The massive earth quake in Japan has not only affected people and property but also had a sever impact on Japan's nuclear installation. Notably, the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant is one of the worst affected, which lead to the declaration of nuclear emergency in Japan.Reports of blast in the nuclear plant sent tremors among the officials and people fearing Chernobyl type of holocaust. What exactly lead to this situation.
Japan has a total of 55 nuclear reactors. Amongst which the Fukushima Daichi is one the important source of electricity to many parts of Japan. The march 11th earth quake, caused reactors cooling rods to be inserted into the core. the core is usually hot, it take almost a day or two to completely cool down provided their is a proper circulation of cool water. The quake has severely damaged the power grid(which circulates the cool water for the core to cool down) and also damaged the back up generators which would come into action if theres any power grid breakdown. This left only the battries to run the cooling pumps.
Life of batteries.
These batteries are expected to serve the purpose for not more than eight hours. We've learnt that, Heavy batteries are being flown by the military helicopters.
What's happening now!
This is not yet clear. Janpanes agencies say that the water in the reactor no.1 is evaporating. That means the core is so heated that the water pumped in is not sufficient to cool the core. As a result of this heating, there is a huge build up of pressure in the reactors. It is estimated that, the pressure inside the reactors is 50% more than normal. Authorities are planning to release some steam into the atmosphere, otherwise there would be a huge build up of pressure leading to a explosion, which is more worrying.
Is there any radiation leakage?
According to sources, japanese officials have checked the residents around the reactor for radiation indication and 3 among them tested positive. We've also learnt that radiation levels inside the reactor are 1,000 times the normal. Officials say that situation is not out of hands and are trying to contain the growing heat.
