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On March 11, a powerful, magnitude 9.0 quake hit northeastern Japan, triggering a tsunami with 10-meter-high waves that reached the U.S. west coast. Here's the science behind the disaster
March 11, 2011 |
Ask the Experts
As Japan suffered the worst earthquake in the country's recorded history, tsunami waves fanned out across the Pacific Ocean at the speed of a jetliner
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The type of accident occurring now in Japan derives from a loss of offsite AC power and then a subsequent failure of emergency power on site. Engineers there are racing to restore AC power to prevent a core meltdown.
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After the Japan earthquake, seismic stations, deep-ocean buoys and tidal gauges delivered a wealth of data for accurate tsunami forecasts in Hawaii, California and the rest of the Pacific rim, but public preparedness can be even more important
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For starters, retrofits could make U.S. reactors safer--and maybe even make nuclear power more palatable
A series of major earthquakes have struck beneath the Pacific Ocean in less than a year and a half. Could the U.S. west coast be next?
Leaks, burst cooling pipes, faulty controls, misplaced fuel rods and engineers' warnings about design flaws have done little to slow down approvals for continued operation of the nation's aging nuclear plants
For starters, retrofits could make U.S. reactors safer--and maybe even make nuclear power more palatable
Confused by the fast-changing pace of events? Here are the key points to know
One of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi reactors contains a blend of uranium and plutonium fuel that may soon find use in the U.S. Does it pose more risks than standard uranium fuel?
Radioactive fallout seems like the obvious culprit behind the negative medical consequences that arose after the explosion at Chernobyl, but it's hard to measure even the dosage those contaminated received, let alone link it to medical problems
As Japan attempts to cool overheating nuclear fuel with seawater, experts worry that the damaged spent-fuel pools pose the greatest threat
Any future discussion of nuclear power will have to take a hard look at regulation and safety, in particular the practice of storing spent nuclear fuel rods on-site
Exposed fuel pools and low-pressure readings at the Fukushima Daiichi plant suggest growing hazard levels there, raising serious concerns about the course of the crisis
Aerial views of the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant from March 12 to March 17 show signs of the chaotic sequence of events ranging from explosions to fires
The speed of the Pacific Plate, the distance Japan's main island was displaced and other facts and figures about the March 11 earthquake in Japan help to put this event into perspective.
Drug-makers are claiming to be running out of the iodine pill, an anti-thyroid cancer drug, but its usefulness is limited
Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant normally relied on purified water to whisk away heat from its reactors, until the destruction wrought by the March 11 tsunami called for extreme measures
Elevated radiation levels have been detected at and around the stricken nuclear power station in Japan, but the Chernobyl accident remains far more catastrophic
As worries grow over radiation leaks at Fukushima, is it possible to gauge the immediate and lasting health effects of radiation exposure? Here's the science behind radiation sickness and other threats facing Japan
Nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi station in Japan are critically endangered but have not reached full meltdown status. Our nuclear primer explains what that means and how the situation compares to past nuclear accidents
Even as increased levels of radiation are likely to be picked up in the U.S., experts suggest little health risk to those outside the immediate area near the damaged Fukushima nuclear facility
Hydrogen and steam explosions pose ongoing risks at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, where three such events have already occurred in the past five days
Threats of explosions and dangerously high radiation doses are just some of the risks facing workers trying to avert complete meltdowns at multiple reactors in Japan
Maps and on-the-ground views reveal the aftermath and its extent
A tour inside the sarcophagus at the Chernobyl nuclear plant that melted down 25 years ago
The design, which features reinforcements at the base of a large stilted building to help prevent damage from powerful tsunamis, aims to provide a new city hall and vertical-escape shelter for 1,500 people
The geophysics basics of the earthquake and tsunami, with infographics and video, by guest blogger Chris Rowan of the University of Chicago
On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine, Scientific American frequent contributor Charles Q. Choi traveled to the site and snapped these haunting images
From a psychological perspective, what type of mind sees unexpected natural events as "signs" or "omens" related to human behaviors?
Amid conflicting evacuation recommendations, radiation experts say that exposures to date have been relatively low outside the power plant and that people in the U.S. will not face any danger
Seismologist Richard Allen describes how long-term planning helped Japan avoid even more loss of life—an approach the U.S. also needs to take
The full impact of the nuclear emergency in Japan will depend on how bad it gets
To safely enclose and robotically dismantle the 25-year-old makeshift confinement sarcophagus at Chernobyl, contractors are now erecting a massive steel structure weighing more than 29,000 metric tons
Scientific American's David Biello judges Fukushima to have reached Chernobyl proportions. Steve Mirsky reports
At a press briefing, physicist Ken Bergeron explained the type of accident occurring at Fukushima. Steve Mirsky reports
A top U.S. nuclear regulator has now given a dire assessment of Japan's nuclear crisis, saying that radiation from uncovered spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could force emergency workers to abandon their fight to prevent meltdowns there
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