Fukushima: The Meltdown

In 2011, Japan was ravaged by a magnitude 9 earthquake, followed by a massive tsunami. In Fukushima prefecture, TEPCO’s Daiichi Nuclear Reactor exploded and exposed the surrounding area to radiation. Now, this radioactive material is seeping into the Pacific ocean, and it has made the surrounding areas into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Few people outside of Japan know what really happened at Fukushima, or how the consequences of this one disaster could potentially affect the whole world. On today’s Geographics, we bring you the story of Fukushima.
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Credits:
Host - Simon Whistler
Author - Shannon Quinn
Producer - Jennifer Da Silva
Executive Producer - Shell Harris
Business inquiries to [e-mail]
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[@geographicstravel]

Have you checked out my latest channel Business Blaze? It's interesting business stories with a dose of ridiculousness thrown in. Check it out here: kzbin.info/door/YY5GWf7MHFJ6DZeHreoXgw

[@lonewolfandcub668]

It's strange the tsunami only went in one direction

[@alexmilchev5395]

How many channels did you make? Are you addicted to making channels. Do we need to contact channelmakers anonymous to get you help?

[@mjuneoginn]

Based on your Accounts between UKs Windscale, Soviets'/Ukraine's Chernobyl, and Japan's Fukushima Daiichi- Sir Simon: Which of them is the worst of them all, in terms of root nature of the catastrophe, technology, purpose, location, cleanup, and aftermath?

[@calvinhobbes6646]

@@lonewolfandcub668 it didn’t..

[@miniaturekitty9679]

Allegedly

[@brentfairlie9159]

Those brave workers at the plant. They should not be blamed

[@romelnegut2005]

Absolutely. They did everything they could to prevent this disaster.

[@LP4ever088]

Yeah, it is especially messed up considering it is not their fault that the greedy pricks that they work for wouldn't allow them to damage the plant to stop it. Rarely, are employers blamed for the conditions they put their workers under in Japan.

[@l0rd_of_hollows681]

maybe the guy in Tokyo that sent 4000 litres of water

[@joer8854]

@@LP4ever088 The thing is that even though people have said they could not have foreseen this being an issue that's bullshit. Candu reactors use a syphon system that ensures that if the water in the reactor boils off it will automatically be replaced with or without power and that system has been used since 1969. There is also a relief valve in case of excessive pressure. There have been minor accidents where the valve released a bit of steam but nothing that would cause danger to the local population. Of course, no accident is best but minor releases of steam are better than an explosion and meltdown. What a stupid system. Totally the fault of the people in charge.

[@vivianloge4985]

@@LP4ever088 Adding seawater to the reactor coolant system ends any chance of ever using that system/reactor in the future. With a new nuclear power plant costing upwards of $10 Billion. Our Emergency Response Manager informed us that the site manager at the second TEPCO site ignored the command to not use seawater. As a result that site did not have a meltdown.

[@romelnegut2005]

Those workers risked their lives in order to prevent a disaster and when that happened, they were blamed even though they did everything they could do and this is so upsetting.

[@Mr3344555]

As doctors say, the best medicine is prevention, enough isn't enough when it comes to a radiological disaster my friend. To those nuclear meltdowns we don't know about and we're prevented cheers! But if a leak happened, they tried, still wasn't enough though.

[@romelnegut2005]

@@Mr3344555 That's 100% true.

[@frenchguitarguy1091]

Mr3344555 yeah but the workers did not cause this disaster- Tepco did by failing to elevate and build high enough flood defences in a country that is famous for tsunamis- in fact and I can’t remember where I say this but I’ve heard that the facility was meant to have been built with 10 meter flood defences from the get go, but tepco opted out. If you’re at work and your managers fail to order a food delivery and now you are open with low produce are you to blame for something you had no control or decision over?

[@frenchguitarguy1091]

Mr3344555 like there were nuclear plants that were closer to the epicentre of the earthquake and tsunami, but these did not meltdown because the flood defences were high enough.

[@mikez2779]

thats actually bs. these reactors were not damaged by either quake or tsunami - they had a backup battery power supply that was able to run the cooling systems for some time. the whole trick was to restore the grid power supply before these batteries run out of juice. it sure was quite a task. non the less in many other power plants, hit by exactly the same tsunami, their operators have succeeded. it sure didn't help that workers were evacuated every time there was an alarm about the slightly increased levels of radiation. it was a race against time - every minute was priceless and every time they were running to mommy hours were being wasted. later on, on top of it, some moron came with a brilliant idea to send all workers home so only high-ranked engineers were left on site. how gallantly... problem was all personnel who was skilled and experienced in manual work was sent home, with only the office workers remaining on site. this was all hands on deck type of situation - and the people most needed for this kind of job were sent home. no wonder they didn't make it. there is a chance they could have saved this reactor. if only anyone there had the balls to make tough decisions. If liquidators at Chernobyl had a Japanese mentality this cleanup would be still ongoing... a certain tunnel underneath the reactor would never have been dug. in these sorts of situations, people have to do what has to be done - not cry about the risks.

