RYAN KAMPHIUS
8 UTSAV GANDHI

campus@technewsiit.com

TechNews I Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Fukushima and Nuclear Power: Beyond the Headlines

By Utsav Gandhi
CAMPUS EDITOR

As engineers continue to work to stabilize the unfortunate
situation at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in Japan,
which suffered a string of failures, explosions, and radiation
leaks following the earthquake and tsunami on March 1 1, peo—
ple around the world are asking questions, raising concerns and
discussing the safety of nuclear power. The HT Armour College
of Engineering and College of Science and Letters organized a
forum this past Thursday, “Fukushima and Nuclear Power: Be—
yond the Headlines,” in Wishnick Hall Room 113. At the fo—
rum, Vice President of the National Center for Food Safety and
Technology (NCFST) Robert Brackett, Armour Dean Natacha
DePaola, and CSL Dean Russell Betts were present, and Profes—
sor of Physics Christopher White delivered a presentation and

discussion that provided much—needed information and back—
ground on the situation at Japan’s nuclear plants, and nuclear
power in general. Topics discussed included fission, radioactiv—
ity, radiation, health effects of radiation, and some basic nuclear
engineering.

After the disaster, legitimate questions have been pouring
in as to what the consequences are for many different indus—
tries. Unfortunately the media has reported information rang—
ing in nature from misleading to downright incorrect. Professor
White, who was in China, and living right on the coast next to
the South China Sea while the earthquake happened and the
tsunami warning was issued, started off his presentation with
some basic information about what radiation is — basically, any
energy that is transmitted as rays or waves. Using iClickers to
gauge the audience’s conceptions about what kind of awareness
exists about harmful and harmless radiation, Professor White
said exposure to radiation mostly does NOT make objects ra—

 

dioactive themselves, with some exceptions (after all, we use ra—
diation to keep food safe and storablel). Explaining the concept
of half—life, he said that though the 1—131 isotope released from
nuclear fission processes in Japan (which has an 8 day half—life,
and is feared to cause thyroid cancer) has been released, a very
large sample is required to actually pose any kind of threat if
it enters the food chain. Most of the audience acceded via a
poll that though they respect both beta and gamma radiation
(which are most commonly released as fission by—products),
they don’t fear them — though some also said that they worry
about unnecessary radiation that could affect them if they were
to come in contact — which is a perfectly plausible concern to
have. Professor White stressed that internal organs are much
more sensitive than external muscles — but also that eliminat—
ing exposure is neither possible nor desirable. The concern in
Japan currently is because due to the processes ongoing at the
time of the earthquake, the fission processes haven’t completely
stopped — in fact, there are statistics to prove that even after a
week, 4MVV, or 4 million joules joules of energy per second, are
being produced — which is getting the public worried.

Showing an extraordinary BBC online presentation titled
‘Fukushima: Dealing with disaster,’ Professor White then ex—
plained that due to the tsunami, the reactors got hot and there
was no flow of water. The hydrogen gas produced went into the
exterior building where it exploded due to increased pressure.
As a desperate measure, on the 17th of March, helicopters were
used to drop water. Despite these extreme measures, the US De—
partment of Energy has said that we, as currently unexposed
individuals, need to spend two complete weeks at the disaster
site to reach the US DoE exposure limit. The plant is currently
shut down, as one would expect, but there are concerns that an
additional release of isotopes is possible. 4% of the US’s food
imports come from Japan, and this number will probably dras—
tically reduce in the forthcoming months (although Hawaii and
California have a larger demand). Multinational food compa—
nies are implementing their own food safety inspection tech—
niques. The presentation concluded with a reiteration of the fact
that the radiation released at the disaster site is not in levels high
enough to cause any concern, and efforts are underway to en—
sure that legitimate concerns are pacified soon enough before a
panic attack.

An aerial View shows the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant
in thejapanese town ofFutaba, Fukushima prefecture on March 12, 2011.
(Photo credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

 

  
    

Doors Open: 2:00-3:00pm
Welcome: 3:00-3:30pm

First Speaker: 3:30-4:00pm
Action Session: 4:00-4:45pm
Speed Network: 4:45-5:00pm
Exhibits: 5:00-5:30pm

Second Speaker: 5:30-5:45pm
Breakl Exhibits: 5:45-6:00pm
Panel: 6:00-6:50pm

Closing Comment: 6:50-7:00pm

Presented by:

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