1
00:00:11,970 --> 00:00:12,971
[explosion]

2
00:00:13,096 --> 00:00:16,308
[bright music playing]

3
00:00:17,476 --> 00:00:20,521
[heroic music playing]

4
00:00:24,316 --> 00:00:27,194
[narrator, in Japanese]

5
00:00:43,835 --> 00:00:46,171
[in Japanese]

6
00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,192
[narrator, in Japanese]

7
00:01:11,071 --> 00:01:13,115
[foreboding music playing]

8
00:01:13,198 --> 00:01:16,118
[glass shattering]

9
00:01:16,201 --> 00:01:18,078
[people screaming]

10
00:01:18,203 --> 00:01:19,621
[metal clanging]

11
00:01:19,705 --> 00:01:21,582
[debris falling]

12
00:01:21,707 --> 00:01:24,960
[people screaming]

13
00:01:25,043 --> 00:01:27,838
[water rushing]

14
00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:32,384
[people screaming]

15
00:01:34,886 --> 00:01:38,181
[ominous music playing]

16
00:01:39,057 --> 00:01:40,726
[news anchor 1]
One of the biggest earthquakes

17
00:01:40,851 --> 00:01:42,769
ever recorded has hit Japan.

18
00:01:42,894 --> 00:01:43,937
It triggered a tsunami

19
00:01:44,062 --> 00:01:45,856
that coursed
several miles inland,

20
00:01:45,939 --> 00:01:48,108
washing away everything
in its path.

21
00:01:48,233 --> 00:01:50,193
[news anchor 2]
The situation there is...

22
00:01:50,277 --> 00:01:52,154
is nothing less
than apocalyptic.

23
00:01:52,237 --> 00:01:53,989
[Lester Holt]
But the big concern continues

24
00:01:54,072 --> 00:01:55,449
to be that nuclear power plant,

25
00:01:55,532 --> 00:01:58,910
the Fukushima Daiichi,
uh, nuclear plant...

26
00:01:59,036 --> 00:02:01,163
[explosion]

27
00:02:01,246 --> 00:02:03,707
[rumbling]

28
00:02:03,790 --> 00:02:06,793
[man, in Japanese]

29
00:02:11,632 --> 00:02:15,093
[government official,
in Japanese]

30
00:02:21,224 --> 00:02:23,310
[news anchor 3] There's been
another major explosion

31
00:02:23,435 --> 00:02:25,812
at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

32
00:02:25,937 --> 00:02:26,897
[alarm blaring]

33
00:02:26,980 --> 00:02:29,983
[man, in Japanese]

34
00:02:36,740 --> 00:02:38,283
[news anchor 4]
Only 50 brave employees

35
00:02:38,408 --> 00:02:39,534
are still at the plant,

36
00:02:39,618 --> 00:02:41,620
trying to stave off
a total meltdown.

37
00:02:41,745 --> 00:02:44,122
They are risking their lives
to avoid this meltdown

38
00:02:44,247 --> 00:02:46,249
that could be historic
and terrible

39
00:02:46,333 --> 00:02:47,668
for the whole country.

40
00:02:47,793 --> 00:02:50,420
[rumbling]

41
00:02:50,504 --> 00:02:54,341
[man, in Japanese]

42
00:02:58,011 --> 00:03:01,056
[ominous music playing]

43
00:03:06,269 --> 00:03:08,313
[music fading]

44
00:03:12,943 --> 00:03:15,987
[tense music playing]

45
00:03:16,988 --> 00:03:19,116
[newsreel narrator 1] At 8:15,

46
00:03:19,199 --> 00:03:21,368
a weather plane reports
from Hiroshima

47
00:03:21,493 --> 00:03:22,994
that conditions are good.

48
00:03:26,832 --> 00:03:29,876
[unsettling music playing]

49
00:03:31,962 --> 00:03:35,757
[newsreel narrator 1]
At 9:15, the bomb is dropped.

50
00:03:42,723 --> 00:03:45,767
[eerie music playing]

51
00:04:14,421 --> 00:04:17,423
[newsreel narrator 2] On the
first day of November 1955,

52
00:04:17,548 --> 00:04:20,594
the United States Atoms
for Peace exhibition

53
00:04:20,719 --> 00:04:22,429
opened in Hibiya Park, Tokyo.

54
00:04:23,096 --> 00:04:26,099
America's ambassador to Japan,
John M. Allison,

55
00:04:26,224 --> 00:04:28,560
conveyed a message
from President Eisenhower.

56
00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:30,937
That the exhibit stands
as a symbol

57
00:04:31,021 --> 00:04:33,482
of our countries'
mutual determination

58
00:04:33,565 --> 00:04:36,026
that the great power
of the atom shall be dedicated

59
00:04:36,109 --> 00:04:37,652
to the arts of peace.

60
00:04:38,403 --> 00:04:40,697
A message
from Prime Minister Hatoyama

61
00:04:41,615 --> 00:04:43,658
praised the greatness
of atomic science

62
00:04:43,742 --> 00:04:45,243
in the present century.

63
00:04:51,249 --> 00:04:54,294
[tense music playing]

64
00:04:55,545 --> 00:04:58,215
[bright music playing]

65
00:04:58,298 --> 00:05:01,426
[female narrator, in Japanese]

66
00:05:14,606 --> 00:05:17,943
[inspiring music playing]

67
00:05:36,628 --> 00:05:38,588
[foreboding music playing]

68
00:05:38,672 --> 00:05:42,175
[haunting vocalization]

69
00:05:48,765 --> 00:05:54,312
[Ikuo Izawa, in Japanese]

70
00:05:59,943 --> 00:06:02,988
[haunting vocalization]

71
00:06:07,117 --> 00:06:11,496
[in Japanese]

72
00:06:19,504 --> 00:06:21,131
[tense music playing]

73
00:06:21,214 --> 00:06:24,426
[Izawa, in Japanese]

74
00:06:54,164 --> 00:06:56,416
[man on TEPCO video] Here
at the nuclear power plant,

75
00:06:56,541 --> 00:07:00,211
highly trained professionals
work hard to protect safety.

76
00:07:00,712 --> 00:07:02,923
[Izawa, in Japanese]

77
00:07:03,590 --> 00:07:05,216
[man on TEPCO video]
Knowing the dangers,

78
00:07:05,342 --> 00:07:07,928
that's where
operator education starts.

79
00:07:08,386 --> 00:07:10,597
[Izawa, in Japanese]

80
00:07:11,181 --> 00:07:13,141
[man on TEPCO video]
Twenty-four hours a day,

81
00:07:13,224 --> 00:07:16,519
we generate, deliver,
and protect.

82
00:07:16,603 --> 00:07:19,147
Safety is our first priority.

83
00:07:19,230 --> 00:07:21,066
We are TEPCO.

84
00:07:21,608 --> 00:07:24,736
[Izawa, in Japanese]

85
00:07:39,918 --> 00:07:41,086
[loud thud]

86
00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:43,088
[alarm blares]

87
00:07:45,924 --> 00:07:46,967
[loud thud]

88
00:07:51,429 --> 00:07:54,599
[Izawa, in Japanese]

89
00:08:12,951 --> 00:08:16,162
[uneasy music playing]

90
00:08:18,498 --> 00:08:20,082
[Carl Pillitteri]
I've been assembling things

91
00:08:20,166 --> 00:08:21,376
since I was a kid, you know?

92
00:08:21,459 --> 00:08:23,253
If a package would come
or a box would come,

93
00:08:23,336 --> 00:08:25,630
my dad would always say,
"Let Carl put it together."

94
00:08:25,755 --> 00:08:28,591
And the first thing I'd do is
bust out the instruction sheet

95
00:08:28,675 --> 00:08:31,553
and get right to the parts list,
and lay out the parts,

96
00:08:31,636 --> 00:08:34,179
making sure there was 24 nuts
and 24 bolts.

97
00:08:34,304 --> 00:08:35,640
I was just very particular.

98
00:08:35,765 --> 00:08:38,977
I just... It's just
a natural-born way, uh...

99
00:08:39,102 --> 00:08:40,311
way for me,

100
00:08:40,437 --> 00:08:42,688
and I've been working
in nuclear power now,

101
00:08:42,813 --> 00:08:45,108
just over 40 years,
all over the globe.

102
00:08:45,191 --> 00:08:47,569
The US, Spain, Switzerland,

103
00:08:47,652 --> 00:08:50,155
Sweden, Taiwan, Japan.

104
00:08:50,697 --> 00:08:53,033
Loved working in Japan, too.
I just loved it.

105
00:08:54,159 --> 00:08:55,535
It was a beautiful day.

106
00:08:55,660 --> 00:08:58,038
March. You'd think March 11th
in Japan might be cold,

107
00:08:58,163 --> 00:09:00,081
but it was sunny,
beautiful, clear.

