radioactive material
paved over
sailors removing, from USS Ronald Reagan
travel capacity of
radioactive soil, digging up
radioactivity, in water
radon
Rayleigh waves
reactor core isolation cooling system (RCIC)
reactor maintenance
reactor status
March 11, 2011 (Friday)
March 12, 2011 (Saturday)
March 13, 2011 (Sunday)
March 14, 2011 (Monday)
March 15, 2011 (Tuesday)
reactor vessel
corium eating through
design of
hydrogen explosion in
pressure building in
radioactive isotopes escaping from
steel containment lid for
remote control, radiation of
rescue efforts, after earthquake and tsunami
response team. See emergency response team
rias
Ring of Fire
robots, radiation destroying
Ronald Reagan, USS
caught in radioactive cloud
sailors developing cancer aboard
sailors removing radioactive material from
Roos, John V.
rotational energy
S
S waves. See secondary waves
Sakurai, Katsunobu
Sanriku Coast, Honshu
Sasaki, Itaru
Sasaki, Seizo
Sato, Yuhei
scram
seawalls
at Fudai
at Fukushima
at Miyako
along Tohoku coast
seawater, used for nuclear reactors
secondary containment
secondary waves (S waves)
seismic isolated building
at Fukushima Daiichi
seismic waves. See also specific types
at Fukushima
movement creating
speed of
seismographs
seismologists
seismology
Sendai
serious accident, INES
serious incident, INES
shield
cladding
lead
water
shielding
radiation reduced by time, distance and
time, distance and
sievert (Sv)
Simpson, Homer
spent fuel
storage pools holding
steam
release of, to lower pressure
valves opened for release of
venting
water, electricity and
zirconium reaction with
stickiness, of tectonic plates
storage pools
spent fuel held in
strontium
subduction
subduction faults
subduction zone
sulfur dioxide
Sulzberger Ice Shelf, Antarctica
suppression pool. See torus
surface waves
survival, after earthquake and tsunami
survivors
food, shelter and family searched for by
of hydrogen explosion
stories of
Sv. See sievert
T
Takahashi, Katsuko
tank collapse, at Cosmo Oil refinery
tectonic plates
Eurasion Plate
Filipino Plate
movement of
North American Plate
Pacific Plate
stickiness of
subduction faults and
tendenko (evacuation strategy)
children practicing
disaster memory and
reality of
TEPCO. See Tokyo Electric Power Company
thermal energy
thorium
Three Mile Island, nuclear accident at
time
distance, shielding and
radiation reduced by distance, shielding and
timeline, of events
Tohoku region, Honshu
map of
southernmost region
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)
anger toward
on dismantling nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi
public statements by
rolling blackouts announced by
staff from
Tomioka
torus
function of
malfunctioning of
steam within
tremors
tsunami stones
tsunamis
Abe experience of
anticipation for
destruction from
following earthquakes
Fudai hit by
GPS buoys identifying
Great Tohoku Earthquake generating
height of waves from
history of, in Japan
Kurosawa experience of
Miyako hit by
movement of
normalcy after
photos of damage from
prediction of
rapid movement of
rescue efforts after
sound of
survival from
Usuzawa experience of
victims of
warnings for
turbine
turbine building
U
ultraviolet light, radiation of
United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)
unstable
uranium
atom of uranium
fission and
transforming into radioactive isotopes
used in nuclear reactors
uranium pellets
in fuel rods
Usuzawa, Ryoichi
earthquake experience of
evacuation center work by
home lost
tsunami experience of
V
valves
as closed
mission to open
opening of, for steam to escape
power needed to open
vent (verb)
visible light, radiation of
volcanoes
W
warning systems
wastewater, dumped in ocean
water
makeup of
molecule of
radioactivity in
steam, electricity and
Wi-Fi
World Health Organization (WHO)
World War II
X
X-rays, radiation from
Y
Yoshida, Masao
brainstorming by
death of
evacuation orders by
fear of death
Kan meeting with
seawater used as last resort by
taking stock of reactors
team to help
workers organized by
Yoshizawa, Atsufumi
Z
zirconium cladding
steam reaction with
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deirdre Langeland has been a children’s book editor and writer for more than twenty years. She freelances as an editor and ghostwriter, focusing on science and nature explainers for young readers. She lives in New York’s Hudson River Valley. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
&n
bsp; Dedication
Preface
Day 1: Earthquake
Tsunami
Station Blackout
Day 2: Meltdown
Day 3: Evacuation
Day 4: Radioactive Cloud
Day 5: Fukushima 50
Day 6: Turning Point
Lessons
Timeline
Glossary
Bibliography
Quotation and Source Notes
Acknowledgments
Image Credits
Index
About the Author
Copyright
A note on magnitude and terminology: The earthquake and tsunami event that occurred off the northeast coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, is commonly called by several different names. The Japan Meteorological Agency originally referred to it as the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake and later as the Great East Japan Earthquake. It is often listed as the Tohoku-Oki Earthquake as well. For the purpose of this book, I have called it by the name used by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: the Great Tohoku Earthquake. The reported magnitude of the event also varies by source, but was revised upward to 9.1 by the USGS in November 2016.
On the scale used by seismologists to measure large earthquakes, the Moment Magnitude Scale, each jump in magnitude is an increase in energy released of 32 times, resulting in an increase of ten times in the amplitude of the seismic waves generated by the event. The terms “hypocenter” and “subduction fault,” used herein, are synonymous with the terms “focus” and “megathrust,” respectively.
Copyright © 2021 by Deirdre Langeland
Published by Roaring Brook Press
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Library of Congress Control Number 2020912214
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eISBN 9781626726994
First hardcover edition 2021
eBook edition 2021
Meltdown: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima Page 14
