Meltdown at Fukushima | Pressure | 2

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Crippled by a tsunami of unprecedented scale, one of the reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is in danger of melting down. To save it, workers must do the unthinkable: Vent radioactive steam into the atmosphere, to avoid a larger catastrophe as explosive gasses build up inside the reactor core. And they must risk exposing themselves to dangerous levels of radiation to do it.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to against the odds at free on Amazon music. Download the app today.
0:14.5	Supervisor Ikuwou Izawa stands at his desk in the dark control room, shining his flashlight over a series of blueprints.
0:22.9	They show the inner workings of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
0:28.2	Right now, those reactors have no cooling water flowing through them. A dangerous situation.
0:34.2	Without water, the reactors could easily overheat and melt down.
0:40.2	It's 6 p.m. on March 11th, 2011. It's been a little more than two hours since a tsunami wiped out all electrical power at the plant.
0:50.2	Izawa traces a finger across the blueprints. The pipes are like a labyrinth.
0:55.2	What about VAL-13? His deputy supervisor, Nuboru Homa, shakes his head.
1:01.2	Too narrow, we need more water than that. Well, there's gotta be something.
1:07.2	Izawa wants to divert water from the plant's fire hydrant system into the pipes that cool the reactors.
1:14.2	It's a tricky job. The fire hydrants and the cooling system run on completely different pipes.
1:21.2	But after more scrutiny, Izawa sees a way to connect everything.
1:27.2	If we open these valves here, here, here, and here, we can get water flowing to the reactor. Right?
1:35.2	Homa nods. Yes, and we're making reactor 1 the priority, right?
1:39.2	We have to. It's already leaking radiation. Now it's just a matter of finding some volunteers then.
1:46.2	This causes a murmur among the engineers. Normally they could open the valves by pushing a button from within the control room.
1:54.2	But with the power out, that's impossible. They have to send people into the reactor 1 building so they can open the valves by hand.
2:02.2	Unfortunately, two workers just returned from reactor 1 an hour ago with bad news.
2:09.2	They only got as far as the airlock before they had to turn back. The levels of radioactivity were too high for them to go any further.
2:17.2	Inside the building itself, the radiation might be at lethal levels. But Izawa sees no other option. He has to send people inside.
2:26.2	He quiets the men and asks for volunteers.
2:31.2	One hand shoots up. It's his fellow control room supervisor, Katsuaki Harano. Harano shouldn't even be here today.
	...

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