[@thefreakgamerp]

They did what had to be done. Just like the liquidators from Chernobyl. They did what they could to contain the damage. Mad respect to them.

[@Swedishmafia101MemeCorporation]

Chernobyl was such a good series.

[@Sergiblacklist]

I would say scrapping together a generator out of car batterys is amazing what they did is heroic while being angry at the company is justified the workers should get medals.

[@LancasterResponding]

@@Sergiblacklist That kind of ingenuity always amazing me. One of my favorites is a guy that put out a fire in house by using his snowblower to throw snow through the bay window and onto the fire. Also love your first name. It’s the best.

[@Comuniity_]

@@Sergiblacklist even then it wasn't even the company's fault, no one could have predicted the earthquake and tsunami, a 50ft wave is ridiculous and a 9 earthquake is enough to fuck up any country

[@tigertank06]

Is there any kind of elephants foot in Fukishima?

[@joshuapatrick682]

The guys who said don’t use saltwater because we don’t want to damage our equipment should definitely be blamed

[@thatsnodildo1974]

Ikr? Like the equipment was fucked either way and it could have been far worse.

[@Corpse_Faction]

No. Your wrong. The reason they didnt use saltwater is because, in short, it would quickly destroy the cooling system via impurities and salt buildup. He phrased it in a very misleading way.

[@herrensaar1989]

@@Corpse_Faction You sir are correct. There are so many errors and uenxpained reasons in this video.

[@namless3654]

they should be locked up for life. Or maybe forced too live in the exclusion zone

[@dasit1965]

Joshua Patrick I don’t think you realize using saltwater would have made it worse. He just explained it in a weird way

[@mackenziekarsonovich1073]

I remember hearing a story about old folks near the area refused iodine tablets so that younger people could have them instead. They said they’d already had a full life and sacrificed themselves to radiation so the next generation wouldn’t be as affected. That is some serious solidarity, which is always something Ive admired about the Japanese.

[@Wicked061]

I teared up a little bit reading that. That is strength.

[@L0dG]

That's what sucks about nuclear reactors. It is clean and cheap energy... Untill something like this happens:(

[@TerabyteAIX]

​@@L0dGnew safety regulations emerge to prevent issues like this happening again. Sucks how safety's often written in blood, but it's true for far more than just nuclear. Hopefully we figure out a safe way to harness it tho! Nuclear has a ton of potential.

[@L0dG]

@@TerabyteAIX could have not said that better myself

[@dariusemmanueltherumblegro7240]

KZbin: how many educational channels do you want? Simon: Yes.

[@geographicstravel]

Moar

[@RustedSteele]

"In 2020 the Olympics are coming to Tokyo" Me, in 2020: NO THEY'RE NOT.

[@evapunk333]

I came to the comments just to see if someone mentioned this lol.

[@justalurkr]

When a given video was made is becoming obvious without looking at the post data

[@AmbuBadger]

Yeeeeaah... That comment didn't age well.

[@justalurkr]

@@AmbuBadger who knew? Not me, who was going to put myself out there more, go to church, section hike the Pacific Crest Trail, etc. :D

[@AmbuBadger]

@@justalurkr Ah yes, the year was 1BC (one year Before CoViD)...

[@Filiolus]

Damn.. This was already 8 years ago, ... Geez. What a sad day in history. I can honestly say I didnt know the workers did so much to try to prevent it - so much was focused on the negatives. Brave souls..

[@YahshuaSavesByYahuah]

Filiolus Because they wouldn’t have had to if nuclear energy was never built and if Tepco had a brain and kept those robots for that disaster instead of insisting that a tsunami or earthquake will never happen again.

[@somethinglikethat2176]

@@YahshuaSavesByYahuah nuclear energy is second only to wind in carbon emissions and provides electricity around-the-clock. Not only that but when built to adequate safety standards it won't fail like Fukushima. We can see the result of adequate safety in the Onagawa nuclear facility which was closer to the epicentre than Fukushima but was not damaged by either the earthquake or tsunami.

[@YahshuaSavesByYahuah]

Adam Hussey Nuclear energy is a joke. If I had to choose between petroleum or nuclear, I’d choose petroleum, although HEMP FUEL is #1.

[@herrensaar1989]

@@YahshuaSavesByYahuah Petroloum/oil for electricity is stupid expensive, so that will never be compareable. Also more than 1.000.000 times the people have died from oil, coal and gas powerproduction pollution, than from pollution from nuclear facilities. Wind, solar and hyrdro where possible, and nuclear as the backbone, is the only way to lower co2 emissions.

[@grilledleeks6514]

@@YahshuaSavesByYahuah low logic is low iq

[@syntaxerror9994]

Its a shame the employees get the blame when it was corporate policy that forbade the use of salt water.

[@ColCurtis]

The employees disabled the isolation condensers. The condensers would have most likely prevented reactor damage. I still don't blame the employees, they should have had better training.

