MELTDOWN

Like Three Mile Island and Chernobyl before it, Fukushima is now synonymous with nuclear disaster.

On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake ever measured in Japan occurred off the northeast coast of its largest island, Honshu. It triggered a tsunami with a wall of water 128 feet high. The tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, triggering meltdowns in its three active reactors—though the damage was far less severe than Chernobyl’s, where radiation emissions were 10 times greater. Langeland’s narrative is impressively concise, with accessible explanations for such complicated technical subjects as plate tectonics, seismology, the fission process of nuclear power plants, radiation and radioactivity, the chain of events that led to the meltdown of the reactors, and the aftermath. The trifecta of catastrophic death and devastation is vividly depicted with well-chosen quotes from survivors recounting their experiences. In particular, the dramatic accounts of employees at the plant desperately working to contain the meltdown and of rescue workers scouring the devastation for survivors and evacuating whole communities are riveting. In the aftermath of the disaster, Japan reconsidered using nuclear fission for generating power, but Langeland notes that alternative fuels like coal and natural gas also adversely impact human health and the environment. Ten years after the disaster, the author warns, “it remains unclear how many people will suffer long-term from radiation exposure.”

A well-researched, sharply written, engrossing account of natural and nuclear disaster.