IntroductionOn March 11, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan struck the northern coast of Japan. Ground shaking triggered a safety shutdown of 11 nuclear reactors and cut external power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Located on the coast, just southeast of the epicenter of the earthquake, the Fukushima plant resisted ground movements, but its emergency power supplies from diesel generators, necessary to operate its reactor cooling pumps, were deactivated by the impact of the ensuing 14 meter tsunami. wave. Additional backup power from the batteries allowed the coolant pumps to operate for an additional eight hours. Plant operators then initiated emergency procedures intended to control the temperature of the reactor core, including the use of seawater to douse the structure. The resulting gases such as steam and hydrogen were vented, with the hydrogen exploding on contact with oxygen in the atmosphere. As cooling efforts continued, officials at the plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), said the situation was "improving." The media response to the Fukushima situation has been apocalyptic. On April 26, the 25th anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion approached. German commentators have warned that Germany can no longer claim that nuclear power is safe. Four days after the earthquake, Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered the closure of seven nuclear reactors built before 1980. The European Commission agreed to introduce as-yet-undefined "stress tests" at European power plants, while the China has suspended the approval process for nuclear power plants. new nuclear power plants pending the review of safety procedures. Three months before the earthquake in Japan, the company Nuclear Energy A...... middle of paper ......hrust was to finance the development of energy renewable thanks to a carbon tax on fossil fuels. Even before the Fukushima accident, media commentators said the government was "afraid" to openly admit the need for nuclear power. In the aftermath of Fukushima, the governments of Italy, Sweden and Poland announced that they would stick to their previous plans to expand nuclear power generation. The U.S. government believes that the nuclear power of the future will be provided by small-scale, modular, inexpensive reactors built off-site. “This is a reactor designed for safety first, not a reactor where you do physics first and then add safety,” said Victor Reis, senior adviser to the Office of the Undersecretary. to energy for science. Unless the global nuclear industry can convince a skeptical public of its technical safety, its future remains in an unspeakable limbo..