[@michaelb1761]

@@ColCurtis So, the description in this video is inaccurate? They didn't use the isolation condensers?

[@ColCurtis]

@@michaelb1761 From a documentary I watched years ago I remember them saying the isolation condensers are a large mass of water that has a vent to atmosphere. The condensers are used to condense high temperature radioactive steam back to water that is reintroduced back into the core. The radioactive water/ steam is kept separate from the water in the condenser. The boiling and release to atmosphere of the large mass of water in the condenser is designed to buy time when the pumps aren't running. The steam being released from the condensers scared the operators as they have never seen it vent before, so they closed the valves. Closing the valves prevented the water from boiling and carrying reactor heat away.

[@grilledleeks6514]

It annoys me that people treat the employees at Chernobyl like heroes, yet these guys take blame? Dumb ass millenials.

[@Chris.Pontius]

@@grilledleeks6514 What has this to do with Millennials? Weird leap.

[@Mariana16562]

It doesn't surprise me they had a plan C for a situation like that one. My father is a quality control consultant and has worked multiple times with japanese companies. Once he told me that a company he worked for had requested nails from a Japanese company and asked for no more than 1 nail to have faults per package. Once they received the nails, the japanese had sent another small package with the faulty nails with a note attached saying "we worked really hard to make the faulty nails, we hope they are what you expected". In other words, failure wasn't even in their vocabulary

[@josephrobinson6171]

It angers me that the blame seems to be fully on the employees, when the head office failed them MULTIPLE times, delivering nowhere near enough water and forbidding them from using salt water.

[@XLAdvRider]

Obsolete design and unaccountable govt agency spelled disaster

[@louismac1]

they should have just used the salt water to begin with

[@seanmccarty1176]

@@louismac1 saltwater would have made it worse. It would have completely destroyed the cooling system. So the meltdown would've been more severe

[@maxsav007]

8 months later: "even after all this time" Uranium: half life of 250,000 years

[@Saufs0ldat]

Uranium is pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things. The most dangerous elements/isotopes will vanish within a few years even without cleanup.

[@francisphillips53]

Plus all that very radioactive water being dumped into the ocean everyday.

[@adrianbalboa5353]

@@Saufs0ldat Yeah it just gives you cancer instead.

[@Saufs0ldat]

@@adrianbalboa5353 If you ingest large amounts of it, sure. Normal people don't do that, though.

[@TheJMBon]

Uranium alone isn't very dangerous. You can hold a chunk of uranium ore in your hand and not even get cancer from it. It's the daughter particles created during nuclear fission that are dangerous. Also, Uranium 234 has a half life of 25k years but uranium 235 is what is used in reactors which has a half life of 700 million years.

[@jamienicholls7830]

Meanwhile Tepco's CEO, CFO and all the other C O's sit back in their comfy offices and homes and watch while their staff literally die trying to save the plant. Classy.

[@MartinsGarage97]

Ok, I'm getting spoiled with the amazing content and presentations. Great job 👍

[@oraculum3395]

said it before, anything Narrated by Simon is something I'm willing to in the very least check out. Never a let down.

[@derekweinerttv4163]

Ill spoil you later with my deeeeeockkkk

[@DrPlatypus1]

Derek Weinert TV 😂😂😂😂😂

[@orneryokinawan4529]

I lived through this disaster. I lost everything including family members.

[@alexstorr3357]

How terrible, I'm sorry you had to suffer through this. I hope you can find some peace in the future. Love from the UK 🇬🇧

[@blacksabbath3034]

My condolences

[@arnepianocanada]

My special friends in the Fukushima choir mentioned above were ladies Masayo Shishido and Tomoko Endo.

[@Scorpion122178]

:(

[@joshuajoe1419]

Hope things are getting better.

[@ashJayden06]

Godspeed those brave souls who risked and gave their lives to prevent further catastrophe. Heroes.

[@prapanthebachelorette6803]

Exactly, they tried ABSOLUTELY everything

[@scgaryb]

There are so many inaccuracies in this video

[@raydiaz2772]

Don't forget a lot of the American and other militaries were part of disaster relief efforts in Japan after tsunamis hit.

[@LisaBowers]

Fascinating video! I never knew they tried using car batteries. Y'all are _always_ teaching me something new. 👍🏻

[@wendellswendell2001]

Oh yeah man they were harvesting battery's from every truck they could find anywhere close by!

[@multiyapples]

I have nothing but respect for those who have tried to contain the disaster.

[@oraculum3395]

Simon please we need many, MANY more stories like this. How I mean that: your voice and words chosen are in my opinion one of the best in combination for telling stories people can "feel" and I find worthy of the time spent to listen. Thanks for every video in top 10 and the many other topical channels/videos you might do in the future. If I ever had a choice growing up on what or how one of my teachers acted I without question could have appreciated a teacher with your mannerisms .

[@geographicstravel]

Thank you :)

[@namename9998]

@@geographicstravel Can you do a video about Fukushima, Chernobyl, and nuclear energy that is based on facts, or put a disclosure notice at the beginning of all videos mentioning that what is mentioned in videos is based on reports by mainstream media, or is completely made up, not based on verified facts. The only facts really found in this video were that Fukushima is located in Japan, and that there was an earthquake that caused a tsunami in 2011.

