In this brief, Khadija Akther discusses the Fukushima Daiichi accident. On Mar 11, 2011, a tsunami caused by a major earthquake disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, resulting in the melting of all three radioactive cores. The incidence cost $10 billion to clean up and 80,000 residents were left displaced. Some evacuees have rejected the government’s request to re-inhabit the area and joined a lawsuit to oppose the plan due to concerns due to the residual levels of radiation. Meanwhile, the Tokyo government has set a timetable for “decontamination efforts” over a 2-year period. Khadija points out that if the plant’s owner and Japan’s regulator had followed international best practices and standards, the disaster that a nuclear plant being struck by a tsunami could have been predicted and protected.
Read Khadija Akther’s brief here