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| Image credit: Thierry Ehermann via Flickr. |
On March 11, 2011, following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that rocked Japan, the world witnessed its worst nuclear catastrophe since Chernobyl. The damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami led to three explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The explosions at the plant produced radiation levels 100 times above safety standards. The International Nuclear Events Scale gave the Fukushima disaster its highest rating (7) in terms of severity -- only Chernobyl has received an accident rating 7. Six Fukushima workers have died from serious exposure to radiation and the clean up costs are an estimated US$13 billion. Since the accident, several countries have beefed up nuclear regulations, while others such as Switzerland and Germany have abandoned the technology all together.
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