Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare–Radioactive Subject Matter
On March 11, 2011 a double natural disaster–an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a massive tsunami –struck the city of Fukushima along the northeastern coast of Japan. Knocking out the electricity essential for cooling the nuclear reactors, a disaster rivaling Chernobyl was underway. Directed by James Jones (“Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes”), and Megumi Inman, Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare opens with the fear that “Japan would cease to exist” if the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant failed to cool down the fuel rods. The resulting outcome, should the cooling systems not be reinstated, would be radioactive material spewing forth uncontrollably worldwide.
Nuclear plants are used in the United States and many other countries primarily to meet demands for electricity. For the vast majority of these plants, their record of maintenance outages has been hailed as exemplary.
Revisiting the nine harrowing days prior to the catastrophic disaster, amazing archival footage (who took the video?!) films the control-room engineers fighting to prevent a total meltdown. In addition, the political and corporate leaders, confronting the unthinkable, are seen craven in biohazard gear while ordering the Fukushima Daiichi employees to enter the plant in a suicide mission. Ordinary citizens’ homes, cars, and lives are caught on film desperately overcome by gigantic tsunami waves.
Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare also explores the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster and its ongoing impact on the environment and the surrounding communities, The corporate and government malfeasance is sickening. One particularly emotional recounting of the heroics of the “Fukushima 50” (actually, sixty-nine plant workers who died in the suicidal mission entering the nuclear core), is remembered by an engineer and manager named Ikuo Izawa. Highlighting the human cost of nuclear energy and the incredible courage of his fellow engineers, Izawa recounts his own telephone call, believing it was his last, to his wife and family.
A truly remarkable and unforgettable story of the facts behind the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare interviews Japanese scientists, government officials, activists, affected residents (deaths: over 19,000), and American engineers onsite from General Electric, who designed the advanced boiling water reactors in the plant. All the interviews add depth to the narrative, withholding judgment and reporting as they experienced what was happening. The viewer is left to ask: Could this happen again? Have we learned how to prevent similar horrors? Are utilities like Tokyo Electric being held accountable?
Availability: HBOmax