[@Abysia]

This guy's soy soaked voice makes me want to kill myself

[@DabbleDo]

Great job on the new channel! Great topic. The Whistler is a youtube legend, thanks for allll the (tons and tons of) interesting content!

[@The_S1ngul4r1ty]

I don’t understand why this is always characterized as “a disaster no one could have foreseen” when the word tsunami itself is Japanese.

[@frankboff1260]

I know. Build a nuclear facility on the shoreline of a country in the ring of fire. Gee what could go wrong?

[@victorvanrijn3993]

Its easy to say that now once it has happened, but if you asked anyone before Fukushima “what are the chances of a top 5 earthquake in history hitting within the next 40 years” I think the majority would have said they where slim. But after Fukushima all new nuclear powerplants are built with these types of disasters in mind, so you have little to fear about something like this happening again.

[@robinhood5627]

@@victorvanrijn3993 Actually they HAD to have done a risk assessment on the site BEFORE even building the reactor there. This risk assessment did indeed show strong evidence for very high tsunamis hitting that area historically. They already knew the area was prone to this before even building the site and thus they built a sea defence wall to protect it from tsunamis, however they built the wall too low to be a reliable defence in order to cut costs! way before the disaster geologists warned the walls were too low and in fact there was a project planned and lined up to rebuild strong and higher defence walls for 2014 before the tsunami hit in 2011. So yes, they KNEW.

[@tommorris3688]

Tepco wanted to skimp and save money by building an inadequate sea wall, and skimp on the cost of providing to backup diesel generators with adequate flood protection. Now Tepco wants to skimp by dumping highly dangerous partly-treated, but still heavily contaminated water, directly into the Pacific Ocean. Now the Japanese government is skimping and allowing other nuclear plant in Japan to restart, rather than accepting a fact that the seismic instability in Japan makes the country completely unsuitable for using nuclear power. The only sensible strategy for Japan now is to concentrate on renewable energy system and energy storage systems.

[@tommorris3688]

... Fukushima Dai'ichi disaster happened because of a tsunami. The accident was made hugely worse by inadequate nuclear reactor design, inadequate see wall protection, and inadequate protection for diesel standby generators against flooding. Tepco and the Japanese deny any responsibility for the incompetence that was shown. Westinghouse takes no responsibility for a lousy reactor design requiring control rods to be actuated upwards rather than gravity driven, and an intermediate spent fuel pool at the top of the reactor buildings. This is insane reactor design for a seismically-active installation environment.

[@Jack_Gibby]

As much as TEPCO is responsible for the disaster, some of the workers were incredible

[@LegendFTP]

Are u dumb

[@flyingsquid6062]

@@LegendFTP Can you spell?

[@stevewhite3424]

@@LegendFTP legend is a moniker that gets conferred on a person by others not one that a person grabs for themselves. Most people who think of themselves as legends are just the opposite. The workers that essentially killed themselves to save the plant are legends, you are the exact inverse of a legend.

[@XLAdvRider]

Bad reactor design and no accountability

[@jakubkrizka2283]

Im not so sure about who is responsible. The blasts were caused by cracks in the walls - leaking cooling water from used material containers. Its really hard to build the building to overcome 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

[@colchronic]

The reactors didn't explode, the reactors leaked hydrogen into the concrete building around the reactors and those exploded, not the reactors

[@KaiserStormTracking]

But at least 2 of them entered partial or full meltdown

[@user-be6rk1zd4j]

FINALLY! Someone who understands that the reactors did NOT explode! So sick of reading ignorant comments or watching people say that in videos. The reactor containment vessels did EXACTLY what they were designed to do. The only reactor to ever explode was Chernobyl!

[@user-be6rk1zd4j]

@@KaiserStormTracking That's not exploding....so a mute point to his point. He didn't say they didn't meltdown, he said they didn't explode.

[@KaiserStormTracking]

@@user-be6rk1zd4j Exploding happens during a meltdown. The luck here was only the reactors inside the vessels only melted. If it was a full scale meltdown then things could have changed

[@thomasdemeijer6180]

@@KaiserStormTracking The reactors didn't explode.

[@Pitchblackplays]

"In 2020 the Olympics are coming to Tokyo" .......whelp

[@zarahasan331]

Honestly same! The moment he said it i was like "WE WISH!" 😭

[@JEEPERSCREEPERSBEEPERS]

Lmaoooooo

[@adambaum9401]

an unpopular opinion, but i strongly maintain that nuclear energy is far better than carbon based alternatives. many scores of people die every year from the carbon cycle (coal miners, residents nearby the power plant, and ultimately- all those affected by greenhouse gas which may be everyone eventually)

[@adambaum9401]

TODarkschnider420 solar and wind are so wildly insufficient on a national scale that it's not even worth comparing to coal. it's a nice supplemental mechanism, but no serious country can rely on it solely for national grid supply.

