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Another Fukushima Nuclear Disaster?

It has been 6 years since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan. Do you still remember this energy accident, which was caused by the tsunami following the Tohoku earthquake on March 2001? This accident resulted in the deadly leakage of radiation into the surrounding area, which not only contaminated water and natural environment, but also affected the locals’ health and living condition, so that more than 200,000 residents living nearby had been evacuated. Nowadays, what is the city like? From the relevant news, we know that the Japanese government has taken measures to remove the nuclear fuel in the surrounding area after the disaster and the residents are allowed to Fukushima now, but the city is still desolate and almost no people go back there.
In fact, after the disaster, according to the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was classed at the level of 7, the highest level in the Scale, and was considered as the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl incident. Combined with the present situation of Fukushima, we can predict that the future of the city is not bright and more efforts need to be made for its recovery. However, though there is such a vivid example in our life, the nuclear accidents still take place now and then.
Today, a potential place of the nuclear accident would be introduced. The place is in Armenia, where the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant (MNPP) is located. And the study analyzed the geological setting, tectonic blocks, faults and volcanism of the MNPP. Then the earthquakes and seismic hazard and risk were also discussed. The result shows that the possibility of nuclear accident in this place is growing and the delay to abandon this Plant might cause another “Fukushima Nuclear Disaster”, which would be a big catastrophe for not only the local people, but also the world.

Article by Rauf Nadirov and Ogtay Rzayev, from Azerbaijan.


Full access: http://mrw.so/2eUoiC
Image by thierry ehrmann, from Flickr-cc.

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