
24 The Fukushima 2011 Disaster
2003, 2007), radiation releases at Fukushima have been limited (Matson
2011); further, the Fukushima reactors were better designed than the
failed Chernobyl reactor (Matson 2011).
Three previous civilian meltdowns are known: Three Mile
Island; Saint-Laurent Nuclear Power Plant (France); and Chernobyl
(Wikipedia 2011c). At fi rst, TEPCO denied that fuel cores were melted
and considered removing all staff members from the plant and leaving
it abandoned. This option was rejected by the Japanese government
on the grounds that radiation leaks dozens of times greater than that
released at Chernobyl would result in the ...