1 00:01:39,057 --> 00:01:40,726 One of the biggest earthquakes 2 00:01:40,851 --> 00:01:42,769 ever recorded has hit Japan. 3 00:01:42,894 --> 00:01:43,937 It triggered a tsunami 4 00:01:44,062 --> 00:01:45,856 that coursed several miles inland, 5 00:01:45,939 --> 00:01:48,108 washing away everything in its path. 6 00:01:48,233 --> 00:01:50,193 The situation there is... 7 00:01:50,277 --> 00:01:52,154 is nothing less than apocalyptic. 8 00:01:52,237 --> 00:01:53,989 But the big concern continues 9 00:01:54,072 --> 00:01:55,449 to be that nuclear power plant, 10 00:01:55,532 --> 00:01:58,910 the Fukushima Daiichi, uh, nuclear plant... 11 00:02:21,224 --> 00:02:23,310 There's been another major explosion 12 00:02:23,435 --> 00:02:25,812 at the Fukushima nuclear plant. 13 00:02:36,740 --> 00:02:38,283 Only 50 brave employees 14 00:02:38,408 --> 00:02:39,534 are still at the plant, 15 00:02:39,618 --> 00:02:41,620 trying to stave off a total meltdown. 16 00:02:41,745 --> 00:02:44,122 They are risking their lives to avoid this meltdown 17 00:02:44,247 --> 00:02:46,249 that could be historic and terrible 18 00:02:46,333 --> 00:02:47,668 for the whole country. 19 00:03:16,988 --> 00:03:19,116 At 8:15, 20 00:03:19,199 --> 00:03:21,368 a weather plane reports from Hiroshima 21 00:03:21,493 --> 00:03:22,994 that conditions are good. 22 00:03:31,962 --> 00:03:35,757 At 9:15, the bomb is dropped. 23 00:04:14,421 --> 00:04:17,423 On the first day of November 1955, 24 00:04:17,548 --> 00:04:20,594 the United States Atoms for Peace exhibition 25 00:04:20,719 --> 00:04:22,429 opened in Hibiya Park, Tokyo. 26 00:04:23,096 --> 00:04:26,099 America's ambassador to Japan, John M. Allison, 27 00:04:26,224 --> 00:04:28,560 conveyed a message from President Eisenhower. 28 00:04:29,060 --> 00:04:30,937 That the exhibit stands as a symbol 29 00:04:31,021 --> 00:04:33,482 of our countries' mutual determination 30 00:04:33,565 --> 00:04:36,026 that the great power of the atom shall be dedicated 31 00:04:36,109 --> 00:04:37,652 to the arts of peace. 32 00:04:38,403 --> 00:04:40,697 A message from Prime Minister Hatoyama 33 00:04:41,615 --> 00:04:43,658 praised the greatness of atomic science 34 00:04:43,742 --> 00:04:45,243 in the present century. 35 00:06:54,164 --> 00:06:56,416 Here at the nuclear power plant, 36 00:06:56,541 --> 00:07:00,211 highly trained professionals work hard to protect safety. 37 00:07:03,590 --> 00:07:05,216 Knowing the dangers, 38 00:07:05,342 --> 00:07:07,928 that's where operator education starts. 39 00:07:11,181 --> 00:07:13,141 Twenty-four hours a day, 40 00:07:13,224 --> 00:07:16,519 we generate, deliver, and protect. 41 00:07:16,603 --> 00:07:19,147 Safety is our first priority. 42 00:07:19,230 --> 00:07:21,066 We are TEPCO. 43 00:08:18,498 --> 00:08:20,082 I've been assembling things 44 00:08:20,166 --> 00:08:21,376 since I was a kid, you know? 45 00:08:21,459 --> 00:08:23,253 If a package would come or a box would come, 46 00:08:23,336 --> 00:08:25,630 my dad would always say, "Let Carl put it together." 47 00:08:25,755 --> 00:08:28,591 And the first thing I'd do is bust out the instruction sheet 48 00:08:28,675 --> 00:08:31,553 and get right to the parts list, and lay out the parts, 49 00:08:31,636 --> 00:08:34,179 making sure there was 24 nuts and 24 bolts. 50 00:08:34,304 --> 00:08:35,640 I was just very particular. 51 00:08:35,765 --> 00:08:38,977 I just... It's just a natural-born way, uh... 52 00:08:39,102 --> 00:08:40,311 way for me, 53 00:08:40,437 --> 00:08:42,688 and I've been working in nuclear power now, 54 00:08:42,813 --> 00:08:45,108 just over 40 years, all over the globe. 55 00:08:45,191 --> 00:08:47,569 The US, Spain, Switzerland, 56 00:08:47,652 --> 00:08:50,155 Sweden, Taiwan, Japan. 57 00:08:50,697 --> 00:08:53,033 Loved working in Japan, too. I just loved it. 58 00:08:54,159 --> 00:08:55,535 It was a beautiful day. 59 00:08:55,660 --> 00:08:58,038 March. You'd think March 11th in Japan might be cold, 60 00:08:58,163 --> 00:09:00,081 but it was sunny, beautiful, clear. 61 00:10:32,757 --> 00:10:35,009 Oh, my God! This is weird. 62 00:10:35,093 --> 00:10:38,138 I've never experienced the ground shaking like this. 63 00:11:38,114 --> 00:11:40,491 I was in Unit 1 on the turbine building. 64 00:11:40,617 --> 00:11:43,161 The sounds coming off the structural steel... 65 00:11:43,828 --> 00:11:46,247 like those old Japanese movies 66 00:11:46,331 --> 00:11:48,790 where Godzilla was doing that squeaky metal sound, 67 00:11:48,875 --> 00:11:51,211 like that-that screech he would make. 68 00:11:51,336 --> 00:11:53,546 That's what it sounded like to me, you know. 69 00:11:53,630 --> 00:11:55,882 And I know I felt the whole building shift 70 00:11:56,007 --> 00:11:57,383 east and down. 71 00:11:57,508 --> 00:11:58,551 Not inches. 72 00:11:58,676 --> 00:12:01,387 It was in... it was... It was in feet. 73 00:18:33,529 --> 00:18:35,323 I got out of the building 74 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,618 and I watched the tsunami come in. 75 00:18:40,536 --> 00:18:43,497 Water got higher and higher as it went over the seawall. 