The explosion, along with a fire touched off by rising temperatures in spent fuel rods stored in reactor 4, led to the release of higher levels of radiation from the plant. However, over 1,000 deaths were caused solely by the evacuation, not from radiation, the earthquake or the tsunami. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Explosions resulting from the buildup of pressurized hydrogen gas occurred in the outer containment buildings enclosing reactors 1 and 3 on March 12 and March 14, respectively. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0443-8, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-015-0443-8. Fukushima accident, also called Fukushima nuclear accident or Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, Nuclear accident at the Tokyo Electric and Power Co. (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi ("Number One") plant in northern Japan, which became the second worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power generation.Tsunami waves generated by the main shock of the Japan earthquake on March 11, 2011 . PubMed which informs INFOSAN about any residual radioactivity levels in food. However, there are no reports of any such radiation-induced effects in plants and animals outside this area, referred to as the Exclusion Zone. 1997;17:35974. Efforts to clean up highly contaminated areas are generally failing because melting snow and rainwater run off the contaminated hills and return to recontaminate homes and land. Meiklejohn J, Connor J, Kypri K. The effect of low survey response rates on estimates of alcohol consumption in a general population survey. plume and ingestion of radioactivity in food) exposure pathways. However, they also announced that radiation levels had declined enough in some towns located just beyond the original 20-km evacuation warning zone that residents could return to their homes there. But after the initial radiation leaks subside, research has shown that wildlife communities can recover to levels sometimes higher than they were before the catastrophes. Mousseau and his colleagues plan to capture barn swallows in Fukushima and outfit them with tiny dosimeters to measure the radiation doses each bird receives. The nuclear disaster at Fukushima sent an unprecedented amount of radiation into the Pacific. (In Japanese). 2011;135:3416. Chernobyl is a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that was the site of a disastrous nuclear accident on April 26, 1986. These types include leukaemia and thyroid, skin and brain cancer. The survey targeted women who lived in Fukushima prefecture and who had registered their pregnancies between August 1, 2010 and July 31, 2011. 2014;75:39. The impact of the disaster on the surrounding forest and wildlife also remains an area of active research. Second, data on socioeconomic status, which may influence depressive symptoms, were not collected so as to avoid a culturally sensitive question and to shorten the questionnaire. This finding is in line with a previous study of pregnant women affected by Hurricane Katrina, which found that maternal depression was associated with a loss of resources, including social support network and daily routine [27]. In the days that followed, some 47,000 residents left their homes, many people in areas adjacent to the 20-km evacuation warning zone also prepared to leave, and workers at the plant made several attempts to cool the reactors using truck-mounted water cannons and water dropped from helicopters. Mori T, Tsuchiya KJ, Matsumoto K, Suzuki K, Mori N, Takei N. Psychosocial risk factors for postpartum depression and their relation to timing of onset: the Hamamatsu Birth Cohort (HBC) Study. We found that a high proportion of mothers who were pregnant at the time of the Fukushima nuclear disaster exhibited depressive symptoms. (1992, February). The immediate effect was a decline in global nuclear electricity generation through 2012. In this paper, we focus on the results of a screen for depressive symptoms among new mothers and its association with geographical region and interruption of obstetrical care after the Fukushima nuclear accident, which occurred after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. [http://rhino.med.yamanashi.ac.jp/sukoyaka/index.html]. Drug Dev Res. Ryota Takakura was working at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11 2011, packing low-level radioactive waste into drums, when the ground began to shake and then heaved like a ship . Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 2015 Mar 26;15:59.doi: 10.1186/s12888-015-0443-8. Assessment of individual radionuclide distributions from the Fukushima nuclear accident covering central-east Japan. This may have significant bearings on the results of the present study, given that, according to the prefectural statistics of 2011 [24], Soso reported the lowest average per capita income level in the prefecture prior to the disaster. February 28, 2020 by Joshua Rapp Learn. 