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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. This episode originally aired in 2022. Ikuo Izawa and his team of engineers huddle around a table, poring over blueprints of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. It's been 24 hours since a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the plant.
Izawa's mood is grim. The tsunami knocked out power to the systems that keep the reactors cool. The water inside those systems has been boiling into steam, causing dangerous pressure to build. A few hours ago, Izawa sent two teams of engineers into reactor building 1. They were supposed to open two vents which would release that pressure.
The first team succeeded in opening one of the vents, but as the second team got closer to the other vent, the radiation levels around them were off the charts, and they had to turn back. Ever since then, Izawa and his engineers have been racking their brains for another way to lower the pressure in the reactor. Izawa rubs his eyes in exhaustion. He's running out of ideas.
Then, he hears a voice behind him. "Let me go. I know exactly where that valve in the basement is." He turns to see one of the younger engineers, a man named Kazuhiro. Izawa sighs. "The radiation is too intense. Even three minutes in there could be lethal. I can do it in two. I used to run track." Izawa stares at him in disbelief. Even if Kazuhiro is a fast runner, sending him into that building would be insane.
"What if it's stuck?" "If it's stuck, I'll dash back. And I won't go alone. Sato agreed to come." Sato is another young engineer on the team, who went to school with Kazuhiro. He's a great athlete, even faster than me. "This isn't some track meet. You have a better idea?" Izawa lowers his head and falls silent for a moment. Then he looks into the eyes of the two young volunteers. "Two minutes, not one second more. Okay?"
Kazuhiro and Sato start warming up. They stretch their legs and do jumping jacks. They joke with each other about who's going to run faster. It pains Izawa to see how carefree the two young men are as they prepare to put their lives on the line.
Kazuhiro and Sato pull on their anti-radiation suits, zip into their silver flame-proof coveralls, and adjust their breathing tanks. As Izawa watches them, he considers calling it all off. It's the biggest sacrifice he's ever asked of his employees, risking their lives to save the plant, if not the entire Fukushima region. When they're finally ready, Izawa puts on a brave smile and sends them off.
Run fast. A minute later, the phone rings on Izawa's desk. It's Plant Superintendent Masao Yoshida in the ERC, the Emergency Response Center. What's that smoke coming from Reactor Building 1? What smoke? There's no windows where I am. I can't see anything. Well, I can. And there's white smoke pouring from Building 1. What's going on? Izawa drops the phone and stands up. Someone stop those two!
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In March 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami battered the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The tsunami destroyed the plant's backup generators. With no power to run the cooling system, the heat and pressure inside the reactor cores was rising, increasing the risk of a meltdown.
Reactor 1 was in the most trouble, but reactors 2 and 3 were also growing less stable. And as the problems at Fukushima multiplied, workers had to put their lives on the line to avert a catastrophe. This is Episode 3: Collapse. Inside the Emergency Response Center, Plant Superintendent Masao Yoshida summons an engineer to his desk. "How exactly did you do it?" "It was my team. They're the ones that deserve the credit."
The engineer explains. Just minutes ago, his team was able to improvise a way to vent steam from Reactor 1. They jury-rigged an industrial air compressor with some spare parts from other machines. Then they blew enough air through the building's ventilation system to force a vent to pop open. Steam came pouring out of the vent, the same thick white smoke that Yoshida had seen earlier. It was actually a good sign, not a bad one.
Now they can continue to vent steam and reduce pressure inside Reactor 1 without sending anyone into the building. Yoshida is relieved to hear that Ikua Izawa called off his latest suicide team even before they knew what was causing the white smoke. Yoshida congratulates the engineer. "You've bought us some valuable time. Tell me, how long will the compressor keep working? A day? Two?
The engineer's expression changes from proud to sheepish. More like a few hours. The engineer explains that parts of the setup are literally held together with duct tape. It's a temporary fix. They need to find a solution with more staying power. And Yoshida thinks he might have one. He's been playing around with a radical idea all morning. He looks hard at the engineer. Don't tell anyone, but...