76 00:18:47,752 --> 00:18:49,754 You would think it's loud but it's not. 77 00:18:51,047 --> 00:18:52,465 It only started to make noise 78 00:18:52,590 --> 00:18:54,425 when it started to snap and crack, 79 00:18:54,550 --> 00:18:56,510 and break things off when it hit land. 80 00:19:12,943 --> 00:19:14,070 I didn't think about the plants 81 00:19:14,153 --> 00:19:15,446 till I watched it rush around them. 82 00:19:15,613 --> 00:19:17,948 I watched it just rush around the four buildings, 83 00:19:18,074 --> 00:19:19,659 off the highlands behind me, 84 00:19:19,784 --> 00:19:21,702 like these big black ominous clouds 85 00:19:21,786 --> 00:19:23,913 came rolling in real low. 86 00:19:23,996 --> 00:19:26,290 Almost felt like it pulled the atmosphere down on us, 87 00:19:26,415 --> 00:19:27,958 and began to snow even. 88 00:19:34,131 --> 00:19:37,134 It felt like the end of the world. 89 00:21:26,368 --> 00:21:28,788 One of the most powerful earthquakes 90 00:21:28,913 --> 00:21:30,664 ever recorded has struck Japan. 91 00:21:30,748 --> 00:21:33,459 The terrible devastation in northeastern Japan. 92 00:21:33,584 --> 00:21:36,504 The destruction there, simply epic. 93 00:21:36,587 --> 00:21:39,757 The death toll mounting, exact numbers unknown. 94 00:21:39,882 --> 00:21:42,009 Local television has shown shocking pictures 95 00:21:42,092 --> 00:21:44,595 of entire towns being swept away 96 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:46,972 by a wall of water kilometers wide 97 00:21:47,097 --> 00:21:48,516 as people run for their lives. 98 00:21:48,599 --> 00:21:50,559 Fears that the eventual toll 99 00:21:50,643 --> 00:21:52,269 could be in the tens of thousands. 100 00:21:52,394 --> 00:21:53,646 The tsunami waves 101 00:21:53,771 --> 00:21:55,314 that followed moved so quickly, 102 00:21:55,439 --> 00:21:57,817 at a speed of 800 kilometers an hour, 103 00:21:57,942 --> 00:22:00,152 that they proved to be an unstoppable 104 00:22:00,277 --> 00:22:01,529 and devastating force. 105 00:22:02,613 --> 00:22:03,823 I was working as a journalist 106 00:22:03,948 --> 00:22:04,949 for the New York Times. 107 00:22:05,658 --> 00:22:07,326 I was based in Tokyo 108 00:22:07,451 --> 00:22:09,453 where I'd been living for eight years. 109 00:22:10,246 --> 00:22:11,914 After the earthquake struck, 110 00:22:11,997 --> 00:22:14,542 we had decided to head north 111 00:22:14,625 --> 00:22:18,212 to where the tsunami caused most damage. 112 00:22:20,965 --> 00:22:22,800 It was like entering hell. 113 00:22:28,848 --> 00:22:31,642 The tsunami had basically ripped away 114 00:22:32,518 --> 00:22:35,354 everything that was there. 115 00:22:35,479 --> 00:22:36,856 So if you can imagine 116 00:22:37,314 --> 00:22:38,941 just like a... a field, 117 00:22:39,024 --> 00:22:40,484 like a plane, 118 00:22:41,527 --> 00:22:43,487 uh, from the surface of the moon. 119 00:22:44,154 --> 00:22:48,075 Dark grey mud covering everything. 120 00:22:48,158 --> 00:22:51,620 An occasional piece of a home, or building, 121 00:22:51,704 --> 00:22:53,497 or even an occasional home 122 00:22:53,622 --> 00:22:55,666 that had somehow randomly survived. 123 00:22:56,458 --> 00:22:58,586 Uh, big pools of water, 124 00:22:59,336 --> 00:23:00,671 things were on fire, 125 00:23:01,338 --> 00:23:03,674 and mounds of debris. 126 00:23:04,174 --> 00:23:05,759 You know, pieces of buildings, 127 00:23:05,843 --> 00:23:07,344 and fishing boats, 128 00:23:07,469 --> 00:23:10,097 and crushed buses, and mangled cars. 129 00:23:11,223 --> 00:23:13,017 Uh, there were dead animals, 130 00:23:13,142 --> 00:23:16,103 dead pets, and of course dead people. 131 00:23:18,564 --> 00:23:20,441 No one survives that tsunami. 132 00:23:20,524 --> 00:23:22,943 You either get out of the way or you're dead. 133 00:24:30,552 --> 00:24:33,889 Kan and the Democratic Party of Japan 134 00:24:34,431 --> 00:24:36,600 were a very inexperienced government. 135 00:24:37,142 --> 00:24:40,354 This was their first time in office since 1955. 136 00:24:42,439 --> 00:24:43,816 And they now had to deal with 137 00:24:43,941 --> 00:24:46,819 an extremely challenging set of circumstances. 138 00:24:48,070 --> 00:24:49,738 The country was in complete chaos. 139 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,075 Thousands of people are missing, 140 00:24:53,158 --> 00:24:55,119 and they have this developing situation 141 00:24:55,244 --> 00:24:57,413 at Fukushima that had the potential 142 00:24:57,496 --> 00:25:00,124 to be many, many times worse than Chernobyl. 143 00:25:01,250 --> 00:25:03,502 That disaster involved one reactor. 144 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,880 Fukushima involved six. 145 00:25:09,758 --> 00:25:11,051 Japan now telling 146 00:25:11,135 --> 00:25:13,554 the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, 147 00:25:13,637 --> 00:25:15,639 that they have a heightened state of alert 148 00:25:15,764 --> 00:25:18,142 that has been declared at their nuclear power plant. 149 00:25:18,267 --> 00:25:21,395 This is the Fukushima, uh, nuclear power plant. 150 00:25:21,478 --> 00:25:23,230 Radiation levels are up, 151 00:25:23,313 --> 00:25:25,315 according to the Kyodo News Agency, 152 00:25:25,441 --> 00:25:27,067 eight times the normal level 153 00:25:27,151 --> 00:25:29,695 at a monitoring station outside the plant, 154 00:25:29,820 --> 00:25:32,281 1,000 times above normal 155 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:34,867 in a control room inside the plant. 156 00:25:39,204 --> 00:25:40,748 The worst case scenario 157 00:25:40,831 --> 00:25:43,625 would be a cataclysmic meltdown of the reactors 158 00:25:43,709 --> 00:25:45,335 called a China Syndrome. 159 00:25:49,381 --> 00:25:53,469 And what that refers to is the... something like 100 tons 160 00:25:53,552 --> 00:25:56,513 of uranium fuel is inside the reactor. 161 00:25:58,515 --> 00:26:00,184 It melts out of control. 