108
00:09:00,165 --> 00:09:02,917
[foreboding music playing]

109
00:09:03,001 --> 00:09:05,128
[clock beeping]

110
00:09:05,211 --> 00:09:08,590
[indistinct radio chatter
in Japanese]

111
00:09:08,673 --> 00:09:11,551
[traffic rumbling]

112
00:09:14,012 --> 00:09:18,141
-[cars honking]
-[violent shaking]

113
00:09:18,224 --> 00:09:21,603
[car alarms blaring]

114
00:09:21,686 --> 00:09:24,731
[cars honking]

115
00:09:26,649 --> 00:09:30,445
[official speaking Japanese]

116
00:09:34,991 --> 00:09:37,452
[lights shaking]

117
00:09:42,207 --> 00:09:44,793
[rumbling]

118
00:09:44,876 --> 00:09:47,921
[anxious chatter]

119
00:09:48,922 --> 00:09:51,966
[strong tremor]

120
00:09:54,219 --> 00:09:59,224
[frantic chatter]

121
00:10:02,393 --> 00:10:04,395
[violent shaking]

122
00:10:07,190 --> 00:10:08,525
[objects falling]

123
00:10:08,608 --> 00:10:10,193
[people screaming]

124
00:10:10,276 --> 00:10:12,779
[severe shaking]

125
00:10:14,072 --> 00:10:16,407
[objects crashing]

126
00:10:18,535 --> 00:10:20,036
[people screaming]

127
00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,831
[glass shattering]

128
00:10:30,755 --> 00:10:32,674
[people screaming]

129
00:10:32,757 --> 00:10:35,009
[man] Oh, my God! This is weird.

130
00:10:35,093 --> 00:10:38,138
I've never experienced
the ground shaking like this.

131
00:10:46,271 --> 00:10:50,900
[ominous music playing]

132
00:10:50,984 --> 00:10:53,945
[seagulls squawking]

133
00:11:02,162 --> 00:11:04,706
[Izawa, in Japanese]

134
00:11:09,627 --> 00:11:12,672
[ominous music playing]

135
00:11:13,423 --> 00:11:17,302
[Izawa, in Japanese]

136
00:11:38,114 --> 00:11:40,491
I was in Unit 1
on the turbine building.

137
00:11:40,617 --> 00:11:43,161
The sounds coming off
the structural steel...

138
00:11:43,828 --> 00:11:46,247
like those old Japanese movies

139
00:11:46,331 --> 00:11:48,790
where Godzilla was doing
that squeaky metal sound,

140
00:11:48,875 --> 00:11:51,211
like that-that screech
he would make.

141
00:11:51,336 --> 00:11:53,546
That's what it sounded like
to me, you know.

142
00:11:53,630 --> 00:11:55,882
And I know I felt
the whole building shift

143
00:11:56,007 --> 00:11:57,383
east and down.

144
00:11:57,508 --> 00:11:58,551
Not inches.

145
00:11:58,676 --> 00:12:01,387
It was in... it was...
It was in feet.

146
00:12:01,512 --> 00:12:04,515
[eerie music playing]

147
00:12:05,725 --> 00:12:11,189
[Wakana Yokoyama, in Japanese]

148
00:12:26,204 --> 00:12:29,457
[alarm blaring]

149
00:12:31,542 --> 00:12:35,213
[Yokoyama, in Japanese]

150
00:12:37,674 --> 00:12:40,510
[tense music playing]

151
00:12:40,593 --> 00:12:43,054
[Yokoyama, in Japanese]

152
00:13:23,052 --> 00:13:26,097
[man over loudspeaker,
in Japanese]

153
00:13:27,765 --> 00:13:31,144
[waves crashing]

154
00:13:31,769 --> 00:13:36,149
[alarm blaring]

155
00:13:36,274 --> 00:13:39,694
[tense music playing]

156
00:13:43,656 --> 00:13:47,327
[alarm blaring]

157
00:13:47,910 --> 00:13:49,787
[man speaking Japanese]

158
00:13:49,912 --> 00:13:52,123
[man panting]

159
00:13:52,248 --> 00:13:55,126
[alarm blaring]

160
00:13:55,626 --> 00:13:59,964
[indistinct announcement
over loudspeaker]

161
00:14:01,299 --> 00:14:05,345
[man over loudspeaker,
in Japanese]

162
00:14:06,095 --> 00:14:07,055
[man panting]

163
00:14:07,138 --> 00:14:09,390
[alarm blaring]

164
00:14:09,474 --> 00:14:11,976
[indistinct chatter in Japanese]

165
00:14:12,101 --> 00:14:14,312
[man 1, in Japanese]

166
00:14:15,438 --> 00:14:19,067
[in Japanese]

167
00:14:19,984 --> 00:14:21,694
[alarm blaring]

168
00:14:24,155 --> 00:14:25,198
[man 2, in Japanese]

169
00:14:25,323 --> 00:14:27,533
[man 3, in Japanese]

170
00:14:27,658 --> 00:14:29,077
[man 4, in Japanese]

171
00:14:30,453 --> 00:14:31,746
[men gasp]

172
00:14:31,829 --> 00:14:34,332
[man 5, in Japanese]

173
00:14:36,834 --> 00:14:38,920
[man 6, in Japanese]

174
00:14:47,512 --> 00:14:49,597
[people screaming]

175
00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:55,061
[man 7, in Japanese]

176
00:14:55,186 --> 00:14:57,438
[horns honking]

177
00:14:57,522 --> 00:15:00,566
[water rushing]

178
00:15:00,691 --> 00:15:03,736
[alarm blaring]

179
00:15:15,415 --> 00:15:18,459
[helicopter hovering]

180
00:15:21,087 --> 00:15:25,758
[helicopter pilot, in Japanese]

181
00:16:24,942 --> 00:16:28,821
[somber music playing]

182
00:16:51,427 --> 00:16:54,472
[somber music continues]

183
00:17:07,484 --> 00:17:10,488
[in Japanese]

184
00:18:20,057 --> 00:18:21,559
[static crackles]

185
00:18:27,732 --> 00:18:31,485
[unsettling music playing]

186
00:18:33,529 --> 00:18:35,323
[Pillitteri] I got out
of the building

187
00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,618
and I watched
the tsunami come in.

188
00:18:40,536 --> 00:18:43,497
Water got higher and higher
as it went over the seawall.

189
00:18:47,752 --> 00:18:49,754
You would think it's loud
but it's not.

190
00:18:51,047 --> 00:18:52,465
It only started to make noise

191
00:18:52,590 --> 00:18:54,425
when it started
to snap and crack,

192
00:18:54,550 --> 00:18:56,510
and break things off
when it hit land.

193
00:18:56,594 --> 00:18:59,639
[loud crashing]

194
00:19:12,943 --> 00:19:14,070
I didn't think about the plants

195
00:19:14,153 --> 00:19:15,446
till I watched it rush
around them.

196
00:19:15,613 --> 00:19:17,948
I watched it just rush
around the four buildings,

197
00:19:18,074 --> 00:19:19,659
off the highlands behind me,

198
00:19:19,784 --> 00:19:21,702
like these big black
ominous clouds

199
00:19:21,786 --> 00:19:23,913
came rolling in real low.

200
00:19:23,996 --> 00:19:26,290
Almost felt like it pulled
the atmosphere down on us,

201
00:19:26,415 --> 00:19:27,958
and began to snow even.

202
00:19:28,084 --> 00:19:31,504
[water rushing, crashing]

203
00:19:34,131 --> 00:19:37,134
It felt like
the end of the world.

204
00:19:46,769 --> 00:19:50,147
[Izawa, in Japanese]

205
00:19:56,529 --> 00:19:59,532
[water rushing]

206
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:11,085
[whirring, beeping]

207
00:20:15,131 --> 00:20:18,718
[machine powering down]

208
00:20:18,843 --> 00:20:22,221
[in Japanese]

209
00:20:26,809 --> 00:20:28,936
[machine shutting down]

210
00:20:29,019 --> 00:20:31,272
[indistinct shouts]

211
00:20:31,355 --> 00:20:35,401
[Izawa, in Japanese]

212
00:21:26,368 --> 00:21:28,788
One of the
most powerful earthquakes

213
00:21:28,913 --> 00:21:30,664
ever recorded has struck Japan.

214
00:21:30,748 --> 00:21:33,459
The terrible devastation
in northeastern Japan.

215
00:21:33,584 --> 00:21:36,504
The destruction there,
simply epic.

216
00:21:36,587 --> 00:21:39,757
The death toll mounting,
exact numbers unknown.

217
00:21:39,882 --> 00:21:42,009
[news anchor 5] Local television
has shown shocking pictures

218
00:21:42,092 --> 00:21:44,595
of entire towns being swept away

219
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:46,972
by a wall of water
kilometers wide

220
00:21:47,097 --> 00:21:48,516
as people run for their lives.

221
00:21:48,599 --> 00:21:50,559
[news anchor 6]
Fears that the eventual toll

222
00:21:50,643 --> 00:21:52,269
could be
in the tens of thousands.

223
00:21:52,394 --> 00:21:53,646
[news anchor 7]
The tsunami waves

224
00:21:53,771 --> 00:21:55,314
that followed moved so quickly,

225
00:21:55,439 --> 00:21:57,817
at a speed
of 800 kilometers an hour,

226
00:21:57,942 --> 00:22:00,152
that they proved to be
an unstoppable

227
00:22:00,277 --> 00:22:01,529
and devastating force.

228
00:22:02,613 --> 00:22:03,823
[Fackler]
I was working as a journalist

229
00:22:03,948 --> 00:22:04,949
for the New York Times.

230
00:22:05,658 --> 00:22:07,326
I was based in Tokyo

231
00:22:07,451 --> 00:22:09,453
where I'd been living
for eight years.