[@stevewhite3424]

@@adambaum9401 you are 1000% correct. There is no possible way for any renewable energy resource to power a city such as New York which uses 11 billion Watt hours of electricity per day. How many thousand square miles of solar collectors and windmills does anyone think it would take to provide that power? Also take a quick peek at how much power a steel mill, aluminum foundry, or any other major industrial facility consumes per day. if I was to recommend anything to be changed in the future it would be the funding levels that we are barely providing to significant fusion research. There is simply no question in my mind that fusion power is the ultimate in safe and affordable power in the future.

[@jandrews6254]

Need to be far more selective about where you build a nuclear plant though and a country that is so frequently beset by earthquakes and tsunamis ain’t it.

[@adambaum9401]

J Andrews absolutely but the same goes for every crucial infrastructure. if a natural gas power plant exploded in a tsunami the death and environmental toll would be catastrophic

[@benhook1013]

@@adambaum9401 NZ is about 80% renewables and has plans for 100%. Given we have large amounts of waterways we can damn, but its still possible.

[@austingarrick9453]

Thank you Simon for getting me through my mornings! With all your great channels, I always have something to learn.

[@geographicstravel]

Thanks :)

[@steveruddick7573]

Well done to Simon and the team on the new channel, the content is great and really interesting. Keep up the great work cheers

[@MrANDREWRAT]

The more content you post the better KZbin gets. You have taught me so much and have encouraged me to keep learning. Thank you

[@vitabricksnailslime8273]

Really like the content on this new channel. Well done Simon.

[@susanrobinson910]

Thanks for the amazing information presented in this video! I am absolutely LOVING this channel so far! Can't wait to see what places are covered in the future. Well done, Simon and crew!

[@obscuremix8198]

The fact that the workers assumed responsibility for the incident and worked tirelessly to lessen the damage as well as some of the citizens who are willingly sacrificing their lives to clean up and restore their home says a lot about the Japanese as a whole. They deserve the utmost respect.

[@AaronTheWhite]

Loving the new channel, excellent format and information. I’d like to request a future topic of Gobekli Tepe with all of its monolithic glory and mystery surrounding its origins.

[@williamepps9519]

This channel is absolutely amazing. Good job guys.

[@Midnight_Rider96]

Always like your videos, but there is an error. Nuclear fission comes to a near complete stop as soon as the control rods are inserted, but the waste products that build up in the fuel rods are still very active, and the only way to control them is to keep the rods cool. They are not activated by neutrons, but spontaneously decay and release energy because they are inherently unstable in their atomic structure.

[@johnstewart1404]

aka half life

[@namename9998]

