Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Become an OU student

Download this course

Share this free course

The science of nuclear energy
The science of nuclear energy

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

3.3.2 Fukushima – health effects three years later

Download this video clip.Video player: ou_futurelearn_nuclear_energy_vid_1070.mp4
Copy this transcript to the clipboard
Print this transcript
Show transcript|Hide transcript
 
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Three years after the tsunami in Fukushima, the majority of those evacuated are still living in temporary accommodation and unable to return home.

The video states that the ongoing fear of the radiation is leading to more health effects than the radiation. To date, no one has died from the radiation from the nuclear fallout. Only a few of the workers at the Daiichi plant have the possibility of suffering any health effects. In contrast, the earthquake and tsunami took thousands of lives.

Nonetheless, those unable to return home lost everything, their homes, woodlands, fields and farmlands. Many have suffered with their health and are traumatised.

Things will not be able to go back to how they were in Fukushima for many decades. If we want to imagine what Fukushima’s exclusion zone will be like in future it is helpful to look at Chernobyl today, which you’ll do in the next section.