232
00:22:10,246 --> 00:22:11,914
After the earthquake struck,

233
00:22:11,997 --> 00:22:14,542
we had decided to head north

234
00:22:14,625 --> 00:22:18,212
to where the tsunami caused
most damage.

235
00:22:20,965 --> 00:22:22,800
It was like entering hell.

236
00:22:28,848 --> 00:22:31,642
The tsunami
had basically ripped away

237
00:22:32,518 --> 00:22:35,354
everything that was there.

238
00:22:35,479 --> 00:22:36,856
So if you can imagine

239
00:22:37,314 --> 00:22:38,941
just like a... a field,

240
00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:40,484
like a plane,

241
00:22:41,527 --> 00:22:43,487
uh, from the surface
of the moon.

242
00:22:44,154 --> 00:22:48,075
Dark grey mud
covering everything.

243
00:22:48,158 --> 00:22:51,620
An occasional piece
of a home, or building,

244
00:22:51,704 --> 00:22:53,497
or even an occasional home

245
00:22:53,622 --> 00:22:55,666
that had somehow
randomly survived.

246
00:22:56,458 --> 00:22:58,586
Uh, big pools of water,

247
00:22:59,336 --> 00:23:00,671
things were on fire,

248
00:23:01,338 --> 00:23:03,674
and mounds of debris.

249
00:23:04,174 --> 00:23:05,759
You know, pieces of buildings,

250
00:23:05,843 --> 00:23:07,344
and fishing boats,

251
00:23:07,469 --> 00:23:10,097
and crushed buses,
and mangled cars.

252
00:23:11,223 --> 00:23:13,017
Uh, there were dead animals,

253
00:23:13,142 --> 00:23:16,103
dead pets,
and of course dead people.

254
00:23:18,564 --> 00:23:20,441
No one survives that tsunami.

255
00:23:20,524 --> 00:23:22,943
You either get out of the way
or you're dead.

256
00:23:27,573 --> 00:23:30,367
[indistinct radio chatter
in Japanese]

257
00:23:32,202 --> 00:23:35,873
[Naoto Kan, in Japanese]

258
00:24:27,091 --> 00:24:29,760
[somber music playing]

259
00:24:30,552 --> 00:24:33,889
[Fackler] Kan and the
Democratic Party of Japan

260
00:24:34,431 --> 00:24:36,600
were a very inexperienced
government.

261
00:24:37,142 --> 00:24:40,354
This was their first time
in office since 1955.

262
00:24:42,439 --> 00:24:43,816
And they now had to deal with

263
00:24:43,941 --> 00:24:46,819
an extremely challenging set
of circumstances.

264
00:24:48,070 --> 00:24:49,738
The country
was in complete chaos.

265
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,075
Thousands of people
are missing,

266
00:24:53,158 --> 00:24:55,119
and they have
this developing situation

267
00:24:55,244 --> 00:24:57,413
at Fukushima
that had the potential

268
00:24:57,496 --> 00:25:00,124
to be many, many times worse
than Chernobyl.

269
00:25:01,250 --> 00:25:03,502
That disaster
involved one reactor.

270
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,880
Fukushima involved six.

271
00:25:09,758 --> 00:25:11,051
[news anchor 8]
Japan now telling

272
00:25:11,135 --> 00:25:13,554
the UN nuclear watchdog,
the IAEA,

273
00:25:13,637 --> 00:25:15,639
that they have
a heightened state of alert

274
00:25:15,764 --> 00:25:18,142
that has been declared
at their nuclear power plant.

275
00:25:18,267 --> 00:25:21,395
This is the Fukushima,
uh, nuclear power plant.

276
00:25:21,478 --> 00:25:23,230
[news anchor 9]
Radiation levels are up,

277
00:25:23,313 --> 00:25:25,315
according to
the Kyodo News Agency,

278
00:25:25,441 --> 00:25:27,067
eight times the normal level

279
00:25:27,151 --> 00:25:29,695
at a monitoring station
outside the plant,

280
00:25:29,820 --> 00:25:32,281
1,000 times above normal

281
00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:34,867
in a control room
inside the plant.

282
00:25:34,992 --> 00:25:37,995
[somber music playing]

283
00:25:39,204 --> 00:25:40,748
[Fackler]
The worst case scenario

284
00:25:40,831 --> 00:25:43,625
would be a cataclysmic meltdown
of the reactors

285
00:25:43,709 --> 00:25:45,335
called a China Syndrome.

286
00:25:49,381 --> 00:25:53,469
And what that refers to is
the... something like 100 tons

287
00:25:53,552 --> 00:25:56,513
of uranium fuel
is inside the reactor.

288
00:25:58,515 --> 00:26:00,184
It melts out of control.

289
00:26:00,642 --> 00:26:02,436
It melts down,
which means it collapses

290
00:26:02,519 --> 00:26:03,937
to the bottom of the vessel,

291
00:26:04,021 --> 00:26:07,399
like a... just a lump
of like lava almost.

292
00:26:08,984 --> 00:26:10,527
If you can't cool it,

293
00:26:10,652 --> 00:26:12,905
which they can't
because there's no electricity

294
00:26:13,030 --> 00:26:15,032
to pump water into the reactor,

295
00:26:15,532 --> 00:26:17,201
it rises to a temperature

296
00:26:17,326 --> 00:26:19,078
of something like
2,000 degrees.

297
00:26:19,203 --> 00:26:21,246
It burns
through the vessel itself.

298
00:26:23,082 --> 00:26:26,001
It'll melt through the vessel,
drop into the building,

299
00:26:26,085 --> 00:26:28,253
almost like bore its way
through the concrete

300
00:26:28,378 --> 00:26:29,671
'cause of the heat,

301
00:26:29,755 --> 00:26:33,050
it escapes into the earth
and is out of control.

302
00:26:34,927 --> 00:26:36,720
And if that were to happen,

303
00:26:36,845 --> 00:26:39,973
experts talked about the loss
of northern Japan.

304
00:26:42,392 --> 00:26:45,896
The entire northern half
of Honshu becomes uninhabitable

305
00:26:46,021 --> 00:26:47,981
if this thing
gets out of control.

306
00:26:53,570 --> 00:26:56,573
[Katsuaki Hirano, in Japanese]

307
00:27:01,745 --> 00:27:04,748
[tense music playing]

308
00:27:20,430 --> 00:27:22,933
[eerie music playing]

309
00:27:24,143 --> 00:27:27,020
[Hirano, in Japanese]

310
00:27:54,631 --> 00:27:58,302
I watched four TEPCO guys

311
00:27:59,011 --> 00:28:00,387
pulling on a van or something,

312
00:28:00,470 --> 00:28:02,639
and they got out,
and they all walked towards me

313
00:28:02,764 --> 00:28:04,725
'cause I was right
at the top of the stairs.

314
00:28:05,184 --> 00:28:06,768
And they all walked down
that stairs,

315
00:28:06,852 --> 00:28:08,812
they were all
in their TEPCO uniforms,

316
00:28:08,937 --> 00:28:11,148
and they were all
about 35 years old, I'd say.

317
00:28:11,273 --> 00:28:13,567
Like, they were all, like,
in their mid-30s.

318
00:28:14,318 --> 00:28:16,570
We just all made eye contact
as they went by.

319
00:28:16,653 --> 00:28:18,322
They went down that stairs,

320
00:28:18,447 --> 00:28:19,573
and they were probably part

321
00:28:19,656 --> 00:28:21,617
of the operations group
or whatever.

322
00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:24,077
And I remember those four guys
going down,

323
00:28:24,161 --> 00:28:28,582
probably had to stay
and work that mess they had.

324
00:28:28,665 --> 00:28:31,501
When we parted ways
and I went up that hill,

325
00:28:32,502 --> 00:28:33,962
uh, to get to my rental car,

326
00:28:34,046 --> 00:28:36,298
you know, I didn't know
they were gonna be headed

327
00:28:36,381 --> 00:28:38,175
for a meltdown
in less than 24 hours.

328
00:28:38,300 --> 00:28:39,885
I didn't know at that time

329
00:28:40,010 --> 00:28:41,553
how bad things were gonna get.

330
00:28:41,678 --> 00:28:44,389
[breathing in gas mask]

331
00:28:48,810 --> 00:28:51,021
[Hirano, in Japanese]

332
00:29:08,497 --> 00:29:12,209
[in Japanese]

333
00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:06,490
[news anchor 10] This could be
a catastrophe in the making,

334
00:31:06,615 --> 00:31:09,159
Japan's nuclear power plants.

335
00:31:09,284 --> 00:31:11,620
Officials say cooling systems

336
00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:14,039
in some reactors have failed

337
00:31:14,164 --> 00:31:16,833
and some radiation has leaked.

338
00:31:17,334 --> 00:31:20,837
The next 24 hours
are considered crucial.

339
00:31:21,505 --> 00:31:22,589
What's meant to happen

340
00:31:22,672 --> 00:31:25,258
inside a nuclear
power station is this.

341
00:31:25,342 --> 00:31:28,053
In the reactor,
the rods of nuclear fuel

342
00:31:28,178 --> 00:31:29,721
go through
the process of fission.

343
00:31:29,846 --> 00:31:32,391
The atoms splitting
and releasing energy.

344
00:31:32,849 --> 00:31:36,019
Water is pumped in
and flows around the fuel

345
00:31:36,144 --> 00:31:38,313
where it heats up
and turns into steam.

