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Documentaries

Inside Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown

Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown
Photo from a Kyodo News helicopter shows (from R) the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima Prefecture on Dec. 4, 2011.

February 28, 2012

FRONTLINE continues its investigation of nuclear safety with an unprecedented account of the crisis inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011. With exclusive eyewitness testimony from key figures in the drama — including the Japanese prime minister and senior executives at the power company TEPCO — FRONTLINE tells the story of the workers struggling frantically to reconnect power inside the plant’s pitch-dark and highly radioactive reactor buildings; the nuclear experts and officials in the prime minister’s office fighting to get information as the crisis spiraled out of control; and the plant manager who disobeyed his executives’ orders when he thought it would save the lives of his workers.

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Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation

Koo and Patricia Yuen

FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Web Site Copyright ©1995-2025 WGBH Educational Foundation. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Park Foundation; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and the FRONTLINE Trust with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Web Site Copyright ©1995-2025 WGBH Educational Foundation. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

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