I'm considering pumping seawater through the reactor. The engineer's eyes go wide. Seawater? No, you can't. The salt will eat through- I know, I know. But we need to cool the reactor. Just drop some plants. The engineer leaves looking shaken, and Yoshida understands why.
Seawater is corrosive and could severely damage the reactor. It might never run again, which would cost the power company billions of dollars. But a meltdown would be far worse. Fukushima has six reactors, and if one of those reactors melts down, it could threaten the entire plant, not to mention the entire surrounding region. If one reactor has to be sacrificed to prevent that catastrophe, so be it.
Inside the control room, Katsuaki Hirano studies a gauge on the instrument panel. He jots down a reading, then walks over to a new gauge, stepping over the mess of wires from the bus batteries that are still powering everything. The readings from Reactor 1 are bad, but at least they're holding steady.
He turns to report to his supervisor Izawa, but before he can speak, a young engineer approaches, a nervous expression etched onto his face. "Mr. Izawa, I was wondering if I could speak to you in private?" Izawa shoots Hirano a look. "Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of everyone." The young man glances around nervously and takes a deep breath.
Some of the junior staff feel useless. There's not enough work for us. You're monitoring the gauges and helping rewire them. That doesn't take a dozen people. And the radiation here, it's rising. We want to evacuate to the ERC, where it's safer.
Hirano is shocked. Every worker here has pledged to do their jobs and keep the region safe. How can they even think about abandoning their duty? Especially now, in the midst of a crisis. He sees that Izawa looks equally stricken. "You want to abandon the control room?" "Not abandon. You can always call us back." Hirano looks at Izawa, wondering what he'll say.
He understands the young man's fear, but fear doesn't override duty. To Hirano's surprise, a tear streaks down Izawa's face. Then another. Izawa has always been a model of composure, but now he's breaking down in front of his team. Hirano steps forward to shield Izawa from the gaze of the others in the room. He understands why Izawa is distraught, but he also doesn't want him to lose face.
Hirano feels anger well up inside of him. How dare the junior staff abandon their leader at a time like this? He's about to tear into them when he feels a hand on his shoulder. It's Izawa. His face is still streaked with tears, but he's also smiling. He steps forward to address the whole room. "I've decided to stay at the plant until the end, even if it means dying.
But I have no intention of ordering anyone else to stay against their will. All I ask is that, before you go, please think. I know you're scared. We all are. But young and old alike, we have a duty to protect the plant. And more than that, to protect the people of this area and the nation. They've put their faith in us. Please, do not break that faith. By the end, Hirano is also teary-eyed.
He hasn't wanted to admit it, but he's scared too. Part of him wishes he'd stayed home after the earthquake instead of risking his life to come here. But he's moved by Izawa's plea for the greater good. Hirano sees that a few members of the junior staff are weeping as well. Izawa looks at them, still smiling. "So, as I said, you're free to go." But not a single person moves.
As everyone returns to work, Hirano turns to Izawa. I would have screamed at them and probably made everything worse. You struck just the right tone. Thank you, but I fear people are nearing their breaking points. You might be right. I... Suddenly, a huge noise rocks the room. So loud, it feels like a physical blow.
Hirano tumbles to the floor. Ceiling panels and fluorescent bulbs crash down around him. Everyone looks around, stunned. Hirano's first thought is that another earthquake hit, but that didn't feel like a quake. There was no slow buildup. It was just BAM. It was even sharper than the tsunami, and much louder. Inside the windowless control room, it's impossible to know for sure what happened, but whatever it was…
It can't be good. Inside the Emergency Response Center, Superintendent Yoshida stands frozen, holding a bottle of water halfway to his lips. Seconds ago, a huge explosion shook the entire ERC. Now everyone stands motionless, staring in horror out the window that faces Reactor Building 1.
