Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster
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| Abstract |
On March 11, 2011, an earthquake large enough to knock the earth from its axis sent a massive tsunami speeding toward the Japanese coast and the aging and vulnerable Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power reactors. Over the following weeks, the world watched in horror as a natural disaster became a man-made catastrophe: fail-safes failed, cooling systems shut down, nuclear rods melted. In the first definitive account of the Fukushima disaster, two leading experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists, David Lochbaum and Edwin Lyman, team up with journalist Susan Q. Stranahan, the lead reporter of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Three Mile Island accident, to tell this harrowing story. Fukushima combines a fast-paced, riveting account of the tsunami and the nuclear emergency it created with an explanation of the science and technology behind the meltdown as it unfolded in real time. Bolstered by photographs, explanatory diagrams, and a comprehensive glossary, the narrative also extends to other severe nuclear accidents to address both the terrifying question of whether it could happen elsewhere and how such a crisis can be averted in the future.
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| Year of Publication |
2014
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| Number of Pages |
320
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| Publisher |
The New Press
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| City |
New York, New York
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| ISSN Number |
978-1595589088
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Reviews
Please login to review this resourceAn Investigation of Fukushima
Filled with a timeline of detailed narratives that investigates the events surrounding the 3-11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan, this 261 page book is definitely not a light read. While a glossary of terms and agency descriptions is provided, this multidimensional analysis of environmental catastrophes, political speculations, and public relations blunders may leave the reader more depressed than inspired. In a collaborative effort, the authors work hard to provide a comprehensive explanation of the events surrounding the 3-11 disaster by showing the relationships between various agencies and countries. In addition to the details of what happened at Fukushima, the book also compares this disaster to those at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, making the story even more complex.
One would like to think that the connections made in this book by the Union of Concerned Scientists to the environmental, social, and political challenges we are facing in the 21st century would be a wake-up call, but it seems that most of the answers lead to even more questions. By exploring the “global regulatory environment that made Fukishima possible,” the authors pursue a number of angles that investigate the cost of ignorance and impatience. This book does an excellent job of trying to figure out who knew what, when they knew that information, and why we did not learn from previous nuclear mishaps. It also presents a number of intriguing questions such as why does a government’s ability to require plant improvements diminish as the risk of severe accidents “appear” to shrink?
While the book is extremely informative, I believe would work best at the college level as it provides a bit too much information for most high school students to appreciate. One or two chapters may be all that high school students have the time (or patience) to digest. That could also be an interesting way to teach the story, by dividing up the book by chapters, because that would parallel the way in which the global nuclear power community communicated throughout the ordeal--with only some of the facts and not really knowing what was going on. A scary conclusion to draw and maybe not the most inspirational in light of our current climate of deregulation, but a good argument for studying and hopefully learning from history.