Other errors include talking about how liquidators are going to die terrible deaths because of exposure to HIGH levels of radiation. TEPCO has a document discussing cumulative exposure doses between March 2011 and September 2015, 100 mSv - 1 person 75-100 mSv - 191 people 50-75 mSv - 233 20-50 mSv - 267 10-20 mSv - 186 5-10 mSv - 129 1-5 mSv - 145 1 or less - 51 TOTAL # of people - 1,203 Maximum [mSv] - 102.69 Average [mSv] - 36.49 "The international limit for radiation exposure for nuclear workers is 20 millisievert (20 mSv, or 2 rem) per year, averaged over five years, with a limit of 50 mSv in any one year, however for workers performing emergency services United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidance on dose limits is 100 mSv when "protecting valuable property" and 250 mSv when the activity is "life saving or protection of large populations."" "The workers wore hazmat suits and hazmat masks, carrying dosimeters that alerted at 80 millisieverts. Each worker had to stop the operation once the dosimeter alerted." Compared to Chernobyl, which UNSCEAR measured in Grays, there were 134 patients exposed to 0.8-16 Gy, 106 survived!! One survived VERY severe [6.5-16 Gy], 15 severe [4.2-6.4 Gy], 49 [2.2-4.1 Gy], and 41 [0.8-2.1 Gy]. LiveScience mentions this, "Soon after the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl, dozens of cleanup workers at the plant were exposed to radiation levels as high as 8,000 to 16,000 mSv, the equivalent of 80,000 to 160,000 chest X-rays. This led to at least 134 workers developing serious radiation sickness and caused 28 deaths." If the majority of people at Chernobyl were able to survive up to 8,000 mSv, then the staff at Fukushima Daiichi are most likely going to survive. I'm not suggesting that it was completely safe for the staff at Fukushima. I am only trying to provide accurate information to counter the fear mongering this and sister channels are responsible for. Also, "After applying the J-value to the Fukushima scenario, we found that the amount of life expectancy preserved by moving people away was too low to justify it. If no one had been evacuated, the local population’s average life expectancy would have fallen by less than three months. The J-value data tells us that three months isn’t enough of a gain for people to be willing to sacrifice the quality of life lost through paying their share of the cost of an evacuation, which can run into billions of dollars (although the bill would actually be settled by the power company or government). The three month average loss suggests the number of people who will actually die from radiation-induced cancer is very small. Compare it to the average of 20 years lost when you look at all radiation cancer sufferers. In another comparison, the average inhabitant of London loses 4.5 months of life expectancy because of the city’s air pollution. Yet no one has suggested evacuating that city." "Even relatively high doses of radiation cause far less harm than most people think. Careful, large, and long-term studies of survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki offer compelling demonstration. Cancer rates were just 10 percent higher among atomic blast survivors, most of whom never got cancer. Even those who received a dose 1,000 times higher than today’s safety limit saw their lives cut short by an average of 16 months." The staff who helped clean up Fukushima are shunned not because of the accident, but because of the irrational fear that radiation is contagious [which is not true]! 40 years most of the people who cleaned up the disaster will have passed away? While this may be true, it would only be true because "A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station. The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.". Although, Keiko Kimura is a 91 year old survivor of the attack on Hiroshima. And, "The ministry announced Friday that the number of Japanese citizens who were older than 100 had risen to reach 69,785. Of that number, more than 88 percent are women." Of 50 countries and territories, Japan ranks 43 per 100,000 people for cancer. Japan also ranks in the top 5 [possibly 1st] in highest life expectancy. This could mean that those volunteers have a very good chance for seeing 100. Many of the liquidators from Chernobyl are still alive, and they received much worse doses. What is he talking about? Removing the soil? Crazy. First, the soil would need to be moistened so that radioactive particles remain on the soil, compared to flying into the air, being breathed in by clean-up workers who may not be wearing dosimeters and other protective gear. Then, the WET soil would be put in plastic bags. So they want to grow mold? It would have made more sense putting fresh soil or sand on top instead, IF the goal was to prevent particles from getting into the air. If radiation levels were the concern, there are areas around the world with naturally high levels of radiation and cancer rates aren't higher there. The only reason Fukushima was terrible was because TEPCO didn't build the seawall high enough as recommend. Onagawa, which was closer to the epicenter, had a higher wall and suffered no damage. With so much wrong information in just one video, maybe that has allowed the staff at TopTenz, Geographics, etc, to spend more time researching and creating other videos which are 99% factual. It's unfortunate that nuclear energy always winds up the subject people don't care to accurately research and discuss, especially since many [including TopTenz/Geographics] believe climate change is something that needs to be tackled now. Maybe they don't actually believe or care about the science.

[@YouTube2021FM]

@@namename9998 “I research great and this channel researched poorly” -compares to Hiroshima -doesn’t understand that Hiroshima was a single large dose of radiation and the majority of radioactivity was gone within a few months -doesn’t understand that the majority of this area is still radioactive a decade later -doesn’t understand the soil is indeed bagged 10/10 you sure showed them!

[@tlpineapple1]

@mattfreg100 "i own you" -claims that long term dosing is worse when not even the LNT model has been able to prove that. -the world is radioactive, most areas have had their areas increased by 50%, many times lower then the highest areas of natural where people reside without increased risk. -thinks his point was that it wasnt bagged.

[@elizabethebbighausen9341]

More great content! Thanks again, guys. Love this channel, too!!

[@sethfrego6333]

Love the new channel! All Of Simons shows and channels are amazingly done and make you well informed!

[@boydthepenguin]

I was in Japan during this. I watched it happening live and sat through every one of those earthquakes…and I knew almost nothing of what was happening at the plant. They never told us anything. The air of keep everyone calm and not panicking was very strong. I learned a lot about the situation and the workers from this and I am eternally grateful to them and to you for sharing. I still have a hard time watching/reading anything about that whole incident, but something about Simon telling it always makes things a lot easier to handle. The decade of time that’s passed since then also helps some. Anyway, remember, folks, tell those in your life how you feel about them and live your best every day, because you never know what the next one will bring.

[@Cmdtheartist]

This was an intense one. You handled it well. Thank you for your work.

[@obramsay]

Love the new channel Shell, you and your team are awesome, thanks for all the videos :)

[@kariechaos5382]

I'm so pleased to find that you've started a geography channel as well, I love history and information on places, especially ancient ones.

[@dr.jamesolack8504]

I realize I’m almost 2 years late but, that was brilliantly produced and presented. Excellent job to everyone involved in the making of this video. 👍. Keep on rockin’, Simon!

[@ruedaphoebe]

This video made me very emotional. My husband was supposed to be assigned to work in that area (not in the actual plant) but I dissuaded him from going that March because the birth of our son was close. He didn't go despite it meaning missing a financial opportunity for our small family. Another co-worker went instead of him. Weeks later the disaster happened. Thankfully his co-workers managed to get out but not after a lot of hardship. 😢💔

[@ncommino]

Good job guys 👍 love this new channel 💖

[@conorsarsfield5334]

Whoop finally something interesting . Loving the vids 👌🤟

[@MrSuupar]

Just came about this new Channel of yours and I love it. Watched every new Biographics video for months and I think it'll be the same for this Channel

[@RyanSVK]

Simon, the reactors themselfs didnt explode, like in Chernobyl ... what exploded was hydrogen gas wich has acumulated in reactor building, wich is above the reactor itself.

