The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant often referred to as Fukushima Dai-ichi (Dai-ichi simply means number 1), is a nuclear power plant located in the town of Okuma in the Futaba District of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, first commissioned in 1971. The plant consists of six boiling water reactors. These light water reactors have a combined power of 4.7 GW, making Fukushima I one of the 15 largest nuclear power stations in the world. Fukushima I was the first nuclear plant to be constructed and run entirely by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The plant suffered major damage from the 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011, disabling the reactor cooling systems and triggering a widespread evacuation surrounding the plant. The gravity of the ongoing fires and meltdown of several of the plant's reactors has sparked international concern that the disaster is heading towards becoming an environmental calamity similar to that suffered at Chernobyl in 1986. International experts estimate that if a chain reaction is initiated in stored fissile material at the plant, it could affect an area up to 320 kilometres (200 mi) from the stricken nuclear complex. #Chernobyl #disaster #earthquake #explosion #fire #Fukushima #hydrogen #Japan #nuclear #Okuma #plutonium #power #power_plant #radiation #rescue #Tokyo #tsunami #uranium
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