346
00:31:38,397 --> 00:31:41,733
That drives generators
to make electricity.

347
00:31:41,858 --> 00:31:45,278
But if a reactor runs dry,
as one did today,

348
00:31:45,362 --> 00:31:47,864
the fuel rods overheat and melt.

349
00:31:47,989 --> 00:31:51,326
And that may have started
in three reactors.

350
00:31:51,410 --> 00:31:54,413
The nuclear fuel could then sink
to the bottom of the reactor,

351
00:31:54,538 --> 00:31:56,832
the beginning
of what's known as meltdown.

352
00:31:56,915 --> 00:32:00,836
But provided the steel wall
of the container does its job,

353
00:32:00,919 --> 00:32:03,422
there shouldn't be a leak.

354
00:32:03,547 --> 00:32:05,590
[Kan, in English]
This was my first experience

355
00:32:05,715 --> 00:32:07,926
of a severe accident
of this sort.

356
00:32:08,885 --> 00:32:10,679
I would not hide anything.

357
00:32:10,762 --> 00:32:12,389
But as Prime Minister,

358
00:32:12,514 --> 00:32:16,476
I would also not say anything
I could not be certain of.

359
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:18,103
That was my policy.

360
00:32:19,062 --> 00:32:22,232
I told the special advisor
I would go to Fukushima.

361
00:32:22,732 --> 00:32:24,568
"Please make preparations."

362
00:32:27,529 --> 00:32:29,531
[foreboding music playing]

363
00:32:29,614 --> 00:32:31,908
[helicopter whirring]

364
00:32:35,078 --> 00:32:36,955
[Kan, in English] I was joined
by the Chairman

365
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,249
of the Nuclear
Safety Commission.

366
00:32:39,749 --> 00:32:42,502
I clearly recall asking,

367
00:32:42,586 --> 00:32:45,046
"Is there any danger
of an explosion?"

368
00:32:45,130 --> 00:32:48,425
To which the Chairman
answered with conviction,

369
00:32:48,550 --> 00:32:51,428
"An explosion is out
of the question."

370
00:32:55,223 --> 00:32:58,268
[unsettling music playing]

371
00:33:02,564 --> 00:33:04,691
[fax machine whirring]

372
00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:11,448
[Katsutaka Idogawa, in Japanese]

373
00:33:13,241 --> 00:33:14,284
[whirring]

374
00:33:28,673 --> 00:33:29,799
[fax machine whirring]

375
00:33:33,678 --> 00:33:37,682
[Idogawa, in Japanese]

376
00:34:17,222 --> 00:34:20,183
[alarm blaring]

377
00:34:23,061 --> 00:34:27,065
[Idogawa, in Japanese]

378
00:34:28,190 --> 00:34:31,235
[breathing in gas mask]

379
00:34:35,072 --> 00:34:39,953
[Izawa, in Japanese]

380
00:35:24,372 --> 00:35:26,583
[unsettling music playing]

381
00:35:26,708 --> 00:35:29,419
[Izawa, in Japanese]

382
00:35:45,268 --> 00:35:47,604
[static crackles]

383
00:36:15,507 --> 00:36:18,551
[foreboding music playing]

384
00:36:26,810 --> 00:36:30,480
[Manabu Terata, in Japanese]

385
00:36:59,884 --> 00:37:02,262
[Kan, in English]
We arrived in a war zone.

386
00:37:02,345 --> 00:37:04,431
The hallway
was full of workers,

387
00:37:04,514 --> 00:37:07,350
several of whom
were lying on the floor.

388
00:37:07,475 --> 00:37:09,853
Some were wrapped in blankets.

389
00:37:10,353 --> 00:37:13,148
In the conference room,
they explained,

390
00:37:13,231 --> 00:37:16,609
"We are considering
whether to vent manually.

391
00:37:16,693 --> 00:37:18,987
We will decide
in the next hour."

392
00:37:19,487 --> 00:37:22,615
I said,
"We couldn't wait that long."

393
00:37:22,699 --> 00:37:24,451
To which they replied,

394
00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,079
"We will create
a suicide squad."

395
00:37:28,538 --> 00:37:29,914
[music fades]

396
00:37:33,042 --> 00:37:36,045
[in Japanese]

397
00:37:55,690 --> 00:37:58,777
[in Japanese]

398
00:38:17,212 --> 00:38:20,256
[unsettling music playing]

399
00:38:20,799 --> 00:38:25,136
[Terata, in Japanese]

400
00:38:30,934 --> 00:38:32,477
[Kan, in English]
This nuclear accident

401
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:36,272
placed the very existence
of our country in danger.

402
00:38:36,397 --> 00:38:38,691
Our ability to evade a crisis

403
00:38:38,775 --> 00:38:41,986
depended on venting
these reactors.

404
00:38:42,946 --> 00:38:45,657
[tense music playing]

405
00:39:00,129 --> 00:39:03,299
[Hirano, in Japanese]

406
00:39:40,003 --> 00:39:41,921
[breathing in gas mask]

407
00:39:42,005 --> 00:39:44,048
[muffled chattering]

408
00:39:47,176 --> 00:39:50,763
[Izawa, in Japanese]

409
00:39:59,188 --> 00:40:02,442
[Hirano, in Japanese]

410
00:41:13,930 --> 00:41:15,139
[explosion]

411
00:41:21,729 --> 00:41:24,774
[unsettling music playing]

412
00:41:36,619 --> 00:41:39,664
[alarm blaring]

413
00:41:43,418 --> 00:41:47,213
[alarm continues blaring]

414
00:41:48,006 --> 00:41:53,177
[Hirano, in Japanese]

415
00:41:59,809 --> 00:42:02,812
[Idogawa, in Japanese]

416
00:42:58,242 --> 00:43:00,536
[explosion]

417
00:43:03,539 --> 00:43:09,629
[Terata, in Japanese]

418
00:43:19,722 --> 00:43:21,724
[in Japanese]

419
00:43:26,395 --> 00:43:29,315
[Kan, in English] When I saw
the explosion on TV,

420
00:43:29,398 --> 00:43:32,443
it was over an hour
after it had happened.

421
00:43:32,568 --> 00:43:35,154
And I hadn't received
a word from TEPCO.

422
00:43:35,238 --> 00:43:36,280
[explosion]

423
00:43:36,364 --> 00:43:38,908
I ordered
my executive secretary,

424
00:43:39,033 --> 00:43:40,952
"Get me
some information quickly."

425
00:43:41,452 --> 00:43:44,038
Everyone in the country,
in the world,

426
00:43:44,122 --> 00:43:45,581
knew of the explosion,

427
00:43:45,706 --> 00:43:49,502
but we had no information
or explanation.

428
00:43:50,211 --> 00:43:51,671
[news anchor 11]
The blast was seen

429
00:43:51,754 --> 00:43:53,422
and heard for kilometers.

430
00:43:53,548 --> 00:43:58,261
Reactor 1 at Japan's Fukushima
Nuclear Power Plant explodes,

431
00:43:58,386 --> 00:44:01,973
sending radioactive gas
spewing skywards.

432
00:44:03,432 --> 00:44:04,767
[haunting music playing]

433
00:44:05,810 --> 00:44:09,897
[Izawa, in Japanese]

434
00:44:09,981 --> 00:44:13,276
[beeping]

435
00:44:35,590 --> 00:44:38,968
[alarm blaring]

436
00:44:42,638 --> 00:44:47,560
People talk about 2011
as being a triple disaster.

437
00:44:48,186 --> 00:44:49,770
But really it was
two separate things.

438
00:44:49,854 --> 00:44:52,398
There was the tsunami
and the earthquake

439
00:44:52,481 --> 00:44:56,152
which were an act of nature
that killed tens of thousands.

440
00:44:57,653 --> 00:44:59,488
Then there was
the nuclear accident

441
00:45:00,323 --> 00:45:02,909
which was actually something
completely different.

442
00:45:03,659 --> 00:45:07,496
The nuclear accident was
an entirely man-made disaster.

443
00:45:08,456 --> 00:45:10,333
When we started
looking into it,

444
00:45:10,458 --> 00:45:12,084
even in those first days,

445
00:45:12,168 --> 00:45:14,337
TEPCO was making mistakes.

446
00:45:16,672 --> 00:45:17,965
Now, there was a big gap

447
00:45:18,049 --> 00:45:21,719
between the plant
and headquarters in Tokyo.

448
00:45:22,345 --> 00:45:23,930
The plant was repeatedly asking,

449
00:45:24,013 --> 00:45:25,348
"Could you send up batteries

450
00:45:25,473 --> 00:45:27,767
so we can restart
our cooling systems?"

451
00:45:27,850 --> 00:45:31,270
Uh, "Can you send up generators
on trucks?"

452
00:45:33,189 --> 00:45:35,942
But TEPCO management
was in such chaos

453
00:45:36,025 --> 00:45:39,111
that they just continually sent
the wrong items.

454
00:45:39,195 --> 00:45:41,239
It's like
the wrong size batteries.

455
00:45:41,322 --> 00:45:45,576
Or it's stuff you don't need,
you know. It-It's...

456
00:45:45,660 --> 00:45:49,247
There's... At some point,
there's a pile of unused,

457
00:45:49,372 --> 00:45:51,249
unneeded objects

458
00:45:51,374 --> 00:45:53,292
that just builds up
in the parking lot.

