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Lessons from Fukushima, a report on February 28th, 2012 shows that the Fukushima nuclear disaster was caused by the failures of the Japanese government to protect its citizens from nuclear risks and not by the natural disasters of an earthquake and tsunami as thenuclear industry would like us to believe.

Superstorm Sandy's unexpected wrath makes a powerful case for revisiting Fukushima and the dangers to nuclear energy from natural disasters. As Sandy made landfall on Atlantic City, Oyster Creek nuclear power plant nearby was fortunately on a scheduled outage. But Indian Point 3 in Buchanan, N.Y.

Beyond the cabbage patch and rows of pre-cut Christmas trees, past fruit stands filled with pumpkins and apples, along the bank of the Susquehanna River, sits the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. It's by far the most robust and majestic structure in the neighborhood, an unlikely blend of the Loire Valley Castles in France and Eastern Europe's Communist-era architecture.

Opportunities exist in the nuclear energy industry like never before. Growing electricity demand and greater concern for the environment are leading to the continued operation and planned construction of new nuclear power plants in the United States.

Printable Version Background On April 26, 1986, a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test destroyed Unit 4 of the nuclear power station at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. The accident and the fire that followed released massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment.

Printable Version Background On April 26, 1986, a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test destroyed Unit 4 of the nuclear power station at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. The accident and the fire that followed released massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment.

While nuclear power plants were being thought of and used, the costs of constructing one became way too much. This has led to many abandoned sites.

Three Mile Island: In 1979 at Three Mile Island in USA a cooling malfunction caused part of the (TMI 2) core to melt. The reactor was destroyed but there were no injuries or adverse health effects from the Three Mile Island accident.

The health effects of the Chernobyl accident have been the subject of unprecedented study by health professionals and unprecedented speculation and exaggeration by parts of the media. This Appendix summarises the following authoritative and expert assessments of the situation:

The destruction of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011, caused by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami, resulted in massive radioactive contamination of the Japanese mainland.

Radioactive Waste & Emergency Response Section

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Editor's note: Daniel P. Aldrich is associate professor of political science at Purdue University, an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow at USAID during 2011-2012, and a Fulbright research fellow at the University of Tokyo (2012-2013). He is the author of the books "Site Fights" and "Building Resilience" (University of Chicago Press, coming out in August).