Fukushima Accident: Was it preventable or unavoidable? - A sociological perspective

Global renaissance of nuclear energy was widely predicted and accepted before the Fukushima accident of March 11, 2011. The prospects for nuclear energy now appear to face a turn-around point. Serious debates about the adequacy of nuclear power utilization and safety regulation are underway in many national and/or international settings. Many investigations and analyses have been and will be conducted to identify the causes and consequences and to seek lessons to be taken into account in their own nuclear power programs. These efforts evidently will contribute to preventing accidents caused by such extreme damage conditions as Fukushima desperately encountered. But, in order to discuss the future of nuclear energy, new approach to the nature of the accident needs to be sought rather than the usual and conventional way of viewing the accidents with the benefit of hindsight. This paper examines institutional and sociological aspects of Fukushima accident to get some clues as to whether it was preventable or unavoidable