Fukushima Nuclear Disaster
Team Alpha
Student1 Name, Student2 Name, Student3 Name,
Student4 Name, Student5 Name
Risk Research Question
● What risks were overlooked in the
Fukushima nuclear disaster and what risk
controls could have been put in place to
avoid this catastrophe?
Risk Context
● Assets: Critical power infrastructure,
Human lives
● Protector: Japanese Government
● Threat: Earthquake and Tsunami
What Happened?
● Friday March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake
hit 130km off the coast of Japan
● Quake lasted for about 3 minutes
● As soon as the quake hit, the Fukushima
reactors shut down
● Backup generators turned on to start the
cooling process.
World Nuclear Association, 2015
What Happened?
● An hour after the quake, a 15 meter
tsunami flooded the backup generator
cooling system
● 3 reactors overheated as a result
● Weeks were spent trying to cool down
the reactors
World Nuclear Association, 2015
Impact
● Reactors were damaged
● Radioactive material contaminated
water
● Government fear
● 100,000 people evacuated (mitigate)
● 1000+ deaths from evacuation
World Nuclear Association, 2015
Likelihood
● Natural Disaster
o Perceived Low Likelihood Event
Retrieved From: Network.ProjectManagers.net
Retrieved From: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/bild-753679-197101.html
Retrieved from: www.globalresearch.ca
Risk Assessment Failures
● Reactor location
o Original plans had reactors 10m above
sea level
o Lowered to 5.7m when being built (risk
appetite raised)
o Was considered an acceptable threshold
when built
o Indicators of previous tsunamis ignored
World Nuclear Association, 2015
Risk Assessment Failures
● Backup Cooling Power
○ Perceived multi-stage measures, actually
single-hit
○ Backup generators not waterproof
○ Earthquake took out main power, created
tsunami which took out backup power
World Nuclear Association, 2015, Lipsy 2013
Reinvestigation – Risk Controls
● Ensure one event cannot take out both
primary and backup cooling systems
● Create crisis evacuation plans to reduce
the likelihood of human deaths
● Routinely create risk assessments on the
likelihood of natural disasters
● Restore public trust in government
Visschers, 2012
References
●
Lipscy, P., Kushida, K., & Incerti, T. (2013, May 16). The Fukushima Disaster
and Japan's Nuclear Plant Vulnerability in Comparative Perspective.
Retrieved from http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es4004813
●
Visschers, V., & Siegrist, M. (2012, July 4). How a Nuclear Power Plant
Accident Influences Acceptance of Nuclear Power: Results of a
Longitudinal Study Before and After the Fukushima Disaster. Retrieved
March 1, 2015, retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.15396924.2012.01861.x/abstract;jsessionid=3C2C31C419AFD7D05A06725B2CC61DFE.f04t04?deniedA
ccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false
●
Fukushima Accident. (Feb 2015). World-Nuclear. Retrieved from
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Fukushima-Accident/