It is March 11, 2011; A 49-foot-high tsunami has just hit the Japanese coast. The wave swept over the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and destroyed all the diesel generators; the facility has no way to power the pumps that cool the reactors – a station-wide power outage has occurred. The reactors of buildings 1, 2 and 3 melted; the fuel inside reached 2,700 degrees centigrade, almost as hot as the surface of the sun. Explosions inside the reactor building begin to occur; the media are talking about the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl – a nuclear holocaust. What is the toll of the victims of this shocking disaster? A hundred? Thousand ? A million? Try zero. (“Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear…” Wikipedia) The concept of nuclear energy was first conceived in 1934 with the discovery of induced radioactivity by Frédéric and Irène Curie. The United States invested heavily in atomic energy research during World War II, as part of the search for the atomic bomb. After the war, they redirected their research towards nuclear energy, producing the first nuclear reactor in 1951 (“Nuclear Power” Wikipedia). Most nuclear reactors are fueled by uranium 238; this isotope of uranium represents only 0.7% of natural uranium. Once inside the reactor, the fuel is bombarded with neutrons. The neutrons hit the nuclei of the uranium atoms, splitting them in two and releasing a huge amount of thermal energy along with another neutron. This neutron collides with another uranium atom, creating a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. This reaction can be controlled by manipulating control rods which absorb the emitted neutrons. The thermal energy produced by the reaction converts the water into steam which in turn turns a tu...... middle of paper ...... ("Nuclear Safety..." World Nuclear Association) . The amount of radiation released by the plant into the water over the course of a day is less than what a person would receive from eating a banana (Stone). What most people don't know is how dangerous burning fossil fuels is. Every year, about 4 million people die from pneumonia, stroke or cardiac arrest caused by toxic fumes emitted from burning coal and other fuels (Powers). The ash released from coal-fired power plants actually contains more radiation than nuclear power plants emit (Stone). Nuclear power is relatively safe, even in the event of a disaster or accident. By law, nuclear power plants must be equipped to cope with a disaster occurring every 10,000 years. This means that it should be able to cope with the worst catastrophe of its type in 10,000 years. Nuclear disasters happen because of one thing: lack of adequate cooling.