Instead of the white vapor of venting steam, they now see the black smoke of a raging fire. Yoshida's phone rings. He puts his bottle down and hears Izawa in the control room. "What was that bang? We can't see anything." "There was an explosion in Reactor Building 1." Yoshida hears Izawa swear on the other end of the line.
He asks Yoshida to describe exactly what he's seeing. He wants to know if the whole building is damaged or just the top story. Yoshida looks more closely. "Just the top story." "Okay, then it was probably a hydrogen explosion." Izawa quickly explains to his boss what probably happened.
When the water in the reactor core's tank boiled away, it turned into steam. That steam reacted with a zirconium that coats the uranium fuel rods and produced hydrogen gas, which leaked out of the reactor. Hydrogen molecules are lighter than air, so when hydrogen leaks, it rises. In this case, the hydrogen gas must have risen to the top story. There, something ignited the gas, probably an electrical short.
And it exploded, blowing a hole in the roof of the reactor building. Yoshida has one question. Do you think the reactor core is damaged? Are the fuel rods exposed? I don't know, but we'll check our instruments. Yoshida tells him to hurry and hangs up. Then he pulls aside his head engineer. How are the plans coming for pumping seawater?
Yoshida tells the engineer to start reviewing the video feeds from around the plant. With all the flooding from the tsunami, there's got to be seawater somewhere. A few hours after the explosion, a firefighter hobbles over a pile of debris behind Reactor Building 3.
He moves with a limp. He fell and twisted his ankle last night, and he feels lightheaded from a lack of sleep. He's been up all night helping pump water into Reactor One, but now all their fire hydrants are running dry. They need to find another water source. From the top of the debris pile, the firefighter looks down and smiles. He calls over his shoulder to his sergeant. Sir, I think I just found our water.
The sergeant clambers up the pile and stands next to him. Together, they look down at their prize, a huge pit, 200 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. And it's filled to the brim with water from the tsunami.
The sergeant claps the firefighter on the back. "We're back in business. It's seawater though. Won't that corrode the pipes? The bosses say it's okay. Come on, let's go get the trucks." But as they turn back, they see what lies between them and the fire trucks. Tons of rubble and debris, plus a huge reinforced fence. There's no way the trucks will get through. The firefighter turns to the sergeant. "Can we use the bulldozers?"
"All being repaired. The tsunami damaged every single one. We'll have to start clearing this debris by hand." The firefighter sighs. His muscles ache with exhaustion, his ankle throbs, and he's desperate for sleep. But he climbs back down the debris pile and joins the rest of his crew as they start clearing a path to the water pit. Plant Superintendent Yoshida glances at the giant television in the ERC.
It's a news station showing images of the smoldering crater atop Reactor Building 1. He shakes his head in disgust. He's sure the explosion never would have happened if they'd been able to vent steam sooner and reduce pressure inside the reactor. But they had to wait for the Prime Minister's office to evacuate the surrounding area, and the government bureaucrats took too long.
Thankfully, the reactor core is still intact, but the loss of the building's roof has increased the risk of a radiation leak. There are pools of water on the top floor that contain old nuclear fuel rods, which are still radioactive. The explosion exposed those pools to the open air. If the water in those pools starts to leak or evaporate, the spent fuel rods could overheat and spew radioactivity into the air.
Yoshida is anxiously waiting for an update from the firefighters. They're still trying to clear a path for their trucks so they can start pumping seawater through the reactor. When his phone rings, he pounces on it. But instead of the fire chief, he hears a manager from the Tokyo Electric Power Company, TEPCO, the corporation that owns the plant. What's this I hear about pumping seawater through the reactor?
Yoshida starts to explain about the explosion, but the manager cuts him off. If you corrode the pipes with seawater, that could cause long-term damage. We'd never be able to get the reactor back online. Do you have any idea how much that would cost? Yoshida closes his eyes in frustration. That's all the people at Tepco seem to care about. Losing money. They clearly don't grasp how bad things are getting, or how much worse they could get.
But Reactor One needs water now! It's already overheating, and our water systems, they're completely down. How else are we gonna cool down the core? Figure something out, but under no circumstances... Suddenly, the line goes dead. It's not surprising. Communication outside the plant has been iffy since the tsunami. But it's a stroke of luck for Yoshida. It's bought him a few precious minutes to think. His first impulse is to tell the Tepco managers to go to hell.
While they're sitting in their luxury offices, offering no solutions, he's the one working to save this damn plant, and seawater is their only option. But after a moment's thought, he realizes that he can't do that.
If he openly refuses to obey, they'll just fire him and replace him with someone more compliant. Somehow, he needs to figure out a way to do both. Placate his bosses in Tokyo and save the plant from ruin. And he's got to figure it out fast, because every minute that passes increases the risk of a worst-case scenario. Total Meltdown.
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Head over to Symbiotica.com and use code ODDS for 20% off and free shipping on your subscription order. Superintendent Yoshida sits in a video conference room at the ERC, watching nervously as the upper management of TEPCO appears on screen. He sees a dozen men in suits seated at a large table in an oak-paneled room. Their faces are stern.
Yoshida's stomach grumbles when he sees the catered plates of sushi on the table in front of them. He's barely had time to eat all day. Yoshida spots the manager he was speaking with on the phone just ten minutes ago before their call cut out. Without even a hello, the manager starts in. "Yoshida, I want you to swear that you will not pump any seawater through that reactor."
"I hear you, sir. I will not give any such orders." "Make sure your workers confirm this." Yoshida turns to his head engineer, who is standing a few feet away.
"Did you hear my order?" The engineer walks away without saying a word. Yoshida feels his chest tighten. He hopes this ploy works. Yoshida knew that the TEPCO managers would forbid him from pumping seawater through the reactor, and he knew they would demand verbal confirmation from his workers that they understood the order too.
So, before the video conference, Yoshida secretly met with his head engineer and told him not to speak when he was asked to confirm the order. Now, if the engineer is questioned later, he can say he didn't hear what he was being asked. Responsibility for disobeying Tepco's order will land squarely on Yoshida's shoulders.
But the manager in Tokyo isn't so easily fooled. "I didn't hear him. Did he confirm?" Yoshida chooses his words carefully. "When my men hear me, sir, they obey. Now please, let's get back to work." The manager looks dubious, but nods. As Yoshida logs off, he feels pangs of guilt. He's given his whole life to Tepco. He owes them everything. And he just lied to them.
He's going to ruin one of their prized assets. But in his heart, he knows he's doing the right thing.
Under a moonless night sky, the firefighter sits behind the wheel of a bulldozer and stares at the tall, razor-wire fence blocking his path. His uniform is slick with mud, his ankle throbs, and his hands are raw from lifting chunks of concrete. But there's no time to rest. With the bulldozers finally fixed, he and his team are close to clearing a path to the huge pit of water. Now, it's just a matter of tearing down this fence that surrounds it.
The firefighter turns to his sergeant, standing about 10 yards away. The sergeant raises his muddy hand. "Forward!" The firefighter puts the bulldozer into gear, takes a deep breath, and rumbles ahead. The bulldozer smashes into the fence, leaving a huge dent. "Again! Harder!" The firefighter backs up and revs the engine. He screeches forward again.
For the firefighter, tearing down this fence is a surreal experience. He actually helped build it a decade earlier, after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. The fence was meant to prevent terrorists from gaining access to the reactors.
But no one is worried about terrorists now. After the explosion in Building 1, the top priority is to get water pumping through the reactor as soon as possible. The bulldozer keeps slamming relentlessly until the fence is finally uprooted. The firefighter hops down and attaches a chain to the fence so he can drag it out of the way. If all goes well, within an hour they'll finally have water flowing through the reactor again.
At dawn on March 13th, Ikuo Izawa enters the Emergency Response Center building. It's the first time he's been out of the control room in almost two days. He feels overwhelmed by the destruction he saw around the plant as he drove his truck here from the control room.
He's also feeling tense. It's a relief to finally have some water flowing through Reactor 1, but the pit behind Building 3 is only so large. That water will last a day, tops, at which point they'll have to find another source. Izawa walks down a long hallway, tiptoeing around dozens of exhausted workers sleeping on mats. Most are curled up in blankets, with their feet peeking out of the bottom. Several are snoring.
He steps into the ERC's main room, where Superintendent Yoshida sees him and waves him over. Izawa is stunned by how fresh and alert he looks. "I'm glad you came. I need your help." Yoshida explains that he's been talking to the supervisor in another control room, who runs Reactor 3. Unlike Reactor 1, Reactor 3 did have a functioning water pump, running on its own backup generator. But now, that generator has failed.
Yoshida wants to know whether the same cascade of events that doomed Reactor Building 1 might now happen in Building 3. "Izawa, are we headed for another explosion?"
Izawa can't say for sure, but he knows it's a possibility. Yoshida scratches his head. "If we could get power to the safety release valves in Reactor 3, at least we should be able to keep venting the steam." "What if we rigged up some car batteries? We've been using bus batteries to run our control panel." "Good idea. Let's add that to this list." After a few minutes of brainstorming, Izawa pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath. "There's something else I want to say.
"Thank you for allowing the junior staff to evacuate to the ERC." Izawa meant it when he told his young engineers they had a duty to remain in the control room and protect the plant. But after the explosion, he decided to evacuate them to the ERC, where he knows they'll be safer.
Yoshida nods as he looks Izawa in the eye. How are you holding up? I think you managers need to take turns getting some rest. But we can't. There's too much to monitor and... Do you have any idea how terrible you look, Izawa? I've seen bodies at funerals that look more alive than you. If you won't take rest voluntarily, I'll have to order it.
Izawa nods, but on the inside, he can't imagine taking a break. Not when the plant is still on the verge of a meltdown. A staff electrician stands in several inches of water in the parking lot at the Fukushima plant. He's staring at his car, or what remains of it. The low morning sun illuminates the smashed back window, broken mirrors, and dented sides. The steering wheel is draped in seaweed.
A colleague next to him pats him on the back. "Come on, let's pop the hood." The electrician holds up his car key and presses a button. Amazingly, the car unlocks.
The plant managers have asked everyone to donate their car batteries. After the explosion in reactor building 1, they want to open up the safety release valves on reactors 2 and 3 to release the steam building up in their cooling systems. To do that, they'll need power from roughly 20 car batteries.
The electrician opens the mangled door of his car and pulls a lever under the dash to pop the hood. His colleague lifts up the hood and starts to laugh. "What's so funny?" The electrician circles around to the front and sees a half-dozen starfish in the engine block. He supposes it is funny, in a way, but he loved his car.
Once they've harvested his battery and loaded it onto a cart, the electrician turns to his colleague. Okay, where's your car? But his colleague shakes his head. I'm not giving my battery up. But we have orders. No, they asked for volunteers, and I'm not giving up my best chance for escape. What if another earthquake strikes? The electrician is shocked.
but his colleague remains defiant. "Don't be so dense. You know as well as I do that these batteries won't make any difference." "Maybe not, but we have to try." "If you want to be a sucker, fine. But I plan on surviving this mess. Now come on, let's get the rest of these batteries." He pulls a list from his pocket, along with a handful of car keys, and walks off. The electrician is left standing there, as feelings of doubt wash over him. Is he being a sucker?
Is it really every man for himself? He refuses to believe it. Sucker or not, he's going to do everything he can to save the plant. Masao Yoshida takes a final bite of microwave rice and picks up the phone that's ringing on his desk in the ERC.
