Introduction
1. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the U.S.-Japan alliance was first conceived as the Mutual Security Pact (1952) and later replaced by the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security (1960). In this agreement, collectively nicknamed “spear and shield,” Japan agreed to provide U.S. forces with basing rights on its territory in exchange for security against external threats.
2. The Jogan earthquake, known formally as the Sanriku earthquake, struck the northern part of Honshu on July 9, 869. With an estimated magnitude of 8.4, it caused widespread flooding of the Sendai plain.
Chapter 2
1. Sean T. Hannah, Mary Uhl-Bien, Bruce J. Avolio, and Fabrice L. Cavarretta, “A Framework for Examining Leadership in Extreme Contexts.” The Leadership Quarterly 20 (2009): 898. Accessed May 15, 2018, at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=managementfacpub.
2. Charles A. Casto, (2014), “Crisis Management: A Qualitative Study of Extreme Event Leadership.” Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects. 626. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/etd/626.
3. R. Dynes, (1974), Organized Behavior in Disaster, Columbus: Disaster Research Center, Ohio State University; R. Dynes, E. L. Quarantelli, and G. A. Kreps, (1981), A Perspective on Disaster Planning, 3rd Edition (Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press).
4. “Tendenko, as a tsunami evacuation strategy, advocates moving quickly to safety in anticipation of an imminent tsunami threat by disregarding others, even one’s own family members. The concept developed within a disaster subculture along the eastern coast of Japan as a grassroots response to large repeated tsunamigenic earthquakes in which entire families perished. High death tolls in tsunami events were attributed to the desire of families to reunite before evacuating, thus losing precious seconds and minutes during which they could have fled individually, saving their lives. Following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, tendenko once again became a topic of interest in the news media and among academic researchers and government officials.” James D. Goltz, “Tsunami Tendenko: A Sociological Critique.” Natural Hazards Review 18, no. 4 (November 2017). https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29NH.1527-6996.0000254.
5. In academia; the theory is called sensemaking—establishing a mental model, a model that fosters action. K. E. Weick, “Enacted Sensemaking in Crisis Situations.” Journal of Management Studies 25, no. 4 (1988): 305.
Chapter 3
1. “U.S. Navy to Provide 500,000 Gallons of Fresh Water to Fukushima,” U.S. Navy website. Accessed at http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=59318.
2. The Emergency Response Center (ERC) is located on the reactor site, about a half mile from the reactors. It includes a seismic isolation building where the emergency response personnel led the response efforts. It was a two-story, reinforced-concrete bunker designed by TEPCO to act as a shelter and command center in major emergencies. It had two air filtration systems to keep out radiation and was built on dampers, or giant shock absorbers, that would allow it to survive even the biggest earthquakes.
3. A design basis “accident” is defined by the NRC (nrc.gov) as: “A postulated accident that a nuclear facility must be designed and built to withstand without loss to the systems, structures, and components necessary to ensure public health and safety.”
Chapter 4
1. Cold shutdown means that the reactor pressure vessel, which is made of steel, is below 100 degrees Celsius and is considered safe.
2. Instruments and Controls (I&C) are the electronic processes to operate components or to collect data from the reactor systems. I&C people conduct testing and maintenance of these processes.
3. The high-pressure coolant injection system (HPCI) is a steam turbine pumping system that injects a high volume of water into the reactor when the reactor does not depressurize.
4. The reactor core isolation cooling system (RCIC) is a steam turbine powered high-pressure water injection system. It is designed to inject water into the core during conditions when the reactor is at high pressure before depressurization. It is a smaller, complementary system to the High-Pressure Coolant Injection System (HPCI).
Chapter 7
1. A bento box is a prepackaged lunch that is popular in Japan.
Chapter 9
1. TEPCO Headquarters is in Tokyo near the prime minister’s residence.
2. Scott Pelley, “Nuclear plant operator remembers Fukushima.” CBS Evening News (March 16, 2012). https://youtu.be/IaqdeRyK0pM.
Chapter 10
1. “The history of the failure of war can almost be summed up in two words: too late. Too late in comprehending the deadly purpose of a potential enemy. Too late in uniting all possible forces for resistance. Beware not the enemy from without but the enemy from within.” http://www.tankmastergunner.com/quotes-macarthur.htm.
Chapter 11
1. The Naval Reactors Program is the U.S. military version of the NRC. However, there are two distinct cultures between them. Naval ships cannot tolerate any release of radiation. For the commercial nuclear industry, with the larger facilities, and commercial requirements, radiation exposures are managed.
2. The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO)—an independent, membership organization that promotes the highest levels of safety and reliability in the operation of commercial nuclear power plants. http:/inpo.info.
3. The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) unites every company and country in the world that has an operating commercial nuclear power plant to achieve the highest possible standards of nuclear safety. https:/wano.info.
4. There were roughly 153,000 Americans living in Japan (plus tourists) at that time, of whom 103,000 were U.S. military personnel and Department of Defense dependents (family and military contractors).
5. After the Chernobyl accident in 1996, the Japanese government invested considerable resources in its implementation.
6. Refer to the June 17, 2011, letter from NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko to Senator Jim Webb for information on assumptions used in recommending a 50-mile evacuation for U.S. citizens following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility events.
Chapter 16
1. Yokosuka and Atsugi are about 45 miles from Tokyo, about 20 miles apart from each other, and about 200 miles from Fukushima Daiichi.
2. Kyle Cleveland, “Significant Breaking Worse,” Critical Asian Studies, 46:3 (2014), 509–539, DOI: 10.1080/14672715.2014.935137.
1. By October 2012, the Japanese Reconstruction Agency identified 1,000 disaster-related deaths that were not due to radiation-induced damage or the earthquake or the tsunami. http://www.reconstruction.go.jp/english/, based on data for areas evacuated for no other reason than the nuclear accident. About 90 percent of deaths were for persons above sixty-six years of age. Of these, about 70 percent occurred within the first three months of the evacuations. (A similar number of deaths occurred among evacuees from the tsunami- and earthquake-affected prefectures. These figures add to the 19,000 that died in the actual tsunami.) The premature deaths reported in 2012 were mainly related to the following: (1) somatic effects and spiritual fatigue brought on by having to reside in shelters; (2) Transfer trauma—the mental or physical burden of the forced move from their homes for fragile individuals; and (3) delays in obtaining needed medical support because of the enormous destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami. However, the radiation levels in most of the evacuated areas were not greater than the natural radiation levels in high background areas elsewhere in the world where no adverse health effect is evident, so maintaining the evacuation beyond a precautionary few days was evidently the main disaster about human fatalities.
Chapter 19
1. A cooler title, I can’t imagine. I jokingly complained to the NRC team that I didn’t have a cool title. Before I knew it, our team created an equivalent title for me—USNRC Forces Japan Supreme Allied Commander.
2. I read an article that estimates the tsunami’s force at just under one atomic bomb. Kenneth Chang, “The Destructive Power of Water,” New York Times (March 12, 2011).http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/weekinreview/13water.html.
3. The Hanford site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the United States government near the Columbia River in the State of Washington.
4. In 2014, I coauthored an article that details the leadership success of Team Masuda. See Ranjay Gulati, Charles Casto, and Charlotte Krontiris, “How the Other Fukushima Plant Survived,” Harvard Business Review (July–August 2014). https://hbr.org/2014/07/how-the-other-fukushima-plant-survived.