13048). There were no deaths immediately during the nuclear disaster. Article In a previous study of 103 Japanese mothers using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) as a gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of the current screening measure was 88% and 76%, respectively [12]. Each plant . During the five years before the disaster, birth rates had been steadily falling in Japan. In the following days, explosions rocked the facility and more than 150,000 people were forced to evacuate the surrounding area to avoid potential radioactive fallout. After controlling for maternal age and birth history, it was found that Soso, the region in which the nuclear power plant is located, had a significantly higher proportion of mothers with depressive symptoms (aOR=1.36, 95% CI=1.151.62, p<0.01). Our previous study on parent counseling records among mothers with young children in Fukushima City, an area with relatively high radiation contamination, found that changes in daily routine and concerns about radiation had a negative psychological impact [8]. Children showed more issues with hyperactivity, emotional symptoms, and conduct problems. Although many areas located within the 20-km evacuation warning zone and the expanded zone (an area called the difficult-to-return zone) continued to remain off-limits due to high radiation levels, officials began to allow limited activities (business activities and visitation but no lodging) in other previously evacuated areas with moderately high radiation levels. The first was the Windscale reactor fire in the UK in 1957 - the second, the partial meltdown of a reactor at Three Mile Island in the US in 1979. What are the public health lessons learned from the response to Fukushima? In the days following the incident, the government was forced to declare an evacuation zone for the area around the nuclear plant. 2010;19:87784. 1 The explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant were totally unexpected, even for many people living near the plant. WHO collaborates with international organizations using the existing inter-agency framework and arrangements under the. On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake occurred off the east coast of Japan, generating a tsunami that severely damaged coastal areas and resulted in 15 891 deaths and 2579 missing people. Richard Wakeford from the Dalton Nuclear Institute, a visiting professor in epidemiology at the University . The Fukushima nuclear accident as a part of a triple disaster was unprecedented in its scale and nature. Strengthening of public health services and improving access to health care are key issues for the well-being of evacuees, in addition to mental health and psychological support, behavioral and societal support. It is time to re-establish some truth on the subject. Substantial amounts of radioactive materials (radionuclides) were released into the environment following explosions at the FDNPS on March 12, 14 and 15. In the decade since the tsunami disaster, water meant to cool the nuclear material has constantly escaped from the damaged primary containment vessels into the basements of the reactor. Estimates of latent cancer fatalities are based largely on results of the long-term follow-up of the survivors of the atomic bombings in Japan. (2019). Google Scholar. Google Scholar. Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011: Northern Japans nuclear emergency. All three cores largely melted in the first three days. Fukushima Nuclear Accident was the worst emergency at a nuclear power plant since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. This hospital is located in the capital, Fukushima City, approximately 70km inland. Tamaki R, Murata M, Okano T. Risk factors for postpartum depression in Japan. J Commun Health. 2001;43:18993. As such, in this disaster cohort, younger maternal age, first-time motherhood, past abortion history, psychiatric history, obstetrical complications, and infant abnormalities were all significantly associated with depressive symptoms [18-21]. At the same time, efforts to deploy other low carbon sources, such as variable wind and solar, intensified as countries looked for new ways to address the climate crisis. Another post-earthquake study from Japan reported that mothers EPDS score was associated with their satisfaction with delivery, including obstetrical care [28]. Given the exposure to radioactive iodine during the early phase of the emergency, WHO specifically assessed the risk of thyroid cancer. At the end of March, the evacuation zone was expanded to 30 km around the plant, and ocean water near the plant was discovered to have been contaminated with high levels of iodine-131, which resulted from leakage of radioactive water through cracks in trenches and tunnels between the plant and the ocean. Clin Oncol. Beginning in July 2013, evacuation orders were lifted in some areas characterized by lower levels of radiation both within and beyond the 20-km evacuation warning zone. Thus, mothers affected by a disaster may require interpersonal support to help restore psychosocial resources. In addition, there have been more than 2,000 disaster-related deaths. Slurs The study also considered the effects of discrimination and slurs against the workers from the general