Earth quakes can be very deadly as seen over the last 5 years with many hitting all over the world. Tsunami is mother nature showing us how powerful she can be and how quickly she can make everything disappear. Japan in 2011 suffered a combined earth quake and tsunami disaster leaving many homeless and giving scientists more information to learn from. In the mix up of all of this Japan is known for its Nuclear Power Plants, now hear this, Japan suffered an earth quake and Tsunami while having many Nuclear Power Plants. Now that is scary.
In Fukushima on March 11,2011 the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl of 1986 had happened. Fukushima had six reactors and luckily that day reactors 5 and 6 were in
planned cool shutdown for maintenance and the other four were just de-fueled. As the tsunami hit, it damaged the connection between the reactors and the power grid. With flooding and havoc raised by the earth quake and tsunami combination there was massive flooding; so as the reactors began to overheat, the workers could not get any external help in effort to keep the reactors cool. As days went on the workers struggled to cool and shut down the reactors but reactors 1,2 and 3 experienced a full meltdown. During these long stressful scary days their were several hydrogen explosions. In an effort to save nearby citizens the government commanded that seawater be used to cool the reactors. Seawater was dangerous because it could ruin the reactors.
Fears of radioactivity releases led to a 12 mile radius evacuation around the plant. The 
workers remained working on the reactors to keep them cool. Many were exposed to radiation and were temporarily evacuated. After long days of work and fear of dying due to radiation exposure or hydrogen explosions, the workers sought relief when electrical power was restored. This allowed for automated cooling of the reactors.
While the workers successfully kept control and limited a large tragedy from happening the government had some explaining to do. Japanese administrators rated this accident as a level 4 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) although other agencies think it was much higher like a 5 or even 7 which is the maximum scale value. On March 20 Yukio Edano who was the chief cabinet secretary at the time ordered the plant be decommissioned once the disaster was over.
Research shows that radiation levels high enough to cause concern 30-50 km away. The governement has banned the sale of food grown in these areas and has recommended that no one should use tap water from these areas as well. No worker at the plant died due to radiation exposure but future cancer from exposure is likely.
Sources:
“Fukushima Accident 2011.” World Nuclear Association | Nuclear Power – a Sustainable Energy Resource. World Nuclear Association, 01 Jan. 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. <http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/fukushima_accident_inf129.html>.
“Japan’s Nuclear Disaster: Radiation at Fukushima Daiichi.” Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews – TIME.com. Time Magazine, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2061803,00.html>.
“UN Report of Fukushima.” Nukes of Hazard Blog – Blog. 14 Sept. 2011. Web. 30 Jan. 2012. <http://nukesofhazardblog.com/story/2011/9/14/22712/3872>.