Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima

March 11, 2011

A magnitude 9.0 earthquake off northeastern Japan generated a tsunami that overran seawalls, killed nearly 20,000 people, and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Three reactors melted down within days. Japan's faith in its nuclear competence, and the global nuclear renaissance, ended within a single afternoon of cascading catastrophe.