Tesco
Fukushima
Book

Fukushima

The Story of a Nuclear Disaster

David Lochbaum, Edwin Lyman, Susan Q. Stranahan and the Union of Concerned Scientists
The New Press, 2014

Read or listen offline

  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×

Editorial Rating

8

Recommendation

Nuclear energy experts David Lochbaum, Edwin Lyman, Susan Q. Stranahan and the Union of Concerned Scientists offer an important chronicle of the unanticipated events that led to the calamity at Fukushima, one of history’s worst nuclear disasters. In this detailed account, an unlikely series of natural and manufactured events unfold, threatening to contaminate Tokyo with radiation. The authors’ account debunks the idea that nuclear power is safe. Their compelling granular descriptions may slow the story and blunt some main points, such as the US’s nuclear safety shortcomings. While always politically neutral, getAbstract recommends this vivid account to environmentalists, and the opponents and proponents of nuclear power and alternative energy.

Take-Aways

  • The Fukushima disaster started on March 11, 2011, with the 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake whose epicenter was north of Tokyo.
  • The quake began 80 miles offshore, when two plates of the Earth’s crust shifted about 100 to 130 feet along a break running for about 180 miles.
  • It pushed Japan’s longest island, Honshu, about three feet to the east, and was so powerful that it shifted the Earth’s axis a few inches.

About the Authors

David Lochbaum wrote Nuclear Waste Disposal and heads the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists’ Nuclear Safety Project. Edwin Lyman is a senior scientist in the organization’s Global Security Program. Susan Q. Stranahan is the author of Susquehanna: River of Dreams.

Comment on this summary or Comenzar discusión