459
00:45:55,211 --> 00:45:58,923
Also the drivers
of these trucks

460
00:45:59,048 --> 00:46:00,591
that are being sent from Tokyo

461
00:46:00,716 --> 00:46:02,426
refused to go to the plant.

462
00:46:02,551 --> 00:46:03,886
They refused
to go near the plant,

463
00:46:04,011 --> 00:46:05,096
it's too dangerous.

464
00:46:05,221 --> 00:46:09,016
So they stop
at this TEPCO dockyard

465
00:46:09,100 --> 00:46:12,228
that's two hours
south from the plant,

466
00:46:12,353 --> 00:46:14,397
and drop off their stuff there.

467
00:46:15,064 --> 00:46:17,275
And then the TEPCO workers
at the plant

468
00:46:17,775 --> 00:46:19,652
are told to drive down
and get it.

469
00:46:19,735 --> 00:46:21,696
So no one
is coming to help them.

470
00:46:21,779 --> 00:46:24,407
[breathing in mask]

471
00:46:25,199 --> 00:46:28,536
[Fackler] On top of all that,
Reactor 3 is now out of water

472
00:46:28,619 --> 00:46:31,330
and has started
to produce masses of hydrogen.

473
00:46:37,211 --> 00:46:39,463
[in Japanese]

474
00:48:11,389 --> 00:48:13,182
[somber music playing]

475
00:49:41,395 --> 00:49:43,105
[news anchor 12]
Concerns are now being raised

476
00:49:43,230 --> 00:49:45,566
over three separate
nuclear reactors at Fukushima

477
00:49:45,649 --> 00:49:48,027
following an explosion
at one yesterday.

478
00:49:48,110 --> 00:49:50,446
There are worries
that the reactors could overheat

479
00:49:50,571 --> 00:49:51,739
leading to meltdown.

480
00:49:51,822 --> 00:49:53,115
There are also safety issues

481
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:55,326
at two other nuclear sites.

482
00:49:55,451 --> 00:49:56,911
Officials are reassuring
the public

483
00:49:56,994 --> 00:49:58,829
that there is
no immediate danger,

484
00:49:58,913 --> 00:50:01,749
but an exclusion zone
around Fukushima

485
00:50:01,832 --> 00:50:03,125
has been extended.

486
00:50:03,250 --> 00:50:04,877
The evacuation of people
from the area

487
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:07,254
now runs into the hundreds
of thousands.

488
00:50:07,338 --> 00:50:08,881
[news anchor 13]
Strong aftershocks

489
00:50:08,964 --> 00:50:11,258
are still being felt
across the country,

490
00:50:11,342 --> 00:50:13,969
adding to the risks
the rescuers face.

491
00:50:14,512 --> 00:50:16,347
The problems
at the nuclear plants

492
00:50:16,472 --> 00:50:19,433
are making a bad situation
even worse.

493
00:50:19,517 --> 00:50:21,310
Huge swathes of the country

494
00:50:21,435 --> 00:50:24,230
still have
no electricity supplies.

495
00:50:26,482 --> 00:50:29,026
On television here,
they're looking for reassurance

496
00:50:29,151 --> 00:50:30,236
from the experts.

497
00:50:30,319 --> 00:50:32,071
But it's hard
for the Japanese public

498
00:50:32,154 --> 00:50:35,533
to be sure about the level
of risk they face.

499
00:50:35,658 --> 00:50:37,409
We are working aggressively

500
00:50:37,493 --> 00:50:39,411
to support our Japanese ally

501
00:50:39,495 --> 00:50:41,830
at this time
of extraordinary challenge.

502
00:50:42,331 --> 00:50:44,708
Search and rescue teams
are on the ground in Japan

503
00:50:44,833 --> 00:50:46,544
to help the recovery effort.

504
00:50:47,503 --> 00:50:49,672
A disaster assistance
and response team

505
00:50:49,797 --> 00:50:51,840
is working
to confront the aftermath

506
00:50:51,966 --> 00:50:53,801
of the earthquake and tsunami.

507
00:50:54,343 --> 00:50:56,804
As I told Prime Minister Kan
last night,

508
00:50:56,887 --> 00:50:58,806
the Japanese people
are not alone

509
00:50:58,889 --> 00:51:02,059
in this time of great trial
and sorrow.

510
00:51:02,643 --> 00:51:04,478
The US military,
which has helped...

511
00:51:04,562 --> 00:51:06,021
[Charles Casto] Honestly,

512
00:51:06,146 --> 00:51:07,523
I think
the Japanese government

513
00:51:07,648 --> 00:51:09,608
worried about an American
getting too involved

514
00:51:09,692 --> 00:51:11,277
with the nuclear disaster.

515
00:51:12,861 --> 00:51:14,572
I think there was a perception

516
00:51:14,697 --> 00:51:16,448
in Prime Minister Kan's mind

517
00:51:16,532 --> 00:51:18,951
that we would take over
if they failed.

518
00:51:20,369 --> 00:51:22,621
So they wanted to be able
to fix it themselves.

519
00:51:24,540 --> 00:51:27,042
But these reactors
were American in design.

520
00:51:28,085 --> 00:51:29,378
So it was only a matter of time

521
00:51:29,503 --> 00:51:31,589
before the US government
sent someone.

522
00:51:32,840 --> 00:51:34,925
We've also deployed
some of our leading experts

523
00:51:35,050 --> 00:51:38,470
to help contain the damage
at Japan's nuclear reactors.

524
00:51:39,263 --> 00:51:40,889
[Casto]
And that someone was me.

525
00:51:42,266 --> 00:51:43,434
I'm Charles Casto.

526
00:51:43,559 --> 00:51:45,644
I'm a nuclear
safety consultant.

527
00:51:45,728 --> 00:51:49,607
I've worked in nuclear power
for over 45 years.

528
00:51:50,190 --> 00:51:51,191
I'd never been to Japan.

529
00:51:51,275 --> 00:51:52,693
I knew very little
about the country.

530
00:51:52,776 --> 00:51:54,194
So I was sort of plopped down

531
00:51:54,278 --> 00:51:57,114
in the middle of a...
an international disaster

532
00:51:57,239 --> 00:52:00,075
with really no understanding
of the culture,

533
00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:02,328
the language, the people.

534
00:52:02,411 --> 00:52:04,204
Although I did know
the facility,

535
00:52:04,288 --> 00:52:05,914
the nuclear plant very well,

536
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,208
um, because I worked at a plant

537
00:52:08,292 --> 00:52:11,295
almost identical
to Fukushima Daiichi.

538
00:52:11,378 --> 00:52:13,797
So, I had been an operator
and instructor at that plant.

539
00:52:13,922 --> 00:52:16,050
That's partially the reason
that I was chosen

540
00:52:16,133 --> 00:52:17,426
to lead that effort.

541
00:52:17,551 --> 00:52:19,887
[plane engine rumbling]

542
00:52:19,970 --> 00:52:22,306
[Casto] When I landed,
we rushed to the embassy,

543
00:52:22,431 --> 00:52:25,392
and I was thrust
in a secure video conference

544
00:52:25,476 --> 00:52:27,978
with US government
and US military

545
00:52:28,103 --> 00:52:30,105
to discuss next steps.

546
00:52:30,648 --> 00:52:33,150
The US has a large
military presence in Japan.

547
00:52:33,651 --> 00:52:35,736
Over 80,000 people.

548
00:52:35,819 --> 00:52:37,446
So we had our concerns.

549
00:52:37,905 --> 00:52:41,408
Not a lot of information,
a lot of speculation.

550
00:52:41,492 --> 00:52:43,077
So one of the...

551
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:45,954
You know, one of my goals
was try to reduce that chaos.

552
00:52:46,997 --> 00:52:48,040
But, um...

553
00:52:48,749 --> 00:52:51,335
it was days
before we felt comfortable

554
00:52:51,460 --> 00:52:53,170
we were getting
good information.

555
00:52:53,295 --> 00:52:54,672
Many days.

556
00:52:55,798 --> 00:52:57,716
[news anchor 14]
It seems yesterday's explosion

557
00:52:57,800 --> 00:52:59,385
in the plant's Unit 1 reactor

558
00:52:59,468 --> 00:53:01,428
was caused by a buildup
of hydrogen gas

559
00:53:01,512 --> 00:53:02,930
inside the building.

560
00:53:03,013 --> 00:53:05,683
It destroyed its walls,
but the containment chamber

561
00:53:05,808 --> 00:53:08,977
surrounding the nuclear core
remained intact,

562
00:53:09,103 --> 00:53:12,481
preventing a potentially
catastrophic radiation leak.

563
00:53:13,023 --> 00:53:15,317
But it's now thought
that a partial meltdown

564
00:53:15,442 --> 00:53:17,486
in a second reactor
at the plant, Unit 3,

565
00:53:17,611 --> 00:53:19,113
is highly possible.

566
00:53:19,196 --> 00:53:21,740
A complete meltdown
could release uranium

567
00:53:21,824 --> 00:53:24,743
and dangerous byproducts
into the environment.

568
00:53:32,126 --> 00:53:35,170
[dramatic music playing]

569
00:53:43,011 --> 00:53:45,013
[Fackler] So on the 14th,
the team at the plant

570
00:53:45,139 --> 00:53:46,807
were using a small fire truck

571
00:53:46,890 --> 00:53:49,059
to pump water into Reactor 3.