162 00:26:00,642 --> 00:26:02,436 It melts down, which means it collapses 163 00:26:02,519 --> 00:26:03,937 to the bottom of the vessel, 164 00:26:04,021 --> 00:26:07,399 like a... just a lump of like lava almost. 165 00:26:08,984 --> 00:26:10,527 If you can't cool it, 166 00:26:10,652 --> 00:26:12,905 which they can't because there's no electricity 167 00:26:13,030 --> 00:26:15,032 to pump water into the reactor, 168 00:26:15,532 --> 00:26:17,201 it rises to a temperature 169 00:26:17,326 --> 00:26:19,078 of something like 2,000 degrees. 170 00:26:19,203 --> 00:26:21,246 It burns through the vessel itself. 171 00:26:23,082 --> 00:26:26,001 It'll melt through the vessel, drop into the building, 172 00:26:26,085 --> 00:26:28,253 almost like bore its way through the concrete 173 00:26:28,378 --> 00:26:29,671 'cause of the heat, 174 00:26:29,755 --> 00:26:33,050 it escapes into the earth and is out of control. 175 00:26:34,927 --> 00:26:36,720 And if that were to happen, 176 00:26:36,845 --> 00:26:39,973 experts talked about the loss of northern Japan. 177 00:26:42,392 --> 00:26:45,896 The entire northern half of Honshu becomes uninhabitable 178 00:26:46,021 --> 00:26:47,981 if this thing gets out of control. 179 00:27:54,631 --> 00:27:58,302 I watched four TEPCO guys 180 00:27:59,011 --> 00:28:00,387 pulling on a van or something, 181 00:28:00,470 --> 00:28:02,639 and they got out, and they all walked towards me 182 00:28:02,764 --> 00:28:04,725 'cause I was right at the top of the stairs. 183 00:28:05,184 --> 00:28:06,768 And they all walked down that stairs, 184 00:28:06,852 --> 00:28:08,812 they were all in their TEPCO uniforms, 185 00:28:08,937 --> 00:28:11,148 and they were all about 35 years old, I'd say. 186 00:28:11,273 --> 00:28:13,567 Like, they were all, like, in their mid-30s. 187 00:28:14,318 --> 00:28:16,570 We just all made eye contact as they went by. 188 00:28:16,653 --> 00:28:18,322 They went down that stairs, 189 00:28:18,447 --> 00:28:19,573 and they were probably part 190 00:28:19,656 --> 00:28:21,617 of the operations group or whatever. 191 00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:24,077 And I remember those four guys going down, 192 00:28:24,161 --> 00:28:28,582 probably had to stay and work that mess they had. 193 00:28:28,665 --> 00:28:31,501 When we parted ways and I went up that hill, 194 00:28:32,502 --> 00:28:33,962 uh, to get to my rental car, 195 00:28:34,046 --> 00:28:36,298 you know, I didn't know they were gonna be headed 196 00:28:36,381 --> 00:28:38,175 for a meltdown in less than 24 hours. 197 00:28:38,300 --> 00:28:39,885 I didn't know at that time 198 00:28:40,010 --> 00:28:41,553 how bad things were gonna get. 199 00:31:03,820 --> 00:31:06,490 This could be a catastrophe in the making, 200 00:31:06,615 --> 00:31:09,159 Japan's nuclear power plants. 201 00:31:09,284 --> 00:31:11,620 Officials say cooling systems 202 00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:14,039 in some reactors have failed 203 00:31:14,164 --> 00:31:16,833 and some radiation has leaked. 204 00:31:17,334 --> 00:31:20,837 The next 24 hours are considered crucial. 205 00:31:21,505 --> 00:31:22,589 What's meant to happen 206 00:31:22,672 --> 00:31:25,258 inside a nuclear power station is this. 207 00:31:25,342 --> 00:31:28,053 In the reactor, the rods of nuclear fuel 208 00:31:28,178 --> 00:31:29,721 go through the process of fission. 209 00:31:29,846 --> 00:31:32,391 The atoms splitting and releasing energy. 210 00:31:32,849 --> 00:31:36,019 Water is pumped in and flows around the fuel 211 00:31:36,144 --> 00:31:38,313 where it heats up and turns into steam. 212 00:31:38,397 --> 00:31:41,733 That drives generators to make electricity. 213 00:31:41,858 --> 00:31:45,278 But if a reactor runs dry, as one did today, 214 00:31:45,362 --> 00:31:47,864 the fuel rods overheat and melt. 215 00:31:47,989 --> 00:31:51,326 And that may have started in three reactors. 216 00:31:51,410 --> 00:31:54,413 The nuclear fuel could then sink to the bottom of the reactor, 217 00:31:54,538 --> 00:31:56,832 the beginning of what's known as meltdown. 218 00:31:56,915 --> 00:32:00,836 But provided the steel wall of the container does its job, 219 00:32:00,919 --> 00:32:03,422 there shouldn't be a leak. 220 00:32:03,547 --> 00:32:05,590 This was my first experience 221 00:32:05,715 --> 00:32:07,926 of a severe accident of this sort. 222 00:32:08,885 --> 00:32:10,679 I would not hide anything. 223 00:32:10,762 --> 00:32:12,389 But as Prime Minister, 224 00:32:12,514 --> 00:32:16,476 I would also not say anything I could not be certain of. 225 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:18,103 That was my policy. 226 00:32:19,062 --> 00:32:22,232 I told the special advisor I would go to Fukushima. 227 00:32:22,732 --> 00:32:24,568 "Please make preparations." 228 00:32:35,078 --> 00:32:36,955 I was joined by the Chairman 229 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:39,249 of the Nuclear Safety Commission. 230 00:32:39,749 --> 00:32:42,502 I clearly recall asking, 231 00:32:42,586 --> 00:32:45,046 "Is there any danger of an explosion?" 232 00:32:45,130 --> 00:32:48,425 To which the Chairman answered with conviction, 233 00:32:48,550 --> 00:32:51,428 "An explosion is out of the question." 234 00:36:59,884 --> 00:37:02,262 We arrived in a war zone. 235 00:37:02,345 --> 00:37:04,431 The hallway was full of workers, 236 00:37:04,514 --> 00:37:07,350 several of whom were lying on the floor. 237 00:37:07,475 --> 00:37:09,853 Some were wrapped in blankets. 