On a Friday afternoon in March of 2011, Japan was hit  by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake.  Following the Earthquake, the coast line was hit with two tsunamis.  Not only did this massive natural disaster claim the lives of tens of thousands and cause extensive damage to buildings and homes, it caused a nuclear accident.  At the time, 11 reactors were operating at four different power plants.  Although the powerplants were designed to sustain  and shut down during earthquakes and didn’t endure too much damage from the magnitude 9.0, the tsunamis caused substantial damage.

The tsunamis submerged and and damaged the equipment that cooled the three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, which was located in the basement of the facilities, and caused a blackout at the power plant.  During the next few days the cores of the three reactors melted due to the lack of a cooling system.  Contaminated water leaked from the damaged units and this furthered people’s concerns.  Obstructions in the roads caused by the natural disasters made it difficult for individuals to respond to the emergency.  When these plants were being constructed, tsunamis were acquainted for when it came to construction.  They purposely built the plants 10 meters above sea level to prevent such accidents from happening, but in this case 10 meters wasn’t enough.

The same night of the incident, a Nuclear Emergency was declared followed by an evacuation of the area.  Over 100,000 people were evacuated in total due to government nervousness; they wanted to try their best to ensure public safety.  There were no written reports of deaths or cases of radiation sickness from the nuclear accident.  This incident made Japan uneasy about nuclear energy for a few years.  They stopped 48 plants from continuing production until the Fukushima Daiichi disaster was resolved. But this incident didn’t keep Japan from being engaged in nuclear energy.

Japan has recently approved upgrades to its national energy strategy.  Despite the accident, his new energy strategy puts nuclear energy in the forefront of energy sources.  While idling plants will begin to run again, new plants will be implemented into the energy grid.  Japan plans on following the footstep of France and becoming more environmentally friendly by cutting mass amounts of greenhouse gasses.  Considering nuclear energy is nearly emission free, it is the right step to a cleaner future.