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28 Feb on PBS: Fighting the Unthinkable: Japan’s Furious Scramble to Contain Catastrophe
Fighting the Unthinkable: Japan’s Furious Scramble to Contain Catastrophe
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: February 27, 2012
PBS gets an early start on observing the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan with “Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown,” a “Frontline” episode on Tuesday that doesn’t feel particularly definitive but certainly recaptures the fear, uncertainty and courage engendered by the disaster.
The program tells the story of what went on at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant through interviews with people who were working there, as well as with Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister at the time, and a not-very-helpful spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant operator.
It is harrowing stuff, of course, full of cascading problems and difficult decisions. The March 11 earthquake shook the plant — “We were all on our knees, holding onto the railings,” one worker recalls — yet the realization that the plant was in trouble took a while to dawn because workers believed that it had been designed to withstand any punishment an earthquake could bring.
The serious trouble began when the tsunami waves struck; the biggest, we’re told, was more than twice the height of the plant’s protective sea wall. Backup generators that were supposed to cool the nuclear fuel were flooded, something that had been inconceivable to workers...
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: February 27, 2012
PBS gets an early start on observing the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan with “Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown,” a “Frontline” episode on Tuesday that doesn’t feel particularly definitive but certainly recaptures the fear, uncertainty and courage engendered by the disaster.
The program tells the story of what went on at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant through interviews with people who were working there, as well as with Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister at the time, and a not-very-helpful spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant operator.
It is harrowing stuff, of course, full of cascading problems and difficult decisions. The March 11 earthquake shook the plant — “We were all on our knees, holding onto the railings,” one worker recalls — yet the realization that the plant was in trouble took a while to dawn because workers believed that it had been designed to withstand any punishment an earthquake could bring.
The serious trouble began when the tsunami waves struck; the biggest, we’re told, was more than twice the height of the plant’s protective sea wall. Backup generators that were supposed to cool the nuclear fuel were flooded, something that had been inconceivable to workers...
http://tv.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/arts/television/frontline-inside-japans-nuclear-meltdown-on-pbs.html
