Station Blackout

Japan was rocked by a powerful earthquake and within an hour inundated by a devastating tsunami, on March 11, 2011. Three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima power plant experienced core meltdowns, resulting in the catastrophic release of radiation into the ground, air, and water. In Station Blackout, Chuck Casto shares his first-hand account, as the foremost authority on responding to nuclear disasters, of how he led the team that faced the challenges of Fukushima. A lifetime of working in the nuclear industry prepared him to manage an extreme crisis, lessons that apply to any crisis situation.

On March 11, 2011, fifty minutes after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit eastern Japan, a tsunami 45-feet high engulfed the nuclear power plant known as Fukushima Daiichi, knocking out electrical power and all the reactors' safety systems. Three reactor cores experienced meltdowns in the first three days, leading to an unimaginable nuclear disaster. The person the Tokyo Electric Power Company called for help was Dr. Chuck Casto. In Station Blackout, Chuck Casto, the foremost authority on responding to nuclear disasters, shares his first-hand account of how he led the collaborative team of Japanese and American experts that faced the challenges of Fukushima. A lifetime of working in the nuclear industry prepared him to manage an extreme crisis, lessons that apply to any crisis situation.