How Government & Organizations

handled it
 Since the beginning of the development of nuclear power reactors, in the 1950s, governments realized
that ordinary common law was not appropriate to address the risks involved with this new energy
source.
 Japan enacted two acts regarding nuclear liability: the Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damage
(“Compensation Act”) and the Act on Indemnity Agreements for Compensation of Nuclear
Damage (“Indemnity Agreements Act”).

Why did the Disaster Happen then?

There has been considerable criticism to the
way the plant operator TEPCO has handled
the crisis.
This disaster was a cascade of industrial,
regulatory and engineering failures leading to
a situation where critical infrastructure — in
this case, backup generators to keep cooling
the plant in the event of main power loss —
was built in harm’s way.
TEPCO, which ran the plant, first reduced the height of the coastal cliffs where the plant was built,
underestimated potential tsunami heights, relied on its own internal faulty data and incomplete modeling
and ignored warnings and lacked tsunami specific training  and certification of engineers and scientists
who perform hazard studies, and for the regulators who review them.
 Government Response –
An organizational schematic of the disaster
response is provided.
 Evacuation of residents/evacuation zone -
Around 158,000 residents were evacuated
gradually by increasing the evacuation
radius from 2km to 30Km.
Many problems arose in terms of providing
clear directions/definitions and
appropriately implementing the evacuation
zones, and the complicated nature of the
zones led to confusion among residents
 Issues with the screenings and testing for radiation exposure -
There were concerns about the risks of side effects and the shortage of medical personnel, hence the
administration of stable iodine tablets was delayed and testing for internal radiation exposure was
done after couple of months.
 Insufficient accident mitigation efforts –
Inadequate mitigation plans for multiple disasters with poor ventilation and leakage of the
radioactivity and Core cooling failure was responsible for the disaster.
 Financial Implication –
TEPCO could face 2 trillion yen ($23.6 billion) in special losses in that business year to March 2012
to compensate communities near its crippled Fukushima I nuclear plant.
 Impact on industry and others –
Many companies have barred the import of Japanese foods and manufacturing good or demand
certification of radiation inspection that eventually crippled the exports industry