Andrew Leatherbarrow - Melting Sun: The History of Nuclear Power in Japan, and the Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi

MELTING SUN

THE HISTORY OF NUCLEAR POWER IN JAPAN

AND THE DISASTER AT FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI

Andrew Leatherbarrow

For Nicole, Jo and Noah, whom I neglected far too
much during the years I spent working on this book.

What will happen if an earthquake greater than magnitude 8.5 hits a Japanese nuclear plant?
Then it will be the same as Chernobyl. But that kind of case will never happen.

Yuji Kurotani, senior examiner,
Nuclear Power Safety Examination Division (Agency for Natural Resources and Energy), 1999

What must be admitted very painfully is that this was a disaster Made in Japan. Its fundamental causes are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to sticking with the programme; our groupism; and our insularity. Had other Japanese been in the shoes of those who bear responsibility for this accident, the result may well have been the same.

Kiyoshi Kurokawa, chairman
National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission

Companies and Organisations

AEC Atomic Energy Commission (United States)

AEG Allgemeine Elektrizitts Gesellschaft (Germany)

AFC Atomic Fuel Corporation

ANRE Agency for Natural Resources and Energy

BNFL British Nuclear Fuels Limited (United Kingdom)

CRIEPI Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry

DPJ Democratic Party of Japan (left-wing)

EPDC Electric Power Development Company

FEPC Federation of Electric Power Companies

GEC General Electric Company (United Kingdom)

GE General Electric (United States)

IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency

INSS Institute of Nuclear Safety System [sic]

JAEC Japan Atomic Energy Commission

JAERI Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute

JAPC Japan Atomic Power Company

JCO Japan Nuclear Fuel Conversion Company

JCP Japan Communist Party

JMA Japan Meteorological Agency

JNC Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute

JNFL Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited

JNSDA Japan Nuclear Ship Development Agency

JSCCS Japan Society for Corporate Communication Studies

JSDF Japan Self-Defense Forces

KEPCO Kansai Electric Power Company

LDP Liberal Democratic Party (right-wing)

METI Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (2001present)

MEXT Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2001present)

NAIIC National Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission

MHLW Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

MITI Ministry of International Trade and Industry (19492001)

NIRS National Institute of Radiological Sciences

NISA Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency

NRA Nuclear Regulation Authority

NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission (United States)

NSC Nuclear Safety Commission

OELCO Osaka Electric Light Company

OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

PNC Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation

RBMK High-power Channel-type Reactor (Russian: Reaktor Bolshoy Moshchnosti Kanalnyy)

SCAP Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

STA Science and Technology Agency (19562001)

TEPCO Tokyo Electric Power Company

USIS United States Information Service

UTH University of Tokyo Hospital

Technologies and Terminologies

ABWR Advanced Boiling Water Reactor

AGR Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor

ARS Acute Radiation Syndrome

ASTRID Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration

ATR Advanced Thermal Reactor

AVB Anti-Vibration Bar

BWR Boiling Water Reactor

DDFP Diesel-Driven Fire Pump

ECCS Emergency Core Cooling System (encompasses multiple safety systems)

ERC Emergency Response Centre

FAC Flow-Accelerated Corrosion

FBR Fast Breeder Reactor

HPCI High-Pressure Coolant Injection

HWR Heavy Water Reactor

IC Isolation Condenser

IVTM In-Vessel Transfer Machine

JPDR Japan Power Demonstration Reactor

JRR-1 Japan Research Reactor 1

LNG Liquid Natural Gas

LOCA Loss-of-Coolant Accident

LWR Light Water Reactor, encompassing BWRs, PWRs and others

MOX Mixed-Oxide Fuel

MSIV Main Steam Isolation Valve

OFC Off-Site Centre

PORV Pilot-Operated Relief Valve

PWR Pressurised Water Reactor

RCIC Reactor Core Isolation Cooling

RETF Recycle Equipment Test Facility

RHR Residual Heat Removal System

SIB Seismic-Isolation Building

SPEEDI System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information

SRV Safety Relief Valve

On the afternoon of 11th March 2011, an earthquake shook the Pacific Ocean floor with a force so violent it redistributed Earths mass, altering its figure axis and shortening our day/night cycle by 1.8 microseconds. From the epicentre, 75 kilometres east of Japan, rose a towering, unstoppable wall of water. This tsunami breached Japans coastline within 40 minutes, crashing against the Onagawa Nuclear Power Station the closest nuclear facility to ground zero with waves as high as 14 metres (46 feet). Tremors rocked the hardened facility far beyond its maximum tolerances, but Onagawa survived the dual onslaught relatively unscathed and even became a refuge shelter for those made homeless in the chaos. Just over half an hour later, the tsunami reached a second power station: Fukushima Daiichi. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Daiichis owner and one of the worlds largest and most influential utilities, claimed they took every conceivable measure to prepare for such an event. It wasnt enough a deluge of water overwhelmed Fukushimas inadequate coastal defences with ease, crippling the sites ability to cool its six reactors, plunging the government into a catatonic crisis and instigating the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

2011s Great East-Japan Earthquake may have been a natural trigger, but Fukushima Daiichis downfall was very much a preventable, man-made event: one Japan should have been well prepared for. Minor earthquakes hit the country every single day, after all, and major ones with accompanying tsunami come every few years. Indeed, the Japanese rank among the least likely people to espouse atomic energy and were its most passionate detractors until a post-World War II, CIA-backed propaganda campaign turned public perception around. From the very beginning, however, the Japanese energy industry failed to afford due consideration to the serious threat posed by tsunami while being plagued by negative foreign influence, safety violations, technological setbacks and cultural peculiarities that stifled genuine independent oversight.

Accidents are inevitable in any industry, but rather than form substantial accident-mitigating countermeasures, power utilities and the government focused on accident prevention almost exclusively. It didnt work, leading Kyushu and Thoku University researchers to conclude in 2018 that Japan has had more nuclear accidents of greater severity than [all] other countries. Insiders proclaimed their technology infallible and, when significant accidents did occur, they were often concealed or explained away with a convenient scapegoat. Meanwhile, a powerful clique of politicians, business leaders, media figures and academics prevented any widespread critical discourse. Along the way, what began as an ambitious and cutting-edge dream fell apart as technological difficulties, inadequate regulation, a box-ticking approach to safety inspections, cover-ups and mounting public opposition hampered the industrys ability to fulfil its goals.