![]() NARRATOR:Yoshio Ichida wanted to save his boat. I went straight to the harbor and headed out to sea. YOSHIO ICHIDA: It's always been said on this shore the tsunami will follow the earthquake. NARRATOR:Just up the coast, the fishermen of Fukushima knew what was coming next. But in the end, the plant wasn't safe, was it. I had always thought nuclear power was safe. TAKASHI SATO: I wasn't worried about the condition of the plant. Takashi Sato is a reactor inspector who no longer works at the plant. So backup generators kicked in to power the cooling systems and stop the fuel rods from melting. But the high radioactivity of nuclear fuel rods means they generate intense heat even after a shutdown. The reactors automatically shut down within seconds. NARRATOR:The workers stayed calm because they knew Japanese power plants are designed to withstand earthquakes. ![]() "MURAKAMI": We were all on our knees, holding onto the railings. TAKASHI SATO: It was getting stronger and stronger. "ONO": I saw all the pipes fixed to the wall shifting and ripping off. Some have asked for their identities to be hidden for fear of being fired. The company that operates the plant, TEPCO, has forbidden its workers from speaking publicly about what followed.īut one year on, they are starting to tell their stories. NARRATOR:The earthquake that shook the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was the most powerful to strike Japan since records began. It was like nothing I'd ever experienced. ![]() Then, I think it was about 2:46 PM, I felt an incredible rumbling in the earth. Before that day, we'd had a few earthquakes, around magnitude 4. TAKASHI SATO, Former Plant Inspector: On March 11th, there was a relaxed atmosphere at work.
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