About our Fukushima Nuclear Disaster news
Latest news on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, an energy accident at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, Japan, that began on 11 March 2011, resulting in a meltdown of three of the plant's six nuclear reactors. It was the largest nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the second nuclear disaster in Japan, following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
The plant temporarily ceased operating in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. A 15-metre (49 ft) tsunami overwhelmed the plant's sea wall, causing the reactors to lose cooling water. The insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen-air explosions, and the release of radioactive material in Units 1, 2 and 3. This was the first time that such an accident had occurred in a light water reactor.
A total of $50 billion in damages was estimated, making it the most expensive nuclear disaster in history. The accident prompted the shutdown of the nation's 54 nuclear reactors, the cancellation of plans to build 14 more, and a review of the safety of existing and future nuclear plants in Japan and around the world.
There were no fatalities due to radiation exposure, but the Fukushima nuclear disaster displaced 50,000 households after evacuation orders were issued by the Japanese government. A 2016 UNSCEAR report found that the Fukushima disaster was the largest release of radioactive material into the ocean in history.