The Great East Japan Earthquake and Its Immediate Effects on Fukushima

The March 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami, produced a total station blackout in Fukushima Units 1–4. One lone emergency diesel generator survived to support units 5 and 6. Regardless of power availability, all six units were cut off from their ultimate heat sink, the Pacific Ocean. As operators struggled to control the reactors, the inability to remove decay heat led to major failures and significant radioactive releases from breaches of several containment structures at the plant site. This electrical and containment failure produced one of the most devastating nuclear accidents in history, rivaling the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.