238 00:37:10,353 --> 00:37:13,148 In the conference room, they explained, 239 00:37:13,231 --> 00:37:16,609 "We are considering whether to vent manually. 240 00:37:16,693 --> 00:37:18,987 We will decide in the next hour." 241 00:37:19,487 --> 00:37:22,615 I said, "We couldn't wait that long." 242 00:37:22,699 --> 00:37:24,451 To which they replied, 243 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,079 "We will create a suicide squad." 244 00:38:30,934 --> 00:38:32,477 This nuclear accident 245 00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:36,272 placed the very existence of our country in danger. 246 00:38:36,397 --> 00:38:38,691 Our ability to evade a crisis 247 00:38:38,775 --> 00:38:41,986 depended on venting these reactors. 248 00:43:26,395 --> 00:43:29,315 When I saw the explosion on TV, 249 00:43:29,398 --> 00:43:32,443 it was over an hour after it had happened. 250 00:43:32,568 --> 00:43:35,154 And I hadn't received a word from TEPCO. 251 00:43:36,364 --> 00:43:38,908 I ordered my executive secretary, 252 00:43:39,033 --> 00:43:40,952 "Get me some information quickly." 253 00:43:41,452 --> 00:43:44,038 Everyone in the country, in the world, 254 00:43:44,122 --> 00:43:45,581 knew of the explosion, 255 00:43:45,706 --> 00:43:49,502 but we had no information or explanation. 256 00:43:50,211 --> 00:43:51,671 The blast was seen 257 00:43:51,754 --> 00:43:53,422 and heard for kilometers. 258 00:43:53,548 --> 00:43:58,261 Reactor 1 at Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant explodes, 259 00:43:58,386 --> 00:44:01,973 sending radioactive gas spewing skywards. 260 00:44:42,638 --> 00:44:47,560 People talk about 2011 as being a triple disaster. 261 00:44:48,186 --> 00:44:49,770 But really it was two separate things. 262 00:44:49,854 --> 00:44:52,398 There was the tsunami and the earthquake 263 00:44:52,481 --> 00:44:56,152 which were an act of nature that killed tens of thousands. 264 00:44:57,653 --> 00:44:59,488 Then there was the nuclear accident 265 00:45:00,323 --> 00:45:02,909 which was actually something completely different. 266 00:45:03,659 --> 00:45:07,496 The nuclear accident was an entirely man-made disaster. 267 00:45:08,456 --> 00:45:10,333 When we started looking into it, 268 00:45:10,458 --> 00:45:12,084 even in those first days, 269 00:45:12,168 --> 00:45:14,337 TEPCO was making mistakes. 270 00:45:16,672 --> 00:45:17,965 Now, there was a big gap 271 00:45:18,049 --> 00:45:21,719 between the plant and headquarters in Tokyo. 272 00:45:22,345 --> 00:45:23,930 The plant was repeatedly asking, 273 00:45:24,013 --> 00:45:25,348 "Could you send up batteries 274 00:45:25,473 --> 00:45:27,767 so we can restart our cooling systems?" 275 00:45:27,850 --> 00:45:31,270 Uh, "Can you send up generators on trucks?" 276 00:45:33,189 --> 00:45:35,942 But TEPCO management was in such chaos 277 00:45:36,025 --> 00:45:39,111 that they just continually sent the wrong items. 278 00:45:39,195 --> 00:45:41,239 It's like the wrong size batteries. 279 00:45:41,322 --> 00:45:45,576 Or it's stuff you don't need, you know. It-It's... 280 00:45:45,660 --> 00:45:49,247 There's... At some point, there's a pile of unused, 281 00:45:49,372 --> 00:45:51,249 unneeded objects 282 00:45:51,374 --> 00:45:53,292 that just builds up in the parking lot. 283 00:45:55,211 --> 00:45:58,923 Also the drivers of these trucks 284 00:45:59,048 --> 00:46:00,591 that are being sent from Tokyo 285 00:46:00,716 --> 00:46:02,426 refused to go to the plant. 286 00:46:02,551 --> 00:46:03,886 They refused to go near the plant, 287 00:46:04,011 --> 00:46:05,096 it's too dangerous. 288 00:46:05,221 --> 00:46:09,016 So they stop at this TEPCO dockyard 289 00:46:09,100 --> 00:46:12,228 that's two hours south from the plant, 290 00:46:12,353 --> 00:46:14,397 and drop off their stuff there. 291 00:46:15,064 --> 00:46:17,275 And then the TEPCO workers at the plant 292 00:46:17,775 --> 00:46:19,652 are told to drive down and get it. 293 00:46:19,735 --> 00:46:21,696 So no one is coming to help them. 294 00:46:25,199 --> 00:46:28,536 On top of all that, Reactor 3 is now out of water 295 00:46:28,619 --> 00:46:31,330 and has started to produce masses of hydrogen. 296 00:49:41,395 --> 00:49:43,105 Concerns are now being raised 297 00:49:43,230 --> 00:49:45,566 over three separate nuclear reactors at Fukushima 298 00:49:45,649 --> 00:49:48,027 following an explosion at one yesterday. 299 00:49:48,110 --> 00:49:50,446 There are worries that the reactors could overheat 300 00:49:50,571 --> 00:49:51,739 leading to meltdown. 301 00:49:51,822 --> 00:49:53,115 There are also safety issues 302 00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:55,326 at two other nuclear sites. 303 00:49:55,451 --> 00:49:56,911 Officials are reassuring the public 304 00:49:56,994 --> 00:49:58,829 that there is no immediate danger, 305 00:49:58,913 --> 00:50:01,749 but an exclusion zone around Fukushima 306 00:50:01,832 --> 00:50:03,125 has been extended. 307 00:50:03,250 --> 00:50:04,877 The evacuation of people from the area 308 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:07,254 now runs into the hundreds of thousands. 309 00:50:07,338 --> 00:50:08,881 Strong aftershocks 310 00:50:08,964 --> 00:50:11,258 are still being felt across the country, 311 00:50:11,342 --> 00:50:13,969 adding to the risks the rescuers face. 312 00:50:14,512 --> 00:50:16,347 The problems at the nuclear plants 313 00:50:16,472 --> 00:50:19,433 are making a bad situation even worse. 314 00:50:19,517 --> 00:50:21,310 Huge swathes of the country 315 00:50:21,435 --> 00:50:24,230 still have no electricity supplies. 