Minjae Hong *
The American School in Japan, Tokyo, Tokyo , Japan
*Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2024-11-11 / Accepted: 2024-12-21 / Published: 2024-12-26
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37906/isteamc.2024.7
Abstract This Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster and Chernobyl nuclear disaster are two specific examples of an event that involved an issue with the nuclear power plant that led to a high amount of radioactive materials to get released into the surrounding environment. Radiation is known to be harmful to the human body as it has the potential to cause genetic damage. However, this paper specifically examines the effect of ionizing radiation on reproductive health on both males and females. It was discovered that at certain dose exposures, it is enough to cause biological changes that lead to infertility. With the very high levels of anxiety among the Japanese public on the radiation exposure, many fear that the radiation released from the Fukushima disaster is going to have a negative effect on their life. Consequently, it is key to analyze the potential health, more specifically reproductive health, issues that the radiation from the Fukushima disaster might have on an individual. The effect of radiation on reproductive health was observed in Chernobyl but not as much in Fukushima. This can be attributed to the fact that there was an overall lower amount of radioactive material that was released in the Fukushima disaster compared to the Chernobyl disaster. Any reproductive health issues that emerge surrounding the Fukushima area are likely to be caused by certain psychological effects such as anxiety or even exposure to endocrine disruptors.
Research Areas: Environment, Health & Medicine, Social Science
Keywords: Radiation, Fukushima, Chernobyl, Reproductive health, Nuclear disaster, Public health
