Fallout. translated i had one daughter left. I had to protect her. Narrator . And the courage. translated we did it. We did it for everyone. Narrator tonight on frontlinthe story of those tense days inside japans Nuclear Meltdown. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The wyncote foundation, and by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. man speaking japanese translated on march 11, there was a relaxed atmosphere at work. I was at my computer, writing reports. Before that day, wed had a few earthquakes, around magnitude four. Then, i think it was about 2 46 pm, i felt an incredible rumbling in the earth. It was like nothing id ever experienced. Narrator the earthquake that shook the Fukushima DaiichiNuclear Power plant was the most powerful to strike japan since records began. The company that operates the plant, tepco, has forbidden its workers from speaking publicly about what followed. But one year on, they are starting to tell their stories. Some have asked for their identities to be hidden for fear of being fired. translated i saw all the pipes fixed to the wall shifting and ripping off. translated it was getting stronger and stronger. This was no ordinary quake. translated we were all on our knees, holding on to the railings. Then the power was cut. Narrator the workers stayed calm because they knew japanese power plants are designed to withstand earthquakes. The reactors automatically shut down within seconds. But the high radioactivity of Nuclear Fuel Rods means they generate intense heat even after a shutdown. So backup generators kicked in to power the cooling systems and stop the fuel rods from melting. Takashi sato is a reactor inspector who no longer works at the plant. translated i wasnt worried about the condition of the plant. I had always thought Nuclear Power was safe. But in the end, the plant wasnt safe, was it . Narrator just up the coast, the fishermen of fukushima knew what was coming next. translated its always been said on this shore, the tsunami will follow the earthquake. I went straight to the harbor and headed out to sea. Narrator yoshio ichida wanted to save his boat. He was racing straight into the biggest tsunami waves to strike japan in hundreds of years, hoping to crest them before they broke. translated they were like mountains. We went over three waves that came directly from the east. They were about 15 meters high. It was like this. Narrator the biggest of the waves was more than 40 feet high and traveling at over 100 miles an hour. translated when i looked back to shore, there was a strange ocean mist. I knew something bad was happening. Narrator at the Nuclear Plant, a worker was filming as his coworkers fled to higher ground. At 3 35 pm, the biggest of the waves struck. It was more than twice the height of the plants seawall. Its now known that tepco had been warned by a Government Committee of scientists in 2009 that its tsunami defenses were inadequate. The company says it was still reviewing the matter when the disaster happened. Now, the tsunami flooded the Nuclear Plant. translated the port area was trashed. I felt something incredible had happened. Narrator this man is a Senior Nuclear engineer who still works at the plant. translated cars had been left everywhere by the wave. Buildings and 5,000ton fuel tanks were sucked out to sea. I watched them slowly sinking. Narrator most of the backup diesel generators needed to power the cooling systems were located in basements. They were destroyed by the tsunami waters, meaning the workers had no way of keeping the nuclear fuel from melting. translated when i heard the diesel generators were lost, i couldnt square that with reality. I was stunned. Narrator this is the frantically scribbled log the engineers kept on a whiteboard in the control room as the Nuclear Plant slid towards disaster. 1542 Nuclear Emergency declared. 1558 loss of water level readings. 1636 emergency core cooling system malfunction. No water can be injected. Tepco turned down frontlines requests for interviews with plant workers, but put forward the managing director of its nuclear division. He acknowledged the company had never imagined that one of their Nuclear Plants could lose all power. Narrator in the 90 minutes since the tsunami, japans government had been scrambling to deal with one of the biggest natural disasters in the countrys history. Now, the Prime Minister was informed that the cooling systems had failed at fukushima. Narrator the Prime Minister asked to be kept informed of what was happening in fukushima. But for now, the executives at tepco headquarters in tokyo were in charge of tackling the Nuclear Emergency. Two hours had passed since the tsunami. The coastline was devastated. Around 20,000 people were dead or missing. Norio kimura, a farmer from fukushima, lived just two miles from the Nuclear Plant. Hed been out working when the waves struck. Now he was searching for his family. Survivors were gathering at the local sports center, unaware of the unfolding nuclear crisis. translated many people had gathered. I was told three of my family were missing. I felt cold, like my blood was being drained. Narrator norios father was missing. So was his wife, and his youngest