The 10-km Darkness Connecting Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plants: Hopelessness Observed at the Site on the Night the Road Disappeared (2011)

The 10-km Darkness Connecting Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plants: Hopelessness Observed at the Site on the Night the Road Disappeared (2011)
The distance between the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini nuclear power plants is only 10 kilometers, a distance that would normally take 20 minutes to travel using National Route 6. However, the massive earthquake of March 11, 2011 cut off this short distance in an instant, and National Route 6 became impassable due to upheaval and sinking. Streetlights and traffic signals were lost, and the road was plunged into deep darkness at night. Staff members who had left the No. 2 nuclear power plant for the No. 1 nuclear power plant had to follow narrow residential roads, dodging debris in the darkness so dark that cars could not pass each other. Around them, aftershocks continued and the creaking of collapsed buildings echoed, leaving cold traces of the tsunami.
At the time, Japanese society was suffering from communication problems and a lack of information, and there was widespread anxiety as people were unable to fully grasp what was happening at the nuclear power plant. With reactors No. 1 and No. 3 in serious condition and No. 2 in danger of losing its external power supply, coordination between the two reactors was crucial, but the 10-kilometer journey was a deadly one. The Government of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission's publicly available web records also testify to the extremely poor road conditions along this stretch of road.
The tension and fear that the workers felt on the night of the accident is an indispensable reality in understanding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.