Human consequences
About 154,000 people evacuated; some towns remain uninhabited more than ten years later.
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NuclearFukushima nuclear accident
1Deaths
154,000Displaced / homeless
$190bnEstimated cost
- One cancer death officially recognised as radiation-related, but more than 2,000 indirect deaths linked to the evacuation.
- Japanese government estimate (about 21.5 trillion yen, 2016).
Cut off from power by the tsunami, the plant loses cooling in three reactors, which melt down. Hydrogen explosions spread radioactive material: the accident is rated level 7, like Chernobyl.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
Radioactive releases into the Pacific Ocean; treated water from the site has been discharged into the sea since 2023.
Economic consequences
Decades of decommissioning and decontamination.
Political consequences
Japan shuts down all its reactors for several years and Germany decides to phase out nuclear power.
Further reading
Similar disasters
- Three Mile Island accidentNuclear · United States1979
- Chernobyl disasterNuclear · Ukraine (USSR)1986
- Chelyabinsk meteorFrom space · Russia2013
- Tōhoku earthquake and tsunamiTsunami · Japan2011
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