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Environmental Policy - Final Project

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Environmental Policy - Final Project
Fukushima Causes National
Concern:
Time for New EPA Policy

ERIC ZOPPI
DECEMBER 9TH, 2013
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY

Holy Fukushima:
Statement of the Problem


March 11th, 2011 - Töhoku Earthquake
& Tsunami wreaked havoc upon Japan, resulting in the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl



The Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Plant experienced crippling structural damage, as well as subsequent meltdowns of several nuclear reactors and steady leakage of Iodine-131, Cesium-137, Cesium134, Tellurium, Uranium, and
Strontium into the Pacific Ocean.

Research Design/Method:
Major Fukushima Arguments
Argument#2

Argument #1
The leaked radioactive material will not have a significant impact on the U.S. due to the relatively short half-lives of the isotopes and the likelihood of natural dissemination, specifically in the Convergence Zone of the
Pacific Ocean


Initial measures were taken by the following list, however most programs have been reduced since then, specifically the EPA's cutting back of monitoring stations and increase of allowable radioactive levels in food on the West Coast



Maintains that the radioactive contamination of the Pacific
Ocean poses a grave threat that demands immediate revision of the EPA’s Fukushima Policy.



Newfound evidence of radioactive contamination of dairy products, aquatic habitats, and beaches along the
West Coast due to the leaked isotopes and other radioactive materials, such as lost fuel rods and debris from from
TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant meltdown



UNSCEAR, NOAA, GEOMAR, Science
Magazine





EPA, TEPCO, FDA, WHO



Analysis & Interpretation:
Major Problems with Current EPA Fukushima
In the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima
Policy
accident, the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) “refused to answer questions or to explain the exact location and number of monitors, or the levels of radiation, if any, being recorded at existing monitors in

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