By — Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/miles-obrien-returns-site-japans-nuclear-disaster-three-years-later Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Miles O’Brien returns to the site of Japan’s nuclear disaster three years later Science Aug 6, 2014 7:49 PM EDT In March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake shook Japan, triggering a catastrophic tsunami and nuclear disaster. Since then, PBS NewsHour science correspondent Miles O’Brien has provided some of the most in-depth reporting on the subject to-date. He has traveled to Fukushima three times and six times entered the exclusion zone, which he described as a “post-apocalyptic landscape of abandoned towns, frozen in time.” We’ve stitched his latest reports together into this documentary-length video. They include his tour of the hazardous Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and a look at the health of marine life off the coast of Japan. He also delves into the debate on the future of nuclear power there. Plus, a never-before-seen exclusive tour of Fukushima Daini, Daiichi’s sister plant, which narrowly escaped the same fate. A year after Daiichi failed, Japan shut down all 50 of its nuclear power reactors. The disaster prompted a congressionally-mandated report from the National Academy of Sciences this July on preparing nuclear power plants for “beyond-design” disasters. Nearly three and a half years later, the nuclear power plants remain shuttered. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been pressing to reopen the Sendai plant southwest of Tokyo, pending a month of public consultations starting this August. Such a move would end the nuclear shutdown, but it’s been met with fierce opposition from those who argue that the plant, located 30 miles from an active volcano, lies in a dangerous and earthquake-prone region. View more of Miles coverage of Fukushima after the meltdown here. By — Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy @rebeccajacobson
In March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake shook Japan, triggering a catastrophic tsunami and nuclear disaster. Since then, PBS NewsHour science correspondent Miles O’Brien has provided some of the most in-depth reporting on the subject to-date. He has traveled to Fukushima three times and six times entered the exclusion zone, which he described as a “post-apocalyptic landscape of abandoned towns, frozen in time.” We’ve stitched his latest reports together into this documentary-length video. They include his tour of the hazardous Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and a look at the health of marine life off the coast of Japan. He also delves into the debate on the future of nuclear power there. Plus, a never-before-seen exclusive tour of Fukushima Daini, Daiichi’s sister plant, which narrowly escaped the same fate. A year after Daiichi failed, Japan shut down all 50 of its nuclear power reactors. The disaster prompted a congressionally-mandated report from the National Academy of Sciences this July on preparing nuclear power plants for “beyond-design” disasters. Nearly three and a half years later, the nuclear power plants remain shuttered. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been pressing to reopen the Sendai plant southwest of Tokyo, pending a month of public consultations starting this August. Such a move would end the nuclear shutdown, but it’s been met with fierce opposition from those who argue that the plant, located 30 miles from an active volcano, lies in a dangerous and earthquake-prone region. View more of Miles coverage of Fukushima after the meltdown here.