A magnitude 9 earthquake off the coast of Japan and the subsequent tsunami triggered one of the largest nuclear power plant (NPP) accidents on March 11, 2011. This report describes the causes, sequence and consequences of the accident.
Today, nuclear energy is well manageable if the planning and supervision of NPPs is competent and not corrupt. After the Three-Mile-Island-problem, the US created a national safety authority and took competences away from the states. Experts from the authority reside at the NPPs. They have access to all information in the NPP and the authority can completely take over control of the NPP in an emergency. We should adopt the system for the EU. US companies have to insure their employees against industrial accidents. For years, NPP operators have paid the lowest insurance premiums, which proves the confidence of insurance companies in the NPPs.
The most consequential scandal: Angela Merkel accelerated the "Energiewende” with the nuclear phase-out in order to save the elections in March 2011 in Baden-Württemberg for her party, the CDU. This populist maneuver did not help, but the energy policy and financial damage will burden Germany for decades to come!
