First 24 hours shaped Japan nuclear crisis
By ERIC TALMADGE and MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press
1 July 2011 FUKUSHIMA, Japan – When Unit 2 began to shake, Hiroyuki Kohno’s first hunch was that something was wrong with the turbines. He paused for a moment, then went back to logging the day’s radioactivity readings. He expected it to pass. Until the shakes became jolts. As sirens wailed, he ran to an open space, away from the walls, and raced down a long corridor with two colleagues. Parts of the ceiling fell around them. Outside, he found more pandemonium. “People were shouting about a tsunami,” he said. “At that point, I really thought I might die.” Breathless, Kohno climbed a small hill and turned to look back. Black plumes rose from the reactor units. The emergency generators, burning diesel, had kicked in. He saw the wave. It crashed over the plant’s seawall, stopping only when it reached the foot of the slope about 500 yards (460 meters) from where he stood. Kohno watched, stunned. […] The events of the next 24 hours brought the promise of nuclear power into question, both in Japan and around the world. Through interviews with dozens of officials, workers and experts, and hundreds of pages of newly released documents, The Associated Press found the early response to the crisis was marked by confusion, inadequate preparation, a lack of forthrightness with the public and a reluctance to make quick decisions. These problems set the tone for the troubled recovery effort since. […]