daughter, yuna. translated i just couldnt accept that the tsunami might have killed them. I started searching in the rubble not just around my house, but the whole village. Narrator as night fell, the japanese government ordered an evacuation of everyone within two miles of Fukushima Daiichi. But norio and the others ignored the order and kept searching for their families. Just along the coast, the Nuclear Plant was still without power. The workers had no functioning instruments to reveal what was happening inside the reactor cores. They improvised. translated all of us who had a car or a company car were asked to get the batteries to help restore power. Narrator the scavenged batteries allowed vital monitoring instruments in the reactor one control room to work again. Just before midnight, the workers restored power to the pressure gauge. The levels caused panic. translated the pressure was going up and up. Everyone thought, isnt this dangerous . Are we in trouble . Narrator the engineers realized the rising heat of the fuel rods in the reactor core was creating massive amounts of radioactive steam and hydrogen. The resulting pressure meant the workers could not get water onto the fuel. Even worse, it meant the containment vessel might explode a disaster that could leave parts of japan uninhabitable for decades. Tepco now knew they had to release radioactive gases into the atmosphere to prevent the reactor from exploding. But to take such a desperate measure, the company needed the permission of the Prime Minister himself. Narrator radiation has long been a sensitive subject in japan. After the United States dropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki in 1945, tens of thousands died of radiation sickness and cancers. Yet now japans Prime Minister felt he had no choice but to authorize the deliberate release of radioactivity. Narrator but there was something tepco wasnt telling the Prime Minister the company had never imagined they might have to vent a reactor without electricity. They didnt know how to do it. translated the venting valves are driven by motors. So without electricity, they wont open. Its possible to open them manually, but really difficult. Narrator in the darkness of the reactor one control room, the workers pored over blueprints to try to work out how to open the vents. The handwritten plant logs show that radiation levels were now rising. translated to see those kinds of numbers would normally be unthinkable. And this isnt inside the reactor itself. Its in the office. It was a disaster. Narrator the engineers suspected something that the Prime Minister and tepco would not acknowledge for months Nuclear Meltdown had begun. translated i realized that the fuel had started to melt. We got our masks and put them by our feet so we could escape at any time. Narrator back in tokyo, six hours after the order to vent the reactors, there was still no news from the plant. The Prime Minister began to suspect that tepco was hiding the truth. He decided to go to Fukushima Daiichi himself. He was later criticized for interfering with the emergency work at the plant, but he says he had to find out what was really going on. Narrator at Fukushima Daiichi, the Prime Minister met directly with the tepco engineers. He insisted they vent the reactors. translated kan was very angry. The government had given an order. What was tepco doing . But we were trying our best. The valves were hard to open. We were genuinely trying. We just hadnt managed it. Narrator the plant manager, masao yoshida, was known for being frank. He knew the radiation near the vents was at potentially fatal levels, but he told the Prime Minister hed send in a suicide squad if necessary. Narrator the Prime Minister knew his orders might condemn the men who went into the reactor to death, but he felt japans future was at stake. Narrator but then tepco got some news which meant the venting was delayed yet again. The evacuation of the surrounding villages was not yet complete. If the reactors were vented, local residents could be exposed to Dangerous Levels of radiation. Norio kimura was two miles from the plant, together with his oldest daughter, mayu. He was still searching for his youngest daughter, his wife, and his father. Now he faced a choice abandon the search, or risk exposing his surviving daughter to radiation. translated the head of the village told me that the Nuclear Plant was in trouble. He persuaded me to leave. He told me. The living were more important than the dead. Thats when my feelings changed. I had one daughter left. I had to protect her. Narrator but just after 9 00 on the morning of march 12, the villages around the plant had been evacuated. At last, tepco ordered the venting team to go in. The plant logs show the first two volunteers set off at 9 04 am. translated they knew theyd be exposed to radiation. But they went in. Narrator this footage was filmed by tepco seven months later, when radiation levels remained dangerous. It shows the reactor building where the venting team had to operate. translated it was not a place for humans. The temperature was 100 degrees plus. The surroundings were pitch black, and there was condensation. The radiation was high. I dont