What are the effects of the leak of radiation/radioactive water in Japan?

What happened Last year on March 11th, huge earthquake hit Japan which caused devastating tsunami. The tsunami damaged Fukushimas nuclear power plants, causing it to emit high radiation. It is still emitting radiation without much water to cool the power plant, and the place is prohibited for anyone to walk in. Last month, about 120 tons of radioactive water was found leaking at the decontamination system of Fukushima nuclear power plant number one, and around 80 litters of it leaked into the Pacific Ocean. The toxic water leaked at the joint of the pipes, and the water was used to cool the power plant. Things you should know First of all, you need to know the differences of radiation, radioactivity, and radioactive substances. Substances such as uranium (used as fuel in radioactive reactor,) and plutonium (created with nuclear fission*1 of uranium) are radioactive substances. When these are collapsed and are changed into another substance, it emits radiation. Finally, radioactivity is the ability of radioactive substances to emit radiation. Secondly, good things to know are external and internal exposure. External exposure to radiation is when you are exposed to radiation from outside. On the other hand, internal exposure is when you are exposed to radiation by taking in something that contains radiation. Thirdly, you should know the difference between Becquerel and Sievert. Becquerel is the unit measuring how many radiations were emitted from radioactive substances in a second. Meanwhile, Sievert is how much damage the radiation will give to human bodies. Because Sievert is a large unit, we tend to use Millisievert more often which is one-thousand times smaller than Sievert. Additionally, micro Sievert is one-thousand times smaller than Millisievert. *1 nuclear fission: the splitting of nucleus in an atom into nuclei (plural of nucleus), while releasing energy. Environmental Effect If the radioactive water leaks, the food chain of marine life will be collapsed. For example, when waste water factories gets drained in the ocean, PCB* 2 and DDT*3 spread into the ocean. Then plankton eats PCB and DDT. These toxic substances get concentrated within the body 6400 times, and when a bigger fish eats that plankton, the substance is concentrated inside its body even more, and so on. The same may happen with radiation, when the radioactive water leaks into the ocean. When animals are exposed to high radiation, they may get cancer. Radiation damages some of the small blood vessels and capillaries, which result in heart failure and brain aneurysm, which causes bleeding inside brain. Dying animals will definitely unbalance the ecosystem.

Some plants are dying as well, such as the oak trees in Fukushimas forests. Additionally, radiation can cause damage in plant seeds, making it unable to germinate. It will also affect the reproduction of seeds. *2 PBC: Stand for Polychlorinated Biphenyls. It is highly toxic to living creatures. *3 DDT: Stand for Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. It is a poison thats too dangerous that its prohibited to manufacture and use Japan Cultural Effect Fish and Shellfish are one of the most important ingredients in Japanese traditional foods. As I have explained above, there is a high possibility that all sorts of marine life will be affected by the leak of radioactive water. This means that when people eat fish which contaminates radioactive substances, they will get internal exposure. Some farmers are unable to grow shiitake; the Japanese mushroom because as Ive written above, the oak trees in some forests are disappearing. Shiitake also tend to absorb radioactive substances, so consumers are even more concerned. "Our biggest fear is, how will we support ourselves?" says one farmer. Unable to grow some crops which supported their living for a long time, many farmers are worried. "The government says a lot of things but in terms of concrete action it's done absolutely nothing. We're on our own." Fukushimas farmers are urged to plant sorghum, which absorbs the radioactive substances and prevent it from getting into the crops. By this idea, the article stated, While that idea is years away from helping Fukushima's 100,000 farmers earn a new living, it may be the only way to stay on the land families have farmed for generations. Health Effect (physical) Radiation can affect or damage many parts in our body that includes our brain, skin, teeth, cells, lungs, and eyes. As you get older, the more you become resistant to radiation, both internally and externally. However when infants or young kids get internal/external exposure to radiation, it is highly dangerous for them because their bodies are not resistant enough. For unborn child, it is even more dangerous because some parts of their bodies are very sensitive to radiation. Also, this could increase the risk of getting cancer later in life. The primary effect of being exposed to radiation is cancer. Cancer can be occurred when radiation affect the cells and genetics such as DNAs in the body. Cancer causes pain in several organs and nerves when it spreads, high fever, fatigue* 4, weight loss, bowel changes, and coughing. It takes wide range of time to recover from this disease, depending on how well you were at the beginning of the treatment. Other disease caused by exposure to radiation is Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS.) The symptoms of ARS includes nausea*5, vomiting, and diarrhea. After that, lack of bone marrow*6 will lead to weight loss and loss of appetite, bleeding, infection, and feeling like you have a flu. The amount of radiation will determine whether you survive the disease or not, and if you do survive it could take few weeks to two years to recover. There are many other

health effects from being exposed to radiation and from radioactive water leaking into the ocean. To make it simple, these two effects can be divided into two parts; external and internal exposure. To compare the external exposure to internal, internal exposure to radiation is more dangerous than the other because once the radioactive substance is inside and start to emit radiation inside your body, there is no way of preventing it. This can happen if you take in something that is radioactive and such includes water and marine life. When you take radioactive water that highly contains strontium, it can increase its number inside bones and can cause leukemia and cancer which both can cause death. The cells in the body can get damaged or even die from internal exposure to radiation. On the other hand, you can avoid external exposure just by covering your face, not taking your jacket inside your house (because radiation can be stuck on it,) washing your hands often, etc. Below is a table showing what effect/how much damage humans will get by being exposed to radiation depending on the amount. Total of radiation (milli Sievert) Effect on humans 150 1000 5000 10000 50000 bit of irritation number of lymphocyte decrease diarrhea, bleeding, temporary loss of hair Unconsciousness death within 48 hours

*4 Fatigue: tiredness as both bodily or mentally. *5 Nausea: sickness at the stomach. *6Bone marrow: soft tissue in the center of the bone, which are main sources of red blood cells and many white blood cells that fill the bones. Mental Effect Radiation will affect the mental illness. The psychological disorder/effect to radiation includes depression, irritation, anxiety, and stress. Whether it continues long or not, there is a possibility that this will develop psychological disorders. Many are concerned about how food are contaminating radioactive substances which as Ive mentioned a number of times, can cause internal exposure. A lot of people still miss their homes and towns which are washed away by the tsunami and wants to visit, but it is prohibited to do so for the place is highly dangerous. Some towns still take about 3 more decades to fully recover and be able to live. The recovery is proceeding slowly.

Conclusion To conclude, the leak of radiation and contaminated water will show its effect in variety of places, such as in environment, culture, human bodies (health,) and in our minds. All of these could be affected severely. The worst part is that all these things could disappear or die, which lead to some serious consequences. From this research, Ive learned that it is not right to be afraid of something without knowing much about it, which is the reason why I started working on this research. Its very important that we know about radiation to not to make same thing happen (or at least know what to do when this disaster/nuclear accident happen again) and also because Im sure we will hear about nuclear accident for some time. Because damage of nuclear power plant and emissions of high radiation are considered quite new experiences around the world, numbers of professors even have different ideas. This means that we have to be able to determine and control our own behaviors, because we are responsible for our lives.

Citation

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