Shadow Map of the Shaken Metropolitan Area - Worst-Case Scenario at the Beginning of the 21st Century (2011)

Shadow Map of the Shaken Metropolitan Area - Worst-Case Scenario at the Beginning of the 21st Century (2011)

The worst-case scenario presented to the government in March 2011 amid the chaos of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident was one that cast a deep shadow over the entire Tokyo metropolitan area. According to Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Shunsuke Kondo's calculations, reactors Nos. 1 through 4 would chain reaction out of control, resulting in the sustained release of a large amount of radioactive materials. As a result, a 170-kilometer radius was considered a mandatory evacuation zone, and up to a 250-kilometer radius was considered an acceptable zone, indicating that a large area of Tokyo, most of Saitama Prefecture, Chiba City, and Yokohama City could become uninhabitable.

At the time, the complex crisis continued with the explosion of Units 1 and 3, the suspected damage to Unit 2, and the unclear status of the Unit 4 pool, and the state of the reactor core could not be determined due to the loss of power. The direction of the wind was turning south and there were concerns about the spread of radiation to the Tokyo metropolitan area, and the decision to emigrate based on Chernobyl standards became a reality. There was widespread anxiety in society as water, food, and fuel were in short supply and rolling blackouts continued. The United States recommended evacuation from the 80-kilometer zone, and the situation was becoming tense internationally.

This document showed the reality that Japan's nuclear administration had not anticipated a chain of serious accidents, and that the myth of safety covered the entire system. The question of how society should coexist with a massive technological system and how to prepare for a crisis remains unanswered.