[@Aenonar]

The Chernobyl reactor did explode from steam inside the reactor. Then there was a secondary bigger explosion 2-3 seconds later probably from hydrogen, causing the reactor lid to pop off and reactor hall roof to open up, sending all the radioactive dust out...

[@CryptP]

The hydrogen gas that exploded in both cases originated from the lack of cooling to the reactor core. The overheating and lack of cooling means the resulting super hot pressurised steam oxidises the zirconium present in a lot of reactors, which is where the hydrogen gas comes from initially. This means the hydrogen gas is inside the reactor, and so it is the reactor itself that explodes.

[@lordomacron3719]

It is a common misconception. But then again any explosion at a Nuclear Reactor is never a good thing.

[@themanofshadows]

@@AenonarThe hydrogen explosion theory was proven false, no one actually knows what caused the Chernobyl reactor to explode. There are several theories, but no definitive answers. Steam was present in the reactor, but steam alone isn’t enough to cause an explosion.

[@uncledibby]

I appreciate your dedication. Subscribed

[@RicardoWARElizondo]

I love your channels . They get me though the work day . I had been getting bored just jamming out to music

[@SovereignwindVODs]

Those employees are god damn heroes. I want to say I would do the right thing and help control it, but I imagine that between the earthquake, then the tsunami and now the reactor failing I may very well have just bailed.

[@prapanthebachelorette6803]

The fact that they didn’t panic like shit after all backups failed alone was incredible

[@rwb_gary6355]

I was in Tokyo for the earthquake and I still live in Yokohama, but the government have been covering this up since day one, we won’t truly see the impact for decades

[@fission3292]

Great video as always!

[@revdr13]

Great video and comprehensive given the circumstances. How about 3 mile island?

[@alrightsky]

Great video. Had me in tears as it brought back many memories from that period, haha, but great presentation of the situation. Thank you.

[@clarknelson7393]

Dear Mr. Whistler i have been a long time subscriber and fan of both this channel and top tenz as i have found them both fascinating and educational. Thank you for all your content and devotion to your channels as a viewer amd fan it is greatly appreciated please keep the uploads coming!!

[@leedesigner1977]

Thanks so much for this, Simon. I've seen so many reports on this subject, mostly with bias opinions attached to them. This is the first time I've seen and heard about the what seems like the human side of things. Thanks again, Lee 🇬🇧

[@weeds526]

Where's Homer Simpson when you need him?

[@bryancoburn6523]

Doh!

[@venicebeachsportsnetwork6677]

When i was a kid didnt realize that having someone dumb and lazy working at nuclear power plant was a joke. Just figured it was regular job

[@brianwillaman1776]

You are one busy guy... this youtube channel and Megaprojects. Enjoy them both. Great job!

[@GrimKeeper9011]

Thank you Simon for your presentation.

[@semaj_5022]

It breaks my heart that instead of just accepting that this was a freak accident caused by a natural disaster, people just have to find someone to blame and of course they pick the people that did everything they could and literally risked their lives to keep this from being any worse. Not every bad thing has to be somebody's fault. Sometimes bad things just happen. It takes a week mind to fail to accept that and my heart goes out to the workers who gave their health to try and mitigate this disaster.

[@vismaytiwari2954]

Bhopal gas tragedy plz

[@santiagopeck]

I'm almost certain that Simon has already covered it in one of his channels. Megaprojects if I recall right.

[@philsoro491]

Love your channels Simon, you're awesome 😊

[@anguskeenan4932]

Awesome content, thank you everybody involved in making this

[@geographicstravel]

Glad you're enjoying it :)

[@stemogstel22]

Not to make light of the situation, but "radioactive boars" is not a phrase I ever expected to hear.

[@n5syr01]

Oh no, they say he's got to go, got to go Boarzilla

[@dr.jamesolack8504]

@@n5syr01 Blue Öyster Cult! Good one, my friend. You get a 👍 for that one!

[@rogue72able]

I never realized just how bad the catastrophic chain reaction of events were. I just remember seeing that one exploded on the news and my parents started FREAKING out

[@lilrex2015]

I am so happy you started this channel. After the Chernobyl video on Biographics I always wanted more.

[@ABCDoris]

Absolutely excellent video. Thank you.

[@notthatbitchagain6857]

This new channel is pretty allright. How 'bouts the battlefield at Gettysburg PA, USA?

[@shauntaylor5313]

Literally just finished Biographics' episode on Chernobyl!! Absolutely splendid!

[@forgot7744]

I love your new geographic channel

[@RichieK2005]

Ooh! I've been interested in Fukushima for a little bit but I never had the time or ability to not procrastinate to actually look into it. Now I can actually begin to learn about it. Thanks!

[@mandalor45]

I just stumbled upon this video and channel and saw it was Simon and insta subscribed

[@ilarious5729]

Imperial and metric!? you spoil us!