572
00:53:51,645 --> 00:53:55,065
And so this... this single
fire truck with these hoses

573
00:53:55,190 --> 00:53:56,734
is the only thing
cooling the reactor.

574
00:53:58,402 --> 00:54:00,946
And they're now having to use
seawater to do this,

575
00:54:01,029 --> 00:54:03,365
which is something
TEPCO told them not to do

576
00:54:03,490 --> 00:54:07,369
because seawater would ruin
the longevity of the reactor.

577
00:54:07,870 --> 00:54:09,913
But at this point,
saving the reactor

578
00:54:10,038 --> 00:54:11,415
is out of the question.

579
00:54:12,666 --> 00:54:14,793
They just need
to do anything they can

580
00:54:14,877 --> 00:54:16,211
to get on top of this.

581
00:54:16,336 --> 00:54:18,213
But they just
don't have the tools

582
00:54:18,338 --> 00:54:19,715
to stop the hydrogen buildup.

583
00:54:19,840 --> 00:54:23,594
[dramatic music building]

584
00:54:23,719 --> 00:54:25,763
[explosion]

585
00:54:38,609 --> 00:54:41,653
[unsettling music playing]

586
00:54:43,864 --> 00:54:47,659
[in Japanese]

587
00:55:04,885 --> 00:55:06,762
Japan's nuclear crisis
worsened today

588
00:55:06,887 --> 00:55:09,223
when a second reactor building
exploded.

589
00:55:09,306 --> 00:55:12,392
The suspected hydrogen explosion
did lead to the release

590
00:55:12,476 --> 00:55:14,645
of some radioactive material
into the air.

591
00:55:14,770 --> 00:55:16,688
Officials have been
giving assurances

592
00:55:16,772 --> 00:55:19,566
the containment structures
that house nuclear material

593
00:55:19,650 --> 00:55:20,984
remain intact.

594
00:55:21,068 --> 00:55:23,570
But it's becoming clear
that those assurances

595
00:55:23,654 --> 00:55:25,405
are not based on any certainty

596
00:55:25,489 --> 00:55:27,741
about what's going on
inside the reactors.

597
00:55:27,825 --> 00:55:29,743
A short while ago,
the plant owner,

598
00:55:29,827 --> 00:55:31,912
the Tokyo Electric
Power Company,

599
00:55:31,995 --> 00:55:34,456
announced that water levels
in Reactor Number 2

600
00:55:34,581 --> 00:55:35,791
are dangerously low,

601
00:55:35,916 --> 00:55:38,377
raising the specter
of a nuclear meltdown.

602
00:55:40,170 --> 00:55:41,797
[Fackler]
As soon as Unit 3 is lost,

603
00:55:41,922 --> 00:55:44,800
Unit 2 starts to go downhill.

604
00:55:46,093 --> 00:55:48,428
And for various reasons,
Unit 2 is worse

605
00:55:48,512 --> 00:55:49,888
than Unit 1 or Unit 3.

606
00:55:49,972 --> 00:55:52,224
The-the pressures
are much higher.

607
00:55:52,933 --> 00:55:55,435
And so the big fear
was that the reactor

608
00:55:55,519 --> 00:55:58,605
would actually blow up,
like a balloon popping,

609
00:55:59,314 --> 00:56:03,819
in a Chernobyl-style rupture
of the reactor itself.

610
00:56:07,823 --> 00:56:09,867
And that's when
they start talking about...

611
00:56:10,659 --> 00:56:12,619
you know, can we even
control the plant?

612
00:56:12,703 --> 00:56:15,122
You know,
why are we even staying?

613
00:56:15,205 --> 00:56:17,624
[unsettling music playing]

614
00:56:17,708 --> 00:56:19,918
[Fackler] TEPCO management
then calls the government

615
00:56:20,002 --> 00:56:23,005
to say, "We don't think
we can deal with this.

616
00:56:23,130 --> 00:56:24,882
We may have to evacuate."

617
00:56:27,342 --> 00:56:29,386
[Kan, in English]
I was speechless.

618
00:56:29,511 --> 00:56:31,179
If they withdraw now,

619
00:56:31,305 --> 00:56:33,098
the very existence
of this country

620
00:56:33,181 --> 00:56:34,975
would be in jeopardy.

621
00:56:35,058 --> 00:56:37,019
We had to contain the accident.

622
00:56:37,519 --> 00:56:39,479
And we had to be prepared

623
00:56:39,563 --> 00:56:41,899
to lose life in the process.

624
00:56:42,482 --> 00:56:43,483
I told them,

625
00:56:43,567 --> 00:56:45,444
"I'm going
to TEPCO headquarters.

626
00:56:45,527 --> 00:56:47,029
Make preparations."

627
00:56:50,032 --> 00:56:51,533
[Casto] Looking in
from the outside,

628
00:56:51,658 --> 00:56:55,037
the situation was completely
dysfunctional and disconnected.

629
00:56:55,871 --> 00:56:58,206
First meeting was,
"Look at our track record.

630
00:56:58,332 --> 00:57:00,876
Like, how good...
how strong it's been."

631
00:57:01,835 --> 00:57:04,046
Well, that's over, you know.
[chuckles]

632
00:57:04,171 --> 00:57:05,631
That was my thought.

633
00:57:07,507 --> 00:57:09,801
TEPCO couldn't get
a hold of the situation.

634
00:57:09,885 --> 00:57:13,055
And the government also seemed
to be completely ill-informed.

635
00:57:13,597 --> 00:57:15,307
Prime Minister Kan had experts

636
00:57:15,390 --> 00:57:17,059
who he would listen to.

637
00:57:17,768 --> 00:57:20,228
They came up
with this popcorn scenario.

638
00:57:20,354 --> 00:57:21,605
Like a chain reaction.

639
00:57:21,730 --> 00:57:23,273
One reactor
would set off another,

640
00:57:23,398 --> 00:57:25,067
then another, and then another.

641
00:57:25,692 --> 00:57:28,570
It could just get worse,
and worse, and worse out there.

642
00:57:29,863 --> 00:57:32,908
[in Japanese]

643
00:57:49,716 --> 00:57:51,510
[Casto] So he had
immense pressure on him.

644
00:57:51,593 --> 00:57:53,428
He wanted everything,
as you might imagine,

645
00:57:53,553 --> 00:57:55,764
wanted everything faster,
stronger, bigger.

646
00:57:58,225 --> 00:57:59,601
I was sent there to help.

647
00:58:00,268 --> 00:58:02,104
They didn't want to listen
to an American,

648
00:58:02,604 --> 00:58:05,107
which is understandable
given our history.

649
00:58:11,488 --> 00:58:14,992
[Akira Kawano, in Japanese]

650
00:58:27,838 --> 00:58:31,967
[in Japanese]

651
00:59:03,165 --> 00:59:05,584
[Kan, in English]
I arrived at TEPCO headquarters

652
00:59:05,667 --> 00:59:08,545
a little after 5:30 a.m.

653
00:59:08,628 --> 00:59:10,756
A number of monitors
were lined up

654
00:59:10,839 --> 00:59:12,340
in the operations room.

655
00:59:12,841 --> 00:59:15,635
One of them was connected
to Fukushima Daiichi.

656
00:59:16,136 --> 00:59:17,846
I addressed everyone.

657
00:59:18,346 --> 00:59:22,934
[in Japanese]

658
00:59:55,717 --> 00:59:58,303
[in Japanese]

659
01:00:51,606 --> 01:00:54,818
[explosion, static noise]

660
01:00:59,739 --> 01:01:04,452
[news anchor 15,
in German]

661
01:01:13,503 --> 01:01:19,551
[woman, in French]

662
01:01:31,479 --> 01:01:33,773
[news anchor 16] Good evening.
The situation at Japan's

663
01:01:33,857 --> 01:01:36,985
Fukushima nuclear plant
has gotten worse.

664
01:01:39,112 --> 01:01:42,240
While a Tokyo Electric official
said in a press conference

665
01:01:42,324 --> 01:01:43,909
that he does not believe

666
01:01:43,992 --> 01:01:45,577
a critical event is imminent,

667
01:01:45,660 --> 01:01:47,662
a senior
nuclear industry executive

668
01:01:47,787 --> 01:01:49,039
told the New York Times

669
01:01:49,164 --> 01:01:52,417
that Japanese nuclear managers
are, quote,

670
01:01:53,043 --> 01:01:55,337
"Basically
in a full-scale panic."

671
01:01:58,465 --> 01:02:00,675
[Fackler]
After the Unit 4 explosion,

672
01:02:00,800 --> 01:02:03,011
TEPCO did evacuate the plant.

673
01:02:05,388 --> 01:02:08,266
Kan agreed to the evacuation

674
01:02:08,350 --> 01:02:10,352
of most people from the plant

675
01:02:10,894 --> 01:02:12,812
if a small number would stay

676
01:02:12,896 --> 01:02:15,023
to-to... basically,
to man the fire trucks.

677
01:02:15,148 --> 01:02:16,233
They had three fire trucks

678
01:02:16,358 --> 01:02:18,068
that were pumping water
into the reactors.

679
01:02:18,193 --> 01:02:20,195
That was it. That was the
entire response at that point,

680
01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:21,738
was three fire trucks.

