9.0 magnitude earthquake on the Japan Fukushima Prefecture causes devastating tsunami on March 11, 2011, which moves Honshu Island 2.4 Meters and destroyed the cities and towns on the coast of northeastern Japan. The subsequent three nuclear reactors explosions cause radiation levels to rocket 4,000 times normal level in surrounding seawater. A nuclear emergency was declared the first time in Japan, and the Japanese authorities rated the events as a level 5 (Accident With Wider Consequences) on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
Japan accounts for about 20% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater and on average, an earthquake occurs there every five minutes. Japanese earthquakes are often accompanied by threatening tsunamis and eruption from volcanoes that kill many people in Japan. Due to this, concerns have been widely expressed about the particular risks of constructing and operating 57 nuclear power plants and over three hundred reactors with a number of others in construction or being planned. Amory Lovins has said: “An earthquake-and-tsunami zone crowded with 127 million people is an un-wise place for 54 reactors”. Professor Katsuhiko Ishibashi, one of the seismologists coined the term genpatsu-shinsai (原発震災), from the Japanese words for “nuclear power” and “quake disaster” to express the danger. Dr Kiyoo Mogi, former chair of the Japanese Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction stated in 2004 that the issue ‘is a critical problem which can bring a catastrophe to Japan through a man-made disaster’. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also expressed concern at a meeting of the G8’s Nuclear Safety and Security Group, held in Tokyo in 2008, warned that a strong earthquake with a magnitude above 7.0 could pose a ‘serious problem’ for Japan’s nuclear power stations. Where are those dangerous nuclear waste is disposed is also very worrying.
To date, the most serious seismic-related incident has been the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, located in the Fukushima Prefecture, which consists of six reactors and uses high-risk uranium-plutonium mixed oxide materials and dangerous fast breeder reactors. Fukushima is Japan’s third-largest county, but with less populations, where has a large number of Japanese military experimental base. Fukushima has occurred a number of earthquakes successively in less than 10 years time, and the magnitude is surprisingly consistent between 5.5 to 6.0. Record shows:
1. October 2, 2001, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred off the coast of Fukushima, focal depth 40 km.
2. July 24, 2002, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurred east cost of Fukushima.
3. February 16, 2003, off the coast of Fukushima, a 5.1 earthquake occurred, focal depth 70 km.
4. October 2, 2003, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred near the sea in Fukushima, focal depth 40 km.
5. June 2, 2005, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred near the sea in Fukushima, focal depth 40 km.
6. October 11, 2006, near the sea of Fukushima, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred.
7. March 9-10, 2011, two small magnitude consecutive earthquakes occurred in waters near Fukuoka. By the March of 11th, Earthquake intensity increased to 9.0.
Some critics argued that submarine nuclear test would lead to earthquake and tsunami, which have often been covered up with “earthquake”. March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake occurred in the sea far from the Fukushima, could be a hydrogen bomb test caused, and the earthquakes on 9th and 10th could be atomic bomb test. Plutonium is found on the land and at the sea outside Japan’s crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Observers believe that the Japanese officials claimed that Japan can produce nuclear weapons in 30 minutes is not a nonsense.
Japan’s “nuclear power” and “quake disaster” has posed a serious threat to tourist travelling to Japan.
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