[@shebbs1]

Yes, giving Americans their cave-man units, and metrics for everyone else.

[@sparkpenguin]

@@shebbs1 we're cavemen; you guys keep counting on your fingers then. 12>10

[@Luke..luke..luke..]

Very good choice of topic. Thanks guys. ♥️

[@buckleupbuttercup7442]

Love it more Simon Whistler your voice is pleasing to my ears as I learn about people places and things keep it up.

[@anakamarvelous]

“In 2020 the Olympics are coming to Tokyo” Corona virus: and i took that personally

[@obsidiansands]

I find it a very "HUMAN" thing to do when they effing blamed the people who were trying to SAVE everybody else's lives for something NOBODY had any control whatsoever - or even foreseen. It's very human, and also very disgusting. They tried to do everything in their ken to not make the situation worse - and should have been hailed as heroes for making sure the rest of Japan didn't become a radioactive wasteland.

[@davefrank3797]

Amazing video i say this and biographics are my favorite that you dob

[@geographicstravel]

Thanks :)

[@saltybear6117]

Great video! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@MrLifeissomething]

Few people outside of Japan know what happened at Fukushima? Here in the US it was broadcast news for weekends and even our rather unreputable broadcast news sources are still giving updates.

[@nathanriley7899]

"... wild and aggressive radioactive boars..." WOW. I've seen some documentaries about the tsunami and knew a little bit about the nuclear disaster in Fukushima but this little bit of info just blew my mind. It seems like it's directly out of a video game.

[@keilatenshi5910]

Wild boars mated with abandoned farm pigs to create a new hybrid that is aggressive and procreates *fast* and are *very* destructive. I tell my friends over there that this would be a good opportunity to open up hunting in the country to tourists to help try and reduce those numbers.

[@F14Goose37]

@@keilatenshi5910 I love hunting, but to be honest, it does not really work to take care of pigs. A lot of areas of the United States have pig problems and most of those areas have hunting all year long for them. Tens of thousands are killed every year if not more amd they still have problems. Hunting is a great management tool, but some animals like pigs and coyotes can be hunted day and night all year and still have thriving populations. If I still lived in Aomori Prefecture and pig hunting was open near Fukushima, I'd go do it occasionally. I'd never fly to Japan to hunt pigs though. Not that attractive of a hunt and Japan has way more awesome things to do than chase swine.

[@Berettaa]

been subbed since 29, I’m in the elite squad.

[@wardjami876]

So fascinating! Thanks!

[@fanimedusoleil]

...I spent the whole video thinking about the bit of chest hair that pops out of his shirt. Time to put down the phone and rewatch this tomorrow when I've slept and regained my sanity...

[@Joh2n]

My sanity returned but I woke in an alternate universe.

[@jameskosusnik1102]

I love this new channel can you guys please do the Alaskan-Klondike gold rush please?

[@dominantasmr578]

Love this channel

[@claireh2667]

Thank you for another great channel! Unlike Business Blaze, this channel may have outgrown suggestions for videos being taken from the comments, but I would love to see a video about Mont St. Michel if you happen to be in need of ideas...

[@unclebhomas7680]

16:42 (turn subtitles on) you left out the fact that power plants are a clean source of energy, but you left it in the subtitles

[@keilatenshi5910]

Could you please do a video on the Church Rock, New Mexico nuclear disaster in 1979? It's a ghost when you mention nuclear disasters.

[@neillenhart6838]

Simon is KZbin’s work horse I swear. Seems like there’s no days off. Well done Simon. 👏🏽

[@geographicstravel]

Thanks :). It's been a long time since I had a full day off, it's true.

[@DrPlatypus1]

Keep slayin em, Simon.

[@Jason-gg4lm]

You failed to mention how cheap the company was, choosing for bandaid repairs and ignoring maintenance concerns that they deemed to be too expensive even though it would put them way below safety standards.

[@MrSteveo114]

God I remember that day like it was yesterday, I’m a huge lover of Japan and I genuinely shed tears watching this madness unfold on tv. Love from Ireland 🇮🇪

[@sexysergioscotland6133]

Brilliant video 👍😁

[@maddasnine1281]

I was really hoping the next video would be about the Wisconsin Dells. Thanks for crushing my hopes and dreams.

[@ColCurtis]

The isolation condensers didn't fail they were mistakenly disabled by the powerplant employees when the condensers were venting steam and operating normally. The employees thought it was radioactive steam.

[@Lanse1984]

Ah man you missed the information on this one. You should revise this. - no reactors blew up. Not one - 3 fuel storage building blast walls were blown off the top of reactor buildings. - again. No meltdowns. No reactor blowup.... Usually your good but this one you missed.

[@spencerpeachee1333]

Great video!

[@neotheresa]

People like the liquidators of Chernobyl and the workers of Fukushima are so often forgotten about. Such unsung heroes and they deserve better. We can only dream to be as courageous and selfless as they are. I hope those that have already perished in these incidents rest in peace. It’s the least they deserve

[@monsoon72]

Next Video - Godzilla