An offshore wind farm is set to be deployed off the coast of Japan, less than 20 kilometers from the defunct Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant.
In a region that is both supremely concerned with a lack of available land and where the long shadow of the Fukushima disaster still stretches, Japan has shocked no one in its pursuit of alternative energy sources.
An offshore wind farm is a natural choice, as the island nation has already been constructing floating solar arrays to deploy along the coastline, ostensibly in an effort to shake off the yoke of nuclear power to prevent additional emergencies and disasters in the future.
The wind farm will boast what could very well be the largest and most powerful offshore wind turbine ever to constructed. The 190-meter tall behemoth, which will stand atop a sturdy 4,500-ton concrete plinth, will be able to generate as much as seven megawatts of electricity.
A massive trio of 82 meter long blades are rated to withstand even the most energetic wind gusts of up to 300 kilometers an hour. With its construction completed just a few days ago, it’s soon to switch on and begin providing green energy.
The turbine is just one of three slated for the offshore wind farm. It will join one smaller, already-constructed wind turbine that’s currently generating around two megawatts of electricity.
The entire project, once complete, is slated to cost more than the equivalent of $400 million USD; the large price tag, which is being borne by both the Japanese government and by major corporations within the country such as Hitachi and Mitsubishi, is but a fraction of the estimated $105 billion USD cost of cleaning up the Fukushima disaster.
Hopes are high that Japan’s foray into alternative energy will resonate on an international level.
Where Did Natural Background Radiation Come From?
The sum of the natural background radiation at Fukushima plus the radiation leak from the reactor is less than the natural background radiation where I live in Illinois. There was no reason for Japan to shut down their reactors. If the reactors at Fukushima had not been shut down, would they have continued to operate normally?
Where did natural background radiation come from? The universe started out with only 3 elements: hydrogen, helium and lithium. All other elements were made in stars or by supernova explosions. Our star is a seventh generation star. The previous 6 generations were necessary for the elements heavier than lithium to be built up. Since heavier elements were built by radiation processes, they were very radioactive when first made.
Our planet was made of the debris of a supernova explosion that happened about 5 billion years ago. The Earth has been decreasing in radioactivity ever since. All elements heavier than iron were necessarily made by accretion of mostly neutrons but sometimes protons onto lighter nuclei. Radioactive decays were necessary to bring these new nuclei into the realm of nuclear stability. That is why all rocks are still radioactive.
Radiation also comes from outer space in the form of cosmic rays. Cosmic rays come from supernovas that are very far away. There will always be cosmic rays.