The Magnitude 9.1 Meltdown at Fukushima
summary
A granular timeline of failure and improvisation at Fukushima Daiichi shows what actually fails and what actually works: diesel backup generators in the basement are flooded despite a 19‑foot sea wall, passive systems like the isolation condenser cools three days but one unit loses cooling and melts, improvised water injection with fire trucks and car batteries prevents worse outcomes, three hydrogen explosions and partial meltdowns release about 780 petabecquerels, and evacuation, permissions, and ad‑hoc venting decide survival.
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chapters (23)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:30Example Nuclear Power Plant
- 2:31Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
- 5:07Boiling Water Reactor
- 6:48Backup Diesel Generator
- 7:08Passive Cooling: Unit 1
- 7:38Passive Cooling: Units 2 and 3
- 8:46Unit 1 and 2 Control Room
- 9:23Power Supply Room
- 11:25Unit 1 Recovery: Re-Establish Cooling
- 12:56Unit 1 Recovery: Instrumentation
- 14:03Unit 1 Recovery: Planning the Vent
- 16:19Yoshida briefs Kan
- 16:58Personal Dosimeter
- 18:32Making Another Plan
- 19:09Venting
- 19:48BWR Fuel Bundle
- 20:32Hydrogen Explosion
- 22:18State of the Plant
- 22:59The Fukushima 50
- 23:46The Last Straw
- 25:53Putting Fukushima Daiichi in Context
- 29:20Process Mapping
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