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The March 11, 2011 Tohoku-Pacific earthquake and the resulting tsunami on the northeastern shore of Honshu resulted in an unprecedented test of safety systems, severe accident management plans, and emergency response capability at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) complex. I will discuss the progression of the accident from the viewpoint of nuclear engineering and past severe accident research, focusing on the events leading up to the hydrogen explosions that resulted in extensive damage to three of the four reactor buildings. Following the discussion of the accident progression, I will describe the radiological consequences, provide some comparisons to previous severe accidents, and discuss the progress in cleaning up the plant and surrounding environment. Host: Bob Ecke, CNLS |