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Q&A: 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and current status
The following are questions and answers on the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and developments thereafter.
Q: What happened on March 11, 2011?
A: At 2:46 p.m., a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck off northeastern Japan, triggering tsunami waves as high as around 15 meters which hit areas on the Pacific coast. Combined photo shows a tsunami-hit area (top) in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, on March 27, 2011, about two weeks after the earthquake-triggered disaster in northeastern Japan, and the same area (bottom) pictured on Feb. 1, 2021. (Kyodo)
Q: How did it affect the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant?
A: The tsunami following the massive quake engulfed the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operated by what is now Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. in the Pacific coast towns of Futaba and Okuma.
Decades-long challenge to scrap Fukushima plant by 2051 in a bind japantoday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from japantoday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
INTERVIEW: Kan Had Not Assumed Nuclear Accident before 2011
Februay 27, 2021 Tokyo, Feb. 27 (Jiji Press)–Looking back at the March 2011 nuclear accident, former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he had thought that a nuclear accident would never occur in Japan and admitted that he was wrong in the assumption.
“Before the disaster, I had thought that a nuclear accident would not take place, but I was wrong,” Kan, a lawmaker of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told Jiji Press in a recent interview. “(Japan) should scrap all nuclear plants,” he said.
“I feel grave responsibility for the death of many elderly people and people suffering illnesses when they took refuge in the early stages of the accident,” said Kan, who was prime minister at the time of the triple meltdown accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s 9501 Fukushima No. 1 plant, stricken by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant's No. 3 reactor Feb 28, 2021 Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Sunday it has removed all 566 nuclear fuel assemblies from the spent fuel pool of the No. 3 reactor at its Fukushima No. 1 plant. It is the first time that fuel removal has been completed…