think i would have been able to go. Narrator each worker was limited to 17 minutes in the reactor building. After nine minutes, the workers found the wheel for opening the vent. They inched it open, then pulled back when time ran out. Four more workers followed, each spending just minutes in the reactors. translated they showed courage and resolution. Their lives were on the line. Narrator that afternoon, a thin plume of gas signaled that the pressure in the reactor core was falling. The venting Team Appeared to have saved northeastern japan from a catastrophic explosion. The fukushima workers began to think the worst might be over. translated i started to relax. I was hoping the reactor would soon be stable, and they would let us leave soon. Narrator with the venting complete, the workers could focus on getting vitally needed water into the reactor cores. Suddenly, the ground shook. translated i was thrown a foot from my chair. No one knew what it was. Maybe an earthquake . translated the ground was rumbling and shaking like an aftershock. It was like a thunderclap. translated then yoshida said, did reactor one just explode . Then we all panicked. Narrator the engineers feared that the reactor core itself had exploded, scattering radioactive fuel over the plant. In the control center, they watched the radiation levels and waited to learn if they would survive. translated many of us thought of running away. But there was no escape. If you actually ran, you would be exposed to radiation. Narrator after an hour, the radiation levels stabilized. The engineers figured out what had happened. Leaking hydrogen had exploded in the roof of the reactor building, but the reactor core itself was intact. Narrator in tokyo, the Prime Ministers chief cabinet secretary was playing down the crisis. Narrator the Prime Minister and his team were later fiercely criticized for hiding the severity of the disaster from the japanese people and the world. Behind the scenes, they knew the situation was sliding out of control. The explosion had halted efforts to get water onto the reactor cores. It was now only a matter of time before the fuel would melt through into the open, spewing out much worse levels of radiation. Narrator already, a plume of radiation from the gas released in the explosion was drifting across japan. The government widened the evacuation zone, ordering everyone within 12 miles of the plant to flee. Norio kimura and his surviving daughter were still in that danger zone when they got the news. translated i now thought it was dangerous to stay. Iodine tablets were being handed out in the village. I made my daughter take one. I had to take her somewhere safe. Thats all i could think about. We had to get far away from the Nuclear Plant. Narrator back at the plant, the situation was deteriorating. The explosion had already set back efforts to get water into the melting cores of reactors one and two. Now reactor three was also in meltdown. Tepco needed help. A Specialist Team of soldiers was ordered to the site. Another hydrogen buildup meant the reactor three housing could explode at any moment. translated i was desperately trying to work out how we could get the job done quickly. I was nervous. Although we had trained for it, this was actually our first time in a radioactive area. Narrator colonel Shinji Iwakuma and his team wore suits that shielded their bodies from radioactive particles, but provided no protection against lethal gamma rays. Their mission was to inject water directly into the core of reactor three. translated just as we were about to get out of the jeep to connect the hose. It exploded. Lumps of concrete came ripping through the roof of the jeep. Radioactive matter was leaking in through the bindings of our masks. Our dosimeter alarms were ringing constantly. Narrator the soldiers were now surrounded by lethally radioactive debris. They were injured in the blast, but managed to flee the scene before anyone received a fatal dose. translated i was desperate to get away from the danger. We were lucky on many levels. We were lucky. Just lucky. Narrator parts of the Nuclear Plant were now completely offlimits to the workers. Radiation levels near one of the reactor buildings were at 1,000 millisieverts per hour. After an hour of exposure at these levels, radiation sickness sets in. A few hours would mean death. translated in the control room, people were saying we were finished. They were saying it quietly, but they were saying it. We felt we had to flee. This was the end. Narrator that night in tokyo, the Prime Minister was awakened with a disturbing message. He says he was told that tepco planned to withdraw their workers from the plant. Narrator at that moment in fukushima, the plant manager, masao yoshida, had gathered all the workers together. translated yoshida said, starting now, we are going to evacuate. At that point, yoshida was resigned to his fate. Im sure he was prepared to die himself, but he couldnt kill 250 people. So he said, just go home. Weve done this much. We can do no more. Just go home. translated its probably bad to admit it, but i was relieved. I just wanted to get out. Narrator meanwhile, the Prime Minister was arriving at tepco headquarters