681
01:02:22,697 --> 01:02:24,366
Kan wanted enough people
to stay

682
01:02:24,491 --> 01:02:26,159
to man those fire trucks

683
01:02:26,243 --> 01:02:28,745
and to monitor the reactors,

684
01:02:30,080 --> 01:02:32,707
and a total
of 69 people stayed.

685
01:02:32,832 --> 01:02:34,292
They're known
as the Fukushima Fifty,

686
01:02:34,376 --> 01:02:36,211
but there were
actually 69 of them.

687
01:02:36,336 --> 01:02:39,172
They were staying
so the others could leave.

688
01:02:39,256 --> 01:02:41,883
Uh, and... they stayed knowing

689
01:02:42,008 --> 01:02:43,718
that they may not come back.

690
01:02:45,929 --> 01:02:48,598
[Izawa, in Japanese]

691
01:02:57,399 --> 01:03:01,736
[in Japanese]

692
01:05:17,705 --> 01:05:20,750
[somber music playing]

693
01:06:48,296 --> 01:06:51,341
[somber music continues]

694
01:06:57,180 --> 01:06:58,681
[news anchor 17]
Japanese engineers

695
01:06:58,806 --> 01:07:01,100
marshalled all
their remaining tools today

696
01:07:01,184 --> 01:07:02,560
in the week-long struggle

697
01:07:02,644 --> 01:07:05,146
to prevent
a full-blown nuclear disaster.

698
01:07:06,105 --> 01:07:07,482
[news anchor 18]
Filmed just yesterday

699
01:07:07,607 --> 01:07:09,150
from a military helicopter,

700
01:07:09,275 --> 01:07:12,070
this shaky footage
is the best image we have yet

701
01:07:12,153 --> 01:07:14,572
of the crippled
Fukushima nuclear plant.

702
01:07:14,656 --> 01:07:16,574
No workers can be seen outside.

703
01:07:16,658 --> 01:07:18,826
With radiation
at such high levels,

704
01:07:18,952 --> 01:07:20,995
it's simply too dangerous.

705
01:07:21,454 --> 01:07:23,581
The dense steam
is believed to be rising

706
01:07:23,665 --> 01:07:27,418
from a storage pool holding
100 tons of nuclear fuel.

707
01:07:28,169 --> 01:07:32,549
And alarmingly, two more pools
nearby are also heating up.

708
01:07:34,008 --> 01:07:36,928
Normally, at least five meters
of cooling water

709
01:07:37,011 --> 01:07:39,305
cover the rods,
stopping them from overheating

710
01:07:39,389 --> 01:07:42,267
and protecting workers
from a deadly radiation.

711
01:07:42,892 --> 01:07:44,269
But reports now indicate

712
01:07:44,352 --> 01:07:46,521
the pool
has run completely dry,

713
01:07:46,646 --> 01:07:49,357
a potentially
catastrophic development.

714
01:07:49,857 --> 01:07:52,652
Radiation levels there
are believed to be lethal.

715
01:07:52,735 --> 01:07:54,362
No one can go near.

716
01:07:55,363 --> 01:07:57,490
Seven days into this crisis,

717
01:07:57,574 --> 01:07:58,783
no one is any clearer

718
01:07:58,866 --> 01:08:01,286
on how this nuclear emergency
will end.

719
01:08:01,369 --> 01:08:03,121
[indistinct chatter]

720
01:08:07,542 --> 01:08:10,587
[dramatic music playing]

721
01:08:16,050 --> 01:08:18,219
[worker, in Japanese]

722
01:08:33,109 --> 01:08:35,069
[worker speaking Japanese]

723
01:08:36,237 --> 01:08:38,740
[Izawa, in Japanese]

724
01:08:51,294 --> 01:08:54,464
At this moment, 70 brave souls
are still working

725
01:08:54,546 --> 01:08:57,341
at the stricken
Fukushima plant in Japan.

726
01:08:57,425 --> 01:08:59,844
They are trying to prevent
a nuclear meltdown

727
01:08:59,926 --> 01:09:01,970
and apparently suffering
great radiation.

728
01:09:02,095 --> 01:09:03,473
We've obtained a statement

729
01:09:03,598 --> 01:09:06,350
from the International
Atomic Energy Agency, Peter,

730
01:09:06,434 --> 01:09:09,020
that says the levels
at the plant,

731
01:09:09,103 --> 01:09:10,772
and I want
to make that very clear,

732
01:09:10,897 --> 01:09:12,649
at the plant itself,

733
01:09:12,774 --> 01:09:14,609
are enough to kill a man

734
01:09:14,734 --> 01:09:16,569
within five hours.

735
01:09:16,653 --> 01:09:18,904
[breathing in gas mask]

736
01:09:18,988 --> 01:09:23,533
[Hirano, in Japanese]

737
01:09:34,295 --> 01:09:37,881
[in Japanese]

738
01:10:12,959 --> 01:10:15,002
[unsettling music playing]

739
01:10:33,229 --> 01:10:37,275
[squad leader shouting
in Japanese]

740
01:10:38,818 --> 01:10:44,866
[squad members shouting
drill commands]

741
01:10:51,539 --> 01:10:57,044
[Toyohiko Tomioka, in Japanese]

742
01:11:47,470 --> 01:11:49,597
[phone ringing]

743
01:12:07,114 --> 01:12:09,951
[alarm blaring]

744
01:12:11,452 --> 01:12:14,789
[siren wailing]

745
01:12:15,623 --> 01:12:18,876
[breathing in gas mask]

746
01:12:18,960 --> 01:12:20,920
[squad members chatting
in Japanese]

747
01:12:21,003 --> 01:12:23,464
[rescue squad member 1,
in Japanese]

748
01:12:28,135 --> 01:12:33,224
[Tomioka, in Japanese]

749
01:12:39,522 --> 01:12:42,358
[rescue squad member 2,
in Japanese]

750
01:12:43,442 --> 01:12:45,903
[Tomioka, in Japanese]

751
01:13:04,297 --> 01:13:06,591
[rescue squad member
speaking Japanese]

752
01:13:06,674 --> 01:13:09,635
[machine beeping]

753
01:13:09,719 --> 01:13:14,181
[rescue squad member 3,
in Japanese]

754
01:13:19,478 --> 01:13:23,065
[Tomioka, in Japanese]

755
01:13:25,026 --> 01:13:26,193
[alarm blaring]

756
01:13:26,319 --> 01:13:28,779
[tense music playing]

757
01:13:30,156 --> 01:13:33,284
[shouting in Japanese]

758
01:13:35,369 --> 01:13:38,372
[squad member speaking Japanese]

759
01:13:41,876 --> 01:13:45,129
[squad member 4, in Japanese]

760
01:13:56,891 --> 01:14:00,645
[squad member 5, in Japanese]

761
01:14:05,566 --> 01:14:07,693
[shouts in Japanese]

762
01:14:07,777 --> 01:14:10,446
[breathing in gas mask]

763
01:14:11,906 --> 01:14:14,408
[Tomioka in Japanese]

764
01:14:21,582 --> 01:14:26,504
[indistinct chatter in Japanese]

765
01:14:33,427 --> 01:14:36,806
[Tomioka, in Japanese]

766
01:14:47,608 --> 01:14:49,986
[breathing in gas mask]

767
01:14:50,111 --> 01:14:51,445
[alarm blares]

768
01:14:51,570 --> 01:14:54,615
[tense music playing]

769
01:14:58,786 --> 01:15:01,122
[in Japanese]

770
01:15:22,768 --> 01:15:24,228
[machine beeping]

771
01:15:24,311 --> 01:15:26,022
[breathing in gas mask]

772
01:15:30,317 --> 01:15:33,154
[beeping continues]

773
01:15:34,363 --> 01:15:37,575
[Tomioka, in Japanese]

774
01:15:49,712 --> 01:15:51,589
[breathing in gas mask]

775
01:15:51,672 --> 01:15:53,841
[beeping continues]

776
01:15:55,509 --> 01:15:58,512
[somber music playing]

777
01:16:05,686 --> 01:16:09,940
[Tomioka, in Japanese]

778
01:16:26,707 --> 01:16:29,251
[in Japanese]

779
01:16:38,886 --> 01:16:41,472
[breathing in gas mask]

780
01:16:41,555 --> 01:16:43,933
[Hirano, in Japanese]

781
01:16:47,895 --> 01:16:50,689
[hopeful music playing]

782
01:16:50,773 --> 01:16:54,819
[in Japanese]

783
01:18:05,639 --> 01:18:06,849
[music fading]

784
01:18:11,270 --> 01:18:12,813
[news anchor 19]
A few dozen workers

785
01:18:12,938 --> 01:18:14,648
at the Fukushima nuclear plant

786
01:18:14,773 --> 01:18:18,360
finally were able to restart
the reactor's cooling systems.

787
01:18:18,485 --> 01:18:20,487
[news anchor 20] Workers have
entered a reactor building

788
01:18:20,613 --> 01:18:22,406
at Japan's Fukushima
nuclear plant

789
01:18:22,489 --> 01:18:24,491
for the first time
since it was damaged

790
01:18:24,617 --> 01:18:26,535
by March's earthquake
and tsunami.

