Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (Unit 2 Reactor)
Satellite image on 16 March 2011 of the four damaged reactor buildings
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| Date | 11 March 2011 |
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| Location | Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan |
| Coordinates | 37°25′17″N 141°1′57″E / 37.42139°N 141.03250°E |
| Outcome | INES Level 7 (ratings by Japanese authorities as of 11 April) |
| Non-fatal injuries | 37 with physical injuries, 2 workers taken to hospital with radiation burns |
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 24 hours live camera for Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on YouTube, certified by Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. |
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (福島第一原子力発電所事故 Fukushima Dai-ichi (
pronunciation) genshiryoku hatsudensho jiko?) was a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. It is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric (GE), and maintained by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). At the time of the quake, Reactor 4 had been de-fueled while 5 and 6 were in cold shutdown for planned maintenance. Immediately after the earthquake, the remaining reactors 1-3 shut down automatically, and emergency generators came online to control electronics and coolant systems. Following the earthquake a tsunami following the earthquake flooded the low-lying rooms where emergency generators were housed. The flooded generators failed, cutting power to the critical pumps that circulate coolant water to keep them from melting down. When the pumps stopped, the reactors overheated due to the high radioactive decay heat produced in the first few days after nuclear reactor shutdown. As the water boiled away in the reactors and the water levels in the fuel rod pools dropped, the reactor fuel rods began to overheat severely, and to melt down. In the hours and days that followed, Reactors 1, 2 and 3 experienced full meltdown.In an attempt to halt a meltdown, the government ordered that seawater be used to cool the reactors, as no alternative was available at the time. Because of the delay in this process, meltdown progressed, depositing most of the melted fuel at the bottom of the reactor vessel.
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