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5 things you may not know about Fukushima, 12 years after the nuclear accident

  • The Japanese prefecture has focused on reconstruction since meltdowns at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami
  • Ongoing efforts include decommissioning the nuclear power station, rebuilding infrastructure, reopening communities and ensuring the safety of local residents

Paid Post:Japan Reconstruction Agency
Reading Time:8 minutes
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Japan’s Fukushima prefecture has been steadily recovering in the years since it was hit with a triple disaster. Photo: Pixta

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It is a date that many in Japan will never forget. March 11, 2011, began just like any regular Friday, but at 2.46pm, Japan experienced the strongest earthquake in its recorded history. The epicentre was in the Pacific Ocean, 130km (80 miles) off the coast from Sendai, a city on Honshu, Japan’s largest and most populous island.

Although Japan was well prepared for earthquakes in light of its location between three tectonic plates, no one could have foreseen what happened next. The 9.0-magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake – powerful enough to shift the Earth off its axis – triggered a tsunami that wiped out many towns along the coastal area of Tohoku, which is the northeastern region of Honshu, killing over 19,000 people.

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Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ (TEPCO’s) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which straddles the towns of Okuma and Futaba in Fukushima prefecture, was devastated by the tsunami. Seawater reaching up to 15 metres (49 feet) high surged over the facility’s seawall – which was less than half that height – and disabled its power supply and cooling systems, causing meltdowns in three reactors. More than 160,000 people living in the surrounding area were forced to be urgently evacuated, some due to homes destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami, others to escape the leaking radiation.

“At 3.36pm on March 12, images of the hydrogen explosion of Unit 1 of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station were broadcast on TV, and for the first time, I realised: ‘We are now in serious trouble’,” says Yasuharu Hashimoto, a resident of Futaba Town. Watching the footage from the evacuation centre, he felt as if all hope of returning home was lost.

The four reactors at the nuclear power station had to shut down due to damage from the accident, forcing authorities to take quick action to prevent the situation from getting worse. Two weeks after the earthquake, the three most affected reactors had been stabilised by pumping in water, and by July 2011, a new treatment plan was put into operation that cooled the reactors using recycled water. In mid-December of that year, it was announced that the power station had officially entered the status of “cold shutdown”.

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Today, the decommissioning work at the power station continues to go full steam ahead. However, it is expected to take 30 to 40 years in total to complete the mission.

Meanwhile, the reconstruction in the Tohoku region, which includes Fukushima, has shown notable progress, after the Japanese government allocated US$209 billion to support such efforts.

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