It's the control room supervisor for Reactor 3. The pressure in the core is getting worse. I suspect that hydrogen is building up. Yoshida isn't surprised. The safety release valves in Building 3 haven't been opened yet. Of course the pressure is building. Still, the constant barrage of bad news feels like a vice tightening around his chest. He closes his eyes and breathes.
Earlier that morning, while on a much-needed cigarette break, Yoshida's thoughts turned to his family. His three sons. His wife, Yoko. He realized that he hadn't even contacted them since the earthquake. He's just been too busy. They must be worried sick. He also thought about the last words he spoke to his wife. He can't even remember what they were, but he's sure they were inadequate.
If he makes it out of this alive, more than anything else, he wants to tell his wife how much she means to him. All of this flashes through his mind, until he hears the supervisor on the phone clear his throat. "Are you there, sir? The hydrogen buildup. What should we do?" Yoshida knows that there really isn't a choice. "I'll call the fire team. They're already pumping water into Reactor 1 from a pit of seawater. We'll divert some water into Reactor 3 as well."
"But seawater? That could ruin-" "I know that. But we have to do it." Yoshida hangs up and stares at the ceiling. He's now potentially ruining a second reactor worth billions, not to mention his career. But they can't risk another explosion. Control Room Supervisor Izawa lies dozing underneath a desk in the back of the ERC.
It's dark and warm under his blanket, and quiet compared to the chaos happening across the plant. It's been a full day since plant supervisor Yoshida told him to get some rest. Izawa resisted at first, but with water finally flowing through reactors 1 and 3, things were, well, still not good, but at least steady.
And the truth is, he's really been struggling to stay sharp. So he's taken Yoshida's advice and allowed himself this break. He checks his watch. 10:30 AM, nearly three full days since the earthquake hit. He's due back in the control room in an hour to relieve his deputy supervisor. He considers leaving now to give his deputy a longer break, but it's so warm and cozy under this desk.
Izawa decides to close his eyes and catch a few more minutes of blissful sleep. But then, a deafening boom knocks him awake. Izawa sits up so fast, he smacks his head on the desk. He sees stars for a moment, then crawls out with his blanket still wrapped around him. Another massive explosion has rocked the plant.
Izawa joins the workers who have already gathered at the windows. He stands on his tiptoes and sees black smoke pouring out of Reactor Building 3. The top story of the building has exploded just like Building 1. It reminds Izawa of footage he saw of the World Trade Center towers before their collapse in 2001. He never imagined he'd see something like this first hand.
As the shock wears off, Izawa realizes that if Reactor Buildings 1 and 3 have blown, then Reactor 2 could be next. And he's responsible for Reactor 2. He needs to get back to the control room right away.
But, before Izawa can act, he hears the voice of Superintendent Yoshida. "Attention everyone! We can't risk anyone being exposed to the radiation outside. So until further notice, no one is allowed to leave this room. That's an order. No exceptions." Izawa groans. If only he hadn't slept those last few minutes. He could be back in the control room right now, ready to help. Instead, he's stuck here in the ERC.
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Inside the ERC, Ikuo Izawa picks up a telephone, then puts it down again and strums his fingers. He's dreading making this call, but he finally summons the courage and dials the control room. Ten minutes ago, Superintendent Yoshida banned anyone from leaving the ERC.
Izawa tried to get an exemption, but Yoshida stood firm. No one is allowed outside because there's been a huge spike in radioactivity since the top of Reactor Building 3 exploded. Izawa understands why Yoshida issued the order, but he feels like he's abandoning his men back in the control room. His deputy, Noboru Homa, picks up.
Izawa explains Yoshida's orders and breaks the news that he can't come back and relieve him. For a moment, there's silence. Then, to Izawa's surprise, he hears Houma choke up. "It's okay. There's no need to relieve us." "It's not permanent. I just can't return right now." "It's alright. We understand our duty."