in tokyo, determined to stop total withdrawal. He demanded to speak to tepcos executives. Via a videolink, he was watched by the engineers in fukushima. Narrator to this day, there is controversy about what tepco intended. The Company Executives say they never planned to completely abandon the plant. Narrator that morning, tepco evacuated all but a skeleton crew, led by plant manager yoshida. The remaining men were to become known as the fukushima fifty. For now, they were locked down in the Central Control room. translated the radiation level was ridiculously high. We just didnt know what to do. The reactors were unmanned. Unmanned. Narrator hundreds of workers were on standby a few miles away, ready to lay pipes that could pump water into the reactors. But the radiation levels were now too high for them to approach the plant. A team of American Nuclear specialists, whod just arrived in japan, were fearful that tepco and the government had run out of ideas. We were given numbers, very low numbers of people who were on the site, and we knew that that wasnt sufficient to. To do what needed to be done at that. At that time. Narrator that day, frustrated at the lack of information the Prime Minister was giving them, the americans decided to fly a surveillance drone over the plant. The data they got was disturbing. A third Hydrogen Explosion had exposed pools of discarded radioactive fuel to the atmosphere. These spent fuel rods were still highly radioactive. If the pools boiled dry, they could catch fire, and the contamination could be even worse than from a reactor meltdown. We had some pretty clear indication that there was fuel damage occurring in the spent fuel pools from the lack of water. And as they were worried about japanese citizens, we were worried about american citizens. And we thought, to put all this to rest, put water in there. Narrator the japanese Prime Minister ordered a desperate tactic dumping water on the spent fuel pools from the air. The first crew to take off knew that soviet pilots whod done this during the Chernobyl Nuclear accident had subsequently died of cancer. translated that morning, before i started the engine, i called my wife. She said, if someone has to do it, then go and do your best. I am praying for you. So she was supportive. She was crying at the time. I almost cried as well. Narrator an earlier Reconnaissance Mission had been abandoned because of high levels of radiation over the reactors. Tungsten plates were now bolted to the helicopter to protect the pilots from gamma rays. The crew knew that they had to drop the water on the move, from 300 feet. If they went higher, theyd miss. If they went lower, they could receive dangerous doses of radiation. translated at the time, it felt like, this is it. This is finally it. Like a tingle down the spine. Narrator their target was beneath them. translated i will never forget what i saw. The bones, the skeleton of the building. The walls were strewn everywhere. Incredible. Narrator the world watched the mission live via a camera placed 20 miles from the plant. translated the wind was bending the water, so we sprayed it like this. We could see the steam, so i knew it had gone in. We did it. We did it. We did it for everyone. Thats how i felt. Narrator but on their second mission, they missed. Other helicopters followed, but the wind was too strong for accurate aiming. The American Nuclear team was monitoring the operation. We were taking radiation measurements ourselves to see, after the drop, did the radiation level go down. Uh. And it didnt. Narrator the United States government began to draw up plans to evacuate 90,000 of its citizens from japan. For now, they advised all americans to stay at least 50 miles from the plant. The japanese evacuation zone remained at 12 miles. U. S. Surveillance now suggested that there were flakes of deadly radioactive fuel scattered around the reactors. This meant that anyone who approached the plant would be risking their lives. Despite the danger, the japanese government ordered a team of tokyo firefighters to get water into the fuel pools by any means. The men had no experience of working in radioactive conditions. translated all of our troops gathered. First, we chose all the over40s. These were the guys who werent going to be having any more children. I didnt speak to my family. Ive taught them that at any moment, i might go into these situations. Narrator one of the firefighters went ahead to plot a route. But the radiation he was exposed to meant he couldnt accompany his men on their mission. translated i was worried about the radiation and the mental welfare of my team. But i had to leave it to them. I waited and prayed. Narrator the plan was for the firefighters to park a truck by the sea to suck up water, then lay 800 yards of hose and leave it spraying into the fuel pool. Unique footage filmed that night from the frontline of the Nuclear Disaster shows the firefighters preparing to approach the reactors. Narrator they gave themselves 60 minutes to complete the mission. Any longer would expose them to excessive radiation. translated when we arrived at Fukushima Daiichi, it was so quiet. No wind, an eerie silence. The first thing we saw was tsunami