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9.0 Earthquake
About 100 kilometers off the coast of Japan's northwestern coast, a magnitude of 9.0 earthquake struck, automatically shutting down the power plant. Around an hour later, a 46 foot tsunami hit. This flooded the plant and disabled all but one generator which was underground. A 1.9 mile evacuation zone was put into order. -
Series of Explosions
Rods exploded from the earthquake as well as the units 1, 2, and 3 overheating with little ability to cool. Once vented, unit 1 has a hydrogen explosion and workers inject seawater directly into the unit. -
More Destruction
Unit 3 is let vent and injected with seawater and has a hydrogen explosion. Fuel damage is apparent in all 3 units. -
Power and Shut Down
Unit 2 is successfully connected with power. Unit 5 and 6's power generator is brought to a cool shut down state. -
Growing Evacuation Distance
Reactor 3's containment vessel is found. The US Navy sends
500,000 gallons of fresh water to the site. The evacuation zone grows to a 19 mile radius. -
New Findings
Issue is deemed "unclear" how to resolve by the TEPCO. The EPA in the United States discovers traces of iodine in animal milk. -
More Contamination
Contaminated water from the reactor 2 is found in the sea. The following day, after a tsunami, two workers are found dead. -
Radioactive Solutions
TEPCO starts to dump radioactive storage tank water into the Pacific Ocean. Levels of iodine-131 in ocean water surrounding plant amount to 7.5 million times the allotted amount. -
Aftershock
An aftershock strikes with a magnitude of 7.1. Luckily, no damage is done, but workers still proceeded to evacuate. -
Reentering
Robot PackBot robots go in units 2 and 3 to assess the damage and radiation levels are marked at 1120 Msv/h in unit 1 - the highest in history. This allowed workers a limited amount of time for entrance into unit 1. -
Showing Progess
Water that was once contaminated stops being generated. Water that is recycled used for cooling. -
More Harmful Chemicals Found
30 km outside of the evacuation zone, high levels of plutonium and many other radioactive particles are found. Days later, rice shipments from farms near the site are banned due to illegal amounts of cesium found in it. -
Timetable
Decommissioning the reactors is estimated to be completed in the year 2052. -
Stability
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission concludes reactors are stable. This is around 9 months after the incident occurred. -
TEPCO Didn't Help?
Communication on the part of the government was discovered poor and errors by TEPCO did not help, but put the disaster into worse conditions. -
Period: to
Making Up
TEPCO tries to work against their destruction by pouring concrete on the ocean floor and admitting the fault in the disaster. -
Protesting
On the 3rd anniversary of the disaster, cities in Japan protested by the thousand. -
Evacuation Zones Decreasing
The government in Japan narrowed the span of the zone of evacuation around this site. 275 people in 139 households were allowed to go back to their homes; however, it is not stated whether or not they did actually return as a result of the conditions in the area.