population. Sandall J, Soltani H, Gates S, Shennan A, Devane D. Midwife-led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women. In the human body, iodine concentrates in the thyroid gland. In more than 140 papers, he and colleagues have documented the relatively low radiation exposure of Fukushima residents and the health impacts of the evacuationa high death toll among the elderly, increases in chronic diseases, and a decline in general well-being. Those holes partially exposed the nuclear material in the cores. Fukushima now becomes the third level five incident in half a century of nuclear technology. A sensitivity analysis based on the assumption that non-respondents would have similar prevalence to delayed responders estimated that the proportion would be 26.5%. The radioactive plume from the nuclear power plant was carried north by the wind toward the prefectures most populated region, Kenpoku [7]. A large survey of the health of residents of Fukushima Prefecture, theFukushima Health Management Survey, Among the 8,196 women surveyed, 27.6% screened positive for depressive symptoms. After adjusting for maternal and infant characteristics, both mothers in Soso, the region in which the nuclear power plant is located, and mothers that had changed obstetrical care facilities were significantly more likely to screen positive for depression. Health care workers also need education and training on health effects of radiation. On September 11-12, 2011, six months after the Thoku earthquake, an international expert symposium took place at Fukushima Medical University. Eugene Hoshiko/AP. The 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi and the 1986 incident at Chernobyl were both rated 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, but the accidents were starkly different in their cause, the governments' response and health effects. However the process of evacuation itself, especially under the conditions of a severe natural disaster, may pose serious health risks, particularly for vulnerable populations (such as those with disabilities, older populations, young children). Japan has marked the 12th anniversary of the massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster with a minute of silence as concerns grew ahead of the planned release of the treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, Twelve years after the triple reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan is preparing to release a massive amount of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea, The head of Japans wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant says details of the damage inside its reactors are only beginning to be known 12 years after it was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami, making it difficult to foresee when or how its decommissioning will be completed. The evacuation involved a total of over 400,000 individuals, 160,000 of them from within 20km of Fukushima. The number of deaths from the nuclear disaster attributed to stress, fatigue and the hardship of living as evacuees is estimated to be around 1,700. In the present study, this effect was especially pronounced when mothers self-referred to a different facility following the disaster. 10 years ago, according to UN report published on Monday. Since the early phase of the emergency, theJapanese authoritieshave monitored food contamination closely and implemented protective measures to prevent sale and distribution of contaminated food in Japan volume15, Articlenumber:59 (2015) Article The authors declare that they have no competing interests. At the time of the accident, only reactors 13 were operational, and reactor 4 served as temporary storage for spent fuel rods. Disrupted infrastructure, disconnection of evacuees from their municipalities, reduced number of health workers and failure of local public health and medical systems due to relocation made it more difficult to address these issues. His home was next to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power . (In Japanese). Misinformation about Fukushima is a threat to the future. One thing is certain about the human costs of the radiation leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan: they will pale in comparison to the . Members of the Pregnancy and Birth Survey Group of the Fukushima Health Management Survey include: Akira Ohtsuru, Misao Ota, Seiji Yasumura, Shun Yasuda, Yasuhisa Nomura from Fukushima Medical University; Kenichi Hata from Fukushima Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Kohta Suzuki from University of Yamanashi; and Akihito Nakai from Nippon Medical School Tama Nagayama Hospital. The proportion of mothers that changed medical facilities was also highest in Soso (Figure2). The Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent nuclear power plant accident had serious and long-term effects on the mental health condition of people living in Fukushima. Effectiveness of landscape decontamination following the Fukushima nuclear accident: a review. Health systems need to provide effective counselling services and social support in a team approach and