Lisbon to Sendai, New Haven to Fukushima: Thoughts on 3/11 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Narrative, Analysis, Recommendations
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Shorenstein APARC Working Paper THE WALTER H. SHORENSTEIN ASIA-PACIFIC RESEARCH CENTER (Shorenstein APARC) is a unique Stanford University institution focused on the interdisciplinary study of contemporary Asia. Shorenstein APARC's mission is to produce and publish outstanding interdisciplinary, Asia-Pacific-focused research; educate students, scholars, and corporate and governmental affiliates; promote constructive interaction to influence U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific; and guide Asian nations on key issues of societal transition, development, U.S.-Asia relations, and regional cooperation.
On March 11, 2011, the unthinkable happened. The " Great East Japan Earthquake " — the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan — led to a tsunami, which together led to a major nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi power plant. This series of accidents has become known as Japan's " triple disaster. " The earthquake and tsunami had devastating effects, killing over 15,000 people and destroying large parts of the regional infrastructure and houses. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant before the accident. (Credit: TEPCO) This virtual special issue focuses on the Fukushima Daiichi disaster that followed, as it has had very broad consequences for Japanese and international energy policies, the direct environment, public opinion on nuclear energy, and disaster management. The earthquake vibrations caused the automatic shutdown of 11 power plants around the country, including three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The tsunami that hit the shore about 50 minutes later caused an unprecedented chain of events at this particular power plant. The emergency diesel generators that should have taken over became flooded and stopped cooling, three of the plants' reactor cores started melting, and radioactive material was released by hydrogen-air explosions and by intentional venting in an attempt to let steam out to
Fukushima: The myth of safety, the reality of geoscience
Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists, 2011
ABSTRACT In a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Japanese government stated that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was caused not by the Tohoku earthquake but by the tsunami it generated, resulting in a loss of power for the station's cooling systems and, consequently, three core meltdowns. The tsunami countermeasures taken when Fukushima Daiichi was designed in the 1960s were, arguably, marginally acceptable considering the scientific data then available. But, between the 1970s and the 2011 disaster, new scientific knowledge emerged about the likelihood of a large earthquake and resulting tsunami; however, this was ignored by both the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and government regulators. The regulatory authorities failed to properly review the tsunami countermeasures in accordance with IAEA guidelines and continued to allow the Fukushima plant to operate without sufficient countermeasures, despite having received clear warnings from at least one member of a government advisory committee. The lack of independence of government regulators appears to have contributed to this inaction. The anzen shinwa (“safety myth”) image portrayed by the Japanese government and electric power companies tended to stifle honest and open discussion of the risks. Japan's seismological agencies are locked into outdated and unsuccessful paradigms that lead them to focus on the hazard of a supposedly imminent earthquake in the Tokai district, located between Tokyo and Nagoya, while downplaying earthquake hazards elsewhere in Japan. Consequently, regulators and the plant operator missed many opportunities to avert the calamity at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Chapter 13 The Fukushima Disaster : A Cold Analysis
2013
The accident of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on March 11, 2011, followed by an earthquake and tsunami at the Honshu island of Japan was one of the worst acci‐ dents in the history of mankind. It was classified as a level 7 nuclear accident, compara‐ ble to the Chernobyl accident in 1986. There was a general feeling of dissatisfaction about the information provided by the company Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEP‐ CO), that operated the plant, and there were criticisms about the government decisions and on how the data about the measured dose rates in the island were interpreted. It is understood that in such a huge crisis, the people at charge in the company and in the government should not contribute to spread the panic, and it is useful to keep control of the situation. However, a flood of data invaded the news media and it turned difficult to harvest the truth among several contradictions, and to know about the destiny of a good portion of Japan and its population. Moreo...
SRPN: Contamination (Topic), 2012
On March 11, 2011, a massive 9.0 magnitude quake and powerful tsunami slammed the northeastern region of Japan. Huge seismic activities knocked out the power at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, and ensuing tidal waves disabled the backup generators for cooling systems to the active reactors. This triggered a series of hydrogen explosions and released dangerously high levels of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. The Japanese government declared a nuclear emergency, due to the worst nuclear crisis in Japanese history, and decided to evacuate 140,000 residents within twenty kilometers of the plant to various relocation centers. In April 2011, the government raised the accident assessment to Level 7, the worst rating on an international disaster scale, acknowledging that the devastating human and environmental consequences might be dire and long lasting. The government also allowed the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), an operator of the damaged nuclear plant, to ...
2.46pm The moment that the Great East Japan Earthquake began, I was cycling north up Kyoto’s Karasuma Dōri from the Manga Museum and towards my office at Doshisha’s Imadegawa Campus. I didn’t experience any shaking and was unaware of anything untoward until about three o’clock when I was back in my office. I went online and saw that there had been a powerful earthquake off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture. I was concerned because there had been both a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in that region two days earlier and a destructive Mw6.3 quake in Christchurch, New Zealand, around 20 days previously. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) website was reporting a magnitude 8.9 earthquake, as was the United States Geological Service (USGS). I knew immediately that this was a huge earthquake and quickly surfed news and social media websites. The JMA was warning of a 10 metre plus tsunami along the eastern seaboard of Tōhoku. I had friends there, and wrote on Facebook at around 3.15pm ‘Is everyone OK? Just heard about the earthquake in Miyagi.’ I cycled back to my apartment in north Kyoto as fast as I could to watch the coverage on TV.
Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Narrative, Analysis, and Recommendations
Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center Working Paper Series, 2012
This report provides one of the first coherent, readable narratives of the Fukushima nuclear disaster—what happened in the first few days. It is based on new sources available in Japanese and National Diet testimonies, and is an objective overview of events as they unfolded, rather than an ideologically positioned effort of advocacy. The report goes on to analyze the institutional and governance aspects of Japan’s nuclear oversight, highlighting the fundamental problems that surfaced during the disaster that stem from deeper structural issues. The report also draws upon expertise from a conference held at Stanford University in February 2012 to analyze the politics and industry structure of Japan’s electric power sector, making concrete recommendations for reorganizing the power industry and government oversight structure. Last updated January 2013.
2011
On March 11, 2011, a massive 9.0 magnitude quake and powerful tsunami slammed the northeastern region of Japan. Huge seismic activities knocked out the power at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, and ensuing tidal waves disabled the backup generators for cooling systems to the active reactors. This triggered a series of hydrogen explosions and released dangerously high levels of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. The Japanese government declared a nuclear emergency, due to the worst nuclear crisis in Japanese history, and decided to evacuate 140,000 residents within twenty kilometers of the plant to various relocation centers. In April 2011, the government raised the accident assessment to Level 7, the worst rating on an international disaster scale, acknowledging that the devastating human and environmental consequences might be dire and long lasting. The government also allowed the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), an operator of the damaged nuclear plant, to ...