An earthquake of unprecedented scale struck the Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. As seen in media reports, it lost power to operate its safety equipment and became incapable of cooling the reactor core. This caused some nuclear fuel rods to overheat at Unit 1, leading to an increase of radiation levels outside the building as well as the detection of radioactive materials. A hydrogen explosion inside the reactor building damaged external walls at the top of the building. The media has also reported development of a similar incident at Unit 3.

It is clear that this is one of the nation's worst nuclear accidents involving a mass evacuation of local residents. It is our hope that all evacuees return to normal life as soon as possible.
What is required now is for all parties involved in nuclear power generation to use all their available means in this tough and constrained situation to bring the reactors into a safe state. It is of utmost urgency.

To this end, while we are all aware that TEPCO is making their maximum efforts, the nuclear industry must amass all of its capacities to take on this situation, as it is no longer the matter of a single nuclear licensee. All nuclear licensees, manufacturers and other parties involved in nuclear power generation must inject their knowledge and resources to launch an industry-wide initiative for support and reinforcement.

JANTI has set up a special team to make as many contributions to the situation as possible, to obtain solid information so that relevant technical information can be distributed to external parties.