316 00:50:26,482 --> 00:50:29,026 On television here, they're looking for reassurance 317 00:50:29,151 --> 00:50:30,236 from the experts. 318 00:50:30,319 --> 00:50:32,071 But it's hard for the Japanese public 319 00:50:32,154 --> 00:50:35,533 to be sure about the level of risk they face. 320 00:50:35,658 --> 00:50:37,409 We are working aggressively 321 00:50:37,493 --> 00:50:39,411 to support our Japanese ally 322 00:50:39,495 --> 00:50:41,830 at this time of extraordinary challenge. 323 00:50:42,331 --> 00:50:44,708 Search and rescue teams are on the ground in Japan 324 00:50:44,833 --> 00:50:46,544 to help the recovery effort. 325 00:50:47,503 --> 00:50:49,672 A disaster assistance and response team 326 00:50:49,797 --> 00:50:51,840 is working to confront the aftermath 327 00:50:51,966 --> 00:50:53,801 of the earthquake and tsunami. 328 00:50:54,343 --> 00:50:56,804 As I told Prime Minister Kan last night, 329 00:50:56,887 --> 00:50:58,806 the Japanese people are not alone 330 00:50:58,889 --> 00:51:02,059 in this time of great trial and sorrow. 331 00:51:02,643 --> 00:51:04,478 The US military, which has helped... 332 00:51:04,562 --> 00:51:06,021 Honestly, 333 00:51:06,146 --> 00:51:07,523 I think the Japanese government 334 00:51:07,648 --> 00:51:09,608 worried about an American getting too involved 335 00:51:09,692 --> 00:51:11,277 with the nuclear disaster. 336 00:51:12,861 --> 00:51:14,572 I think there was a perception 337 00:51:14,697 --> 00:51:16,448 in Prime Minister Kan's mind 338 00:51:16,532 --> 00:51:18,951 that we would take over if they failed. 339 00:51:20,369 --> 00:51:22,621 So they wanted to be able to fix it themselves. 340 00:51:24,540 --> 00:51:27,042 But these reactors were American in design. 341 00:51:28,085 --> 00:51:29,378 So it was only a matter of time 342 00:51:29,503 --> 00:51:31,589 before the US government sent someone. 343 00:51:32,840 --> 00:51:34,925 We've also deployed some of our leading experts 344 00:51:35,050 --> 00:51:38,470 to help contain the damage at Japan's nuclear reactors. 345 00:51:39,263 --> 00:51:40,889 And that someone was me. 346 00:51:42,266 --> 00:51:43,434 I'm Charles Casto. 347 00:51:43,559 --> 00:51:45,644 I'm a nuclear safety consultant. 348 00:51:45,728 --> 00:51:49,607 I've worked in nuclear power for over 45 years. 349 00:51:50,190 --> 00:51:51,191 I'd never been to Japan. 350 00:51:51,275 --> 00:51:52,693 I knew very little about the country. 351 00:51:52,776 --> 00:51:54,194 So I was sort of plopped down 352 00:51:54,278 --> 00:51:57,114 in the middle of a... an international disaster 353 00:51:57,239 --> 00:52:00,075 with really no understanding of the culture, 354 00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:02,328 the language, the people. 355 00:52:02,411 --> 00:52:04,204 Although I did know the facility, 356 00:52:04,288 --> 00:52:05,914 the nuclear plant very well, 357 00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,208 um, because I worked at a plant 358 00:52:08,292 --> 00:52:11,295 almost identical to Fukushima Daiichi. 359 00:52:11,378 --> 00:52:13,797 So, I had been an operator and instructor at that plant. 360 00:52:13,922 --> 00:52:16,050 That's partially the reason that I was chosen 361 00:52:16,133 --> 00:52:17,426 to lead that effort. 362 00:52:19,970 --> 00:52:22,306 When I landed, we rushed to the embassy, 363 00:52:22,431 --> 00:52:25,392 and I was thrust in a secure video conference 364 00:52:25,476 --> 00:52:27,978 with US government and US military 365 00:52:28,103 --> 00:52:30,105 to discuss next steps. 366 00:52:30,648 --> 00:52:33,150 The US has a large military presence in Japan. 367 00:52:33,651 --> 00:52:35,736 Over 80,000 people. 368 00:52:35,819 --> 00:52:37,446 So we had our concerns. 369 00:52:37,905 --> 00:52:41,408 Not a lot of information, a lot of speculation. 370 00:52:41,492 --> 00:52:43,077 So one of the... 371 00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:45,954 You know, one of my goals was try to reduce that chaos. 372 00:52:46,997 --> 00:52:48,040 But, um... 373 00:52:48,749 --> 00:52:51,335 it was days before we felt comfortable 374 00:52:51,460 --> 00:52:53,170 we were getting good information. 375 00:52:53,295 --> 00:52:54,672 Many days. 376 00:52:55,798 --> 00:52:57,716 It seems yesterday's explosion 377 00:52:57,800 --> 00:52:59,385 in the plant's Unit 1 reactor 378 00:52:59,468 --> 00:53:01,428 was caused by a buildup of hydrogen gas 379 00:53:01,512 --> 00:53:02,930 inside the building. 380 00:53:03,013 --> 00:53:05,683 It destroyed its walls, but the containment chamber 381 00:53:05,808 --> 00:53:08,977 surrounding the nuclear core remained intact, 382 00:53:09,103 --> 00:53:12,481 preventing a potentially catastrophic radiation leak. 383 00:53:13,023 --> 00:53:15,317 But it's now thought that a partial meltdown 384 00:53:15,442 --> 00:53:17,486 in a second reactor at the plant, Unit 3, 385 00:53:17,611 --> 00:53:19,113 is highly possible. 386 00:53:19,196 --> 00:53:21,740 A complete meltdown could release uranium 387 00:53:21,824 --> 00:53:24,743 and dangerous byproducts into the environment. 388 00:53:43,011 --> 00:53:45,013 So on the 14th, the team at the plant 389 00:53:45,139 --> 00:53:46,807 were using a small fire truck 390 00:53:46,890 --> 00:53:49,059 to pump water into Reactor 3. 391 00:53:51,645 --> 00:53:55,065 And so this... this single fire truck with these hoses 392 00:53:55,190 --> 00:53:56,734 is the only thing cooling the reactor. 