed entire teams of firefighters at the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster and worries workers trying to fix the Fukushima reactor in Japan. But certain death from a high dose of radiation may finally vanish with a stem cell-based cellular treatment that protects the human body when it is most defenseless.

Such a therapy might even work up to several days after exposure to dangerous levels of radiation, according to Ram Mandalam, president and CEO of Cellerant Therapeutics. His company has a U.S. government contract worth up to $153.2 million to develop the treatment known as CLT-008.

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