Fukushima: Epic tragedy simmers on back burner

Smoke rises from Reactor 3 at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011. A hydrogen explosion inside the reactor building reduced the steel-reinforced concrete structure to rubble, burying not only the reactor but also hundreds of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rods. /AFP photo


The earthquake-driven tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant on March 11 is an epic tragedy for the Japanese people. It is also a crippling blow to global public perception of nuclear power.

Unlike Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986, which have been dismissed largely as human error, Fukushima in 2011 shows how a nuclear plant can become an environmental nightmare when it's knocked out in a natural disaster.

While the siting of the Fukushima plant on the shoreline of a seismically active oceanfront seems reckless in retrospect, several plants around the world face risks of comparable degree. Other plants in Japan and the United States are located in areas at risk of catastrophic seismic or severe weather events. Earthquake risk has been a longstanding criticism of the El Diablo Canyon plant in Southern California. I always thought it was reckless to build a nuclear plant in a place named for the devil.

The unfolding story in Fukushima is a Bullwork poster child. Like most disasters in the Media Age, the media and public's attention span for the disaster is waning. At the same time, the powerful interests behind the industry are marshaling their forces to build an it-could-have-been-worse defense.