FukushimaThe Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a catastrophic failure at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants on March 11, 2011. The nuclear power plant was located on a 3.5 square kilometer site in the towns of Okuma and Futaba in the Futaba district of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. There were a total of 10 nuclear reactors, of which 5 reactors used old designs and the rest used new designs. All of the Fukushima plants, including the newer plants, were all based on General Electric (GE) designs. Lucrative contracts had been concluded between General Electric and Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) to maintain GE's nuclear power plants in Japan. General Electric is an American multinational conglomerate incorporated in Schenectady, New York and operates through four divisions: Energy, Technology Infrastructure, Capital Finance, and Consumer & Industrial. The oldest nuclear reactor at Fukushima was built in the 1960s. The reactors in Units 1 through 5 were built with the older design, the GE (General Electric) Mark 1 design. To keep the reactors compact and economical, The Mark 1 design had small reactor buildings. Instead of placing the generators inside reactor buildings, they are installed in nearby structures housing turbines. Unfortunately, the turbine buildings were much weaker, especially their doors. On the other hand, the reactor buildings were built sturdy and stable, with thick concrete walls and two sets of sturdy doors. However, even if the reactor building itself had strong protection, emergency power generators are essential safety equipment and should have been installed inside the reactor buildings. The cooling systems of nuclear power plants run on electricity from the national power grid. For the situation where...... middle of paper ......O.4 reactor building. On the other hand, reactors No. 5 and 6 operated their cooling systems safely. The Fukushima plants were all based on GE designs. Therefore, after the nuclear disaster, GE was asked why they were not aware of the design flaw of the old design. GE, responsible for maintaining the Fukushima plants, said it was not its fault because Tepco was in charge of any design changes. They also said the location of backup generators should be reviewed and decided by Tepco and regulators. After the incident, 300,000 people evacuated the area. Although the World Health Organization has indicated that evacuees were exposed to little radiation, they are still likely to have health effects from radiation. Inconsistency in applying improved standards to nuclear power plants caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster..