Temple University

Temple University officials annouced plans to evacuate American students from their Tokyo Campus after leaking radiations from a damaged Japanese nuclear reactor.

To avacuate the 200 students in the Temple University Tokyo campus a charter flight is arranged due to the fast changing crises at the Fakushima nuclear power generator damaged in the March 11, earthquack and tsunami. About 115 student already have left the Japan on their own, and about 20 student have gone to the southern parts of Japan, according to the University officials.

Avacuation is being made after the State Department Strongly urged U.S. citizens to considering leaving amid the "deteriorating situation" at the Fakushima Nuclear Power Plant.

Temple expects a flight to depart on Sunday, Japan time, its destination uncertain at present.

"We're working on it right now," said an exhausted Bruce Stronach, the Japan campus dean, reached by phone about 1:30 a.m. Tokyo time.

The school has been closed since the earthquake. Plans are to reopen the campus on March 28, but that date is subject to events.

The evacuation is not mandatory. Stronach has elected to stay behind, as have other staff. He was asked if he felt threatened by the radiation emanating from the plant, on the Japanese island of Honshu.

"Threatened, no. Nervous, yes," Stronach said. "I have lived in Japan for 22 of the last 35 years. I have been through many earthquakes. This is, without a doubt, 'the event.' "

Japanese authorities are using helicopters, fire trucks, and police cannons to pour on water, trying to keep the No. 3 reactor and its adjacent spent fuel pool from overheating. The quake damaged four of six reactors.

Four Penn students in Japan are now on their way home, university officials said, as fears of a nuclear meltdown prompt American colleges to bring back students and cancel travel plans for others.

The California State University system is bringing home about 45 students and calling off trips for another 50, and Stanford University announced that all 35 of its students have returned. Students from the University of North Dakota are back, while University of Wisconsin officials gave students the option to evacuate.

Temple University president Ann Weaver Hart credited Stronach and his staff for exemplary handling "of this trying and fast-evolving series of emergencies. They have worked tirelessly to keep our students safe."

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Radiation Exposure

Radiation Exposure, Currently, Japan is under high alert from fears of radiation exposure. Already 140,000 people have been advised to seal themselves up in their homes to avoid radiation exposure from the third explosion at a nuclear plant there. And about 70,000 people were evacuated. But there is hope with radiation rates dipping down below the harmful level. But has the damage already been done to the children in the affected area in Japan?

In Chernobyl children’s risk of thyroid cancer greatly increased with about 50,000 new cases from radiation exposure. The most vulnerable were children who were under the age of 10 when the disaster at Chernobyl happened and those who were hit hardest were those under the age of two. Also at risk are pregnant women and their fetuses.


And it isn’t just the risk of breathing the air where radiation was released, but from eating food from crops affected and milk from cows in the region. “Cows are like vacuum cleaners, picking up radioactive iodine that lands over a wide are of pasture, and then those particles very easily are concentrated and pass into the milk.” an expert said. “This is what happened in Chernobyl, and unfortunately, information about the risk had not been supplied to parents.”

Let us hope that the children of Japan are being kept safe, are given treatment for any exposure and that the after effects are kept low and that something was learned from Chernobyl.

As frantic workers struggled to contain the effects of a third explosion at the nuclear plant—which may have actually damaged the containment system—the government said the resulting radiation leak is potentially harmful. Moreover, if the containment system is indeed breached, the result could be a radiation spike to levels not seen so far.

Officials evacuated 750 workers from the plant in Fukushima Prefecture, leaving 50 on hand, the minimal number needed to handle the situation. Prime Minister Naoto Kan reiterated that all residents within 20 kilometers of the plant must evacuate and everyone 10 kilometers outside that zone must stay indoors. He said Tokyo Electric Power Co, the plant operator, is “working hard” to cool the reactors.

Residents in Tokyo and its surrounding areas are increasingly nervous about the radiation levels, as traces of radiation have now been detected in even the downtown section of the city. Officials detected radiation levels 20 times higher than usual in the capital’s popular Shinjuku district, though they say the level poses no health risks, at least at the moment.

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