NN's Fukushima coverage

摘要

March 11, 2011, was much like any other day at Nuclear News, as the monthly copy deadline for the April issue was upon the editorial staff. The editors were completing stories for the regular news sections, editing copy and passing it to the desktop editor, and creating and proofreading galleys. As the day progressed, we began receiving news reports of a huge earthquake—ultimately determined to be magnitude 9.0—that triggered a tsunami off the northeast coast of Japan's central island of Honshu. Cars, people, homes, entire villages were washed away by the strength of the 14-meter (about 46-foot) wave. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station was located in that area as well, suffering flooding that was beyond what the six-unit plant was capable of handling.