JAPAN: Fukushima at three - The world has mostly kept its interest in nuclear power

ON MARCH 11th 2011 the world’s fifth most powerful earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan. At a magnitude of 9.0, its ferocity shifted the planet 17cm off its axis and pushed Japan’s main island of Honshu 2.4 metres to the east. The tsunami that followed inundated the Fukushima nuclear power plant about 220km from Tokyo, wrecked the backup power generators (some were lifted off their supports; when the water receded they were pulled out to sea). It set off a nuclear meltdown in three of the plant’s reactors. Since that day, the reactors have largely stabilised, but contamination remains a problem. The Japanese authorities and TEPCO, the operator of the plant, have been criticised for failing to disclose accurate information in a timely way. Yet the disaster hasn’t stopped the global interest in nuclear power—especially in developing countries that have untested regulatory and crisis-management systems. After Fukushima, Germany shut all its nuclear reactors. Japan let all of its reactors go idle, and then slowly restarted a few. But the world has done little to establish standards for nuclear disaster-response that builds confidence for the public, or their nation’s neighbours.

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