Izawa can hear what Homa really means. He thinks he's being abandoned to die. Now it's Izawa who gets choked up. "Sit tight, Homa. I'll get back there as soon as I can." Izawa hangs up, then stares at the smoldering upper story of Reactor Building 3. He knows that he can't even see the real danger, the invisible radioactivity that's poisoning everything outside.
But he keeps hearing Houma's voice in his mind. His words: "We understand. Our duty." And all at once, it's clear to Izawa what his duty is. He has to get back to his men. He stands up and marches over to the lockers where the ERC keeps protective radioactive gear. He puts one leg in a protective suit. Then the other. Izawa's place right now is in the control room with his men.
Radiation or not, that's where he's going. In a hallway outside of the ERC, Masao Yoshida barks at the decontamination team to hurry up. A group of engineers has just returned from a reconnaissance mission. But before Yoshida can speak to them, the decontamination team has to strip everyone, put their clothes in a bag, and then scan them for radiation.
Yoshida knows it's all necessary, but the delay is killing him. He has to talk to these men as soon as possible. Finally, he gets the men together in a conference room and asks his head engineer for an update. The news is bleak. Several fire trucks were damaged in the explosion, their hoses shredded. For the trucks that remain, their only water source is now inaccessible. The pit full of seawater has been once again blocked by debris.
Even worse, shrapnel from Reactor 3 has hit Reactor Building 2. Yoshida presses the head engineer for details. "When you say it damaged Number 2, do you mean the building or the reactor core?" "I think the reactor core." "I don't care what you think! Tell me what you know!" "I don't know for sure, but it seems likely that the core is damaged."
Yoshida sits back, stunned. The first thought that runs through his mind is, "My god, we're done for." If what the engineer is saying is true, there's now a real danger that Reactor 2 could explode, and not just a hydrogen explosion in the upper story, but an explosion of the reactor core.
It's the absolute worst-case scenario. Massive amounts of radioactive particles would spew everywhere. Everyone here at the plant would likely die of radiation poisoning, and the entire region would be poisoned as well. Yoshida leaves the conference room and rushes back to the ERC. Even though his engineer couldn't tell him for sure what would happen with Reactor 2, Yoshida has no choice but to act.
He grabs the phone and orders the plant's few undamaged fire trucks to find some way, any way, to get as close to the sea as possible and start pumping seawater into Reactor 2. He can only imagine what his bosses at TEPCO will say when they find out that he's ordered the destruction of not just one reactor, but three.
Ikuo Izawa sits in the control room with his engineers. Each one is demanding his attention. He finally has to yell for them to stop and speak one at a time.
Seven hours ago, against Yoshida's orders, he left the ERC and drove a truck back to the control room. He had a tearful, happy reunion with Noboru Houma, but ever since, it's been one problem after another. One engineer tells him that the water in Reactor Tank 2 has been dropping rapidly. Another says that the temperature inside has been rising so quickly that he's worried about the fuel melting down. But the worst news comes last, from Houma.
Pumping in Unit 2 has stopped. Stopped? What happened? I don't know, but all the gauges say the same thing. There's no more water flowing through.
Izawa hurries to the instrument panel to confirm the bad news. Then he sprints back to his desk to call the fire crew chief. As the chief explains the problem, Izawa groans. The fire trucks pumping water through the reactor have run out of gasoline. Amidst all the craziness, no one thought to refuel them. It'll be at least an hour before they can get them running again and get water flowing through reactor two.
Izawa hangs up and holds his head in his hands in despair. A whole hour during which the temperature will continue to rise, Izawa instructs his men to monitor the reactor tube pressure gauges.
He calls Superintendent Yoshida to update him. He explains about the fire trucks running out of gas. He doesn't expect Yoshida to be happy about it, but the strength of his boss' response surprises him. Are you trying to get people killed? We don't control the fire trucks. We had no way of knowing. People are going to die because of this incompetence. Yoshida hangs up, leaving Izawa to stare at the phone in shock.
