What is the difference between Fukushima and Chernobyl?

Only one reactor exploded at Chernobyl, while three reactors experienced meltdowns at Fukushima. In both meltdowns, the long-term hazards arose primarily from strontium-90 and cesium-137, radioactive isotopes with half-lives of 30 years. And Chernobyl released far more cesium-137 than Fukushima did, according to Lyman.

What caused Japan nuclear disaster?

At the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the gigantic wave surged over defences and flooded the reactors, sparking a major disaster. Authorities set up an exclusion zone which grew larger and larger as radiation leaked from the plant, forcing more than 150,000 people to evacuate from the area.

How did the 2011 Japan tsunami also cause a nuclear emergency?

The accident was triggered by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on Friday, 11 March 2011. On detecting the earthquake, the active reactors automatically shut down their normal power-generating fission reactions. This flooding caused the failure of the emergency generators and loss of power to the circulating pumps.

What was the cause of the nuclear disaster in Japan?

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The event was primarily caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. It was the most severe nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

What was the severity of the Chernobyl accident?

On April 12 nuclear regulators elevated the severity level of the nuclear emergency from 5 to 7—the highest level on the scale created by the International Atomic Energy Agency —placing it in the same category as the Chernobyl accident, which had occurred in the Soviet Union in 1986.

How did the Chernobyl nuclear power plant melt down?

A major earthquake and tsunami caused the destruction of power lines and backup generators. Once the plants were without external power and the generators were flooded, a catastrophic decay heat casualty ensued, leading to major reactor plant damage including meltdowns and explosive loss of reactor containment.

Where was the second worst nuclear accident in the world?

Fukushima accident. Written By: Fukushima accident, also called Fukushima nuclear accident or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi (“Number One”) plant in northern Japan, the second worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power generation.