If I read correctly, the earthquake hit and took out the conventional electricity, the tsunami flooded the diesels, and the batteries couldn't hold down the fort enough (given the damage to infrastructure elsewhere and "too many things to do at once") for them to get the pumps started and cool off the reactors.
If anything, this is a world-class ADVERTISEMENT for nuclear power: one of the largest earthquakes in history, a 30-foot tsunami, and the damn thing STILL didn't melt down.
Cheers!
That’s the way I look at it. These guys have held it together through one of the biggest quakes in the world’s history, literally right on their front doorstep, with the attending tsunami coming in on top of them with likely 3 minutes’ warning.
We would not do so well.
You have a pretty good explanation of the failure of the safety features. One thing I’m wondering, and it’s probably my ignorance of the system, but wouldn’t the nuclear pile “scram” in such a situation, i.e. the control rods would slam down and stop the reaction? Perhaps they did (if the reactor is such a design) and the overheating was due to residual heat, i.e. you can’t just shut the reactor off and it cools on its own without the assistance of a coolant system.
Comments appreciated.