Yoshida is normally so unflappable. At the start of this crisis, Izawa was the one who lost his temper and swore at Yoshida. He's felt ashamed about it ever since. But now even Yoshida is blowing his top. The interaction leaves Izawa worried. Is his boss losing it? He hopes not. Because if Yoshida goes down, the plant will go down with him.
It's approaching midnight on March 14th, and Plant Superintendent Yoshida feels torn in a hundred different directions. Venting, pumping, fire trucks, hydrogen leaks… every time he blinks, something else goes wrong. The worst news involves Reactor 2. The pressure is spiking one minute and dropping to zero the next. Just thinking about that causes his chest to tighten.
He tries to concentrate on one thing at a time. His top priority has to be cooling the cores with water, which means he needs trucks, pumps, generators, whatever it takes. He reaches for the phone on his desk and calls the Prime Minister's office. When his contact answers, he gets right to the point. "We need to bring in the Hyper Rescue Squad." The Hyper Rescue Squad is an elite branch of the Tokyo Fire Department, the best of the best.
The officials sound skeptical. Hyper Rescue? We don't have any jurisdiction over them. Besides, it's not really a firefighting problem. Or wait, is it? Do you have fires there? No fires, but we need water. And that's what they do. Pump water. Our trucks can't supply the volume of water that theirs can. Especially if we have to pump water directly from the ocean. Which I think is the only way we can save the plant now. I also think...
Yoshida hesitates. He dreads having to make this next request. "What? Say it." "We should consider bringing in the military." "The military? If it's that bad, we'll certainly explore every option, but-" "There's nothing left to explore! We're short on trucks, pumps, water, everything! If you don't get us outside help, we're finished!" He slams down the phone in disgust, but he's not exactly surprised at the official's reaction to his suggestions.
Ever since the fanatic militarism of World War II, the military has been a touchy subject in Japan. There's a skeleton self-defense force, but there are taboos against mixing civilian and military affairs. Calling in the military would be an unprecedented step. With the Hyper Rescue Squad, the hurdles are more political. Japan is highly bureaucratic, and the Prime Minister has no direct authority over the Hyper Rescue Squad.
But this crisis is unprecedented. Now isn't the time for bureaucracy. If they don't get these reactors cooled, and soon, they could explode. The radioactivity would poison the entire middle third of Japan and make it uninhabitable for decades. It's a dizzying thought. Yoshida pats his suit coat for cigarettes. He needs one right now. Maybe two. But when Yoshida stands, he suddenly feels lightheaded.
He hears a gasp behind him. Someone calls out his name, and he tries to look, but he can't. To his confusion, he slumps against the wall. Before he knows what's happening, he's sliding to the floor in slow motion, unable to stop. Several people rush toward him, but everything seems thick and distant, like he's underwater. His eyelids feel like they weigh a hundred pounds each.
He tries to rally. He's the man leading the response to the crisis. He can't pass out. But his strength soon fails him, and his eyes fall shut. Yoshida's final thought is there's nothing more he can do. The fate of the plant, he thinks, is now in the hands of Buddha and the gods. This is episode three of our four-part series, Meltdown at Fukushima.
A quick note about our scenes: in most cases we can't exactly know what was said, but everything is based on historical research. If you'd like to learn more about this event, we highly recommend the books Meltdown by Yuichi Funabashi, On the Brink by Ryusho Kodota, and Station Blackout by Charles Casto.
I'm your host, Mike Corey. Sam Keen wrote this episode. Our editor is Sean Raviv. Our audio engineer is Sergio Enriquez. Sound design is by Rob Schieliga. Additional research and script consulting by Simon Campbell. Produced by Matt Almos and Emily Frost. Our managing producer is Tonja Thigpen. Our senior producer is Andy Herman. Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Stephanie Jens, and Marsha Louis.
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