393 00:53:58,402 --> 00:54:00,946 And they're now having to use seawater to do this, 394 00:54:01,029 --> 00:54:03,365 which is something TEPCO told them not to do 395 00:54:03,490 --> 00:54:07,369 because seawater would ruin the longevity of the reactor. 396 00:54:07,870 --> 00:54:09,913 But at this point, saving the reactor 397 00:54:10,038 --> 00:54:11,415 is out of the question. 398 00:54:12,666 --> 00:54:14,793 They just need to do anything they can 399 00:54:14,877 --> 00:54:16,211 to get on top of this. 400 00:54:16,336 --> 00:54:18,213 But they just don't have the tools 401 00:54:18,338 --> 00:54:19,715 to stop the hydrogen buildup. 402 00:55:04,885 --> 00:55:06,762 Japan's nuclear crisis worsened today 403 00:55:06,887 --> 00:55:09,223 when a second reactor building exploded. 404 00:55:09,306 --> 00:55:12,392 The suspected hydrogen explosion did lead to the release 405 00:55:12,476 --> 00:55:14,645 of some radioactive material into the air. 406 00:55:14,770 --> 00:55:16,688 Officials have been giving assurances 407 00:55:16,772 --> 00:55:19,566 the containment structures that house nuclear material 408 00:55:19,650 --> 00:55:20,984 remain intact. 409 00:55:21,068 --> 00:55:23,570 But it's becoming clear that those assurances 410 00:55:23,654 --> 00:55:25,405 are not based on any certainty 411 00:55:25,489 --> 00:55:27,741 about what's going on inside the reactors. 412 00:55:27,825 --> 00:55:29,743 A short while ago, the plant owner, 413 00:55:29,827 --> 00:55:31,912 the Tokyo Electric Power Company, 414 00:55:31,995 --> 00:55:34,456 announced that water levels in Reactor Number 2 415 00:55:34,581 --> 00:55:35,791 are dangerously low, 416 00:55:35,916 --> 00:55:38,377 raising the specter of a nuclear meltdown. 417 00:55:40,170 --> 00:55:41,797 As soon as Unit 3 is lost, 418 00:55:41,922 --> 00:55:44,800 Unit 2 starts to go downhill. 419 00:55:46,093 --> 00:55:48,428 And for various reasons, Unit 2 is worse 420 00:55:48,512 --> 00:55:49,888 than Unit 1 or Unit 3. 421 00:55:49,972 --> 00:55:52,224 The-the pressures are much higher. 422 00:55:52,933 --> 00:55:55,435 And so the big fear was that the reactor 423 00:55:55,519 --> 00:55:58,605 would actually blow up, like a balloon popping, 424 00:55:59,314 --> 00:56:03,819 in a Chernobyl-style rupture of the reactor itself. 425 00:56:07,823 --> 00:56:09,867 And that's when they start talking about... 426 00:56:10,659 --> 00:56:12,619 you know, can we even control the plant? 427 00:56:12,703 --> 00:56:15,122 You know, why are we even staying? 428 00:56:17,708 --> 00:56:19,918 TEPCO management then calls the government 429 00:56:20,002 --> 00:56:23,005 to say, "We don't think we can deal with this." 430 00:56:23,130 --> 00:56:24,882 We may have to evacuate." 431 00:56:27,342 --> 00:56:29,386 I was speechless. 432 00:56:29,511 --> 00:56:31,179 If they withdraw now, 433 00:56:31,305 --> 00:56:33,098 the very existence of this country 434 00:56:33,181 --> 00:56:34,975 would be in jeopardy. 435 00:56:35,058 --> 00:56:37,019 We had to contain the accident. 436 00:56:37,519 --> 00:56:39,479 And we had to be prepared 437 00:56:39,563 --> 00:56:41,899 to lose life in the process. 438 00:56:42,482 --> 00:56:43,483 I told them, 439 00:56:43,567 --> 00:56:45,444 "I'm going to TEPCO headquarters. 440 00:56:45,527 --> 00:56:47,029 Make preparations." 441 00:56:50,032 --> 00:56:51,533 Looking in from the outside, 442 00:56:51,658 --> 00:56:55,037 the situation was completely dysfunctional and disconnected. 443 00:56:55,871 --> 00:56:58,206 First meeting was, "Look at our track record. 444 00:56:58,332 --> 00:57:00,876 Like, how good... how strong it's been." 445 00:57:01,835 --> 00:57:04,046 Well, that's over, you know. 446 00:57:04,171 --> 00:57:05,631 That was my thought. 447 00:57:07,507 --> 00:57:09,801 TEPCO couldn't get a hold of the situation. 448 00:57:09,885 --> 00:57:13,055 And the government also seemed to be completely ill-informed. 449 00:57:13,597 --> 00:57:15,307 Prime Minister Kan had experts 450 00:57:15,390 --> 00:57:17,059 who he would listen to. 451 00:57:17,768 --> 00:57:20,228 They came up with this popcorn scenario. 452 00:57:20,354 --> 00:57:21,605 Like a chain reaction. 453 00:57:21,730 --> 00:57:23,273 One reactor would set off another, 454 00:57:23,398 --> 00:57:25,067 then another, and then another. 455 00:57:25,692 --> 00:57:28,570 It could just get worse, and worse, and worse out there. 456 00:57:49,716 --> 00:57:51,510 So he had immense pressure on him. 457 00:57:51,593 --> 00:57:53,428 He wanted everything, as you might imagine, 458 00:57:53,553 --> 00:57:55,764 wanted everything faster, stronger, bigger. 459 00:57:58,225 --> 00:57:59,601 I was sent there to help. 460 00:58:00,268 --> 00:58:02,104 They didn't want to listen to an American, 461 00:58:02,604 --> 00:58:05,107 which is understandable given our history. 462 00:59:03,165 --> 00:59:05,584 I arrived at TEPCO headquarters 463 00:59:05,667 --> 00:59:08,545 a little after 5:30 a.m. 464 00:59:08,628 --> 00:59:10,756 A number of monitors were lined up 465 00:59:10,839 --> 00:59:12,340 in the operations room. 466 00:59:12,841 --> 00:59:15,635 One of them was connected to Fukushima Daiichi. 467 00:59:16,136 --> 00:59:17,846 I addressed everyone. 468 01:01:31,479 --> 01:01:33,773 Good evening. The situation at Japan's 469 01:01:33,857 --> 01:01:36,985 Fukushima nuclear plant has gotten worse. 