debris. The roads were violently twisted. I was worried we wouldnt be able to complete the mission in one hour. Narrator a radiation monitoring vehicle set off ahead of the firefighters. Within minutes, the route was blocked by tsunami debris. The firefighters now had to lay the hose by hand, taking radiation readings as they went. The alarms on the dosimeters signaled a dangerous increase in radiation. After an hour on site, the hoses were finally connected. translated i was told on the radio that the water was spraying, so i started to think we had completed our mission. Then i just wanted to get out of there. We ran to the minibus and left. Narrator as the firefighters withdrew, radiation levels at the plant began to fall. The men started back for tokyo. Some had still not told their families what theyd been doing. translated when i got home, i was told off. My wife said, so where have you been . A phone call would have been nice. Narrator with radiation levels lower, tepco seized their chance. The hundreds of workers whod been on standby headed into the plant. Their mission was to lay miles of pipes that would channel a constant flow of water into the reactor cores. They had to work fast in case radiation levels spiked again. translated at the time, in march, we didnt wear dosimeters. Tepco didnt tell us directly where radiation levels were highest. Narrator tepco now says most of their dosimeters were washed away in the tsunami, but that they ensured each group of workers had one. translated it was an Emergency Operation and we were in a hurry. No one complained, we all understood. Even if it broke the rules, we kept quiet about it. Narrator when the pipes were laid, a steady flow of water at last started to cool the reactor cores. After days in fear of dying, the workers in the control center began to feel hope. translated people around me, their expressions grew brighter. Angry voices fell silent. The bosses calmed down. Narrator weeks of difficult and often perilous work lay ahead. But the most dangerous phase of the crisis was over. Narrator the Prime Minister was later forced to resign, accused by his critics of mishandling the crisis. Tepco faces having to pay tens of billions of dollars in damages. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy. The workers who battled to save the plant face an uncertain future. None of them have died from their exposure to radiation, but more than a hundred received doses which increase their risk of developing cancer in the future. Narrator the radiation released by the fukushima meltdowns contaminated hundreds of square miles of northeastern japan. More than 100,000 people fled the fallout. Norio kimura moved to the mountains of hakuba. Only here, on the other side of the country, did he feel his surviving daughter was safe from radiation. In the weeks after the tsunami, the bodies of his wife and father had been recovered. But his youngest daughter, yuna, was still missing. Four months after the disaster, norio is traveling back to fukushima. An exclusion zone is still in force for 12 miles around the plant. coughs narrator animals abandoned by their owners have starved to death. Others roam wild. Some of these districts are contaminated so badly that they will be uninhabitable for decades. man praying in japanese narrator just two miles from the Nuclear Power plant, the evacuees from norios village are holding a ceremony for those who died in the tsunami. For norio, its a chance to say farewell to the family he had to leave behind. translated it has been four months since you suddenly disappeared. I have been wondering why this happened. One day, we will return here to live, looking at the sea that took you from us. We do not know when this will be. But we will definitely return. On behalf of the bereaved, norio kimura. Next timfrontline. Get ready to change the way you see the game. The brain is riddled with disease. These players come down with dementia and then alzheimers, and then theyre gone. Frontline investigates what the nfl knew and when they knew it. The level of denial was just profound. The inside story. You cant go against the nfl. Theyll squash you. Go to pbs. Org frontline for more. Read rare interviews with government and tepco officials. Revisit the period after the disaster with new insights from those who were there. Learn more about the people who continued working at the plant. Check out updates on the story during the past year. And follfrontline on facebook and twitter, or at pbs. Org frontline. Frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontline is provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The wyncote foundation, and by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs. Org frontline. Frontlineinside japans Nuclear Meltdown is available on dvd. To order, visit shoppbs. Org or call 1800playpbs. Frontline is also available for download on itunes. Turn to pbs. For stories that define the american experience. All of this stuff was just erupting revealing our strengths. You create a new future. Our struggles. Its very american to say this is not right. These are our stories. We were so innocent and oddly enough we were so american our american experience. Only on pbs