people-centered care. It is the second worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power generation, behind the Chernobyl disaster. Even if those levels of risk might not be clinically detectable, WHO anticipated that the thyroid ultrasound screening programme being conducted in Fukushima prefecture was likely to lead to an increase in the incidence of thyroid diseases due to earlier detection of non-symptomatic cases. Similar or even slightly higher rates of cysts and nodules were found in prefectures not affected by the nuclear accident. Rising residual heat within each reactors core caused the fuel rods in reactors 1, 2, and 3 to overheat and partially melt down, leading at times to the release of radiation. Further analysis of epidemiological data being currently collected in Japan will be necessary to evaluate a potential attribution of thyroid cancer to radiation exposure. Additionally, changes in obstetrical facilities could be practical indicators to help health care providers identify those mothers who are most in need. (In Japanese). In a nuclear power plant, the fuel, an isotope of either uranium or plutonium, undergoes fission to produce the energy that is used to heat water and turn steam-driven turbine generators. 2011;108:19526195269. Fukushima Prefecture: Past radiation monitoring records. Miyake Y, Tanaka K, Arakawa M. Employment, income, and education and prevalence of depressive symptoms during pregnancy: the Kyushu Okinawa Maternal and Child Health Study. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, an area of about four square miles became known as the "Red Forest" because so many trees turned reddish-brown and died after absorbing high levels of radiation. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. However, the psychological effects of Chernobyl remain widespread and profound resulting in suicides, alcohol abuse and apathy. The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is an intergovernmental agency that facilitates co-operation among countries with advanced nuclear technology infrastructures to seek excellence in nuclear safety, technology, science, environment and law., On 11 March 2011, a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale jolted the eastern coast of Japan. The 17 PBq to air, coupled with the I-131, would give 810 PBq (I-131 eq). Based on the positive and negative predictive values of the two-item screen measure (42% and 97%, respectively) [12], the estimated proportion of positive screens on the EPDS would be 14% among mothers in the present study. There have been recent reports about thyroid cancer cases being diagnosed among children exposed to low doses of radioactive iodine as a result of the Fukushima accident. They confronted an extraordinary situation and fell into panic for several weeks following . PubMed They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Therefore, careful interpretation and further investigation are warranted regarding regional variations in the depressive states of new mothers. J Womens Health (Larchmt). Thus, the current sample included 8,196 women with singleton live births. The leak was severe enough to prompt Japans Nuclear Regulation Authority to classify it as a level-3 nuclear incident. Associations between depressive symptoms and the following variables were analyzed: maternal factors (age at pregnancy, gestational age at the time of disaster, number of postpartum days at the time of survey response, and psychiatric history); obstetrical factors (complications during pregnancy, mode of pregnancy and delivery, and gestational week at birth); and infant characteristics (sex, birth weight, asphyxia at birth, and other anomalies). The disaster that ripped through northern Japan in March 2011 killed more than 19,000 people and prompted a global reckoning with the dangers of nuclear power. Suzuki and Weissbecker support this notion in their assertion that, immediately following a disaster, responses targeting mental health should be built on existing systems [22]. In the present study, the risk was elevated in a region nearest to the damaged nuclear power plant. [7], reproduced with publisher permission (License Number 3365080379769). the global community receives the best advice on the matters related to the radioactive contamination in food. The long-term psychological impact of nuclear disasters like the Fukushima incident can be even more damaging to public health than the immediate risk from radiation, experts have said. The waves, travelling at up to 700 km/h and with a height of up to 40m, caused unimaginable devastation up to 10km inland. For example, in Mishinas study of 475 mothers who attended a postpartum checkup in Osaka (eastern metropolitan area), 19.8% responded affirmatively at one month, and 1.4% was found to test positively at four months [16]. Article * Radioactivity measurements were originally published in Nagata et al. The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Accident. The release of radioactive materials after the accident has caused radionuclide pollution at a large scale to the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and