470 01:01:39,112 --> 01:01:42,240 While a Tokyo Electric official said in a press conference 471 01:01:42,324 --> 01:01:43,909 that he does not believe 472 01:01:43,992 --> 01:01:45,577 a critical event is imminent, 473 01:01:45,660 --> 01:01:47,662 a senior nuclear industry executive 474 01:01:47,787 --> 01:01:49,039 told the New York Times 475 01:01:49,164 --> 01:01:52,417 that Japanese nuclear managers are, quote, 476 01:01:53,043 --> 01:01:55,337 "Basically in a full-scale panic." 477 01:01:58,465 --> 01:02:00,675 After the Unit 4 explosion, 478 01:02:00,800 --> 01:02:03,011 TEPCO did evacuate the plant. 479 01:02:05,388 --> 01:02:08,266 Kan agreed to the evacuation 480 01:02:08,350 --> 01:02:10,352 of most people from the plant 481 01:02:10,894 --> 01:02:12,812 if a small number would stay 482 01:02:12,896 --> 01:02:15,023 to-to... basically, to man the fire trucks. 483 01:02:15,148 --> 01:02:16,233 They had three fire trucks 484 01:02:16,358 --> 01:02:18,068 that were pumping water into the reactors. 485 01:02:18,193 --> 01:02:20,195 That was it. That was the entire response at that point, 486 01:02:20,320 --> 01:02:21,738 was three fire trucks. 487 01:02:22,697 --> 01:02:24,366 Kan wanted enough people to stay 488 01:02:24,491 --> 01:02:26,159 to man those fire trucks 489 01:02:26,243 --> 01:02:28,745 and to monitor the reactors, 490 01:02:30,080 --> 01:02:32,707 and a total of 69 people stayed. 491 01:02:32,832 --> 01:02:34,292 They're known as the Fukushima Fifty, 492 01:02:34,376 --> 01:02:36,211 but there were actually 69 of them. 493 01:02:36,336 --> 01:02:39,172 They were staying so the others could leave. 494 01:02:39,256 --> 01:02:41,883 Uh, and... they stayed knowing 495 01:02:42,008 --> 01:02:43,718 that they may not come back. 496 01:06:57,180 --> 01:06:58,681 Japanese engineers 497 01:06:58,806 --> 01:07:01,100 marshalled all their remaining tools today 498 01:07:01,184 --> 01:07:02,560 in the week-long struggle 499 01:07:02,644 --> 01:07:05,146 to prevent a full-blown nuclear disaster. 500 01:07:06,105 --> 01:07:07,482 Filmed just yesterday 501 01:07:07,607 --> 01:07:09,150 from a military helicopter, 502 01:07:09,275 --> 01:07:12,070 this shaky footage is the best image we have yet 503 01:07:12,153 --> 01:07:14,572 of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. 504 01:07:14,656 --> 01:07:16,574 No workers can be seen outside. 505 01:07:16,658 --> 01:07:18,826 With radiation at such high levels, 506 01:07:18,952 --> 01:07:20,995 it's simply too dangerous. 507 01:07:21,454 --> 01:07:23,581 The dense steam is believed to be rising 508 01:07:23,665 --> 01:07:27,418 from a storage pool holding 100 tons of nuclear fuel. 509 01:07:28,169 --> 01:07:32,549 And alarmingly, two more pools nearby are also heating up. 510 01:07:34,008 --> 01:07:36,928 Normally, at least five meters of cooling water 511 01:07:37,011 --> 01:07:39,305 cover the rods, stopping them from overheating 512 01:07:39,389 --> 01:07:42,267 and protecting workers from a deadly radiation. 513 01:07:42,892 --> 01:07:44,269 But reports now indicate 514 01:07:44,352 --> 01:07:46,521 the pool has run completely dry, 515 01:07:46,646 --> 01:07:49,357 a potentially catastrophic development. 516 01:07:49,857 --> 01:07:52,652 Radiation levels there are believed to be lethal. 517 01:07:52,735 --> 01:07:54,362 No one can go near. 518 01:07:55,363 --> 01:07:57,490 Seven days into this crisis, 519 01:07:57,574 --> 01:07:58,783 no one is any clearer 520 01:07:58,866 --> 01:08:01,286 on how this nuclear emergency will end. 521 01:08:51,294 --> 01:08:54,464 At this moment, 70 brave souls are still working 522 01:08:54,546 --> 01:08:57,341 at the stricken Fukushima plant in Japan. 523 01:08:57,425 --> 01:08:59,844 They are trying to prevent a nuclear meltdown 524 01:08:59,926 --> 01:09:01,970 and apparently suffering great radiation. 525 01:09:02,095 --> 01:09:03,473 We've obtained a statement 526 01:09:03,598 --> 01:09:06,350 from the International Atomic Energy Agency, Peter, 527 01:09:06,434 --> 01:09:09,020 that says the levels at the plant, 528 01:09:09,103 --> 01:09:10,772 and I want to make that very clear, 529 01:09:10,897 --> 01:09:12,649 at the plant itself, 530 01:09:12,774 --> 01:09:14,609 are enough to kill a man 531 01:09:14,734 --> 01:09:16,569 within five hours. 532 01:18:11,270 --> 01:18:12,813 A few dozen workers 533 01:18:12,938 --> 01:18:14,648 at the Fukushima nuclear plant 534 01:18:14,773 --> 01:18:18,360 finally were able to restart the reactor's cooling systems. 535 01:18:18,485 --> 01:18:20,487 Workers have entered a reactor building 536 01:18:20,613 --> 01:18:22,406 at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant 537 01:18:22,489 --> 01:18:24,491 for the first time since it was damaged 538 01:18:24,617 --> 01:18:26,535 by March's earthquake and tsunami. 539 01:18:29,997 --> 01:18:31,749 After the Hyper Rescue Team came, 540 01:18:31,832 --> 01:18:33,876 more and more people arrived to help. 541 01:18:34,627 --> 01:18:36,962 And they finally start to get a handle on the disaster. 542 01:18:40,549 --> 01:18:43,719 What follows is civil suits, inquests, 543 01:18:43,844 --> 01:18:47,139 and TEPCO executives making public apologies. 544 01:19:04,073 --> 01:19:07,201 It's also revealed that TEPCO received a report 545 01:19:07,326 --> 01:19:09,703 warning that a tsunami of 15 meters 546 01:19:09,828 --> 01:19:12,248 was possible at the Fukushima plant. 547 01:19:15,084 --> 01:19:16,877 But instead of acting on it, 548 01:19:17,002 --> 01:19:18,879 TEPCO sat on the report 549 01:19:19,004 --> 01:19:21,048 and only gave it to nuclear authorities 550 01:19:21,173 --> 01:19:23,259 on March 7th, 2011, 551 01:19:23,759 --> 01:19:26,011 four days before the disaster struck. 