791
01:18:29,997 --> 01:18:31,749
[Fackler] After the
Hyper Rescue Team came,

792
01:18:31,832 --> 01:18:33,876
more and more people
arrived to help.

793
01:18:34,627 --> 01:18:36,962
And they finally start to get
a handle on the disaster.

794
01:18:37,046 --> 01:18:40,466
[haunting music playing]

795
01:18:40,549 --> 01:18:43,719
What follows
is civil suits, inquests,

796
01:18:43,844 --> 01:18:47,139
and TEPCO executives
making public apologies.

797
01:18:47,223 --> 01:18:48,849
[cameras clicking]

798
01:18:49,391 --> 01:18:53,562
[TEPCO executive, in Japanese]

799
01:19:04,073 --> 01:19:07,201
[Fackler] It's also revealed
that TEPCO received a report

800
01:19:07,326 --> 01:19:09,703
warning that a tsunami
of 15 meters

801
01:19:09,828 --> 01:19:12,248
was possible
at the Fukushima plant.

802
01:19:15,084 --> 01:19:16,877
But instead of acting on it,

803
01:19:17,002 --> 01:19:18,879
TEPCO sat on the report

804
01:19:19,004 --> 01:19:21,048
and only gave it
to nuclear authorities

805
01:19:21,173 --> 01:19:23,259
on March 7th, 2011,

806
01:19:23,759 --> 01:19:26,011
four days
before the disaster struck.

807
01:19:26,095 --> 01:19:29,139
[haunting music playing]

808
01:19:31,433 --> 01:19:35,062
Japan is the nation that
invented the word "tsunami."

809
01:19:35,729 --> 01:19:37,439
So the idea
that a Japanese plant

810
01:19:37,523 --> 01:19:40,401
wouldn't be ready
for a tsunami looks ludicrous.

811
01:19:40,943 --> 01:19:42,111
And yet they weren't.

812
01:19:42,569 --> 01:19:44,154
When-when the waves hit,

813
01:19:44,697 --> 01:19:47,491
the plant was literally caught
with its pants down.

814
01:19:47,574 --> 01:19:49,868
You don't even...
even need a wave wall.

815
01:19:49,952 --> 01:19:52,538
All you need
is a waterproof power system.

816
01:19:52,621 --> 01:19:54,915
Like you have in a ship,
or a submarine, or something.

817
01:19:55,040 --> 01:19:56,750
It-it wouldn't have taken
a whole lot.

818
01:19:57,251 --> 01:19:58,585
And they just didn't do it

819
01:19:58,711 --> 01:20:01,380
because to raise the risk
of a tsunami,

820
01:20:01,463 --> 01:20:04,133
to raise the risk of something
like that happening,

821
01:20:04,216 --> 01:20:08,637
would go against the orthodoxy
of the "safety myth."

822
01:20:08,721 --> 01:20:10,681
If you questioned
the safety of a plant,

823
01:20:10,764 --> 01:20:12,182
even something like, "Hey,

824
01:20:12,266 --> 01:20:14,310
let's have a few more
backup systems,"

825
01:20:15,060 --> 01:20:17,187
it could possibly
cost you your career.

826
01:20:17,938 --> 01:20:19,231
And so people didn't do it.

827
01:20:19,315 --> 01:20:21,442
They-they...
They had to toe the line.

828
01:20:21,984 --> 01:20:25,112
And the plant was... was...
was left vulnerable

829
01:20:25,237 --> 01:20:27,114
to something that
in Japan, frankly,

830
01:20:27,239 --> 01:20:30,159
should have been... foreseeable.

831
01:20:32,661 --> 01:20:36,623
[in Japanese]

832
01:21:42,981 --> 01:21:46,026
[somber music playing]

833
01:21:47,361 --> 01:21:49,071
[Fackler] The aftermath
of the accident

834
01:21:49,196 --> 01:21:50,739
is still going on today.

835
01:21:52,074 --> 01:21:56,203
And we are still decades
from cleaning up

836
01:21:56,328 --> 01:21:59,289
the radioactive material
in the reactors.

837
01:21:59,915 --> 01:22:03,752
Uh, it'll be my grandchildren
who see that cleaned up.

838
01:22:04,670 --> 01:22:06,046
And after years of mothballing

839
01:22:06,171 --> 01:22:08,424
the nuclear program in Japan,

840
01:22:08,549 --> 01:22:10,634
it's firmly back
on the agenda.

841
01:22:11,718 --> 01:22:14,054
They've restarted 14 reactors,

842
01:22:14,179 --> 01:22:16,723
and there are plans
to build many, many more.

843
01:22:18,725 --> 01:22:20,269
It's not just Japan.

844
01:22:20,394 --> 01:22:22,563
Much of the world,
faced with climate change

845
01:22:22,688 --> 01:22:24,773
and energy insecurity,

846
01:22:24,898 --> 01:22:27,067
is now turning back
to nuclear power.

847
01:22:27,192 --> 01:22:28,610
[seagulls squawking]

848
01:22:30,195 --> 01:22:32,030
If... You know,
if there was a big lesson

849
01:22:32,114 --> 01:22:33,449
from the accident,

850
01:22:34,241 --> 01:22:36,034
it would be the necessity

851
01:22:36,118 --> 01:22:38,579
of transparency
and-and coming...

852
01:22:38,704 --> 01:22:39,997
being frank with people, right?

853
01:22:41,540 --> 01:22:43,709
You would hope
that lesson has been learned.

854
01:22:44,418 --> 01:22:46,587
But the government has
never been fully transparent

855
01:22:46,712 --> 01:22:49,006
about what happened
in Fukushima.

856
01:22:49,715 --> 01:22:51,967
TEPCO has never revealed
fully what happened.

857
01:22:52,593 --> 01:22:55,596
We have very few records
of what was being said

858
01:22:55,721 --> 01:22:57,264
or done at that time.

859
01:22:58,098 --> 01:22:59,558
It feels like
any question of risk,

860
01:22:59,641 --> 01:23:02,144
any question of what
can go wrong is gone,

861
01:23:02,269 --> 01:23:04,813
and people just don't want
to talk about that.

862
01:23:06,148 --> 01:23:08,192
We're back to, you know,
"Don't worry about it,

863
01:23:08,275 --> 01:23:10,194
we'll take care of it,
everything's okay."

864
01:23:10,277 --> 01:23:11,862
[upbeat music playing]

865
01:23:12,905 --> 01:23:15,949
[cartoon narrator, in Japanese]

866
01:23:24,124 --> 01:23:26,585
[Fackler] And their messaging
leaves us wondering,

867
01:23:26,668 --> 01:23:28,712
has anything really changed?

868
01:23:29,421 --> 01:23:32,466
[cartoon narrator, in Japanese]

869
01:23:38,096 --> 01:23:41,141
[gentle music playing]

870
01:23:51,485 --> 01:23:53,028
[Izawa, in Japanese]

871
01:24:41,702 --> 01:24:43,453
...those brave emergency workers

872
01:24:43,537 --> 01:24:46,456
who are walking
into a wall of radiation.

873
01:24:47,499 --> 01:24:50,877
[Izawa, in Japanese]

874
01:25:14,026 --> 01:25:17,029
[haunting music playing]

875
01:25:17,112 --> 01:25:20,574
[Casto] The operators there do
not see themselves as heroes.

876
01:25:20,699 --> 01:25:22,367
You know,
they felt they were culprits

877
01:25:22,451 --> 01:25:23,785
more than heroes,

878
01:25:23,869 --> 01:25:26,163
that they caused the accident,
which they didn't.

879
01:25:26,246 --> 01:25:29,625
Some told me that, you know,
we feel like Vietnam veterans.

880
01:25:30,083 --> 01:25:32,085
You know,
that in America where...

881
01:25:32,544 --> 01:25:34,379
You know, we think
we fought a noble battle

882
01:25:34,463 --> 01:25:37,174
but our people don't think
this is a noble war.

883
01:25:37,924 --> 01:25:39,760
So we're not heroes.

884
01:25:39,885 --> 01:25:42,220
[haunting music playing]

885
01:25:42,304 --> 01:25:44,222
[Casto] But for me,
unlike the military,

886
01:25:44,306 --> 01:25:46,266
none of those
who stayed behind at that plant

887
01:25:46,391 --> 01:25:48,560
expected they would have
to give up their life.

888
01:25:49,561 --> 01:25:51,980
They, like anyone else
with a nine-to-five job,

889
01:25:52,105 --> 01:25:54,149
turned up on the 11th
with their lunchboxes

890
01:25:54,274 --> 01:25:55,442
to work their shifts.

891
01:25:56,151 --> 01:25:57,986
Then they were faced
with all of this.

892
01:25:59,112 --> 01:26:00,614
And they chose to stay.

893
01:26:02,616 --> 01:26:04,451
And I think understanding that,

894
01:26:05,285 --> 01:26:07,037
anyone would have to agree

895
01:26:07,621 --> 01:26:09,665
that they are
absolutely heroic.

896
01:26:16,338 --> 01:26:18,674
[somber music playing]

897
01:26:18,799 --> 01:26:22,719
[in Japanese]

898
01:26:58,380 --> 01:27:01,425
[pensive music playing]

899
01:27:07,681 --> 01:27:09,349
[birds squawking]

900
01:27:14,980 --> 01:27:18,024
[somber music playing]

901
01:28:00,233 --> 01:28:03,278
[plaintive music playing]