pedosphere both around the FDNPP and the entire northern hemisphere (Buesseler, 2012; Madigan et al., 2012; Schiermeier, 2011 . Immediate effects of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster on depressive symptoms among mothers with infants: a prefectural-wide cross-sectional study from the Fukushima Health Management Survey Aya Goto, Evelyn J Bromet & Kenya Fujimori for the Pregnancy and Birth Survey Group of the Fukushima Health Management Survey From a global health perspective, the health risks directly related to radiation exposure are low in Japan and extremely low in neighbouring countries and the rest of the world. In contrast, mothers in Iwaki and Aizu, regions with relatively low radiation levels, were significantly less likely to screen positive for depression. Norio Kimura lost his 7-year-old daughter to the tsunami caused by the earthquake. On April 6 plant officials announced that those cracks had been sealed, and later that month workers began to pump the irradiated water to an on-site storage building until it could be properly treated. The plaintiffs, who are aged. In general, continuity of obstetrical care is associated with better patient satisfaction [25]. Among the 16,001 identified women, 9,321 returned the FHMS questionnaires (response proportion=58.3%), although 59 were later deemed invalid and eliminated from the database (5 blank questionnaires, 1 deceased, 21 duplicated mails, and 32 non-eligible cases). Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. CAS statement and The following year, UNSCEAR published a report on the levels and effects Mishina A, Mishina H, Morita Y. Feasibility of two-question screening tool for maternal depressive symptoms at well-child visits. It also gave the name Fukushima an . Evacuation aims to minimize or prevent health risks of radiation exposure. PLoS One. In contrast, the response in the former Soviet Union was one of denial and secrecy. Immediate effects of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster on depressive symptoms among mothers with infants: a prefectural-wide cross-sectional study from the Fukushima Health Management Survey. Regional variations in the proportion of mothers that experienced obstetrical care interruption. A number of lessons were learned that help Japan and all countries better plan, prepare, respond and recovery from potential nuclear accidents. Nuclear disasters can cause widespread death and sickness among wildlife, just like humans. An initial basic survey was conducted to estimate levels of external radiation exposure. According to a report presented at the annual meeting of the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists [5], four childbirth facilities (out of 50 facilities in the prefecture) were shut down during the first month after the disaster. Supplement to information in main page [http://www.jaog.or.jp/sep2012/know/] Accessed February 6, 2015. April 5, 2011. Moreover, an interruption in care could be accompanied by evacuation and other disaster-related incidents, which may further affect maternal mental health. The earthquakes, its aftershocks, and the powerful tsunami it triggered led to the deaths and injuries of thousands of people. Radioactive iodine and caesium in concentrations above the Japanese regulatory limits were detected in some food commodities as a result of food monitoring in the early period after the accident. Residential region and obstetrical care after the disaster were also included as independent factors of interest. In 2013, WHO published a health risk assessment from the FDNPS accident. Disaster struck a city near Fukushima in 2011. Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Hikarigaoka 1, Fukushima City, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan, Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Putnam Hall - South Campus, Stony Brook, 11794-8790, NY, USA, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Hikarigaoka 1, Fukushima City, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan, You can also search for this author in KF designed and supervised the survey. Part of the population was able to return following decontamination measures. During the analyses of factors associated with depressive symptoms, we first used the WilcoxonMannWhitney rank sum test for continuous variables and chi-squared tests for categorical variables. The current analysis of the population-based FHMS among new mothers confirmed the necessity of providing mental health support to this well-known, high-risk group after a nuclear disaster. In 2011, a powerful earthquake and tsunami cut off power supply and cooling systems for the Fukushima plant. Fukushima Now: Problems, Solutions and Concerns. For the purpose of this study, delayed respondents were defined as those that responded to the survey only after a reminder had been sent out. Most emergency workers and people living in contaminated areas received relatively low whole-body radiation doses, according to a United Nations study published in 2008. The study found no evidence of increases in . Google Scholar. 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