552 01:19:31,433 --> 01:19:35,062 Japan is the nation that invented the word "tsunami." 553 01:19:35,729 --> 01:19:37,439 So the idea that a Japanese plant 554 01:19:37,523 --> 01:19:40,401 wouldn't be ready for a tsunami looks ludicrous. 555 01:19:40,943 --> 01:19:42,111 And yet they weren't. 556 01:19:42,569 --> 01:19:44,154 When-when the waves hit, 557 01:19:44,697 --> 01:19:47,491 the plant was literally caught with its pants down. 558 01:19:47,574 --> 01:19:49,868 You don't even... even need a wave wall. 559 01:19:49,952 --> 01:19:52,538 All you need is a waterproof power system. 560 01:19:52,621 --> 01:19:54,915 Like you have in a ship, or a submarine, or something. 561 01:19:55,040 --> 01:19:56,750 It-it wouldn't have taken a whole lot. 562 01:19:57,251 --> 01:19:58,585 And they just didn't do it 563 01:19:58,711 --> 01:20:01,380 because to raise the risk of a tsunami, 564 01:20:01,463 --> 01:20:04,133 to raise the risk of something like that happening, 565 01:20:04,216 --> 01:20:08,637 would go against the orthodoxy of the "safety myth." 566 01:20:08,721 --> 01:20:10,681 If you questioned the safety of a plant, 567 01:20:10,764 --> 01:20:12,182 even something like, "Hey", 568 01:20:12,266 --> 01:20:14,310 let's have a few more backup systems," 569 01:20:15,060 --> 01:20:17,187 it could possibly cost you your career. 570 01:20:17,938 --> 01:20:19,231 And so people didn't do it. 571 01:20:19,315 --> 01:20:21,442 They-they... They had to toe the line. 572 01:20:21,984 --> 01:20:25,112 And the plant was... was... was left vulnerable 573 01:20:25,237 --> 01:20:27,114 to something that in Japan, frankly, 574 01:20:27,239 --> 01:20:30,159 should have been... foreseeable. 575 01:21:47,361 --> 01:21:49,071 The aftermath of the accident 576 01:21:49,196 --> 01:21:50,739 is still going on today. 577 01:21:52,074 --> 01:21:56,203 And we are still decades from cleaning up 578 01:21:56,328 --> 01:21:59,289 the radioactive material in the reactors. 579 01:21:59,915 --> 01:22:03,752 Uh, it'll be my grandchildren who see that cleaned up. 580 01:22:04,670 --> 01:22:06,046 And after years of mothballing 581 01:22:06,171 --> 01:22:08,424 the nuclear program in Japan, 582 01:22:08,549 --> 01:22:10,634 it's firmly back on the agenda. 583 01:22:11,718 --> 01:22:14,054 They've restarted 14 reactors, 584 01:22:14,179 --> 01:22:16,723 and there are plans to build many, many more. 585 01:22:18,725 --> 01:22:20,269 It's not just Japan. 586 01:22:20,394 --> 01:22:22,563 Much of the world, faced with climate change 587 01:22:22,688 --> 01:22:24,773 and energy insecurity, 588 01:22:24,898 --> 01:22:27,067 is now turning back to nuclear power. 589 01:22:30,195 --> 01:22:32,030 If... You know, if there was a big lesson 590 01:22:32,114 --> 01:22:33,449 from the accident, 591 01:22:34,241 --> 01:22:36,034 it would be the necessity 592 01:22:36,118 --> 01:22:38,579 of transparency and-and coming... 593 01:22:38,704 --> 01:22:39,997 being frank with people, right? 594 01:22:41,540 --> 01:22:43,709 You would hope that lesson has been learned. 595 01:22:44,418 --> 01:22:46,587 But the government has never been fully transparent 596 01:22:46,712 --> 01:22:49,006 about what happened in Fukushima. 597 01:22:49,715 --> 01:22:51,967 TEPCO has never revealed fully what happened. 598 01:22:52,593 --> 01:22:55,596 We have very few records of what was being said 599 01:22:55,721 --> 01:22:57,264 or done at that time. 600 01:22:58,098 --> 01:22:59,558 It feels like any question of risk, 601 01:22:59,641 --> 01:23:02,144 any question of what can go wrong is gone, 602 01:23:02,269 --> 01:23:04,813 and people just don't want to talk about that. 603 01:23:06,148 --> 01:23:08,192 We're back to, you know, "Don't worry about it, 604 01:23:08,275 --> 01:23:10,194 we'll take care of it, everything's okay." 605 01:23:24,124 --> 01:23:26,585 And their messaging leaves us wondering, 606 01:23:26,668 --> 01:23:28,712 has anything really changed? 607 01:24:41,702 --> 01:24:43,453 Those brave emergency workers 608 01:24:43,537 --> 01:24:46,456 who are walking into a wall of radiation. 609 01:25:17,112 --> 01:25:20,574 The operators there do not see themselves as heroes. 610 01:25:20,699 --> 01:25:22,367 You know, they felt they were culprits 611 01:25:22,451 --> 01:25:23,785 more than heroes, 612 01:25:23,869 --> 01:25:26,163 that they caused the accident, which they didn't. 613 01:25:26,246 --> 01:25:29,625 Some told me that, you know, we feel like Vietnam veterans. 614 01:25:30,083 --> 01:25:32,085 You know, that in America where... 615 01:25:32,544 --> 01:25:34,379 You know, we think we fought a noble battle 616 01:25:34,463 --> 01:25:37,174 but our people don't think this is a noble war. 617 01:25:37,924 --> 01:25:39,760 So we're not heroes. 618 01:25:42,304 --> 01:25:44,222 But for me, unlike the military, 619 01:25:44,306 --> 01:25:46,266 none of those who stayed behind at that plant 620 01:25:46,391 --> 01:25:48,560 expected they would have to give up their life. 621 01:25:49,561 --> 01:25:51,980 They, like anyone else with a nine-to-five job, 622 01:25:52,105 --> 01:25:54,149 turned up on the 11th with their lunchboxes 623 01:25:54,274 --> 01:25:55,442 to work their shifts. 624 01:25:56,151 --> 01:25:57,986 Then they were faced with all of this. 625 01:25:59,112 --> 01:26:00,614 And they chose to stay. 626 01:26:02,616 --> 01:26:04,451 And I think understanding that, 627 01:26:05,285 --> 01:26:07,037 anyone would have to agree 628 01:26:07,621 --> 01:26:09,665 that they are absolutely heroic.